The Arrow's Path

I've been tinkering with my blog here for a few weeks, and I have finally decided to go with a new look for 2011. I had been using a basic 3-column html script from at least 2 years ago, and decided it was time for a change. As always, I'm open to feedback. Thanks, -The Archer

A South Dakota town made the Weather Channel's Top Ten Snowiest Cities. Guess before you look .

"The Lord called Himself and is the "good Shepherd."   If you believe in His guidance, then you will understand by your heart that as a zealous shepherd when feeding his flock does not allow the sheep to disperse, but gathers them together, so also the Lord pastures our souls, not allowing them to wander in falsehood and sins, but gathering them on the path of virtue, and not allowing the mental wolf to steal and scatter them." - Archpriest John Iliytch Sergieff (1829-1909) , commonly known of St. John of Kronstadt, in his My Life in Christ . 

Over massive criticisms to let players play in bowl games over a series of scandals that should have made them immediately ineligible, the NCAA made a rare secondary press conference to defend its recent actions. During the press conference, the NCAA apparently lowered the bar by lying directly to the public . "Money is not a motivator or factor as to why one school would get a particular decision versus another. Any insinuation that revenue from bowl games in particular would influence NCAA decisions is absurd, because schools and conferences receive that revenue, not the NCAA." This is flat out baloney, and I can prove it.  If the bowl or NCAA tournament game is on a campus premises, the NCAA physically comes in and controls the bowl premises and keeps all revenue it makes off of sales of NCAA merchandise and concessions at bowl and playoff games. This is why bowl games are usually at neutral sites like Pro stadiums or off campus venues because it is easier for the ...

As some of you may know, the southern part of the country of Sudan is having a referendum vote on January 9th concerning whether or not to  remain a part of the country. This is basically a vote for independence. Many of the Sudanese in our communities in South Dakota are eligible to vote, but the only voting place in this part of the country is down in Omaha, Nebraska. The Sudanese congregation at Holy Apostles in Sioux Falls in  conjunction with the South Sudanese political organization and Father Tim Fountain at Church of the Good Shepherd-Sioux Falls are strongly urging their Sudanese community to vote. Because many of those in the Sudanese community lack reliable transportation, the trek to Omaha in winter is problematic or downright impossible for many. As such, the leaders of the Sudanese community in Sioux Falls  initially were arranging a few carpools, but due to weather, they would like to charter a bus to take those eligible to vote in the refere...

O Heavenly Father, we pray this day for the children of the world. We pray that Thou wilt protect, guide, and provide for those children who are unwanted, unloved, abandoned or abused. We pray for those children who have been left unguarded by being orphaned. We pray for those most in peril, the unborn. Spare them, O Father, from the dangers of disease and drugs, an uncaring mother or father, but most of all from an untimely death at the hands of another. Replenish Thy Church, O God, with a fruitful offspring so that the Church may resound with the joy of their small voices that will one day turn to prayer unto thee, O Lord. Amen Source: Fr. Sack OSF, Louisville, Ky.

Thoughts on St. John the Evangelist from my lecture last night to the Knights Templar * who celebrate St. John's Day every year: All Masonic Lodges have the Holy Saints John as their patron saints (John the Baptist and John the Evangelist). The feast day of St. John the Baptist was always celebrated by Masonic lodges. This likely evolved from the religious St John's Day festivals from the Middle Ages. In fact, the first public Masonic Grand Lodge ­of England ­ was born on St. John the Baptist’s day, June 24, in 1717 in London.  Thereafter, the Grand Lodge of England sponsored great annual celebrations of this day for many years. St John's the Baptist's Day in England was a summer kickoff festival of sorts, at least during the Middle Ages.   Eventually the feast of St. John the Evangelist became important as many Lodges moved the beginning of their Masonic fiscal year from June 24 to December 27.  We can likely assume that the proximity of Decemb...

