CostlyGrace

I was amused...

2008-05-15T13:22:00.002-04:00

Today's Argyle Sweater (from the cartooning desk of my friend, Scott) also works well for us transplanted Southerners who don't do winters well...

My Last Sunday Sermon as a Transitional Deacon

2008-05-15T13:12:00.002-04:00

A Sermon by the Rev. Deacon Ryan Hall at St. Mark's on the Campus
5th Sunday of Easter, RCL Year A
“A Simple Waiter”
Acts 7:55-60
Psalm 31: 1-5, 15-16
1 Peter 2:2-10
John 14: 1-14

Anyone who has been on a family vacation or around groups of children for more than 5 seconds has probably been in the situation where a squabble breaks out, often between siblings. When queried by parents tired of traveling for several hours and hearing the children fuss, one of the children snaps, “Well, they started it!”
Unfortunately, this sort of behavior is not confined to just children. I hear adults more and more these days behaving in such childish ways. In fact, it is one of the great ironies of life in modern America that on the one hand, we prize individuality (or rugged individualism as it is some times called) as highly as anything for nothing in our culture it sometimes seems is more important than the individual.
Respect for the individual is not a bad thing, but the ironic other side of that coin is that we as Americans also have a very difficult time taking individual responsibility for our day-to-day individual actions. We hear excuses all the time. They blame their mother/father/the government/illegal immigrants/alien abduction, whatever. The credibility of people's excuses knows no logical end.
Don't get me wrong. Sometimes those excuses are legitimate. I am not advocating a philosophy where all that is needed to right all the wrongs in the world is for people to “pull themselves up by their bootstraps.”
We live in a broken world where bad things (often very bad things) happen to good people through no fault of their own. Violence, abuse, war, any myriad of things like that are horrific tragedies often beyond the power and control of any one individual.
But, when I refer to the idea of people not liking to take responsibility for their own day-to-day actions, I'm referring more to the mundane, everyday excuses that go on in groups. I am sure you have seen an occurrence of this at work or at school. There is a group project that goes wrong, and one person gets blamed when really several people involved in the enterprise are at fault.
In such cases, it is much easier to follow the path of least resistance and find a scapegoat, than getting the group to admit that perhaps the goals of the project were unrealistic from the start or that there is plenty of blame to go around as to why something failed. Treating a symptom is often easier than curing a disease.
I bring up this notion of a “scapegoat” because the little snippet we get from the book of Acts this morning presents us with one of the two major scapegoats (aside from Jesus himself of course) from the stories of the New Testament. The person I am referring to is, of course, Stephen, the first martyr of the church, to whom I will return in a moment.
Another scapegoat in the New Testament is John the Baptist. If you recall, John the Baptist was the prophetic herald and baptizer of Jesus and probably one of the most colorful characters in the Bible. John the Baptist is described in the bible as being a wild-haired fire and brimstone preacher out in the wilderness who ate wild locust and honey and wore camel hair.
John the Baptist, whom we did not actually read about today but I think is important for us to talk about, came to an ignominious end if you recall. The gospels tell us he got into a moral finger-pointing contest with King Herod because Herod had married his own brother's wife. John the Baptist is ultimately beheaded over the matter. If you call out a powerful King and don't have your own army to back you up, chances are the King is probably going to win the argument in the end.
I bring up the story of John the Baptist because I believe he makes an interesting comparison to the Stephen we read about today. Both are martyred for their beliefs, scapegoats if you will. But there is one crucial difference between them that makes all the difference.
Jesus, when queried about John the Baptist, says of him in the 11th chapter of the gospel of Matthew says that,
“Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist, yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”
Both John and Stephen were killed for their beliefs in the most unjust of manners. However, in the case of John the Baptist, his vehement indictments of King Herod's personal life, like a character flaw of one of the tragic heroes of mythology, created an atmosphere where forgiveness could find no place to enter the equation.
