The Arrow's Path

I mean, really old churches .

The United Methodist Church has put out a booklet of Lenten reflections , but these are not your normal pasty Lenten reflections. The reflections are written by inmates, many of whom are (or where) in maximum security penitentiaries. They are worth a read...definitely not from an ivory tower perspective.  

If anyone (particularly parishioners at St. Paul's-Brookings) is interested in participating and ordering from local farmers and businesses in the  South Dakota Local Foods Co-Op through Dakota Rural Action, please let me know. I have worked out a deal so that any member of St. Paul's can participate in the co-op under this parish's umbrella membership. That means any parishioner gets free membership. I believe this opportunity is open to other churches in South Dakota (including Sioux Falls) as well. If your church doesn't have a membership, ask your vestry or priest to contact the Food Co-op on your behalf if you are interested. Because you just can't beat farm fresh eggs...

Well, apparently today is Opening Day for Major League Baseball. I guess you could call it that. I was always under the impression that Opening Day was a day where all teams were playing. Instead, we get this weird opening day that only has 6 games (12 teams). Nonetheless, I am pleased as basketball really does nothing for me.

We can officially start the season now. My daughter just said the word, "besthball!"

There is some wisdom in this article .

Well, apparently I picked an eventful weekend to be ill (and completely out of any news loop). Northern Plains Anglicans blog decided to close. I was somewhat saddened by that, as it was one of the (very) few Anglican/Episcopal blogs out there that I both read, enjoyed, and commented on because it was thoughtful without being shrill, mean, or hysterical. In other news, apparently the US and various other countries decided to start dropping bombs on Libya in what appears to be at random. Even the French are involved. I guess they are throwing wine bottles at Qaddafi or Khaddafi or Khaddafy.  I learned recently from a native Egyptian who currently teaches here in Brookings that for many years (going all the way back to Anwar Sadat) that all official communications from the Egyptian government regarding Qaddafi refer to him never by name but simply as "Our Crazy Neighbor." I feel that the West should of at least have agreed on how to spell the guy's name correctly ...

ד   וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלַי, הִנָּבֵא עַל-הָעֲצָמוֹת הָאֵלֶּה; וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵיהֶם--הָעֲצָמוֹת הַיְבֵשׁוֹת, שִׁמְעוּ דְּבַר-יְהוָה.

Hilarious .

After a nasty bout with a stomach bug, I am back in action (albeit slowly.)

" But because, as it is written,   in many things we all stumble  ( James 3.2 ), let the feeling of mercy be first aroused and the faults of others against us be forgotten; that we may not violate by any love of revenge that most holy compact, to which we bind ourselves in the Lord's prayer, and when we say   forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors , let us not be hard in forgiving, because we must be possessed either with the desire for revenge, or with the leniency of gentleness, and for man, who is ever exposed to the dangers of temptations, it is more to be desired that his own faults should not need punishment than that he should get the faults of others punished. And what is more suitable to the Christian faith than that not only in the Church, but also in all men's homes, there should be forgiveness of sins? Let threats be laid aside; let bonds be loosed, for he who will not loose them will bind himself with them much more disastrously. For whatsoe...

I am something of an amateur cartoonist. I had a small comic strip I ran in the local paper when I was in college. (Looking back on it now, it was pretty bad.) I have ran a few single frame "Archer Comics" on this blog, particularly when I was in seminary. I have also been creatively consulted a few times by Darby Conley of Get Fuzzy and Scott Hilburn of The Argyle Sweater .  As such, I have been reading through the original Dick Tracy comics, thanks to the hard bound reprintings from IDW publishing. By original, I mean the first 10 years of the comic strip back in the 1930's when Chester Gould created the Dick Tracy idea. The comic still runs today  in a shadowy reflection of what it once was, but Gould retired from the strip in 1977. As to the modern Dick Tracy strip, Dick Locher was the artist the last ten years or so, but he retired in January of this year, and has been replaced by Joe Stanton and Mike Curtis, whose current Dick Tracy make-over started last wee...

