We are back from the monastery thanksgiving with plenty to be grateful for.

Ethan, being a non-monastic type, took to the place very well. I was a bit painful at the beginning and felt I had to  keep reminding him how wonderful everything is, until I finally kept quiet and let the monastery work its magic. He was impressed with the goodness,  intelligence and theological reasonableness that radiates from the monks and the guests.

The Gregorian chant at Holy Cross is one of the most sublime music experiences I’ve ever had. At one point, they harmonized during a Compline hymn and Ethan and I just looked at each other: “…wow.”  Those silent “wows” happen between a couple every now and then, I imagine moreso when children come into the picture.

One of the gifts of visiting Holy Cross monastery is the silence and slowness. The first time I entered the chapel, the silence felt like a third person in the room. It is so palpable and delicious. And the slowness isn’t immediately felt, until I start wishing the chant to hurry up or start scheduling myself. Then I remember where I am and why they are here. They have all the time in the world to praise God. It isn’t on their to-do list; it is their reason for being.

We were allowed to stay in the same room, in separate beds. While we lay in bed reading, it felt like a 1950s sitcom! Thanksgiving feast was unbelievable, thanks to good old Benedictine hospitality. Don’t know if we would have gotten whipped cream at the Carthusians!

At night, we  worked on our nanowrimo projects; I am now around 21,000 words.I felt a little ashamed to bring my laptop into the hallowed grounds. I figured God and the monks wouldn’t mind if I worked on a creative project. There was no wifi, so I couldn’t check email or Youtube (I tried!)

I always walk away from retreats with  inner resolves  for my life. The big one from this time was that I caught myself praying that “I may achieve inner peace.” The word “achieve” hit me sidewards- surely, this is part of the problem! I am trying to achieve inner peace with the same bull-headedness that I would attack a dirty kitchen floor! So my new prayer might be that I may be peace in the world, in fact, that might become my new personal slogan.

Be peace! Would make a good bumper sticker!

Here’s the view of the Hudson River from Holy Cross, taken at an earlier visit.

It’s been 15 days from the last time I wrote. If you’re wondering, I’m sitting in a basement watching some of Kimmie’s family playing backyard baseball on the wii.

Since I last updated we left Nashville, and headed to Westmoreland, TN and headed northward to the wonderful state of Ohio, or as I still refer to it “home” (sorry, mom). It was nice we arrived in Springfield on thursday night, did a friday morning concert, then headed to a different church in springfield to do a sunday morning concert, then to St. Paris Ohio, for those who aren’t Ohio-savvy St. Paris is East of Urbana… Then we couldn’t find anyplace to go, so thankfully scheduling did what worked out best for me and just brought us back to Springfield and then onward to Cedarville… The reason I’m so excited is because I got to spend over a week with Kimmie, it was nice, face to face interaction, not phone conversations… I met part of the Bowen family (Mom, Dad, Sister Laura, Brother In Law Dave, and Niece Ava (who is adorable by the way) at Panera for dinner. I’m not going to lie, I was a little nervous, but It went pretty well, I think they like me…

Our sunday morning church was High Street Church of the Nazarene in Springfield… While there I had the opportunity to meet/reminisce with Kevin Mays. For those who went to Lake Carroll Baptist Church you’ll remember this name, his parents Roger and Gloria Mays, sister and family (the lawsons) went there for many years… small world, but it was nice to meet a fellow gator in a state dominated by a love for a lesser football team Ohio State.

We then went to Cedarville University which as most of you know is my Alma Mater, to perform in a chapel service… It was weird being back in any sort of official capacity. Interestingly enough, some things with Cedarville never do change, as they attempted to give me demerits for scanning and scramming, go figure, I couldn’t even take one chapel, what are the odds?

We were in Lynchburg this past weekend. It is nice to see all the people from the office, but at the same time its a little unnerving making sure everything runs completely optimum in front of all the bosses. But it went pretty smooth, and there were right around 2000 boxes donated to christmas for an orphan, so that was excellent… that is an estimated donation of right around $60,000!

I flew monday afternoon from Lynchburg to Ohio, and am spending thanksgiving with Kimmie’s family, its pretty exciting, at this exact moment I am watching Kimmie’s brother in law dave play punchout on the wii.

here are a few pictures of the kids, now that I finally got my camera back.

