Today I played XO four times, with Show by the Cure splitting the tribute down the middle. I wish I thought that Smith were resting in peace.

Lest I forget to allow you another opportunity to wonder what in the world I think when I am at work, during yesterday’s shift I played Martin Scorcese Presents the Blues and Hormonally Yours by Shakespear’s Sister.

Esaias xl. 28.

Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
The everlasting God, the LORD,
The Creator of the ends of the earth,
Neither faints nor is weary.
His understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the weak,
And to those who have no might He increases strength.
Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
And the young men shall utterly fall,
But those who wait on the LORD
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.

St. Matthew xxii. 34.

WHEN the Pharisees had heard that Jesus had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The son of David. He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool? If David then call him Lord, how is he his son? And no man was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions.

An old man, hard-of-hearing & carrying a cane, approached me after the service this morning and querried as to my name and how I came to attend St. Dunstan’s.

Moved back to the area and didn’t take kindly to any of the churches, really, I answered, and then muttered dark things about the PC(USA).

The old man (Orly, as he would tell me in a few seconds, O-R-L-Y), smiled and winked and told me he used to be a Congregationalist. His surprise at my presbyterianism recalled another gentleman’s whom Nathanael and I met after lastweek’s service. The man, whose name I have since forgotten, asked where in the world we had appeared from, and upon receiving an answer, exclaimed something to the like of, “Presbyterians! How remarkable! Who would have guessed!”

Orly says he cannot believe my last name is Jones.

I proof-read the the new liturgy booklet during the service that Priest Sisterman put together for visitors, and rearranged and altered a lot of the punctuation: semicolons, periods, colons, &c. And also made sure that there was a uniform capitalisation of Priest (apparently Priest Sisterman forgot to capitalise himself every now and again; consistency, consistency). I’m altering your liturgy little by little, Mr. Silliman. Somehow I am going to work the Five Points in. Oh yes. Little by little.

Mischievously,