There is an amazing collection of 250 photographs found here , that apparently document a cruise around the world on the SS Belgenland in 1925. The Belgenland was a popular ocean liner of the 1920's operated by Red Star Line and was finally decommissioned in 1936 and sold for scrap because cruise lines could no longer afford to run such a massive luxury ship during the Great Depression. As a side note of history, Albert Einstein was on the Belgenland about eight years later when he was returning to Germany. He received word that Hitler had been elected Chancellor, and Einstein disembarked in Antwerp and immediately took another ship back the US, vowing never to return to Germany. The Belgenland 's technical schematics are here:  697 feet long, 78.5 feet long. The biggest cruise ship in 2011 is Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas at 1187 feet long and 208 feet wide. Bigger, but not nearly as elegant. Imagine being about to tour the world without homeland security....

Today, of course, is the Feast Day of Cyril of Jerusalem . He has the annually ignominious fate to fall on March 18th. Let's be honest: St. Patrick gets all the glory this week. Shamrocks and Guinness and all things Irish are so much more fun (at least for a day). And if that isn't enough insult to injury, the next day is St. Joseph, which is a major feast. Everybody know Joseph, even if he largely falls in the shadows of Mary. (Saying a Hail Joseph would just seem silly to many.) Cyril just doesn't capture the imagination like Patrick or Joseph do. He just sort of lies there every year on the calendar like a piece of warm bologna in the center of a elementary school sandwich. Let's face it, no one ever cheered for bologna when PB/J or fine deli meat can be had. You can read biographies of Cyril elsewhere. I found this cartoon online gives the highlights: Basically, Cyril is a testimony to the old saying, "No good deed ever goes unpunished." And yet ...

Over on Facebook, the official Beatles Fan page posted a short clip of a remastered Beatles song  ( If I Fell from A Hard Day's Night, fyi.) While I enjoy listening to things like this, I always feel a bit impoverished when modern music technology feels the continuous need to remaster a remaster of a classic. At some point the music becomes a golem , a soulless creature from Medieval Jewish folklore. Listen to any pop tart/boy band actually sing and compare it to what's done to their voices and music via computers. Granted, I realize that a lot of this is done to make more money off a previous hit, but at what point does the remastering of music become divorced from the original artist? Things I wonder about at 3 AM.

The following is an editorial I wrote for the paper last year on Cinco de Mayo . Since today is St. Patrick's day, I include it here. You will understand when you read it. -The Archer ---------------------------------- Yesterday was Cinco de Mayo, which is a cultural holiday of sorts in some areas. Americans often think that the day is Mexico's equivalent of this country's 4 th of July. Most are suprised to discover, however, that Cinco de Mayo is not an official state holiday either here in the United States or in Mexico. Mexico's Independence Day is actually on September 16 th and commemorates a completely different set of historical events altogether. Cinco de Mayo is more of a celebration of Mexican heritage and pride that commemorates the Mexican army's unlikely victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla, Mexico, on May 5, 1862. Writing as one who is largely of Irish descent, I would argue this phenomenon of Cinco de Mayo is probably not that dif...

I posted some info on Patrick last year on this blog. You can find it here .

The following was an e-mail from ER-D concerning what can be done for Japan through the Episcopal Church. -The Archer ----------------------------------- Dear Friend in Christ, A 9.0-magnitude earthquake and resulting tsunami struck Japan this past Friday, March 11.  The quake was the strongest to hit the country since officials started keeping records over 100 years ago.  Adding to the crisis is an ongoing situation at regional nuclear plants, which has prompted the evacuation of tens of thousands of people. Episcopal Relief & Development is supporting the response efforts of Nippon Sei Ko Kei (NSKK, the Anglican Communion in Japan) following the catastrophe. An initial contribution has already been sent to the Provincial Office to support work in the Dioceses of Tohoku and Kita Kanto.  The Anglican Communion in Japan is organizing teams with relief supplies, and will also launch a longer-term response to assist those who have lost so much in re-e...

