Northern Plains Anglicans

• How cold was it yesterday morning?

  
  It was so cold that Lily, who wakes me up before the alarm most days to let her romp in search of rabbits and squirrels, only wanted to pee and then went back in the garage. She stood there with a plaintive face until I [...]
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  Posted: December 10, 2009, 2:00am EST
  

• When good things happen to bad people or something like that

  In the last week, two really, really annoying/painful things have hit me. But in both cases, they caused me to walk face first into blessings way bigger than the annoyances.
  
  I wish God and I could communicate more directly and pleasantly sometimes, but I'm just thankful that He's got' [...]
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  Posted: December 09, 2009, 4:38pm EST
  

• OK, I grew up in L.A. So I gots to represent.

  Like a Lakers' fan, I show up late.
  
  Other religion blogs and even MSM have been hyperventilating about the election of a non-celibate lesbian as an assisting bishop in the Diocese of Los Angeles, where I was born & baptized at the end of the 50s, confirmed in 1978,' [...]
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  Posted: December 09, 2009, 2:00am EST
  

• Wow, something wonderful for Advent

  Just discovered a great blog called Charles Williams: The New Christian Year. The host is posting fairly frequent quotes from some of the greats of Christian spirituality, culled from a collection published by Williams in 1941. [...]
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  Posted: December 08, 2009, 6:26pm EST
  

• Yeah, that's our kid ^

  
  From his November hunt in Ziebach County. For those who like trivia, it is the last county in the USA if you go alphabetically. And it is waaaaay out in the empty middle of South Dakota.
  
  Those are wild turkeys he's holding. He' [...]
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  Posted: December 06, 2009, 6:44pm EST
  

• A lament for preachers, prophets and other assorted God talkers?

  I'm thinking about John the Baptist, Jesus himself, and any of us who try to point toward God with our words...
  
  Do you hear me Do you care Do you hear me Do you careMy lips are moving and the sound's coming out The words are audible but I [...]
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  Posted: December 06, 2009, 2:00am EST
  

• Are we listening?

  
  
  
  ...the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of [...]
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  Posted: December 05, 2009, 8:27am EST
  

• Advent: cold weather outside but too hot right here.

  A parishioner recently commented that I seem different - for the better, thankfully - now that some life burdens have been eased. She compared it to the Biblical idea of "refining" - intense heat burns away our spiritual impurities so that our lives become the treasure that God desires.
  
  [...]
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  Posted: December 03, 2009, 7:00pm EST
  

• "Transgression"

  I am not going to join the Tiger Woods hype except to deal with some important vocabulary reported from his public statements.
  
  On the one hand, he uses some of the shifty language of our culture:
  
  "Personal sins should not require press releases and problems within a" [...]
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  Posted: December 03, 2009, 9:24am EST
  

• IRS claims jurisdiction to auction off Reservation land today. The sad stories just keep on coming.

  We still can't figure out how to share the land. From the Sioux Falls Argus Leader.' [...]
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  Posted: December 03, 2009, 7:24am EST
  

• Former South Dakota Priest muses on the decline of the Episcopal Church

  BE OF GOOD CHEER WE ARE IN DECLINE «
  
  “The hungry sheep look up and are not fed.” So they graze in other fields. They are “secular” not because they have lost the capacity for faith, but because our obsessions don’t touch their lives. Fr. Tony Clavier[...]
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  Posted: December 03, 2009, 2:00am EST
  

• And another look at our national woes...

  A sobering reading from the prophet Amos this morning. As we stew about our reality TV stars; as we conflate news, entertainment and politics; as we scream about our private or group agenda and never so much as mumble anything for the common good; as we justify just about anything [...]
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  Posted: December 02, 2009, 7:06am EST
  

• Let this move you to pray for the unemployed

  Go to this link, press "Play" and please pray.
  
  Watching it play out, Advent words of longing and hope came to mind,
  
  The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. For those who live in a land of deep darkness, a light will shine.
  [...]
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  Posted: December 02, 2009, 6:47am EST
  

• You know. The stuff we forget to do in our marriages, churches and other important relationships.

