Celtic Odyssey

Almighty and everlasting God, increase in us the gifts of faith, hope, and charity; and, that we may obtain what you promise, make us love what you command; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

As you all know, I am a HUGE PCLOS fan. It is my distro of choice. However, with Dell selling systems with Ubuntu pre-installed, I know I will be getting some calls about what to do. So, I figured I would install Ubuntu and see what I can figure out. I downloaded the latest version of Ubuntu (7.10, ‘Gutsy Gibbon’) and burned it to a CD. I then rebooted my laptop (an old Compaq) and launched into the Live CD. Everything seemed to work pretty well. (Except my wireless card. But I'm used to this.) So I clicked on the ‘Install’ icon and went about the install process. I wanted to make sure I could keep my PCLinuxOS install intact so I made sure Ubuntu installed on the remaining free space on my hard drive. This is one of the greatest features of Linux, IMO. I can take a small 30GB hard drive (small by today’s standards) and install two operating systems and still have plenty of space for all of my documents and pictures. In fact, I have the exact same on both partitions with...

Almighty and everlasting God, in Christ you have revealed your glory among the nations: Preserve the works of your mercy, that your Church throughout the world may persevere with steadfast faith in the confession of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

Lord, we pray that your grace may always precede and follow us, that we may continually be given to good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

'What if well-funded megachurches decided to see some home-based faith communities as partners in ministry, so they could overlap and share resources and not see one another as enemies or even alternatives, but as two expressions of the same thing? That takes us in the direction I think we need to go, and will be good for the whole range of faith communities.' Brian D. McLaren I find that quote very exciting. I have never looked at other denominations in this light before and it brings a whole new view from which we can all work together. The problem comes, of course, when we see 'our church' as the 'right' way of 'doing church' instead of a different expression of people who are trying to following Jesus. What would happen if we tried to follow this model? I think we would be closer to what Jesus prayed in John 17 : I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As...

And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’ Matthew 28.18-20 I have been thinking about this passage for a few days now and I am still contemplating verse 18. Jesus said, 'All authority...on earth has been given to me.' What does this mean? Some have stated 'all authority on earth' means: Clarke -- '[To] convert sinners; to sanctify, protect, and perfect his Church; to subdue all nations to himself; and, finally, to judge all mankind.' Henry -- [Having] prevailed with God, by the sacrifice of atonement, he prevails with men, and deals with them as one having authority, by the ministry of reconciliation. He is indeed, in all causes and over all persons, supreme...

For those of us who aren't aware, 'P' (which stands for priestly) is a member of the Documentary Hypothesis . He is seen as the last source (or next to last source) in a line of four editors who compiled the Pentateuch (Genesis -- Deuteronomy). Supposedly, this source was composed and edited circa 550-400 BCE while in exile during the Babylonian captivity. 'P' is said to see God as a 'distant and unmerciful' god and uses 'Elohim' for God's name. Also, 'P' is supposed to be saying that God didn't create the cosmos ex nihilo, i.e., from nothing, because Genesis 1.2 states, 'The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters.'. This (supposedly) indicates that there was something already here (the deep waters) when God started the Genesis project. Some of you are going, 'Wait. What?' I know. I have some issues with this, too. Here are a few things that I want to point out. First, concerning th...

I have been appointed as a Eucharistic Visitor.  I have this honor for three years and the privilege of serving the community of St. John's.  I had to attend a training class and fill out some paper work but my 'certification' was issued by Bishop Moody on August 18th, 2007. So what is a Eucharistic Visitor?  Good question!  What we do is extend the Eucharist to the parish family who can't attend the public service.  We take bulletins, altar flowers, the Lessons, and a little Eucharist kit to people who are in the hospital or home bound for whatever reason.  We receive our kits right after the rest of the body has partaken of the elements and go directly to the other members.  This extends the worship for those people who can't attend.  It's such an honor to be able to do this.  It is also very humbling.  And I have been twice.  The first time, I went with someone else to see how it's done.  (I found out a couple of weeks later that the gentleman we saw had...