My wife
A car that gets me around
Leisure time
Friends & family who love me, despite my faults
The opportunity to be with people in their joy & pain
Food on the table
A warm bed to crawl into at night
The strength & desire to do meaningful work

These are just a few things for which I give thanks.

Someone once gave me some advice on giving thanks, which came from novelist Alice Walker:

“Expect nothing – live frugally on surprise.”

As we give thanks to God this week for God’s goodness to us, let’s not only think about the obvious special occasions, people and things, but the plethora of everyday things that we take for granted; I think we’ll all find a reawakened thankfulness.

To expect nothing means not taking for granted that the car will start when we turn the key; or that the coffee maker will work when we hit the “brew” button. Something as ordinary as technology becomes worthy of gratitude. Did you breathe a word of thanks for waking up this morning or for your body, which healed itself from a cold overnight?

Some food, shelter, clothing – these things are life’s necessities; everything else is gravy. I hope that you will never cease to be surprised by the way God blesses you, far beyond the minimums. Join me in nurturing thankful hearts. The more we cultivate our gratefulness and live from a grateful heart, the more it becomes the dominant mark of our lives; we see the blessedness of our own lives and are moved to bless others.

Happy Thanksgiving!

O God, we have many things to be thankful for; sometimes we remember them and other times we forget. When something large or small goes wrong, it fills our minds and we forget those things for which – when we remember – we are thankful. Help us to remember the good things, God. To name them, savor them, and to be thankful to you. Amen.

-Avery Brooke. Plain Prayers In A Complicated World.

Recently I was asked to make a promotional video for Zion Chapel in Goshen, IN.  The concept;  Show the mission and values of the church in a 90 second piece.  It was challenging getting all the shots we needed during services and took a few weeks of shoots but with help from the people at Zion and a great voice over effort by a member of the church we have a very compelling piece that promotes the church very well.

www.vibevideoproductions.com

Last Thursday I submitted my design for the renovation of the Manila Observatory Chapel (Manila Observatory Chapel Design in pdf).  I took measurements of the chapel and tried to modify it as little as possible.  I only placed the Tabernacle at the center and made it rest on a narrow elevated platform together with the candlesticks.  I used the dimensions of the large box altars used before by the Jesuits in the three side chapels for their private masses.   The altar is movable to the altar wall to accommodate both the ordinary and extraordinary forms of the Roman Rite.  I already received the comments of Mrs. Antonia Yulo Loyzaga, the director of the Observatory, and Dr. Celine Vicente, head of the Center for Environmental Geomatics.  We may have a meeting on this soon.

I drew the design using Open Office Draw.  I tried to do it at first using Art of Illusion but considering the difficulty in defining the physical properties of the materials, I backed down and shifted to Open Office Draw.  I simply drew the top view, side view, and altar view.  There are two sets: one set contains the measurements; the other set is the rendering.  I can draw the one-point and two-point perspective by hand in a graphing paper, since I know the mathematical theory of projective geometry.  I need a week to do this.  But considering that I have a teaching load and a ionosphere research to do, I gave up and sent the design as is without perspective view, since the design is long overdue.  At least, when we get to talk to an architect (the Manila Observatory has one), it would be easier to tell him what we want done.

Well here we are, three lines in to the offering formula and about to start on the fourth and last.  And here it is:

en ka en imakhy Senwosret, maa-kheru: for the ka of the revered one Senwosret, true of voice.

Sound like anyone you know?  Do you revere the colleague whose card or whiteboard you are embellishing?  Are they known for their honesty, the accuracy of their pronouncements or their karaoke prowess?  Never mind, it’s only a formula.  Let’s look at the first bit of it.

en ka en:  for the ka of.  Let’s do the easy bit first.   The Sherlock Holmeses among you will instantly have deduced that the squiggly lines top and bottom correspond to the en. 

