The_Archer_of_the_Forest

If I was ever teaching a liturgical music class on chant or singing a round, I would so show this clip. It captures everything that can go right and everything that can go wrong.

Grandma made the dress, a parishioner made the blanket, my great aunt made the handkercheif/bonnet, and Daddy preached the sermon. Happy All Saints' Day!

Ironically, I made a facebook update earlier in the week saying this was going to be the first "normal" week in the parish in a while. No pet blessings, no installations, etc. Eh...wrong again. On the night of the 4th of July, we had some minor vandalism in the church. Some yahoo got in and lit some cigarettes and a firecracker in the main worship area. This burned some nice holes in the carpet in the entry way. Luckily, our insurance was willing to cover most of the damage minus the deductible, so we got new carpet installed this week. It looks great; so, I guess it might have been a blessing in disguise as we really needed to do something about the carpet that was getting a few rolling waves in the aisle and was a tripping hazard. Here are some before and after pictures. As you can see, we had to move the organ and the main altar and all out of the way. It was a task, but as you can see, it was well worth the effort. The carpet guy left a Sacred Heart of Jesus made out of left over carpet, which you will see in the last picture.

Yesterday, we had our annual belated St. Francis Day Blessing of the Animals. I was out last week at Diocesan Convention in Chamberlain, SD, so we missed the actual feast day of St. Francis. So we had it yesterday instead. We were going to at first have it outside, but they were threatening 2 to 4 inches of snow. Then I decided to have it in the main church area, but it is temporarily torn up due to new carpeting being put in (I'll have before and after pictures later on that). So it ended up in the church basement undercroft as a last resort. As you can see, it was mostly dogs this year, although we did have a rabbit from Minnesota show up (which I forgot to take a picture of). A good time was had by all, especially the dogs, since they got blessings and treats.

So, to make a long story short, I have been trying to track down a functional automobile for an acquaintance who just got laid off from his job and whose car died the next week. I thought being a priest I might be able to pull a few strings. After finagling some people who know some people in the ministerial association and various social work organizations, I got word that someone was willing to donate an automobile. I was dubious, but perhaps there was some goodnatured, philanthropist soul who had a functional, short term automobile. " "Oh, I assure you, Father...the car runs well and has a clear title." Riiiight. So I arranged to look at the automobile and pick it up if that assertion was correct. (You so know where this is going to end.) I went down to the dept. of labor and talked to someone who knew the social worker in the next building. They handed me the keys and the title and told me the car was "in the back lot." Riiiight. So I started looking in the lot, and in a scene that I can only describe by quoting the Johnny Cash song, "The Man Comes Around" which is loosely based on the Book of Revelation, "And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts, And I looked and behold: a pale horse. And his name, that sat on him, was Death. And Hell followed with him." Behold, a 1983 Ford Escort station wagon in rust form. After having to jimmy the door open, I cranked the car (on the 6th attempt). Halfway across the parking lot, a heard "the whirlwind in the thorn tree" as the bumper fell off. I got out and looked and realized it had been bungee corded on. So after getting that back on, I cranked it again and drove around the parking lot to turn around, and the car died in the entrance to the parking lot. I mean utterly died, as in "Voices callin', voices cryin'. Some are born an' some are dyin'. It's Alpha's and Omega's Kingdom come." As I am sitting there trying to get it cranked long enough to get it back to the parking space, what appeared to be a ho

This is a video put out by an Orthodox monastery in Guatemala. If you are interested in icongraphy, there are some interesting clips in the middle of the video that show application of iconographic art into the new church. It is short by really interesting.

Rejoice O Virgin-A Blessed Feast.

We are past Labor Day, and we will hit the Horror/Scary movie season in the theaters (one or two are already out). As a fan of classic scary movies, I am usually dismayed at the rot that passes for Horror films these days. Blood and guts everywhere and special effects that simply put most Horror films over the top, and thereby render them more absurd than scary. If you are a devotee and critic of Horror films, I recommend watching the following two Youtube clips. Its a very well done BBC two part interview from 1964 with the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock. His thoughts on film making in this genre are really thought provoking. After watching this, see if you can stand Jason v. Freddy flicks or other such bad horror films anymore without feeling a loss in the overall quality of film making in the genre. A good suspenseful, scary movie comes along every so often still, but they are few and far between.

opus 37 "Vespers" of Sergei Rakhmaninov

Hat tip: Tim Fountain

Hat Tip: Tim Fountain

I posted this on Facebook earlier in the week, but I wanted to post it on my blog as well. Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, did a wonderful 3 minute blurb on Pentecost that really stuck with me. Its worth the time if you didn't see it the first time around.

Bordering on sacrilegious, but it asks good questions.

Funny, but asks some serious theological questions about the nature of God.

This is a pretty cool video from a Russian Orthodox Church...

This YouTube video has been circulating around some of the Anglican blogs in England. The subtitles are in French, but its a very interesting transformation of a stone free standing altar to an liturgical east facing one. Watch this and see what you think...