Jeoffry the Cat

Jubilate Agno

For I will consider my Cat Jeoffry.
For he is the servant of the Living God duly and daily serving him.
For at the first glance of the glory of God in the East he worships in his way.
For this is done by wreathing his body seven times round with elegant quickness.
For then he leaps up to catch the musk, which is the blessing of God upon his prayer.
For he rolls upon prank to work it in.
For having done duty and received blessing he begins to consider himself.
For this he performs in ten degrees.
For first he looks upon his forepaws to see if they are clean.
For secondly he kicks up behind to clear away there.
For thirdly he works it upon stretch with the forepaws extended.
For fourthly he sharpens his paws by wood.
For fifthly he washes himself.
For sixthly he rolls upon wash.
For seventhly he fleas himself, that he may not be interrupted upon the beat.
For eighthly he rubs himself against a post.
For ninthly he looks up for his instructions.
For tenthly he goes in quest of food.
For having consider'd God and himself he will consider his neighbour.
For if he meets another cat he will kiss her in kindness.
For when he takes his prey he plays with it to give it a chance.
For one mouse in seven escapes by his dallying.
For when his day's work is done his business more properly begins.
For he keeps the Lord's watch in the night against the adversary.
For he counteracts the powers of darkness by his electrical skin and glaring eyes.
For he counteracts the Devil, who is death, by brisking about the life.
For in his morning orisons he loves the sun and the sun loves him.
For he is of the tribe of Tiger.
For the Cherub Cat is a term of the Angel Tiger.
For he has the subtlety and hissing of a serpent, which in goodness he suppresses.
For he will not do destruction, if he is well-fed, neither will he spit without provocation.
For he purrs in thankfulness, when God tells him he's a good Cat.
For he is an instrument for the children to learn benevolence upon.
For every house is incomplete without him and a blessing is lacking in the spirit.
For the Lord commanded Moses concerning the cats at the departure of the Children of Israel from Egypt.
For every family had one cat at least in the bag.
For the English Cats are the best in Europe.
For he is the cleanest in the use of his forepaws of any quadruped.
For the dexterity of his defence is an instance of the love of God to him exceedingly.
For he is the quickest to his mark of any creature.
For he is tenacious of his point.
For he is a mixture of gravity and waggery.
For he knows that God is his Saviour.
For there is nothing sweeter than his peace when at rest.
For there is nothing brisker than his life when in motion.
For he is of the Lord's poor and so indeed is he called by benevolence perpetually --
Poor Jeoffry! poor Jeoffry! the rat has bit thy throat.
For I bless the name of the Lord Jesus that Jeoffry is better.
For the divine spirit comes about his body to sustain it in complete cat.
For his tongue is exceeding pure so that it has in purity what it wants in music.
For he is docile and can learn certain things.
For he can set up with gravity which is patience upon approbation.
For he can fetch and carry, which is patience in employment.
For he can jump over a stick which is patience upon proof positive.
For he can spraggle upon waggle at the word of command.
For he can jump from an eminence into his master's bosom.
For he can catch the cork and toss it again.
For he is hated by the hypocrite and miser.
For the former is afraid of detection.
For the latter refuses the charge.
For he camels his back to bear the first notion of business.
For he is good to think on, if a man would express himself neatly.
For he made a great figure in Egypt for his signal services.
For he killed the Ichneumon-rat very pernicious by land.
For his ears are so acute that they sting again.
For from this proceeds the passing quickness of his attention.
For by stroking of him I have found out electricity.
For I perceived God's light about him both wax and fire.
For the Electrical fire is the spiritual substance, which God sends from
heaven to sustain the bodies both of man and beast.
For God has blessed him in the variety of his movements.
For, tho' he cannot fly, he is an excellent clamberer.
For his motions upon the face of the earth are more than any other quadruped.
For he can tread to all the measures upon the music.
For he can swim for life.
For he can creep.

-- Christopher Smart

Wine and hugs: A new secret weapon?

A recent story from Washington, DC makes me consider how important relationships really are in the global struggle towards peace. As poet William Stafford says, it takes "milions of intricate moves."

