Month: October 2023

My Podcast Homily for Twenty-first Sunday after Trinity was upoloaded earlier today to both the Welcome and Podcast Homilies-Morning Prayer pages. There are two readings: Psalm 119-Part 17-Verses 129-136-Miribila and Psalm 119-Part 18-Verses 137-144-Justus es, Domine. Psalm 119 is the longest Psalm. In the Hebrew tradition it is presented as an acrostic with the initial letter coming from the Hebrew alphabet.

In other news, the AIC has now paid permission fees to the British Library and the German National Museum for the use of images in Angels: In Scripture, Art & Christian Tradition. Only one image remains outstanding, which will come from the British Library. Proof-reading for the book has advanced to the page concerning Angels in the Gospels, here being the Gospel of Mark. This marks the halfway point in the design review. Sometime next week the work will resume. Meanwhile, I have been busy making corrections and completing the Inside Pages pdf which will be sent to KDP Publishing. All but the four Gospel books remain to be edited for the 2024 edition. These will become the Archive copies of all the AIC Bookstore Publications. In future years I will be focusing entirely on Podcasts and Videos and updating the AIC Web Site’s pages and general design. The first project will be focused on some new episodes in The War on Christianity (and completion of some planned older episodes).

As always, thank you for your interest and support. Glory be to God for all things! Amen!

I have now recorded all the remaining episodes in the Podcast Homily-Morning Prayer series. Only five remain after this Sunday. The episode for Twentieth Sunday after Trinity was uploaded earlier today and is linked from the Welcome page and the Podcast Homilies-Morning Prayer pages. The Psalm readings are Psalms 11 and 12.

I have been busy with updates to the various AIC Bookstore Publications. I am hopeful of getting the first batch completed in the next two weeks for forwarding to KDP Publishing and their production of proofs. The offcial release date for all of them is Epiphany 2024. As noted last week, I’ve beent trying to standarize the books into a consistent format for footnotes, illustrations, Sources of Illustrations, and internal cr0ss-references from older materials to the new books and videos. The objective is making the AIC library of videos, podcasts and books easier to use, following the LISTEN – WATCH – READ mantra introduced in 2022.

As always, thank you for your interest in this site. Glory be to God for all things! Amen!

Lots to report this week, as Trinity season winds down and First Sunday in Advent approaches rapidly.

First, the Podcast Homily for Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity in our Morning Prayer-Psalter Series of podcasts was recorded and uplinked earlier this afternoon. You’ll find the links on both the Welcome/Home page at this site and also on the Podcast Homilies-Morning Prayer pages. Because I had read the appointed Psalms for Trinity 19 in earlier podcasts I substituted Psalms 120, 122 and 123, three of the fourteen Songs of Ascent. I chose these three from the readings appointed for Saturday after Trinity 19. Many scholars believe the Songs of Ascent are the “hymns” mentioned by St. Matthew (Matthew 26:30) in his account of the evening of Maundy Thursday, the night of Jesus’ betrayal and arrest.

I’ve been focused this Fall on preparing all the AIC Bookstore Publications for their 2024 Editions. This means going back over every book from beginning to end, looking for typos (and yes, in spite of multiple proofreadings by multiple people, they persist), adding cross-references as appropriate for the books published since the last cycle of editions and older books that might not have been mentioned earlier, plus making stylistic changes to harmonize the appearance of the entire library of AIC Bookstore Publications. Prayers in the Christian Tradition, our first publication which dates back to my work at now-closed St. Chrysostom Anglican in Richmond, has received some polishing of its appearance and some further clarifications concerning the sources. For instance, instead of just “1928 Book of Common Prayer” the notation will explain where it appears (example: “Family Prayers for Joy in God’s Creation,” which is found on p. 596 but the page number won’t be cited since there is not enough room). Beliefs of the Anglican Church will be getting several block of notations concerning other resources on the same or similar topics. There, because of the topical way the book was designed, these new notatations will show up at the start of the end of a section. The St. Chrysostom Hymnal has been re-imagined as a more generic type of book for a broader audience. Like The 1928 Book of Common Prayer – Service Book Edition, it will have no AIC logos (except the very small one on the spine) and no mention of the other publications or of our video or podcast series. Other changes include moving all hymn numbers on the left hand page to the far left corner. For the 2022 edition, our printer added a requirement for much wider inside margin, which caused some uneven results in text placement (too close or too far from the outside edge). Hopefully, the design changes I have made will solve the problem. Hear Us, O Lord: Daily Prayers for the Laity, which was produced from three separate small books, received some minor changes design, especially in the Hours Office in Part Three. Fr. Ron’s Kitchen Companion, which is the ninth version of a booklet I started circa 1981, is getting some major changes, including a new cover, several new recipes and an expanded “Sources” section which also removes references to products no longer available (most owing to complications casued by Covid poliicies). The Prayer Book Psalter: History, Text & Commentary is getting a selective editing based on how it was used in the preparation for the Morning Prayer Homilies-Psalter Series and the companion volume, The Prayer Book Psalter: Picture Book Edition. I’ve have not yet started on those pesky typos in the New Testament series of books or revised editions of The Writing Prophets of the Old Testament and Revelation: An Idealist Interpretation.

The focus for the upcoming year of 2024 will be completing the War on Christianity video series and a companion set of podcasts.

As always, thank you for your interest and support. Our Web Site and Podcast host site continue to attract interest around the world.

Glory be to God for all things! Amen!