So toxic an atmosphere was created between the two that no middle ground could be found, and what started as a honest call of repentance, ended in a cycle of violence and hostility that spiraled out of control. Reconciliation failed because neither person in the end could see the other's humanity, and John the Baptist lost his head because of it.
The animosity was so great between the two that the death of John the Baptist did not solve the matter; it made the matter worse because the cycle of animosity then became unresolvable. So much so that some time later, when Jesus comes onto the scene and begins teaching and doing various miracles, Herod has become so paranoid that he begins to believe that Jesus is John the Baptist who has come back from the dead to haunt him and take revenge, all because two pious, law abiding Jews could not find a way to end their hostility.
The same pitfall almost happens to Saint Stephen in today's reading from Acts. In the first lectionary reading today, we only get the last 6-verse climax of a 2-chapter saga concerning Stephen.
I urge you to spend some time this week in your personal private time to read over those two chapters, particularly the beginning of Chapter 6 on how St. Stephen is introduced and the ending we get today.
Stephen appears in the beginning of Chapter 6 the midst of a minor church squabble over, of all things, food. In the early church, as is common in churches nowadays, the church basically ran a soup kitchen to help provide for the members of the community who did not have enough food. And as is also sometimes the case nowadays, the clergy in the beginning of chapter 6 are scrambling to find some lay members to help in such a ministry because...well, it you read what it says in verse 2, they are too busy praying and writing sermons apparently.
Stephen is one of seven chosen for this otherwise seemingly menial task. Stephen is not a man who was one of the 12 disciples; he was not ordained, nor did he have any specific theological training. He was just a everyday member of the community.
And yet this man, not Peter nor Paul nor Mary the Mother of Jesus nor any of the other Lions of the early church that we generally tend to see enshrined in stain glass windows, who became the first martyr of the whole of Christianity. It was not any of these people, it was an everyday “lay” member of a local church who probably had an everyday job, someone who volunteered to work at the community soup kitchen.
It was a man such as this (a worker in a soup kitchen) who became the first great witness to the faith in the early church.
With that background, what made the difference between John the Baptist's religious conflict and differences with King Herod and Stephen's conflict with the angry mob that is bent on killing him over his religious beliefs? Both men ended up dead, martyrs for what they believed in.
And Stephen, after he is arrested by the mob, preaches a sermon that makes up the majority of Chapter 7, and for the majority of that sermon, he seems to fall into the same trap that ensnared John the Baptist in the end: an indictment that what has befallen him is completely the fault of the other side: that is to say, 'They started it!' as if his rather incendiary sermon at the end calling his accusers 'murderers of the prophets' had absolutely nothing to do with inflaming the situation in which Stephen finds himself.
Calling people names (regardless of whether it is true or not) is never really effective in winning people over.
But the difference, my friends, is that in the end, Stephen remembers the revelation of forgiveness that comes from Jesus Christ, and I believe Stephen recalled the way he began his ministry: not as a lofty ordained person with grandiose dogmatic ideals, but as a mere servant, a worker who waited tables at a soup kitchen serving the poorest in the community.
In remembering that act of serving others, Stephen, at the end, chose not to continue to be a justified victim who had every right to continue the cycle of violence until his dying breath, but chose to hear the very words that we got from the Gospel this morning, that “Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do.”
Works like the washing of his own disciples feet, works like forgiving those who persecuted and killed him. Works that show us the way of truth and life, not the way of vengeance and death.
Stephen died doing what Jesus did, something that John the Baptist did not: praying for forgiveness, both for himself and his community. He remembered that his vocation, his “call” if you will, was not to a vocation of “being right” or to a vocation of “winning every moral argument” but to a vocation of reconciliation.
May God give us all such grace, and may we learn that lesson of our own vocation so that, as it says in the collect today, “we may steadfastly follow his steps in the way that leads to eternal life...”
AMEN.

Daily News Nugget

2008-05-14T12:41:00.002-04:00

Darth Vader gets suspended sentence in attack on Jedi church. Um...Yeah.