Police on Capitol Hill are baffled by an attempted robbery that began with a handgun put to the head of a 14-year-old girl and ended in a group hug.

It started about midnight June 16 when a group of friends was finishing dinner on the patio of a District of Columbia home. A hooded man slid through an open gate and pointed a handgun at the girl’s head.

“Give me your money, or I’ll start shooting,” he said, the witnesses told The Washington Post.

Everyone froze, but then one guest spoke up. “We were just finishing dinner,” Cristina Rowan, 43, told the man. “Why don’t you have a glass of wine with us?”

The would-be robber took a sip and a bite of Camembert cheese, put the gun in his sweatpants, and apologized.

“I think I may have come to the wrong house,” he said. “Can I get a hug?”

Rowan stood up and wrapped her arms around the man, and the four other guests followed. The man walked away a few moments later with the crystal wine glass in hand.

Story from the Kansas City Star

Scout Fuller

Bless the spirit of
Josephine "Scout" Fuller
from North Manchester, IN,
who died July 7, 2007 of cancer
at the age of 8.

Turf Wars

Even worse than wars over who is right or wrong is wars over turf--physical turf as well as exposure of a group's ideas to more people than the next group. Brethren may recognize the subject from this recent post in BRF's Dunker Journal:

FROM AN ALERT READER in Virginia:

Found it interesting that TWO pictures highlighted from AC this year at brethren.org were from the "banned" "hospitality center" for VOS, GLBT and the "Caucus". How does that happen? How do we change this absolute insistance from the staff that they get highlighted for every event they sponsor?

On the other hand, I've seen complaints that the BRF enjoyed front row spotlight as one of the first booths to be seen in the exhibit hall. I imagine, though, that the VOS center had more square footage than the simple BRF display.

I plan to come back later and add more information and links to this, but for now, I will leave you all with a question: Wouldn't it be simpler for Program and Arrangements Committee to grant VOS, Womaen's Caucus and the Brethren and Mennonite Council a booth? (read about this here.) That way, none of these groups would have an excuse to lay blame at the other's door for dumb things like where or how big one's booth at Annual Conference is.


12 July 2007, UPDATE: A commenter reminded me that many of the readers of this blog may not be familiar with the acronyms in this post, so here's a key:

AC: Annual Conference (the yearly gathering of the Church of the Brethren for deciding church business)

VOS: Voices for an Open Spirit (a Brethren group that argues on the basis of God's inclusive love that all people should be welcomed into the church, including equal access to ordination as ministers)

BRF: Brethren Revival Fellowship (a conservative Brethren group that argues on the basis of scriptural authority that gay and lesbian people should be limited in what roles they play in the church)

GLBT: Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender--referring to BMC (Brethren and Mennonite Council for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trasgender Interests)

Great Commission or Great Commandment?

I'm still thinking about evangelism, about why it troubles me and if I can find any sense in it. I found a list of qualities of what the writer calls Outreach or "Withreach." You can read the whole chart here. One that caught my attention was "Great Commission priority" or "Great Commandment is the engine of Mission." The question then must be do we reach out because we're aiming to make them disciples, or out of love for them? I think if evangelism is to hold any integrity at all, it must be driven by love, and never the drive to make someone something they are not.

Evangelism: Reflections from Annual Conference

I wrote a comment on the A Place Apart Discussion Blog about Annual Conference, and decided to post it here:

I was able to attend conference on Tuesday and Wednesday, and I was troubled by the fact that both sermons I heard were on evangelism. I don't know if that was all that was preached at conference, but from my two day experience, it felt like it. I'm not trying to say that evangelsim is bad, just that it makes me uncomfortable, since much of the time it seems like manipulation of people for the sake of getting members and funding up. One of the sermons seemed to say this, while the other did not, but I was uneasy in both of them. I'm concerned because I don't believe that the church is in a position to be calling people into a body that is not alive, and soon may not be able to sustain them spiritually. I am also troubled by the experience because I was troubled by it and I had to face some of my own uneasiness with others in the church. I am still trying to convince myself that everyone is welcome, and that's not an easy task. Perhaps this means I should stop trying to let myself do the accepting, and allow Christ to accept them through me. And that might be the best "evangelism" as well.