  "One of the speakers at the Second World Congress of (Benedictine) Oblates in Rome last month was Mother Maire Hickey, OSB. She was the Abbess of Dinklage in Germany and is now the administrator of Kylemore Abbey in Ireland... (she) says, 'Benedict knows well the limitations of human nature'" [...]
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  Posted: December 01, 2009, 2:00am EST
  

• A Plea for Peace from The Episcopal Church of Sudan

  Anglican Communion News Service: Statement from the Episcopal Church of Sudan
  
  The Diocese of South Dakota has a significant relationship with this African Province. A Sudanese congregation worships at Church of the Holy Apostles, Sioux Falls, and Bishop Robertson ordained a Priest and a Deacon that they raised [...]
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  Posted: November 30, 2009, 5:28pm EST
  

• SD's Senators split as Health Care Bill debate opens

  This afternoon the U.S. Senate takes up H.R. 3590, The Patient Protection and Affordability Act.
  
  Senator Tim Johnson (D) is supportive.
  
  Senator John Thune (R) opposes the bill as written. [...]
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  Posted: November 30, 2009, 6:23am EST
  

• Burnt out by church?

  One possible diagnosis is here. Short and well worth the read. It might help you or might give you insight to help someone else.
  
  "To put it bluntly, it feels better to have some earthly happiness as a pagan and then be damned than it feels to be" [...]
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  Posted: November 30, 2009, 2:00am EST
  

• Happy 18th, Tim Fountain

  
  
  Nah, not me. Our son.
  May anything good Christ gave him through mom & dad outweigh our flaws.
  May the Lord bless and prosper Tim's life now and forever.
  
  (Yes, he made the cat wear a football helmet. Deal with [...]
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  Posted: November 29, 2009, 4:30pm EST
  

• A thanks-be-to-God! moment

  We've been working to refresh and build up our children's ministry on Sundays. We've had a rotating team (all women - and gifted!) and been working to coordinate the kids' activities with the sermon theme of the week.
  
  I've been joking around about men discovering the gift of teaching, [...]
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  Posted: November 29, 2009, 12:16pm EST
  

• Advent: Now and Then

  Now:
  
  By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept, when we remembered you, O Zion.
  
  As for our harps, we hung them up on the trees in the midst of that land.
  
  For those who led us away captive asked us for a song,and our [...]
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  Posted: November 29, 2009, 2:00am EST
  

• "Pastoral Care" - one size don't fit all, but showing up goes a long way

  Sioux Falls has two large medical centers, and people are flown in for care from all over South Dakota and surrounding states.
  
  Frequently, Episcopal Clergy in Sioux Falls assist with pastoral visits to church members from the Reservations. The Mission clergy are hours away and have heavy pastoral responsibilities [...]
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  Posted: November 28, 2009, 9:38am EST
  

• There's signs and then there's signs...

  Lessons for Advent look both back and ahead. They look back, with thankful wonder, at the prophecies and signs that preceded Jesus' birth. They look ahead, with anxious hope, to the promise that "He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will'" [...]
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  Posted: November 28, 2009, 2:00am EST
  

• Christian nation?

  KELO AM's Greg Belfrage devoted part of his Wednesday morning air time to the question, "Is America a Christian nation?"
  
  Most answers to that question seem to cherry pick quotes from the Founders - pious quotes to infer a "Yes" and Deist/unorthodox quotes to infer a "No."
  
  I [...]
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  Posted: November 27, 2009, 2:00am EST
  

• Happy Thanksgiving!

  May Christ be your guest. May you rest from anxiety and, by faith, enjoy true Sabbath as God cares for all your needs. May you know that the world is not on your shoulders and that the universe is yours to enjoy through the one [...]
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  Posted: November 26, 2009, 2:00am EST
  

• Some good news on the clergy front... always room for more!

  Back in May, I blogged about Bishop Tarrant's attentiveness to South Dakota's clergy deployment needs. This is not any easy place to recruit or retain clergy.
  
