peering over the eastern edge of the world

New Orthodox Mission in Cape Girardeau, MO

2009-01-13T11:24:00.003-06:00

Glory be to God!
While we were down visiting through the midsouth and midwest we learned that there's now an Orthodox mission started in Cape Girardeau, MO: St. John the Theologian. The foundation was laid about six months after we moved to Nebraska to be closer to an Orthodox parish. Ironic?
So, any friends of mine still in the area who periodically check out this blog should visit with the folks at St. John. I'm sure I don't know any of them.

Pilgrimage this past fall

2009-01-13T11:21:00.001-06:00

Back in October our parish hosted a Diocesan Pilgrimage.
You can click here to check out pictures and the description.

Hello more than a year later

2009-01-13T11:14:00.002-06:00

It has been more than a year since I last posted. Some might be interested to hear what is going on with me.
In December of 2007 I graduated from SEMO. We then moved to Nebraska. Here, I work for the state in a youth rehab and treatment center. I'm kind of a security guard.
We are part of St. George Orthodox Christian Church here. We finally live about 5 minutes from work for me and about 8 minutes from church. The kids are in second grade and kindergarten in the neighborhood elementary school 3 blocks from our house. Amy is working at a cookie store in the local mall, mostly she's just really good at decorating cakes/cookies. She plans to start back to school in the fall when our residency is thoroughly ironed out and we have a second car again.
I am currently learning to chant in our church. I think I'm doing okay, but I still stumble a lot. Maybe someday I'll go to seminary. We'll see. Right now, I'm pretty busy just trying to live a Christian life while working my secular job.

Monastery Trip

2007-09-18T10:06:00.000-05:00

Hopefully I will shortly post a photo from our trip to Holy Presentation Monastery in Marshfield, MO. Three of us from Nativity and 1 man from St. Nicholas made the trip down to spend some time working in the yard.
The monastery is fairly new, so there is lots of work to do down there, if anyone has time or expertise to offer.
Our group had no expertise to offer, just sweat. So, we spent a few hours spreading wood chips on what will be reflection/walking trails. The area is naturally beautiful, and peaceful. One of my friends commented on the way back that it felt like we were on 'holy ground.' We were.
The Springfield, MO area will be blessed for many years with the presence of these women living lives of prayer in their vicinity.
I'm looking forward to taking my family down to the monastery within the next few months, hopefully after the chapel is completed.

Sola Scriptura/ Holy Tradition

2007-09-10T11:50:00.000-05:00

My friend, Daniel, is blogging about Scripture and Tradition over here. I've commented some --too many times, because Daniel and I have been having an ongoing conversation about this topic.

Working

2007-09-05T14:51:00.000-05:00

This fall as Amy and I realize how broke we are I also happen to have Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays off from classes. I still work evenings at UPS, but I'm home all day on those days. So, I'm already on the substitute teacher list at Jackson Middle School through High School, and I'm applying at Cape schools and sent my resume to Notre Dame (a giant regional Catholic high school) yesterday. I really need to sub at least one day a week through the end of the semester. More days would mean more money (which is good, I hear).

For the future, Amy and I are starting to seriously look towards our move back to Nebraska. Kearney, Nebraska, to be exact. How strange is that that we have a town in Nebraska picked out that is around 4 hours from her parents', has a university where she can finish her bachelor's and has an Orthodox church? Too cool.

So, now I am searching in earnest for a job in Kearney. One where having BA will help me make more money, but probably one where a BA in Philosophy and Religion doesn't much matter. The point really isn't to get into a Philosophy career, but to get plugged into a church and grow until I can go to seminary.

So, anybody out there, if you pray, pray for me to find a job.

Orthodox Missions and Evangelism Conference

2007-09-03T12:57:00.000-05:00

A while ago I mentioned my desire to attend the Orthodox Conference on Missions and Evangelism over this Labor Day weekend in PA at the Antiochian Village.
Well, as it turns out our finances were a bit tighter than we'd imagined going into my last semester at SEMO, so I opted to stay home. However, after trying for the past six months to find mp3 files of last year's conference in Colorado Springs, I was excited to find that the Conciliar Press/Ancient Faith Radio strategic merger has yielded the fantastic result of all the main sessions being pod-casted. Absolutely great!
So, yesterday, last night, and today I have listened to all the talk that are up already over here.

I especially like Fr. Kevin Scherer's talk about sharing your Orthodox faith with your Protestant friends. He made a distinction between sharing with Modernist and Postmodernist Evangelicals. As you could probably tell from my journey I find myself somewhere in the middle between the group wanting Biblical proofs for the faith and the group searching for 'authentic community.'
It is exciting to think more about ministry in an Orthodox context. I can totally see myself 10 years from now in a campus ministry setting, Lord willing, when and if I make to seminary and beyond to ordination.

My biggest goal for the next 6-9 months is to move closer to an Orthodox parish, so that it won't break us financially to be more involved in the parish, and then, to begin to ease back into ministry opportunities.

Pray for me.

classes

2007-08-22T10:12:00.000-05:00

My classes started yesterday. I was laughing at how easy my last semester will be with 3 100-level courses in the same semester. Each class requires (amond other things) a 3 page *gasp* research paper. If there's one thing my philosophy major has prepared me for it is writing papers. And 3 pages ain't much.
Work was not so fun last night. I've been getting home late lately.
On a positive note I have my graduation application in and now I have all of my missing requirements waived or met with the current semester. Graduation here I come. I really will get my bachelor's degree before my thirtieth birthday.

work

2007-08-17T12:01:00.000-05:00

Did I mention that job has gotten a lot more enjoyable in the past few weeks? Since about May I had been in a job within the center for which I was not well-suited. And believe I tried to make it work. Not very successfully. So, now a young buck who is eager for a long-term career with UPS has taken over that supervisory position, so I have gone back to my old position of overseeing operations-related computer tasks, customer service tasks and (woohoo!) supervising the guys on the carwash at the end of the sort.
Loads of fun.
It hasn't been so great lately what with the 100+ weather and the center being a giant metal barn with a belt down the middle.
Oh well.
My classes start on Tuesday. I am busy making sure all deficiencies are taken care of so I can graduate in December. This summer I got registered/certified as a substitute teacher, so I'm hoping to get some extra work subbing this fall. (I only have class on Tuesdays/Thursdays). I'm pretty excited about this semester, as I have some fairly easy classes and then I have an independent study with the campus RC chaplain, Fr. Patrick. He has his Ph.D. from the Lateran University in Rome, so I'm looking forward to studying Philosophy of Religion with him.
That's what I'm doing. Now I should help my wife prepare lunch.

update

2007-08-06T08:38:00.000-05:00

Well, after paying last month's electric bill, what with all the h0t weather, it turns out we're broker than I thought and I won't even try to go to the Mission and Evangelism Conference. Maybe next year. Hopefully. At some point I would like to start in the process of thinking towards what ministry to young people looks like in an Orthodox context.

Anyways, I'm starting to look in earnest for jobs in Nebraska so that we can hopefully move out there some time in January. I'd like for Amy to be able to start with a class or two in the spring semester. Then we could use that time to get settled in and she could start full-time in the fall. That would be a good transition.

That's about all. I need to drive to campus today to get my graduation application ironed out so I'm definitely on the list for December. It seems some of my Philosophy/Religion courses aren't showing up the way I'd like them to.

My Personal Faith Journey

2007-07-23T12:37:00.000-05:00

Since I recently got quoted on a popular Orthodox blog, I wanted to make a post recapping my journey (or at least linking to different points in it [in chronological order].
In the blogging part of my journey I started out as a Youth Pastor in a non-denominational Protestant Evangelical church.
The Emergent Convention
Tony Jones' The Sacred Way led me to the Jesus Prayer and (in the same post) I describe our plan to take our youth group on a "Faith Pilgrimage" to services of eight different Christian traditions.
Faith Pilgrimage
First trip to an Orthodox Church (Greek Archdiocese)
Shortly after beginning this series of experiences I announced my resignation and plans to go back to college fulltime.
After my initial in-person experience with the Orthodox Church (I had been listening to the Divine Liturgy on the Greek Archdiocese website occasionally for at least a year), I found out we were blessed to live within driving distance of one of the original EOC parishes which were received into the Antiochian Archdiocese, St. John Orthodox Church in Memphis.
So, I visited.
Then, my family visited with me.
Some reflections
Some time around then, when I felt my conversion was imminent, but scary, I renamed my blog "peering over the eastern edge of the world"- translation= contemplating leaving everything you've ever known (and have done for a living)
My first attempt at home devotional use of incense
Then, after only visiting St. John four or five times we moved closer to my college (which was in the opposite direction from Memphis) and visited Nativity of the Virgin Mary Orthodox Church (OCA) in Madison, IL where we met our future sponsors and our kids' future godparents.
Suddenly I felt comfortable seeking out Orthodox people in strangers
Our minds continued to be reshaped and reshaped

Here's my reflection on our first 'Forgiveness Vespers'
When we were finally both in agreement that were ready to pursue acceptance into the Orthodox Church, we started Catechism in August and we were received (through baptism and chrismation) December 9, 2006.
That's not our complete journey, but you get the gist of it.
Lord willing, I will graduate with my BA this December, then we will probably relocate so we can be more involved in a parish and start to seriously pursue/prepare for seminary.

Quote

2007-07-23T09:40:00.000-05:00

I was surprised today to find a quote from my blog on Fr. Joseph Honeycutt's Orthodixie. What an honor. And I really did appreciate his book.

My wife has given me permission to go to the Orthodox Conference of Missions and Evangelism, so now I'm looking for a ride partner.

In Michigan...

2007-07-15T17:15:00.000-05:00

We're in Michigan for the weekend retrieving our kids from my mom's house. Since we were about an hour's drive of Dormition of the Mother of God Orthodox Monastery in Rives Junction, MI, this morning and attended Liturgy there. It was beautiful. Especially since the nuns are the choir.
Then I spent too much money at the gift shop and drove back to my mom's house too late for lunch. Oh well.

Pascha songs

2007-07-13T10:28:00.000-05:00

Here is a link to "Pascha: Hymns of Resurrection" by the St. Vladimir's Orthodox Seminary Choir. And, since we're in the OCA we use most of the arrangements in our parish choir.

The website is liturgica.com and it is a great source for liturgical theory, history and buying liturgical music recordings.

Back from the summer

2007-07-13T08:39:00.000-05:00

So, I've been having a pretty great. Doing a lot of reading and playing with my kids a lot. This week their in Michigan at my mom's.

I wanted to share my summer reading list (I've read other light reading, as well.) These are the books that have been in my 'pile'
Books I've read:
The Lost Gospel of Mary: The Mother of Jesus in Three Ancient Texts, Frederica Mathewes-Green
Mary the Mother of God: Sermons by St. Gregory Palamas, Christopher Veniamin
Mary and the Fathers of the Church: The Blessed Virgin Mary in Patristic Thought, Luigi Gambero
Mary, Mother of God, Eds. Carl Braaten and Robert Jenson
Against Those that Are Unwilling to Confess That The Holy Virign in Theotokos, St. Cyril of Alexandria
The Orthodox Veneration of Mary the Birthgiver of God, St. John Maximovitch (of San Francisco)

Reading:
The Mother of God, John Henry Newman

Still to read:
Mary: The Untrodden Portal of God, George S. Gabriel

Anyways, it has been an interesting summer of reading, and it is helping me to clarify in my mind the differences between the Orthodox and Roman Catholic veneration of the Virgin Theotokos and the Protestant disdain of her.

Photos from Pascha

2007-04-15T11:48:00.000-05:00

Our kids with their Godparents, Ryan and Lauren, after the egg hunt in the church yard

The temple looks festive on Sunday at Paschal Vespers

Our family at the feast in the parish hall after the Paschal Liturgy

St. Thomas Sunday Ikon

2007-04-15T11:06:00.000-05:00

This ikon depicts Christ inviting St. Thomas to place his hand in his side.

St. Thomas Sunday

2007-04-15T10:36:00.000-05:00

In the eastern calendar the Sunday after Pascha is named for St. Thomas.
Here's the reading from the Holy Gospel according St. John the Theologian and Evangelist:
19 Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20 When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. 21 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” 22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
Seeing and Believing 24 Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” 26 And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” 27 Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” 28 And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
That You May Believe 30 And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. John 20:19-31 (NKJV)
[sources: http://oca.org/Reading.asp?SID=25&M=4&D=15&ReadingNum=3 , http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%2020&version=50]

Bright Saturday!

2007-04-14T10:22:00.000-05:00

Well, it has been nearly a week since Pascha, and I'm still here posting Paschal thoughts from Church Fathers, the Liturgy, and Orthodox theologians.

Here is the First Oration of St. Gregory Nazianzus.

