The Arrow's Path

I think I officially hit the halfway point in my seminary career this week and also the week in the quarter when the first batch of papers are due. It feel sort of weird to be half way through seminary. In some ways, it seems like I have been here forever, and in other ways like I have barely been here at all. I did get to experience something today that usually never happens mid-term. I started a new class over at Garrett (the Methodist seminary across the street). The class is called "Pastor as Counselor" and, surprisingly, is an introductory course on pastoral counselling techniques. My roommate and I are the only Seaburians in the class. It was quite refreshing to see some actual diversity and hear some fresh voices. The professor is Presbyterian, which adds to the fun. As fun(ky) as it is to be on the block and in a small community, sometimes our discussions get a little stale when you hear the same people in every class day after day (after day). I love my class, but g...

120. The Raven Mocker Of all the Cherokee wizards or witches the most dreaded is the Raven Mocker (Kâ'lanû Ahkyeli'skï), the one that robs the dying man of life. They are of either sex and there is no sure way to know one, though they usually look withered and old, because they have added so many lives to their own. At night, when some one is sick or dying in the settlement, the Raven Mocker goes to the place to take the life. He flies through the air in fiery shape, with arms outstretched like wings, and sparks trailing behind, and a rushing sound like the noise of a strong wind. Every little while as he flies he makes a cry like the cry of a raven when it "dives" in the air--not like the common raven cry--and those p. 402 who hear are afraid, because they know that some man's life will soon go out. When the Raven Mocker comes to the house he finds others of his kind waiting there, and unless there is a doctor on guard who knows bow to drive them away they go ins...

There will only be one News Nugget today because I simply can't top a story involving a fish species named 'humuhumunukunukuapuaa.' Archer News Service: Because I couldn't make this stuff up...

The Deaf Jedi finally tagged me, so here goes: FOUR JOBS I’VE HAD: Working in a warehouse Construction worker Church Intern Body Guard (don't ask) FOUR MOVIES I WOULD WATCH ON REPEAT: Citizen Kane The Mummy (with Boris Karloff) Dracula The Wolfman FOUR VACATION LOCALES I’D LIKE TO HIT: (I am assuming that this is places I have never been, not places I would like to go back to.) Kenya Nepal China Macchu Picchu, Peru FOUR WEBSITES I VISIT DAILY: BBC World News msnbc.com cnnsi.com my bloglist FOUR FOODS I LUST AFTER: As the Jedi says: Southern home cookin' Creole Mexican Chinese FOUR CHANGES I’D MAKE TO THE HOUSE: Tidier roommate Air conditions Heaters that work right More tiki lights FOUR BEERS I LIKE: Guinness Boddington Pub Ale Harp Moosehead (It's Canandian, eh!) FOUR BOOKS I WOULD RECOMMEND: Oh my, there's so many! Heart of Darkness by R. Conrad "Oh the horror!" As I Lay Dying by W. Faulkner Complete Works of William Shakespeare (with emphasis on Titus An...

Here is some more from the Episcopal News Service on the 100th birthday anniversary of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (for whom this blog is named.) -------------------------------------------------------------------- EUROPE: Archbishop of Canterbury to mark Bonhoeffer celebrations with visit to Germany and Poland [ENS, SOURCE: Lambeth Palace] The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, is to visit Germany and Poland next week (Jan 31 - Feb 5, 2006) to attend amajor ecumenical theological conference and to take part in the celebrations marking the centenary of the birth of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. In the first part of his visit, Williams will visit the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), leading the Church of England Delegation attending a meeting of a Meissen Commission conference on Theology as Wisdom for Life. Williams will leada conference session seeking plan the work of the Commission over the next fiveyears. Later in the week the Archbishop will travel to Bonhoeffer's birthplace, Br...

Want to take a Mozart quiz ? Beat my record: I got 10/10. OK...tie my record.

I finally rented The Pianist thanks to Netflix . I had some reservations about sitting through it despite the fact that I heard great things and I enjoy good period films. The first major reason was more an ethical one having to do with avoiding stuff by Roman Polanski, who I personally think should be in prison. That issue aside, Adrien Brody did a very good job acting. During the last half of the movie, Brody's role became almost a silent movie role as there was very little dialogue. He won an Oscar for the role, and I think he deserved it. I mainly put off seeing it for two reasons. One was that Holocaust movies are always emotionally draining and in some cases straight out emotionally manipulative. I, also, always fear a few things going into World War II movies, Holocaust themes especially, as movies are out to make money. I think making money off the brutality of the Holocaust is just wrong. Likewise, I fear that if I somehow say something against the movie, I come off as pet...