Squirrel Liability Insurance

2008-05-13T12:01:00.002-04:00

I was sitting in my home office on the computer the other day and heard a crack and then a thump. The thump was rather loud; so, I opened the blind and looked out the window. I did not see anything amiss in the front yard other than a branch that had apparently fallen out of the tree. The branch was not large, nor did it appear to have hit anything in the yard other than the grass; I left the blind open and continued finishing my e-mail and other important facebook 'work.'

As I was sitting there, a person walked by on the front walk. He appeared to stop and look at the branch that had fallen and then moved along. I could not imagine was was so interesting about a stick, but I went back to my blogging. A few minutes later a pair of young kids from up the street came along and were also intently staring at the branch. They had those looks that only mischievous 5th grade boys can pull off.

I still could not imagine what was so amusing, but I knew when one 5th grade boy turns to the other 5th grade boy and says, "Dude, that's so gross!" and then the two run off laughing that further investigation was needed.

I opened the front door and looked out into the yard to find a dead, albeit morbidly obese, squirrel under aforementioned branch in aforementioned front yard. Luckily my wife was not home, as I was willing to guess that fat, dead squirrels would not have gone over so well.

I was forced to conclude that either the squirrel fell from the tree after the branch broke or had suffered some form of massive myocardial infarction due to the massive American obesity epidemic that had befallen the poor fellow. My crime scene analysis led me to conclude the latter, given that an admission of the former would have made me liable, as the homeowner, for negligence.

I would certainly have hated to have little squirrelly lawyers with little briefcases descending upon me to try to collect tort liability damages. And as nasty as those squirrels on our street are, I would not put it past them to hire some very shady lawyers.

I'd really hate to wake up one morning to find my car dented from a drive-by nutting.

Pentecost Goodness

2008-05-09T14:20:00.006-04:00

The Collect for Pentecost Sunday:

Almighty and everlasting God, you have given to us your servants grace, by the confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of your divine Majesty to worship the Unity: Keep us steadfast in this faith and worship, and bring us at last to see you in your one and eternal glory, O Father; who with the Son and the Holy Spirit live and reign, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

My parish have a slate of interesting things coming this Sunday on Pentecost. We are reading the gospel is several languages, which is usually a pretty neat liturgical effect. Granted, it is sort of a gimmick, but kind of fun. I think we have at least 10 languages getting represented. I suppose that is a perk of being near a major university, lots of linguistically gifted people.

Also, perhaps more exciting than that is the fact that we have 4 baptisms. A man and his son as well as an ecumenical baptism of two little girls who are from a church that is not quite ready to do infant baptisms yet. So, maybe this will be a good thing in terms of ecumenical dialog and all that.

And I do not have to preach or preside. I just get to do the baptism and do my first chrismation. Ecumenical Pentecost...now that is cool.

Pictures from My Ordination

2008-05-08T11:27:00.002-04:00

For pictures of my ordination, check on facebook or click here to go to my album on flickr.

Thoughts on my first mass

2008-05-06T11:14:00.002-04:00

The ordination buzz and all is finally waning a bit. I thought I should write down a few thoughts about saying my first mass before I forgot.

10. The sunlight from the window that shines down on the presider's prayer desk is pretty bright.

9. You can really throw your organist for a loop when he asks what notes to play to give you the pitch for the sursum corda:
Archer: "I don't need any."
Organist: "Ummm...[awkward pause] okay...[awkward pause] If you say so, Father."

8. Most chasubles are made for short people. (Luckily, my wife made mine.)

7. The Anglo-catholic custom of having roses on the altar for your first mass that parishioners can take home afterward is a big hit with the old ladies in the parish.

6. Folding your hands together during the beginning of the canon of the mass keeps them from shaking.

5. Get a BCP/Hymnal Combination. I never got one for my ordination and always assumed I would, so I was juggling books during the liturgy. Nothing bad happened, it was just awkward.

4. If you don't like the cheap plastic missal stands, check the sacristy closets for old missal stands. Turns out our church had 4 really nice, wooden ones.

