Inspired....by the Muses

Cooking at the Headmaster's House

2011-09-30T18:32:00.000-07:00

New Boarding Students From China Enjoy Lake Almanor

2011-08-21T15:40:00.000-07:00

Evensong at St. Agnes, London

2010-06-13T22:17:00.001-07:00

Exterior, Norman Church

2010-06-13T22:15:00.003-07:00

Fathers Schaefer, Foos & Boonzaaijer

2010-06-13T22:15:00.001-07:00

Norman Church

2010-06-13T22:14:00.001-07:00

Holy Communion in a Norman Church

2010-06-13T22:13:00.003-07:00

Pub Grub Dinner

2010-06-13T22:13:00.001-07:00

Tuckered Out

2010-06-13T22:12:00.001-07:00

Singing at St. David's, Preston

2010-06-13T22:09:00.001-07:00

At Castlerigg

2010-06-12T00:39:00.002-07:00

At Castlerigg

2010-06-12T00:39:00.001-07:00

Castlerigg Stone Circle

2010-06-12T00:38:00.002-07:00

Driving in Lake District

2010-06-12T00:38:00.001-07:00

Lake District Countryside

2010-06-12T00:37:00.001-07:00

More Lake District

2010-06-12T00:36:00.003-07:00

Walking in the Lake District

2010-06-12T00:36:00.001-07:00

Live Performance on BBC Lancashire

2010-06-12T00:35:00.001-07:00

St. Michael's Holy Well behind Arthuret Church

2010-06-10T14:51:00.001-07:00

9th Century Viking Cross at Arthuret Church

2010-06-10T14:50:00.001-07:00

Detail from the 18 ft. Tall, 1200+ year old Ruthwell Cross.

2010-06-10T14:48:00.001-07:00

Tour of the Ruins of the Whithorn Priory

2010-06-10T14:46:00.001-07:00

St. Ninian's Cave

2010-06-10T14:45:00.001-07:00

Father Foos at St Ninian's Cave

2010-06-10T14:44:00.000-07:00

St Ninian prayed here in the late 400s and thousands of Pilgrims have
come here to pray as well.

Evensong at St Bride's

2010-06-10T14:41:00.002-07:00

Jedburgh Abbey, Scotland

2010-06-10T14:41:00.001-07:00

Father Boonzaaijer at Jedburough Abbey, Scotland

2010-06-09T14:06:00.000-07:00

Evensong at St Brides, Dumfries, Scotland

2010-06-09T14:03:00.000-07:00

Scottish Countryside

2010-06-08T08:12:00.001-07:00

Armory at Bamburgh

2010-06-08T08:11:00.003-07:00

Inside The Castle

2010-06-08T08:11:00.001-07:00

Bamburgh Castle, Northumbria

2010-06-08T08:10:00.001-07:00

Singing Canticles

2010-06-08T08:08:00.001-07:00

During Evening Prayer at Hexham Abbey.

On Hadrian's Wall

2010-06-08T08:07:00.001-07:00

Built in c. 145 AD

Evensong in Durham area

2010-06-08T08:06:00.001-07:00

After Matins

2010-06-08T03:16:00.000-07:00

Escomb is the oldest churcch that we are aware of in the UK.

Christian Reads the Second Lesson at Choral Matins at Escomb Church

2010-06-08T03:14:00.000-07:00

Ely's Tower from the Inside

2010-06-08T03:08:00.000-07:00

Ely Cathedral

2010-06-08T03:07:00.000-07:00

Window of Church in St. Ive's, where we were put up for the night.

2010-06-08T03:06:00.000-07:00

Local Northumbrian Apple Pie & Custard

2010-06-08T02:56:00.000-07:00

A Welcome treat a cold Northumbrian summer day.

After Festival Eucharist at St John's College

2010-06-07T11:33:00.000-07:00

Corpus Christi Procession

2010-06-04T03:50:00.001-07:00

First Corpus Christi Procession by the college of the same name In 440
years, and the staff of both schools were a part of it!

2010-06-04T03:48:00.003-07:00

A "Cream Tea"

St. Perer's

2010-06-04T03:48:00.001-07:00

Pilgrimage to St. Peter's-on-the-wall

2010-06-04T03:47:00.001-07:00

Oldest Church building in England c. 550 AD. Built on the wall of a
Roman fort, using the Roman stones.