Amazingly, something from the Episcopal News Service that looks interesting... -------------------------------------- Celebrating Bonhoeffer Documentary airs February 6, 10 p.m. ET on PBS By Jerry Hames ENS 012606-1[Episcopal News Service] Martin Doblmeier, director of the critically acclaimeddocumentary Bonhoeffer, says the German theologian’s struggle against Nazismleading up to and during World War II speaks to every Christian today whostruggles with how to respond to evil and to understand at a deep level the costof following God.Dietrich Bonhoeffer, one of the first clear voices to be raised against AdolfHitler and the rise of Nazism, eventually was arrested for his participation inthe resistance and a plot to kill Hitler, imprisoned and at the age of 39executed, just weeks before the war’s end. “In the world of religion and spirituality, Bonhoeffer is clearly one of themost inspiring writers of the 20th century,” said Doblmeier. “And his life andwork continue to have universal ap...

Never tape yourself committing a felony , even for documentary purposes. Scientists discover world's smallest fish . Malaysia creates official investigation for Bigfoot . Hey...slow news day, this is the best I could do.

The Episcopal News Service just announced the candidates for Presiding Bishop of ECUSA. I don't know much about the other three, but the Bishop of Atlanta is a screwball... --------------------------------------------------- (ENS): The Joint Nominating Committee for the Election of the Presiding Bishop is pleased to announce the names of those bishops it will place in nomination for Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, to succeed the Most Rev. Frank Griswold. These names will be formally submitted to the General Convention at a joint session on June 18, 2006, the day prior to the day appointed for the election of the 26th Presiding Bishop by the House of Bishops. The Nominees are: The Rt. Rev. J. Neil Alexander, Bishop of Atlanta The Rt. Rev. Edwin F. Gulick, Jr., Bishop of Kentucky The Rt. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, Bishop of Nevada The Rt. Rev. Henry N. Parsley, Jr., Bishop of Alabama To read the full announcement, go here . To read the biographies of the candidates, go...

Read about it here . This has been an interesting phenomenon to watch here at seminary. The show, if you don't know anything about it, is about a wigged out pill popping Episcopal priest whose family is screwed up and whose bishop is having an affair with another bishop. I can go on, but I trust you get the drift of this soap opera. The last few serious nighttime dramas I followed for a while were The West Wing and The Practice. I finally turned those off too; I have no patience for soap operas or shows that become such. In my defense, I only watched about 15 minutes of the first episode just to see what all the hoohah was about. I got as far as Daniel having a conversation with Jesus in the car, at which point I turned it off. I do not generally tend to get offended by stuff unless it is just way over the line. I am sort of undecided whether Daniel was, in fact, over the line. Junk with this amount of ridiculous stereotyping and obvious soap opera quality just does not do anything...

Woman killed by dropping banana . Undercover Black Policeman offered leadership of Klan chapter . Better cell phone coverage through balloons .

Two Lazy Hunters (From James Mooney's Myths of the Cherokee , 1791) A party of warriors once started out for a long hunting trip in the mountains, They went on until they came to a good game region, p. 398 when they set up their bark hut in a convenient place near the river side. Every morning after breakfast they scattered out, each man for himself, to be gone all day, until they returned at night with whatever game they had taken. There was one lazy fellow who went out alone every morning like the others, but only until he found a sunny slope, when he would stretch out by the side of a rock to sleep until evening, returning then to camp empty-handed, but with his moccasins torn and a long story of bow he had tramped all day and found nothing. This went on until one of the others began to suspect that something was wrong, and made it his business to find it out. The next morning he followed him secretly through the woods until he saw him come out into a sunny opening, where he sa...

The folks over at Illinois Doberman Rescue asked me to start featuring one of their adoptable Dobies once a week. I won't be advertising (well, more that usual) just linking a pic. This week: Talladega

I was in a church book shop today ( not the one here at Seabury), and I came across a truly interesting phenomenon. The shop had a nice selection of crucifixes that I was examining, and an ethical problem presented itself. First, the crosses were on sale, which I might add was why they caught my attention. Perhaps I practice a bargain-based hermeneutic of caveat solicitor (Let the seller beware). But I think there is just something fundamentally wrong about putting Jesus on sale. Talk about cheap grace... I got to looking further at the one crucifix I was contemplating buying. It said, "Made in China." So, not only are we putting Jesus on sale, we are putting a Jesus-on-the-cross-made-in-a-sweat-shop on sale. I began thinking about what a Messiah who would want such a thing made about him would look like and say. Thanks to my picture editing program, here is what I came up with... Dies iræ, dies illa

