The Arrow's Path

I may be breaking my cardinal rule of no politics for this blog, but I think it needs to be said. This week is the anniversary of the fall of Saigon , ending the Vietnam War. (I know it was technically not a "war" per se but was a conflict police action, but that is just demeaning to all elements involved.) Though it was before I was born, I had several members of my family serve in that war, including my father, grandfather, and step uncle. I don't want this to get political. I know several of my friends who read this blog are pacifists and thoroughly anti-military. I am personally neither, but I am certainly not going to argue about moral war, etc. Though I for the life of me cannot understand pacifists, I respect where they are coming from. Having served in combat-like situations, I would very much love to live in a world where wars were not a reality, but I do not live in such a world. Sorry, I'm a dyed in the wool realist. I have certainly heard here at S-W str...

You have to read this one ...it defies belief.

I feel like I need to respond to a bit of a blowup I had in the comments section of my previous blog entry (see below.) My only comment here would be that I stress being faithful to your historical liturgical roots. I tend to shy away from ecumenism if ecumenism tends to create one big incongruent blob of christian liturgy, or as I call it Naziturgy. I think in most branches of Christianity, there is an element of uniqueness in worshipping style that should be celebrated. If you are Anglo-catholic, say your high church mass with pride because its who you are. If you are a "warm your heart by the altar" Methodist, sing Rock of Ages to beat the band. If you are a Lutheran, boogie with A Mighty Fortress is Our God. If you are a happy, clappy evangelical, then go for it. For me, liturgy is the work of the people. If its what people want, then I am cool with it, for the most part (I draw the line at snake handling and "this little light of mine." I guess what this brings...

Here is an interesting article regarding the strong growth (dare I say explosion) of Eastern Orthodox churches in the States. No fancy gimmicks, no praise bands, and certainly no post modern liturgy. Isn't it interesting with the bent of more liberal churches to make liturgy "contemporary" that our population consistently continues to plummet. But those churches that give a strong foundation seem to be growing. Maybe by blowing in the wind of culture worship fads, we become more irrelevant than we were to begin with. Maybe people cannot in fact relate to crap like God's womb bursting creation, this is my walrus broken for you, goo goo g'joob...The joker laughs at you.

I got this idea from Frank Yamada: My Linguistic Profile: 50% General American English 45% Dixie 5% Upper Midwestern 0% Midwestern 0% Yankee 0% Yankee..well, that's a relief in a way. Guess I've turned into a redneck. I'm still trying to figure out the 5% Upper Midwestern, must be my time in Nebraska. Try it yourself .

By the power vested in me by the doctrine of indefectability, the old archer has come out of the forest long enough to add two links to my blog. This week's honors go to the Rev. Susie, a soon-to-be-parolee here at the S-W pen. I have also added a link to my very good Baptist friend from my undergrad days, Will Elliott. Will is a member of the famed Burger Night gang. Also, and I have been meaning to do this for some time, I added a link to the monastery of St. Gregory's Abbey in Three Rivers, MI. I spent last reading week there. St. Gregory's is the Home of the Peanut Butter Linguine Gnome...see my previous blog on that (mis)adventure. St Gregory's is a really nice place is actuality. If you need to get away, that's the place.

The New Pope, who shall heretofore be known only as Cap'n OldSkool, has chosen the name Benedict. But what of the 15 other Benedicts? Well, since inquiring minds could really care less, here is your Trivial Pursuit: Potentate edition. And as always, the Anglican General's Warning : The following contains gross amounts of papal satire, popery, and random potentate badwords. This article not recommended for consumption; I'm the Archer of the Forest and I approved this message. .. The first, chosen in 579, is so obscure that the only trace of his pontificate is apparently some document showing he granted an Italian estate to a local Abbot. Hmmm...papal favors, imagine that. The second Benedict, we are told, was a great singer — an unusual resume for a Pope. The third had to fight off an invasion by the Saracens. Numbers four to nine are generally conceded to mark the darkest period in Papal history — one was deposed, one was killed after allegedly murdering someone, one was br...