Very interesting article by Father Stephen . I would be interested to see what non-Southerners make of it.

Father Tim has an interesting post here about "targeted worship. " I had initially wrote a good bit of the following as a comment, but thought I would post it here on my blog as a full length blog entry. I have always been dubious of the "the church must change or die" school of thought. (I'm looking at you, John Spong!) I find this particularly true of various discussions on liturgical reform, or as my Missouri Synod friends in the Ministerial Association refer to as "worship wars." I likewise tend to recoil from church buzz words, and "relevance" is a major one of those vacuous terms that sound like something good, but is often code word(s) for something else. Relevance, I mean doesn't want to be relevant? It's like "family values" or "social justice." There are great "warm fuzzies" as they said back in the '90's until someone tries to actually define it and lay out how one gets there. I ...

I found this gem from the Church of Ireland BCP this morning during Morning Prayer. Its a bit different in this language than what is found in the modern 1979 BCP: BENEDICITE, OMNIA OPERA. Note, that the words  praise him, and magnify him for ever  may be sung at the end of each verse, or of each group of verses, as desired. O ALL ye works of the Lord, bless ye the Lord : praise him, and magnify him for ever.     O  YE  Angels of the Lord, bless ye the Lord : praise him, and magnify him for ever.     O ye Heavens, bless ye the Lord : praise him, and magnify him for ever.     O ye Waters that be above the Firmament, bless ye the Lord : praise him, and magnify him for ever.     O all ye Powers of the Lord, bless ye the Lord : praise him, and magnify him for ever.     O ye Sun and Moon, bless ye the Lord : praise him, and magnify him for ever.     O ye Stars of Heaven, ble...

apparently survived the Earthquake .

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE - Reprinted and Adapted with Permission from the Church of the England website O loving Creator, bring healing and hope to those who, at this time, grieve, suffer pain, or who have been affected by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, particularly Bishop John Kato, the clergy, and people of the Diocese of Tohoku, Japan. Hear us Lord, For your mercy is Great. We remember those who have died and we pray for those who mourn for them. Hear us Lord, For your mercy is Great. We pray for those who may be affected from tsunami that spread across the Pacific. Hear us Lord, For your mercy is Great. May we all be aware of Your compassion, O God, which calms our troubled hearts and shelters our anxious souls. Hear us Lord, For your mercy is Great. May we pray with humility with our troubled and struggling brothers and sisters on earth. Hear us Lord, For your mercy is Great. May we dare to hope that through the generosity of the privileged, th...

The Following is from the Newsletter of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem. -The Archer ---------------------------------------------------------------------------  Mrs. K is in her mid-80's - she's not sure of her exact age.   She shares two spare rooms with her developmentally delayed daughter.  They're pictured at the top of this page.    Her daughter is able to get some occasional part time work as a cleaning woman in the local school, but the pay is poor - less than $300 a month.   It's all they have.   There are no pensions, no hope for more income.   As Mrs. K becomes more frail, she wonders what will become of her and who will take care of her daughter if she is no longer there for her.   The Rev. Hanna Dalleh, priest at St. Andrew's parish in Ramallah and also St. Peter's in Birzeit, ministers to Mrs. K and many others like her.   Their stories break his heart.   He's brought his congregation together to pool f...

The following is an editorial by me that will run in the local newspaper on Thursday: ----------------------------------------------- "So, What are You Giving up for Lent??" Many Christians celebrated Ash Wednesday yesterday. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, the time in the Christian year when we remember the brokenness in our lives and in our world. We walk through the proverbial desert time of fasting and penance, and prepared to be witnesses to the Resurrection of Christ on Easter Sunday. The big question on the lips of many Christians at this time of the year is often, "So, what are you giving up for Lent?" Lent is often marked as a season by the somewhat curious habit of many Christians to “give something up.” People give up all sorts of various things ranging from eating chocolates to playing video games. I personally tried giving up coffee once, and I was grumpy for weeks. My point is that sometimes I wonder whether many people really understa...

