The Arrow's Path

December 1st is the Feast Day of Nicholas Ferrar in the Episcopal Church. (It's December 4th in the Church of England.) I have never been quite certain why he is on the American calendar of Saints. He lived in the early 1600s in Cambridgeshire, England, and was an ordained deacon. He and his family retired early in life to a quiet and largely abandoned corner of Huntingdonshire to a hamlet called Little Gidding. Ferrar and his family largely created a community of prayer. The manor and little church attached to the manor became an outpost of continual prayer following the designs of the Book of Common Prayer.  As the story goes, someone from the family was always in the chapel at prayer, day or night. They took literally the Biblical call to pray without ceasing. This, of course, was the days between Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries in England and the revival of any form of monasticism or religious orders in England that really didn't arise again until the 18...

First Sunday of Advent Isaiah 2: 1-5: An advent reflection from the Cathedral of St. George in Jerusalem Whenever mountaintops are mentioned in the Bible, we do well to pay attention. The high places were often associated with important events, revelations, and visions from God’s very hand. Moses at Mt. Sinai, Jesus in prayer on various mountains and the Transfiguration all come to mind. In this passage the holy mountain of Jerusalem, referred to as Zion, is brought into sharp focus as God’s dwelling place from which all the nations are invited to come and learn to walk in the light of the way of the Lord. This vision is inspiring to all who work, pray, and hope for peace, both here in Jerusalem and throughout the world. The power of all people coming in humility to learn of God’s way of life to turn away from division, violence and war towards God’s way of light provides a vision of hope for the future of all creation. However, the historical record since Isaiah’s vision sugge...

It had me going there for a minute, but the satirical criticism of Avatar's plagiarism creative borrowing actually made me laugh out loud.

"Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see." -- C.S. Lewis

Listen to an Advent Carol service from St. John's college-Cambridge via BBC Radio 3. I think this is a fitting way to celebrate my 1700th post on this blog.

I am doing a topical series of sermons for Advent entitled Treasures from the Prayerbook. Here are some excerpts from this Sunday's sermon on the Christian Hope: What I usually assign to the Advent wreath are the 4 themes of Hope, Peace, Joy and Love. The candle symbolizing the Christian hope is the candle that is lit this morning on the Advent Wreath. There are several items-treasures if you will, in the Book of Common Prayer that I could direct you to that has the theme of hope. There are psalms; there are collect prayers; there are some canticles, the entire funeral service is very hope filled. But more basic than that is the definition of what we as Episcopalians mean when we say the Christian hope. Some Christians would define the Christian hope as nothing more than the hope that we'll all be with Jesus one day in heaven in the sweet by and by, as the old gospel hymn goes. Some Christians would define the Christian hope as some formula-some mathematical-like equation...

I am having a hard time getting my head around the fact that Advent starts tomorrow. I even added some greenery to the church just now and got out the Advent candle, and it is has not yet sunk in. I am usually chomping at the bit by this time because I really do love Advent. Ready or not, here we come...

More good stuff from Orthodox priest Father Oliver up in Fargo.

Constant thanksgiving and gratitude are due from the American people to Almighty God for His goodness and mercy, which have followed them since the day He made them a nation and vouchsafed to them a free government. With loving kindness He has constantly led us in the way of prosperity and greatness. He has not visited with swift punishment our shortcomings, but with gracious care He has warned us of our dependence upon His forbearance and has taught us that obedience to His holy law is the price of a continuance of His precious gifts. In acknowledgment of all that God has done for us as a nation, and to the end that on an appointed day the united prayers and praise of a grateful country may reach the throne of grace, I, Grover Cleveland, President of the United States, do hereby designate and set apart Thursday, the 29th day of November instant, as a day of thanksgiving and prayer, to be kept and observed throughout the land. On that day let all our people suspend their ordinary w...

When I was in elementary school, I was always perplexed during November when the teacher would always present the annual "Thanksgiving Day" lesson about Pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving. I was always puzzled at the traditional picture of the Pilgrims, and why they needed buckles on their hats. I remember the teacher, already frazzled by hyper kids ready to go home for a long Thanksgiving weekend, never appreciated my persistent curiosity. As it turns out, there is a lot in the traditional Thanksgiving story that modern historians believe to be out of place and actually apocryphal. The Pilgrims probably didn't call themselves Pilgrims and almost certainly didn't wear buckles because staunch Calvinist Puritans frowned on showy fashion accessories like buckles as vanity. Likewise, the “Pilgrims” at that first Thanksgiving dinner did not likely eat Turkey, dressing, and cranberry sauce in some field somewhere, as they were still living largely on the Mayflower becaus...

Echoing Fr. Tim concerning the disturbing escalation in Korea: "Eternal God, in whose perfect kingdom no sword is drawn but the sword of righteousness, no strength known but the strength of love: So mightily spread abroad your Spirit, that all peoples may be gathered under the banner of the Prince of Peace, as children of one Father; to whom be dominion and glory, now and for ever. Amen."   Book of Common Prayer, 1979

Food for thought from Fr. Stephen.

"One of the advantages of having a written and printed service, is that it enables you to see when people's feelings and thoughts have changed. When people begin to find the words of our service difficult to join in, that is of course a sign the we do not feel about those things exactly as our ancestors. Many people have, as their immediate reaction to that situation, the simple remedy-'Well, change the words'-which would be very sensible if you knew that we are right and our ancestors were wrong. It is always at least worth while to find out who it is that is wrong... "I am speaking to Christians. Many of you, no doubt, are very far ahead of me in the Christian way. It is not for me to decide whether you should confess your sins to a priest or not (our Prayer Book leaves that free to all and demands it of none) but if you do not, you should at least make a list on a piece of paper, and make a serious act of act of penance about each one of them. There is somethi...

The following is a hagiography of King Edmund of East Anglia by Abbo of Fleury  from about AD 1000. King Edmund's Feast Day is Saturday. -The Archer --------------------------------------------------------------- Edmund the Blessed, King of East Anglia, was wise and worthy, and exalted among the noble servants of the almighty God. He was humble and virtuous and remained so resolute that he would not turn to shameful vices, nor would he bend his morality in any way, but was ever-mindful of the true teaching: "If you are installed as a ruler, don't puff yourself up, but be among men just like one of them." He was charitable to poor folks and widows, just like a father, and with benevolence he guided his people always towards righteousness, and restrained the cruel, and lived happily in the true faith. Eventually it happened that the Danes came with a ship-army, harrying and slaying widely throughout the land, as is their custom. In the fleet were the foremost ch...

"Yeah, there's a potluck at work before Christmas. I should probably take something" "Want me to cook something?" "Sure, if you want to. Maybe a dessert or something." "How about a traditional plum pudding?" [awkward pause] "Ummm, I was thinking something a bit more Midwestern." "Well, I don't have to set it on fire."

Hat tip: James Coder

And they say football players are dumb ...

The things you can find on Youtube are truly amazing. This must be before Noah.

Someone tagged me on Facebook with this little meme. This is a truly eclectic collection of books, but I fared well (51 out of 100 isn't bad.) Interestingly, though, I think of the maybe 20 books I've ever started and never finished, about 7 are on this list.  ------------------------------------------- Have you read more than 6 of these books? The BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books listed here. Instructions: Copy this into your NOTES. Bold those books you've read in their entirety, italicize the ones you started but didn't finish or read an excerpt. Tag other book nerds. Tag me as well so I can see your responses!  1. Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen 2. The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien   3. Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte 4. Harry Potter series – JK Rowling (all) 5. To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee 6. The Bible 7. Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte 8. Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell 9. His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman ...