So, why not just not have any sex scenes..!

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/dec/21/claire-foy-says-sex-scenes-leave-her-feeling-exposed-and-exploited

CHRIST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

 Surrendering to Christ's Lordship and preventing climate change walk hand in hand!

Fire In The Sky

¡Fires threaten ecological balance of  Santa Cruz, Bolivia!      

CHARLIE WATTS RIP

CHARLIE WATTS - DEAD AT 80 

Charlie Watts kept an almost perfect rhythmic beat behind songs and performances of the Rolling Stones...He didn't grab the headlines like Jagger and Richards but he kept time for the music and songs on the drums. 

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/aug/24/rolling-stones-drummer-charlie-watts-dies-aged-80

THE 7 HOUR DRAGON!

 SPUTNIK 5 - SLAYING THE 7 HOUR DRAGON! 

Inculturation in Bolivia Includes the God given grace to slay the dragon of surviving long queues. And my experience in a massive queue for 7 hours to get my second dose of the Sputnik 5 vaccine  testifies to this Grace. 

I arrived at about 5.45 am at the Gabriel Rene Moreno University, and slipped into the line; a clerk approached me, took his black marker and wrote number, 409, on my left wrist. He didn't say a word. 

I left the University, dazed more than tired, but, fully vaccinated at 1.30 pm. 

Surprisingly I didnt feel drained inspite of the long wait this time around when compared to the tiredness after a 6 hour wait for my first Sputnik dose a few months ago. 

I felt psychologically prepared for a very long wait, this time around. Also, the pleasant weather today offset the previous experience of standing in the queue under the wretched heat. 

A lady behind me yakked away endlessly and LOUDLY throughout the wait trying to attract attention; someone wanted her to shut up, but he bit his tongue. Lord only knows where she got the energy to annoy us with her commentary on politics, scandals, culture etc. 

The growing queue overflows and takes up space in the pavement; people had begun to line up since 4 am this morning. 

Folk know how to hustle in Bolivia: vendors sell coffee and curry puffs for breakfast; young ladies offer to photocopy documents; men rent stools n chairs to those waiting in the queue; and we had an incredibly talented blind singer who put great emotion into his singing. He deserved every cent his assistant collected for his incredible performance. 

I couldn't see a single policeman controlling the massive and growing queue; people sit on rented stools and follow the person in front of them when it's their turn. We're restless, funny, angry and calm, but also nasty at anyone wanting to cut the queue. You get the sense that this extraordinary collective effort at maintaining discipline in the queue might fall apart if a small number decide to get into a fist-fight. 

His Grace n Mercy holds everything together; and more than props up the fragile discipline of the queue. 

I finally entered the dispensary to get my Sputnik 5 second dose with others. The admin staff and the nurses greet us with a smile and do a great job in administering the vaccines to the masses with patience and skill. I leave the dispensary relieved, jaded but also  grateful for His grace. 

Get vaccinated! These vaccines strengthen us in the fight against COVID-19. 

Michelle gets her 2nd dose of the vaccine next week.  👩🏻👩🏻 

In the Lord's hands we continue to slay the dragons in battles that leave us in a daze! I have no side effects from the vaccine yet... God is good! Amen! 🍇🍇🍇🍇💪🏼💪🏼💪🏼

BISHOP'S MESSAGE

Anglican Episcopal Church of Bolivia

 Episcopal Message

 Rt Rev Raphael Samuel

 06/08/2021

The Anglican Episcopal Church of Bolivia celebrates Bolivia's Independence Day, August 6, 2021. We  thank the Lord for His blessings over the nation, and give thanks for the hope anchored in Christ Jesus - the Lord of the nations!

Bolivia's 🇧🇴 destiny continues to rest in the merciful hands of a righteous God in the midst of her trials and tribulations. 

GOD is MERCIFUL - He gives us many opportunities to put aside sinful behavior NOT pleasing to Him. For instance the father of the prodigal son, full of mercy, embraced his son and blessed him when he repented of his selfishness. Likewise, God patiently waits for Bolivia to repent, and yearns for her to return to the place where He has saved the best for her.

God Almighty  extends His mercies to Bolivia by his Spirit with the promise of our restoration in Christ Jesus. 

He is RIGHTEOUS - His commitment to righteousness will sooner or later vindicate and save the oppressed from their oppressors. For example Joseph's brothers abused him terribly — he suffered injustice from his siblings;  but in the end the Lord saved and vindicated Joseph. Likewise, God re-orders the twisted and crooked situations of our lives in order to save us in accordance with His righteousness.

God is re-ordering Bolivia in accordance with his justice and purpose and gives hope to the oppressed with His vindication.

So let's celebrate Independence Day today with the hope of of God's Mercy - He will not abandon us; and by His grace He frees us from the injustices of the world with the promise of His final vindication in us.  ¡Amen!

FRIENDSHIPS TURN INTO ROMANCE

 https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/jul/12/two-thirds-of-couples-start-out-as-friends-research-finds

Good friendships evolve into great romances...

my late sister Rebecca and her husband, Jim! 