As some of you may have noticed, I have added a few new features to my blog on the sidebar. The first is the Daily Greek section, which the Deaf Jedi led me to. I tried to find a daily Latin link, but I may be stuck with just the Greek unless I want to invent one. Secondly, and this was just added today, AKMA made reference to a blog search engine called Technorati with which I was heretofore unfamiliar. (Since it is a mention of AKMA, I have to make sure the grammar was right in that sentence.) If you scroll down, you can now keyword search all my blog entries instead of having to search the archives one by one. So, when you need to read my rants on Thanksgivoweenmas or Football commentary, you can now search and surf right to it. I have now finished my upgrades to this blog to what can only call Archer 3.0. I have also been assimulated and resistance is futile .

Anglican General's Warning : The following contains large amounts of geekery, science fiction, and general dweebyness. Rated 'N' for Nerds : Viewer discretion is advised... As most of you know, I am a science fiction addict. My all time favorite series of books is the Dune series, written by Frank Herbert. It is not simply sci-fi, it's allegory, it's simply fantastic writing. Herbert wrote in the following order, if my memory serves: Dune , Dune: Messiah , Children of Dune , God Emperor of Dune , Heretics of Dune , and Chapterhouse: Dune. Dune is quite possibly the best science fiction novel ever written. The God Emperor of Dune is the most complex . The theology, philosophical, and political ramifications of this novel are simply stunning if you like that sort of thing. It will absolutely twist your mind. Unfortunately, Frank Herbert died shortly before beginning the last novel in the series. His son, Brian Herbert, took up his mantle some 10 years later and wrote ...

I finally broke down and joined Netflix , the online DVD rental company. I had been putting off joining for months because its like $10 a month. (Hey, I'm cheap, but I'm not easy...) If you are an armchair movie critic, like myself, its a good deal. They mail you a movie, you watch it at your leisure, then send it back in a pre-paid envelope (which was the final selling point for Yours Truly, El Cheapo), and then they send you another one. I was essentially rented 2 movies a month from the video store for about the same price, and if I average 4 a month, that's a bargain. My first DVD came today, and so I went and whipped up some hummos and flatbread (it's so much tastier and healthier than popcorn) and prepared to watch The Exorcism of Emily Rose . I collect obscure horror films and was expecting another mindless post-modern horror flick like The Ring . (FYI...The Japanese version of The Ring is so much better.) The Exorcism of Emily Rose was surprisingly thought pro...

You have to read this one ...

I was just informed by my mother that Theodore J. Kitty, our family cat for the past 17 years, finally went to the big litterbox in the sky. If a cat ever had 9 lives, it was Theodore. He fell off a roof, was run over by a car (breaking his pelvis in the process), was 30 minutes away from being put to sleep, survived years of putting up with hooliganism from large dobermen, almost drowned in a water bucket, got into a catfight which permanently bent the cartilage in his ear, had an unfortunate run in with a lawn mover but managed to get through without a scratch, had a run in with a ground hog which left his voice box unable to purr (he sort of wheezed), had no teeth the last 5 years of his life but still managed to eat dry cat food, and would eat raw corn off the cob when we would pick it out of our garden (which was a sight to behold with no teeth), and was largely deaf the last 3 years of his life. Even with all that, he was always the best natured cat you ever saw. That cat was ind...

"Will someone please get this black and white slug off of me???" Thanks to my friends at Illinois Dobie Rescue for this little gem...

Body mistakenly taken out with funeral home trash . Stolen car returned...after 37 years . Taiwan breeds glow in the dark pigs. And they wonder where Bird Flu comes from...

I am sort of befoozled as to the logic of the administration at Seabury. While it is Martin Luther King day and classes were supposedly cancelled in his honor, that is not exactly what has happened. The classes were only moved to Friday afternoon and not in fact cancelled. I guess it is truly ironic that we only pretend to have an off day by deferring classes in rememberance of civil rights at an institution which pretends to be diverse. I think that's pretty telling of priorities, but I guess it is a start. The Pelagians across the street did not even take the day off.

The NFL sports rivalry here at Seabury has been interesting to watch the last couple of weeks. Obviously, being in Chicago, there are quite a few Bears fans. We also have several people from Indiana who are ardent Colts fans. Last week looked like we might possibly have a realistic shot at Indianapolis v Chicago in the Superbowl. That would have been one cool Superbowl party here at the Seabury Pen. Alas, no one bothered to tell either team that since both 'Da Bears and Colts manages to lose yesterday to, at least I think, inferior opponents. It was almost like that Colts game had been scripted. Colts were down big, rallied back to within 3 points, turned the ball over of their own 3 yard line, only to see Jerome Bettis fumble. The kicker had not missed a place kick all year, but you knew what coming. The Colts lost as they missed the game tying field goal badly wide right. Da Bears lost as well, though they trailed the whole game and never really were in a position to win it. I ...

