The Arrow's Path

In one of the rare instances where I don't have anything particular to add to the scripture readings, it's Pentecost on Sunday, and I got nothing for sermon material. Friday is almost here, and I am about stumped. I have a few ideas in the hopper, but nothing is really jumping out at me. One of the great festivals of the Church, and I am coming up with a Goose egg. Something will come along, I hope. It usually does. I just hate Preacher's Cramp

Hey, somebody has to keep me in line...

May we always remember those who came before us to give us the freedoms we now enjoy. Amen.

Definitely cuter than Archer 1. Sometimes sequels are better.

Sarah Anne was born this morning at 2:30AM, weighing 8 lbs, 8 ounces. Baby and Mom are doing well. I am sure there will be more pictures to follow. -Archer 1

We finally got the prototype of our new parish website up and running. We are obviously going to add some things as it progresses, but it is a nice looking improvement to the old one that was basically not working. See what you think: www.saintpaulsbrookings.com

I remember when Todd Helton was a high school baseball player at Central High School in Knoxville. I remember when he led the University of Tennessee to a College World Series birth as a killer first basemen. I even remember when he set the SEC record for scoreless innings pitched (Yes, he was a killer relief pitcher in college. He had a nasty curve ball.) I was privileged enough to hear Todd Helton get his career 2000th hit in the Major Leagues last night, when I happened to turn on the Braves game who were playing the Rockies on the MLB TV radio stream. He may not quite make it into the Hall of Fame, but he was certainly the best pure hitter of his generation in the Majors. Congrats, Todd.

You may have noticed that I had added a few fun things to the sidebars on my blog. I have added two "Quote of the Day" features from CS Lewis and St. Augustine, which can be seen under their icon pictures. I have also added a VodPod video widget, that I hope to update periodically with new content. For fun, I added a few video clips from YouTube called Mr. Deity. I know one of the actors in them from my college days. The assistant with the glasses is actually a minister, or was. I am not sure if he still is or not. I hope no one is offended by them. They are a bit of parody (and there are several other episodes that I did not want get around to uploading), so please take them as such. They do ask some very poignant questions about theology though.

This is a pretty cool video from a Russian Orthodox Church...

So I finally spent the 15 dollars (I know, I'm cheap) and got season access to Major League Baseball's gameday audio . You can have access to all the live radio broadcasts of baseball games via internet streaming. You can apparently also, for $100 a season, get live TV streaming of all baseball games onto your computer. From the demo, it looks like its High Def and all, which is actually a pretty good deal. You can't get that package on Satellite for that little. However, being a radio guy, I would just as soon listen to radio broadcasts than watch television any day of the week. (I still don't have cable TV hooked up to the rectory, and I have not missed having TV in the slightest for going on 4 months now.) With my little FM broadcaster that I hook up to my computer, I can broadcast all the games to my actual radio. I must say I am enjoying it. While the Twins have a good radio announcer, I just couldn't get into to listening to the Twins exclusively. It just brou

A friend of a friend of mine, Fr. Joe Pace who is an Episcopal priest, is visiting the Holy Land this week. He has been posting some good pictures on his Flickr account. This pictures of Petra are really neat. Check them out here .

I was in a discussion over on another blog about some of the trendy atheist books that have been on the best seller list for a while. I wrote a comment that I will repost here, that I think captures some of my opinions of works like Richard Dawkins' book, The God Delusion : My post from Father Longnecker's blog : I usually try to read all the trendy atheist books when they come out, if for no other reason than to be able to talk about the arguments coherently if queried by a parishioner who is vexed by the issues presented in such works. I, too, am always left with the question of why so many of the authors, particularly Dawkins of late, are so vociferously angry and hostile. I actually enjoyed reading some of Dawkins' early work. He was always an atheist, but his early stuff was really thought provoking, as he made some critiques, usually in a reasonable tone of voice, of religion, particularly Christianity, that I thought were valid criticisms, even if I did not agree wit

(You may have to click on 'Fullscreen' to view the slide show) I found some old pictures of St. Paul's in the basement as I was rummaging around. I think the oldest one is from around 1918, the other two from the 1950s or early 60's, and the color one is one I took at Easter of this year.