Oration I.
On Easter and His Reluctance.
I. It is the Day of the Resurrection, and my Beginning has good auspices. Let us then keep the Festival with splendour, and let us embrace one another. Let us say Brethren, even to those who hate us; much more to those who have done or suffered aught out of love for us. Let us forgive all offences for the Resurrection’s sake: let us give one another pardon, I for the noble tyranny which I have suffered (for I can now call it noble); and you who exercised it, if you had cause to blame my tardiness; for perhaps this tardiness may be more precious in God’s sight than the haste of others. For it is a good thing even to hold back from God for a little while, as did the great Moses of old, and Jeremiah later on; and then to run readily to Him when He calls, as did Aaron
and Isaiah, so only both be done in a dutiful spirit;—the former because of his own want of strength; the latter because of the Might of Him That calleth.
II. A anointed me; I withdrew a little while at a Mystery, as much as was needful to examine myself; now I come in with a Mystery, bringing with me the Day as a good defender of my cowardice and weakness; that He Who to-day rose again from the dead may renew me also by His Spirit; and, clothing me with the new Man, may give me to His New Creation, to those who are begotten after God, as a good modeller and teacher for Christ, willingly both dying with Him and rising again with Him.
III. Yesterday the Lamb was slain and the door-posts were anointed,and Egypt bewailed her Firstborn, and the Destroyer passed us over, and the Seal was dreadful an d reverend, and we were walled in with the Precious Blood. To-day we have clean escaped from Egypt and from Pharaoh; and there is none to hinder us from keeping a Feast to the Lord our God—the Feast of our Departure; or from celebrating that Feast, not in the old leaven of malice and wickedness, but in the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, carrying with us nothing of ungodly and Egyptian leaven.
IV. Yesterday I was crucified with Him; today I am glorified with Him; yesterday I died with Him; to-day I am quickened with Him; yesterday I was buried with Him; to-day I rise with Him. But let us offer to Him Who suffered and rose again for us—you will think perhaps that I am going to say gold, or silver, or woven work or transparent and costly stones, the mere passing material of earth, that remains here below, and is for the most part always possessed by bad men, slaves of the world and of the Prince of the world. Let us offer ourselves, the possession most precious to God, and most fitting; let us give back to the Image what is made after the Image. Let us recognize our Dignity; let us honour our Archetype; let us know the power of the Mystery, and for what Christ died.
V. Let us become like Christ, since Christ became like us. Let us become God’s for His sake, since He for ours became Man. He assumed the worse that He might give us the better; He became poor that we through His poverty might be rich; He took upon Him the form of a servant that we might receive back our liberty; He came down that we might be exalted; He was tempted that we might conquer; He was dishonoured that He might glorify us; He died that He might save us; He ascended that He might draw to Himself us, who were lying low in the Fall of sin. Let us give all, offer all, to Him Who gave Himself a Ransom and a Reconciliation for us. But one can give nothing like oneself, understanding the Mystery, and becoming for His sake all that He became for ours.
As you see, He offers you a Shepherd; for this is what your Good Shepherd, who lays down his life for his sheep, is hoping and praying for, and he asks from you his subjects; and he gives you himself double instead of single, and makes the staff of his old age a staff for your spirit. And he adds to the inanimate temple a living one; to that exceedingly beautiful and heavenly shrine, this poor and small one, yet to him of great value, and built too with much sweat and many labours. Would that I could say it is worthy of his labours. And he places at your disposal all that belongs to him (O great generosity!—or it would be truer to say, O fatherly love!) his hoar hairs, his youth, the temple, the high priest, the testator, the heir, the discourses which you were longing for; and of these not such as are vain and poured out into the air, and which reach no further than the outward ear; but those which the Spirit writes and engraves on tables of stone, or of flesh, not merely superficially graven, nor easily to be rubbed off, but marked very deep, not with ink, but with grace.
VII. These are the gifts given you by this august Abraham, this honourable and reverend Head, this Patriarch, this Restingplace of all good, this Standard of virtue, this Perfection of the Priesthood, who to-day is bringing to the Lord his willing Sacrifice, his only Son, him of the promise. Do you on your side offer to God and to us obedience to your Pastors, dwelling in a place of herbage, and being fed by water of refreshment; knowing your Shepherd well, and being known by him; and following when he calls you as a Shepherd frankly through the door; but not following a stranger climbing up into the fold like a robber and a traitor; nor listening to a strange voice when such would take you away by stealth and scatter you from the truth on mountains, and in deserts, and pitfalls, and places which the Lord does not visit; and would lead you away from the sound Faith in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, the One Power and Godhead, Whose Voice my sheep always heard (and may they always hear it), but with deceitful and corrupt words would tear them from their true Shepherd. From which may we all be kept, Shepherd and flock, as from a poisoned and deadly pasture; guiding and being guided far away from it, that we may all be one in Christ Jesus our Lord, now and unto the heavenly rest. To Whom be the glory and the might for ever and ever. Amen.

[source: http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf207.iii.iii.html ]

The Prophet Habakkuk

2007-04-13T12:01:00.000-05:00

An excerpt from St. Gregory Nazianzus Second Oration on Easter:
I will stand upon my watch, saith the venerable Habakkuk; and I will take my post beside him today on the authority and observation which was given me of the Spirit; and I will look forth, and will observe what shall be said to me. Well, I have taken my stand, and looked forth; and behold a man riding on the clouds and he is very high, and his countenance is as the countenance of Angel, and his vesture as the brightness of piercing lightning; and he lifts his hand toward the East, and cries with a loud voice. His voice is like the voice of a trumpet; and round about Him is as it were a multitude of the Heavenly Host; and he saith, Today is salvation come unto the world, to that which is visible, and to that which is invisible. Christ is risen from the dead, rise ye with Him. Christ is returned again to Himself, return ye. Christ is freed from the tomb, be ye freed from the bond of sin. The gates of hell are opened, and death is destroyed, and the old Adam is put aside, and the New is fulfilled; if any man be in Christ he is a new creature; be ye renewed. Thus he speaks; and the rest sing out, as they did before when Christ was manifested to us by His birth on earth, their glory to God in the highest, on earth, peace, goodwill among men.
And with them I also utter the same words among you. And would that I might receive a voice that should rank with the Angel’s, and should sound through all the ends of the earth.

[source: http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf207.iii.xxvii.html ]

More Paschal Hymns

2007-04-12T09:50:00.000-05:00

Here are the Paschal Stichera from the Paschal Vespers (the service in the afternoon/evening on Easter Sunday itself):

Your Resurrection, O Christ our Savior,
has enlightened the whole universe,
calling back Your creation.//
Glory to You, O almighty Lord!

Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered; let those who hate Him flee from before His face!

Today, a sacred Pascha is revealed to us:
a new and holy Pascha,
a mystical Pascha,
a Pascha worthy of veneration,
a Pascha which is Christ the Redeemer,
a blameless Pascha,
a great Pascha,
a Pascha of the faithful,
a Pascha which has opened to us the gates of Paradise,
a Pascha which sanctifies all the faithful.

As smoke vanishes so let them vanish; as wax melts before the fire!

Come from that scene, O women bearers of glad tidings,
and say to Zion:
“Receive from us the glad tidings of joy,
of Christ’s Resurrection!
Exult and be glad,
and rejoice, O Jerusalem,
seeing Christ the King, Who comes forth from the tomb
like a bridegroom in procession!”

So the sinners will perish before the face of God. But let the righteous be glad!

The myrrh-bearing women,
at the break of dawn,
drew near to the tomb of the Life-giver.
There they found an Angel
sitting upon the stone.
He greeted them with these words:
“Why do you seek the Living among the dead?
Why do you mourn the Incorrupt amid corruption?
Go, proclaim the glad tidings to His disciples!”

This is the day which the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it!

Pascha of beauty,
the Pascha of the Lord,
a Pascha worthy of honor has dawned for us.
Pascha!
Let us embrace each other joyously!
Pascha, ransom from affliction!
For today, as from a bridal chamber,
Christ has shown forth from the tomb,
and filled the women with joy saying:
“Proclaim the glad tidings to the Apostles!”

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.

This is the day of resurrection!
Let us be illumined by the feast!
Let us embrace each other!
Let us call “brothers” even those that hate us,
and forgive all by the resurrection,
and so let us cry:

“Christ is risen from the dead,
trampling down death by death,and upon those in the tombs bestowing life!”

If you're trying to imagine how this would sound during the service, the longer regular font parts are sung by the choir. The italic parts are actually chanted by the priest, a reader or a deacon. As many hymns in Orthodoxy, it's kind a liturgical call and response.

Christ is risen!

2007-04-11T10:45:00.000-05:00

From a contemporary Orthodox theologian, Fr. Thomas Hopko, Dean Emeritus of St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary in Crestwood, NY:

In the Orthodox Church the feast of Easter is officially called Pascha, the word which means the Passover. It is the new Passover of the new and everlasting covenant foretold by the prophets of old. It is the eternal Passover from death to life and from earth to heaven. It is the Day of the Lord proclaimed by God's holy prophets, "the day which the Lord has made" for his judgment over all creation, the day of His final and everlasting victory. It is the Day of the Kingdom of God, tile day "which has no night" for "its light is the Lamb" (Rev 21:22-25).

The celebration of Easter in the Orthodox Church, therefore, is once again not merely an historical reenactment of the event of Christ's Resurrection as narrated in the gospels. It is not a dramatic representation of the first Easter morning." There is no "sunrise service" since the Easter Matins and the Divine Liturgy are celebrated together in the first dark hours of the first day of the week in order to give men the experience of the "new creation" of the world, and to allow them to enter mystically into the New Jerusalem which shines eternally with the glorious light of Christ, overcoming the perpetual night of evil and destroying the darkness of this mortal and sinful world:

Shine! Shine! O New Jerusalem! The glory of the Lord has shone upon you! Exult and be glad O Zion! Be radiant 0 Pure Theotokos, in the Resurrection of your son!
[source: Hopko, Thomas. The Orthodox Faith, Vol. 2: Worship. http://www.oca.org/OCchapter.asp?SID=2&ID=76 ]

The resurrection of Christ proves that the body rises.

2007-04-10T09:34:00.000-05:00

From St. Justin Martyr:
Chapter IX.—The resurrection of Christ proves that the body rises.
If He had no need of the flesh, why did He heal it? And what is most forcible of all, He raised the dead. Why? Was it not to show what the resurrection should be? How then did He raise the dead? Their souls or their bodies? Manifestly both. If the resurrection were only spiritual, it was requisite that He, in raising the dead, should show the body lying apart by itself, and the soul living apart by itself. But now He did not do so, but raised the body, confirming in it the promise of life. Why did He rise in the flesh in which He suffered, unless to show the resurrection of the flesh? And wishing to confirm this, when His disciples did not know whether to believe He had truly risen in the body, and were looking upon Him and doubting, He said to them, “Ye have not yet faith, see that it is I;” and He let them handle Him, and showed them the prints of the nails in His hands. And when they were by every kind of proof persuaded that it was Himself, and in the body, they asked Him to eat with them, that they might thus still more accurately ascertain that He had in verity risen bodily; and He did eat honey-comb and fish. And when He had thus shown them that there is truly a resurrection of the flesh, wishing to show them this also, that it is not impossible for flesh to ascend into heaven (as He had said that our dwelling-place is in heaven), “He was taken up into heaven while they beheld,”as He was in the flesh. If, therefore, after all that has been said, any one demand demonstration of the resurrection, he is in no respect different from the Sadducees, since the resurrection of the flesh is the power of God, and, being above all reasoning, is established by faith, and seen in works.
[source: http://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf01.viii.viii.ix.html ]

Christ is risen! Indeed he is risen!

2007-04-09T08:02:00.000-05:00

The traditional Paschal greeting in the ancient Christian Church was: "Christ is risen!" and the expected reply would be "Indeed he is risen!"
Liturgically, the priest comes out to the people and says/yells "Christ is risen!" in one of various languages, and the people reply with the response, "Indeed he is risen!" in the same language.
In our parish, it is customary to alternate the Paschal greetings in English, Greek and Slavonic/Russian. Different parishes probably use different languages for the greetings based on the lingustic/ethnic makeup of the community.
So, here are the anglicized/trasliterated Paschal greetings and responses in 50 different languages:

