My Newest Book Will Be Available Soon: The Best Of Mid Sierra Musings

Dale Matson

Click On Photograph To Enlarge

Introduction

This is my second book based on articles from my Mid Sierra Musings Blog. What is different about this book is that I selected the topics based on ‘page views’ over the last three years. The more page views an article received, the more likely I would select that article for inclusion in the book. I don’t believe I have selected any articles previously published in the first book.

I have come to think of myself as a wilderness docent who enjoys helping others who are considering some of the more popular trails in the Central Sierra Nevada. Some trips are day trips, some overnight and some multiday. Almost all of the trips are ‘on trail’.

I have seen how powerful photographs of an area can be in determining someone’s destination and have become an avid photographer at the expense of moving faster and covering more territory. It is good for me to do this as a retired trail runner.

I hope the information and photographs contained here will motivate you to see the areas yourself.

Dale Matson+

Contents

Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest

Balsam Forebay

Big Pine Lakes Basin

Bighorn Sheep And White Mountain Peak

Courtright To Red Mountain Basin

Crowley Lake CA Views And The Columns

Day Hike On The Rock Creek Trail

Day Hike To Alta Peak

Day Hike To Devil’s Bathtub

Day Hike To Lamarck Lakes

Day Hike To Mt. Givens From White Bark

Edison Lake Loop Hike

Florence Lake To McClure Meadow And Back

Glacier Point Road In Yosemite National Park

Hike To Nellie Lake

Hike To Potter Pass And Twin Lakes

Hiking Mt. Whitney Part II Multi Day

Kaiser Peak Hike

Mammoth Mtn. CA Area

Mono Lake

Mt. Whitney Day Hike

Over Mono Pass From The Mosquito Flat

Overnight Hike To Center Basin

Overnight Hike: East And Reflection Lakes

Overnight In Dusy Basin From South Lake

Pear And Moose Lakes Sequoia Park

Robinson Lake

Sabrina Basin

Highway 395

Views Around Millerton Lake

Yosemite: Day Hike To Ostrander Lake

Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep Close Up

Note: The book is now available as a Kindle Book (color photographs) and as a paperback (black and white photographs)

Bishop’s Note: December 22, 2016 – Immanuel & Jesus

Bishop Eric Menees

“…behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”  All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel”

(which means, God with us). When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.”

(Matthew 1:20-25 ESV)

 This Sunday we will celebrate the incarnation of God in the person of Jesus Christ. Scripture attributes many names and titles to Jesus. But as we heard last Sunday from the 1st Chapter of Matthew, there are two primary names: Immanuel and Jesus.

Immanuel, which means “God with us,” was the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy and an accurate descriptor of what had taken place in the person of Jesus. St. Paul states it perfectly: “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men." (Philippians 2:5-7)

At the annunciation the Angel tells Joseph exactly what the name Jesus means: “God Saves.” And that is exactly what Jesus – God incarnate – does! He saves us by Faith, through Grace.  Jesus received the wrath of God on the cross in order to save us from the due punishment for our sins.

Ultimately this is all a mystery of Love that Christmas catches so beautifully in the hymns that we will sing…

Joy to the world! The Lord is come: let earth receive her King: let every heart prepare him room, and heaven and nature sing…

God rest you merry, gentlemen, let nothing you dismay; remember Christ our Savior was born on Christmas Day, to save us all from Satan’s power when we were gone astray...

Of the Father’s love begotten, ere the worlds began to be, he is Alpha and Omega, he the source, the ending he, of the things are, that have been, and that future years shall see, evermore and evermore.

May this mystery, grandeur, joy, and love be yours this Christmas!

Thirty-nine Articles of Religion

VII. Of the Old Testament

 The Old Testament is not contrary to the New: for both in the Old and New Testament everlasting life is offered to Mankind by Christ, who is the only Mediator between God and Man, being both God and Man. Wherefore they are not to be heard, which feign that the old Fathers did look only for transitory promises. Although the Law given from God by Moses, as touching Ceremonies and Rites, do not bind Christian men, nor the Civil precepts thereof ought of necessity to be received in any commonwealth; yet notwithstanding, no Christian man whatsoever is free from the obedience of the Commandments which are called Moral.

My New E-Book Of Sierra Nevada Photographs

Fr. Dale Matson

E-Book Available @ $5.00

Introduction (from the book)

“Was this the face that launched a thousand ships?” In Christopher Marlowe's play Doctor Faustus is referring to the face of Helen Of Troy. In Psychologist Abraham Maslow’s “Hierarchy Of Needs” the search for beauty was included as an important need. Although we are caught up daily in the security and safety needs, we also enjoy beauty.