  Thanks be to God, there have been several calls issued and clergy deployed here in recent months. These include:
  Rita Powell, Diocesan [...]
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  Posted: November 24, 2009, 2:00am EST
  

• The Rosebud Episcopal Mission's Christmas Toy Drive

  From their Facebook page:
  
  Each year our Mission hosts a large Chtistmas party for the community. We are asking anyne who is able to donate toys for this event. We would love new toys, such as games, puzzles, coloring books and boxes of crayons, and Nerf type sports equipment. [...]
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  Posted: November 23, 2009, 2:00am EST
  

• Letter to local paper shows how "the agenda" undercuts leaders

  The Sioux Falls Argus Leader published an interview with Bishop John Tarrant just before his consecration last month. There was much that was commendable: reporter Sheri Levisay asked about the real challenges of a widespread diocese, it's small congregations, and of the church's response to high suicide rates and [...]
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  Posted: November 22, 2009, 2:00am EST
  

• ALERT: Custer killed! Wild Bill Hickok shot in Deadwood! And...

  And in that same pile of breaking news, I found that back in March, The Standing Committee of the Diocese of South Dakota voted "no" on consent for the consecration of K.T. Forrester as Bishop of Northern Michigan. (Scroll down to p. 16 at the link).
  
  Thank you [...]
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  Posted: November 21, 2009, 11:32am EST
  

• Do you follow THE King, or just some wannabee?

  

  It's Christ the King Sunday!

  [...]
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  Posted: November 21, 2009, 9:45am EST
  

• Leadership on Heaven's Terms

  "Our Lord said to his disciples, See, I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Many, when they are put in a position of authority, are eager to tear their subordinates to pieces, showing only the alarming side of power, and hurting those they are called to serve. So" [...]
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  Posted: November 21, 2009, 2:00am EST
  

• Lord's Prayer and Last Things

  The first half of the Church worship year looks back in thankful celebration for God's action in human history, in particular the life and earthly ministry of Jesus Christ. The second half emphasizes the Church's continuation of Jesus' work, by the power of the Holy Spirit.
  
  This coming Sunday,' [...]
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  Posted: November 20, 2009, 6:40am EST
  

• Rosebud Mission has a Facebook group...

  If you use Facebook, this will be a good place to learn more about the Reservation ministry in South Dakota. The Spruhan family have put in years of faithful service on the Rosebud, and Fr. Webster Two Hawk is the senior priest in the Diocese, ordained a Deacon in 1957 [...]
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  Posted: November 17, 2009, 9:50pm EST
  

• Are boomers and young adults all that different, spiritually?

  I am fortunate to have a college campus minister in my congregation. She keeps me up on fresh research and perspective. Last week, she shared insights from Lost in Transition, Christian Smith's look at the spirituality of young adults.
  
  One of the author's statements in an interview reveals [...]
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  Posted: November 16, 2009, 7:21am EST
  

• Happy news to share on the family front...

  Our older son just got a phone call of acceptance from the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology. His field of interest is Metallurgy, and "Mines" is an excellent school with high quality faculty, low teacher-student ratio, and excellent career placement. They just received a multimillion dollar [...]
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  Posted: November 15, 2009, 5:00pm EST
  

• Gregory the Great's exhortation to pray for your preachers

  Beloved brothers, our Lord and Savior sometimes gives us instruction by words and sometimes by actions. His very deeds are our commands; and whenever he acts silently he is teaching us what we should do. For example, he sends his disciples out to preach two by two, because the precept [...]
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  Posted: November 14, 2009, 1:42pm EST
  

• Religion’s biggest critic…

  …has been sounding off on Sundays lately. How rude.
  
  He criticized our clergy and lay pillars of the church:
  
  Teaching in the temple, Jesus said, "Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to" [...]
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  Posted: November 14, 2009, 8:32am EST
  

• Pregnant Pause

  Many of us are still getting used to the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL), especially some of the Old Testament selections that set up as didactic lesson plans instead of sermon inspiration, and some instances of tone deafness toward the melodies of the liturgical church year.
  
  But I've' [...]
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  Posted: November 13, 2009, 6:34am EST
  

• Celebrating an Anglican who resisted our "all-consuming interest in self-esteem...self-assertiveness...self-enhancement and self-realization"

  No, he wasn't here on the Northern Plains. Charles Simeon, commemorated on the Episcopal Church and other Anglican calendars this week, ministered in the University town of Cambridge, England in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
  
  But a Baptist in Minneapolis (!?!?), John' [...]
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  Posted: November 12, 2009, 2:00am EST
  

• Just in case you're flying over...

  Anglican blogs around the U.S. and abroad have been lit up by Pope Benedict's recent "Apostolic Constitution."
  