FALSE MESSIAHS

 FALSE MESSIAHS

A holy dubiousness settles
in the dust of human decadence,
and we are lost to the sounds
of silence; then, they appear from 

the void to enchant us with 

strange songs of justice. 

No, the holiness category remains
lifeless with no vibrancy; only a
cold emptiness staring at a blank
empty world. But they bring angelic
harp-like sounds to drug us with 

equity’s rhetoric. 

We, an unholy tribe, looking for
family, remain lost in the maze of
human confusion with no beginning
or end; and they offer sacred 
brotherhood to purify the land with 

bloodied hands. 

And then their music begins to
sound in us - playing our fears back
to us in clanging sounds of chains
of our own making; and these 

enlightened ones breathe narcotic 

thoughts in us. 

Surely they must be right, educated
and eloquent, building their lies on 

defaced walls of our learning and
we remain for them, serious jesters,
doing spins to music only they 
listen to. 

IF - Kipling

 IF - Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you   

    Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,   

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

    But make allowance for their doubting too;   

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

    Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

    And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;   

    If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;   

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

    And treat those two impostors just the same;   

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

    Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

    And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

    And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

    And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

    To serve your turn long after they are gone,   

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

    Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,   

    Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

    If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

    With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,   

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,   

    And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

BOLIVIA'S BLUE SKY

 BOLIVIA'S BLUE SKY

Under the afternoon blue sky,

Bolivia sprinkles her magical rest
in the heart of a restless pilgrim - 

he searches for peace too 

hidden to be found.

Yet the blue sky says again

and again, "all-will-be-well" -

nature's speech wrapped in
divine, quiet sounds pulsing
toward the tired pilgrim.

Embraced from so far away by
a perfect, cloudless blue sky, 

the pilgrim's weary heart 

finds holy peace, he cannot put 

to rest.

A HEAVY LADEN BOAT

A HEAVY LADEN BOAT

Sigh...the heavy laden boat

carries burdens and dreams

of our undoing but we carry 

them anyway in Holy love, 

not knowing if the boat will 

smash itself on the hidden

reef. 

The indifferent sea - lost in its 

waves, oblivious to our cry, 

blind to our outstretched hands 

and dangling feet -  remains 

enslaved by pulsing currents 

none can see.   

We drift slowly toward

Earth's sunset, waiting for 

the dark night, listening

to the gentle gurgle of the 

waves, hoping for angels to 

descend from Jacob’s ladder

to save us from our despair.     

 

THE SACRED EMBROIDERY

THE SACRED EMBROIDERY

A thread finds its way into the needle's

eye, and goes for a holy walk, weaving 

sacred beauty on life's embroidery. 

Sharp and pointed, the needle plunges 

through tiny orifices like a diver, plunging

into the dark sea.  

 

The needle breaks tiny bubbles below and   

surges through the cloth's surface, carrying

the thread across minute openings, visible 

only to the needle. Oh to breathe fresh air!

And darkness around the needle 

dissipates under the Sun's light; 

now; the angels sing to the threaded 

needle, their voices weave the needle 

across life's sacred embroidery.      

 

 

 

HOLY ATTENTION

 

HOLY ATTENTION

Leaves drink the Sun's  

sacramental light and shine through 

green foliage; perched on their 

tips don't petals look for attention?

Slender veins hold the green

leaves on the stem, giving them poise,

next to others in Godly design.

And they stand not alone but together

to claim holy attention.   

ONCE MORE UNTO THE BREACH

 

Speech: “Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more”

BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

(from Henry V, spoken by King Henry)

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;

Or close the wall up with our English dead.

In peace there's nothing so becomes a man

As modest stillness and humility:

But when the blast of war blows in our ears,

Then imitate the action of the tiger;

Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood,

Disguise fair nature with hard-favour'd rage;

Then lend the eye a terrible aspect;

Let pry through the portage of the head

Like the brass cannon; let the brow o'erwhelm it

As fearfully as doth a galled rock

O'erhang and jutty his confounded base,

Swill'd with the wild and wasteful ocean.

Now set the teeth and stretch the nostril wide,

Hold hard the breath and bend up every spirit

To his full height. On, on, you noblest English.

Whose blood is fet from fathers of war-proof!

Fathers that, like so many Alexanders,

Have in these parts from morn till even fought

And sheathed their swords for lack of argument:

Dishonour not your mothers; now attest

That those whom you call'd fathers did beget you.

Be copy now to men of grosser blood,

And teach them how to war. And you, good yeoman,

Whose limbs were made in England, show us here

The mettle of your pasture; let us swear

That you are worth your breeding; which I doubt not;

For there is none of you so mean and base,

That hath not noble lustre in your eyes.

I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips,

Straining upon the start. The game's afoot:

Follow your spirit, and upon this charge

Cry 'God for Harry, England, and Saint George!'

CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER - A TRIBUTE

Christopher Plummer, Sound of Music star and oldest actor to win an Oscar, dies aged 91

Christopher Plummer, an outstanding Hollywood actor, will be remembered for his portrayal as General Chang in the Star Trek movie, The Undiscovered Country. 

