The Arrow's Path

From a commenter via Facebook on the previous entry here concerning Christians and Halloween: "My view is that it does no harm for a little girl to dress up and pretend to be a princess, fairy, or puppy dog for one night. I find that many a church these days is full of people who dress up and pretend to be Christians on Sundays. The other six days of the week, they act like the unholy. Now which is worse, a kid in a Batman suit for one night, or a corrupt deacon in the foyer every single Sunday?"

Please remember The Rev. John Tarrant and his family in the coming days, as he will be ordained the Episcopal Bishop of South Dakota on Saturday at 11 AM central time. For those wanting to watch, the event will be lived streamed at that time by clicking here . Yours truly is in charge of stoking up the incense as thurifer...using a special blend of Frankincense all the way from the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem.

I found this interesting perspective on Halloween from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia. I don't really agree with the argument's assertions, as it is not in favor of Halloween in any way, shape, or form apparently, but it does makes an interesting theological argument about it. This is something I have found lacking in contemporary American-Christian groups that are all about Halloween=evil=bad-Christians-who-celebrate-it mentality. I take a more moderate approach to Halloween myself. Yes, I would agree that having little kids surround themselves with all the really gruesome, dark aspects of Halloween isn't perhaps the best use of our Christian teaching ability that we pass on to our children. However, I tend to split the difference and look at it as All Hallow's Eve, from which we get All Saints Day and All Souls Day. My initial response to this, as I shared with my youth group, is that there is a deep, Christian symbolism in Halloween, both from the point...

The weekend was an interesting if overall baffling football round up. I think this might be the year where the BCS takes a fatal beating, as there are not any clearly consensus No. 1's in college football. Adding insult to injury, I think this might also be a year where we end the regular season with more than 2 undefeated teams, which I would dearly love to see. There might possibly even be more than 3 undefeated teams in the top ten, and that would just bust the BCS system something fierce. I am not convinced any longer that Florida will automatically repeat. As I predicted after the Tennessee-Florida game in which Monte Kiffin figured out a system of defeating the Tebow spread offense, teams are mimicking what he came up with, and Florida, though still undefeated, is looking anything but No. 1 caliber. They have an Achilles' heel now, and everybody knows it. The other major contenders for No. 1 all have their own foibles as well. I was not impressed with Alabama this weeken...

I got to experience my first South Dakota State Hobo Day. Apparently back in the 20's or something, some fraternity decided to have a "Hobo and Squaw" day were everyone dressed up as Hobos or Indian Squaws. It was such a hit that the tradition continues to this day, minus the Squaw part as that isn't politically correct anymore. (I'm surprised Hobo is still in vogue, as that is a term that has largely gone out of the vernacular in favor of 'homeless people.") These days, there is a large parade and its like a homecoming football game for SDSU. We sold donuts and coffee and such outside the church, as the parade marched by. We did pretty well, as the proceeds were going to the St. Paul's Youth Group. It was a fairly nice day for it; a bit overcast but no snow or rain, although I hear there is a 100% chance of a beer drinking front going through sometime this evening. Judging from some of the kids on the floats, it was already 5 o'clock somewhere. T...

I had a bit of a brain wave (it happens sometimes) about what to do with the youth group this week. What I came up with seemed to be well received. It was close to Halloween, so I decided I wanted to watch a Halloween movie. Nothing gory or anything, just one of the classics. I decided to pick the 1931 Bela Lugosi Dracula . We had a little discussion about Christian symbols and liturgical items and then watched the film with that in mind. The classic 1931 Dracula is loaded with Christian symbols, especially at the beginning when they go into Dracula's mansion (which looks like a stone cathedral.) The idea seemed to be well received, so if you have a youth group and want to do a Halloween type thing, you might consider this. If you want particulars, e-mail me and I can give you some particulars on what to look for in Dracula in terms of the Christian element.

There has been some ballyhooing about the supposed Ancient Mayan calendar ending on December 21, 2012. There are at least two Hollyweird blockbusters coming out about the world ending in catastrophic disasters and what not. How quickly we forgot the end of the world bust that was Y2K. There is a fabulous article in the current edition of Archaeology Magazine, which can be found online here . For those wanting resources to reassure people that the world will not in fact end then, I highly recommend reading this article. For those interested in how the ancient Mayan calendar works, let me explain the math behind it. The Mayan calendar is basically 5125.37 of what we would consider years of the normative Gregorian calendar. That number might seem random to us, but it actually makes sense if you understand the Mayan counting system, referred to in the article above as the Long Count. This is basically a base-20 system. The primary time unit being a kin , or day. A Uinal is a Maya month of ...

Ironically, I made a facebook update earlier in the week saying this was going to be the first "normal" week in the parish in a while. No pet blessings, no installations, etc. Eh...wrong again. On the night of the 4th of July, we had some minor vandalism in the church. Some yahoo got in and lit some cigarettes and a firecracker in the main worship area. This burned some nice holes in the carpet in the entry way. Luckily, our insurance was willing to cover most of the damage minus the deductible, so we got new carpet installed this week. It looks great; so, I guess it might have been a blessing in disguise as we really needed to do something about the carpet that was getting a few rolling waves in the aisle and was a tripping hazard. Here are some before and after pictures. As you can see, we had to move the organ and the main altar and all out of the way. It was a task, but as you can see, it was well worth the effort. The carpet guy left a Sacred Heart of Jesus made out of l...