2010-06-04T03:45:00.001-07:00

A Walk

Canterbury

2010-06-04T03:44:00.002-07:00

Behind Canterbury

2010-06-04T03:44:00.001-07:00

Canterbury Cathedral

2010-06-04T03:43:00.001-07:00

Grocery Shopping in London

2010-06-04T03:42:00.001-07:00

In Front of the British Museum, London

2010-05-31T12:32:00.000-07:00

Father and Mrs. Houser met us there and then accompanied us to the
British Library.

At Temple Church

2010-05-30T17:31:00.000-07:00

After Holy Communion with a glorious choir.

MacBeth at the Globe Theatre

2010-05-30T17:29:00.001-07:00

Ready for the start of MacBeth

2010-05-30T17:29:00.000-07:00

We were groundlings. Cheap seats in the yard--only you stand for the
whole show.

Lambeth Palace Library Exhibit

2010-05-30T00:15:00.000-07:00

First such exhibit ever. Celebrating the library's 400 year
anniversary of it's founding by Archbishop Bancroft. Students
listened to audio tours A's the walked through the Great Hall of
Lambeth.

Students & Friends in front of Rowan William's Palace

2010-05-29T15:43:00.000-07:00

We told the folks that we were here and would be glad to meet with the
Archbishop. He never showed.

But look closely too see Bishop and Mrs. Meyers from Germany. We ran
into them at St Paul's Cathedral.

Good Shepherd & St Andew's Students at the Globe Theatre

2010-05-29T15:35:00.000-07:00

We toured the Globe theatre this morning. We see Shakespeare's MacBeth
tomorrow night, probably standing right at this spot in this theatre--
but facing the opposite direction.

Traditional fish and chips in South London

2010-05-28T15:36:00.000-07:00

Evensong at St. Paul's Cathedral

2010-05-28T15:35:00.000-07:00

St. Paul's Cathedral School

2010-05-28T15:34:00.000-07:00

We were given the back door tour of St. Paul's by a faculty member. We
missed our appointment to see the school (because of our delayed
flight), but this was great. We snuck in on the choristers practising
for the evensog.

Arrived London

2010-05-28T15:30:00.000-07:00

Flying Virgin Atlantic

2010-05-27T19:25:00.000-07:00

Ready To Fly

2010-05-27T19:24:00.000-07:00

Intrepid St. Andrew's travelers depart for London

2010-05-27T07:53:00.000-07:00

2010-05-26T11:07:00.001-07:00

Rotary Speech Meet Finals

2010-05-22T10:19:00.000-07:00

JoAnna Waterman and her father after her speech presentation in Reno,
Nevada.

Golden Gate

2010-03-23T12:44:00.001-07:00

In Grace Cathedral

2010-03-21T18:42:00.000-07:00

In Front of Grace Cathedral

2010-03-21T18:41:00.000-07:00

The bronze doors are replicas of those in the baptistry of St. John in
Florence, Italy--which JoAnna & Shelby remembered seeing.

Protocol Dinner 2010

2010-03-21T18:38:00.000-07:00

At Pigeon Point Lighthouse

2010-03-20T16:06:00.000-07:00

When In Rome....

2010-03-20T13:24:00.000-07:00

New Boarder, Merit & Lucas take on Chinatown.

In the city with JoAnna.

2010-03-20T13:22:00.000-07:00

New Boarding Student in First Mountain Snow Storm

2010-03-08T14:07:00.001-08:00

Merit Miller takes in the late winter snow.

Father Sparks Visit's St. Andrew's Academy

2010-03-06T19:50:00.001-08:00

Father Daniel Sparks is a United States Army Chaplain. He visited St. Andrew's on the 15th of February. Here he is with First Form Students in their classroom.

Boarding Student Hard At Work

2010-03-03T20:51:00.001-08:00

Iona House Wins Michaelmas Term's Competition

2009-12-10T15:41:00.000-08:00

First place was a large combo. pizza. Canterbury took second place and
a medium sausage and peperoni. York House trailed in third and earned
a small cheese.

Colloquy On Telecomminications

2009-12-10T13:53:00.000-08:00

Mr. Bob MacArthur lectures. He was over 40 years working for AT&T.