Elementary.   And speaking of elements, the squiggly line in hieroglyphs represents the watery one.  It’s a ripple of water:

See the resemblance?  We’ve already seen wavy lines representing water, in the post on wabet.  But we haven’t had them as the actual letter n.  Here’s an original:

It’s a zigzag line.  What else is there to say?  The ka, on the other hand…

The Egyptians didn’t have souls.  Or rather, they didn’t just have single souls.  The deceased Egyptian exploded into a whole menagerie of afterlife entities:  the body, the shadow, the akh (a heron-like bird with a lamp who circled the skies with the stars), the ba (a human-headed bird that hung around the necropolis and twittered mournfully – they’ve made a comeback on the Internet lately) and the ka, or life force.

The ka had its advantages and disadvantages.  A disadvantage was that it was confined to the tomb, unlike the ba and the akh.  Maybe it kicked the ba and the akh out, so it could get some elbow room, with the body and the shadow.  Maybe that was why the ba twittered mournfully.  The advantage was that the ka got to ascend the burial shaft, come out through the false door into the offering chapel and feast upon the food and drink brought by the family or magically invoked by the passer-by.  The ka was the life force, and it fed upon the life force of the food.  But we’ve been through all this before.

The hieroglyph for ka is a pair of upraised arms, as found on the head of this royal ka statue:

What a beautiful, slender yet well moulded pair of arms and  shoulders, and delicate, detailed hands.  They didn’t always put so much work into the hieroglyphs,

although they have taken care to paint this ka the dark red colour they used for male skin (men being more likely to be outdoors than women, and therefore more tanned).  I draw my kas very simply:  three straight lines plus a little crescent at each end for the hands.

NB:  this ka is not to be confused with the ka meaning bull of a few posts ago.  Katie Hughes tweeted a good idea about that some time ago:  kh1369  @SusanLlewellyn Egyptians would be sustaining the ka (“spirit”) with ka (meat)? What a multi-purpose word! Also, is “kau” like “cow”? Easy!  She’s great at making these connections.

I’m headed to Vegas with the wife today.

We’re going to get (re)married by Elvis for our ten year anniversary.

Personally, I hope it’s by a fat, jumpsuit wearing Elvis, but any Elvis will do.

It makes sense.

I love the Rat Pack, she loves Elvis—The movie Swingers was somehow a strange cornerstone of our budding romance so many years ago, it’s soundtrack becoming our own.

Quite frankly, I’m still somewhat amazed we didn’t run off to Vegas the first time around, when we were young and impetuous.

As we stroll down the busy streets, stare in wonderment at the bright lights surrounding us and watch the fountains of the Bellagio dance, I’m going to squint my eyes really hard and try to see the old Vegas—Sinatra’s Vegas.

The martini swinging, mob run Vegas.

Now, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with the new Vegas—quite frankly I’m excited to see that one, too; the lights, the roller coasters, the fountains…all of it.

But…

I just want to catch a glimpse of the old Vegas—the original Vegas, no matter how dusty and dirty it may be.

Though I hear that Vegas is merely a ghost now, hovering over the new, family friendly version, laid to rest in the wake of the Sands.

I’m going to do my best to chronicle my first Vegas experience, from the Elvis wedding, to cocktails in Old Town, to my first attempt at gambling…but I can’t make any promises. I don’t even know if I’ll have wifi where I’m staying.

For you, however, I shall try my hardest.

Though, don’t expect a madcap tale of hallucinogens in the desert and imaginary bats swarming around us.

Maybe a few cocktails, but there is nothing gonzo about this trip.

Aside, perhaps, from vacationing while unemployed.

Chapel times have always been one of the greatest “added value” experiences of my long CFN relationship. Starting when I was a student in the mid 80’s right up till this morning, I enjoy being able to join with others in worship of God led by talented people who set the stage for an encounter through music.

The student led chapel times  provide a double blessing for us as we experience the rich gifting God has given the students. Songs are only a portion of a well rounded worship time. pauses to reflect, scripture and testimonies can add to the full experience. this morning we had it all. Great music, reflective time and a very powerful testimony.The student team was outstanding in their desire to provide the atmosphere conducive to a God encounter.

I am amazed at the blessings of God in the lives of others as they share of their life changing encounters with God. This semester, on Fridays, we make time for longer testimonies to be given. The openness of the revelations always reveal how much God loves us and how far we have come from the sinful creatures we were.  What a priviledge to be part of this!