Language Greeting Response

Aleut: Khristus anahgrecum! Alhecum anahgrecum!
Aleut: Khris-tusax agla-gikux! Agangu-lakan agla-gikux!
Albanian: Krishti U Ngjall! Vertet U Ngjall!
Alutuq: Khris-tusaq ung-uixtuq! Pijii-nuq ung-uixtuq!
Amharic: Kristos tenestwal! Bergit tenestwal!
Anglo-Saxon: Crist aras! Crist sodhlice aras!
Arabic: El Messieh kahm! Hakken kahm!
Armenian: Kristos haryav ee merelotz! Orhnial eh harootyunuh kristosee! Athabascan: Xristosi banuytashtch'ey! Gheli banuytashtch'ey!
Bulgarian: Hristos voskrese! Vo istina voskrese!
Byelorussian: Khrystos uvaskros! Saprawdy uvaskros!
Chinese: Helisituosi fuhuole! Queshi fuhuole!
Coptic: Pchristos aftooun! Alethos aftooun!
Czech: Kristus vstal a mrtvych! Opravdi vstoupil!
Danish: Kristus er opstanden! Ja, sandelig opstanden!
Dutch: Christus is opgestaan! Ja, hij is waarlijk opgestaan!
English: Christ is risen! Indeed He is risen!
Eritrean-Tigre: Christos tensiou! Bahake tensiou!
Esperanto: Kristo levigis! Vere levigis!
Estonian: Kristus on oolestoosunt! Toayestee on oolestoosunt! Ethiopian: Christos t'ensah em' muhtan! Exai' ab-her eokala!
Finnish: Kristus nousi kuolleista! Totistesti nousi!
French: Le Christ est réssuscité! En verite il est réssuscité!
Gaelic: Taw creest ereen! Taw shay ereen guhdyne! Georgian: Kriste ahzdkhah! Chezdmaridet!
German: Christus ist erstanden! Wahrlich ist er erstanden! Greek: Christos anesti! Alithos anesti!
Hawaiian: Ua ala hou 'o Kristo! Ua ala 'I 'o no 'oia!
Hebrew: Ha Masheeha houh quam! Be emet quam!
Hungarian: Krisztus feltamadt! Haloban feltamadt!
Ibo ( Nigeria): Jesu Kristi ebiliwo! Ezia o' biliwo!
Indian (Malayalam): Christu uyirthezhunnettu! Theerchayayum uyirthezhunnettu! Indonesian: Kristus telah bangkit! Benar dia telah bangkit!
Italian: Cristo e' risorto! Veramente e' risorto!
Japanese: Harisutos Fukkatsu! Jitsu ni Fukkatsu!
Javanese: Kristus sampun wungu! Tuhu sampun wungu!
Korean: Kristo gesso! Buhar ha sho nay!
Latin: Christus resurrexit! Vere resurrexit!
Latvian: Kristus ir augsham sales! Teyasham ir augsham sales vinsch! Lugandan: Kristo ajukkide! Amajim ajukkide!
Norwegian: Christus er oppstanden! Sandelig han er oppstanden! Polish: Khristus zmartwyckwstal! Zaprawde zmartwyckwstal! Portugese: Cristo ressuscitou! Em verdade ressuscitou!
Romanian: Hristos a inviat! Adeverat a inviat!
Russian: Khristos voskrese! Voistinu voskrese!
Sanskrit: Kristo'pastitaha! Satvam upastitaha!
Serbian: Cristos vaskres! Vaistinu vaskres!
Slovak: Kristus vstal zmr'tvych! Skutoc ne vstal!
Spanish: Cristo ha resucitado! En verdad ha resucitado!
Swahili: Kristo amefufukka! Kweli amefufukka!
Swedish: Christus ar upstanden! Han ar verkligen upstanden! Syriac: M'shee ho dkom! Ha koo qam!
Tlingit: Xristos Kuxwoo-digoot! Xegaa-kux Kuxwoo-digoot! Turkish: Hristos diril - di! Hakikaten diril - di!
Ugandan: Kristo ajukkide! Kweli ajukkide!
Ukrainian: Khristos voskres! Voistinu voskres!
Welsh: Atgyfododd Crist! Atgyfododd yn wir!
Yupik: Xris-tusaq Ung-uixtuq! Iluumun Ung-uixtuq! Zulu: Ukris tu uvukile! Uvukile kuphela!
[source: http://oca.org/OCpaschalgreetings.asp?SID=2]

In the Orthodox Church the Paschal feast lasts forty days until the Day of Ascension. So, I will try and post some thoughts on the Paschal season and the resurrection everyday until then. Mostly, they won't be mine, but thoughts from the Fathers or the Saints.

Have a blessed Paschatide!
Christ is risen! Indeed he is risen!

Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life!

2007-04-08T17:26:00.000-05:00

Well, it has been a long and hard Fast, not that I fast particularly well, or that I am very spiritual at all, but finally we have come to

PASCHA, the blessed Feast of feast and Holy Day of Holy Days.

[By the way, Pascha is simply the transliteration of the Greek word for Passover, and is the traditional name for the Day of Resurrection.]

We spent the weekend up in St. Louis at some of our parish's Holy Week/Paschal services. This was our first Pascha as Orthodox Christians, and my first Pascha singing in the choir. I have to tell you, this morning when I woke up, way too early, my throat felt like I would never speak/sing again.

Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life!

Pascha/Easter has always been my favorite holiday, and we're entering into the ancient traditions of the Church, it is becoming even more important to me. So, since Pascha is too important to sully with my own vain thoughts and evil imaginations I will post some thoughts from the Church's wisdom and her saints:

Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life!

The Paschal Sermon of St. John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople

[which is read in place of the homily during the Paschal Matins]

If any man be devout and love God, let him enjoy this fair and radiant triumphal feast. If any man be a wise servant, let him rejoicing enter into the joy of his Lord. If any have labored long in fasting, let him now receive his recompense. If any have wrought from the first hour, let him today receive his just reward. If any have come at the third hour, let him with thankfulness keep the feast. If any have arrived at the sixth hour, let him have no misgivings; because he shall in nowise be deprived therefor. If any have delayed until the ninth hour, let him draw near, fearing nothing. If any have tarried even until the eleventh hour, let him, also, be not alarmed at his tardiness; for the Lord, who is jealous of his honor, will accept the last even as the first; he gives rest unto him who comes at the eleventh hour, even as unto him who has wrought from the first hour.
And he shows mercy upon the last, and cares for the first; and to the one he gives, and upon the other he bestows gifts. And he both accepts the deeds, and welcomes the intention, and honors the acts and praises the offering. Wherefore, enter you all into the joy of your Lord; and receive your reward, both the first, and likewise the second. You rich and poor together, hold high festival. You sober and you heedless, honor the day. Rejoice today, both you who have fasted and you who have disregarded the fast. The table is full-laden; feast ye all sumptuously. The calf is fatted; let no one go hungry away.
Enjoy ye all the feast of faith: Receive ye all the riches of loving-kindness. let no one bewail his poverty, for the universal kingdom has been revealed. Let no one weep for his iniquities, for pardon has shown forth from the grave. Let no one fear death, for the Savior's death has set us free. He that was held prisoner of it has annihilated it. By descending into Hell, He made Hell captive. He embittered it when it tasted of His flesh. And Isaiah, foretelling this, did cry: Hell, said he, was embittered, when it encountered Thee in the lower regions. It was embittered, for it was abolished. It was embittered, for it was mocked. It was embittered, for it was slain. It was embittered, for it was overthrown. It was embittered, for it was fettered in chains. It took a body, and met God face to face. It took earth, and encountered Heaven. It took that which was seen, and fell upon the unseen.
O Death, where is your sting? O Hell, where is your victory? Christ is risen, and you are overthrown. Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen. Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice. Christ is risen, and life reigns. Christ is risen, and not one dead remains in the grave. For Christ, being risen from the dead, is become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. To Him be glory and dominion unto ages of ages. Amen.

The Paschal Sermon of Metropolitan Anthony Bloom

Saint Paul in one of his Epistles says that if Christ is not risen we are the most miserable of all men... And, indeed, if he was not risen we would be, because then all our faith, all that we call our spiritual experience, all the life we build on it would have been nothing but a delusion or a lie, a hallucination. But we are the most happy of all men because Christ is risen. This not only hundreds and thousands, but millions know from a direct, personal experience. Many could say: God exists because I have met him, Christ is risen because I have met the risen Christ. And not only in spirit but also in the flesh; because we have the witness of the Apostles, simple men who had run away from Calvary, knowing - as they thought - that Christ was defeated when he was taken down from the Cross and buried, knowing that everything they hoped for had come to an end. And yet, they are the witnesses of the Resurrection, unprepared, hesitant, and then exulting in the joy of the truth which was revealed to them; exulting because the women came in the morning to anoint Christ, and they saw that his body was no longer there. John and Peter came after them, and the tomb was empty. And when they came to the other disciples, asking themselves questions, doubting, hesitating - Christ came to them, and he himself said to them: Fear not! I am not a ghost, I am not a disincarnate vision; a ghost has no flesh and no bones as you can see that I have! And he ate with them, he spoke to them, they touched him! And indeed, St John says in his Epistle that what the Apostles proclaim is what their eyes have seen, their ears heard, their hands touched, and that they are speaking the truth. Yes, Christ is risen, risen not as a ghost, not as a spiritual presence but as a living God with his body, the body of the Incarnation. And indeed, if we truly believe that the Lord Jesus Christ was God himself become man for the salvation of the world, then, what is beyond our imagination is that he, who is life itself, could die; and the thing which is obvious and simple is that Life Eternal should break the fetters of death, conquer death, and that he should rise, in the body, in the flesh, as a promise to us; because uniting himself to human flesh he has shown us that man is so vast and so deep that he can be at one with God, united with God; that, indeed, a human being is complete only if he is in oneness with God, when he is a partaker of the divine nature, to use the words of St Peter's Epistle. The Resurrection is a revelation of the mercy of God, of the power of God, of the love of God... but also of the greatness of man. Death has no fear for us; it has become a gate into eternity, and we know that the day will come when the voice of him who has brought into being all things, the voice of him who is our Saviour will resound, and we will all stand before God, clothed with eternity, but in a flesh that has become part of this eternity. Let us believe the word of God, let us conquer our doubts and hesitations by listening to God himself speaking to us, and let us respond to the word of God and to the event of the Resurrection with faith and gratitude!
Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!

[source: http://www.metropolit-anthony.orc.ru/eng/eng_17.htm]

And, finally, the paschal Hymn to the Theotokos
The angel cried to the Lady Full of Grace: Rejoice, O Pure Virgin!
Again I say: Rejoice! Your Son is risen from His three days in the tomb!
With Himself He has raised all the dead! Rejoice, all you people!
Shine! Shine! O New Jerusalem!
The Glory of the Lord has shone on you!
Exalt now and be glad, O Zion!
Be radiant, O Pure Theotokos, in the Resurrection of your Son!

Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life!

SCUBA

2007-02-22T06:34:00.000-06:00

Well, here's something I did learn in class yesterday: SCUBA stands for Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus. Except it was made up by a Frenchman, so we may need to boycott the word and the activity.
Woohoo.

Forgiveness Sunday

2007-02-18T19:00:00.000-06:00

This was one of those days when we got up early and drove to Liturgy in St. Louis. The kids were medium to good. That's pretty good considering.
After Liturgy was the Cheesefare Sunday Luncheon. Yum. And after that was Forgiveness Vespers, which are the official start of Lent.
During Forgiveness Vespers Micah and I were up in the choir loft, and I noticed he was getting a bit distracting, so I went to reprimand him. He looked at me with his 'serious face' and said, "it wasn't me. It was that boy who looks just like me." Nice. I stifled a laugh and reprimanded him for lying. At least he gets points for creativity.
Well, Forgiveness Vespers is (one of) the home(s) of the penitential Prayer of St. Ephraim:

O Lord and Master of my life, take from me the spirit of sloth, despondency, lust for power and idle talk.(Prostration)

But grant unto me, Thy servant, a spirit of chastity, humility, patience and love.(Prostration)

Yea, O Lord and King, grant me to see mine own faults and not to judge my brothers and sisters. For blessed art Thou unto ages of ages.
Amen.(Prostration)

O God, cleanse Thou me a sinner (12 times, with as many bows, and then again the whole prayer from the beginning throughout, and after that one great prostration)

Here's the link to my post on Forgiveness Vespers from last year.

So, if I've offended you in any way (and I'm sure I have) in the last year, please forgive me. And may God forgive us all.

Politics Schmolitics

2007-02-16T07:18:00.000-06:00

So, at work last night I make a passing comment about the "treasonous congress" to one of our drivers who I know ingests a toxic amount of right wing talk radio. (I suppose much more than an hour a day could skew one's view of reality sufficiently.)
He proceeded to tell me why (basically) everyone who isn't for the war at this point is a traitor. Now, given his proclivity to broad definitions (which would allow for calling Congress treasonous when they are clearly doing their job of checking the President's power), and my penchant for stating ridiculous arguments to get a rise out of people, it went on and on.
This particular driver is a good christian man. He comes from a church which he describes as very close in character to the Assemblies of God. I call him a "Baptistmatic".
After discussing politics for about 30 minutes after he got off the clock, when the conversation was concluded (because he was leaving), we shook hands and said, "We're both christians; let's not talk about politics anymore."
Sounds good enough to me.
What particularly got my goat is when he insisted on calling me "liberal" and "a democrat" when I didn't see exactly eye to eye with him. Apparently his two party system (which is only in his head) has no room for free thinking or independent voters. And so it is with people who think in such a stark, dichotomous way. It's either one or the other "You're for us or against us" and all that.
While I applaud the more honorable side of conservative politics (I've listened to my share of Rush), it is particularly troubling to me when Conservative Christians feel they have to tow this party line, in conjunction to or in relation to their christianity. And thus, the world has the image that we American Christians think that God is middle-class, white and Republican (Thanks Derek Webb). Well, he's not. And in fact, it seems to me like many of the Republicans' stances are contrary to the values which Christ taught. And so, having come to the Republicans for their protection of 'conservative social issues', such as abortion, gay marriage, and so; christian conservatives also ended up buying the whole party platform, even the parts that are contrary to or crosswise with the Scriptures and the Tradition of the Church. And because they have done this and they are thoroughly devoted to the Scriptures (if not Christ and the His Church), they even seem to see warrant in the Scriptures for the Republican Platform, and tell you (with a straight face, no less) any of the ridiculous views of the Republican establishment as if they were dogmatic truths.
All this being said, I fear that I am no better. No, my biblical interpretations are not skewed to the left because of my politics (which aren't really all that far left), but I couldn't describe myself as a liberal or a conservatives, because I think sometimes the Church, the Scriptures and Christ call us to transcend contemporary political values to see our ways to a higher plane.
So, I have decided that along with more traditional disciplines of the Lenten fast, I will 'give up' politics this Lent and 'take up' peacemaking. For, blessed are the peacemakers, and all that.
Blessings.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2007-02-14T08:36:00.000-06:00

I don't know if it is considered bad blog-iquette, but here is my Valentine's Day Tribute to my bride, Amy Nicole (aka Lovey Chicken)

Lovey Chicken,
You know I never was good at Valentine's Day (or anniversaries or birthdays)-- and yet you put up with me. (By the way, you are more beautiful today than our wedding day.)
You have been my best friend since I met you. This year we'll celebrate 7 years of marital bliss. Although I am sure it has been more bliss for me than you. I do not know how you can stand being married to me and my peculiarities.
I'm not complaining, though. I'd be glad to have you for another 70 or 700 years.
Thank for being my best friend, my wife, and my lovey chicken.
I love you more.
Levi

Fox News

2007-02-12T09:56:00.000-06:00

I wrote this case study for my Media Ethics class on Friday. I thought it was pretty interesting to see that that bastion of flag-waving conservatism had made its profits last year on BORAT, which is perhaps the most obscene, racist and sexist movie to show in American theatres in years. Hmmm. Makes me wonder why the Evangelicals (or at least the Fundamentalists) aren't boycotting Fox News.

