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 Parishioners For Bishop Charles Jenkins and Father John Senette of the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana 1. The Wretched Sexton Divorced and difficult, a grumpy man, On Saturdays when no one ever came Except the ladies of the altar guild Gracing the chancel’s ledge with autumn grain, You worked alone weeding the flower beds, Cursing the lilies causing all this fuss. Your wife was Lily, her new husband Gus. 2. The Lay Rector Dressed in clerical black, his collar white And high, shirt buttoned up, no tie, Ascetic, severe, malicious, pale and fey, A giver of record—advice, the widow’s mite— Though his inheritance had made him quite Well off, he had a calling, he would say, To tell new priests, who may have had misgivings, That they were only curates of his living. 3. Sacrificial Giving: Old Miser Makes a Pledge Watching my dollars, quarters, dimes To pledge my share to help repair Our church, I’ve switched, though near despair Jack Daniel’s out for Early Times. 4. A Lady of Tradition Having held with Eliot through change and strife That “the spirit kills, the letter giveth life” She wrote in the new prayer book that upset her: “I’m against all change, even for the better.”  5. R.I.P. Old Harridan lies here most peacefully. She’s in a better place. And so are we. 6. The Yuppie Archdeacon Determined that youth would never pass me by, I lived clean till one day, just hitting my stride, I broke through to the runner’s apoplectic high, Clutched my washboard gut, doubled up, and died. Go tell my wife, who mourns me in black crepe, That not all husbands die in such great shape. 7. The New Priest Looking across the pews on that first day He thinks of sending out his resumé. But no. He’s tired of moving. And, in time, Each face will make a sermon or a rhyme. ...

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