Off with His Head. Very interesting observations here, by Rev. John Burwell who is attending the Episcopal General Convention. He noticed the opening liturgy of the convention intentionally omits are references to the Lordship of Christ. Well, I guess if you are intending to jettison fidelity to the teachings of the Lord, the first thing you have to do is de-throne Him. For example, the Gospel reading began with these words (I am bracketing the words omitted): "The Holy Gospel of our [Lord and] Savior Jesus Christ, according to Matthew." Similarly, the Presiding Bishop jettisoned the opening reference to the triune God: "Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit" by using these words in place: "Blessed be the one holy and living God."

But I don't want to give you the impression that there was no reference to the Trinity. Apparently there was, in the closing blessing:

May the blessing of the God of Abraham and Sarah,
and of Jesus Christ born of our sister Mary,
and of the Holy Spirit
who broods over the world as a mother over her children,
be upon you and remain with you always.
Amen.

This kind of thing is almost enough to give me, a supporter of the ordination of women, doubts...

More That gospel reading I mentioned above was from the end of the 25th Chapter of Matthew regarding the separation of the sheep from the goats. Omitted was verse 46 "Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."

Still Okay. Just a quick follow-up to the message immediately below -- we are all okay. We've been checked out by the doctors and had numerous x-rays and have no broken bones or dislocations. I had a glass fragment removed from my hand and Debbie and I got shots and meds and are now looking for a replacement vehicle.

If you saw our van, I think you'd realize what a miracle this was.

We're Okay ...but our van is (probably) totaled.

We were in an accident on Sunday while driving through the mountains in western Maryland. Here is a link to the area near where the wreck occurred. Right about here was the approximate location. We were all headed out west for three weeks -- two different family reunions, the Grand Canyon, Mexico, etc.

Thanks to God and his angels, none of us are hurt. The van went completely over and slid for a brief (but rapid) time on the roof and hood. I was asleep when the accident occured, riding in the front passenger's seat -- I awoke to see a shower of sparks flying over my head as the van slid down the road before flipping again and landing upright. We were going through a high mountain pass that was very windy -- Debbie thought she started to veer off to the right and overcompensated, but a trucker I talked with later said that he thought it was the wind taking us first to the right and then flipping us when Debbie tried to get back on track.

Thanks to Debbie's Dad and my sister, Ann, both of whom drove more hours than I realized at the time, we are back home safely.

I'm not sure what comes next -- obviously, we won't be driving anywhere in the next day or two. I'm trying to figure out if we can get flights out for the two family reunions, plus we need to get the insurance straightened out and get a rental van, short-term -- I imagine -- and look at a replacement vehicle long term.

The really important thing is that we are all okay. All of us were wearing seatbelts and the kids were well strapped in their respective car seats/booster seats. It's hard to say who got the worst of it -- I looked bad because I cut my elbow and leg on the glass after the accident, but it really wasn't anything but blood that looks bad. The car was full of gravel -- we must've plowed up at least 50-100 lbs of gravel in the car alone. Emilie came up the worst on that end -- she had it in her face and mouth. None in her eyes. Joe and Sarah were both scared, but no aches or pains -- both got quite chilled outside the van -- a very nice couple stopped and gave them blankets to warm them up. Joy has a sprained finger that I want to check out tomorrow -- there's always a possibility of a hairline fracture. Debbie was shook up and covered with gravel but seemed to be fine. Both Debbie and I seemed to have minor brusing from the seatbelts, but that's nothing. I realize that if I wasn't wearing a seatbelt I would've very easily been thrown through the windshield and ... well, you get the idea.

I'm detailing the minor scrapes really just to emphasize that we are okay and that we really have been delivered from something that could've been quite bad.

Thanks again to family and God for deliverance.