The Arrow's Path

St. Mark's closes the office entirely between Christmas and New Year's. I like this arrangement as its like a week of free vacation. Although this year, it is more of a "working" vacation insomuch as I am renovating my basement. This involves pulling up floor tiles, getting ready for carpet, painting the new sheetrock, etc. Its been a job, but it is nearing completion. Just another day or two and we should be good to go. Wheee...

Yes, that's right. I wished everyone a Merry Christmas...because it still is Christmas. Christmas is a 12 day feast beginning, but not ending, on December 25th. I have always been amused at how secular culture begins decorating for Christmas before Thanksgiving, but once Christmas actually comes, by December 26th, all the Christmas decorations are gone and we've moved onto New Year's and Valentine's Day.  It seems to be it should be the other way around. We should extent Christmas celebration into the actual Christmas season, and not encroach on Halloween.  So, to that end,  Merry Christmas everyone!

A Reading from the Gospel of Luke: In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be  registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; for see...

Christmas Eve Schedule @ St. Mark's on the Campus Rite of Reconciliation (Confession): 11 to Noon (Lady Julian Chapel) Holy Eucharist with Blessing of the Crèche 7PM with carols at 6:30 Holy Eucharist with incense 11PM with carols at 10:30 There will be no Evening Prayer at 4:30 For those who still observe such things, Christmas is a Holy Day of Obligation and Christmas Eve should be properly observed as a Fast of Devotion (not more than one light breakfast, one full meal, and one half meal) with Abstinence (no meat). 

So Advent IV came and went. That, in itself, was not to bizarre. Sunday afternoon my Elks lodge hosted is 101st annual Christmas party for under privileged kids, complete with Christmas bags of goodies, jugglers, and the grand finale Santa and sleigh. The kicker was it was -4 degrees (Fahrenheit for my British readers) outside. And yet over 1000 kids showed up. Then Monday rolled around and I ended up at the emergency clinic. I thought I needed a few stitches from a cut on my hand, but they put some of that new bio-glue on there. The doctor said it was like an artificial scab. It now makes the cut on my hand look like one of those fake pastie-scars kids wear on Halloween. Then today, my wife had her first ultrasound. I got to see my kid for the first time. It was a neat feeling. It is amazing what they can do with ultrasounds now a days. You could see fingers and the the little heart beating away. I got to the office around lunch time and showed off the pictures. One parishioner who...

So, there is a new algorithm out there that claims to be able scan blogs and tell their Meyers-Briggs personality type.  Yes, that's right...a blog personality sorter. For those of you unfamiliar with the Meyers-Briggs sorter, you obviously weren't forced to go to an Episcopal seminary in the last 10 years, as you are force fed it along with a unhealthy dose of Family Systems Theory.  So much so that I now have a psychological gag reflex anytime I hear people talking about "triangulation" or spitting out letters in combinations of "ISTP" or "ENFJ," as if they were some sort of almighty crystal ball that would solve all your personal and church dysfunction(s). Some clergy carry on like its their own clerical astrology. Personally, I think it can be a helpful diagnostic tool, but its not the end-all-be-all perfect predicter of everything.  Meyers-Briggs is a personality test based on some stuff Jung did. (I never did understand why certain big wigs ...

This one is actually fairly accurate, though why exactly this falls under "modern" I don't understand.   -The Archer ------------------------------------------------- Your Christmas is Modern Your wish for the New Year is more happiness. For you, Christmas is a spiritual holiday. You can't separate it from your beliefs. You are patient when it comes to Christmas. You don't celebrate too early, and you don't like seeing holiday decorations in October. You like Christmas traditions, but you're not uptight about them. You do things your way. You like to celebrate Christmas your own way, and you don't like to have to compromise. You love Christmas. You enjoy almost every aspect and tradition of the holidays. You try to give as much as possible during the holidays. You are quite generous. What Does Your Christmas Say About You?

The weatherman has been saying for over a day now that we were suppose to get a big ice storm sometime today. I was hoping there would be a snow day today, but then the University of Nebraska needs a ton of ice to call off school, and it is not even suppose to start icing until around 5 PM . Ah well...maybe at my next job in South Dakota.

