dr 2 Chivalry-Now video by L.E. Agnelli

Not sure if this link will work (so far none of them have), but trying it anyway. This link is an audio file from You Tube of others who are trying to re-establish the concept of Chivalry. Tae a listen. It doesn't take long.

Personal item on Christmas

Officially, the Celtic Church of Yahweh does not have a position on Christmas. I think this is as it should be. everyone should be left to their own conscience to decde whether o not to celebrte it. As for me (Brother Bradley) we have chosen not to celebrate it. It is a Roman Catholic holiday (not a Biblically mandated holiday). I do have many friends and family who do celebrate it and we have no conflict. We simply choose not to.
One of the things which changed our decision early on was an article I read about 10 years ago. The article was written by Tim Hegg and is called "why I don't celebrate Christmas". It's a bit of a long article, and a bit heady at times, but I thought the material was excellent.
Two years ago, I was helping with a Messianic congregation and decided to phone Tim Hegg and interview him about the article. It was written originally for his parents. He was a Christian seminary student and came into a conviction that he should no longer celebrate this activity. I asked him how it went with his parents...he said "neither of them were happy. My dad, i think, understands, but my mom has never been happy about our choice." I share that emotion. If you choose an action differet then the masses, don't expect a lot of supporters.

Here's the article:
http://www.torahresource.com/EnglishArticles/Christmas.pdf

Hope you enjoy.

Arthur's Charge to the Knights of the Round Table

A friend and dear brother sent this to me. It was the charge of King Authur to the Knights of the Round Table: Thanks kindly Brother Dave for your contribution. -Brother Bradley

God make you a good man and fail not of beauty. The Round Table was founded in patience, humility, and meekness.Thou art never to do outrageousity, nor murder, and always to flee treason, by no means to be cruel, and always to do ladies, damosels, and gentle women succour. Also, to take no battles in a wrongful quarrel for no law nor for no world's goods.

Thou shouldst be for all ladies and fight for their quarrels, and ever be courteous and never refuse mercy to him that asketh mercy, for a knight that is courteous and kind and gentle has favor in every place. Thou shouldst never hold a lady or gentle woman against her will.

Thou must keep thy word to all and not be feeble of good believeth and faith. Right must be defended against might and distress must be protected. Thou must know good from evil and the vain glory of the world, because great pride and bobauce maketh great sorrow. Should anyone require ye of any quest so that it is not to thy shame, thou shouldst fulfil the desire.

Ever it is a worshipful knights deed to help another worshipful knight when he seeth him a great danger, for ever a worshipful man should loath to see a worshipful man shamed, for it is only he that is of no worship and who faireth with cowardice that shall never show gentelness or no manner of goodness where he seeth a man in any danger, but always a good man will do another man as he would have done to himself.

It should never be said that a small brother has injured or slain another brother. Thou shouldst not fail in these things: charity, abstinence and truth. No knight shall win worship but if he be of worship himself and of good living and that loveth God and dreadeth God then else he geteth no worship here be ever so hardly.

An envious knight shall never win worship for and envious man wants to win worship he shall be dishonoured twice therefore without any, and for this cause all men of worship hate an envious man and will show him no favour.

Do not, nor slay not, anything that will in any way dishonour the fair name of Christian knighthood for only by stainless and honourable lives and not by prowess and courage shall the final goal be reached. Therefore be a good knight and so I pray to God so ye may be, and if ye be of prowess and of worthiness then ye shall be a Knight of the Table Round.

Celtic Theological Attitudes

http://www.celticchristianitytoday.org/

The following material was taken from a very dear brother who has done some great work in Celtic Christianity, Rev. Dr. George Cairns.

Celtic Theological Attitudes

Celtic Christian Theological Attitudes for Today
These attitudes are expressed as a way of initially orienting ourselves as we reconstruct Celtic Christian theology for today. This is a work in process. These attitudes are always changing and deepening as we continue this conversation together and discern how we are called to become the unique being God sees in the deepest recesses of our hearts. There are many other ways of expressing such attitudes. We start here because of our context.

God's Goodness is at the Heart of all of Creation: God made the earth and saw that it was good. As humans, made in God's image and as a part of God's creation, we also have good at the very heart of our being. We believe that creation is not a one-time event. Rather, we believe that God's creation is continuous and ongoing. We understand the radical nature of our dependence on God's continuing loving presence with us--and our interdependence with all of creation.