Nangyari ito noong gabi ng December 31, 2005 (New year’s eve) nag decide kami nina Eva, Bessie, Avien, Kim (hindi tunay na pangalan) at ako na mag new year’s party sa chapel ng aming subdivision sa batangas since na sa amin ang susi.

Binuksan namin an ilaw at inayos and lamesa, kanya kanya kami ng dalang pagkain na kinupit pa namin sa aming mga ref pra i share sa isa’t isa. Masaya kami nun at masigla, nagsimula ang aming kasiyahan sa isang kwentuhan tungkol sa mga crush at kung anu ano pang usapin na madalas pagusapan ng mga babae hanggang sa nagsalita si Bessie,
“ano kaya kung biglang may kamay na umultaw sa bintana?”
“wag ka naman manakot ” agad kong sinabi.
“oo nga Bessie, alam mo naman na katabi natin and kawayanan at yung alam mo na”, dagdag ni Eva
nang biglang may isang kay ng lalaki ang umultaw sa bintana at naghagis ng piccolo sa loob ng chapel (si patrick lang pala yung barkada namin) at nang pumutok ito bigla na lang kaming nagsisigaw nang biglang nagpatay sindi ang ilaw, pumasok si patrick upang tignan kung sa switch ang problema at nang maayos ito ilang sandali pa at muling namatay ang ilaw at ng biglang ang usok mula sa piccolo na inakala naming wala na ay biglang nag take form ng isang babae hanggang sa tuluyang magpakita sa amin ang multo ng isang babaeng naka puti, sa takot namin hindi kami maka lapit sa lamesa para kuhanin ang aming gamit pero naglakas loob si Patrick na kuhanin ang aming mga bag at basket at dali-dali kaming hinila palabas ng chapel ngunit naunahan kami ng multo sa pinto, hinarangan nito ang aming tanging daanan palabas. Napaatras kami hanggang lumapat na kami sa pader kung saan nakaukit ang emahe ni Hesus.

Nasa unahan ng grupo si Patrick, kahit na alam namin na takot siya ay naglakas pa rin sya ng loob na pumunta sa unahan namin dahil alam nya na kasalanan nya kung bakit nagpakita ang babae (ang totoo kasalanan di namin) at nang halos magkalapat na ng mukha si patrick at ang multo ay bigla itong naglaho. Maaaring dahil ito ng imahe ng Panginoong Hesus na naka ukit sa pader?, hindi rin natin alam kung bakit basta ang isang bagay ang natutunan naming magkakaibigan na ang chapel, simbahan o ano mang lugar ng sambahan ay hindi lugar ng kasiyahan at katarantaduhan kundi lugar ng pananampalataya.

Kahit papano naman ay nakalabas kami ng mapayapa, umuwi kami sa aming mga bahay upang ipag ipag diwangang bagong taon kasama ng aming pamilya at tanging kami lang ang nakakaalam sa isang kakilakilabot na pangyayari na naganap sa isang lugar na hindi namin aakalaing magiging lugar ng takot. Pero syempre tuwing panahon ng Flores De Mayo ay matatagpuan mo kaming nakikisalo sa pagdiriwang dahil alam namin na di kami nagiisa.

If you’ve not found us on Facebook yet, you can join the discussion at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=17049049469&ref=ts

The Interfaith Chapel at CVG is open again after undergoing some repairs. Pics of the new chapel are posted below:

The ornate carvings at Rosslyn Chapel

By Cara Sulieman

WORK IS getting underway to preserve one of Scotland’s most famous and important chapels.

Rosslyn Chapel in Midlothian starred in the blockbuster Da Vinci Code and has seen a massive increase in visitor numbers since.

But thanks to a botched repair job in the 1950s the roof is crumbling and has been sealed off for some time.

The Rosslyn Chapel Trust is looking to secure a further £1 million to ensure that a £9 million restoration can be completed within the next year.

Work is set to start next month on a brand new roof for the chapel, restoring the building to its former beauty.

It is famous for the intricate carvings that line the walls of the small chapel, and the rumoured connections to the Knights Templar.

Work has already begun on restoring the stained glass windows in the main body of the building.