Beauty can motivate us to leave the safety of our homes. Beauty is a Siren call to adventure, to risk far beyond the comforts of home.

I can see the Central Sierra Nevada from where I live in Fresno California. Before I was born Theodore Solomons stood near Fresno also and envisioned a trail that would follow along the Sierra Crest. This dream was realized and finalized as the 211-mile John Muir Trail between Yosemite Valley and Mount Whitney. John Muir famously stated, “The mountains are calling and I must go.”

  The Spirit drives many of us, like Jesus, into the wilderness. For Muir, whose father was a pastor, the wilderness was like a great temple where he went to worship. The Central Sierra Nevada is like a Beethoven masterpiece. It is variations on a central theme. The central theme is a canvas composed of firmament, rocks, water, flora and fauna.

The canvas is ever changing and this observer is ever learning. The more I learn, the more I appreciate what it takes to capture an accurate rendering at an optimum time. I have learned some geology, location names, wildlife habits and habitat. The “golden hours” where the light is best, dictate wilderness permits and overnights. Much of my photography has required multiple nights and days of backpacking to find the places I have sought. It is the many faces of ‘Helen’ I seek in the mountains.

My camera gear while essentially lightweight is burdensome for me. The weight of my backpack and gear slow down this former trail runner. But it is the taking of photographs that has redefined my purpose of being on these mountain trails. I admire Galen Rowell who was a wonderful mountain photographer. He could run the trails and climb the granite walls with his camera in a chest pouch. He knew the Eastern Sierra intimately.  Knowing the location before you go there for photographs is important. Knowing what lenses you will need is essential. The morning light is the best in the eastern slopes and the afternoon light is the best on the western slopes. Sometimes, stormy skies are ‘game changers’ where a mid day shot can be terrific.

How faithfully do my photographs represent what I have seen? I am happy for one or two photographs from each trip to trigger the best memories from when I was there although my memories of Baxter Pass were not as pleasant as the photograph.

I have published these photographs in an “EBook” version because the quality and color are best suited to a EBook. Additionally, as they say, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” And it is the photographs of the beautiful Sierra Nevada taken over many years and hundreds of miles of trails that I want to share with you. Hopefully, one or more of these photographs will serve as a motivating force to send you into the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

Dale+           

Bishop’s Note: December 15, 2016 – In Praise of Saints’ Days

Bishop Eric Menees

“Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.”

(Hebrews 13:7 ESV)

As I write this week’s Bishop’s Note (December 12th), I am flying to Dallas to participate in the Requiem Mass for the Rt. Rev. Royal Grote who died suddenly on Thanksgiving Day. I am also cognizant of the fact that today is the Feast Day for Our Lady of Guadalupe, and tomorrow is the Feast Day for St. Lucy.

If you are of Hispanic or Italian origin, there is no need to explain what these two feast days celebrate. But if you are generically North American, like me, or of another nationality, you might wonder what all the commotion is about. Today, in our largest congregation, nearly a thousand people will gather to remember God’s love for the poor and oppressed in the appearance of St. Mary, the Mother of our Lord, to a poor indigenous boy by the name of Juan Diego, in Mexico. It is nearly impossible to calculate how important this event was for the people of Mexico and all of the Americas. This was a concrete reminder of God’s love and tender care for those who are not wealthy, well educated, or well connected.

Saint Lucy was a young woman from Syracuse, Italy, who at a very early age committed her life to Christ following a call of love, prayer, and service to the poor. Lucy resisted her wealthy parents’ urgings to marry a wealthy young man, and eventually prevailed in convincing her parents to allow her to dedicate her life to God and to give her dowry to the poor. St. Lucy was martyred under the Diocletian persecutions.

I suppose for many people the question is: why celebrate Saints Days? We’re Anglicans, not Roman Catholics. The answer is, because scripture asks us to follow the examples of those who have gone before. In the time of Jesus they read the prophets and studied their lives. So too, we should read about the lives of the saints and - more importantly - seek to follow their example of following Christ. This is in no way a replacement for Christ or His Word; it is in addition to the bible that we read the lives of the saints.

Since the establishment of the church calendar, the seasons, Holy Days, and Saints’ Days have been a regular part of our worship life. These are placed in the calendar to so that we may worship the Lord and, in doing so, be formed as Saints of God ourselves.

May the Lord bless you all this week!