December Birthday Celebration at St. Andrew's

2009-12-10T12:47:00.001-08:00

Josiah Bartel is the only student for December this year, but all the
students were more than willing to help celebrate!

St. Andrew's Students Playing Spoons

2009-12-03T20:27:00.001-08:00

And, they dare to play Spoons with the legendary danger player, Mrs.
Foos! Many a student has been injured playing with Mrs. Foos.

Local Lake Almanor Scene

2009-11-12T17:34:00.001-08:00

Dr. Seel took this picture of the Barn on the meadow outside of Chester during his visit.

New staff made it too

2009-10-16T12:20:00.000-07:00

Miss Woolsey holds up Miss Ashmore after the grueling hike!

That's what friends are for.

St. Andrew's hikes Mt. Harkness

2009-10-16T12:17:00.000-07:00

8000 ft.

Boarding Students Help With Dinner at the Headmaster's House

2009-10-12T19:48:00.001-07:00

St. Andrew's Students Help at Writers Conference

2009-09-20T14:19:00.000-07:00

Students helped out at the Outdoor Writers Association of California.
Josiah, Peter, and Shelby helped too, but we thought Emmaline more
photogenic.

Peter Bartel gives it the old St. Andrew's try.

2009-09-18T14:16:00.000-07:00

Miss Cook's attempt

2009-09-18T14:13:00.000-07:00

The Competition Between The Houses at Lake Day

2009-09-18T13:02:00.001-07:00

Will Meyers holds the record for Chubby Bunny in Mayonnaise.

In case you were wondering, that's Seven.

First week of school

2009-09-18T12:32:00.000-07:00

Students at break.

Confirmation at St. Andrew's Academy

2009-08-31T08:26:00.000-07:00

Shelby Howe was confirmed today by Bishop Win Mott at the chapel
service before school.

Miss Steinberg Prepares For Classes

2009-08-21T16:55:00.000-07:00

First Boarding Student To Arrive Back At St. Andrew's

2009-08-19T23:44:00.000-07:00

Miss Sampey had a very long day after a late flight helped her to miss
her connecting flight. Should be in bed in Lake Almanor by 3:30 AM
East Coast time.

In Which the High School Goes Backpacking

2007-08-29T12:07:00.001-07:00

and Andrew finds a pet,
Sarah has very sore feet,
Charris turns into Josiah,
Serena eats beef stroganoff,
JoAnna's soul is photographed away,
and Rebekah is bothered by a bear who goes to St. Andrew's.

A common sight on the trip

And another common sight, the silly boys

One night in a real campground

We made it!

Did she take our picture backlit because we looked so bad??

Oh well... we had a great time.

Modern History

2007-07-31T10:12:00.000-07:00

As a preview to the high schoolers:

The Modern World:
Romanticism, Optimism, Evolutionism, Imperialism, Materialism, Industrialism, and Individualism

(You can always tell a good class by its long subtitle).

2007-05-03T21:13:00.000-07:00

Dr. James Taylor's Response to Lake Almanor and St. Andrew's Academy

2006-12-28T16:38:00.000-08:00

I was thrilled, as was the rest of the faculty and the St. Andrew's Family, to have Dr. James Taylor visit us in November and be our speaker for our St. Andrew's Day Conference as well as visit the school and sit in on classes, join discussions, etc.

Below is his response, which he wrote as his weekly column in his local paper in Kansas. Thank you Dr. Taylor for such kind words.

NOTES FROM NORTHEAST KANSAS… and Lake Almanor, California
By James S. Taylor

The name is enchanting – Lake Almanor. It could have been used in a poem by Edgar Allen Poe, but when I arrived at this destination nearly two weeks ago in northern California, I was informed otherwise.

According to local historical sources, in 1914 the vice-president of Great Western Power Company was persuaded to finance a hydroelectric facility that, with the building of a dam to catch the flow of the Feather River, became one of the largest man made lakes in California. It is approximately 52 square miles, rests at an elevation of 4,500 feet, is thirteen miles long and six miles wide, and is 90 feet deep at its deepest point.

There was something of a poetic and romantic history to the lake after all: Guy C. Earl, the vice-president, named the lake after his three daughters, Alice, Martha, and Eleanor – thus, Almanor.