3. Three day old ordination cake is still good for Sunday coffee hour.

2. If you are a stodgy Anglo-catholic, the Adult Sunday School class will take odds on whether you will wear a maniple.

1. When leaving altar, check to make sure one's head does not hit the vigil lamp.

Father Archer

2008-05-02T13:43:00.002-04:00

The day came and went, and it was probably one of the most powerful experiences of my life. I am now an ordained priest in the Episcopal Church. My field education supervisor from Chicago was in town to be the preacher, and he preached perhaps one of the best sermons I have ever heard. I will see if I can get a copy of it and put it here on my blog.

Our diocesan camera guuy apparently flaked out and did not show up, but luckily one of my lodge brothers whom I had invited showed up with his camera. He dabbles in professional photography on the side, so he did the photo shoot. I will have more on my thoughts about the even later when it all sinks in.

I guess I should give my first official blog blessing to all my readers:

May the blessing of Almighty God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit be upon you and remain with you now and forever. + Amen

-Father Archer

Today is the Day

2008-05-01T15:18:00.002-04:00

There is an old war movie or Twilight Zone episode (or something like that) that takes place in a battle of a war. If I recall correctly, it was World War II era, but it has been many, many years since I have seen this film, and I can no longer remember what the name of the film was or what it was about. Obviously, it was not all that great a production.

There is this one scene, however, that has always stuck in my mind, not because it was that particularly well produced nor mind blowing cinematography. It seems to be one of those odd childhood moments the mind etches into memory like a photo negative. The scene was just a rather typical battle scene where the main character was shot and died on the spot. All the action of the battle fades into the background and the character dies in the field. The camera pans around to a now ethereal, almost transcendent, view of the chaos. The viewer suddenly realizes that outside the battle, it is a beautiful, sunny day with blue sky and a bird sings in the background.

At this point, I do not remember if the movie ended at that point or not. I suppose it matters not. I spent the morning taking my mentor priest around to some of the sights in Lincoln. He wanted another pair of cowboy boots, so we went to the aforementioned good ole' boy store. We then went up to the top of the Nebraska capitol building to look out of the dome walkway.

It is a beautiful spring day in Lincoln; a few clouds hovering on the horizon. We then went to St. Mark's, and I gave the grand tour. There was hustle and bustle of the altar guild and the hospitality committee putting up stuff. Having just come from that highest point in Lincoln, the goings on reminded me of that movie scene from so long ago.

Today is the day. I will be ordained as a priest in Christ's one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church. This is the goal that I set for myself, worked hard for, prayed about, for going on 5 or 6 years now, and something I have pondered for many years before that. It is a journey that took me to another city, to another culture in South Dakota, to another continent, to Narnia itself.

Today is the day that segment of the journey ends. Another, longer, more exciting journey begins. Today is the day.

Pray for me, a sinner.

The time draweth nigh

2008-04-30T11:02:00.002-04:00

I have officially hit the 36 hour mark until my ordination to the priesthood. (Tomorrow at 7PM for those of you scoring at home.)

I am not nearly as nervous as I thought I would be. I think I was a little more up tight about my diaconal ordination than this, which surprises me. I do not know quite what to make of that. Everyone is carrying on more about it than I am.

Perhaps that will change tomorrow or this evening even, as I am going to drive to the airport to pick up my field education supervisor from seminary who is going to be the preacher. He has promised me a "good catholic sermon" I would expect nothing less from him, as he is more catholic than the Pope and will probably be wearing his biretta. I believe his exact words in the e-mail were "have biretta, will travel."

I am curious to see how he is going to go over at my current parish. This parish is not exactly Anglo-catholic. They do a higher liturgy than is probably normative in the Episcopal church, but not really by that much. So, we will see how the biretta will go over.

I am looking forward to it...

Being a Liaison

2008-04-29T12:56:00.002-04:00

The week begins the marathon ordination run, and I have found myself being the liaison for the coming circus. It is turning into a great ecumenical hodge podge of visitors, ecumenical and otherwise. Since I am an officer in the chaplains associate at the University of Nebraska, there will be all sorts processing with the clergy, not the least of which is two Ukrainian Orthodox clergy that I have befriended in my time in Lincoln.

