Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of

Archaeological News

Ancient medicines were alcoholic

Gee, no kidding. Not just ancient. Ever hear of NyQuil?

Wild Weekend - Rockin Rebels, The

I Never Thought To Try This

New Riverside Church pastor says his raise was Lord-approved

$600,000?! Fortunately, his "church committee" chairman disputes that figure and says that it's closer to $450,000. Thank God for that, eh?

I know a fellow, who is an ordained pastor, who also preaches about "promoting condoms to curb AIDS in Africa, immigration reform and gay marriage" and makes $14,000 a year. Maybe his pay isn't "Lord-approved".

Imagine If He Had Been A Clergyman Wearing Vestments

District, dad at odds over soldier photo

Oh, Lord, it just gets worse:

Clown cannot wear giant shoes due to health and safety

The Age Of Mel

Someone sent me this rather old link detailing the deep theology of Mr. Gibson in regards to his wife's [soon-to-be-former wife, I'm told] Episcopal spirituality.

In fact, it looks like Gibson, a conservative Catholic, believes that his Episcopalian wife could be going to hell.

No Swine Flu Among The Coracle Staff

Wow, sure is a cheap and easy way to generate traffic and readership in either print or electronic media, isn't it?

The following comes courtesy of The Wall Street Journal's OpinionJournal.com:

"No Swine Flu Cases Reported in State"--headline, Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser, April 27
"No Cases of Swine Flu Reported in Alaska"--headline, Associated Press, April 27
"Health Officials: No Swine Flu Reported in Ariz."--headline, Associated Press, April 27
"No Swine Flu in CO"--headline, Denver Daily News, April 27
"No Swine Flu in Florida"--headline, Pensacola News Journal, April 27
"Ga. Hospitals Screen Patients, but No Swine Flu Yet"--headline, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, April 27
"Hawaii Officials Say No Swine Flu Cases Here"--headline, KITV Web site (Honolulu), April 27
"No Swine Flu Cases Reported in Illinois"--headline, Associated Press, April 26
"Epidemiologist: No Swine Flu Reported in Iowa"--headline, Des Moines Register, April 26
"Kentucky Has No Confirmed Cases of Swine Flu"--headline, Associated Press, April 27
"No Swine Flu in La., but Officials on Guard"--headline, Courier (Houma, La.), April 26
"DPH Says No Swine Flu Cases in MA"--headline, WJAR-TV Web site (Providence, R.I.), April 25
"No Swine Flu Found in Minnesota--Yet"--headline, Associated Press, April 27
"No Swine Flu in Mississippi, but It Is Possible"--headline, Sun Herald (Biloxi, Miss.), April 27
"No Swine Flu Cases Reported in Montana"--headline, Great Falls Tribune, April 27
"State Health Officials: No Swine Flu in Nevada"--headline, KRNV-TV Web site (Reno, Nev.), April 27
"No Swine Flu Found in ND Yet"--headline, Associated Press, April 27
"No Reports of Swine Flu in Oklahoma Yet, Says Oklahoma Department of Health"--headline, Examiner.com, April 27
"Officials Confirm No Swine Flu Cases in Oregon"--headline, Salem News, April 26
"Officials Report No Swine Flu Cases So Far in Pa."--headline, Associated Press, April 27
"UPDATE--South Dakota Swine Flu Is a No"--headline, KOTA-AM Web site (Rapid City, S.D.), April 28
"No Confirmed Swine Flu Cases in Tennessee Yet"--headline, Associated Press, April 27
"Vermont Health Department Prepares for Swine Flu; No Cases Reported in Vt. at This Point"--headline, Rutland Herald, April 27
"No Swine Flu Reported Here, but Virginia Declares Public Health Emergency"--headline, Roanoke Times, April 27
"Wash. State Health Officials Find No Swine Flu"--headline, Seattle Times, April 27
"West Virginia Should Not Worry About Swine Flu Yet"--headline, Parthenon (Marshall University), April 28
"No Swine Flu Here"--headline, Wisconsin Radio Network Web site, April 27

Quotation Of The Week

"When you come back to God for pardon and salvation, come with all you have to lay all at his feet. Come with your body, to offer it as a living sacrifice upon His altar. Come with your soul and all its powers, and yield them in willing consecration to your God and Saviour. Come, bring them all along—everything, body, soul, intellect, imagination, acquirements—all, without reserve."

—Charles Finney (1792-1875)

Today In History

April 30, 1822: the Rev. Hannibal Goodwin, rector of the Episcopal House of Prayer in Newark, New Jersey, is born in Taughannock, New York. Though his main passion was making the Bible "come to life" for the children in his church, he dreamed up 24 inventions during his life and received 15 patents. Today we remember him primarily as the father of celluloid film for photography.

The Third Sunday Of Easter

The lections may be found here.

The Return Of Adult Education

Our Sunday Adult Ed. classes will return in May with the following two sessions in Biblical Archaeology:

May 24th - Biblical Archaeology: The Great Discoveries
A review of the major discoveries of the past two hundred years that have either reconciled or challenged Biblical beliefs.

May 31st - Biblical Archaeology: The Recent Discoveries
A review of the latest events and discoveries, including those not yet made as of the writing of this post.

Adult classes begin at Noon and continue for approximately 45 minutes. We hope to record these offerings and post the video on this weblog in the near future.

Today In History

April 24, 387: On this day, Augustine of Hippo writes in his autobiographical Confessions, "We were baptized and all anxiety for our past life vanished away." The 33-year-old had been a teacher of rhetoric and pagan philosophies at some of the Roman Empire's finest schools, but after great influence by his mother, Monica, and the famous bishop Ambrose, he turned to Christianity. His baptism by Ambrose, on Easter Sunday, marked his entrance into the church.

Biretta

Celtic Blessing

May the blessing of light be on you - light without and light within. May the blessed sunlight shine on you like a great peat fire, so that stranger and friend may come and warm himself at it. And may light shine out of the two eyes of you, like a candle set in the window of a house, bidding the wanderer come in out of the storm. And may the blessing of the rain be on you, may it beat upon your Spirit and wash it fair and clean, and leave there a shining pool where the blue of Heaven shines, and sometimes a star. And may the blessing of the earth be on you, soft under your feet as you pass along the roads, soft under you as you lie out on it, tired at the end of day; and may it rest easy over you when, at last, you lie out under it. May it rest so lightly over you that your soul may be out from under it quickly; up and off and on its way to God. And now may the Lord bless you, and bless you kindly. Amen.

Archaeological News

Archaeologists planning for Iran’s largest rescue excavation

Celtic Prayer

The peace of joys,
The peace of lights,
The peace of consolations.

The peace of souls,
The peace of heaven,
The peace of virgins.

The peace of the fairy bowers,
The peace of peacefulness,
The peace everlasting.

The Road To Hell Is Paved With...You Know The Rest

Having spent a significant portion of my professional life as a chaplain to religiously diverse communities, I know that the last people who want Christians to dilute aspects of their faith are those who are faithful in religions other than Christianity. Unfortunately, there are some who seem to think the best way to promote people of faith is to remove aspects of faith. It never works and is merely an empty gesture.

This article illustrates that paradox rather well.

Today In History

April 21, 1109: Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury and one of the most profound thinkers of the Middle Ages, dies around age 76. He attained fame for his argument that faith is the precondition of knowledge ("credo ut intelligam"), his "satisfaction theory" of the atonement ("No one but one who is God-man can make the satisfaction by which man is saved") and for his ontological argument for God's existence.

I Hope Not Fondly

Satan recalled by Penguins

Four Phases Of Shred