And 1914 was truly an explosive year for the region. The Mt. Lassen National Park sources record that in May of that year the volcano Lassen Peak burst into eruption, beginning a seven-year cycle of sporadic volcanic outbursts. The climax of the episode took place in 1915, when the peak blew an enormous mushroom cloud some seven miles into the stratosphere.
My two room shore side resort apartment at the Dorado Inn offered a wide picture post card view of the Lake, the mountains and Mt. Lassen. The sunsets were such a palette of pastels melting into deep reds spreading over the purple mountains and reflected in the Lake, a tourist, like me, will pull the car off the road to watch, and the locals never tire of commenting on the beauty.

But the lasting impression for me were the trees, Ponderosa pines, Sugar pines, cedar, rising 100 and 150 feet high on both sides of the highways and standing like brave and stalwart sentinels up the sides of the mountains. They are so silent and calm in the morning fog and mist, so deeply green and imperious against a blue sky and high sun. Logging has been the business up here for a long time, but if there have been abuses like clear cuts, I did not see them from the road and suspect over the years laws have been enacted to protect against such destructive greed. These silent giants are obviously thoughtfully thinned to space them just enough not to choke or clutter the growth. As a result, the eye is led over the tawny colored pine needle floor and into the cool darkness of the forest.

The highways, which are in good shape, snake around the sides of mountains through the tall hallways of the pines. Now and then a logging truck grinds up a grade then roars down the other side carrying its stacked load of harvested trees, the circumference of the smallest log bigger than a 50 gallon barrel drum.

I had not come here just to look at the trees and the mountains and the Lake, though that would be a perfectly good thing to do and nothing else. My immediate purpose was to visit a school, a rather special one now in its sixth year. It is small by some standards, maybe by any standards. There are about 30 students, K – 12. There are six teachers. Each morning before school and every day after school, they sing together. They sing hymns according to The Hymnal of the Anglican Church and they say prayers from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer. The boys and girls of St. Andrew’s Academy wear uniforms and are among the happiest and most cheerful group of students I have met. After listening to their singing, seeing how song transforms their faces and their behavior, there is no question in my mind where their composure comes from. Oh, they have their mischief and weaknesses, and they have some of the particular wounds children carry in the modern world; and like other students they need direction, correction, and encouragement.

But I came as an educational consultant or some such inflated title, and as is usually the case, I am the one who learns. And what was that? I saw that the school has sought to be a faculty of friends and the light of this friendship naturally extends to the students who, by the way, stand when teachers or adults enter the room and address them formally, more or less naturally and without stiffness. They have developed a curriculum based on the liberal arts appropriate for grammar and high school. This can be seen in their grammar school writing program based on Aesop Fables and their high school Latin class now translating Caesar; the richness of the literature and philosophy classes; the approach to math and science that along with the rigor does not neglect seeing the beautiful in numbers and order. And they sing, sing and sing. Every student is a member of the school choir under the direction of the headmaster, Fr. Brian Foos.

The morning of my return to Kansas my airplane lifted up to clear the mountains around Reno, Nevada, a little over a hundred miles from Lake Almanor. I looked out the window at the rounded tops of the sparse Sierra Nevada range flattening out as we gained altitude and I thought about how bright the students would have sung in choir that morning, shoulders squared, chins slightly lifted, standing straight and strong as the tall green pines in the forests around Lake Almanor. It seemed that all of creation was singing then. And maybe it was.

Angels

2006-12-25T09:36:00.000-08:00

Any ideas why our culture, and ones that have gone before, have portrayed angels as babies, cherubs, or little children? Is that the best we can do when thinking about purity and innocence, or is there something more? Would we like to ignore the Scriptural picture of the terror-striking angels of Isaiah's writing or the flaming sword of the cherubim that guarded in every direction? Just curious. -N.M.

Reminiscing

2006-11-23T20:44:00.000-08:00

The St. Andrew's Academy Choir in Chicago after a wonderful pub meal at the Elephant & Castle.

Purgatory? Is there an Anglican position?

2006-10-05T21:37:00.000-07:00

A cross posting from Father Derrick Hassert. In response to a question in today's high school Bible class.