“News Corporation Earnings Decline 24%”
Accessed at : http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/08/business/media/08news.html?ref=media

This article focuses on the drop in earnings that News Corp’s owner, Rupert Murdoch reported yesterday. Apparently News Corp is losing money on some of its new internet outlets.
A note of interest is where News Corp, owner of arch-conservative Fox News did make money this last year: “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.” “Borat” earned News Corp $230M in profits so far, just through ticket sales.
How intriguing that a company which owns Fox News, the U.S.’s most conservative cable television news outlet, would make its profit from a movie which is disturbingly obscene and stands in stark contrast to the views and preferences of Fox News’ target demographic.

What is the role of a corporation’s principles in producing entertainment content? It is plain comical to think of how News Corp seems to be deliberately marketing their Fox News network to social and political conservatives, while they are also releasing one of the most obscene movies to play in American theatres in years.

On a positive note, perhaps, is Fox News’ own review of the film:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,227136,00.html?sPage=fnc.entertainment/movie
So, at least we know that, this time, conglomeration/consolidation didn’t prevent the movie reviewer at Fox News from saying what he thought about the movie’s content. Although, it does seem that the review itself avoids having a negative outcome with the ending line, “…if you have a sick sense of humor, "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" is for you,” which has the tone of a wink to the content which has just been denigrated in the preceding review.

My visit with my Episcopalian friends

2007-02-12T08:42:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I had a great time visiting with a Sunday School class (in an Episcopal Church) which is studying the Orthodox Church. They are finishing reading Bishop KALLISTOS' The Orthodox Church.
I assured them that I am no expert on Orthodoxy or even a very good Christian. They seemed to appreciate my journey. Hopefully some of them will come to St. Louis some weekend to visit our parish and experience the Orthodox worship. It truly is difficult to understand the Orthodox Church's theology apart from experiencing her worship. Overall, the visit was good. I wasn't out to make any converts, and I think I succeeded.

On another note, I have been listening semi-nonstop to Snow Patrol's album, Open Your Eyes. It's a great collection of soulful pop punk songs. Woohoo!
Also, I re-discovered Skillet this past week. I listened to them a lot when I was in Bible School. And then they got kinda weird with their androgynous haircuts and overly-techno music. A few weeks ago I heard a song on the local LP (low power) college station, RAGE 103.7, which had a cool sound that stuck in my head. I couldn't even remember the words until I heard it again this past week and they announced it as Skillet. Skillet? I thought. Hmmm.. Couldn't be good old Skillet from Memphis of Christian Rock. I guess I've been out of the Christian Rock loop for a while now. Anyways, their newest album they came back sounding like Evanescence. Very cool stuff. Here's the link: Comatose

Enjoy the links and have a great day. Now it's time for me to do the dishes. Yippee!

In Other News

2007-02-10T08:23:00.000-06:00

Hello.
This week in my Media Ethics class we watched a bit of Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism. It is admittedly far left-wing propaganda, but their estimation of the quality of FOX News' "reporting" is probably spot-on. It is particularly fun to watch Bill O'Reilly verbally accost the son of a man killed in the WTC on 9/11 who was against the war in Afghanistan. Wow. Now, that's "Fair and Balanced" journalism. There's also a comical video montage of Bill O'Reilly telling guests to "shut up" and then usually calling for someone to "cut their mic". Is very very funny. Anyways, that gave rise in mind to the image of two people in a debate where one of them is using notecards and, turning to the next card, says, "My next point: You shut up!"
Hmm..
In other news, this week I read Fr. David Joseph Honeycutt's One Flew Over the Onion Dome this week. I'm planning on doing a "Book Review" for my Religion in America class. Very funny stuff. Unfortunately for us, it is very true to life. There are some particularly funny stories in it which had me laughing outloud. Anyways, anyone who is Orthodox, converted to Orthodoxy or thinking about converting to Orthodoxy should read this. It hints at a beneficial moderate path in the conversion from heterodox groups to the Orthodox Church

Also, I read a great list of "Twelve Things I Wish I'd Known as a Convert".
And this after I have already accepted the invitation to share my 'Journey to Orthodoxy' with a local Sunday School class tomorrow.

Well, that's what's on the top of my head right this instant. Now I'm going to go cook pancakes and/or waffles for the family's saturday morning breakfast. Peace.

It's winter here

2007-01-28T08:44:00.000-06:00

It's winter here, although there probably won't be any snow.
We're preparing to have friends over for lunch this afternoon.
In an hour or so our family will say the morning prayers together.
That's our custom when we can't make the drive to St. Louis for Liturgy.
The kids don't mind. They especially like me to read the life of a Saint commemorated today.
Oh, and the Gospel reading. Then, most Sunday afternoons (when we're home) we take the kids to Barnes and Noble and read to them for a while. (Our B&N has a sizeable children's section.)
Next week, we'll be in Madison for Liturgy and the annual parish meeting. As someone who has previously worked in professional christianity, I have little or no desire to engage in the 'business' of being church. However, as a Christian who recognizes the necessity of the physical manifestation of the Body of Christ, I shouldn't eschew the business side.

My Old Testament Literature professor is a Sunday School teacher at our local Episcopal Church. They're reading Bishop KALLISTOS' The Orthodox Church, and when he heard I was a convert to Orthodoxy, he invited me to share with his Sunday School class. Interesting.
So, the Sunday after next I'll be sharing my journey to the ancient faith with a room full of highly-educated (slightly intimidating) Episcopalians.
I assured him that I am not an authority on Orthodoxy or even a particularly good Orthodox Christian, but that I could share some of the reasons I converted and share my experience.
I talked to Father; he said he thought it sounded like a great opportunity. I told him I would be going in the next few weeks, as I plan to give up Episcopalians for Lent.
(that got a chuckle out of him)

Well, other than that, school is going well. Classes are fairly easy, since I dropped my Spanish minor. Two philosophy classes and three religion classes.
Work is okay. Something about that place makes me feel like I am losing my soul. Pray for me.

If I have offended you in any way, please forgive me.

change of minor

2007-01-17T10:39:00.000-06:00

Not that it makes a big difference to anyone out there, but yesterday I changed my minor from Spanish to Religion. And let me explain.
Originally I chose my minor as Spanish simply because I had eight hours of spanish coming into SEMO. After a while, I kept going with my Spanish because it would be a marketable/useful skill to have in job hunting.
Well, I am a Spanish and my Spanish really isn't getting better from classes. What I lack is motivation and practice. So, my Spanish classes are getting harder and harder and my Spanish is not improving. If I wanted to use Spanish as a job skill, I would definitely have to improve, which means lots of practice, which doesn't necessarily involve having a minor in it.
That being said, I've also been thinking about seminary and grad school. If I don't end up going to seminary, will I have to be stuck working at UPS my whole life? I hope not.
Well, Amy and I talked about having grad school/academia as a back up to seminary. So, if I graduate with a BA in Philosophy and a minor in Religion, that will serve me well; and, if I don't go to seminary and go to grad school to pursue a PhD in Philosophy of Religion, then my undergrad degree will serve me well. Either way, I'll have the degree that's best suited to my longterm goals.
As far as Spanish, I do intend to set aside some time to practice/learn Spanish in my free time.

Hello

2007-01-14T08:10:00.000-06:00

I haven't posted much during Christmas Break. My classes start on Tuesday. I'm taking: World Religions, Conversational Spanish, Ancient Philosophy, Media Ethics and Contemporary European History. Woohoo! On a brighter note, I should finish all but my practicum for my philosophy major this semester, so I'll finish that and my Spanish minor in the fall, as well as some fluff to fill out my schedule. Then I'll be a guy with a Bachelor's.
Anyways, while I haven't been posting much, I especially have not been giving much of an explanation for my recent reorientation within christendom (recent, although it has been a long time coming).
Many (if anyone reads this blog) who come here probably knew me as a Protestant Evangelical (at times a bit of a Fundamentalist, as well). So, while I have no intention of arguing with old friends and Evangelical comrades, I will offer this link to the Orthodox Church in America's Introduction to Orthodox Christianity:

About Orthodox Christianity

It includes a question and answer section as well as lengthy descriptions of all of the areas of dogma in the Church.

If you don't buy it, that's fine. I know I have found the fullness of the historic Christian Church in the Orthodox Church, and it is where I intend to stay.

blog recommendation

2007-01-14T07:56:00.000-06:00

I have a blog to recommend. My older brother, who is a veteran of the current Iraq war, has a blog. I just noticed he writes it under a pen name, so don't tell anyone you know who he is.
Anyways, here's A Veteran's Voice.
The author of this blog does not necessarily endorse the views of the author of that blog, but that guy is way more intelligent than this one, and he has served our country in a time of war.

Glory to God!

2006-12-26T07:31:00.000-06:00

I forgot to mention this, and I didn't want to add it to my Christmas post, but I got my grades already.
First of all, at the eight weeks I had 1 A, 3 B's and a C. Seriously.
I was difficult for me to get used to working a lot more than I have been thus far in my time as a full time student. And, I was trying to commit myself to spending more time with my family during the day to make up for the fact that I was working every weekday evening.
Anyways, I had resigned myself to lower grades than I'm used to. So, now you can understand why I say Glory to God for the straight A's I somehow got.
I'm reminded that when I make the important things important the lower priority things have a tendency to go all right.
Barring any unforeseen circumstances I will graduate in December of 2007. That'll be a great day. Man have I been in college for a long time.

A Blessed Feast!

2006-12-26T06:51:00.000-06:00

Christ is born! Glorify him!

This has been an interesting holiday season. First of all, I talked Amy to have her brother (who now lives down the street from us) to drive her and the kids to the farm for Christmas. Her parents' anniversary is Christmas Eve and this year was their 30th. And, her brother and his wife were in town from California. We haven't been out to the farm for almost two years.
This year we could afford to go to the farm for Christmas, but I couldn't get off work.
Oh well. I had a great Feast of the Nativity of Our God and Savior Jesus Christ in the Flesh..
Sunday morning I drove up to our church in Madison. There was normal Sunday morning Liturgy. In the afternoon we had our Christmas Eve Vespers. Then I spent several fun-filled hours visiting other people's family Christmases (should the plural of Christmas be Christmasae?). It was great. I'm never surprised, by the way, when people are extremely welcoming to me when I'm with my wife and kids, but when it's just me, it does seem unlikely.
Anyways, my Christmases were great. It did make me particularly homesick to be apart from my family and with other peoples' families. I certainly homesick for the house. I was homesick for my family. Christmas Eve Alexis woke up crying for me and Amy left me a message on my voice mail of her crying and saying "Daddy, I miss you." It about tore my heart out.
So, Christmas morning we went back to church for the Festal Liturgy. I saw the choir was depleted by holiday travelling, so I went to join in. It was a great experience. They asked me to join the choir whenever I'm able.
This Christmas I'm thinking especially of two people (besides Amy and the kids who occupy lots of my thoughts): my Grandma Randall, who died December 20, 1987. She lived right down the street (a block away) and was a close friend to all of us grandkids. Twenty years next year. Memory Eternal! And I've spent a lot of time thinking about/praying for my little brother Noel, who is in prison. I am ashamed that I've never visited him, even when I make the trip all the way to Michigan. Something tells me Christ meant it when he said that when we visit those in prison, we visit him. Remember Noel in yours prayers.

The Nativity Homily of St. John Chrysostom:
I behold a new and wondrous mystery! My ears resound to the Shepherd's song, piping no soft melody, but chanting full forth a heavenly hymn.
The Angels sing!The Archangels blend their voices in harmony!The Cherubim hymn their joyful praise!The Seraphim exalt His glory!
All join to praise this holy feast, beholding the Godhead here on earth, and man in heaven. He who is above, now for our redemption dwells here below; and he that was lowly is by divine mercy raised.
Bethlehem this day resembles heaven; hearing from the stars the singing of angelic voices; and in place of the sun, enfolds within itself on every side the Sun of Justice.
And ask not how: for where God wills, the order of nature yields. For He willed, he had the power, He descended, He redeemed; all things move in obedience to God.
This day He Who Is, is Born; and He Who Is becomes what He was not. For when He was God, He became man; yet not departing from the Godhead that is His. Nor yet by any loss of divinity became He man, nor through increase became he God from man; but being the Word He became flesh, His nature, because of impassibility, remaining unchanged.
And so the kings have come, and they have seen the heavenly King that has come upon the earth, not bringing with Him Angels, nor Archangels, nor Thrones, nor Dominations, nor Powers, nor Principalities, but, treading a new and solitary path, He has come forth from a spotless womb.
Yet He has not forsaken His angels, nor left them deprived of His care, nor because of His Incarnation has he departed from the Godhead.
And behold,Kings have come, that they might adore the heavenly King of glory;Soldiers, that they might serve the Leader of the Hosts of Heaven;Women, that they might adore Him Who was born of a woman so that He might change the pains of child-birth into joy;Virgins, to the Son of the Virgin, beholding with joy, that He Who is the Giver of milk, Who has decreed that the fountains of the breast pour forth in ready streams, receives from a Virgin Mother the food of infancy;Infants, that they may adore Him Who became a little child, so that out of the mouth of infants and sucklings, He might perfect praise;Children, to the Child Who raised up martyrs through the rage of Herod;Men, to Him Who became man, that He might heal the miseries of His servants;Shepherds, to the Good Shepherd Who has laid down His life for His sheep;Priests, to Him Who has become a High Priest according to the order of Melchisedech;Servants, to Him Who took upon Himself the form of a servant that He might bless our servitude with the reward of freedom;Fishermen, to Him Who from amongst fishermen chose catchers of men;Publicans, to Him Who from amongst them named a chosen Evangelist;Sinful women, to Him Who exposed His feet to the tears of the repentant;
And that I may embrace them all together, all sinners have come, that they may look upon the Lamb of God Who taketh away the sins of the world.
Since therefore all rejoice, I too desire to rejoice. I too wish to share the choral dance, to celebrate the festival. But I take my part, not plucking the harp, not shaking the Thyrsian staff, not with the music of pipes, nor holding a torch, but holding in my arms the cradle of Christ. For this is all my hope, this my life, this my salvation, this my pipe, my harp. And bearing it I come, and having from its power received the gift of speech, I too, with the angels, sing: Glory to God in the Highest;and with the shepherds: and on earth peace to men of good will.
From the journal Road to Emmaus, Fall 2005 (#23).