My parents arrived yesterday, so there is that elements. I love my parents, but family in town is always drama of one sort or another, regardless of how well one gets along with the fam.

Then, there are also a few folks coming from my field education parish in Chicago; one of whom is the preacher. That should be interesting, given that he will no doubt be wearing his biretta and other Anglo-catholic garb. I requested that he do such. I am curious as to how St. Mark's will respond.

It will be a hoot...that is for sure.

One Last Time

2008-04-27T13:54:00.002-04:00

I think my upcoming ordination to the priesthood finally hit me after the 10:30 mass today. I've been in this ordination process for about 6 years now, and the last month, since the ordination has been set in stone, has been somewhat surreal. It is almost as if the ordination is something in the abstract, what CS Lewis referred to as "a dream of a dream."

But the time is actually here (Thursday to be precise). Heretofore, the fact had not really "sunk in." I think it finally hit me today as I was in the sacristy. I took off the deacon's stole, and I realized it would probably be the last time I wore one, since the Episcopal Church frowns on ordained priests vesting as deacons of the mass. Only transitional or vocational deacons are supposed to wear a deacon's stole.

I took it off and held it in my hand for a few moments, until the altar guild literally came in and needed to start the post-mass busy work of cleaning chalices, etc. The feeling was weird, not so much a feeling of sadness, but of moving on to something else. I will continued to be a deacon, a servant if you will, but am moving on the the role of priest.

I do not know quite what to make of that. I imagine I will blog more on this as the week progresses and time allows.

The Blog Entry where the Archer goes off about blue jeans

2008-04-22T14:34:00.005-04:00

I have been desperately trying to find some blue jeans that actually fit my body. I was down to one functional pair that looked halfway descent. All other pairs have disintegrated except the one other pair that has paint all over them and are only good for yard work or to scare off house guests who have overstayed a welcome. (Although I must say, that pair complements my fuzzy Uncle Buck hat nicely.)

I have never understood the perverse world of women's clothing sizes. I sort of understand the overall general sizing scheme, like one person wearing a size 6 or another wearing a Size 2. Proportionality makes a little sense, as that would seem somewhat logical to have a system where the larger the woman corresponds to the larger the clothing size. Who and/or what dictates what makes up a size 6 is a mystery, but, for sake of this article, I will assume it is not "The Man" nor some other conspiratorial masonic legion of doom trying to take over the world by controlling the women's sizing concession.

But, then there is this whole other number scheme that as far as I can tell resembles either a padlock combination or a quarterback calling out play numbers: 16-32-54-Hike! I know I have women readers, but don't try to explain this to me. I have tried to understand the system, but it is hopeless. Many have tried; all have failed. My wife can't even do it, so its best to just let me chalk it up to mystery.

I have also known for years that women's fashion has been into this "low rise" cut blue jean schtick. I have never really understood this, but heretofore it has never really concerned me. Women wear their clothes is ways that befoozle me, which is fine. They can wear whatever they want. Those "low rise" cuts have never looked particularly comfortable or attractive to me, but as was St. Anselm's motto about things theological, "Faith seeking understanding," I don't understand, so I just have faith in the mystery. At the get eschatological banquet at the end of the world, perhaps God can explain it to me.

But I have to draw the line when this "low rise" trend extends to men's blue jeans. As I stated in my opening rant, I have been unable to find blue jeans that fit my body because of this trend that has leaked over into the men's section. I am not sure if this move in men's wear is due to the "low rise" trend in women's wear or the trend from gangster thugs who like wearing their pants down at their knees. Call me a bigot, but I don't want women, gay men, or gangsters exclusively dictating blue jean fashion.

I'm not fat nor weirdly shaped, so I do not understand why normal department stores can no longer make normal men's blue jeans. I understand grunge, low rise jeans are all the rage, and if people want to wear them that way, that is fine with me. I'm not all that picky, but I have to draw the line when I can't find any pair in any major department store that actually fit the body the way they are suppose to. Call me crazy, but God gave us waists and I think we should use them as such. I just don't want to buy new blue jeans that look like they were wadded up in a gutter somewhere before being put on the department store self, and I don't want blue jeans where half my butt hangs out. If I desperately feel the need to moon you, I will be up front about it (or down back as the case may be).

