The First Sunday After The Epiphany

This Sunday we welcome the Three Kings, acknowledge the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River, and receive into the community of faith our sister-in-Christ, Isabelle Margaret.

The lections may be found here.

The participants in this week's liturgy are-

Lay Minister: Linda Lloyd
Lector: Arete Warren
Epistler: Bill Warren
Intercessor: Sue Kozlowski
Hospitality: Team Schindler
Altar Guild: Luis Francke and Jane Canfield
Head Usher: Mary Anne Carley
Flowers: Cynthia Conklin

Speaking Of Archaeology

Last week I couldn't remember the arrangement of languages on the Rosetta Stone. I stumbled over the helpful diagram above earlier today.

Remember, Sunday at Noon in the church.

Top Ten Discoveries In Biblical Archaeology

The full article may be read here.

THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS
THE HOUSE OF DAVID INSCRIPTION
AMULET SCROLL
THE GALILEE BOAT
BARUCH BULLA
OSSUARY OF CAIAPHAS
PONTIUS PILATE INSCRIPTION
EKRON INSCRIPTION
MOUNT EBAL ALTAR
UGARIT

Ugarit is the port city I mentioned on Sunday that was discovered in 1928 when a farmer dislodged a stone with some odd writing on it. In fact, note how many of the "top ten" were discovered by accident rather than scientific design. The discovery of the Caiaphas ossuary is a classic example of accidental discovery.

Keep This In Mind When That Collection Plate Passes By

In Hard Times, Houses of God Turn to Chapter 11 in Book of Bankruptcy

An Obituary Of Note

Richard John Neuhaus, a Roman Catholic priest and theologian with whom Cyril Wismar and I were personally acquainted, died today. Although best known in recent years as a "conservative" Roman Catholic, when I first met him at The General Theological Seminary in New York twenty-seven years ago, he was introduced to me as a "liberal" Lutheran pastor.

As is often the case with true Christian thinkers, he was difficult to put in a secular ideological box. Because of that, too many Christian non-thinkers felt free to express their dislike of him in ways that seemed tangential to Gospel teaching.

Not that it mattered, of course. He knew what he believed and expressed it in a manner that was lucid and elegant. There is little of that in any branch or style of ideology these days and it will not only be missed, but I'm concerned that such lucidity and elegance will never be replaced.

He had written several books, the best-known of which appears in the link below, and was the editor of the last serious periodical dedicated to the nature of the secular and the sacred, First Things. He was only 72 years old.

Here is an example of his work from one of the last pieces he wrote:

"St. Paul writes, 'Be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind' (Rom. 12:2). Worrying about the cultural conformity of Christianity is nothing new. Such worries are a staple in the history of Christian thought, from the third-century Tertullian’s defiant question 'What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?' to Kierkegaard’s withering critique of culturally domesticated discipleship, to Karl Barth’s emphatic Nein! thrown in the face of the Kulturprotestantismus that was the form taken by the 'Christ of culture' model in liberal Protestantism.

And, of course, there are today in America forms of principled nonconformity finding expression among both politically left-wing and politically right-wing Christians who would revive, at least in theological and moral rhetoric, a 'Christ against culture' model—meaning, most specifically, Christ against American culture. There is, for instance, the vibrant home-schooling movement, which often goes far beyond education in forming elective communities of families supporting one another in resistance to the more meretricious elements of popular culture. Such communities—whether Catholic, Protestant, or ecumenical—are frequently charismatic in character. On the left, there are groups such as the Catholic Worker movement and Sojourners, focused on what they define as justice for the poor and, in their more diluted practical politics, supportive of the leftward wing of the Democratic Party. The mix of Christ-and-culture models is a many-splendored thing."

This Week's Adult Education

We will continue with the second part of Biblical Archaeology, noting that we will have to schedule further meetings in the near future as the sheer volume of material and interest is too daunting for only two sessions.

This week we will learn of Sir Leonard Woolley, Max Mallowan, Kathleen Kenyon, and William F. Albright as they take this discipline away from the treasure hunters of "crypto-archaeology" and place it safely in the science developed by the early Egyptologists.

We will also view maps and a list of discoveries of Biblical places, not to mention visit the increasingly technological world of diggers and squints.

