The Arrow's Path

I apologize for not being more timely with this. I thought I had posted some wedding pictures on Monday before I went away on the Diocesan retreat, but I realized that I only posted them to facebook and not actually on my blog. Here I am giving the ring bearer a pre-game pep talk. Mr. and Mrs. Archer Some of my readers may recognize my best man. The ring bearer and flower girl are Mrs. Archer's niece and nephew. This is my favorite stained glass window at the church where we go married. Silhouetted against the back window. Ah...ain't that cute?

Its a baby ! The force is strong with this one!

This is the 1000th blog entry I have made on this blog since its inception back on 18 October 2004. So I suppose this is a blogoversary of sorts. I find it somewhat hard to believe I have posted on this blog 1000 times thus far. I remember when I started, this blog was a Frankenstein monster an experimental work in progress. I had a prototype website that was vaguely similar to a blog when I was in college. That was back in the dark ages when they were not even called 'blogs' and no one over 25 had any idea what a .MP3 was. I had shut that website down because it was a pain to reformat the HTML every time I wanted to write a new column, and I had no time in law school to fiddle with such novelties. So, my first year in seminary I created this blog, which was actually a 'blog' in the now common sense of the term. Some of my friends and a seminary professor all had blogs, so I figured I would see what I could come up with. I honestly doubted it would last very long afte...

Here is my parish newsletter article for February. It is one of my favorites thus far. -The Archer ------------------------------------------------------------------- The Curate's Corner “Plighting a Troth ” As I write this, my wedding is two days away. Since Roar articles need to be in by the middle of month so that everything that goes into them can be compiled and printed for mailing on the first of the month, I have decided to take a few moments and write down some prenuptial musings. Being as I am a curate and liturgy planning is one of the things for which I have been specifically trained in seminary, I planned the liturgy and printed the service bulletin for my own wedding. That seems simple enough, but there are actually many options on what can be done in a wedding, such as which blessing to use, if you want to have Communion and if so which Eucharistic prayer to use, and whether both parties exchange rings or just the bride gets the ring. I personally never quite understo...

I have returned from all things Wedding related, including a Honeymoon cruise to the Caribbean. Yeah, I was on the beach sipping Pena Coladas last Wednesday. It was a beautiful thing. I will try to post some more stuff later this week. Suffice is to say, The *married* Archer has returned...

I am so ready to move out of this apartment. The gentleman in the next apartment apparently goes into a coma every time he goes to sleep. I know this only because his alarm goes off in the morning...and keeps going for about 30 to 45 minutes. I don't know how he can sleep through it, as it wakes me up on the other side of the wall.

Here is my January Newsletter Article from our Parish Newsletter... -The Archer The Curate's Corner January 2008 As most of you know, I am getting married this month. Planning a wedding is a whole different ball game when one is the groom and not as a quasi-neutral clergy officiant. I do not recall having read a church newsletter article before dealing with weddings. With my unique position as both a groom and as an ordained person, I suppose there is no time like the present to delve into the hefty matter of weddings and matrimony in one page or less. One of the things that has both amused and irritated me is how people respond when they learn you are engaged. Of course, my Roman Catholic friends have no idea how to respond to this news. Trying to feed the words “ordained” and “married” into their understanding is like trying to feed a DVD and lumpy oatmeal into their computer. On the other end of the spectrum, I have some fundamentalist friends who cannot figure out how I was ord...

“Dwelling in the Shadow of the Manger.” Isaiah 61:10-62:3 Psalm 147 Galatians 3:23-25;4:4-7 John 1:1-18 -------------------- Well…its over. Christmas I mean, at least that is what most people think. My fiancée has been remodeling her house, so I had to stop by a particular department store on Wednesday morning to get a few more painting supplies. As I was pulling into the parking lot, the Lowe’s employees were out on the curb bundling up the unsold Christmas trees to get rid of them. I went inside. What had once been several aisles worth of Christmas supplies had dwindled down to about an aisle and a half of what was left of the Christmas decorations in the store. There were a few red bows, some boxes and the tacky wrapping paper no one wanted the first time around, and some random strands of Christmas lights. And of course everything was on sale. As I was rummaging around in the hopes of gleaning some bargain for next year, I came across some Christmas...

Happy New Year, everyone! As my friend Andrew said on facebook, "Things are looking up!"