Scenes from around St. Mark's yesterday...                                             Our choir loft.                                   The Advent wreath.                                      It was certainly snowing.                                        Markus looks a little cold. No, really, Father...It's not really Christmas colors...it just happens to be Nebraska's colors...um, yeah.  

The following is the +ABC's Christmas message, originally posted here .  -------------------------------------------------------------------- Human beings, left to themselves, have imagined God in all sorts of shapes; but – although there were one or two instances, in Ancient Greece and Ancient Egypt, of gods being pictured as boys – it took Christianity to introduce the world to the idea of God in the form of a baby: in the form of complete dependence and fragility, without power or control. If you stop to think about it, it is still shocking. And it is also deeply challenging. God chose to show himself to us in a complete human life, telling us that every stage in human existence, from conception to maturity and even death, was in principle capable of telling us something about God. Although what we learn from Jesus Christ and what his life makes possible is unique, that life still means that we look differently at every other life. There is something in us that is cap...

For those of you who have ever listened to Garrison Keeler or been to Minnesota, you will appreciate the following true story:  On Sunday, I trudged out to the car in my parka and hat, as I had to retrieve my wife’s snow boots from the car. This is in the middle of the blizzard, snow blowing everywhere, -15 degrees. (Never had to scrape frost off the inside of the windshield…but that’s another story.)  Anyway, I got back into the hotel, and there was a guy standing there in the lobby in a red flannel shirt and furry rabbit hat. He smiles, and in the perfect Lake Wobegon accent, goes, “Coold ‘nuff, for ya, eh ?” I kid you not…it was great.

So I learned what a blizzard was this weekend. Being a Southern boy, I had always assumed it was just a snow storm with a lot of snow. Wrong. A blizzard is when its heavily snowing and the heavy wind makes the snow blow sideways. Think sandstorm with snow causing near or complete white out conditions. I was up in South Dakota finalizing my new job in Brookings and letting my wife see the town and the rectory. Despite the blizzard, I took the job. Most of the natives were even taken aback by the blizzard and admitted that was about as bad as it got. We survived. I think it will be fun. Seems like a good congregation of people who are friendly and good cooks to boot. I am looking forward to it. That is a beautiful section of the country. Most people think of South Dakota and think of Mt. Rushmore and the Black Hills in the western part of the state. They might also think of the Badlands, but few give much thought to the eastern part of the state. There are a lot of lakes and rolls b...

First, read this passage from John 12: 1 Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 2 There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. 3 Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them   with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him),  said, 5 ‘Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii   and the money given to the poor?’  6 (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) 7 Jesus said, ‘Leave her alone. She bought it  so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. 8 You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.’ Second, read this archaeology article . You have to admit, that's pretty co...

Think you're having a bad day? I opened up the office this morning a little before 9, and an unknown UNL student walked in and asked if I knew whom to contact for a towed car. I searched through the UNL student directory and the regular phone book, which were no help at all. They only gave the 5-digit phone number if you were on the Campus phone switchboard. I finally had to get on the UNL website and search for "campus police." Turns out she stopped by campus to turn in a final paper and in the 20 minute process her car got "accidentally" towed, even though it was before regular business hours and she still had 30 minutes left in the parking meter anyway. Now here's the kicker: they weren't authorized to "accidentally tow" it back, as she had to hoof it down in the cold to the impound to straighten it out. Now that's a bad way to start the day.

I find it hard to believe that this Sunday is Advent III, which means we will be over halfway to the first day of Christmas. I would not have believed it back in October when I ran into a grim reaper amidst a group of Christmas trees at the department store.  I do have to admit I appreciated the Clergy Pension Group wall calendar cartoon this month. A police officer is pictured writing out tickets to people who were doing "Christmas" things in Advent like whistling Christmas carols.  I can't find a copy of it on the Clergy Pension Website, so you will have to find it in your local church. Its worth the time...

Enough already.  Oklahoma stomped Missouri into the ground last night in the Big XII Championship game, scoring 62 points in the process. That topped off a run of 5 games straight where Oklahoma scored more than 60 points in a row. The game before the streak began, they scored only 58 points.  Everybody is chalking this up to "style points" which is the BCS-Speak for what we used to call "Running up the Score." Of course, that was back when football was being played, not this Spread Offense Sandlot-Flag-Football-writ-large nonsense that defensive coordinators can't seem to figure out. (Really, fellers, this ain't rocket science. Just place a call to any NFL defensive coordinator and ask them why the spread offense does not work in the NFL. There is a reason.) Don't get me wrong, a part of me enjoyed watching Mizzou get theirs after the naming calling escapade their QB made after the Nebraska game in which he accused the Nebraska players of spitting on hi...

The Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox church died today . He was one of the architects of reviving the Church after the Soviet Union fell. If only all of the heads of our respective churches would be so interested in restoring the church. Rest in Peace, Holy Father...

"Of the disease that afflicts the Church various symptoms crop out from time to time. A rather lurching and head-long pursuit after unity is one of them. A certain malaise called 'comprehensiveness' is another. A hardening of the heart which is supposed to make necessary a writing of divorcement is another. Some sort of unwholesome obesity which makes the creed tight at the arm holes is another. There are many. But they are symptoms of a disease. The trouble is deep-seated. Like all disease the local treatment of symptoms is of less consequence than the hidden thing which is constitutionally wrong. It is the practice of our religion, and the uniting of human hearts and wills to the heart and will of our Lord that will cure these manifestations. Whatever we do, in forming a veritable party, in securing united and simultaneous action, in showing ourselves bravely consistent, let it be apparent before all things, to ourselves and to our wavering and unconvinced brethren, that...

I have the Omaha newspaper delivered every morning. (I think the Lincoln paper is about worthless.) The paperboy is pretty good about keeping it within a foot or two of my front door. I got up this morning to discover two things. One was that it had iced and snowed for the first time of the season. That was predicted so I was not surprised.  The surprising thing was that the newspaper was not to be found. The snow was on my porch, and the indentation in the snow where the paper had been was there. The paper however was not to be seen. There were no other footprints or marks in the snow which a paper snatcher would have made.  Curious.  I pondered this for a moment, and as I had not had my morning cup of coffee yet, I could not figure it out. I walked out on the porch and looked around. Newspaper imprint right in front of the door but no paper nor any sign of how the paper would have been removed.  Most curious.  My wife stuck her head out the door and inquired about my befuddlement. I ...

For those of us who love Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, Father Ed Tomlinson in a blog entry earlier made the following statement: " In some ways I would rather experince outrage at Benediction- than curious indifference. After all- if you do not believe Christ is present - why bend the knee to a biscuit???" I can't top that. It is simply the quote of the day.

We kicked off Advent rightly on Sunday with the ending processional hymn (I refuse to call it a recessional) with (one of) Charles Wesley's masterpieces' "Lo, He comes with Clouds Descending." At the risk of having this tune stuck in the heads of my readers all day, I just love the imagery in this hymn: " Lo! He comes with clouds descending, Once for favored sinners slain; Thousand thousand saints attending, Swell the triumph of His train: Hallelujah! Hallelujah! God appears on earth to reign. Every eye shall now behold Him Robed in dreadful majesty; Those who set at naught and sold Him, Pierced and nailed Him to the tree, Deeply wailing, deeply wailing, Shall the true Messiah see. Every island, sea, and mountain, Heav'n and earth, shall flee away; All who hate Him must, confounded, Hear the trump proclaim the day: Come to judgment! Come to judgment! Come to judgment! Come away! Now redemption, long expected, See in solemn pomp appear; All His saints, by man ...

Archer News Service: Lincoln, Nebraska. After a grueling campaign, the final ballots have been counted and the historic blog vote for "What saint should be added to the sidebar?" comes to an end. The poll boiled down to a neck and neck contest between two major contenders. CS Lewis, the frontrunner going into the race who commentators early on said was a sure bet, won by a fawn's nose. In his acceptance speech to a maudlin crowd of Anglicans, Mr. Lewis, referring to the theme of his campaign said, "Yes, we can...because Aslan is on the move!" With 99% of precincts reporting, the final vote tally is as follows: CS Lewis (7 votes) Teresa of Avila (6 votes) Paul (2 votes) Other (1 vote) Runner up, Teresa of Avila gave a gracious concession speech in the early morning hours from her campaign headquarters in her cell. This quashed speculation she would push for the courts for a recount. Some voting irregularities were noticed, however. Don Bosco had a vote earlier in...