XXII. Of Purgatory.The Romish Doctrine concerning Purgatory. . .is a fond thing, vainly invented, and grounded upon no warranty of Scripture, but rather repugnant to the Word of God.

Often, when in debate or discussion with other Christians, it is posited that Anglicans believe in “Purgatory.” I often reply “Why do you think that?” The answer usually is “Because you pray for the dead.” Indeed, we do pray for the dead, and we believe the dead pray for and with us—but does this mean that we follow the peculiar teaching of the Church of Rome on this matter? The answer is, based on historical and dogmatic theology, an emphatic “no,” but one that often demands explanation to both Anglicans and those outside of the Anglican tradition.

The equation of Purgatory with the Intermediate State (in the Anglican teaching, the state in which the souls of all of the faithful departed exist before the Resurrection of the dead) is an erroneous one, especially since the Roman Church elaborates upon both Purgatory and the Intermediate State (in this line of thinking, occupied when “the souls” pass out of Purgatory before the Resurrection, translating their status from that of mere “souls” into true “saints,” and thus necessitating the feast day of All Souls along with that of All Saints); to adopt the Roman terms while attempting an Anglican description usually results in linguistic confusion and theological consternation (See Bishop N.T. Wright’s For All the Saints ). Indeed, in that the Roman teaching is clearly rejected in the East, such a teaching can in no wise be held as a “Catholic” doctrine proper. When we read Eastern Orthodox texts on such issues there are often narrow variances of opinion than those found in the West and far less elaboration. This from Father Pomazansky’s Orthodox Dogmatic Theology:

"Concerning the state of the soul after the Particular Judgment, the Orthodox Church teaches thus: “We believe that the souls of the dead are in a state of blessedness or torment according to their deeds. After being separated from the body, they immediately pass over either to joy or into sorrow and grief, however, they do not feel either complete blessedness or complete torment. For complete blessedness or complete torment each one receives after the General Resurrection, when the soul is reunited with the body in which it lived in virtue or in vice (The Epistle of the Eastern Patriarchs on the Orthodox Faith, paragraph 18). Thus the Orthodox Church distinguishes two different conditions after the Particular Judgment: one for the righteous, another for sinners; in other words, paradise and hell. The Church does not recognize the Roman Catholic teaching of three conditions: 1) blessedness, 2) purgatory, and 3) gehenna (hell). The very name “gehenna” the Fathers of the Church usually refer to the condition after the Last judgment, when both death and hell will be cast into the “lake of fire” (Rev. 20:15)."

Here it would seem difficult to apply the “Purgatory” label as many moderns wish to use it. When we look at other Anglican dogmatic texts, such as Browne’s Exposition on the Thirty-Nine Articles, or The Christian Faith by C.B. Moss we are confronted with differing views on these issues within a narrow range of opinion, seeming closer to the Orthodox teaching than to the Roman.

Few Anglican authors and even fewer Orthodox authors use the term or designation “Intermediate State” to denote a place of pain, suffering, or retribution for sin. However, the Roman Catholic tradition, and some Anglo-Catholics modeling their views after it, emphasizes the pain and satisfaction that are required of the sinner for the sins of his life. How are we to keep this line of thinking in concert with the Comfortable Words (all from the Holy Scriptures) of the Anglican Eucharist, in which we are assured from Scripture that Christ is the propitiation for our sins? Indeed, how are we to read such a view of purgation (in which a satisfaction of pain is required) in light of the Anglican Eucharist’s canon that states Christ is the “full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world”? N.T Wright summarizes the issue when he says in For All the Saints:

"I cannot stress sufficiently that if we raise the question of punishment for sin, this is something that has already been dealt with on the cross of Jesus. Of course, there have been crude and unbiblical versions of the doctrine of the atonement, and many have rightly reacted against the idea of a vengeful God determined to punish someone and being satisfied by taking it out on his own son. But this is to mistake caricature for biblical doctrine. Paul says, in his most central and careful statement, not that God punished Jesus, but that God 'condemned sin in the flesh' of Jesus (Romans 8.3). Here the instincts of the Reformers, if not always their exact expressions, were spot on. The idea that Christians need to suffer punishment for their sins in a post-mortem purgatory, or anywhere else, reveals a straightforward failure to grasp the very heart of what was achieved on the cross." p 30

We should view any period of “purgation” (if we are even to employ the term, perhaps “growth” or “purification” would be better terms) in the Intermediate State as the 1549 English and 1928 American Prayer Books put it; as simply a period of “continual growth” in God’s “love and service,” a view I have heard espoused by Lutherans, Anglicans, Orthodox, and Baptists alike (a Baptist New Testament professor of mine from Westminster Seminary described it in this manner). This way of thinking of the Intermediate State puts to rest notions of satisfaction for sin and places the emphasis on the inexhaustible nature and love of God; it also eliminates any notion of the ahistorical and theologically incoherent idea of an “Anglican doctrine of Purgatory.”

