Here, the focus, for once, is not on the celebrated gentleman but on the lady to his right. That's Chilton Knudsen, former Episcopal Bishop of Maine. Leave aside the horrible color combination she's rocking here and focus on those things all over her miter and cope. If you're wondering what they are, click on the picture.
They're Hebrew letters. If you're wondering
why they're there, I can't help you except to say that this is the reason why I am so opposed to Making Important Statements with your vestments rather than directing the congregation's attention to where it's supposed to be directed.
25 comments:
Where's Tim Gunn when you need him? Bad taste in every way imaginable.
Michael A.Hoffman has an apt name for these anti-christs; he calls there self-worship
'judaic-churchianity'
Kudos to you Mr. Hoffman.
I think the poor woman got dressed in the dark but being a liberal she's undoubtedly a greenie and has a 2W eco-friendly light bulb in her sacristy.
V. Gene actually has some pretty decent-looking vestments here. Perhaps he's realized that he is the face of the closest thing to orthodoxy--scary but true--in the Episcopal Church now (i.e., he believes in God) and is dressing accordingly.
Perhaps she is a student of Kabbala and those are protective verses on her robes? That would be ecumenical.
Or is it kinda like a +5 cloak of concealment?
Gene gets the clap!
Maybe they're vestments intended for Tenebrae (wrong colour, surely, but you can't have everything)
ALEPH. Quomodo sedet sola civitas plena populo : facta est quasi vidua domina Gentium : princeps provincarium facta est sub tributo.
BETH. &c.
Those two have the same face!
Lightning struck...twice!
Where did they get all those little children? All in all, a creepy awkward moment.
No doubt they are the words of basic Hebrew prayer: "Blessed are You, Lord our God, who sanctifies...etc....( I could see the word for "who" on her mitre) and personally, as one of those Judaic Christians, I think the gesture is well intended.
That said (and roads to Hell paved with etc....) I think its over the top in a big way, especially since no one sitting there will understand anything about it other than : "Oh yeah, Jesus was Jewish. BFD...."
AND it's ugly, AND it clashes with her stola......AND dude looks like a Lady....
To Janjan.
As long as you completely accept that Christians are the children of God through Jesus Christ and Abraham.
Have I walked into a church or the drapery department at Bloomingdales? When and where was this taken, please? Chilton is retired - I wonder if someone gave her that offensive mitre and if not, how it was purchased.
Alas, it's one of Bp Knudsen's classics. The occasion was the presentation of Bp Robinson to the Diocese of New Hampshire during his investiture at St Paul's Church, Concord, in November 2003. (The Diocese of New Hampshire does not have a Cathedral.) Bp Knudsen did the honours as President of Province I.
Thank you for the back story. I know Chilton's husband attended Lambeth in 2008 - with a minimum price tag of 3 grand - only weeks before his wife retired. Not sure who paid for that, but it is typical of HOB entitlement.
I am one of the "anonymous" posters who is a liberal at heart. I agree with the premise of this blog -as do a number of liberals who enjoy this blog. Expressions such as "anti-christ" or "libs and greenies" don't assist the conservative cause. One could be a theological conservative as well as a proponent of environmental conservation, a "greenie" if you will. Our faith is adapting - and adapting in a manner that connects it historicaly and therefore conservativally. Let's stop the name calling and share where we agree. Frankly, the name calling is just bad comedy.
1.For 'libs and greenies', I propose you re-read the first two chapters of Genesis and keep reading them.
2. I hope you don't mean it is adapting into 'Man's' belief in himself, but always into God's revelation through scripture in His creation.
If I haven't said it before, I'm saying it now. If you see pictures of conservatives in appalling vestments, please send them to me. "Conservative" and "liberal" mean nothing here.
Quite right, too. Bad taste is remarkably democratic and an equal-opportunity "event" in today's church.
Speaking of equal opportunity bad taste, how about Bob Duncan and his pal: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Q7TCCx4ow8k/SlldDFRvhXI/AAAAAAAADWs/092HmRXa_-8/s400/archbishop+bob+duncan+bishop+jack+iker+acna+Anglican+Church.jpg
As long as Bob is linked here - could someone hold the guy down down while someone else tweezes his eyebrows?
Bob seems in good company here too!
http://www.anglicantaonga.org.nz/var/taonga/storage/images/news/worldwide/breakaway/bishop-bob-duncan-with-members-of-his-new-north-american-flock.-picture-church-times/8981-1-eng-AU/Bishop-Bob-Duncan-with-members-of-his-new-North-American-flock.-Picture-Church-Times_randomImage.jpg
and speaking of toning it down!
Doves AND Flamers!
http://cache3.asset-cache.net/xc/74082976.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=77BFBA49EF8789215ABF3343C02EA548E6EE9C27BA42CEB904E5B9F5AF26ADA1375C7BA66E766C91
Broken link on April 2, 5:17pm
Allow me to speak for the Hebrews, being one myself. I suspect, though I can't say for sure, that the lady's chapeau seems to have the names of the 12 tribes in Hebrew. I believe I can make out the tribes of Yehudah, Asher and Zevulun (Judah, Asher, and Zebulon respectively).
It's ugly regardless, and I can't for the life of me figure out why it's up there, but I guess there's no accounting for taste. Or lack thereof.
Ah, I know the genesis of the Hebrew mitre (there's a cope too, somewhere). Bishop Fred Wolf, 6th Bishop of Maine, bought the Hebrew fabric on a trip to the Holy Land in the 1970s (need I say more)and had it made into vestments. +Chilton had them tailored to fit her when she became bishop as a way to honor +Fred's episcopate.
On her mitre are tribes of Isreal: Asher and Zebulun.
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