The Arrow's Path

Take that, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

I'll vote for the Presidential candidate that will agree to regulate by Executive order or appropriate legislation the sizes of plastic Tupperware-like containers. I've got an abyss a drawer full of them, and each one has a lid just different enough that it takes me ten minutes to find a matching lid. The Tupperware drawer: The Bane of Every Man's Existence.

The following is a video I did last year about the Advent Wreath, which is as applicable now and it was then: May you have a blessed Advent. -The Archer

THANKSGIVING DAY 1815 BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA – A PROCLAMATION The senate and House of Representatives of the United States have by a joint resolution signified their desire that a day may be recommended to be observed by the people of the United States with religious solemnity as a day of thanksgiving and of devout acknowledgments to Almighty God for His great goodness manifested in restoring to them the blessing of peace. No people ought to feel greater obligations to celebrate the goodness of the Great Disposer of Events of the Destiny of Nations than the people of the United States. His kind providence originally conducted them to one of the best portions of the dwelling place allotted for the great family of the human race. He protected and cherished them under all the difficulties and trials to which they were exposed in their early days. Under His fostering care their habits, their sentiments, and their pursuits prepared them for a transition in due t...

Whew, I hope I never have another weekend like the one I just had. The coffee pot broke first thing Saturday morning. We all came down with a nasty stomach bug. And our dog died. We are up and functioning again, but it's been a bad weekend. Yowzers...

"How's your headache?" "Yeah, I think I need a new prescription for my glasses, particularly my right eye." "You can get an eye patch!" "Great, I can be a pirate priest." "That could be fun." "Arrgh! I look like a pirate and I bless like one too!" "How does a pirate bless?" "With a hook, of course." [chortle] "And we've hit a new low." "I had to throw the gauntlet peg leg down." [chortle]

" Do NOT  send used clothes and shoes, outdated computers, phone, printers or fax machines. Only send books that the schools say they need. Indian people cannot build an economy on our rummage." - Mark Tilsen  President Native American Natural Foods  

Christmas in Baghdad Article by Canon Andrew White, the Anglican Vicar of Baghdad, re-posted with permission The Western world is already preparing for the great day on December the 25th.  Presents are bought, decorations put up and copious amounts of food will be purchased and consumed in preparation for the festive season.  For us though, here in Baghdad, things could not be more different. Our Christian people know that the Big Eid (celebration) is coming. They know that we are about to celebrate the coming of the Christ Child. There is no razzmatazz; the only decoration will be the Christmas tree in the church. There are no presents - apart from what we get for the children and the boxes given by Samaritans Purse. For the children we work at bringing them some joy and fun in other ways. We will dress somebody up as Papa Noel (Santa Clause) as we give children their presents. The reality is that this celebration here is totally different from festivities elsewh...

Major League Baseball has apparently decided to kill the golden goose.  Major League Baseball Commisioner Bud Selig announced yesterday that Major League Baseball is, yet again, going to alter its structure. With the excitement (read: money) that the advent of the Wild Card and Interleague games have generated, the Commish has decided that there will now be season long inter-league play and an extra wild card. In a move that actually makes some sense, Houston is also going to become an American League West team in 2013 so that each league can have 15 teams, and each division will have 5 teams. Currently the American league has 14 and the National League has 16 teams, which makes for the bizarre 6 team NL Central division and the 4 team AL West division. There has been much belly-aching over the last several years by NL Central teams, which claim that they have to play a harder schedule because a team has to beat out 5 other teams to win a pennant, whereas AL West teams have to ...

5 Myths about Young Adult Church Drop Outs

I try to steer clear of talking about politics, particularly on the internet. I believe the internet is the worst possible medium through which to try to engage in constructive political discussions or dialogue. People can passive aggressively snipe at random in complete anonymity and get completely away with it. I avoid reading user comments on news websites for this reason. You cannot go three comments into the thread without somebody hurling a vicious ad hominem attack or engaging in a complete illogical diatribe; any further constructive discussion is moot at this point because the discussion turns from the political to the polemic. I attribute the roots of this bizarre modern cultural annoyance  affectation only partially to the advent of things like the internet and modern instant communion technology. I believe it has as much to do with the fact that virtually no schools anymore teach Latin. It is not so much the absence of Latin in itself that is the problem, but I belie...