I include the Eastern Orthodox position to show that the notion of Purgatory as found in Roman teachings is not found in the East, and therefore cannot as such be labeled as “Catholic,” unless we take the Roman doctrine to be the measure of the terminology. Indeed, the classical Anglican position on prayers for the departed bears a greater resemblance to Orthodoxy than it does to the medieval concepts of the Church of Rome. As Meyendorff (1979) recounts in Byzantine Theology:

"The debate between Greeks and Latins (on the question of Purgatory). . . showed a radical difference in perspective. While the Latins took for granted their legalistic approach to divine justice—which, according to them, requires a retribution for every sinful act—the Greeks interpreted sin less in terms of the acts committed than in terms of a moral and spiritual disease which was to be healed by divine forbearance and love. The Latins also emphasized the idea of an individual judgment by God of each soul, a judgment which distributes the souls in three categories: the just, the wicked, and those in a middle category—who need to be “purified” by fire. The Greeks, meanwhile, without denying a particular judgment after death or agreeing on the existence of the three categories, maintained that neither the just nor the wicked will attain their final state of either bliss or condemnation before the last day. Both sides agreed that prayers for the departed are necessary and helpful. . .even the just need them;. . .in particular. . .the Eucharistic canon of Chrysostom’s liturgy. . .offers the “bloodless sacrifice” for “patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and every righteous spirit made perfect in faith,” even for the Virgin Mary herself." p 220-221

So here even the state of the most blessed is to be viewed
". . .not as a legal and static justification, but as a never-ending ascent, into which the entire communion of saints—the Church in heaven and the Church on earth—has been initiated in Christ. In the communion of the Body of Christ, all members of the Church, living or dead, are interdependent and united by ties of love and mutual concern; thus the prayers of the Church on earth and the intercession of the saints in heaven can effectively help all sinners, i.e., all men, to get closer to God." p 221

This view of growth during the Intermediate State as a “never-ending ascent” is expressed, as was mentioned above, in the Anglican Eucharists of the 1549 English and 1928 American Prayer Books. The emphasis is not on penance, nor on pain, nor satisfaction for sins (which Christ has already paid) but on growth “in the knowledge and the love of God” of those who have “died in thy faith and fear.” This emphasis is the Body of Christ as the Communion of Saints, who all continue in their walk with God before the Resurrection, is taught in the American Prayer Book—but it goes no further than this measured theology and it is accepted by and differentiated from Purgatory by Reformed minded Anglicans. Litton’s Introduction to Dogmatic Theology, a text that places Anglican theology firmly in the Reformed (Calvinist) school of thought, summarizes the difference between the Roman concept of Purgatory and the traditional doctrine of the Intermediate State shared by most Christians not in the Roman Communion (notice the similarity to Meyendorff’s logic):

"The Romish doctrine of purgatory must not be confounded with the belief of spiritual progress in the intermediate state, against which no objection from reason or Scripture can be urged. . . .But the doctrine of the Roman schools is of a different character. It is forensic in nature, and implies the payment of debt not fully discharged in this life. "

As noted above, in Orthodox theology, the prayers for the faithful departed are even offered for the Virgin Mary (assuming that she too is increasing in grace and the knowledge and presence of God and being conformed to His image—theosis). Therefore, praying for the faithful departed—as expressed in the 1928 American Prayer Book—is a truly “Catholic” doctrine and can be held by Anglicans, as is praying with them in the worship of the Church: “Therefore with Angels and Archangels and with all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify thy glorious Name. . .” We pray for the faithful departed in their growth in love and knowledge of God’s love as well as with them in the thanksgiving of the Sacrament of Christ’s Body and Blood.