Tuesday, April 17, 2018

The Great Interruption

The Great Interruption

It was an early Wednesday evening
At a dining area in The Club
On top of Red Mountain
Seeing over the Magic City.

A dozen or so couples gathered
To celebrate the consecration
Of two new overseers
On the next day.

This was the evening before,
An evening of great anticipation.
The view from the dining area
Was from on high and widely expansive.

We could see parachutists in the northern sky
Gracefully floating into the downtown
Baseball stadium
For the season’s first game.

It was mid-April
And a kind of wintry-like spring.
Not warm, not cold.
At first, blue sky and breezy.

So, we went inside
After gazing the distant horizon from above
To have our celebratory dinner,
With doors to the outside yet open.

As the sun set
The western blue sky now a translucent orange,
A lovely hue, orange and yellow,
And streaks of red.

“Oh, my” was heard
From one woman at our table.
She asked her overseer-elect spouse
For his camera.

She walked outside again,
Left behind the dinner,
Marveling at the setting sun
And the multi-colored horizon.

Others at the dinner
Noticed, and walked outside
Joining their dinner mates
Devouring that awesome vista.

Dinner interrupted?

Five, ten, fifteen minutes passed.
It seemed like a long-lasting set.
Sinking, the reddish-orange disc
Disappeared.

Now dark, others in the dining area
Beckoned those outside
To return.
We have a celebration to complete.

The Great Interruption,
That colorful miracle of sky and setting sun,
Accentuated and confirmed
The celebration in the room.

It was
No Interruption
After all.

Tuesday, March 13, 2018

Theological Journal


On April 1, 2018 a new theological journal will be introduced to the Church and the general reading public.

In the diocese where I serve, which is actually called a Jurisdiction, an offering of articles will be published in a journal written by several members of the clergy who are mostly chaplains in the military services of the United States of America. 

If you have ever wondered how chaplains serve God by serving those who protect their nation, then The JAFC Journal will be an on-going reading experience of peace and joy.

One article focuses on the work of chaplaincy in a public setting ministering to victims of mass casualty events; another on social trends and the work of chaplaincy.

The Journal will also contain book reviews, the first of which analyzes a guidebook on the Anglican tradition.

My publishing imprint, Archdeacon Books, assists in the  continuing production of this journal.

The Journal will be available online for all readers.

Blessings to all!

© Worth Earlwood Norman Jr
3-13-2018




Sunday, February 18, 2018

Guest Blogger - About Ash Wednesday 2018



About Ash Wednesday 2018
Father Curt Norman 

My mind is swirling a million-miles-an-hour as I prepare for worship this morning. It keeps taking me back to Ash Wednesday, one of the most important days in the Church year. And a horrible one this year in the United States of America.

There was a respectful conversation on my Facebook timeline. Not surprising, since I have lots of friends capable of civil discourse. I expressed misgivings about the Church offering the imposition of ashes with what I consider to be convenience, although it is impossible for me to know how each congregation views the practice; it would be dangerous for me to make a broad statement. Thus, I speak only from personal experience.

I do not know how many news articles came across my feed with headlines of clergy taking ashes into the community for persons who “do not have time” to go to services. In the same breath would be mentioned taking ashes to persons who, for physical reasons, are not able to get to worship. The two scenarios are not the same.

On Wednesday afternoon, news broke of yet another mass shooting at an American school. Let the script begin: many leaders in mainline Protestantism began to call on federal lawmakers to make difficult choices so that something like Parkland, Florida does not happen again. Given the political allegiances of many lawmakers, it would require them to make decisions which would be for them politically… wait for it… inconvenient.

Here is where I see a problem. How can the Church call on our nation’s leaders to do what is right (even when it is inconvenient) when we do not practice inconvenience ourselves?

Following Jesus is not convenient.

I understand the good desire to “tear down walls” to bring God to the people. But, in my humble estimation, walls can be torn down only when we raise the bar, not lower it.


Monday, February 5, 2018

Watch Out!


[Many] Signs and [we] Wonder[s]

History is replete
With signs of human bondage;
And when we sleep
We miss layers foretold along the deep sondage.

They never go away,
Those arms ready to snare
Our children at innocent play
From their God-given parental care.

Take for example
The father-daughter dance
Canceled, as the apple-elite trampled
Tradition with their new, imposed parlance.

Recall the German leader
Back in the nineteen thirties
Who divined himself a human breeder
Of children; cunning, inventive, like Hermes?

