Month: November 2023

On this Sunday Next before Advent, the final Sunday in the long season of Trinity, which this year had its full complement of twenty-four Sundays plus Sunday Next before Advent, I share some good news about the AIC’s online and bookstore activities.

The AIC Web Site Upgrades

This morning, with the help of an unnamed “Happiness Engineer” at WordPress.com, I completed a sequence of changes to the AIC’s Web Site. The changes were designed to enhance the appearance of the site and improve the ease of use for visitors. Many of the changes are part of the WATCH | LISTEN | READ initiative begun earlier this year. Visitors to the site will now see, at the bottom of the Welcome page, a graphical explanation of how to use the many resources developed during our more than ten years on the Web. No special software or technical skill is required and nothing needs to be downloaded.

Using the links at the top or bottom of each page, site visitors can access the full resources of the AIC in their preferred manner: video, audio or print media. Each page on the site now has a distinctive graphic at the top of the page. With the arrival of Sunday Next before Advent, the new Podcast Homilies-Morning Prayer series is now complete. For those who prefer to learn by reading, there is now a revised page offering summaries of all twenty-two books in the AIC Bookstore Publications library.

The AIC Bookstore Publications Library

With the pending arrival later this year of the 2024 upgrades and one new book, the Library will be complete in 22 volumes. There are six books in the Christian Education Studies – New Testament Series: one each for the four Gospels plus The Acts of the Apostles and Revelation. There are three books in the Christian Education Studies – Old Testament series: One volume on the writings of the Old Testament prophets plus two books focused on the Psalter. The Christian Education Studies – General Series includes three books. Finally, Other Publications includes several general and specialty publications. Of these books, 17 have been revised, with the proof copies expected in the middle of the week of 11/27. The remaining five volumes will be edited and revised during December or January.

I anticipate that additional episodes in our unique video series, The War on Christianity, will be produced during the Winter months of the new year 2024 A.D. The AIC Web Site, the Podbean site which hosts all our MP3 podcast and the Vimeo site which hosts nearly 200 videos continue to attract visitors from all over the world. As the Advent and Nativity seasons come upon us, I thank every viewer, listener and reader for their contribution to making this site possible.

Glory be to God for all things! Amen!

Hello. The journey we began a year ago with the Podcast Homily for Morning Prayer in our series based upon the Psalm readings in the 1928 Book of Common Prayer and inspired by the publication of The Prayer Book Psalter-Picture Book Edition comes to a close this Sunday with Sunday Next before Advent, when the reading is Psalm 39, Dixi custodiam. Tomorrow I will be sending material to KDP Publishing for the 2024 update to the PBP-PBE volume. Also being sent are the updates for our original Psalms volume, The Prayer Book Psalter: History, Text & Commentary, and eleven other volumes from the AIC Bookstore Publications. The revised edition of that original Psalter volume will soon be available with some changes, including some general editing intended to enhance its “readability” plus enhancement of the Glossary with a 19th C. version of a circa 1020 B.C. map of Palestine intended to help identifiy the places named in the text. The volume will also have up-t0-date summary information about the other 21 books in the AIC Bookstore library, plus images from the revised version of this web site.

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

A busy two weeks here at the AIC. The Podcast Homily for Twenty-fourth Sunday after Trinity in our Psalter Series of Morning Prayer homilies was uploaded earlier today and is now live on the Podcast Homilies-Morning Prayer and Welcome pages. The Podcast Homily for Sunday Next before Advent will be uploaded early next week. The Welcome page to the AIC Web Site will be adjusted to reflect the start of Advent season after Thanksgiving.

I have completed updates to 21 of 22 books in the AIC Bookstore library and have begun sending the updates to our publisher. Further, I have sent the text and cover for the 22nd of 22 books, Angels: In Scripture, Art & Christian Tradition, to our publisher. I expect to get the proof on Friday, 11/17. The finished version will have 152 illustrations on 252 page. The proof copy is expected to arrive today with proof copies of seven additional books expected to arrive on Thursday and Friday. The Angels book, is still missing one high-resolution image from the British Library. A medium resolution image is in place in the proof copy.

In the updating process, I have made a number of design and content changes to each book intended to harmonize the style across all 22 volumes and also include the most recent information about every book. Also being introduced into the Library are cross-references to Other AIC Bookstore Publications. These new editions will begin to be introduced after Thanksgiving, with the goal of completing the updates before the end of January A.D. 2024. With the completion of the updates, the AIC Bookstore Publications library will be complete in 22 volumes. These will remain unchanged thereafter, unless there is a need for a major change or correction.

All 22 books will be reviewed one final time before being approved for distribution. Our publisher raised the printing prices of all books last month. Most of the effect of higher prices is on those books printed in color. So far, only one book, Revelation: An Idealist Interpretation, will have a retail price increase. I still do not know if adjustments will have to be made to the remaining five books in the Christian Education Studies: New Testament series. The effect o the increased printing cost remains unknown until after the revisions to each volume is submitted for publication. Our objective remains keeping the retail costs as low as we can.

After January, my full attention will be re-directed to making several important web site changes, mostly to reflect the actual content of the Bookstore, to my Amazon Author Central page and additional postings to the Fr. Ron’s Blog page. Now that the AIC will no longer be carrying the cost of acquiring images for books, the focus can shift to advertising strategies for both the Web Site and the AIC Bookstore. If all goes according to plan, there will be additions to some of our Video Series, especially The War on Christianity, and related Podcasts.

As always, I thank you for your interest in the AIC Web Site and Bookstore Publications. You can help by sharing links with others and by “Following” the AiC web site and the Fr. Ron’s Blog page. Glory be to God for all things! Amen!

Trinity Season’s final weeks are here. This afternoon I uploaded links to my Podcast Homily-Morning Prayer Series for Trinity 23. My wife and I are already resetting our minds toward the Nativity season.

This week we went to Waynesboro, VA to the Wayne Theater for two one-man shows performed by Gerald Dickens, the great-great grandson of Charles Dickens through the line of Dicken’s son, Charles, popularly Charlie. Tuesday evening’s event was in two parts. Part One was Mr. Dickens Is Coming, a look at the life and times of Charles Dickens with dramatic performances of selected works of Dickens, presented to the public in the manner of Dickens’ own live performances. Part Two was about Dickens’ complicated relationship with Queen Victoria, a great admirer of Dickens, even though he turned down her many requests for private performances. This second half was just as rivetting as the first and a great lead-in to the second night performance of A Christmas Carol, with Gerald Dickens speaking both the author’s narration and the voices–and the appearance and mannerisms of all thirty characters! It’s A Christmas Carol like you’ve never seen it performed before – unless you have seen Gerald D’s show. You can see the show via his 70-minute video filmed in and around Winchester, England. View a preview: https://vimeo.com/475926662. There is a link on Gerald’s Web Site to the site through which you can rent the Vimeo video using the “Film” tab at the top of the page: https://geralddickens.com.

Progress continues on the book updates. Over the next several weeks I will be uploading the new pages and new covers to our printer, KDP Publishing. With luck and Grace I hope to have all twenty-two books, including the new Angels volume, before the start of Epiphany season.

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

I’ve been swamped this week with business and other work, including projects at home, but I did upload the Podcast Homily for Trinity 22 in our Psalter Series. This week’s episode is focused on Psalm 71.

Glory be to God for all things! Amen!