"And immediately, because he had not given the glory to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died." -- Acts 12:23

This seems odd to me. Shouldn't it be, "He died and was eaten by worms..."? The dying should come before the worms. Unless it was death by worms. Not the way I'd like to go, I'll tell you that.

I do wish I had more spiritual thoughts about the readings, but I am afraid that's it for today. And the days prior haven't been much better.

We do have Jesus eating with sinners again. I usually eat my lunch with a bunch of sinners. Men. Big talking men. I like to point out that sin because I feel that I don't have it too much. You almost never hear me talking about the sins I commit. I like to concentrate on the sins of others. Don't we all.

At the end of the reading Jesus reminds us not to put new wine into old wineskins. Of course, being liberal, and cutting edge, and everything I think I am a new wineskin, ready for new wine. But sometimes the new wine pushes on me in ways that make me think I might not be as nimble or as new as I should be. Old wine is better, but we equate the Holy Spirit with new wine. What about the old wine? Where is the wine that has been sitting around aging for awhile? I might prefer old wine.

I haven't blogged in awhile. There was only one reading I really wanted to blog on and it's long since past... the one where Ba'al and Yahweh square off over who can light a fire fastest. Yahweh wins. Most mornings I am not too excited about the readings, or even the saints. You know how I love my saints.

I do enjoy going to the reading if I am going to write something about it. I have written some essays for The Episcopal Cafe, and when I go to the readings for one of the days I am scheduled to write for that feels like a treat because I know I'll live with those passages for awhile, maybe a week! Those passages become old friends. I love going around with a passage, or a saint, in my heart. I think about it on the subway, walking home, wherever. Otherwise I just get observations like the worm thing. Alas...