I went to all the major department stores in town (Target's, Kohl's, etc.) and not a one of them had a single pair of pants that actually fit correctly. The waist and inseam were fine, assuming you wanted to wear them half way down your derriere. I thought I was just going to have to start wearing cargo pants.

Typical for myself, I decided to fight the system and not sell out. I just was not going to pay 30 bucks for blue jeans that did not fit. My wife had the brilliant idea of suggesting the Western Wear Redneck Cowboy store across the way. I was dubious about going to a place that sold cowboy hats and boots by the bulk.

Apparently the store clerk could tell the minute I walked it and made a B-line right to the jeans section that I was another one fed up by the normal-fitting blue jean famine that seems to have befallen America. As I was trying on jeans, he came up to my wife and asked if that was, in fact, the case. My wife saidthat it was. To which he apparently replied, "Welp, ain't no plumber's crack pants here."

Chalk one up for the Good 'Ole Boys. I bought 2 pairs.

Happy Birthday...

2008-04-21T09:33:00.001-04:00

to ME!

Whee, if only every Anglican Priest could share a birthday with Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, the world would be a better place.

May Newsletter Article

2008-04-16T13:36:00.002-04:00

Here is my latest editorial musings...
-The Archer
----------------------------------------------------------
"The Process"

There is a scene from the end of the movie, Shawshank Redemption, where the corrupt and abusive prison warden realizes he has finally been caught in the act. The camera pans around his office and brings into focus a framed needle-point wall hanging that his wife had made that reads, “His Judgment cometh, and that right soon…”

I have had that scene in my mind for the last month or so. This is not because of some morbid fire and brimstone view of God that I harbor, but simply because the day that I thought would never come is finally upon me. As most of you know, my ordination to the priesthood is scheduled for May 1st, which is the Feast of the Ascension. As I have to write my Roar articles in advance, my ordination will likely have already happened by the time this edition of the Roar is printed, mailed, and read, but I thought I would take a moment to reflect on the meaning of discernment and the magnitude of this whole thing we call “The Ordination Process.”

We often joked in seminary that “The Process” would make a good reality show. I never felt like I was a person who could speak coherently about that because I believe I might be the only person in the Western Hemisphere who has never been able to sit through an entire episode of any reality show because they are, in my view, anything but reality. But I can see why my classmates in seminary joked about it as such because there can seem to be an odd resemblance to the goings-on in the Ordination Process to Reality Shows: People get voted off islands, there are potential pitfalls and obstacle courses, and dealing with various and sundry Church committees and commissions always had a curious resemblance to talent interviews on American Idol.

I say this all in some jest, of course, because I actually do feel “The Process” in this diocese is done pretty well. I can tell you some horror stories by seminary friends of mine about ordination processes gone wild in other dioceses that have lost sight of the fact that God is at play in discernment to whatever vocation to which one in being called. And by “vocation,” I do not simply mean a calling to something religious like the Priesthood, Diaconate, or a Religious Order. There are all sorts of important vocations to which God calls people. Maybe that call is to be a teacher or an artist or even to being a mechanic. God gives all manner of gifts and talents to all manner of people.

Discernment would be so easy if God only gave each of us one, and only one, talent. Therefore, discernment would be a fairly simple matter of logic to discern to what vocation each of us was called. However, as a former professor of mine was fond of saying, “It’s more complicated than that.” We serve a God of abundant grace, and as such God often gives many of us several talents, which makes discernment of vocation all the more difficult.

I think one of the true gifts of God to the Episcopal Church is the gift of community. Discernment is not just about the individual trying to find his own way alone nor is it about community dictating to us what we should do. When it works as it should, community feeds us and lifts us up when we are searching. And when we have a decision to make on what God wants us to do with our individual lives, the community is there to help us on our journey, often seeing things about ourselves that we do not see ourselves.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has been involved with my journey, especially those here at St. Mark’s. Though you folks at St. Mark’s were with me on the last leg of my journey down the road to the ordination of the priesthood, you will always have my prayers and a special place in my heart as the first parish I served as a deacon and then as a priest. May this community continue as a blessing for many years to all those who are searching the wisdom that God has given to this community.