See more of our pictures at our Flickr site and videos at our dedicated channel,  Deadline TV.

Today, I had the privilege of speaking at one of the high schools near my church. The principal there called me months ago and asked me if I would be willing to speak at their chapel. I chose today because it fit best with my schedule. The purpose of my speaking there was two-fold. One reason was because I felt that God opened the door for me to speak, and the second was that it offered the possibility of helping my youth group to grow. I know that may sound selfish, but it’s one of the bargaining points that the principal used when presenting me with the opportunity. He said that he requires his students to be a member of a youth group and that some of them haven’t found a youth group to belong to yet. If you haven’t figured it out yet, the school I spoke at was a Christian school. There were about 50 students present, 3 of which are members of my youth group. It was nice to hear them get excited that their youth pastor was coming to their school to speak!

I spoke on “prayer” and entitled my message: “What’s a Christian to do?” In my initial talks with the principal of that school, he revealed to me that he is ashamed to see that most of the students there don’t pray. I don’t know if he meant that they don’t ever pray, and I also don’t think that he can determine that. But he did know that he rarely sees them pray before lunch each day. So I took what he told me, prayed about it, and ran with it. My main point was that often times; people don’t know what it means to be a Christian. I’ve run into too many people who think that in order to be a Christian, all they have to do is go to church once a week. Prayer is one of the most important aspects of the Christian life (along with the Word of God) and that was the message that I was trying to get across to them.

Another point I hit them with was that sometimes, people think they are too busy to pray. You’ve done it, the principal of the school has done it, I’ve done it (that’s for sure), and I’m sure that most Christians have done it. We live in a society and culture where busyness is the norm. More and more these days, kids are trained to go from one thing to the next. Wake up, eat breakfast, go to school, come home,  start homework, go to a sports practice or game, come home, eat dinner, do more homework, etc, etc, etc… Did you notice that church wasn’t involved in that list? Usually, at least from what I’ve seen so far, homework and sports come before youth group and church. It’s a sad but true reality! Because of this extreme busyness that we all have in our lives, we often leave little to no time to communicate with God through prayer. This should not be the case…at all!

In the Bible, an excellent example of someone who understood the importance of prayer was…you guessed it…Jesus! Jesus was a very busy man who had people to teach, sicknesses and diseases to heal, miracles to perform, an enemy to fight, and a life to live as an example to others. But even though Jesus was insanely busy and had a ton of good reasons not to pray, He still found time to communicate with His Father in Heaven!

Luke 5:15-16 says:

“Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.”

This passage is just one example of Jesus’ extreme busyness. Word started to spread about the work and miracles that Jesus was doing and more and more people came to hear what He had to say and to be healed of their sicknesses and diseases. But as we see in the passage, Jesus often “withdrew” to lonely places (this means He went away…by Himself) to pray and spend time with His Father in Heaven! This passage should serve as a great example to us. Jesus displayed a very real sense of closeness with God that I believe we should all try to imitate. Jesus lived and prayed like He believed that prayer worked and it kept Him focused and in-touch with God. The great news is that it can do the same for us!

To illustrate the point that we need to talk to God on a regular basis, I included a poem that I found in one of my sermon illustration books.

“I woke up late, no time to pray, I hurried off to school.

I failed to take advantage of this important tool.

Throughout the day I ran about, I had no time to kneel.

When dinner came, I failed again, to thank God for my meal.

When day was done, I went to bed, to get the rest I needed.

But once again the Bible’s call for prayer was left unheeded.

One busy day my soul was called, to answer for my deeds;

And as I stood, I realized I had denied its needs.

My name was called, and I stepped up to hear my sentence quote;

Yet all I got, to my surprise, was a little paper note;

And on this note God had written a message, oh, so true.

“You always failed to talk to me, why should I speak to you?”

Every time I read this poem, it makes me think back to all the times in my life where I was too “busy” to talk to God. I pray that it did that for all of those High School students today as well!

As I stated earlier, prayer and the Word of God are two of the most important aspects of the Christian life. If you take out the spark of prayer, and the gas of God’s Word, then you will never have a fire!

