The Arrow's Path

'Tis the season...football season that is. The NCAA football season has begun. LSU thumped Mississippi State with more games to follow this Labor Day weekend. I have to admit that I am ready. After a year's hiatus from college football thanks to my adventures in Narnia last fall, I say, "bring it on!" As I was riding my bike to work this morning, it felt like football season. The weather has been cooler here in Nebraska the last few days. In fact, it got down to the 50's last night. Biking to work has been fabulous. Ask me again about the weather when we get the first ice storms of October, and I will probably have other opinions on the weather, but right now the weather is great. As I was riding to work this morning, I began seeing the signs of the times. Cars decked out in football gear; everything from window flags to a fresh crop of bumper stickers. Students walking to classes wearing jerseys and Nebraska shirts. Football is in the air here. I have found Nebra...

I finally found the ring tone for my cell phone that I have been looking for for quite some time. I wanted the ring tone of the Johnny Cash Folsom Prison album where he introduces himself and begins singing Folsom Prison Blues. I could find the Folsom Prison Blues ringtone, but I wanted the "Hello...I'm Johnny Cash" introduction. I finally found it. Sweet.

Titus One Nine has an interesting link to liturgical vandalism in an RC London parish. Put down the doobie...the '70's are over.

"The purpose of this chapter has been to consider the extent to which moderm science affords us scope to consider God's particular action, beyond his single Creatorly fiat. This consideration was necessary, not because science has an absolute right of veto over theology but because theology, truly conceived, seeks the most profound integration of all human knowledge, and so has to respect the offerings made to it by all branches of inquiry into the way things are. Our expectation that our action in the world might afford some analogical help in thinking about God's action has, with proper safeguards, proved valid. "We have also seen that modern physics is not inimical to the undoubted possiblity of our actions, and so it does not exclude the possibility of God's actions either. It is possible with integrity, if not without puzzlement, to hold to what science has to say and still go on to consider those theological questions about God's action..." -Dr. Joh...

I rented a great movie from Netflix called The Mission that a priest friend of mine was telling me about. I plan on using it for an adult forum or something at some point. It is about a Jesuit missionary in Brazil circa 1750. It has Robert De Niro, Jeremy Irons, and Liam Neeson. I had never heard of it, but it apparently won an Oscar for best cinematography in 1987. I think it deserved that Oscar, its a beautifully filmed movie. If your Netflix list is low, give it a whirl. It's heavy in theological issues, but well worth the time.

of the Lincoln Elks' Lodge. I finally got asked (I knew it was coming) to be the regular chaplain at the Elks' Lodge. I joined back in the spring when I learned I was moving back to Lincoln. They asked at that point if I wanted to be assistant chaplain. I had a feeling I was being groomed for something else. I officially got asked to become the full chaplain today, which is an officer position because the current chaplain is having to step down because of his work schedule. Now, I'm a officer and a curate. At least they serve beer at the lodge, which beats the pants of being a CPE chaplain. Not that I'm bitter about CPE or anything. At least I no longer refer to it as C rappy P astoral E ducation.

I took this picture of the baptismal font(s) with the reflection from the stained glass window. Well, I thought it was cool...

you spend the workday redoing all the stuff you did yesterday while still getting paid for it. In school, if you have to redo something which was incorrect the first time, you don't get credit until its done. In the workforce, its called "software re-installs." Whee...

A lousy field goal, that's all Baltimore could come up with. Wait...this is BASEBALL ! It turns out this is the first time a baseball team has ever scored 30 runs in a game in 110 years. Some things are just wrong, and they are always wrong. There is absolutely no reason why 30 runs should be allowed in a baseball game. Mercy rule, anyone? At first blush, or sunburn as the case may be seeing as this game went on for hours and hours, one would blame the pitching quality. And there is some truth to that. Run inflation has increased as the number of teams in each league has increased. There was a time when there was less than 20 teams. Fewer teams meant higher quality players per capita. I also helped that Major League Baseball had a monopoly on athletic talent because they were about the only respectable sport out there that you could make any money in. Of course, by "making money in" I mean money enough to support yourself. Back in the days of the reserve clause, players w...

My mother sent me these lovely pictures of flowers in her garden. I thought I would share them.

My blog readers should know that giving me broad parameters for a monthly article in the Parish Newsletter is probably not a good idea... -The Archer ------------------------------------------------ The Curate's Corner “Hello, my name is Ryan...and I am a recovering seminarian.” Greetings to you all. I have been asked by the powers that be to contribute regularly to the Lion's Roar. This is a task I am quite happy to do as your new curate. I enjoy writing and look forward to the challenge of coming up with something dreadfully clever to write for the Roar. I tend to write with a Dave Berry style humor, as you have probably already guessed from the title of my article. Please take my scribblings with a light heart. At the very most, you will likely get a chuckle; at the very least, you are offered the chance to save the planet by contributing to paper recycling. I am still adjusting to life after seminary, and I must say that I am thoroughly enjoying it. These changes range from...

I decided to try out my Adobe CS3 Contribute program which allows you to post to blogs, etc. I am still fooling around with it, so this is a first attempt. The image is a stained glass window in my boss' office. Nothing like have the Lord keeping an eye on the boss...