Bishop squared

2008-04-15T15:56:00.003-04:00

So I had my pre-ordination ~~happy hour~~ consultation with the Bishop this morning. It was more of a courtesy call, which contained the following opening dialogue:

----------------------------------------------------------------

Bishop: Be right with you, Ryan.

[pause while I read all the diocesan newsletters on the waiting room table]

Bishop: Now then, thanks for coming. Long time no see.

Ryan: No kidding.

Bishop: Yeah, its been...what? 48 hours?

------------------------------------------------------------------

In all seriousness, the Bishop was pleased with the large slate of Confirmands that I presented to him for Reception/Confirmation on Sunday. He was also still raving about the Star Quilt a local Lakota parishioner presented him as a gift during his visitation. I snapped this picture afterwards:

I thought it was cool. She made it with Bishop's colors to boot. How neat is that?

Only on the Week before the Bishop visits...

2008-04-11T14:51:00.008-04:00

So, the Bishop is making his annual visitation to St. Mark's on Sunday for 10 confirmations and a baptism. This week's amended check list:

Cold, Raining, Chance of Snow in mid-April (See: Southern Curate-digging in closet to find sweaters he had hoped had gone into summer hibernation) CHECK!

Realize we neglected to get any Confirmation gifts on Monday for aforementioned 10 Confirmands. (See: Thank goodness for overnight shipping.) CHECK!

Rector is in bed sick for 2 days this week. (See: Just plain yuckie.) CHECK!

Realize we have no remaining Vigil Lamps for the Reserve Sacrament and the one we have is burning on fumes (See: Holy Empty Vigil Lamps, Batman!) CHECK!

Running in the aforementioned freezing rain to aforementioned Holy Hardware to get case of aforementioned Vigil Lamps. (See: Cardboard Boxes-soaked) CHECK!

Heavy rain creates huge leak, which deposits plaster goop on the floor in the chapel. (See: Curate-Jobs as Assigned; Altar Guild-freak out.) CHECK!

One empty pew partially falls apart during Evening Prayer on Wednesday. (See: Curate-Jobs as Assigned; Startled Parishioner-5 feet jumping into air.) CHECK!

Yeah, maybe it is good the bishop only comes once a year.

You go, girls!

2008-04-10T10:17:00.002-04:00

Tennessee Lady Vols win back to back National Titles. Can we say Number 8?

This is about the only basketball I watch. I have found the women's game to be the way basketball is actually supposed to be played. Not a bunch of too-tall thugs who think they have to slam dunk basketball rims.

There's a reason the hoop is high up in the air...

Feast Day of Dietrich Bonhoeffer

2008-04-09T10:35:00.002-04:00

Today is the feast day of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the patron saint of this blog and from whom comes the name of this blog.

The collect from the Lesser Feasts and Fasts says more than I could ever ramble on about:

Gracious God, the Beyond in the midst of our life, you gave grace to your servant Dietrich Bonhoeffer to know and to teach the truth as it is in Jesus Christ, and to bear the cost of following him; Grant that we, strengthened by his teaching and example, may receive your word and embrace its call with an undivided heart; through Jesus Christ our Savior, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

This applies to Anglicans, too

2008-04-09T10:22:00.003-04:00

I got this in an e-mail from a Catholic friend of mine.
-The Archer
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This information is for Catholics only. It should not be divulged to non-Catholics. The less they know about our rituals and code words, the better off they are.