We will meet in the church this Sunday as your vicar really, really needs to be able to move and show charts and pictures when he teaches.

What Will David Byrne Do?

Music Industry to Abandon Mass Suits

I'm Proud To Announce That This Comes From My [Adopted] Hometown Newspaper

Winner of the most prosaic headline competition:

Ice storm leaves many in the cold

Ongoing Archaeological Information

This article from the New York Times, linked to here and in an earlier posting on the original version of The Coracle, speaks of the significance of the latest excavation in the field of Biblical archaeology at the site known as Khirbet Qeiyafa. [It's also mentioned in the last portion of the excavations list below.]

This may give those interested some idea of how important these finds can be in the developing understanding of scripture.

[Pictured above is the partial reconstruction of a Mayan priests' retreat that is located somewhere in the Yucatan. Or maybe it's Knott's Berry Farm. No, it's the Yucatan as that dashing figure next to the mangrove tree is sporting his official Smithsonian Institution Tilley hat. He's also, I think, attempting to be Captain Morgan.]

Yep, The Parish Phone System Is Kerflooey. Again. [UPDATED]

I've dispatched the unpaid parish administrator to attend to this concern. According to the unpaid parish secretary, all should be in order by Wednesday.

Update: Phones are working again. Thank John Lloyd, one of only two persons on Earth who knows how to repair the phone system, for his good work addressing this.

Significant Excavations In Biblical Archaeology

• 1898–1900 Frederick J. Bliss and R.A.S. Macalister excavated 4 major sites in the Shephelah region of Israel:
Tell es-Safi (probably Biblical Gath)
Tell Zakariya (probably Biblical Azekah)
Tell ej-Judeideh (possibly Biblical Moresheth-Gath or Libnah)
Tell Sandahannah (probably Biblical Mareshah)
• 1902–3, 1907–9 R.A.S. Macalister excavated Gezer, where the oldest Hebrew inscription (Gezer Calendar) was found on the surface
• 1902–4 Ernest Sellin excavated Taanach
• 1903–5 Gottlieb Schumacher excavated Megiddo
• 1905–7 Herman Kohl, Ernest Sellin, and Carl Watzinger surveyed ancient synagogues in Galilee
• 1907–9 Ernest Sellin and Carl Watzinger excavated Shechem
• 1908, 1910–1 David G. Lyon, Clarence S. Fisher, and George A. Reisner excavated Samaria
• 1911–3 Duncan Mackenzie excavated Beth Shemesh
• 1921–3, 1925–8, 1930–3 Clarence S. Fisher, Alan Rowe, and Gerald M. Fitzgerald excavated Beth Shean
• 1922–3 William F. Albright excavated Tell el-Ful (probably Biblical Gibeah)
• 1925–39 Clarence S. Fisher, P.L.O. Guy, and Gordon Loud excavated Megiddo
• 1926, 1928, 1930, 1932 William F. Albright excavated Tell Beit Mirsim (possibly Biblical Eglon or Debir–Kirjath Sepher)
• 1926–7, 1929, 1932, 1935 William F. Bade excavated Mizpah
• 1928–33 Elihu Grant excavated Beth Shemesh
• 1930–6 John Garstang excavated Jericho
• 1931–3, 1935 John W. Crowfoot excavated Samaria
• 1932–38 James L. Starkey excavated Lachish (the excavation terminated when he was killed by bandits near Hebron while on his way to the opening ceremonies of the Palestine Archaeological Museum)
• 1936–40 Benjamin Mazar excavated Beit She’arim.
• 1948–50, 1952–5 Jacob Kaplan excavated Jaffa
• 1954, 1959–62 Yohanan Aharoni excavated Ramat Rahel
• 1955–8, 1968 Yigael Yadin excavated Hazor
• 1956–7, 1959–60, 1962 James B. Pritchard excavated Gibeon
• 1961–7 Kathleen Kenyon excavated Jerusalem (City of David)
• 1962–7 Yohanan Aharoni and Ruth Amiran excavated Arad
• 1962–3, 1965–72 Moshe Dothan excavated Ashdod
• 1963–5 Yigael Yadin excavated Masada
• 1964–74 G. Ernest Wright, William G. Dever, and Joe Seger excavated Gezer
o This was the first Palestinian excavation to operate as a school by granting academic/college credit.
• 1968–78 Benjamin Mazar excavated Jerusalem (southwest corner of the Temple Mount)
• 1969–76 Yohanan Aharoni and Ze’ev Herzog excavated Beersheba
• 1969–82 Nahman Avigad excavated Jerusalem (Jewish Quarter)
• 1973–94 David Ussishkin excavated Lachish
• 1975–82 Avraham Biran excavated Aroer
• 1977–9, 1981–9 Amihai Mazar and George L. Kelm excavated Timnah
• 1978–85 Yigal Shiloh excavated Jerusalem (City of David)
• 1979–80 Gabriel Barkay excavated Ketef Hinnom
• 1979, 1981–2, 1984–7, 1990–1, 1993–2000 David Livingston excavated Khirbet Nisya
• 1981–2, 1984–8, 1990, 1992–6 Trude Dothan and Seymour Gitin excavated Ekron
• 1989–96 Amihai Mazar excavated Tel Beit-Shean
2. 21st Century
• 1994–2007 Israel Finkelstein and David Ussishkin excavated Megiddo (ongoing annually)
• 1996–2002, 2004–2008 Aren Maeir excavates at Tell es-Safi (identified as Biblical Gath) of the Philistines
• 1997– Amihai Mazar excavated Tel Rehov
• 1999–2001, 2005 Ron Tappy excavated Tel Zayit (Zeitah)
• 2005 Oded Lipschits excavated Ramat Rahel
• 2005 Amir Gorzalczany and Gerald Finkielsztejn excavated Nahal Tut
• 2007 Yosef Garfinkel and Saar Ganor excavated Khirbet Qeiyafa

