The Arrow's Path

The 10th Anniversary of the terrorist attacks on 9/11 happens to fall on a Sunday this year. I have already noticed a few news websites beginning to gear up for an extravaganza of nostalgia on the topic. I always find such things to be both distasteful and, frankly, to be sheer laziness on the parts of news reporters. Simply going back and digging up news archives of events of the past instead of covering real news lacks a certain journalistic integrity in my opinion. Retrospectives and "what have we learned" documentaries are fine, but just having a 24-hour recast of horrific events 10 years ago strikes me as ghoulish. As I noted, 9/11 falls on a Sunday. As chance (Divine providence?) would have it, the Lectionary readings, particularly the gospel, for that Sunday are truly an interesting happenstance. The Gospel Reading from Matthew for that Sunday is as follows: " Peter came and said to Jesus, "Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how ofte...

Hopefully, we are on the downhill slope for the elevator project here at St. Paul's. The bricks just arrived for the exterior wall. The roofing on that wall has already been completed. This is exciting!

"Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it." -CS Lewis

My friend, Prior Peter, of Holy Cross Monastery in Chicago has recently posted 2 interesting posts concerning "God or Subjective Concept?" You can read both here and here . They are worth a read. Coincidentally, if you live in the Metro Chicago area and ever need an well made and affordable casket for a loved one, do check out their monastery caskets . They have a wonderful ministry doing that, particularly for poorer folks who can't afford several thousand dollars for a casket.

I was looking through the Sioux Falls phone book(s) that appeared en masse at the church yesterday. In the Yellow Pages in the churches section, church are broken down into denomination headings with each member church of each denomination under one section. Around here its 3 pages of Lutheran churches and the one and a half pages of everybody else. Under the 'Churches: Catholic-Traditional' heading was one listing:  Living Hope Wesleyan Church . The sound you are hearing is the collective laughing of John and Charles Wesley.

"O  MOST  mighty and gracious good God, thy mercy is over all thy works, but in special manner hath been extended toward us, whom thou hast so powerfully and wonderfully defended. Thou hast shewed us terrible things, and wonders in the deep, that we might see how powerful and gracious a God thou art; how able and ready to help them that trust in thee. Thou hast shewed us how both winds and seas obey thy command; that we may learn, even from them, hereafter to obey thy voice, and to do thy will. We therefore bless and glorify thy Name, for this thy mercy in saving us, when we were ready to perish. And, we beseech thee, make us as truly sensible now of thy mercy, as we were then of the danger: And give us hearts always ready to express our thankfulness, not only by words, but also by our lives, in being more obedient to thy holy commandments. Continue, we beseech thee, this thy goodness to us; that we, whom thou hast saved, may serve thee in holiness and righteousness all the da...

Voice commentary on the damage here from the Weather Channel (pardon the commercial.)

In a good way .

They just don't make 'em like they used to .

A 360 degree tour.  This is just cool.

I'm thinking of leading a book discussion for the parish youth group when we start up again in September. Most of the kids like to read, so I was wondering if anyone had any good suggestions that I might consider. It needs to be accessible to teenagers (i.e. not corny or too heavy) but also has some good theological content that would be good for discussion. I'd also like it to be fun and not too dreadfully dogmatic. I'd like to have a list so I can allow the group to pick what it wants to read. Right now I'm thinking maybe something like the first of CS Lewis' space trilogy or L'engle's a Wrinkle in Time . Maybe a few chapters from NT Wright's Simply Christian but that might be too heavy. It also needs to be relatively affordable a book, and easily obtainable. Something out of print might be hard to come by for several people. Any ideas?

There is a very thoughtful article at the Hardball Times about Professional Sportmen and Suicide . This story hit home a bit for me because I actually got to see Hideki Irabu pitch once at a major league game. The article is worth a read.

I ran across this little gem today:  Theophan the Recluse 's " What to Do about a Bad Priest ." How's that for "being pastoral"?

Well, turns out one of the crew of the Chinook that was shot down a few weeks back was someone I knew. I knew his step-brother better. We went to college together. He's the 6th person I've known that has been killed in Iraq or Afghanistan. Grant him rest, O Lord, and let light perpetual shine him so that he and all the souls of the faithful departed by the mercy of God rest in Peace.+

The following is an Ministerial Association article that will appear in tomorrow's local paper. -The Archer ___________________________________________________________ "Cut out this article and keep it for reference" A few years ago before I moved to Brookings, I was working at a church in another state. One day, a woman appeared on our church doorstep. She was not a member of our congregation. In fact, I did not even know her name. All I knew about her was what I saw: a stylishly dressed woman who had a black eye and an upper lip that was bleeding profusely. While it was difficult to understand the words she was speaking, the message she was conveying spoke volumes: this woman was obviously a victim of violence. As it turned out, she was a victim of domestic abuse. Like so many others, she was also the victim of the conspiracy of silence in which our culture likes to engage. We pretend domestic violence does not happen, at least not in our family or neighborhoo...

Homilophobia - Fear of  sermons .

Good Guys Wear Black has a very interesting article entitled, " The Role of the Priest in the Parish and in a Secularized Society ." This is certainly from an Orthodox perspective, but it is worth a read.

It's the same guy...sans mustache .

Previously, I posted an article entitled, " The Most Bizarre Religion News Article I've ever read ." I recant because I found a better (if all the more disturbing) one . My only response: I think they tried this...it was called Deism.

I thought this was a joke , but its for real. Deer Antler steroids? What evil chemist in a castle thinks up this stuff?

NPR did a very interesting interview with some folks involved with a documentary, which is entitled The Interrupters . I haven't seen the documentary yet; and I am not even sure if it has been released to the general American public yet. I comment, however, because I am familiar with the group the documentary is talking about: Ceasefire . When I was a seminarian in Chicago, I was at a parish in the north side of Chicago that was in a pretty rough neighborhood. There were a lot of immigrant groups, many of whom didn't get along. There was also a lot of gang violence. This is simply a fact of life in most urban (and increasingly rural) areas in modern America. As such, I had some contacts with the Ceasefire group. There are several groups that have tried to tackle gang violence in Chicago, many of whom have had limited success. Many groups are motivated by extreme political ideology. If one is not a member of a certain strand of one certain political party, their methodol...

Very interesting article today in the NY Times about Marlins Manager Jack McKeon and Faith. It's worth a read.

I ran across this very bizarre article on CNNSI.com about stem cell research and sports medicine. Particularly, the article is a first person account of a former pitcher's attempt to basically rebuild his arm after injury through a strange concoction of stem cell therapy and PRP therapy. I have read through the article more than once, and I still don't know what I think about, other than to say that I think it brings up a whole host of medical ethics questions. From a sheer medical standpoint, the whole procedure sounds almost fantastical, to the point of being some combination of crackpot medicine and science fiction. A scant $5000 for a miracle one time therapy that can allow a washed up pitcher to regain throwing ability in the 90+ MPH range in six weeks? That seemed kind of out there to me, but there was just enough logic to it that maybe there is medical merit to the procedure. I'm not a doctor, so I can't really speak to that other than from a common sense ...

How (not) to Lead A Camp Bible Study from edgehill venture on Vimeo . Hat tip: The Vicar's Wife .

The Bishop of South Dakota is visiting our parish on December 4th, which is the 2nd Sunday of Advent.