Scenes From A Chip Shop

Well, actually across the street from a chip shop in Kinsale, our own Meg sends this photo of an Anglican Church sign in Ireland.  Click to enlarge and read the inscription.  Obviously, this is one of the newer congregations.

Lenten Wave #22

"Surfing, alone among sports, generates laughter at its very suggestion, and this is because it turns not a skill into an art, but an inexplicable and useless urge into a vital way of life." - Matt Warshaw

Exorcism News

A surge in Satanism fuelled by the internet has led to a sharp rise in the demand for exorcists

Bob Feller, Cleveland Indian And Episcopalian

"...a public Memorial Service/Celebration of Life in honor of Bob Feller will be held Thursday, March 31 at 11 a.m. at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Cleveland Hts."

Thursday In Our Lenten Series

This Thursday at 7pm we will look at the Christian Church in the Middle East.  Think of it as a living form of archaeology, as these churches preserve many of the aspects of pre-Roman Christianity in their practices.

As ever, art, archaeology, history, current events and ideas about God will be blended in the presentation.

[The sign above is not the real road sign informing passers-by of the Lenten series.  It just made those of us in the office laugh.]

Lenten Wave #21

You visit the earth, and water it. You greatly enrich it.
The river of God is full of water. You provide them grain, for so you have ordained it.
You drench its furrows. You level its ridges.
You soften it with showers. You bless it with a crop.

-Psalm 65:9-10

Archaeological News

Please take the hyperbole of this story with a grain of salt.  The tabloid from which it comes is notorious for exaggerated stories.  However, even if nothing particularly earth-shaking, it is an interesting find.

70 metal books found in cave in Jordan could change our view of Biblical history

Music News

Giant organ brings French sound to NY

I'm not sure why this is appearing now on the wire services, as the organ was being installed back in the autumn.  However, Ascension is one of the Episcopal parishes in Manhattan and this is interesting news for folks who are fans of organ music.  Certainly, the story of its re-construction alone is interesting.

The original story from the NYT may be found below:

Importing an Impressive Machine of Sound

Lenten Wave #20

Jesus sought me when a stranger,
wandering from the fold of God;
he, to rescue me from danger,
interposed his precious blood.

O to grace how great a debtor
daily I'm constrained to be!
Let thy goodness, like a fetter,
bind my wandering heart to thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
prone to leave the God I love;
here's my heart, O take and seal it,
seal it for thy courts above.

Lenten Wave #19

"The desert is beautiful," the little prince added. And that was true. I have always loved the desert. One sits down on a desert sand dune, sees nothing, hears nothing. Yet through the silence something throbs and gleams.... "What makes the desert beautiful," said the little prince, "is that somewhere it hides a well...."

-Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1900-1944), The Little Prince

Lenten Wave #18

From Psalm 104:

5 You have set the earth upon its foundations, *
so that it never shall move at any time.

6 You covered it with the Deep as with a mantle; *
the waters stood higher than the mountains.

7 At your rebuke they fled; *
at the voice of your thunder they hastened away.

8 They went up into the hills and down to the valleys beneath, *
to the places you had appointed for them.

9 You set the limits that they should not pass; *
they shall not again cover the earth.

10 You send the springs into the valleys; *
they flow between the mountains.

11 All the beasts of the field drink their fill from them, *
and the wild asses quench their thirst.

12 Beside them the birds of the air make their nests *
and sing among the branches.

13 You water the mountains from your dwelling on high; *
the earth is fully satisfied by the fruit of your works

The Third Sunday In Lent

This week the Israelites find water, the Romans learn of justification, and we meet St. Photina.

The lections may be found here.

Lenten Wave #17

New advent of the love of Christ,
Shall we again refuse You,
Till in the night of hate and war
We perish as we lose You?
From old unfaith our souls release
To seek the kingdom of Your peace
By which alone we choose You.

O wounded hands of Jesus, build
In us Your new creation;
Our pride is dust, our vaunt is stilled,
We wait Your revelation.
O Love that triumphs over loss,
We bring our hearts before Your cross;
Come, finish Your salvation.

Today Is The Feast Of The Annunciation

"After the knowledge of God had been universally lost or obscured, one man from the whole earth (Abraham) is picked out. He is separated (miserably enough, we may suppose) from his natural surroundings, sent into a strange country, and made the ancestor of a nation who are to carry the knowledge of the true God. Within this nation there is further selection: some die in the desert, some remain behind in Babylon. There is further selection still. The process grows narrower and narrower, sharpens at last into one small bright point like the head of a spear. It is a Jewish girl at her prayers. All humanity (so far as concerns its redemption) has narrowed to that." - C.S. Lewis

Lenten Wave #16

A generous person will be enriched,
and one who gives water will get water. -Proverbs 11:25

Thank God For That

Alligator Not Expected At Sentencing

Biblical Archaeology Returns Tonight At 7 PM

Tonight we review the top ten discoveries and examine the most recent, legitimate discoveries of recent years.

I'll Bet

Christian pole dancing class creating controversy

I have a feeling this wouldn't work in Roxbury.

Lenten Wave #15

"Water is also one of the four elements, the most beautiful of God's creations. It is both wet and cold, heavy, and with a tendency to descend, and flows with great readiness. It is this the Holy Scripture has in view when it says, "And the darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." Water, then, is the most beautiful element and rich in usefulness, and purifies from all filth, and not only from the filth of the body but from that of the soul, if it should have received the grace of the Spirit."

-John of Damascus

The Feast Of Gregory The Illuminator

When I attended the General Theological Seminary in New York City, beginning nearly thirty years ago [!], the institution also served as the eastern seminary for the Armenian Orthodox Church in the US. Due to the many similarities between our branches of Christianity [Celtic Christianity is older than the Church of Rome; Armenia was the first nation to convert, before the Roman Empire did], it was a handsome fit. Also, the Armenians, many of whom were enjoying their first stay in the United States, were great friends and classmates as they were gregarious, generous, and full of life.

Two things I learned about them: they have a remarkably low regard for the Turks [see "Armenian Genocide"] and a terrific veneration for St. Gregory the Illuminator. The former is a matter of history, the latter of history and faith:

In the 3rd Century, Armenia served as a buffer state between the empires of Rome and Persia, and was often caught between the empires' competing needs and wants. Gregory was born circa 257. While an infant, his father pro-actively participated in politics by assassinating the King of Persia; family friends carried Gregory away for his protection to Caesarea in Cappadocia, where he was baptized and raised as a Christian.

About 280 he returned to Armenia as a missionary and anchorite, where he was originally treated severely. Eventually, by patience and through sound preaching and example, he brought King Tiridates III and his people to the Christian faith.

A generation later, Gregory was consecrated as the first bishop of Armenia. He died about 332.

Almighty God, whose will it is to be glorified in your saints, and who raised up your servant Gregory the Illuminator to be a light in the world, and to preach the Gospel to the people of Armenia: Shine, we pray, in our hearts, that we also in our generation may show forth your praise, who called us out of darkness into your marvelous light; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.