Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Is "Summer Solstice" in the Lectionary Yet?

Courtesy of Fox News:
STONEHENGE, England — Thousands of dancing and drumming revelers cheered the summer solstice at Stonehenge as an orange sliver of sun rose Wednesday.

Cloudy skies, dense fog and spurts of rain did not seem to dampen the energy of those who bobbed and swayed to cheerful beats with arms outstretched and shouts of "Feel the solstice!"

About 19,000 New Agers, present-day druids and partygoers gathered inside and around the ancient circle of towering stones to greet the longest day in the northern hemisphere as the sun struggled to peek out against a smoky gray sky.

"This is the nearest thing I've got to religion," said Ray Meadows, 34, of Bristol, England. The solstice "is a way of giving thanks to the earth and the universe."

Meadows, wearing a wreath of pink carnations over long pink hair-wrapped braids, identified herself as a fairy of the Tribe of Frog.

[…] Crowds of partygoers stumbled toward their cars an hour after sunrise, some clutching nearly empty bottles or beer cans.

One described the crowd as 5 percent pagan and 95 percent partygoer.

"Some people here are really spoiling it," said Chris Sargent, 37, of Bournemouth. "Once upon a time it was really spiritual."

Sargent, clad in a long black jacket and pants, top hat and fighter pilot goggles, drank vodka and Coke from a two-liter soda bottle and confessed he was "really stoned."

My apologies. I posted this by mistake. I thought it was about the Episcopal General Convention. What gave it away was the “5 percent pagan and 95 percent partygoer” statement. GC was probably the opposite.
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(I keep telling myself I’m going to quit taking cheap shots at ECUSA – it’s like shooting deer at a salt lick. I…just…can’t…stop…myself; it’s worse than quitting cigarettes and liquor. I am obviously still far more bitter than I care to admit to myself. The Maronites say, “Holy things are for the holy,” not for the snarky. More purgatory time for me, I guess.)