Thirty-nine Articles of Religion

VI. Of the Sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures for Salvation.

Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation: so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an article of the Faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation. In the name of the Holy Scripture we do understand those canonical Books of the Old and New Testament, of whose authority was never any doubt in the Church.

Of the Names and Number of the Canonical Books.

Genesis, The First Book of Samuel, The Book of Esther,

Exodus, The Second Book of Samuel, The Book of Job,

Leviticus, The First Book of Kings, The Psalms,

Numbers, The Second Book of Kings, The Proverbs,

Deuteronomy, The First Book of Chronicles, Ecclesiastes or Preacher,

Joshua, The Second Book of Chronicles, Cantica, or Songs of Solomon,

Judges, The First Book of Esdras, Four Prophets the greater,

Ruth, The Second Book of Esdras, Twelve Prophets the less.

And the other Books (as Hierome saith) the Church doth read for example of life and instruction of manners; but yet doth it not apply them to establish any doctrine; such are these following:

The Third Book of Esdras, The rest of the Book of Esther,

The Fourth Book of Esdras, The Book of Wisdom,

The Book of Tobias, Jesus the Son of Sirach,

The Book of Judith, Baruch the Prophet,

The Song of the Three Children, The Prayer of Manasses,

The Story of Susanna, The First Book of Maccabees,

Of Bel and the Dragon, The Second Book of Maccabees.

All the Books of the New Testament, as they are commonly received, we do receive, and account them Canonical.

Repentance And The Man In The Mirror

Advent Two Year A 2016

Fr. Dale Matson

This Sunday is the second Sunday in Advent. Today the Second Advent candle called the “candle of the way” is lit and represents Christ as the light of the world and the way out of sin and darkness. Last Sunday was the first Sunday in Advent and the first Sunday in the Church year A.

The season is a time of preparation for the Nativity of Christ and serves as a dual reminder of the original waiting by the Hebrews for the birth of the Messiah as well as the waiting that Christians today endure as they anticipate the second coming of Jesus the Christ.

In our collect today we say that the prophets were sent to preach repentance and prepare the way of our salvation. There is a lot said about salvation in the church today but very little about repentance. People no longer seem to be ashamed or take responsibility for their actions. People no longer admit that they lied; they say they were taken out of context.

Where did this all begin? It began with the Fall of Adam and Eve. When they wanted to decide for themselves what was right. They disobeyed God and became estranged from God. They no longer knew themselves as God knew them. They were self-conscious. Because they were self conscious, they realized that they were naked. This was the birth of the self-focused self seeking Ego estranged from God.

From a developmental perspective, a child becomes self-conscious about the age of 18 months. Using the rouge test where a bit of rouge is put on the child’s nose and the child looks in the mirror. The child with self-awareness will touch his or her nose as he or she looks in the mirror realizing that he or she is that person is in the mirror looking back. Before this they do not realize that the person in the mirror is in fact them. The ego is both a blessing and a curse however. It is the ego that is so resistant to saying “I’m sorry”. It is the ego that is so often seeking self-justification.

Last week Sharon and I were on a walk with our grandsons and one of our Airedales. She was pushing Beau in a stroller and his older brother Miles was sitting on the front edge of the stroller while I walked Duke. At one point, Miles threw himself back and the back of his head (accidently/on purpose) struck Beau In the face making him cry. Sharon told Miles to tell his brother (even though he had accidently hurt his brother) to tell Beau he was sorry he hurt him. Miles refused so I said that he would have to walk until he said he was sorry. He was quite upset and said, “I don’t want to walk” several times as we headed for home. I said, “Just say you are sorry and you can ride again.” He said, “No and I don’t want to walk.” He walked all the way complaining that he wanted to ride even as we entered the garage. It is so hard to own our behavior; to say you are sorry; to repent even for a 3-year-old ego.

People are no longer drug addicts. They are victims who have become addicted to prescription medication. We no longer even have criminals. We have medicalized misbehavior and now we call criminal conduct “Behavior Disorders. In other words, our behavior is seen as “contingency based”. We are simply the product of our environment. We learn to do unacceptable things in response to our environment. We say that it is not our fault. In modern parlance, we refuse to “Own” our misdeeds.

We hear an example of this from the song “Officer Krupke” from the musical “West Side Story”. “Dear kindly Sergeant Krupke, You gotta understand, It's just our bringin' up-ke that gets us out of hand. Our mothers all are junkies, our fathers all are drunks, Golly Moses, natcherly we're punks! Dear kindly Judge, your Honor, My parents treat me rough. With all their marijuana, they won't give me a puff. They didn't wanna have me, But somehow I was had. Leapin' lizards! That's why I'm so bad!”