I was digging around in the church sacristy, which I am notorious for doing, and came across an old King James Bible. Pasted on the inside cover was a now yellowing newspaper clipping with the following quote. The clipping is undated and does not attribute the saying to anyone in particular. I ran across it the other day and cannot get the words out of my mind. See what you think: "To say I don't need the church is mere bravado; I needed it when my father died; I needed it when we were married, and when our babies were taken from us, and I shall need it again sooner or later, and need it badly. I am in good health now, and I could, I suppose, get along very nicely for a time without a clergyman, or choir, or even prayer; but what sort of a man is he who scorns and neglects and despises his best friend until his hour of tribulation?"

The Rev. John Tarrant, rector of Trinity Church in Pierre (pronounced 'pier'), South Dakota. Father John was elected on the 2nd ballot, after having received almost twice as many votes as the second place candidate on the 1st ballot. The winner had to receive a supermajority (2/3's) of both lay and clergy delegates. Though this may not be precisely correct, the unofficial election numbers were announced as follows: Ballot 1 (Results insufficient for election): Minimum 34 clergy and 92 lay votes needed for election. 1. John Tarrant (Diocese of South Dakota) Lay: 73 (of 136) Clergy: 27 (of 50) 2. Peter Stebinger (Diocese of Connecticut) Lay: 36, Clergy: 11 3. John Floberg (Diocese of North Dakota) Lay: 15, Clergy 7 4. Douglas Dunn (Dioccese of Colorado) Lay: 12, Clergy: 5 It was announced after the 1st ballot that 2nd place vote getter, The Rev. Peter Stebinger, had withdrawn. Ballot 2 (Results sufficient for election): Minimum 36 clergy and 93 lay votes needed for election.

Please pray for the Bishop's election tomorrow in Pierre. May God lead us toward a good and wise leader for the Diocese of South Dakota.

You may have to click on 'Fullscreen' to view the slide show. And, yes, that's a pinata I am holding. We had some fun at Church school...

My blog has been acting rather weird, posting entries numerous times. I think I have the problem fixed, but I can't say for sure. Blog Weirdness...you have to love it.

One of the things I quickly learned about in Brookings is the town community garden. There is an old golf course on the outskirts of town where you can rent a plot of about 25' x 10' square feet or so for about $15 a plot. We got our request in to reserve one pretty much as soon as we heard about it. I went out and planted my remaining ecumenical cabbages and a few greens this afternoon for the first time. The ground looks pretty black, so I imagine things will grow well. Usually they recommend a very late planting season. Most things other than greens and very hearty things like that I am told should not be planted before May 15th. This is South Dakota after all. I am actually looking forward to trying a few things. I had a pretty productive herb garden at my house in Lincoln last year, so I may branch out and try a few other things. This is basically an experimental year so that I can see what I can actually grow in South Dakota and what does not really work. Both my parents

when the bride (particularly) and groom are laid back and not freaking about about every little detail. I've really been spoiled as a clergyman. I have done three incredibly mellow weddings in a row. I do hope the third time isn't the charm, and I end up with a Bridezilla next go round. And, though rare, Groomzillas are actually worse.

For those of you who are not in the know, the Diocese of South Dakota is in the middle of a bishop's election. The 4 candidates, which can be read about here in the current edition of the Church News (required PDF reader), are being ferreted about this week to several places in the diocese in what we are calling "Walkabouts," otherwise derogatorily known as Dog 'n Pony shows. (If you have ever been to one, you know why.) The candidates are taken to various places for question and answer sessions with the folks in the region. It kicked off at the Cathedral in Sioux Falls on Wednesday evening for three hours. I had a continuing education class early in the day for 4 hours; so, needless to say I was really tired of listening to people talk by the end of that 14 hours day. Overall, I thought the Q and A session covered a lot of ground. There were some issues I would have liked to have seen discussed, but given the time constraints, I think they got to as many pertinent q