Now, as I am 37,000 feet in the air (on my way to the national youth workers convention) in Atlanta, Georgia, I was able to do some thinking and I realize that God had me prepare and deliver a message on prayer because I needed to hear it myself! I have allowed myself to become so “busy” that I rarely give God the time that He deserves. That will soon change though.

I want to end this post with some questions that I asked during my talk today. I’m not only asking you this; I’m asking myself as well!

Don’t we believe in prayer? Don’t we know what it could mean in our lives? Then why don’t we pray?

My question for you is this: Do you struggle with this as well? Are you too busy to spend time communicating with your Father in Heaven?

God wants to be our friends. He wants to be there for us through thick and thin. If we don’t talk to Him, our friendship will not grow. We know that prayer is important to our lives, so why don’t we do it?

-          paulg

Reviewed by Audiegrl

The greatest serial killer in history has never been named. But what if we are looking in the wrong place?

In 1888, a deranged killer stalked his prey on the streets of east London at night. After 121 years since the murder and mutilation of at least five prostitutes, the case remains unsolved and the true identity of Jack the Ripper has never been known. The world’s greatest criminal investigators have focused on searching for answers in London. However, in the 1890s a series of horrific murders took place across the United States in New York, San Francisco, Galveston and Atlanta, that mirrored the attacks in attacks in the UK. In this one hour special, Discovery Channel’s viewers will witness the new evidence, science and analytical techniques being used to reveal the true identity of Jack the Ripper.

NYPD Cold Case Detective Ed Norris

Carrie Brown aka Old Shakespeare

Capt. Ryan,

You think that “Jack the Ripper” is in England, but he is not, I am right here and I expect to kill somebody by Thursday next, and so get ready for me with your pistols, but I have a knife that has done more than your pistols. Next thing you will hear of some woman dead.

Yours truly,

Jack the Ripper

Richard Jones

Known as the From Hell or Lusk Letter

Dr. Thomas Bond

Jack the Ripper victims: Polly Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catharine Eddowes, Mary Kelly

Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum

Astonishingly, in 1927…forty years later, a much older Kelly voluntarily returns to the insane asylum and began to chronicle his travels. A typed copy of Kelly’s confession letter survives in the National Archives, and Norris is the first detective to read it. In the letter, Kelly describes having “problems dealing with society“, and being “overtaken with feelings of envy, jealousy, and malice“. Kelly states, “the thing has been hard because of all kinds of ’skank’” (a term he uses to refers to women of low moral character) and “I’ve been on the warpath since I left Broadmoor Asylum.” Also in his letter, he admits to traveling to London after his escape, and more interestingly he tells of traveling to the United States and arriving in New York conveniently before the Carrie Brown murder. He was by profession, a trained upholsterer, and would have known quiet a bit about knives and how to use them effectively for the purpose of murder. Kelly also mentioned traveling to many cities in the US before returning to England and admitted that he came to the US many times over a period of 40 years.

USS Zaandam

Both illustrations of Jack the Ripper

The left composite, was drawn based on 118 year old eye-witness accounts of Jack the Ripper in London. They examined different witness statements and used modern day forensics to come up with a portrait of the killer, even indicating what type of hat he wore.

The drawing on the right, is the result of Mancusi shaving 40 years off of James Kelly’s photo at age 67. As you can see, once they added the type of hat mentioned by eye witnesses, the drawings are a very close match.

In the end, there is no doubt in Norris’ mind that he has found Jack the Ripper. We may never know. John Kelly died of natural causes in 1929 inside Broadmoor Asylum and took his secrets to his grave. In my opinion, Jack the Ripper in America was very well done and is a must-see for all forensic buffs and amateur Ripperologists. I’m interested in seeing further research, analysis and discussion of Norris’ theory. Regarding any factual errors in this post, I apologize in advance, and encourage everyone to let me know what needs to be corrected.

Time After Time

On a lighter note, anybody remember the movie “Time After Time” starring Malcolm McDowell, John Warner and Mary Steenburgen? McDowell played H.G. Wells, who uses his time machine to chase his friend, Warner (aka Jack the Ripper) through the streets of modern day (1979) San Francisco. After watching Norris’ documentary, maybe Hollywood’s silly (but entertaining) version of the Ripper story had a sliver of truth to it after all.