Links to the sites listed above will be offered by the end of the week.

Prophetic Dreams! Bandits!! Mummies!!!

Yes, its the wonderful world of Biblical archaeology, which will be tomorrow's adult education offering, the first of two parts.

We will meet around noon to spend forty-five minutes speaking of techniques, theories, histories, and discoveries. It really doesn't get any better than that.

[The photo above was taken on top of the Kukulcan pyramid in the central Yucatan overlooking a Mayan game field. Jenni asked me if I thought I was "Ohio Jones".]

The Second Sunday After Christmas

We have a lot of choices this Sunday, however I am always taken by the role of Joseph and his implicit and faithful trust in dreams. [In our prayers at the monastery he was referred to as Mary's "most chaste spouse", although one day Brother Martin got a little tongue-tied and referred to him as her "most spoused chaste".]

The lections may be found here.

This Week's Participants-
Lay Minister: Jane Canfield
Lector: Alexis Dorf
Epistler: Jacqueline Kuhn
Intercessor: Ginny Dildine
Head Usher: Alexis Dorf
Hospitality: Team Tweed
Altar Guild: Emily DiMartino and Alice Tweed
Flowers: Sue Kozlowski

No Surprise, Really

Americans give more to charity, per capita and as a percentage of gross domestic product, than the citizens of other nations.

Welcome To The New Coracle

The First Sunday After Christmas

It will also be "creative liturgy" Sunday, as I'm ready to do something a little different after our four big Eucharistic liturgies this week.

So, we will offer a delightful combination of the Office of Morning Prayer with touches of Lessons and Carols, including the Holy Communion. We will also leave ourselves open to spontaneity as it is, in the words of the poet, "the spark of existence."*

The lections may be found here.

*Anyone who can help me remember which poet it was who said that will get a prize. I think it was an American, but that's all I remember. Sorry, but my specialty was British poetry.

So, What'd You Get For Christmas?

I'm hard to buy for as I am the man who has everything. Well, except for that standing band saw. Oh, and an upright bass. One of those new ones that looks a little goofy/futuristic but can play a variety of types of music [see photo above].

No one ever buys me a stringed instrument, though. I don't know why.

I do get great things like this:

He Was With The Elephant In Groucho Marx's Pajamas

Man hits bear on motorcycle

I'm Not Sure This Is Even Possible

Graffiti wall is vandalised

I'll Make A Note

Study: Don't drive during heart attack