I have been invited by the local Knights Templar to give a lecture on St. John the Evangelist tonight at 6:30 at the Brookings Masonic Lodge (corner of 3rd and Main), the reason being that the Holy Saints John (John the Evangelist and John the Baptist) are the patron saints of every Masonic lodge. The whole event is open to the public, and you don't have to be a Mason to attend. Families are welcome. The meal will be Lasagna, Garlic Bread, Salad, and Cheesecake for $8.

This is a picture my mother sent me of Clinch mountain in Luttrell, Tennessee . We lived at the foot of this mountain, so the house in which I grew up would be right behind the camera in this picture. Yes, I climbed all over those hills as a boy. In fact, for many years I remember the family at Christmas time walking into the forest to pick out of Christmas tree. I love this shot in this picture if for no other reason than that of the lamp post at the bottom. I always loved CS Lewis' use of the lamp post in The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe because of that very lamp post here. This is exactly how I always pictured what Lucy saw when she went through the Wardrobe the first time. My mother tells me they had a white Christmas, which ultimately put 6 inches of snow on the ground. I only remember a white Christmas in Tennessee once or twice, and I can count on one hand the number of times we had 6 or more inches of snow at one time. I very rarely saw Clinch mountain look lik...

This hymn is one of my favorite carols, and is actually Native American in origin. The official title is, "Twas in the Moon of Wintertime," though it is often referred to as simply the Huron carol. The carol was written by a Jesuit missionary among the Hurons in the mid-1600s. In a rare display of missionary deference to Native peoples, the priest, Jean de Brébeuf, wrote the hymn in the Huron language and also incorporated many motifs from Native American culture in the lyrics like Jesus being born in a "lodge of broken bark" and wearing "a belt of rabbit fur" with hunters instead of shepherds and chiefs from afar instead of Magi. The original hymn text even uses a traditional Algonquian name, Gitchi Manitou, for God, though that is seldom translated into English because most Americans would not understand the allusion to Canadian Native American cultures. The original would likely have sounded more like this: Thus in Huron: "Jesous Ahatonh...

I have been posting what are known as the O Antiphons on their appropriate days; I discussed them in more detail here . Most people are not all that familiar with the O Antiphons, but they are familiar with the classic hymn O Come, O Come Emmanuel, which was written to incorporate all the O Antiphons into a digestible hymn. If you read the original Latin O Antiphons, you will notice there is an overarching message, beseeching God to come. Monastic humor is seen if you look backwards at them in reverse order: O Emmanuel O Rex O Oriens O Clavis O Radix O Adonai O Sapientia The capital letters spell ERO CRAS in an acrostic that roughly spell out in Latin: ‘Tomorrow I will come!”. You can witness this in the original Latin form of O Come, O Come Emmanuel.

Interesting thoughts from Fr. Stephen.

Read this little gem from Ohio State  and also this little gem for pawning Autographs for Tattoos. Sure, they'll be suspended but not for the big BCS game, and only one meaningful conference game next year. Otherwise, that would cost us a bunch of money. Corruption: Thy Name is BC$ College Football

O Emmanuel, our king and our Lord,  The anointed for the nations and their Savior: Come and save us, O Lord our God.

O King of the nations,  The ruler they long for, the cornerstone uniting all people: Come and save us all, whom You formed out of clay.

O Dayspring, splendor of light everlasting:  Come and enlighten those who sit in darkness  and in the shadow of death.

You are cordially invited to  Christmas Eve Services  at St. Paul's Episcopal Church Brooking, SD. 5PM Family Service  w/ Children's Sermon and Holy Eucharist  10PM Carol Sing 10:30 High Mass  with Holy Eucharist (Incense will be offered) Wassail Party after the late service  with goodies of all kinds Come and Join Us...and bring a friend. 

O Key of David and scepter of the house of Israel,  You open and no one can close, You close and no one can open:  Come and rescue the prisoners who are in darkness and in the shadow of death.

O Root of Jesse, who stands for an ensign before the people, Before whom kings are mute and to whom the nations will do homage:  Come quickly to deliver us.

St Paul's Episcopal Church  in Brookings, SD invites you to its  Annual Church School  Christmas Pageant  is Sunday, December 19th @7PM  Please come and support the kids. They've been practicing hard!