Eighth Day Books

2006-12-15T11:49:00.000-06:00

Some of my devoted readers may be familiar with Eighth Day Books. I recently re-discovered the website, and I can't wait to buy every book in the catalog! I am especially interested in trying to form an integrated worldview, which doesn't separate between theology, science, politics, nature, art, poetry, but that sees them as one complete whole.

They are also the suppliers for this cool Orthodox Christian coffee shop/bookstore in Colorado Springs, CO:

So, check them out and buy books.

Christmas Break, Or Levi Rambles Because He Has Too Much Free Time

2006-12-15T08:31:00.000-06:00

My finals are over. Yesterday I turned in my final paper for Mind, Meaning and Value: Studies in Neurophilosophy. The class wasn't bad. As I was leaving the professor asked, "Well, Mr. Hadley, what did you think of the class? Did you learn anything?" "Yes sir, but I'm still not a materialist [or an ontological reductionist]"
Anyways, that's my life.
Now I'm here at the house blogging while Alexis watches Pokemon. Exciting. Today was donut day. I know it's not healthy (and probably not fast-like), but we have a tradition of buying donuts every friday morning. It gives the kids something to be excited about and look forward to every Friday. And they do.

So, what's on the plate for Christmas Break?
Well, I'll be working plenty at UPS, I'll be sitting around at the house and I plan to do some fun/discretionary reading:
Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claborne
Miracles by C.S. Lewis

And I'll probably play a lot of Nintendo. (Gamecube, not Wii! How rich do you think I am?)

Mostly, I'm just sitting here waiting for my grades to be posted. It's going to make me crazy. I'm sure I have 2/5 A's. And I'm pretty sure I have 2 other days. And the last one's an A/B wildcard. It makes me crazy. Argh.

Well, thanks for reading my ramblings, if you lasted this long.

Final Pictures

2006-12-11T08:28:00.000-06:00

By this point in the day we were all pretty tired. Especially Alexis. We were almost done.

Amy and I with our sponsors, Nick and Diane Huniak
I have no idea why I am standing all in front of everyone like that. And what is up with my hunchback posture?

Baptism/Chrismation Pictures

2006-12-11T08:05:00.000-06:00

Micah being baptized

the Orthodox Church, btw, believes in trine immersion, except for certain circumstances like this parish where the baptismal font is even too small for my kids.

Pictures of Alexis' baptism should be forthcoming. Apparently her uncle Neil was looking in the other direction.

Amy and I receiving our baptismal crosses from Fr. Thomas

Amy being Chrismated (yes our baptismal robes were large white towels)

Micah being Chrismated (again no picture of Alexis)

We're being 'churched'
After our baptisms and chrismations we were able to change into church clothes and come back into the church for our "churching," which usually involves a mother officially bringing her newly baptized infant into the church for the first time.

Baptisms/Chrismations

2006-12-10T20:05:00.000-06:00

Well, it's started, now.
Last night Amy, the kids, and I were received into the Holy Orthodox Church through the sacraments of baptism and chrismation.
It was a unique experience.
And this morning we received our first communion. Neither kid spit it out or anything, and I, the sinner, didn't drop dead on the spot.

So, here is an icon of my patron, St. Michael the Archangel

2006-12-06T11:22:00.000-06:00

Have a blessed St. Nicholas Day (December 6)! (Especially you, Nick!)
Here's a link to information on the historic St. Nicholas from the OCA website.

Here's a link to the St. Nicholas of Myra movie which is currently in production.

Patron Saints

2006-11-28T23:11:00.000-06:00

Nick,
The shortest and most practical answer to "what does it mean to have a patron saint?" is:
In Orthodox families, and particularly in Orthodox countries a child's middle name is usually that of a Saint (that is, a recognized capital-"S" Saint). This name functions as a sort of "church name" or Christian name.
At certain times in church history, pagans who were being received into the church would have names given after gods, demons or pagan feasts, and they would change their name to reflect the new life they had found. This is analogous to God's giving new names to Abraham, Jacob, Paul, Peter, and perhaps, Levi-Matthew. To Orthodox people their name-day (the day on which their name saint is commemorated) is celebrated like a second birthday (although maybe more spiritual in the types of gifts).
In another way, a person's patron saint would be that member of "so great a cloud of witnesses" who surround us on whom that person would call for prayer. This isn't to say that the Orthodox believe Saints have the power to change our circumstances, but they do have the power to pray (some would say Revelation chapter 4 depicts that very scene), and since they're perfected in love we have every reason to believe that they would desire to.

Someone who converts as an adult might choose a patron saint whose life was particularly inspiring. St. Alexis (Toth) of Wilkes-Barre, PA was a byzantine-rite Roman Catholic priest who, after exploring the background of his people and the history surrounding why there are byzantine-rite Catholics, decided he needed to convert to the Orthodox Church, and he took his people with him. He spent many years ministering to the faithful of this country, especially encouraging those who were converting to Orthodoxy from other Christian traditions.
Of course, we didn't know any of that story at the time that we named Alexis, but he seems an appropriate patron for our whole family (see a more detailed life of St. Alexis, as well as his icon here).

Please understand that I say all of this as a novice, and as a wretched sinner besides that.
If you have any more questions about Orthodoxy, you could check out Our Life in Christ, an internet radio show done by two Protestant converts to Orthodoxy; or, here are links to the About Orthodoxy sections of the three main Orthodox jurisdictions within North America:
Orthodox Church in America
Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America

Thanks for your question, Nick!
Forgive me.
Here is an icon of my patron St. Michael the Archangel (which was, by the way, already my middle name, just spelled wrong)

2006-11-20T12:43:00.000-06:00

We went to St. Louis this weekend for class, to visit, and to go to Liturgy. The kids were probably their best behaved ever for a trip to Nativity.
Fr. Tom decided we're ready to be received into the church, so on Saturday, December 9 we will be received into the Orthodox Church at Nativity of the Virgin Mary Church after Vespers.
We're really excited. We asked our friends Nick and Diane to be our sponsors, so that's cool too.
We chose our patron saints too:
Me- St. Michael, the archangel
Amy- St. Hermione (martyred daughter of St. Philip the Deacon)
Alexis- St. Alexis (Toth) of Wilkes-Barre, PA
Micah- St. Micah the Prophet

Anyways, if anyone is around and wants to show up at Nativity to see our baptisms/chrismations, you're more than welcome!

My Confession

2006-10-25T11:23:00.000-05:00

It seems my sinfulness is an interesting object of discussion, although I'm not sure about which sins anyone would like to refer.
Perhaps someone thought my sinfulness would be a surprise to someone, most likely me. Unfortunately, my own sinfulness is more painfully obvious to me than to anyone else.
My heart and life are oftentimes a conflicting, confusing mess of passions: arrogance, lust and hatred. More often than not I not only succumb to the temptation to sin, but I go looking for it. Is anyone surprised by this apparent lack of perfection? Do I pretend like I have attained holiness?
With all that said, I am deeply concerned about my struggle for holiness. I am not flippant about my sins. I repent daily for the things I have done and the things that I have left undone. And the next day, by God's grace, I try harder.
Now, some people's definition of outright sin seems to include things which for most of church history and for most of christendom have been considered matters of conscience that are largely relative based on the person's culture, social norms, and expectations. How can I argue on the basis of my convictions against someone who thinks I have no right to have my own convictions about matters of conscience?
I am not against or resistant to the confrontation of Christian brothers who are living in sin, but I do ask that they follow the pattern set forth in Scripture, and that they are for the purpose of edification for the building up of the body and not for anyone's self-aggrandizement. Even when criticisms don't meet that criteria, I still strive to see the possible truth within the statement and compare it to my life and my understanding of Scripture, as aided in interpretation by the Church.
I will conclude with some readings/prayers which speak to this need for humility in both the confronter and the confrontee:

O Lord and Master of my life,Take from me the spirit of sloth, despair,
lust of power and idle talk.
But give rather the spirit of chastity, meekness
of mind, patience and love to Thy servant.
Yea O Lord and King, grant me to
see my own transgressions and not to judge my brother, for blessed art thou unto
ages of ages. Amen. The Prayer of St. Ephraim of Syria
11Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. 12There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor? ... 13Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. 14Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. 16Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
17Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. 18Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops. 19My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, 20remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins. James 4:11-12, 5:13-20
10"See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.[a]
12"What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? 13And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. 14In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.
A Brother Who Sins Against You 15"If your brother sins against you,[b] go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. 16But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that 'every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.'[c] 17If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.
18"I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be[d]bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be[e] loosed in heaven.
19"Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."
The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant 21Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?"
22Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.[f]
23"Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents[g] was brought to him. 25Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
26"The servant fell on his knees before him. 'Be patient with me,' he begged, 'and I will pay back everything.' 27The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
28"But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii.[h] He grabbed him and began to choke him. 'Pay back what you owe me!' he demanded.
29"His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.'
30"But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened.
32"Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?' 34In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
35"This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart." Matt. 18:10-35
5If anyone has caused grief, he has not so much grieved me as he has grieved all of you, to some extent—not to put it too severely. 6The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient for him. 7Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him. 9The reason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything. 10If you forgive anyone, I also forgive him. And what I have forgiven—if there was anything to forgive—I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, 11in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes. 2 Corinthians 2:5-11

This is not, nor is it intended to be, an exhaustive list of all the Church and the Scriptures have to say which pertains to confronting a brother in sin.
Joel,
I apologize for publishing Ben's comment in my favor, when I knew that his calling you a "jerk" wasn't fair. It's my fault that comment was published, and I apologize.

On a lighter note... Celebrity Lookalikes

2006-09-29T11:46:00.000-05:00

I found out today that I resemble some very attractive male celebrities, although you couldn't tell by looking at me!

Make sure that you go get yours. It's too funny. Hehehehe.

Open Letter to the Anonymous Comment-leaver

2006-09-12T00:08:00.000-05:00

Dear Anonymous Comment-Leaver,
As you may be aware, I already know who you are.
If you have a problem with me, you know where to contact me. I think it is highly inappropriate to confront my supposed sin in a public forum without any regard for privacy or for your own responsibility for your actions. I fail to see how my sins are worse than your apparent love for rudeness and gossip. Since I know you have no firsthand knowledge of the current moral state of my life, I can only assume you think you have some 'inside information' on my goings-on. I think you have been grossly misinformed. And the fact that you chose to "confront" me publicly on my blog rather than confront me personally, shows that you're not at all concerned with my personal holiness, my witness, the kids to whom I minister, or my family. Your concern is only to share your juicy bit of gossip, apparently with anyone who will listen.
If you were really concerned about my lifestyle, you would take the time to contact me personally, rather than share it in this form, anonymously.

Sin is sin, and gossip is no exception, so I will no longer allow anonymous comments on my blog, constructive or otherwise.

Beyond that, I don't know why you chose to single out the particular sins you singled out: drinking and cussing. For the majority of Christians currently and throughout church history alcohol has been a matter of conscience. It takes a very naive view of church history to think that the current mores of American Fundamentalism constitute what is and isn't sin. As far as cussing, you're right, and I repent here publicly, although I rarely sin in this way publicly.

Thank you for confronting what you considered to be sin. I only wish you had the integrity to confront it appropriately and in a way that wasn't itself sinful.

Forgive me, brother, if I have sinned against you in anyway, and may God forgive us both.

Eis mian hagian, katholiken kai apostoliken ekklesiao

2006-09-10T09:19:00.000-05:00

[And I believe] in one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church
I'd imagine that all the Christian denominations/traditions today affirm the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, even if it is with some reservations.
The above statement appears in that ancient creed.
A lot of Christian groups are going around trying to help people "believe in the Bible" and encouraging people that they can "believe every word written there". I came across the "Creation Science Club" on campus at SEMO this week. They're there to help college students know that their belief in a literal six-day creation is consistent with the best science.
Also, this week in a discussion about Scripture and Tradition, a friend accused of replacing the Bible with the Church. I'm pretty sure that the Protestant Reformation replaced the Church with the Bible 500 years ago.

This creed, which was affirmed in council by Christian leaders and lay from all over the known world at the time, affirms belief in the Church. How did that that faith come to rest in the Scriptures, instead of the actual Body of Christ, the fullness of Him who fills all in all?