Such as it is...

My church had a minor graffiti incident last night. Nothing major, just a few gang signs spray painted on one of the brick columns that hold up the St. Mark's sign. The cops said that there had been a rash of them on the Lincoln campus area over the last three weeks or so. That's about the extent of Lincoln crime waves. If you build it, they will spray paint. This must be a job for the curate under the "other tasks as assigned" clause in said Curate's said contract. Unfortunately, I know all too well. Between last summer on the Lakota reservation and working at St Paul's in urban Chicago as a seminarian for 3 years give-or-take, I have become well versed in the Jedi arts of graffiti removal. Pressure washing works best, but is a pain to have to rent and is a mess with water dust slurping about, hitting the passers by. If it isn't too large a graffiti exhibition, usually you can get the spray can of graffiti vandalism remover at the hardware store which usu...

I occasionally rant and and complain on my blog about Spam. No, not the meat(-ish?)(-like??) product, but unsolicited e-mail. I don't really have anything personal against Spam the canned product. In fact, the family that owns Spam are Episcopalian and donate money to the church in large quantities. I always found this ironic considering most Episcopalians would starve to death before letting Spam touch their lips...Unclean! Of course on a bet with a certain rector at a country club like Episcopal Church one time, I remolded it, put it with some fancy crackers, and passed it off as French Pâté once during coffee hour, and they loved it. The Emperor's New Spam, I suppose. I ended up making a bundle on that bet. But that's another story... In any event, I have been getting Spam, the e-mail version, on my new e-mail address at the parish I work at. Its not even in English...it appears to be Chinese or Korean characters. Out of morbid curiosity, I ran it through the universal...

Bishop says Christians should refer to God as Allah . I'd love to have comments on this one before the Pope busts him down to altarboy.

I would be remiss in my Anglo-Catholic madness if I didn't post something for the Feast of St. Mary the Virgin today. In Anglo-Catholic circles, its the Feast of the Assumption of Mary. I have grown in my appreciation of Mary over the years. Back in my Low(er) Church days, I was not quite sure what to make of Mary. I went to a Catholic high school and every class was usually started with either the Lord's Prayer, a Glory Be, or a Hail Mary. In all my years at the school, I would usually join in with the other two, but never actually said the Hail Mary. Ironically, when I was searching around (yes, I church shopped) back in the days of college, I attended an RCIA class a couple of times. After the second class, the priest pulled me into his office. He wasn't being mean or anything. He just sensed I had questions, but from theological comments in class I had made, he felt that I would probably not be that happy in the Roman Catholic church. As I understand it, the two doctrin...

For the first time since I was ordained, I finally felt like I was at home with being a deacon at Mass today. It was sort of a weird feeling. Good but weird.

Pun for the day...Courtesy of my cartoonist friend, Scott. this is great !

Has anyone used the Via Media curriculum? In my ongoing quest to build a solid inquirer's class curriculum that isn't flaky, esoterically irrelevant, or bizarrely heretical, I've been viewing those videos (amongst other materials). Given it is from All Saints- Pasadena (who have banned anything that smacks of atonement theories from their liturgy) I am somewhat skeptical. I do not see that they are of much use to anyone. Anyone have thoughts?

So, a few weeks ago, I was the only one in the office, so I answered the phone. There was someone on the other end of a bad connection. The following hilarity ensues: Curate: "St Mark's...this is the Curate." Voice: "Yes, I'm from Saint {static} in {static} Kansas...we want to peek at St. Mark's organ." Curate (thinking its a crank call): "Umm...ok." Kansas Parishioner from Saint Static on-the-Lines Episcopal Church: "We're wanting a new organ and will be in Lincoln next week looking at organs...we hear St Mark's has a big one." Curate (stifling laughter): "Well, let me bring up the Calendar on the computer here...what day do you need to come in? Parishioner: "How about Thursday?" Curate: "I'll pencil you in for 1PM." One week later, they appeared. Turned out they were from the parish that my former roommate from Seminary is now working at. Matthew appreciated this when I called to tell him about h...

It's funny how people in churches seem to die in pairs. We got the double whammy this week, both of whom requested to be buried at another location. I guess we take this Rite II show on the road... [cue the Willie Nelson music]

So, Barry Bonds is the new home run king. *YAWN* In all seriousness, does anyone really care? I am a die hard baseball fan, analyst, and avowed baseball purist. I am known to do some occasional sports writing on my blog. So, let me repeat: *YAWN* I encapsulated my yawn in asterisks for a reason. I have always had a very low opinion of Barry Bonds, even before the whole steroids thing. The man is such a shame. He could have been a hall of famer on his own merit; he did not need to use steroids. And yet he did. Some fans who defend him are saying nothing has been proven. Yeah, nothing but common sense. As I have said before on this blog, Barry Bonds hit a monstrous 73 home runs in 2001, having never hit more than 49 in any other season before or since. This might have seemed reasonable when he was, say, 29 or so, but Bonds was in his late 30's at the time. Just look at pictures of Bonds when he first came into the majors and then later. His muscle mass almost triples, again as he got...