Sadly, I've had a conversation much like this in real life with someone recruiting me for a Doctorate of Ministry program. And the recruiter wondered why I had no interest in getting a D.Min...

After a spat of blogging, mainly having to do with my anonymous letter writer, I have failed to blog much the last few weeks. I have been extremely busy with the completion of the elevator project, a confirmation class, my own personal health (I think I'm finally back to normal), and a wedding. Things should be back to normal, at least until Advent.

Apparently, the NBA is close to losing an entire season over a labor dispute . Has anyone really noticed?

I meant to post this yesterday, but I was ill.  -The Archer ---------------------------------------------------------------- For those who suffer for the sake of Conscience O God our Father, whose Son forgave his enemies while he was suffering shame and death: Strengthen those who suffer for the sake of conscience; when they are accused, save them from speaking in hate; when they are rejected, save them from bitterness; when they are imprisoned, save them from despair; and to us your servants, give grace to respect their witness and to discern the truth, that our society may be cleansed and strengthened. This we ask for the sake of Jesus Christ, our merciful and righteous Judge.  Amen. -BCP 823

There are two major sections of questions that my anonymous letter writer posed to me that I have yet to tackle. One set of questions was as follows:    Am I concerned for the people who come to my church? Do I teach them God's Word? Do I really know what God's Word says?  I feel I have answered to some extent the last question. I feel I do have a working knowledge of what God's Word says. I do not, nor have I ever, claimed to be a major biblical scholar. I have read and studied the Bible in great detail. I do not claim to have all the answers, and I have no doubt in years to come I will look back on some of the sermons from my first years of ministry and wonder at how my understanding of scripture has changed and evolved.  Therein is why I feel that the Bible is God's Word. No matter how long you study it and try to live your life by it, there is always more that you can learn and glean from it. You are always, if you are open to it, finding new inspirations and...

As a break from my regular series of Blessings and Curses, I pause to remember Richard Hooker, who is probably the closest thing Anglicans have to a premiere theologian. Before my colleagues start pontificating on Hooker's Three Legged Stool (which is an Anglican urban legend), I wrote a series on Understanding Richard Hooker a while back: Part I: Understanding Richard Hooker's World Part II: Richard Hooker and Political Theory Part III: Richard Hooker and Laws Part IV: Richard Hooker and Current Dilemmas Part V: Richard Hooker and Specific Teachings And for kicks, here is my favorite quote from Richard Hooker: "Love is represented as the fulfilling of the law,--a creature's perfection. All other graces, all divine dispensations, contribute to this, and are lost in it as in a heaven. It expels the dross of our nature; it overcomes sorrow; it is the full joy of our Lord." -Anglican Theologian Richard Hooker, "On Love."

I believe I have completed all I need to say at this time on the issue of Blessings. I may do a historical treatise on curses in the future, which could be fun. There was a liturgy of public cursing in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, believe it or not. I do not believe that has any real bearing on purposes of answering my hate mail letter, so I will put that off to some later time. There is also the issue of the specific versus the general blessing, but that is also another topic unto itself. I will now in the next few blog entries attempt to answer some of the other questions not having to do with the Blessing of animals that were posed in that original letter . The questions became much more snarky and personal as the letter went on, but giving the benefit of the doubt, I think they were valid questions at least from the writer's particular theological point of view. They are questions I get asked from time to time from my more, shall I say, Evangelical brethren. I us...

I have been writing a mini-series of blog posts on Blessings and Curses. This stems from my initial hate mail letter that I discussed here and here . My last entry discussed my scriptural basis for the blessing of things non-human (i.e. animals and inanimate objects). I think there is warrant in scripture for such things, though I admit scripture is not replete with examples. Most, but not all, direct examples from Scripture of "blessing" or "being blessed" is applied to God and/or to humans. I wish my initial letter writer had given me a return address, as I would have responded. I would have been interested in hearing the writer's responses to my scripture warrant and discussions. My guess, though I cannot say with any certainty, would be that my answers would not have satisfied the writer. My reading of the letter indicated that unless my writer found in scripture a direct commandment that said, "Thou shalt bless animals," then they probably wou...