He played the role of a nasty warmonger, an evil genius who tries to sabotage plans, by people of goodwill, to make peace between the Federation and the Klingons. Plummer's performance, a far cry from his role as a gentlemanly widow in The Sound of Music, eclipsed the rest of the cast in the Star Trek movie. 

The make-up artists did a great job on him: the battle-scarred face, the patch on his left eye, and his bald look accentuated his smoldering grunts and the evil intent of his smiles and gestures. And they also made him spew several Shakespearan lines to complicate and dignify the thuggish Chang character. Plummer's brilliance will be missed.    

AN UPDATE

 Dear Praying Friends, 

22/01/2021 

Blessings n greetings from Bolivia! 

Thank you for your prayer support in these trying times. Praise the Lord for all of you! Serving in Bolivia is like a never-ending David and Goliath battle.  

A few days ago during my weekly meeting with the clergy through zoom, we received reports of an increasing number of COVID-19 related deaths and infections. Except for one congregation, the rest have gone back to digital services. 

Pray for the church's zoom driven discipleship programs to thrive and grow during the week. Together with the senior clergy, we are working towards a national leadership training program in March...pray for the Lord to equip His Church to face the challenge of making disciples from the COVID-19 harvest. Pray for anointing, confidence, and for humility to learn. 

Pray for a revival that will move many to Christ and pray for the church to reap and disciple this harvest! 

The present government has more or less chosen the economy n politics over the need for strong social measures to stem COVID-19's rising tide e.g rigid quarantine 

The doctors and frontline medical staff lobby for the latter because health services have broken down again before the avalanche of cases in the hospitals. 

Meanwhile campaigning for the regional elections on March 7th, to elect governors and mayors, continues unabated without much interest in social distancing. Some candidates have died and infections continue to mount. Lord have mercy on us! 

One silver lining is the cancelation in February of the annual "Carnaval" - 3 days of debauchery, drunkenness, waste, and deaths from fights and road accidents. Sadly, only the COVID-19 threat, has the muscle to overcome the big financial interests (liquor companies) that prop up Carnaval. 

Pray for the Anglican church to GROW and find its voice and testimony in the midst of a growing national tragedy. We have perhaps yet to see the worse of COVID-19. 

Pray for Michelle n I to not lose our bearings and to find the quality time to build up each other in Christ. We work from home these days and spend most of our time in this self-imposed confinement. 

Thank you once again for your support and intercessions.  PTL!

GOD'S MERCIFUL JUDGEMENT!

GOD'S MERCIFUL JUDGEMENT!

If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God Hebrews 10:26-27

...our God is a consuming fire - Hebrews 12:28-29

Judgment offends our charitable instincts and doesn't sound optimistic enough to the contemporary ear. 

But it's almost impossible to read the biblical narrative and not bump into judgment: its precedents and its results. The writer of the letter to the Hebrews talks about the fearful expectation of judgment and raging fire.  

Most of us want an immediate word of consolation in the midst of our losses and misery; judgment elicits guilt and not the sort of consolation we yearn for.  And how does one sweeten the fearful expectation of judgment?    

Jesus prophetically denounced the Pharisees and then spared no bones in invoking judgment over Israel, cities, and the nations. And it's especially difficult to ignore judgment if one adds the woes in Revelations, the last book of the bible.   

His judgments although retributive, are by n large restorative and merciful when set within the universal intent of scripture. And his Son's death on the cross sort of sums up the retributive-restorative-merciful matrix. He submitted his Son to the inevitability of His judgment not to condemn but to lovingly satisfy the thirst for justice and reveal His new creation.   

Hence we testify to His merciful judgments with broken hearts, pleading for salvation.  

Some feel uncomfortable talking about judgment cuz it makes them vulnerable to accusations of self-righteousness. And of course, they're right.   

And we shy away from the language of judgment because we perhaps don't want, to somehow, misrepresent God and "blame" Him for natural disasters and evil in the world. It's easier to blame impersonal natural forces and bad people. This line of reasoning leaves God either out of the natural process, or it makes Him out to be servile to nature and human folly. Many are content to declare a mystery here and move on. Not so fast. Maybe we shouldn't move on. Like Job, let's get to grips with the Holy mystery of God, shed tears, wrestle with our doubts, and go to the Cross, cling to His promises, and - Let God be God.   

Christ's cruel death on the cross, hovers, like an eagle, over horrific natural disasters, evil, and sicknesses in human history; His suffering and tears mingle with ours and vice-versa. Christ bore our judgment; and transforms our victimization and helplessness not only in His death; but also in the hope of His resurrection. And it's in His resurrection and pilgrimage to the heavenly Jerusalem where God's judgment will find its significance not as the final chapter of our story, but as a necessary stepping stone to the greater glory of our heavenly redemption in the New Jerusalem! 

So, let the biblical testimony bend the contemporary ear to listen to the eternal hope of judgment!