I am suppose to start leading some sort of adult forum/bible study. Anybody have any good ideas or curriculum for such a forum?

There is an interesting editorial on Mass intentions (often referred to as the Prayers of the People in Episcospeak) which can be found here . Although written from a Roman Catholic perspective, I think this brings up some points that I would agree with. I have always been antsy when the prayers of the people are used as veiled political messages. Read the editorial and tell me what you think...

Congrats to former Atlanta Braves picture (current Met) Tom Glavine for winning his 300th game. That's quite the milestone in Major League Baseball statistics. Only 23 players have ever done it. Watching Glavine win 300 brought back the same feeling that I got when I watched Greg Maddux win his 300th: how incredible that pitching staff for the Braves was back in the early/mid 90s. It brought back memories of hot summer nights while sitting with my step-Grandfather and a radio. We'd listen to Skip Carey broadcast the Braves games. Those Braves had 2 future 300 game winners, plus John Smoltz who has won over 200 plus some years being by far the most dominant closer in the game. Then even on top of that, the 4th starter was seldom too shabby. Charlie Leibrant then Steve Avery then Deny Neagle, amongst a few others. Even 5th starter Kent Mercker pitched a no hitter back in the day. But the fact that that team had two future 300 game winners at one time, that's just staggering....

You’re St. Theodora! Theodora was the wife of the ninth-century emperor Theophilus and mother of the future emperor Michael III. Theodora ruled the lands after her iconoclastic husband died. She labored to overturn his heretical policies, chiefly by summoning a council that upheld the veneration of images of Christ and the saints . For this, she is herself honored as a saint by the Orthodox Church. Her feast day is February 11. Find out which Byzantine ruler you are at The Way of the Fathers !

Sigh...I took this again to see where I was at. I feel a disturbance in the force... -The Archer+ You scored as Roman Catholic , You are Roman Catholic. Church tradition and ecclesial authority are hugely important, and the most important part of worship for you is mass. As the Mother of God, Mary is important in your theology, and as the communion of saints includes the living and the dead, you can also ask the saints to intercede for you. Roman Catholic 86% Neo orthodox 68% Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 64% Emergent/Postmodern 54% Reformed Evangelical 39% Classical Liberal 32% Charismatic/Pentecostal 29% Modern Liberal 25% Fundamentalist 21% What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com

I've done this one before, but I wanted to see where I stood at present (and because it was a slow day at the office.) -The Archer+ You scored as Augustine , You have a big view of God and also take human sin and depravity very seriously. Predestination is important for you. Augustine 93% Anselm 80% Karl Barth 73% Friedrich Schleiermacher 60% Jonathan Edwards 60% Martin Luther 40% Paul Tillich 33% John Calvin 33% Jürgen Moltmann 27% Charles Finney 13% Which theologian are you? created with QuizFarm.com And just for fun: You scored as William Wallace , The great Scottish warrior William Wallace led his people against their English oppressors in a campaign that won independence for Scotland and immortalized him in the hearts of his countrymen. With his warrior's heart, tactician's mind, and poet's soul, Wallace was a brilliant leader. He just wanted to live a simple life on his farm, but he gave it up to help his country in its time of need. William Wallace 67% Indiana Jo...

My friend Steve over at the Silent Holocron released his Preseason Football poll. I guess I need to follow suit. After a year's hiatus because I was gallivanting around Europe, my football poll is back in action. You can view it in the sidebar. I feel like I took a sabbatical from reality by missing the whole of the regular football season last year. But hey, if you get to spend time in Narnia, you have to sacrifice a few things ;) Anyway, the only comment I would make is that I have always subscribed to the philosophy that the champ is the champ until they prove otherwise. I do not believe Florida will be No. 1 at the end of the season, or perhaps even by midseason given their off the field problems, but they are the reigning champs. As much as it gripes me, I am sticking to my principles. I think USC will eventually take over as No. 1. They have almost their entire defense returning and their offense looks solid. They are coming to play Nebraska in mid-Sept. Don't ask...I ha...

Certain folks I know always wondered why I wasted my time taking Latin on the side when I was in college. I never really used it much except occasionally to translate something (or attempt to) for fun and profit (minus the profit.) Well...I am finally getting use it for a professional reason. Someone from the choir called this morning needing help with the pronunciations of a special song they are singing for Sunday. Whee...I get to use my Latin primer for something other than a paperweight!

Are any of my readers having to do any adult forums with the Communion Matters document? My Bishop is on the Theology Committee, so we are being expected to use it and give recommendations. I've read through it several times, and as with most of the stuff the House of Bishops send out, (aside from the atrociously bad grammar in parts) and I am not exactly sure how a local congregation is suppose to utilize it. Part IV sets out some questions for reflection that seem a little bizarrely esoteric for an adult forum. I guess we could utilize them in some form but might need to tinker with them to make them more practically applicable. That would seem to depend upon what exactly the congregation is suppose to do. I mean, is this suppose to be an FYI conversation, or are we suppose to come up with some sort of concrete document or recommendation to send to the bishop, etc? If it is just an FYI conversation, then maybe we could come up with a short outline of the history of Anglican poli...