To the horror of liberal theologians everywhere, white smoke arose from the Sistine Chapel and the Cardinals have elected Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI. Cardinal Ratzinger, AKA Captain Old School, has been a head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (read: Inquisition) - the Vatican's guardian of orthodoxy since 1981. For a complete biography, click here . As I previously predicted, the Cardinal was as old as possible (age 78) and chose the name Benedict. He was not an italian, but then next best thing, being a Vatican insider for years. In any event, welcome to the shoes of the Fisherman, el papa.

Black smoke has apparently issued from the Vatican, meaning the Roman church is still pope-less.

You have to read the following article about a program the makes bogus research papers. This is hysterical. I think I have actually heard some sermons made by this program.

The world we inherited from Platonic thought had the understanding that God was the ultimate other to humanity. That is to say that God is omniscient, omnipresent, all-knowing, and above all unchanging, etc. For sake of brevity, let us leave the nuances of Platonic thought alone and focus on the basic premise that God is infinite and humanity is finite. Christians accept, on faith, that, in some way, scripture gives information about God and his dealings with humanity (Placher 14). God, in both the Old and New Testaments, is not a passive and immovable deity. While He has created “things too wonderful for me (Job 42:3),” God intervenes on behalf of Israel and becomes man in the incarnation of Jesus. While God is infinite other (transcendent), He is also present and involved in the affairs of humanity (immanent). If we are to assume that God has a latent interest in humanity and has revealed himself to us through the incarnation and the scriptures, then we can logically assume that God ...

I went over to Garrett and perused the New Testament Abstracts for some time. I found some information on various articles that I will relate shortly. To the topic I had searched out came an article by Joel Marcus called, “The Jewish War and the Sitz Im Leben of Mark” from the Journal of Biblical Literature. I went and looked that up and Marcus argues that Mark's audience was not Rome but was Palestine or Syria (441). If one were to follow this logic, then the Perkins commentary would seem to be valid, as people from Palestine would understand the nuance of comparing the Jesus Temptation and the early Judaic stories of Adam and the 40 years in the wilderness. One of the major weaknesses of Marcus seems to be evident, to me at least, that from the first page of his article he admits that traditionally Mark's audience has been understood as Rome. He gives a literal half-page of footnote sources (all the way back to Clement of Rome) to support this odd opening anti-thesis. His pro...

In the amazing information bonanza that appears as if from a puff of smoke from the Vatican, here is another almanac style read out of all (yes, all ) the voting cardinals who will shortly lock themselves in the Sistine chapel and shortly elect the next pope. If not done in a timely manner, bean burritos will be served. I can see it now, Pope Flatulus I In any event, here is the length.

This article is the best readout to date of potential sucessors to John Paul II. It is well worth the time if you are interesting in the candidates.

Here we (the main chefs) are at the Seabury Easter Brunch. I don't look happy because this was like the 10th time we posed for that picture. The camera was not working.  

I am, of course, not Roman, so my thoughts and wishes for the next pope are largely irrelevant. I thought about becoming RCC when I first came back from overseas, but alas I never was seduced by the dark side of Aquinas. I will share this story some later time. MSNBC , believe it or not, has an interesting bio readout of the frontrunners for next pope. Here are some of my initial thoughts on who will be the next big pappa. Firstly, I am fairly certain the next pope will be old. Rumors I hear from my RCC friends is that the Cardinals do not want to run the risk of another 20 to 30 year papacy where the man becomes bigger than the office or even the church. Secondly, with the way JP II stacked the college of cardinals with neo-conservatives, you can rule out any liberal or persons with non-conventional doctrine. I think that rules out most of the Europeans and liberals. Thirdly, I think the winds are telling us that it would be unlikely that the papacy will revert to an Italian, unless...

The bells started ringing at the Catholic center across the way at an odd time about an hour and a half ago. I never from the odd time that it could only be one thing: the Pope was dead. John Paul II was a great man who became better than even his office. He was a gret moral exemplar who, interestingly, had an appeal to young people. Sometimes I think in the ArchBishop of Canterbury or our presiding bishop up and kicked off, I really don't think many people would care. My prayers go to our catholic brethren who indeed lost a wonderful man. As Hamlet said of his father, "He was a man, take him for all in all, I shall not look upon his like again..."

INS: Bishop Gene Robinson has agreed to resign instead of continuing to drag the ECUSA through the mud and make us the laughing stock of Christendom. Update: April Fool's!