The Bible and God’s Creation: We understand, like the early Celtic Church, that God is not only present in the Bible, but also in all of creation. Both sources provide us with the grace- filled opportunity to move into greater intimacy with God. This understanding requires that we treat all others, both human and nonhuman, as we would have them treat us. We realize that we always stand on Holy Ground-the Holy Ground of God’s Creation-and this is good.
Shared Spiritual Disciplines: : With God’s Grace, we can become the unique and wonder-filled people God calls us to be. We realize that God is always with us, closer than our very breath always encouraging us to move into deeper and more intimate relationship. In our tradition, there are spiritual disciplines and wisdom teachings, that assist us in opening our hearts to this movement of the spirit. These disciplines, such as Scripture study, worship, prayer, and service, all have the underlying contemplative intention to open our hearts to God’s presence and movement within.
As Followers of Christ: We understand that God showed limitless love and compassion in the Christ, sharing concretely in the lives and brokenness of humankind. Jesus shows us how to minister. He is our teacher and guide who calls us to loving action throughout all aspects of our lives.
Community building: We seek authentic Holy community. As Jesus did, we seek to build community at the grassroots level. We understand that our most profound teachers often come from the poor, despised, and marginalized. We particularly welcome them as well as all others who seek to be agents of God’s loving-kindness, justice, and mercy in the world.

Photos from our Pilgrimage

Here are some photos from the pilgrimage and us in more "Squire-like" clothes. Enjoy. I will post more later.

A brief history of the post of Squire:

According to Wikipedia: “The English word squire comes from the Old French escuier (modern French écuyer), itself derived from the Late Latin scutarius ("shield bearer"), in medieval or Old English a scutifer. The Classical Latin equivalent was armiger, "arms bearer".
In days of old, a young man who aspired to be a knight would spend a term as a page where they would learn a variety of courtly functions, and then at age 14 they would become a squire. The squire would train to become a knight. They would learn the rules of fight and chivalry. As time wore on and they distinguished themselves in battles and functions, generally around the age of 21 they would be chosen to become a full knight.
The role of the “Squire” was not originally considered a title. It was a post, and a modest one at that. They could fight as needed, and would as needed. Of course, a peasant with a pitchfork could become a warrior when called upon to act. However, this role began to change. Eventually, the process of knighting was controlled only by monarchs (and as I stated before, some church bodies). This meant there was no certainty that a “Squire” would become more then a squire. This could be the end of their career path.
As time wore on, from the late 17th century until the 20th century, the local leader of a community, or the person who possessed the most land or owned the largest house was often respectfully called a “Squire”. From their social status, many of these people would already hold some local leadership, and without any fancier title, the title of Squire was chosen. Of course, if they were a Lord, or if they were actually knighted they could be known by that title, but without this, the “Squire” title was the best choice.
A secondary reason why “Squire” continued as a designation was the fact that it was costly to transition from Squire to Knight. The knight needed a significant amount of equipment, a horse, armour, weapons, etc. This was a financial burden. Now that the role of the Squire held almost as much social regard, there was little reason to put out the financial costs of a “public image promotion”.
In the Western world including the United States (where titles are generally not used), the legal profession did (and sometimes still does) still use the title Squire generally this is recognized by adding the initials Esq. at the end on one’s name. Also, among the commonwealth countries (including Canada) the banking profession would often add the title to a banker who did not possess a higher ranking among the gentry.
In case you are not familiar with the lowest rankings among the gentry, I will set them out as I understand them (remember, I was born and raised in the USA)
-Mister
-Squire
-Sir (knight)
-Lord
(peerage gentry)
-Baron *(Children of Barons are called Mister and Miss)
-Vicount
-Earl (or Count) *children of an Earl (except the firstborn are called “Honourable ____”
-Marquee
-Duke
-Monarch (King or Queen)

Just so you know, through the modern medium, you can now purchase a royal title using a credit card. If anyone is interested, I have listed the link below.
http://www.regaltitles.com/
Not my choice, but to each his own.

copy of post sent to "Loyal Order of Shilah"

Back in August 2009, I ran across this and some related web sites about becoming a knight within the Celtic Church of Yahweh. I and others submitted our names for consideration. I know I received a reply (email confirmation) , but others said they never did. I was told that some study material would come, but none has yet. My eldest son, Brother Josh age 16, was eager to get started. Finally, at the start of March, I wrot a letter to Brther Theo and Pastor Fears and told them that I have always thought they were on the right track, even if I haven't heard from them since that first e-mail. I also told them that we were going to continue as if we were authorized to train. Essentially, we would continue our study as Brothers and eventually would move on to the next stage, that of Squire.
Our role of brother has not ended, but we have added a new level of training and dedication. On May 31, my son and I will take a pilgrimage to an outdoor chapel (actually a Grotto). From our house it is just over 44kms. We will be dressed in rough robes that we sewed by hand. Armed wth only our walking sticks (we do have many wild animals in the area. We leave at 3:00am, and we think it will take about 8 1/2 hours to reach the Grotto. From there we will be joined by friends and family, and will state our intention to become Squires in pursuit of full knighthood.
Also as a note, on correspondence (e-mails, handwriting, facebook, etc.) we will add the post script "esq." to indicate to all our stage.
We also intend on issuing a press release about this so that the public is aware. You can also follow this progress on my related blog.
http://knightsofcanada.blogspot.com/
Until then...God's grace to you and yours, Brother Bradley Avi