Pretty sure he hasn't shaved since last season .

The Diocese of South Dakota has put together some Lenten Reflections in a PDF booklet form  based on the Daily readings for the season. Check it out...

If you want Corned Beef for St. Patrick's Day, better start making it today. Here's the recipe I use. It takes a while, but its delicious!

St. Paul’s Hospitality Committee Brings you Shrove Tuesday 6:00 Supper March 8, 2011 St. Paul’s Episcopal Church Cash Donations to Food Pantry Can be doubled by the Feinstein Grant During March and April!  Join us for Assorted Egg Bakes French Toast Bakes Healthy bites of fruit or veggies Ice Cream!

8:15 AM Holy Eucharist with Imposition of Ashes-Side Altar 1:30 PM-United Retirement Center Holy Eucharist with Imposition of Ashes 7PM- Holy Eucharist with Sermon and Imposition of Ashes

I finally got to go see The King's Speech in the theatre this week. (I believe it was the last day of the showing in the local cinema.) The King's Speech was a relatively low budget film from England, which chronicled King George VI's general speech impediment. Being the second in line for the throne, George VI's stuttering was not a major national problem as he was unlikely to ever be king. He was largely a wall flower for most of his early life in the Royal family. His speech problems were largely kept secret in the press, and he was more than happy to not speak in public. George VI, of course, was the second son of King George V. George V's older son, Edward VIII, notoriously left the throne so he could marry a twice divorced American woman. (He was also secretly suspected of being a German sympathizer, which added fuel to the fire of getting him to leave the throne, though that is in no way addressed in the film.) Suddenly, the stuttering George V found hi...

If I never have to fly on an airplane again in my life , I will be perfectly happy.

John and Charles Wesley, both Anglican priests, have a provisional feast day today. John is much more well known for his work in the American Methodist church. John was quite the preacher and theologian. Charles was, too, in his own right. However, most of his theology has to be gleaned from his unbelieveable amount of hymnology and hymn texts that he composed during the whole of his lifetime. I read somewhere in seminary that he averaged ten lines of hymn lyrics a day for some 40 years of his adult life. One of which is my favorite hymn (usually sung in Advent): Sadly, Charles and John became estranged later in life, primarily over some of the things that John did in America, particularly ordaining bishops, or bishop-like clergy, in America when the Church of England refused to do anything. They also had a falling out over the American Revolution. Charles wanted nothing to do with it and went back to England. John sympathized with the American rebellion though never officially e...

Hall of Fame Great Duke Snider passed away this last week. I've been meaning to comment on the fact, but have not had the time to do so. The Hall of Fame run down on his career is here . I heard him speak once at some sort of a banquet. I can't remember now what or when it was. He seemed like a class act. He got some flack a while back because he had to plead guilty to income tax evasion because he failed to report income from some baseball card show appearances and memorabilia sales. What largely wasn't reported was that the IRS was largely on a witch hunt, and the income he failed to report was totally donated to needy families. So, he ended up paying taxes on income that never went into his pocket to begin with. No good deed ever goes unpunished.

The article from Christianity Today is here . It is certainly disturbing behavior, but I have to admit I have trouble getting my brain around the very notion of the cutting/self-mutilation fad that is going on amongst teenagers today. The whole concept is so foreign to my brain; even as a teenager I feel confident in saying I wouldn't have thought that was remotely cool. I do always try to empathize with people and try not to be judgmental and all. We all have problems we battle, but this is just so strange to me that I have trouble even empathizing with people who do it because it seems so illogical and disgusting to me. I just don't know what to make of this article...

However, often it  creates more . Being of...uh...frugal ethnic ancestry, I often find it hard to fathom how someone could blow millions of dollars in a few years or even live "paycheck to paycheck" when you're making a 7 or 8 digit salary. But, as the Book of Proverbs s ays, " wisdom is better than jewels,  and all that you may desire cannot compare with her."