The Arrow's Path

Incense for the Michaelmas incensing of the grounds: $5 Appropriate liturgical vestments: $300 Look of shock on the electricians' faces as I walk through a construction zone in the church while swinging incense: priceless .

I use this when I do house blessings. -The Archer Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray; and do Thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host - by the Divine Power of God - cast into hell, satan and all the evil spirits, who roam throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

Last week, the news was abuzz over an execution of Troy Davis. When a Christian is about to be executed by Iran for apostasy even though he was never a Muslim to begin with? Funny that the news utters nary a word. Hat Tip: Father Tim

The bishop of my diocese has asked me to be the Episcopal Relief and Development coordinator for South Dakota. At this point, I do not quite know what that means, as I will have to develop an ER-D program for the Diocese from scratch. However, I discovered in my research that ER-D has come up with a very interesting Bible study/Sunday school program for youth involving Creation Care and Stewardship . I have to admit I get skeptical of some Creation care liturgies/bible studies because they are either particularly politically motivated or theologically crazy suspect. While we feel we are called to be good stewards of creation, it is not Christian to pray to Mother Earth. We pray to the God that created the Earth. That's just one of my personal theological bugaboos. That having been said, I think this Bible study looks pretty good. Each lesson has full lesson plans, bible study material, and even little liturgies for kids. You might check it out. As with anything, you can adapt i

I have been following a very interesting blog that goes through the King James Version of the bible and blogs on key phrases from that translation that still grip the modern language of English, though more modern translations have long since abandoned such turns of phrase. This morning's reflection was quite interesting, as it involved one of my favorite phrases from the KJV, as well as a quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  This is one of my favorite lines from the traditional wedding ceremony, though if you use the modern language from the Wedding rite in the 1979 prayerbook, the language the priest is suppose to use is the more politically correct, " Those whom God has joined together let no one put asunder." Even more contemporary wedding services I have attended use the wording, "Those whom God has joined let no one separate." What I found interesting (and I had to look this up in my King James bible) is that technically the quote in question is, "

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Oh the wind is lashing lustily And the trees are thrashing thrustily And the leaves are rustling gustily So it's rather safe to say That it seems that it may turn out to be It feels that it will undoubtedly It looks like a rather blustery day, today It sounds that it may turn out to be Feels that it will undoubtedly Looks like a rather blustery day today.

(Apologies for the Commercial) Psalm 8 (KJV) 1 O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens. 2Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger. 3When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; 4What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? 5For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. 6Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: 7All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; 8The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. 9O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!

Because the Boston Red Sox are on the verge of losing a Wild Card race due to epic meltdown, it does not classify as " reaching epic proportions " or " worst collapse in history ." Falling from 2nd to 3rd is not epic. It's the Wild Card (read: second place). If you were not, in fact, slated to win anyway of actual substance, then it is not really a collapse. Please stop carrying on like its Bobby Thompson and the Giants:

St Paul's Wild Game Feed is this Saturday, September 24th. Tickets still available!

I shamelessly stole this from the Vicar of Baghdad's Facebook page : > Only 5% of Stanford University graduates figured it out! > Can you answer all seven of the following questions with the same > word? > > 1. The word has seven letters.... > 2. Preceded God... > 3. Greater than God... > 4. More Evil than the devil... > 5. All poor people have it... > 6. Wealthy people need it.... > 7. If you eat it, you will die. > > Did you figure it out? > > > Try hard before looking at the answers > > > Did you get it yet? > > > > Give up? > > > Brace yourself for the answer.... > > > > > > The Answer is: > > > > > Nothing! > > Nothing has 7 letters. > Nothing preceded God. > Nothing is greater than God. > Nothing is more Evil than the devil. > All poor people have Nothing. > Wealthy people need Nothing. > If you eat Nothing, you will die.

I have been thoroughly enjoying a program that I can get on my Roku box called Tune In Radio . At least on the Roku program (the website itself is somewhat limited but give it a try anyhow), you can tune in to literally any radio station in the world, provided the radio station has a live internet stream. What is interesting about the Roku program is that you can search by any method you like, ranging from location to music type. You can listen to the news in Australia or some Calypso rock station from the Netherlands Antilles. It is just truly amazing. My daughter likes to dance in the mornings after we watch the news. These are some of her favorite radio stations: Jazz Radio Ancient FM Baroque Channel 1940s UK Radio Needless to say, we listen to a lot of Jazz and pre-classical music. I suppose this comes as no surprise, as she listens to a Beethoven CD every night before going to sleep, and I have been an early Jazz aficionado for years. Ain't technology amazing?  

The Litany of Thanksgiving from the Book of Common Prayer: Let us give thanks to God our Father for all his gifts so freely bestowed upon us. For the beauty and wonder of your creation, in earth and sky and sea. We thank you, Lord. For all that is gracious in the lives of men and women, revealing the image of Christ, We thank you, Lord. For our daily food and drink, our homes and families, and our friends, We thank you, Lord. For minds to think, and hearts to love, and hands to serve, We thank you, Lord. For health and strength to work, and leisure to rest and play, We thank you, Lord. For the brave and courageous, who are patient in suffering and faithful in adversity, We thank you, Lord. For all valiant seekers after truth, liberty, and justice, We thank you, Lord. For the communion of saints, in all times and places, We thank you, Lord. Above all, we give you thanks for the great mercies and promises given to us in Christ Jesus our Lord; To him be

Please remember Father Sam, a priest in Nebraska, and his family. I was just informed his son-in-law, Tony, died in an accident unexpectedly this weekend. May Tony and all the souls of the faithful departed by the mercy of God rest in peace.+

A thurible, a church door, and construction materials...yep, that's about it.

One of the best seasons I remember as a kid was when San Francisco and Atlanta duked it out in the early 90's: winner take all. Atlanta won, San Francisco went home. Both had over 100 wins in the regular season. That was a riveting season. There has been nothing like it since the Wild Card came into existence. Baseball needs fewer wild cards and not more . If I want to play Wild Card Draw, I'll watch the NFL or NBA postseasons. Wild Cards foster mediocrity. It's that simple.

My friend, Prior Peter, offers some good thoughts this week about discernment and moral character .

I was ready to pontificate on today being the first day of September, coming fall, and all that. Then I realized the 1st of September was yesterday, and I missed it. As Cubs fans say, "Oh, well...maybe next year."

So, Texas A & M are apparently headed to the South Eastern Conference . I suppose they were tired of being the red headed step child to the University of Texas. I think that is obviously a good pick up for the SEC. A&M fans were always my favorite fans that would come and visit when I was helping do tailgate parties at St. Mark's when I was still living in Lincoln. They were always the nicest and most well behaved fans, and they were very Southern culturally, i.e. God, Guns, and Football. I think they will fit right into the Southeastern Conference. That having been said, I am still not a big fan of this whole money grubbing, power grab conference realignment scheme going on in big time college football. I still can't root for Nebraska, as I just can't root for a Big Ten team. That move was all about the money, and I have no doubt that the A&M move is the same. At least A&M plays Arkansas on a regular basis (and its usually a good game.) To my knowledge, N