The Race Between The Crane And The Hummingbird The Hummingbird and the Crane were both in love with a pretty woman. She preferred the Hummingbird, who was as handsome as the Crane was awkward, but the Crane was so persistent that in order to get rid of him she finally told him he must challenge the other to a race and she would marry the winner. The Hummingbird was so swift--almost like a flash of lightning--and the Crane so slow and heavy, that she felt sure the Hummingbird would win. She did not know the Crane could fly all night. They agreed to start from her house and fly around the circle of the world to the beginning, and the one who came in first would marry the woman. At the word the Hummingbird darted off like an arrow and was out of sight in a moment, leaving his rival to follow heavily behind. He flew all day, and when evening came and he stopped to p. 291 roost for the night he was far ahead. But the Crane flew steadily all night long, passing the Hummingbird soon after mid...

I have updated some color schemes on my blog HTML because I was tired of the Christmas colors. I don't know if the new color scheme will go or stay. It is a virtual work in progress... In other Archer blog news, I took off the Archer top ten football rankings since the season is over. (Don't worry, sports fans, it will return in the summer...) I thought up something new to put in its place, and we shall see where it goes. I am something of a gourmet and am going to start putting up some recipes that I recommend. I will try to change the recipe on a weekly or every-other-week basis. I will see if I get any response from this. If you need cooking pointers, feel free to leave a comment and I will try to respond as soon as possible (Legal disclaimer: but probably not before your culinary creation burns.)

You scored as Chalcedon compliant . You are Chalcedon compliant. Congratulations, you're not a heretic. You believe that Jesus is truly God and truly man and like us in every respect, apart from sin. Officially approved in 451. Are you a heretic? created with QuizFarm.com Dagnabbit...I so wanted to be a heretic, but I guess there's always next year-The Archer

There is a passage in Chapter XII of the short novel The Island of Dr. Moreau by HG Wells where the sub-human creatures chant in litany: “Not to go on all-fours; that is the Law. Are we not Men? “Not to suck up Drink; that is the Law. Are we not Men? “Not to eat Fish or Flesh; that is the Law. Are we not Men? “Not to claw the Bark of Trees; that is the Law. Are we not Men? “Not to chase other Men; that is the Law. Are we not Men?” And so from the prohibition of these acts of folly, on to the prohibition of what I thought then were the maddest, most impossible, and most indecent things one could well imagine. A kind of rhythmic fervour fell on all of us; we gabbled and swayed faster and faster, repeating this amazing Law. Superficially the contagion of these brutes was upon me, but deep down within me the laughter and disgust struggled together. We ran through a long list of prohibitions, and then the chant swung round to a new formula. “His is the House of Pain. “His is the Hand that m...

Here is an interesting article from a Roman Catholic perspective on how life as a priest is after leaving seminary . For all my seminary colleagues, its worth a look.

For those of you who are unaware of this little bit of science news, NASA is going to launch a probe to the planet Pluto in about 4 days time. There is an excellent website if you want to learn about the mission here . The site has webcams that will show the launch as well as a host of other Pluto trivia goodies and spacecraft diagrams. The cool thing was the name list sign up. You could have your name put on a disc which will end up on Pluto. According to the timeline, the probe will hit the planetary gravity pull of Jupiter in Feb 2007, and then will be flying in space until it meets up with Pluto and its binary planet Charon in July 2015. There is an interesting article on the BBC about how Pluto was discovered and named . The woman who apparently won the naming contest back in the day is still alive. I guess Pluto fascinates me because it is really 2 planets that are so far away that it will take a spacecraft, going at essentially the speed of a bullet from a gun, almost ten years ...

You scored as Mathematics . You should be a Math major! Like Pythagoras, you are analytical, rational, and when are always ready to tackle the problem head-on! Mathematics 92% Philosophy 75% English 67% Engineering 67% Journalism 67% Anthropology 67% Sociology 50% Art 42% Biology 42% Linguistics 42% Psychology 25% Theater 25% Chemistry 25% Dance 8% What is your Perfect Major? (PLEASE RATE ME!!<3) created with QuizFarm.com

Thanks to Kyle for this image. I am truly speechless. And who let this black and white man with a suit and a cigarette in here...