The Secret of Prisoner 1167: Was This Man Jack the Ripper? by James Tully

Hat tip and special thanks to Roy Corduroy for his suggestion to add this book to this post. Casebook: Jack the Ripper gives this book a three-starred review:

A triumphant achievement on the part of Jim Tully, well-researched and written. James Kelly is his suspect, a lunatic upholsterer and wife-murderer who is actually in the Guinness book of world records for his escape from Broadmoor asylum. Tully weaves a fascinating story, regardless of your feelings on Kelly as a suspect. Recommended.”

Related Articles and Sites

Casebook: Jack the Ripper

Maps of Whitechapel, 1888-1894

Ripperological Preservation Society

Jack the Ripper Tours

Serial Killer Database – Jack the Ripper

The Whitechapel Society

The Capela dos Ossos (English: Chapel of Bones) is one of the best known monuments in Évora, Portugal. It is a small interior chapel located next to the entrance of the Church of St. Francis.

The Capela dos Ossos was built in the 16th century by a Franciscan monk who, in the Counter-Reformation spirit of that era, wanted to prod his fellow brothers into contemplation and transmit the message of life being transitory. This is clearly shown in the famous warning at the entrance “Nós ossos que aqui estamos pelos vossos esperamos” (“We, bones that lie here, for yours await”).

The lugubrious chapel is formed by three spans 18.7 meters long and 11 meters wide. Light enters through three small openings on the left. Its walls and eight pillars are “decorated” in carefully arranged bones and skulls held together by cement. The ceiling is made of white painted brick and is painted with death motifs. The number of skeletons of monks was calculated to be about 5000, coming from the cemeteries that were situated inside several dozen churches. Some of these skulls have been scribbled with graffiti. Two desiccated corpses, one of which is a child, dangle from a chain.

I’ve been pondering what I’d do if I won the Euro Lottery this week. No, I don’t buy lottery tickets, European or otherwise, but it is nice to dream.  Housing would always be right up there on the list and that’s probably true for most clergy. Tied housing makes for great insecurities and fretting. As I dreamt of this house that I’d buy with my millions I allowed my thoughts to stray to the chapel that I’d build or convert.  Well you need a little holy space to go to, don’t you?

Many years ago a crowd of us used to go on Parish Outings down south. We usually travelled down on Easter Monday and then visited a cathedral city on the Tue – Thu and then travelled home again on the Friday.  As a result I have been guided round many English cathedrals (and their wee shops).  I do remember one journey where, with the help of Gin & Tonic in the back of the bus, we all designed our own private chapels.  We shared our dreams with one another and an otherwise tedious journey was transformed into great fun. (We were probably somewhere flat like Norfolk where there were no views to entertain us, we Scots needing hills to keep us sane.) I can’t remember now what my ideal chapel would look like but I’m guessing it bore some resemblance to St Michael & All Saints and reeked of incense with statues of many saints including St Rita. Actually come to think of it, I do remembering being impressed with one cathedral where the Reserved Sacrament was suspended mid-air above the central altar and that wherever you were in the building, you faced God. I’m sure that was in my ideal chapel back then.

This week my dreams of chapel design have probably been much more simple. Lots of wood and comfy chairs feature heavily. A good sound system would be important and a loud ticking clock for atmosphere in those quiet moments. Lots of art to meditate upon – or maybe just a screen upon which they could be projected. Beads to clack. A book to write in.

So what would your dream chapel look like?  What treasures lie therein?

This natural health college purchased an old Catholic Seminary. They left the chapel unchanged.

If you’re interested in partnering with the Chapel on a summer 2010 mission trip, be sure to check out the Mission Trips section of the site for news about the trips and who to talk to for more information.

Also, be praying for the team that is preparing to head to Cameroon on the west coast of Africa with Hope Outreach International. The team will be there from December 11 to January 8.

Stay tuned for information about the Chapel’s 2010 missions conference, Hearts Awake! More to come soon.

New image in the repetitive patterns photography contest

Cropped and turned to B&W …
Chapel Detail photography picture

A Las Vegas-style wedding chapel is given planning approval to be developed on Blackpool’s seafront…. From BBC News. Full story

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