It is not wise to argue from the absence of any statement about the Holy Scriptures in the Creed. However, it should be noted that the Church is treated as an object of faith (eis) just the same as the Persons of the Holy Trinity.

What does this mean for us in our practice/understanding of the faith?

reply to an anonymous comment

2006-09-09T20:04:00.000-05:00

a) I would prefer not to have anonymous comment potshots taken at me and my admittedly confusing life.
b) I'm not a youth pastor and I don't know what that part of the comment was meant to imply.
c) I am trying to be an example to my children. Not of perfection, but of being perfected. Yes, I make my fair share of mistakes (in fact, I make everyone's fair share of mistakes), but I own up to my mistakes when they are pointed out to me. Particularly when someone has the respect to tell me personally rather than leave an anonymous comment on my blog.

Please forgive me if I've offended you in any way.

Reformed

2006-08-30T12:40:00.000-05:00

When I visited my home church over the weekend I was surprised to find out how "Reformed" this church has gotten. The John Piper video was a dead give away.
Anyways, in case people from my home church find their way to my blog, here is a helpful explanation of Orthodoxy written specifically to Anglicans, Lutherans, and Reformed Christians:
http://www.tserkovnost.org/reformation/index.html

Hopefully that will answer some of the questions of my Protestant friends.

Churchlands

2006-08-30T11:31:00.000-05:00

This semester I am taking a dreaded class in the Philosophy department at SEMO: Mind, Meaning and Value. It is a course that explores current neuroscience which basically reduces all of our human-ness to brain activity, doing with away with any dualistic concept of some non-physical entity which drives the body and which could, possibly, survive death.
First of all, it should be stated that setting parameters that only observable (i.e. physical) evidence should be used would end in a thoroughly materialist conclusion. What else could they come up with? It is interesting, however, that contemporary physicists and astronomers can postuate the existence of undetectable objects, dark matter, and alternate universes without an apparent contradiction with the tenets of science.
Also, as I hear often that Orthodoxy is less dualist or even not dualist at all, I wonder how the Orthodox Church would view it if science reduced humanity to brain patterns, chemicals, and electric charges.
Any ideas? Please comment.

2006-08-28T11:48:00.000-05:00

Eric, Wade and me at the reunion.

We all went to Gull Lake Bible Camp together the summer after our senior year. Sweet!

Almost every time I go to Michigan I have to visit Georgio's in East Lansing, which is the home of the best pizza in the world!

Michigan in August

2006-08-28T10:20:00.000-05:00

This past weekend we made a trip to Michigan for my 10th class reunion. What a trip! First of all, it is just over nine hours of driving to get to my mom's house, so we drove almost a day to spend just a day and a half there. Oh well.
The reunion was lots of fun. One friend in particular was thrilled that my family and I are converting to Orthodoxy.
Another friend offered to put me on the prayer list at her church. Hehehe.
I'll post a few pictures fromt the reunion and trip soon.
Craziest reunion moment: a girl who I was fairly good friends with in high school, but lost touch with within a few years after high school walked up to me and said, "you look so familiar..." I stuck my hand out and said, "I'm Levi Hadley." She said, "Oh, no you're not!" and gave me a big hug. Man, see if I ever gain a 80 pounds in 10 years again. Gosh.
I spent a lot of the time at the reunion either drinking beer with Eric or explaining to my Protestant friends why I no longer consider myself Protestant. The offer to put me on the prayer list resulted from both, I believe. The funny thing is, she still goes to the church we grew up in.
So, if anyone from the reunion is checking in to see why the heck I am turning Eastern Orthodox, read it all. If you need some more info, I recommend checking out Our Life in Christ, which is an internet radio show which is done by two Protestant Evangelical converts to Orthodoxy and gives an apologetic for the things that we do in a non-confrontational kind of way.
I'll probably have to post some more this week as I think more about this weekend's trip.
Blessings.

Weekend

2006-07-29T09:39:00.000-05:00

Did I mention that last weekend (7/22) Amy and I went to see one of the final performance of the National Company of Les Miserables? Now, I'm not exactly a big fan of the musicals. I get really distracted by the way they keep breaking into song. Couldn't we do something about that?
Anyways, the show was amazing. And almost as amazing was the Fox Theatre in St. Louis,
where we saw it. Unfortunately, they don't allow any pictures to be taken in the theatre. None at all. So, we didn't even get a picture of us all dressed up for the show. Unfortunate. We were stunning. Especially my wife.

So, this week was a long one of lots of hours spent at the package center.
Today we're taking the kids camping, hopefully at the state park about 25 minutes from here. This will be our first attempt at camping as a family. In fact, even though Amy and I both loved camping growing up, we haven't ever camped as a family. We bought some new camping gear yesterday- hopefully we will camp more now.

Israel-Lebanon Pt. 3

2006-07-24T08:30:00.000-05:00

John, your comments have been well-thought out and genuinely challenging, so I thought I would copy and paste yesterday's in a post and respond to you line by line (or paragraph.)

Yes, Israel is attacking Lebanon, who has a military that is unwilling or unable to contain Hezbollah. Hezbollah initiated this recent round with the firing of rockets and kidnapping of Israeli soldiers.
I understand why the war started. I understand that Hezbollah instigated it. However, if Israel is destroying the infrastructure in Lebanon, doesn't that lessen the Lebanese Army's ability to contain or disarm the Hezbollah militia? This makes absolutely no sense.

In war, innocent people suffer. If we used the logic that we have to make sure no innocent people get bombed or killed, Hitler would have won World War II. The nature of war is that innocent people will die.
Yes, in war innocent people die, which is why when war must be waged it must be contained within standards of decency to keep the number of civilian deaths to an absolute minimum.

The problem is Hezbollah blends into the local population - and the local population seems to let them. They are doing everything they can to win and they are using the local population as their shield.
There is no way that Hezbollah's blending into the local population is the local population's fault! How could they be blamed for submitting to Hezbollah for fear of their lives?

Israel has to get to them one way or another. So if you want to blame anyone, blame Hezbollah who has vowed the destruction of Israel.
Hezbollah may have vowed the destruction of Israel, but the damage to Lebanon is disproportionate to the amount of damage to Israel. Also, thanks to US military support, Israel definitely has the power to remove Lebanon from the planet. Hezbollah does not have comparable power.

I am definitely Zionist in my leanings. In essence I am not going to stand in the way of God's covenant with Israel and I take very seriously the word of God which was to Abraham, I will bless those that bless you and curse those that curse you.
Yes, I understand biblical prophecy, and all that. I hope you're not one of those who sees letting Israel attack its neighbors as a way to bring about the end times.
The truth is, from the very first centuries of the Church, the Apostles and Fathers have seen the Church as the rightful children of Abraham. Children by faith and not by circumcision. In Lebanon there are many many Orthodox Christians who are being attacked in this current conflict, in fact an Orthodox Christian monastery was destroyed (perhaps their having a dome was their fault for looking like a mosque). Siding with Israel (God's people) in deliberately targeting innocent Lebanese Christians (God's people) or Muslims is a betrayal of the values which Christ expressed in His life and ministry.

Yes, nations have a right to defend themselves and their people against attacks. What concerns me is the western world's silence in the presence of what is obviously an overly aggressive display of force on Israel's part.
And, you're right, I don't know what Israel can do. They, of course, sustaining more damage from Hezbollah now than before the starting bombing Lebanon. And now they've ensured that Hezbollah will have no shortage of recruits for years to come. How does that acheive the goals of peaceful coexistence in the region?
But then, Israel's (and American Ziongelicals') goal isn't peaceful coexistence, is it? It's the eradication of all the Arab people within the boundaries of the Promised Land. And that's why the world should stand up and prevent the Israeli military from attacking Lebanon.

Statement by the Antiochians

2006-07-22T09:39:00.000-05:00

Mind you, I attend an OCA parish, however the Self-Ruled Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America has published a statement on the current Israel-Lebanon war, which I can heartily agree with.

Appeal For Intervention In the Middle East

It is a worthy statement, even if it might overstate the number of Antiochian faithful in North America.

Lord, have mercy on us all.

Israel-Lebanon Pt. 2

2006-07-22T09:05:00.000-05:00

In answer to a well-thought, if a bit extremist in his zionist leanings, comment from John Lunt:

Yes, God is the God of Israel. Sure, I'll give you that. However, many of the civilians being killed and maimed in Lebanon are Christians, those who have received the Jewish Messiah.
Any Covenant God has with Israel does not negate their responsibility to behave in the international arena in a way which recognizes standards of war and the Geneva Conventions.

Are we to assume that because God has a covenant with Israel guaranteeing them the whole of the majority of the Middle Eastern world, that we (the U.S. or Western Christians) should support them in military efforts against their neighbors?

Yes, Israel has endured a lot of terrorist attacks against innocent civilians. However, to decry the wrongness of those attacks and avenge through more attacks against innocent civilians is not only irrational, it undermines the moral highground the victim nation could be said to have had in the first place.

Israel's problem is not with the elected government or the civilians of Lebanon. It is with Hezbollah.

It's interesting that you used the example of "what if Canadians were shooting rockets into US cities? Wouldn't we retaliate?" Under the current administration, that's exactly what we'd do.
However, if we were to use the full force of our military (the world's largest) against the whole of Canada for the acts of a terrorist group, the world would be outraged and rightly so.

Israel, with one of the world's largest and most advanced militaries (thanks to the US) is currently attacking a nation whose military power totals to all of 35,000 infantry.
In the current conflict, 10 times as many Lebanese civilians have died as Israeli.

The fact is, the best definition of terrorism is any deliberate act of violence (state-sponsored or otherwise) against innocent civilian bystanders in or out of a time of war. If the aggressor nation was any but Israel, the western world would be outraged. Apparently, terrorism is acceptable when it is the tool of American foreign policy in the Middle East.

Forgive me. May God forgive us both.

Israel-Lebanon

2006-07-21T10:46:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I'll admit. I'm pissed about Israel's attack of Lebanon in retribution for the actions of a terrorist group. Their argument is with Hezbollah, not the government of Lebanon and certainly not the innocent civilians of Lebanon.
Lord, have mercy.
Meanwhile, the American government is refusing to push for a ceasefire. How many civilians do the Israelis need to kill before a ceasefire is necessary? Is state-sponsored terrorism somehow justified in their 'war-on-terror' foreign relations agenda?
Here's a link to a site with pictures of the damage in Lebanon and a petition. Warning: these are real pictures of war. Some images will be disturbing.
God the Father of orphans and Caretaker of widows, protect these innocent ones from the acts of an aggressive nation, and the inattentiveness of an apathetic world.
Lord, have mercy.

War

2006-07-15T10:21:00.000-05:00

I'm concerned with the current situation in Israel. I don't know about the prudence of attacking a nation in retaliation for the acts of a terrorist organization. Of course, I'm not in the position of making such important decisions.
May God protect the innocents in this current conflict. Lord, have mercy.

One month since my last post

2006-07-14T09:39:00.000-05:00

Well, I have been a busy guy, and my blog has suffered for it.

What have I been doing? Let's see, I have gone to Young Life camp in Michigan, bought a car, started catechism at Nativity of the Virgin Mary Church and worked a lot at UPS.
Other than that, not a whole lot. I guess I've read some.

Timberwolf Lake was awesome. It was a little sad, as it was most likely my last ever YL camp trip, as this fall I will be too busy in the evenings to be involved in Young Life.

I had a great time. Our cabin of guys were some of the nicest and most open guys with whom I have ever shared a week of camp. Plus, it didn't hurt that the camp was in Michigan (my home state and the most beautiful in the 50).

We finally bought our new car. It's very nice. I'm glad we waited and waited and waited for it. (We borrowed someone's minivan for over a month!) Anyways, it's a fairly low mileage car, so it should be nice and dependable for the next few years.

Saturday we had our first meeting with Fr. Tom. It was great, and to top it off he is hilarious. I never heard more funny stories in all my life. It was especially funny to hear his stories from his days at St. Vlad's- his impersonation of Fr. Alexander Schmemann is really funny. All in all, Amy and I are excited to be moving forward in our journey to the true ancient Christian faith.

Work has been pretty good. It has rained a lot lately, so the mosquitoes are really bad at the center. I hope I don't get West Nile Virus or something worse. That would be bad.

Reading? Lately, I'm re-reading Fr. Alexander Schmemann's For the Life of the World, which is a great introduction to the integrated worldview of Orthodoxy. Very meaty read. Also, I got the new Again issue on Orthodox Unity in North America. It has articles highlighting the situation here in North America where there exist 15 canonical jurisdictions, instead of one united Orthodox Church of North America. The authors were hopeful that restoring Orthodoxy to its united state here in North America (which it was prior to the Bolshevik revolution in the 19-teens) would assist in efforts to evangelize the continent.

Mostly, I have been adjusting to my new job and figuring how to spend time with my family, so blogging has been a ways down on my to-do list. No apologies for that.

I included lots of links, so everyone who reads here can follow them and find out more what's going on in my life. Check out MY myspace.

Doing it for the kids

2006-06-12T15:29:00.000-05:00

Well, I got a job at UPS. I'm not actually loading trucks like I thought I would be. I'm in some sort of manager/supervisor role.
The pluses are:
Good pay
Good benefits
Part time hours

So, I'll be able to keep this job in the fall when classes start again. It'll be really nice to have a decent paying job now and the insurance won't hurt either.

I'll be working every evening (Mon-Fri) at the package center supervising and doing paperwork-type tasks. Not too hard.