The American South is notorious for freaking out over the tiniest bit of snowfall. I remember many a winter in Tennessee when, at the prospect of a possible inch (or less) of snow, hoards of panicked people descend on every grocery store and buy up every thing in sight. I even remember going into a store one time to buy a Coke after school had been dismissed early due to possible snow (none had fallen yet), and there was in the store, literally, that had completely empty shelves except for a ripped open bag of bread and a dented can without a label. I was not alive for the 1960's Cuban Missile Crisis, but I can't imagine that panic was anything near the like of Southerners facing being homebound for at least 2 days due to 1/2 inch of snow. We're programmed to be terrified of snow, ice, or miscellaneous other "wintery mix." Now that I live in places where we have actual blizzards and feet, not inches, of snowfall, I have to laugh a bit. We, Southerners, are just...

O  Adonai and ruler of the house of Israel, Who appeared to Moses in the burning bush and gave him the Law on Sinai: Come with an outstretched arm and redeem us.

O  Wisdom, proceeding from the mouth of the Most High, Pervading and permeating all creation, mightily ordering all things: Come and teach us the way of prudence.

Interesting article by the Anglican Vicar of Baghdad on being afraid to go to church .

The first Hall of Fame baseball player I ever met personally has died . He was quite a character as I recall, and a great pitcher : 266 wins, 2581 strikeouts, 3 No hitters, and 12 one hitters, all on top of losing 3 years in his prime due to joining the military for World War II. He would easily have had 300 wins and 3000 strikeouts had he played those 3 years. He explained to me at the time I met him that the famous picture here was not a trick shot or weird pose, but a normal windup. The cameraman slipped on a bat  and as he was falling, the photograph was accidentally snapped. Rest in Peace, Rapid Robert.

The Church of England had a smashing success with their Back to Church Sunday personal invitation Evangelism method . I am convinced that personal invitations are the only way to effectively get people into the door of the church. You can spend all the money you want on performance based Evangelism guru consultants, pre-printed sloganism mailings, masterful flash websites, and churchy programming gimmicks (I'm looking at you, U2charist!), but if people are not invested in the church enough to tell another person about the Church, what it means to them, and (primarily) inviting them is the only way to really get people other than flash-in-the-pan sight seers in the door. Its all there in the Book of Acts: After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over the course of forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. While staying  with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of ...

Sung by the Daughters of Mary Hat tip: Sarah at Grain and Wine and Oil blog

I am doing a straw poll: Does your family or church use a Jesse Tree in lieu of a Christmas tree for Advent? I am intrigued by the idea, but have never implemented it. I might use it next year with my daughter who will be old enough then to grasp a little of what Advent/Christmas is all about.  For more info on the Jesse Tree, click here . 

For those interested in using the Advent Antiphons, I found an interesting scriptural reference for them here by Bishop Hall of Vermont in 1914. The Antiphons are responses used in the final week of Advent that our suppose to fix our attention on the messianic promises proclaimed by the ancient prophets of Israel. There were originally used in the monastic offices in the Middle Ages, and are often called the "Greater Antiphons" or the "O Antiphons." They are presently used primarily in the daily lectionary as the verse for the gospel acclamation during this week, or as the refrain of the psalm. Most people are more familiar with the O Antiphons today by the hymn "O come, O come Emmanuel." Each verse of the hymn parallels one of the antiphons. They add a mood of eager expectation to the liturgy that builds throughout these seven days and climaxes at Christmas.

Courtesy: Gloucester Cathedral Choir

Images from St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Brookings, South Dakota.

We choose not to have cable TV at our house because, frankly, its a waste of money if all we ever did was watch reruns or listen to the news, both of which we can do for free off the internet thanks to Netflix and the BBC World News . I'm more of a radio guy myself anyway, so I was perfect happy listening to the radio. Doing my part to support the economy (probably of China), I decided to finally break down and get a  Roku  internet streamer, which is a little converter box you hook up to your TV and you can pick up live streaming of movies and internet content thanks to the WiFi. I had put off buying one because I'm cheap  because I assumed it was hokey technology like those old cheap-o (and illegal) cable box descramblers you could get in the early 90's if you wanted to pirate cable TV off the main cable. I never had one of those, but I saw one a few times because a high school friend of mine had one. I remember the TV image was horrible and the sound was not quite...