Father Jeff has a wonderfully inciteful blog entry on Southern culture and church going over on his blog. I think he is exactly right, so I am going to add a link to it . I highly recommend it if you would like to learn more about being Southern.

Here is your daily slice of the weird world of news: Restaurant serves 5 year old a Long Island Ice Tea Man recites first 4000 digits of PI but does not make the record . Aussie rescued from washing machine Remember kids, The Archer says, "Panic, chaos disorder...my work here is done!"

I little hooliganism at church, apparently. I'm glad I got this new digital camera...

In my ongoing series of bizarre news stories: Blind dates take on new meaning in London restaurant where waiters are actually blind. Computer chip implant to remember your computer passwords. Body snatcher charged 22 years after the fact .

I was reminded, none too subtly, by a Texan friend of mine that while I had blogged on Texas winning the national championship, I had forgotten to update my final top ten. So there, much to my collegiate horror: No. 1: Texas With Young leaving Texas, however, that leaves next season wide open. To be fair, Texas will remain No. 1 in my poll until they prove they are not No. 1 anymore. With that out of the way, I am not exactly sure who will be the realistic front runner. Notre Dame was rumored but with their rather bad loss to OSU, I think the Irish are going to be a few years before they are legit contenders for Numero Uno. LSU might be back in the mix, as will Ohio State. The really interesting thing to watch in football in the next few months is whether some greedy fool of on NFL owner will draft former Virginia Tech player Marcus Vick (little brother of Atlanta Falcons phenom Michael Vick). Vick was kicked of the Virginia Tech team, finally, after...if my memory serves: underage dri...

AKMA brought to my attention over on his blog this interesting link . If you are into MP3s and Books on Cassette, this site is working to make audio readings of books in the public domain. They have some pretty good selections available for free download. The audio quality seems to be pretty high from what I have listened to thus far.

I have been a little lax in the last month about posting my Native American folktales. I am going to try to get back in the regular habit of this. Since I was in a wedding a few weeks ago, I thought this one would be appropriate... The Owl Gets Married A widow with one daughter was always warning the girl that she must be sure to get a good hunter for a husband when she married. The young woman listened and promised to do as her mother advised. At last a suitor came to ask the mother for the girl, but the widow told him that only a good hunter could have her daughter. "I'm just that kind," said the lover, and again asked her to speak for him to the young woman. So the mother went to the girl and told her a young man had come a-courting, and as he said he was a good hunter she advised her daughter to take him. "Just as you say," said the girl. So when he came again the matter was all arranged, and he went to live with the girl. The next morning he got ready and ...

You have to read this one ...

I finally finished my first week of classes. I am basically looking forward to my classes this quarter. Rumor has it that we are actually going to have some real lectures this quarter, not the usual Seabury learning by clairvoyant osmosis pedagogical model. Coming from a more old school classroom model, I really hate it when I do not get good lectures on a regular basis. I understand that small group discussion has its positive learning studies to back it up, but I just do not get any anything out of classes like that usually. I am not paying several thousand dollars a year to listen to my peers talk about what they think the readings mean. Sorry, but I want to hear from the folks with the PhD's. As I was saying, I think this crop of classes will be a good one. New Testament II (with lectures), Ethics II (with lectures), Use of the Voice (singing/lectoring, and yes, some lectures), Preaching B (self explanatory, and yet hopefully we will get some lectures). OK, enough of that rant...

Texas finally proved that it can win the big one under Mack Brown. I was dubious all season, but they did it. And under the gun I might add. They were down 10 points in the second half, but they kept their cool and won the national championship. As much as I don't like Texas, I tip my hats to them. Of course, I never cared much for USC either. With Texas' win, my overall bowl prediction win-loss ratio goes to 18-10. That is the first time I have ever been in double digits in the loss category predicting bowls. But in my defense, most of those bowl losses were the toilet.com bowls that no one cares about. I am 2-2 in the BCS bowls this year, down from 4-0 last year. As much as I had doubts about Texas, I did concede that I thought they had the physically superior team. My key to the game was that if they could get the monkey off their backs, they could win. In my analyses, I thought the two were evenly matched overall, which it turns out I was right at least in that. I think the...

Sorry I have not been very diligent in blogging these last few days. I think I am finally about caught up on my sleep after my whirlwind trip to Chattanooga then Knoxville then Chicago last weekend. TO kick the year off right, here are some bizarre news items of interest: Judge orders priest to prove Jesus existed . French create Fois Gras dog biscuits . Credit card sized computer (don't sit on it).

Well, I am back at The Rock, ready to start a new quarter after some much needed sleep.