It seems like it is never “MY Fault”. From the beginning, Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent.

Today even alcoholism is considered a medical problem although step six in the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous refers to alcoholism as a “defect of character”. In the original 12 steps of AA God is mentioned 4 times and God is referred to as Him 4 times. More recently The AA model has been used for other addictions like narcotics, gambling and overeating. In fact, the AA treatment model is for what is essentially a self-centered or egocentric problem. It is really a conversion experience. The 12 steps of AA are a form of repentance and owning one’s self-destructive nature.

In Michael Jackson’s song “Man In The Mirror” we hear the following: I’m starting with the man in the mirror I’m asking him to change his ways And no message could have been any clearer If you wanna make the world a better place. Take a look at yourself, and then make a change” And he is correct. Changing the world starts with allowing God to change you first.

We hear the following from portions of our Gospel reading today.
Matthew 3:1-12

“In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’" And “ "I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” 

What does John the Baptist mean when he states, “I baptize you with water for repentance.”? He (Christ) will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire”. Are we to understand that there are two baptisms? Didn’t St. Paul say in Ephesians (4:5) “One Lord one faith, one Baptism”? 

I believe that there is only one Baptism but as Martin Luther once stated. “We should celebrate our baptism daily, drowning the old man that the new man would come forth.” The more we submit our lives to Christ, the more he empowers us with his spirit and becomes the Lord of our lives not just our savior. Christ’s Lordship does bring fire upon us and he requires us to do things that we could avoid in the past. We must confront those aspects of ourselves that resist His Lordship. Those things should be purged away by the refiner’s fire. We are also challenged by circumstances in our lives that tempt us to turn away from our Lord. Satan attempts to destroy our witness by attempting to discredit our reputation. Remember what it says in Revelation, “…. and they defeated him (Satan) by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony.” (Revelation Chapter 12

In Oscar Wilde’s novel “The Picture Of Dorian Gray” The handsome but narcissistic and hedonistic Dorian has his portrait painted in full length. He realizes that his beauty will fade over time and makes a deal with the Devil (Lord Henry) for the portrait of him to fade while he remains forever young. This allows him to pursue a shallow and sensuous life where those around him die unfortunate deaths. As time goes on his portrait becomes more and more hideous while Dorian remains youthful looking. Years later, Dorian allows Basil the artist to see the portrait he painted that has now become so hideous that he can only recognize his portrait he painted by his signature on the painting. He pleads with Dorian to pray for his salvation but to no avail. Dorian realizes that the painting is his true reflection of what he has become. The painting is the witness of his conscience. He then stabbed the artist Basil to death. Later Dorian decided to destroy the painting with the same knife. Servants hear Dorian cry from his locked room and discover the corpse of a withered old man who can only be identified by the rings on his fingers. His portrait is restored to the young and handsome Dorian. Even though Dorian remained beautiful for so long, those around him suffered horrible mishaps because Dorian had become the property of the devil. For Dorian, his portrait truly reflected who he was becoming. His portrait was his mirror.

St. Paul says in 1st Corinthians 13:12, “Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely. (NLT) Paul is saying here that we will again know who we are as God sees us. This is like Adam and Eve before the Fall of humans.

This baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire is both the power of God and the refining fire of God. We must be empowered but we must also be an Holy People. At the conclusion of Paul’s Ministry, before his death, Paul said that he had run the good race. He meant by this that He did not dishonor His Lord by conduct that would discredit the Gospel message that was entrusted to him. This baptism of Christ that we have been baptized with empowers us to witness to others; it allows us to understand scripture and gives us a desire to worship together in his body the church. This baptism of Christ provides both the fruit and the gifts of the spirit. It must not be forgotten however that it is also a baptism of ongoing repentance. It is a baptism of fire. To be a holy people we must realize that Christ who is our righteousness imparts our holiness. We fall short of being his holy priesthood every day and must confess that we cannot of ourselves even keep the basic two commandments of our Lord. We must confess that we have broken the two great commandments that sum all of the commandments. In Right One we say, “Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against thee by thought word and deed, by what we have done, and what we have left undone. We have not loved thee with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent.” (BCP p. 331)

This is both repentance and confession. Let us not look at the sin of our neighbor and look self-righteously to our self. May we repent of our sins, simply seek personal holiness and run the good race that our Lord and Savior has called us to run. May we not be a stumbling block in the lives of those who do not know Christ and may we never discredit the gospel message through scandalous lives ourselves. Take a look at yourself and then make a change Amen.