christmas liturgy proclamation

Added on by Matthew Sutton.

The Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ

The Twenty-fifth Day of December,

when ages beyond number had run their course from the creation of the world,

when God in the beginning created heaven and earth, and formed man in his own likeness;

when century upon century had passed since the Almighty set his bow in the clouds after the Great Flood, as a sign of covenant and peace;

in the twenty-first century since Abraham, our father in faith,
came out of Ur of the Chaldees;

in the thirteenth century since the People of Israel were led by Moses in the Exodus from Egypt;

around the thousandth year since David was anointed King;

in the sixty-fifth week of the prophecy of Daniel;

in the one hundred and ninety-fourth Olympiad;

in the year seven hundred and fifty-two since the foundation of the City of Rome;

in the forty-second year of the reign of Caesar Octavian Augustus, the whole world being at peace,

JESUS CHRIST,

eternal God and Son of the eternal Father,

desiring to consecrate the world by his most loving presence,

was conceived by the Holy Spirit,

and when nine months had passed since his conception,

was born of the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem of Judah, and was made man:

The Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to the flesh.

chess

Added on by Matthew Sutton.

So I play chess ...

Let the pre-judging begin. Yes, I play chess and I play it well. I play well enough to know better and well enough to know that I can sometimes hold my own against the strong.

But I am writing now to let you know what I have learned from playing chess:

  • achieve by being tenacious
  • achieve by learning from blunders or even leaning into blunders - sometimes your going all in and will go from blunder to gambit
  • achieve by seeking the best possible solution even if it takes the maximum amount of time - singular focus solves problems best
  • achieve by confidence - God knows the thoughts of men, but your opponent does not - maximize this insight
  • tactics matter - the big idea will not give you big results without sound tactics and 99% of sound strategy is 99% of sound tactics - achieve big by achieving small

My favorite chess books:

  • Chess Tactics for Champions by Susan Polgar on amazon
  • Easy Endgame Strategies by Bill Robertie on amazon
  • The Immortal Game: A History of Chess by David Shenk on amazon
  • Endgame: Bobby Fischer's Remarkable Rise and Fall - from America's Brightest Prodigy to the Edge of Madness by Frank Brady (a colleague of mine at St. John's University) on amazon

You can play me on gameknot. I am henrythefifth.