" "Year by year we are nearer to the blessed day when, if we have not parted, we can never be parted from our God. Think it not long to wait for Him, for Whom the disciple of His love waited for seventy years of loving longing, and to whom it might have seemed as though He willed that he should tarry till Himself came. Toward the end He said, 'Behold I come quickly.' " - From a Sermon by The Rev. E.B. Pusey, 1848

Excerpts from my sermon on Sunday for the 2nd Sunday of Advent. -The Archer This week, the theme for the 2 nd week of Advent is Love, which seems to be at odds with the message of the Gospel reading about "Repentance and broods of vipers!" and all that. As I mentioned last week, it has been my tradition for some years to use Advent to preach on more topical themes and not just talk strictly about what is the Lectionary reading for the day. This year I am going to attempt to continue that theme of treasure in a series I am calling "treasures from the Prayerbook." There are a lot of valuable resources in the Book of Common Prayer that a lot of people don't know are in there, or at least have forgotten about. I think the treasure of the Prayerbook that I think best ties together the theme of Love with John the Baptist's theme of Repentance is to take a look at the Prayerbook on pg. 449. This if Form 2 of the Rite of Reconciliation, more commonly called Con...

This Advent  cartoon is funny . Hat tip: Allison C.

I was made aware by another blog of a new photobook for Young Girls that can be ordered or looked at online. The book is about 20 pages of Icons of Female Saints in the Orthodox tradition. There is also one they have done with Icons telling the story of Christ's life that is very interesting as well. Its a really neat idea that you might check out.

I've gotten good feedback on my audio/video reflections (all two of them). I was curious if anyone had any ideas or requests for future segments. My ground rules are that it has to be religious in nature or on some particularly character or theme of Christianity and (ideally) under 10 minutes. I do have a background in radio, so I can probably do quite a bit outside the normal range (read: boring) podcasts. Any ideas?

The Following is an audio/video reflection I did for the Feast of St. Nicholas which is December 6th.

Former Cubs great and broadcasting legend Ron Santo died today. Good sports announcers that can be enthusiastic without screaming and carrying on for 2 hours straight are a rare breed anymore.

Apparently, Cam Newton is eligible to continue playing at Auburn , even though his father (wink, wink) was caught red handed in trying to sell him off as a recruit back when he was in high school. But apparently Cam didn't know about it (nod, nod), so its all cool... If Cam Newton had gone to Notre Dame or Texas or some other school not likely to make a major bowl this year, they would have brought the hammer down.  Sportswriter Andy Staples has it exactly right : the NCAA is looking the other way in a classic case of "follow the money." If Cam Newton gets ruled ineligible, Auburn must forfeit its wins this season, or at the least be disallowed to play in the bowl game, which making a shambles of the BCS National Championship this year (and cost everyone millions of dollars in the process). The NCAA just created a major loophole for "middle men" in the recruiting process. All players apparently have to establish now is plausible deniability. And to think ...

Live from Brookings...it's the Archer in audio.

The following is a public service announcement from the Episcopal Church Office of Public Affairs. As a graduate of one of these interships (Resurrection House-Omaha), I highly recommend them. -The Archer -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Episcopal Church Office of Public Affairs Applications available for Episcopal Church young adults seeking adventure, ministry, special calling Deadline is January 6, 2011  [December 2, 2010] Applications for one-year assignments throughout the Anglican Communion are being accepted from young adults 21 – 30 years old for the Episcopal Church Young Adults Service Corps (YASC). “We are seeking young adults who are looking for a challenging and transformational experience and want to be a part of what God is doing in the world,” noted David Copley , Episcopal Church Mission Personnel Officer.   Known internationally as YASCers, the young adults provide service while learning...