Along with this change, I have decided I will have to totally step out of Young Life involvement. Obviously, if I'm going to be working every evening Mon-Fri I won't have time to be at Young Life club. So, I will go to camp in a couple of weeks and then that's it for me, as far Young Life goes.

This weekend we rented a car (since we still haven't bought another one) and spent the weekend in St. Louis. Saturday we went to the zoo in Forest Park (it's huge, spectacular, and free!) Then, Sunday we went to Liturgy at Nativity of the Virgin Mary, which I guess has become our church home over the past few months. I talked to Fr. Tom about finally starting catechism. He said, "Good," like he's been waiting a while for us to ask about it again.

Amy and I have been talking and we're ready to start preparing to be received into the Church. It's pretty exciting, but since we'll only be able to go up every other week, our catechumenate may last a really long time.

Well, that's about all that's going on.

A Job

2006-05-19T08:43:00.000-05:00

Yesterday morning someone from the church next door called me to let us borrow a car for a while. What a blessing!
The wheel did NOT fall off this one.
Then, in the afternoon I was relaxing at the house watching the Geisha movie with my wife when I got a call for an interview with UPS.
I wasn't offered a position yet, but if I get that job, it would be nice. $9/hr. Part time. Benefits. How many part time jobs do you find with benefits? The part time-ness is key because that means I can keep the job come fall time when it's time to go back to class. And that will be nice. And then when I graduate if we're seriously going to move back to Nebraska I probably can transfer and get a pretty good job with UPs in Kearney. Sounds awesome. Please pray that I would get that job or find a different, better one.

Unbelieveable

2006-05-17T23:54:00.000-05:00

Consider this an addendum to this morning's short post.
So, yesterday we started borrowing Young Life's car- a 1987 Mercury Marquis wagon. It's not pretty, but it was a relief to our lack of transportation in a town where public transportation is unheard of and pedestrians are discouraged. We went around a bit so I could look into some jobs and apply at some places. At one point we were driving this behemoth wagon grocery-getter on the interstate at 70 mph. After all that driving we were returning to our house and had slowed down for a light and all of a sudden, boom!, like the back end had busted and the rear end of the wagon bounced off the highway (the busiest four-lane blvd in Jackson). While we're sitting there wondering what the heck happened people are driving by waving, saying, "you should get your kids out of there" and "dude, your car's on fire!" Needless to say, we promptly removed the kids and their carseats down onto the lawn of the business in front of which we were parked.
I looked at the wheel. There was still a bit of axel left on the hub. The axel had apparently been wearing for a while and had broken off. The heat generated also started the fire. A highway crew stopped behind us right away and put the fire out. I paid $50 to get Young Life's car off the road to a towing garage.

We need more prayers now than we did this morning.
Amy said, "I'm sure there's something we need to learn here besides, 'Become Amish'."
I'm sure there is, too.

The Semester Ends With a Bang

2006-05-17T10:47:00.000-05:00

Well, my semester is over.
My grades:
Religion & Violence A
Modern Philosophy B
Spanish III A
Symbolic Logic II A

I slacked off a bit, and that's what I get.
Anyways, before I could end my semester I had the foresight to wreck our car (and only means of transportation). Driving home from the University on Wednesday in the rain I was a little bit distracted by the kids in the back seat. I ran into a pick up at a redlight. By the time I noticed the car I didn't have time to stop sliding. I slid right into the pick up, taking off his bumper and pretty much totaling my car. I checked into getting it fixed at a body shop. Just driveable, nothing fancy. It was $1800. The other shop I took it to for a second opionion quoted me the same and said it wasn't worth fixing since its Blue Book value is only ~$2400.

Then... my summer classes got messed up, so here I am taking no classes this summer. I'm registered for 15 hours in the fall, and it'll probably end up being 18.

So... I need to find a car and a summer job.
Pray for me.

2006-05-02T09:27:00.000-05:00

I'm excited about the paper I'm writing for my Religion & Violence class, so I wanted to share a bit on a couple of the resources I'm using:
The first is a fairly short and readable biography of St. Innocent of Alaska. It's very encouraging, as far as a godly example and as an understanding of the Orthodox Church in mission. Even many non-Orthodox view Alaska as one of the most successful evangelism efforts in the history of the church. Along those lines I'm also readin Fr. Michael Oleksa's Orthodox Alaska. Which is exactly what I needed, an established, successful instance of the evangelization of a people in which the local culture and religion is respected, maintained and complemented. This is exactly the kind of evangelism needed in our contemporary postcolonial pluralistic world.

Anyways, that is what I'm up to. I just finished writing my modern philosophy paper and now I'm going to go back to reading for the R&V paper.
Grace and peace to all of you.

School

2006-04-26T15:39:00.000-05:00

So, I wanted to brag that I wrote an in-class Composition Monday without any notice and got a 99. Woot.
Yeah, I should be working on my paper(s) right now, but I'm blogging.

Yesterday there was a fundamentalist Christian street preacher on campus. It caused quite a stir. I shouldn't call him a fundamentalist, but it seems that would be a good description of the beliefs he was stating. The worse part was how he was yelling at people, apparently telling they were going to hell. In my religion & violence class we talked a lot about how people respond to that.
I said that it seems to me that if we have relativism except for one thing (the fact that everyone has to be a relativist) then we're being internally inconsistent. Another way I said it was, "So, to prove to someone that they're not right in trying to dominate other people we'll dominate him into realizing he's not right. Doesn't sound right to me."

Anyways, by the time I got there there was quite a crowd. The man wasn't really saying much of consequence. Mostly he was being harassed by students who weren't even listening to him. Maybe religious tolerance will one day have to include the religiously intolerant. I don't know. This guy was probably going about it in the wrong way, looking for trouble, but they weren't exactly respectful in return.

Now, I must put my creative energies to work on my paper.

Paschal Homily

2006-04-25T08:52:00.000-05:00

CHRIST IS RISEN!!
Oh, and, by the way, among the many things that I loved about Pascha and will reflect upon in the coming weeks, was St. John Chrystostom's Paschal Homily (which, if you didn't know, is read in all Orthodox parishes every Pascha). So, here it is:

If any man be devout and loveth God,Let him enjoy this fair and radiant triumphal feast!If any man be a wise servant,Let him rejoicing enter into the joy of his Lord.
If any have laboured long in fasting,Let him how receive his recompense.If any have wrought from the first hour,Let him today receive his just reward.If any have come at the third hour,Let him with thankfulness keep the feast.If any have arrived at the sixth hour,Let him have no misgivings;Because he shall in nowise be deprived therefore.If any have delayed until the ninth hour,Let him draw near, fearing nothing.And if any have tarried even until the eleventh hour,Let him, also, be not alarmed at his tardiness.
For the Lord, who is jealous of his honour,Will accept the last even as the first.He giveth rest unto him who cometh at the eleventh hour,Even as unto him who hath wrought from the first hour.And He showeth mercy upon the last,And careth for the first;And to the one He giveth,And upon the other He bestoweth gifts.And He both accepteth the deeds,And welcometh the intention,And honoureth the acts and praises the offering.
Wherefore, enter ye all into the joy of your Lord;Receive your reward,Both the first, and likewise the second.You rich and poor together, hold high festival!You sober and you heedless, honour the day!Rejoice today, both you who have fastedAnd you who have disregarded the fast.The table is full-laden; feast ye all sumptuously.The calf is fatted; let no one go hungry away.Enjoy ye all the feast of faith:Receive ye all the riches of loving-kindness.
Let no one bewail his poverty,For the universal Kingdom has been revealed.Let no one weep for his iniquities,For pardon has shown forth from the grave.Let no one fear death,For the Saviour's death has set us free.He that was held prisoner of it has annihilated it.
By descending into Hell, He made Hell captive.He embittered it when it tasted of His flesh.And Isaiah, foretelling this, did cry:Hell, said he, was embitteredWhen it encountered Thee in the lower regions.
It was embittered, for it was abolished.It was embittered, for it was mocked.It was embittered, for it was slain.It was embittered, for it was overthrown.It was embittered, for it was fettered in chains.It took a body, and met God face to face.It took earth, and encountered Heaven.It took that which was seen, and fell upon the unseen.
O Death, where is thy sting?O Hell, where is thy victory?
Christ is risen, and thou art overthrown!Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen!Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice!Christ is risen, and life reigns!Christ is risen, and not one dead remains in the grave.For Christ, being risen from the dead,Is become the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
To Him be glory and dominionUnto ages of ages.
Amen.

Easter/Pascha

2006-04-25T08:42:00.000-05:00

Man have I been busy these past twenty days in which I have not posted on here. Shame on me.

This year we did Easter in our protestant church and Pascha in our Orthodox church. (Mind you, we haven't even been received as catechumens at Nativity of the Virgin Mary yet.)
It's funny because our kids have been saying "Happy Easter 2!" a lot since we celebrated them both to varying degrees.

Pascha at Nativity of the Virgin was awesome. How joyous! One of the choir directors asked me what I thought of it during the feast and I said, "It was both more celebratory and more solemn than I'm used to."

On a sidenote, my wife and I commented on the bell-ringing at 12:30 or so during the procession and later during the gospel reading (at 2 AM). Man, if I lived in that neighborhood...

Anyways, we're very busy lately.
I'm racing towards the end of the semester for college. I have two ten-page papers due in the next week or two. The title for my paper for Modern Philosophy: "Leibniz: Infinite Divisibility, Infinite Regress, and the Ultimate Reality of Things".
For my Religion & Violence class I'm working on a paper on non-coercive/violent evangelism, particularly in a cross-cultural context. I'm looking at some good cases- the Anglican conversion of the Moru people in Sudan and the Orthodox evangelization of native Alaska, especially St. Innocent of Alaska.

So, that's what I'm doing, in case someone checks this blog. Blessings on all of you. I'll post more after my classes wrap up.

God protect Caruthersville

2006-04-06T10:03:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I took the afternoon off from classes and drove down to Caruthersville, MO to visit folks. Probably everyone has seen Caruthersville on the news as the site of a really big tornado that destroyed a lot of town. Well, if you have read my blog much you realize that Caruthersville is the town where I was doing Young Life until December. We're now living about an hour and a half north in Jackson, MO.
I parked at a friend's house on the very edge of the damaged zone. The damaged zone itself is blocked by state police and National Guardsmen (who happen to have machine guns on them), so I figured it would be best to walk into the zone to check on people. I walked down to the high school, where I took this picture. This is the high school where I have so many memories of meeting my high school friends.
The whole experience of walking around (I probably walked two miles all together) the damage zone was a bit overwhelming. Even after watching all the videos I could on the Cape News website (www.kfvs12.com) I was blown away by how much of the town is just missing. I got disoriented a couple of times because I was walking along and everything looked the same in every direction: houses, trees and cars busted up and destroyed.

I walked through the east side of town, which is the poorer, mostly black, part of town. It was a ghost town. On the main street of town, Ward Ave. lots of people were out helping people. On the east side barely anyone was doing anything. I guess a lot of the houses on the east side are rentals and landlords haven't gotten to them yet.

Please pray for Caruthersville a lot in the coming months. I don't know how long it's going to get "C-ville" back to normal, if ever.

Links

2006-04-04T10:04:00.000-05:00

I wanted to pass on some links to whomever may read this blog:

Our St. Louis Orthodox Young Adults/OCF has a Yahoo! Group: click here

Kh. Frederica Mathewes-Green wrote an interesting article on the interaction and differences between cradle-Orthodox and Orthodox converts as well as a hopeful glimpse at the future of Orthodoxy in America. click here

Some people have set up an Orthodox Wiki which has a whole bunch of information on Orthodoxy. click here

Here is a great Orthodoxy which a little about Orthodoxy in North America, but is especially great for its trans-jurisdictional canonical Orthodox church-finder. click here

Enjoy the links.

Where have I been?

2006-04-04T09:47:00.000-05:00

This weekend we went up to St. Louis to "Our Orthodox Family", as we refer to them down here. What a great time. Saturday night was Vespers at Ss. Cyril & Methody in Granite City. After Vespers the ladies (I'm assuming it was the ladies, cause the food was gooooood!) had a great lenten dinner prepared. Towards the end of dinner we young adults settled down at a table to visit with each other and Fr. Andrew of Ss. C & M. And the conversation was great. I was amazed to find out that Fr. Andrew had converted to Orthodoxy (or at least been convinced of it) in East Lansing, MI. That's nearly my hometown! Then, after his chrismation and seminary he was sent back to East Lansing to St. Andrew's, which is an Orthodox Church I drove by a million long before I ever thought of joining the Orthodox Church. Anyways, those were some coincidences.

After dinner we stayed with Shawn and Tara. That was great. Shawn and Tara are converts and very excited about the Orthodox faith. I won't mention the fact that they seriously have a cross of some sort in every room of their house. Oops, I guess I just did.

Sunday liturgy was great. Fr. Oliver gave the homily and it was great. He's a very engaging speaker. As an aside, it is nice going to a not-humongous parish with three priests. Each of them is different from the other two, so together they're a great blend.

Dinner coffee hour I had good conversation with Fr. Oliver about seminary plans and if there could be Orthodox seminary in my future. He offered some valuable insight and discernment. I believe he converted to Orthodoxy while in a protestant seminary, so he knows what I need to know.