  To give some idea of the disconnect between coastal/urban and "flyover" Episcopalians, let me just say that not a single parishioner has asked about this. Not a single coffee hour question.[...]
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  Posted: November 11, 2009, 3:46pm EST
  

• Time for a break

  I need to take a break from blogging.
  
  After giving thanks this week for God's provision of some financial relief, I realized how weary I am from four years of struggling with family health and financial burdens, multiple jobs, church stuff (normal and not-so-normal), etc. The death of a' [...]
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  Posted: August 31, 2009, 11:45pm EDT
  

• You know what really hurts?

  I am still in awe of the quick ruling in favor of my wife's disability claim, and the dawning awareness that four of the hardest, most painful years of my life are about to have a measure of relief.
  
  A few times, I've called these the worst four years [...]
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  Posted: August 29, 2009, 3:00am EDT
  

• God is all over things today... email from a parishioner

  Earlier today, I posted the news that my wife's disability claim was approved. Just now, I got this email from a parishioner. He and his wife have also struggled with financial and health pressures, and he's been trying to work toward a new career:
  
  "I contacted XXXXX at SD" [...]
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  Posted: August 28, 2009, 1:59pm EDT
  

• Stuttering and stammering because I'm so thankful - - to God and to all of you who prayed

  My wife's Social Security Disability hearing was on Tuesday. We were told to look for a decision letter in about 60 - 90 days.
  
  Well, our advocate just called and said, "Melissa is my all time record for fastest decision rendered." He received a written statement of judgement in' [...]
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  Posted: August 28, 2009, 10:40am EDT
  

• This weekend, give yourself the time to read this woman's report

  Rachel Lucas » Blog Archive » “We have to go into the despair and go beyond it, by working and doing for somebody else, by using it for something else.”
  
  This amazing account, with powerful photography, has been shared by a number of other bloggers but it is [...]
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  Posted: August 27, 2009, 7:00pm EDT
  

• Equal Time: A South Dakota Deputy's positive take on General Convention

  Jean Lacher is also chair of SD's Standing Committee. She's been making a sincere and much appreciated effort to be in contact with me, and I asked her if she might share her point of view, given my negative review of the Convention.
  
  I am going to borrow a [...]
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  Posted: August 27, 2009, 7:00am EDT
  

• Bishop N.T. Wright of Durham, England on the Lockerbie bomber release -- is "You don't get it, we're British" a moral answer?

  A good editorial that reflects the different perspectives in the USA and UK. This came up in the comments on my earlier post. h/t TitusOneNine for the link.
  
  Wright provides some helpful insights, but I still don't hear any answers to my earlier concerns:
  
  1) Clemency/mercy was' [...]
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  Posted: August 26, 2009, 8:55am EDT
  

• Impact of denominational revision on one lay leader and his congregation

  By email:
  
  "...I have been spending the past few days talking to a number of people within my current congregation along with others in the spiritual sister communities of the local Methodist church and the LCMS church. There are a number of families in my church that have pushed" [...]
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  Posted: August 26, 2009, 8:24am EDT
  

• Little ode to the mainline churches

  Starting with Hotel California, the Eagles used an increasingly pop-rock sound to push back at the glitzy Golden State life style in which their musical success embedded them.
  
  This song is in that mood, but some of the lyrics made me think of The Episcopal, Lutheran (ELCA) and other [...]
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  Posted: August 26, 2009, 6:29am EDT
  

• A letter to the Sioux Falls Argus Leader has me seeking Dr. Kevorkian in my health plan.

  From a real “Voice of the People” letter published in Tuesday’s Sioux Falls Argus Leader. I am leaving out the author’s name – s/he was arguing in favor of government health care reform, and making some decent points – but then wrote the following:
  
  “Insurance companies follow the precept [...]
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  Posted: August 25, 2009, 9:53pm EDT
  

• I waited so I wouldn't rant. Some sober thoughts on the morality of the Lockerbie mass murderer's release.

  Last week, Scotland released Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, convicted of murdering 270 civilian, non-combatant, multinational men, women and children in the 1988 bombing of Pan American Airlines Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.
  
  The release was based on compassion, as al-Megrahi is terminally ill. He returned to his native Libya, where [...]
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  Posted: August 25, 2009, 10:51am EDT