Still asleep, are we?
They replaced 'he' and 'she' for 'it'.
By their decree we should not see,
But deny and be correctly and politically fit.

Take, for example that church
Surrounding our National city;
The Almighty they besmirch
And downgrade Him by committee.

Remember also Romanian rule
Transferring the young to the State
Giving their potentate a pool
Of children to manipulate?

Do we not yet know
What the winds of social change have already done?
Will we continue to let it blow
Through civilization numbing everyone?

Watch out!





Thursday, January 4, 2018

Published Titles by Archdeacon Books

ARCHDEACON BOOKS 
has published thirteen titles since 2014 and 
will release three new titles in 2018.

TRIGON’S VIEW (2018), Evan Prickett & Rick Chambers
ZIPP: The Life of H.H. “Zipp” Newman (2018), Frances “Bee” Newman Morris
KENYA JOURNAL (2018), Dennis & Donna Read

EXPLORING SPIRITUAL GIFTS (2017), Mark Allen Quay
THE PURPOSE DRIVEN ALPHABET (2017), Jenny N. Sullivan
VERSED BOOKENDS (2017), Worth E. Norman, Jr.

THE END OF ORPHAN CARE (2016), Samuel J. McLure
THE HERESY OF HAM (2016), Joel Edmund Anderson
PRAYING THROUGH THE PSALMS (2016), Mark Allen Quay
THE EVOLUTION OF DECISION MAKING (2016), Jacques Austin

PATHWAYS TO JESUS (2015), William Wilson
KAIROS PRISON MINISTRY (2015), Ken Dawson
FROM MY FATHER’S HOUSE (2015) Jenny N. Sullivan

WILLIAM JELKS CABANISS, JR. (2014), Worth E. Norman, Jr.
ALABAMA TIMELINES: AFRICAN-AMERICAN ENTREPRENEURS (2014) Worth E. Norman, Jr.
ALABAMA TIMELINES: THOSE REPUBLICANS (2014), Worth E. Norman, Jr.


Saturday, December 23, 2017

Remembering D. Bruce MacPherson


D. Bruce MacPherson
1940 - 2017


To him everyone was a friend,
Someone to help if in need,
A broken heart to help mend.
A godly man, indeed.

His caring for others never ceased.
His love of God – his fortress, his border –
Called him to become a priest,
And defender of the faith in the episcopal order.

A sudden fall changed things
Late in life for this obedient servant.
It was as if he lost his wings,
His evangel voice so fervent.

No. His Father wanted him home
To live under His eternal dome.

Worth Earlwood "Woody" Norman Jr
Archdeacon
Special Jurisdiction of the Armed Forces and Chaplaincy
Anglican Church in North America



Thursday, November 16, 2017

Juan Williams Ups U.S. Constitution over God

The Fox News Channel show, The Five, on November 15, 2017 opened with the Alabama Roy Moore story. Why not? Almost fifty percent of the show focused on this story.

But what was interesting to me was an all-so-brief comment (hopefully a slip-of-the-tongue) by co-host Juan Williams, a Democrat and an Episcopalian. If I had not been listening closely I would have missed it.

At about the 15 minute mark Williams said:

"... You apparently have, according to the polls, ... a very close race [in Alabama] in which Evangelicals in the state really like Roy Moore and the fact that he [Roy Moore] puts God above all, including our [United States] Constitution, which rankles me ..."

To be rankled means to be annoyed or to be resentful. 

Really? Is Juan Williams's Christian faith subservient to the United States Constitution? For him, it sounded so.

This statement by Mr. Williams is a perfect example of how "mainstream" American Christianity has descended to, and has become beholden to, secularism. Mainstream Christianity strives to become relevant to society instead of being the life-giving counter-culture.

Who would believe, for example, that "Christian" clergy would celebrate abortion clinics? Last week several did so. There are clergy who suggest and preach that abortion is a "gift from God." What an abomination!

Christ is life, not death.

The large cultural problem is that well-meaning church-goers are not thinking about their actions and/or do not know the Gospel. The secular environment will always win out when Christians dilute their faith intentionally (called Christian Progressivism), or by outright ignorance of the Gospel.

The United States of America was/is a gift from God, but our nation is being abused by direct attack from progressives, and from Christian ignorance and compliance to the forces of secularism.

I pray that Juan Williams misspoke.


WENjr 16Nov2017