The following info was sent out to clergy in the Diocese of South Dakota from a priest and health nurse on the Rosebud Reservation. I think it is the most helpful advice I have heard so far: ------------------------------------------------------------------------- I am the Point of Contact for the H1N1 response here at Rosebud., and have been researching the guidelines for faith-based organizations. (Incidentally, there is an excellent guide on www.flu.gov for faith and community based organizations, and I would recommend all clergy/vestries take a look at it). I have looked at Bunker's guidelines, and most of them are sound. The Church of England has discontinued the common chalice until further notice, but Bunker is right in saying that the research shows less risk with this than with intinction. We have already introduced the use of hand sanitizer at the altar, but have not placed hand sanitizer at the back of the church for cultural reasons. In talking with some o...

The Archer correctly called the Division Series winners here . Though I was correct, I was somewhat surprised at how quickly the Cardinals and Red Sox were dispatched with alacrity. I was hoping the Twins would find a way to at least make it competitive, and there were a few close games there, but the Twins just can't win squeakers against the Yankees. That's been a soap opera for them all season. As such, I have to say I am not real thrilled with the overall teams left in the Championship series. It is all East Coast/West Coast, which I think it going to tank the TV ratings, as no team in the Plains or in the South are left standing, so I think most of the country is now going to tune out unless you are from California, New York, or Philly. And if it ends up being an All California Freeway Series, they might as well not even bother showing it anywhere off the West Coast. That having been said, both series are intriguing. ANGELS v. YANKEES The Angels are a very balanced team. U...

The chaplain down at the retirement center and I started a ministerial association lectionary bible study back in April. It's grown pretty well, seeing as we had 4 people for the first one and are now up to around 10 or more regularly. Being in Lake Wobegon country, the vast majority of ministers who show up are some degree of Lutheran. Of the non-Lutherans, there are myself, about every other week the associate Methodist pastor, and a United Reformed guy. Having grown up in the South where there really aren't any Lutherans because the ethnic groups that immigrated to this country who were prone to be Lutheran never really came to the South (Southerners tend to be Irish, Scottish, English, African American, Native American, or some combination thereof), I have been fascinated by the discussions we've had both on Scripture and on Lutheran culture. (I understand Garrison Keillor a lot more now.) Today, the leader (we take turns) decided to do the readings on Reformation Sunda...

Yesterday, we had our annual belated St. Francis Day Blessing of the Animals. I was out last week at Diocesan Convention in Chamberlain, SD, so we missed the actual feast day of St. Francis. So we had it yesterday instead. We were going to at first have it outside, but they were threatening 2 to 4 inches of snow. Then I decided to have it in the main church area, but it is temporarily torn up due to new carpeting being put in (I'll have before and after pictures later on that). So it ended up in the church basement undercroft as a last resort. As you can see, it was mostly dogs this year, although we did have a rabbit from Minnesota show up (which I forgot to take a picture of). A good time was had by all, especially the dogs, since they got blessings and treats.

So I decided to take advantage of the nice fall day to take a jaunt up to Blue Cloud Abbey . Blue Cloud is really a neat place. My wife had never been, so we took a drive up there. The leaves, especially the monastery Japanese maples, were just beautiful. We also got a few apples from their orchard...delicious. I got home and decided since it was such a nice fall day, I better make the last of the grilling season count. I got out two T-bone steaks and grilled out. I was wearing a flannel shirt, but no jacket. That was around 5 PM. It is now 7:40 PM and there is snow falling, with an inch accumulation expected. Welcome to South Dakota.

I have been reading a fabulous biography of a man named Father Arseny. The name of the book is entitled Father Arseny, 1893-1973: Priest, Prisoner, Spiritual Father . Father Arseny, was an orthodox priest and spiritual father in Russia during the period of communist rule under Stalin. Father Arseny survived during harsh times in the cold Siberian prisons, where there was little hope for those who were encamped. Little is known about him in the West, and even in the East he largely died in anonymity. In Stalin's Russia, priests were considered anti-communists because many of them had different political views than Stalin. As a parish priest, Father Arseny was convicted for anti-communist propaganda and became Prisoner No. 18376. Here is one excerpt from the book: During one of the winters, a young man was assigned to Father Arseny's barracks. Aged 23, he was a student and had been sentenced to twenty years in the camp. He had no experience of camp life because he had been sent t...

Now comes the time of year when baseball purists like myself have to grit their teeth at the prospect of a Wild Card team actually winning it all. I admit I have never cared for the wild card concept in any sport, much less baseball. I think it rewards overall season mediocrity. But, baseball purists are seldom consulted on matters, so be that as it may. This year's playoffs unofficially started off with a bang: a pre-playoff playoff as it were. If you missed it, the Twins beat the Tigers in an old fashioned, non-wild card, winner take all pennant chase. (See what we miss by rewarding mediocrity?) They ended the regular season tied, and had to have a tie breaker game. The Tigers led most of the season, but dwindled down the stretch, letting the suddenly hot Twins in the door. The Tigers had to play in the Metrodome, a great way to send off the old Metrodome, which which will be no longer used for baseball next season. The Twins won in 12 innings in an epic back and forth battle tha...

St Paul's Blessing of the Animals will take place on Sunday October 11th at 4:30 PM rain or shine. Treats will be provided for all furry critters.

I just returned from the Diocesan convention of the Diocese of South Dakota. This is not a rich diocese by any stretch of the imagination, in fact its still a missionary diocese. Thus, the theme of convention was stewardship. Given all we talked about, I think the final word on the matter should come from the Desert Fathers: A very rich man who lived in Alexandria prayed to God every day that the lives of the indigent be made easier. On hearing about this, Abba Makarios sent him a message: "I would like to own all your estate." The man was puzzled, and sent one of his servants to ask what [Abba Makarios] would do with all that wealth. Abba Makarios said: "Tell your master that I would immediately answer his prayer." -From Sayings of the Desert Fathers . Penguin Books, 1997.