Roman Catholics Get Own "Clown Mass" ...

Clowning around at Mass ... not just for Episcopalians any more!!

Giant liturgical puppets ... what next?!?



From here: Mr. Potato Head Concelebrates the Holy Mass?

An audio "pill" for 1928 BCP Withdrawal Symptoms!

When in the midst of this ongoing Anglican diaspora I left my 1928 BCP parish of The Episcopal church, I worshipped for a time where my beloved 1928 BCP was not used.

Needless to say, after 15 years of worshipping (about the spelling of which, more later*) according to the 1928 Book of Common Prayer, I developed severe withdrawal symptoms from this experience. I found it difficult to pray, with all the words gone wrong and rearranged to mean as little as possible. I trembled often, and couldn't stay in my own lane when I drove. I had it bad.

But then, I discovered this beautiful Lighten Our Darkness choral evensong CD at the Prayer Book Society website.

Evensong for the Feast of St Michael and All Angels from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer
Clergy and Choirs of St John's Church, Savannah, Georgia

The Anthems are Non nobis Domine by Byrd & And I saw another angel by Stanford and there are three choirs used, the Church Choir, the Boys and the Girls Choirs. This recording presents a fine example of the most widely loved of all Anglican services, Sung Evensong. It comes from a church with a fine musical tradition as well as an informed commitment to traditional liturgy and music.



I must have played this CD five times a day the first week after I received it. It is fabulous, and revived my soul as nothing else at the time was able to do!

*I cannot help but mention that Anglican worship in America began to go downhill at just the same moment when folks started spelling worshipping and worshipped as worshiping and worshiped. Coincidence? I think not!

How I Got Pissed Off at the Episcopal church ...

Few people know the real story of why I left TEc ...

My parish undertook to swap the Gentlemen's Room with the Ladies' Room, because the former was a larger space, and the Ladies coveted it. Fair enough.

But in the process of the swap, the beautiful antique urinals were simply walled over ... not moved to the new (smaller) Men's Room! Instead, modern rinky-dink Home Depot™ urinals were used. It was a travesty.

"But many of the priests and Levites and chief of the fathers, who were ancient men, that had seen the first urinals, when the foundation of this new Men's Room was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice ..."

"Who of you is left who saw this Men's Room in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Does it not seem to you like nothing?"

The Bishops' Chauffeurs.

I painted this painting, The Bishop's Valet, several years ago. Little did I know that my brother, the Rev. Charles Erlandson, and I would one day be driving Anglican bishops around to airports, luncheon meetings, etc.



I had the first such opportunity, in May 2004. I was to drive (then) Canon Bill Atwood to the AAC's A Place to Stand - Michigan conference. Of course, since that time Atwood has been consecrated bishop!

Then, last summer, I was privileged to give Bp. Paul Hewett (Diocese of the Holy Cross) a ride to and from the Detroit Metro airport, so that he could attend the St. Michael's Conference for Youth.

Just this past week, my brother had the opportunity to chauffeur and have lunch with Abp. Valentino Mokiwa of Tanzania! I guess that trumps me, an archbishop and all.

It makes me think that, in my retirement, I would like to build kool kustom kars (like the bubble-top in my painting) for Anglican bishops (only the good ones!!!) to drive around.

The Pathetic Weakness of the Episcopal Religion.

There's always been something, beneath the level of my conscious mind, that bothers me about The Episcopal cHURCH ... and it has nothing to do with human sexuality. In fact, it doesn't even have anything to do with Scriptural Authority.

It was this article by Quin Hillyer that alerted me to what it was ... that, and the other catch-phrases today's Episco-pagans like to use. Hillyer's article stated, in part:

Go to the national church website, and the site map doesn't even include the word "Creed" -- not Nicene, not Apostles' -- because almost nothing in the national church seems focused on internal spiritual beliefs. To quote one of the site's featured mini-essays (a highly representative example), "It's not about having answers as much as it is about engaging a story ..."

Would you hire a plumber who told you upfront, right on his website: Plumbing is not so much about stopping leaks, as it is about engaging drainwater?

No, you would not.

Here again from Episcopal Life (which is an oxymoron, when you think of it), is the Presiding Bishop's take on the literal Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead:

Asked about the literal story of Easter and the Resurrection, Jefferts Schori said, "I think Easter is most profoundly about meaning, not mechanism."

There it is again ... The Episcopal cHURCH is not about answers, not about facts, or mechanisms or Creeds ... no, those are too hard to manipulate to TEc's evil ends. No, TEc is all about squishy meaning, it is about "engaging a story", it is about "living into the contradiction".

I don't know about you, but I'm tired of hearing this crap about "living into" this or that, about engaging a story, about myth-over-mechanism, of crafting my own faith, and writing my own life narrative! I'm hungry for a God who will Sovereignly swoop down and ravish a sinner like me, so that I will be changed into a mighty reflection of His own strong glory!

And there it is, the hidden thing that bothered me about the Episcopal religion: It is just so pathically, damnably weak!

Here is a brief spy shot from the gym locker room ... 14 weeks out from my bodybuilding contest:

The Episcopal church would not be in such a mess ...

The Episcopal church would not be in such a mess if, in her seminaries, the Faith once delivered to the saints ... was guarded by ... Deacon Payne!