AMEN: The only part of a prayer that everyone knows.
BULLETIN: Your receipt for attending Mass.
CHOIR: A group of people whose singing allows the rest of the Parish tolip-sync.
HOLY WATER: A liquid whose chemical formula is H2OLY.
HYMN: A song of praise usually sung in a key three octaves higher than thatof the congregation's range.
RECESSIONAL HYMN: The last song at Mass often su ng a little more quietly, since most of the people have already left.
INCENSE: Holy Smoke!
JESUITS: An order of priests known for their ability to find colleges with good basketball teams.
JONAH: The original "Jaws" story.
JUSTICE: When kids have kids of their own.
KYRIE ELEISON: The only Greek words that most Catholics can recognize besides gyros and baklava. (For you non-Catholics it means 'Lord have mercy.')
MAGI: The most famous trio to attend a baby shower.
MANGER: Where Mary gave birth to Jesus because Joseph wasn't covered by an HMO. (The Bible's way of showing us that holiday travel has always been rough.)
PEW: A Reformation torture device still found in Catholic churches.
PROCESSION: The ceremonial formation at the beginning of Mass consisting of altar servers, the celebrant, and late parishioners looking for seats.
RECESSIONAL: The ceremonial procession at the conclusion of Mass led by parishioners trying to beat the crowd to the parking lot.
RELICS: People who have been going to Mass for so long, they actually know when to sit, kneel, and stand.

This message was sent only to those known to be Catholic, Formerly Catholic, married to a Catholic and wanna be Catholics. If you received this in error press "Esc" and it will disappear in a cloud of smoke.

Awww...

2008-04-08T12:03:00.003-04:00

It has been a while since I have had the opportunity to post a Shameless Dobie Pic.

Dog and owner happened to stop and rest in our courtyard at St. Mark's. I immediately peeked out the window and ran out with my camera.

The owner probably thought I was nuts, but April, the dober(wo)man basked in the camera lights.

Bishop-apalooza

2008-04-08T11:59:00.002-04:00

The Bishop is coming on Sunday. Neither myself or the rector has seen a bishop's visit with both baptisms and confirmations. We've got a boatload of confirmands and a baptism. We had to check the Book of Common Prayer on how to arrange the bulletin for both. It actually works out pretty nicely, as it all sort of gravitated around the Baptismal Covenant.

BCPs are wonderful things.

Now I just have to go to Holy Hardware and find some sort of Confirmation gifts.

This was a good idea...

2008-04-04T16:13:00.002-04:00

A Bishop's Visitation, an Ordination, and an Ecumenical Baptism on Pentecost all within a month.

Three Complete Bulletins all with in a month.

Yeah...life is busy.

Overheard in the Office

2008-04-03T15:12:00.003-04:00

[a voice from the kitchen...]

Rector: Man, is this the Communion bread the altar guild left for Sunday? It's huge!

Archer: No, that's my lunch. It's a homemade Calzone.

[awkward pause]

Rector: Oh...I guess a Sauce and Pepperoni filled body of Christ would be sort of weird.

Archer: A heretically tasty treat!

[awkward pause]

Archer: Wait...how did you know it had Pepperoni and Sauce?

[munching sound]

[awkward pause]

[munching sound]

Rector: I don't [w]oe...

[munching sound]

Rector: Guess I'm buying [w]unch.

Blow Me Away

2008-04-02T10:22:00.005-04:00

I know I have occasionally raved about the new Battlestar Galactica. Season 4 is about to start, but I have had to force march my way through Season 3 because I had had the show in my queue for about 2 years to watch at some point, but finally started to work my way through back in the fall.

Last night, I happened to be up to episode 5 of season 3 and I was completely blown away. They did a South African Apartheid allegory, even surrepticiously quoting from Desmond Tutu at the end of the episode before the President created a "Truth and Reconciliation Commission" to pardon all the humans who collaborated with the cylons during the occupation.

I was about to hyperventilate because I did not see it coming because the writing was so good. The very last scene was a particular collaborator who was somewhat darked skinned and had just been pardoned and sitting uneasily next to the deck chief who was white and had sat down as a token of friendship. And then the credits rolled. That was sheer cinematic brilliance. Subtle but so powerful.

Tell me of any other TV show that would dare to delve into issues of revenge and grace and forgiveness like that. Talk about substance.

The new Battlestar Galactica is rapidly moving up my list of all time best TV shows.