Sunday was the first time our kids stayed all the way through Liturgy. A lot of Sundays one of us takes them downstairs at about the 1 hr mark when they get a little too fidgety or too fussy. This time there was none of that. They were awesome. I wonder if part of that is our evolving sense of what a child's role is in the community worship. We're letting go of some of our western sit up, sit straight, pay attention mindset and allowing them to meet God in His Liturgy in their way. And when we don't fuss at them for moving around a little bit, they stop fussing. Of course, we're talking about a little bit of fidgeting, not rolling under the pews or running down the aisles. That wouldn't even fly even in an Orthodox Church.

Spring Break ends

2006-03-27T08:48:00.000-06:00

As my spring break draws to and end I am a tad bit disappointed that the weather here was never very springy, at least during spring break. Now I have to go back to class today. What did I do with my break?
Well, I knew what I would be doing:
more pizza deliveries, more time with my wife and kids, more time doing contact work for YoungLife and catching up on some reading. And that's exactly what I did. I caught up and read ahead on some of reading for Religion & Violence. Today I am writing a 150-word Spanish composition for class.. Woohoo.
Well, that's me. That's what I've been doing. I'm watching with interest two current news stories: the afghan Christian convert looks like he will be released today. Lately, I have been spending some time thinking how shar'ia law could be seriously implemented in western societies for muslims without contradicting the human rights implied in western liberal ideologies. It seems to me that shar'ia is incompatible with western liberal democracy, especially that pesky law about apostasizing. It seems like either western ideals or shar'ia will have to change to make room for islam in the western world.
Also, for some odd reason I have been obsessively checking on the news channels about the wife who shot her minister husband. Morbid, I know. Maybe I have a sneaking suspicion my wife is planning something similar. ;-)
Besides my school read I am currently reading:
St. John Chrystostom's Homilies on the Epistle to the Romans
Fr. Alexander Schmemann's Great Lent
Kh. Frederica Mathewes-Green's The Illumined Heart

By the way, for my non-Orthodox readers, Kh. Frederica's The Open Door is an awesome introduction to worshipping with ikons. I would highly recommend it to anyone, even if they're not actually considering the Orthodox faith.

Blogging theological controversies

2006-03-11T08:09:00.000-06:00

I was listening to a sermon from Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon last night, and I was struck with what he had to say about blogs, especially ones that mostly just post theological controversies and discussions.
So, listen here and post your comments. By the way, you can check out Fr. Patrick's church here.
Have a blessed weekend.

Archangels Books

2006-03-06T07:47:00.000-06:00

Here's a shameless plug for a little independent Orthodox Bookstore in the Maplewood district of St. Louis. Shawn and Tara took us there after Vespers yesterday.
Also, I think you can order books, icons and everything else right online, so check them out.
Archangels Books
Also, I forgot to mention that during the very moving Vespers service I described Micah had to go to the bathroom, so I sent him by himself. Ten minutes later I went down with Alexis to look for him. He had completely undressed and was walking around in his underwear in the basement of the church. Ahhhh. Unbelieveable.

Forgiveness Sunday

2006-03-06T07:30:00.000-06:00

This weekend was a pretty eventful one. Friday my friend Andrew drove up from Caruthersville to stay the night. I even took him on my last delivery of the night. Then we stayed up medium-late playing video games and visiting. Andrew's one of the deepest, most thoughtful high school kids I know.
Saturday we cleaned out the car, said good-bye to Andrew, loaded up the family and drove to St. Louis. We attended Vespers at All Saints of North America Antiochian Orthodox Church. After Vespers we went to a short get-together of the Orthodox Christian Fellowship for the St. Louis area.
Then, we drove to Madison to stay with the Huniaks. This time, their son, Phil, was there. I have heard of Phil. He's a pretty tough marine who no longer attends an Orthodox Church, but attends an Assembly of God church. He is definitely in love with Jesus, and on fire for the Lord. We talked at length about his own journey out of Orthodoxy and the parallels with my journey into Orthodoxy. It was pretty interesting. One thing is for sure, Phil could teach us all about humility, and submission to Christ. That was refreshing.
Sunday we went to Liturgy at Nativity of the Virgin Mary, which has been our usual parish for about two months now.
After liturgy we all went next door to the parish hall for a Cheesefare Sunday meatless egg and dairy meal. It was yummy.
The Forgiveness Vespers, which directly followed the brunch, were an interesting experience.
For those of you who don't know, Forgiveness Vespers begins Great and Holy Lent in the Orthodox Church. About midway through the service, the altar servers came out and switched the paraments to purple. The melodies to the chants all changed to Lenten ones, then the whole congregation began making prostrations. At this point I was about crying, struck by the reality of our separation from God. In the Orthodox Church, the altar area, behind the iconostasis symbolizes Paradise and the Garden of Eden. During the prostrations the curtain between the congregation and paradise slowly closed, visibly showing our separation from God.
Next, starting with the priests, the whole congregation went around asking forgiveness of every other member, kissing them on both cheeks.

May God forgive us all.

The Problem of Relevance

2006-03-03T10:21:00.000-06:00

The problem with relevance, as has been said by better thinkers than I, is that it sets the worshipper over the worshipped.
Two thoughts:

What if what the modern, contemporary person needs is not what they think they need or what they want? "What you win them with is what you win them to." I think a good case can be made from less theological ideas that what the modern person needs is a church that embodies community, sacramental/incarnational life, experience, and mystery. Enter the Orthodox Church, which in its best moments exemplifies all of these.
If God specifically outlined the form of worship for the Jews, which was liturgical, and the early Christians were Jews, what form of worship would they have naturally chosen? So, if God has revealed the way in which the Jews were to worship Him and the way in which the heavenly beings worship Him (and by extension, the way we will worship in eternity), then who are we to invent something else and call it worship?

Pizza, baby

2006-03-03T09:49:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I spent a few hours delivering pizza. If you didn't know, that is my illustrious moonlighting job. It's actually quite entertaining. The people I work with are nice [and really funny]. This is my first time being a delivery guy of any variety, so it never gets old. Between delivering pizzas to abandoned gas stations and just general pizza delivery craziness. Yesterday, though, it was just me and the owner. That was a lot of fun. We got to talking about my personal views on religion, theology, and church. Probably not the best idea, but he took it all pretty well.
I work again tonight, then some Caruthersville kids are supposed to come up and stay at our house.
Tomorrow night we're supposed to go to a young adults thing at All Saints of North America in St. Louis, then stay with the Huniaks, so we can attend Liturgy and Nativity of the Virgin this weekend. Yet another opportunity for our kids to be absolutely crazy. Their demons must be resisting that future baptism and excorcism. Just kidding.
Well, I should post even when I don't have much to say, so I did.

More on Changing One's Mind

2006-03-02T10:19:00.000-06:00

Continuing where I left off in my previous incoherent post. I have to bring up another point my wife made in our conversation.
"If the Orthodox Church is the 'true church' and we join, what does that say about our christian upbringing(s), the traditions we come from, and everything we've been doing vocationally and ministry-wise, outside of the 'true church'?
And I thought of someone's comment that, "There room for all of it in Orthodoxy". Which signifies, to me, that the core issues of Orthodoxy are ironed out and written in stone, so to speak, but these other traditions, when placed under the authority of an Orthodox bishop, add to the rich diversity in little 't' tradition within the faith.
In the same way, the Orthodox Church does not denounce everything taught under the banner of the heterodox faiths. Of course, many Christian traditions draw on the historic faith and consider the creeds and councils to be authoritative interpretations of the Holy Scriptures. At least, that is, in theory.
So, these faiths, while not containing the fullness of the faith, are leading to it.
Someone said to me, "but most Christian traditions claim to be the New Testament faith!" I pointed out that while all these competing traditions claim to be the historic New Testament church, only one is verifiably THE New Testament church. All these other groups have to do some gerrymandering with their ecclesiology to assert that they are the true church.
History and the Councils speak for themselves that their is one Church which continues to practice the early faith.

Along some other lines, I was just thinking of the concept of generations. Many times a cultural or religious change takes a few generations to reach maturity within a given society.
In the past few years I have lamented my own upbringing and its lack of connection with the historic church. That is, at least, the AD 100-AD 1500 church. I want my kids to grow up within the richness of this historic faith. We may or may not be 'very good' at being Orthodox, but in some ways our conversion now helps to ensure the our kids' future participation in the faith of the Apostles. And they'll go farther, and be 'better at it' than we will in our lifetimes. So, we could make the decision with the next generations in mind. How do we want our children to experience the Christian faith? What will be important for our children to experience when we are no longer here with them? How do we envision the faith/spiritual life and religion of our grandchildren?
These are some the questions that we should ponder.

Of changing one's mind

2006-03-02T09:36:00.000-06:00

With my dogged pursuit after the Holy Orthodox faith and our geographical distance from the everyday life of an Orthodox Church comes a particular struggle for my wife, I'd imagine.
We were talking the other night before bed. That morning we had visited a particularly hip, contemporary [and decidedly un-Orthodox] church where a friend goes. This is the only church I've ever seen with the word 'Contemporary' in the name. It's even on the sign.
Now, understand, this is exactly the kind of church we came from and met in. Our former ideal church was one where without fail someone would make disparaging comments about tradition in every worship service. We prided ourselves in our lack of liturgy. In fact, it became quite a tradition to make fun of tradition.
Well, I asked her, "What are you thinking about this Orthodoxy stuff?"
She said that she agreed that it seemed to be the 'real, historic' church, but what if we change our minds.
You see, we both know that we have waffled and changed our opinions on many non-essential issues throughout even our six-year marriage. Early on in our marriage we changed our view of contemporary music in worship, when we were serving in a church which didn't have much contemporary music to speak of. We changed our view of the end-times we encounter Godly, well-read people who pointed out the short tenure of our particular school of eschatology. We changed and re-changed our views on all sorts of issues.
And now we've found the 'changeless', historic faith of the Apostles. And we're convinced. Today. But can we answer for tomorrow?
So, I answered in the way only a man can, "But it's right, though, isn't it?"
I can understand my wife's struggle with knowing whether or not this would be 'right for us' ten years from now or ten months from now.
So, I started at the beginning: for me, without the confines of historic Christianity there is no basis for theological thought to stay, well, Christian. If the interpretation of Scripture is the only authority we have to go on, then, yes, it is true that the heresies of the modern-day quasi-Christian 'cults' are inherently within the protestant tradition. I know without a doubt that there is no limit to the degree that a person can go interpreting the Scripture within their own frame of reference. The problem being we all have our own interpretive frame of reference. Hermeneutics, you say, is the scientific study of the interpretation of such texts. The principles of hermeneutics do not prevent protestant from a diverse reading of even essential issues.
I want to know that I am in a Church where the bodily resurrection of our Lord will never be questioned. However, one thing I love about the Orthodox Church is the fact that there is no 'official position' where there isn't a consensus in the Church Fathers or a ruling in council. So, in some non-essentials there is tremendous diversity.
I guess what I'm saying is this: to me, Orthodoxy represents a protective fence within which wondering is possible and prudent, but outside of which danger lies. And that's a comfortable feeling.
So, the core of Orthodoxy (or orthodoxy, for that matter) will never cease to be 'true for me', unless I cease to be Christian.
I'd rather be sure that I'm within the historic, continuous Body of Christ, and then figure all those issues out from the inside, rather than stand outside the Church and tell the Church how to be the Church by forming yet another ultra-Protestant church, movement or whatever.

Religion & Violence

2006-02-19T18:52:00.000-06:00

To answer someone's question, these are the sources for my class in Religion & Violence:
Books
Charles Selengut. Sacred Fury:Understanding Religious Violence.
Karen Armstrong. The Battle for God.
Karen Armstrong. A History of God.
Richard Fletcher. The Cross and the Crescent.
Mahatma Gandhi Homer A. Jack, (Editor). The Gandhi Reader: A Sourcebook of His Life and Writings.
Rene Girard. Violence and the Sacred.
Sam Harris. The End of Faith: religion, terror, and the future of reason.
Mark Juergensmayer. Terror in the Mind of God: the global rise of religious violence.
Jon Krakauer. Under the Banner of Heaven: a story of violent faith.
Walter Wink. Engaging the Powers: discernment and resistance in a world of domination.

Films
Gandhi
The Passion of the Christ
Dead Man Walking
The Kingdom of Heaven

Valentine's Day

2006-02-15T08:30:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, I went to class in the morning, then drove to Caruthersville. It has probably been a month since I was last in Cville, so I had to take care of some business. Mostly, I had to collect my money for the van I sold back in December. Then, I had to do my best to take care of some paper work I was behind on down there.
At six-thirty our babysitter showed up. (Lauren, you rock, and you're super-Orthodox!) We had decided to go for dinner at a Japanese steakhouse. In my mind, this restaurant couldn't be as busy as all the elegant, romantic, chick-ish restaurants with the flowers and candles. I mean, fire and big knives are surely manly. Anyways, apparently, everyone else thought they were avoiding the crowd, too. There were so many people there! We didn't wait long to be seated. For some reason, they honored our reservations. We got the least experienced and least English-proficient chef in the place. It was a hoot. Our food came all out of order. We were eating our salads while we were supposed to be being entertained by our chef. The food, however, was awesome. We actually ended up getting our appetizer after our food and ate it for dessert. What the lick.
Anyways, I had to drop a class today. I hadn't checked on my online class in a week, and when I checked this time I realized I had missed an exam, two assignments, and a lab. Oops! I guess I need to take that one on campus this summer. The online thingy didn't work. Not for that class, anyway. It just kept being at the very bottom of my list of priorities, since I have four other classes which I'm actually attending which demand my attention, on top of all the other stuff going on in my life.
I've been listening to lots of Our Life in Christ in the car while I deliver pizzas. I downloaded about thirty of their shows to my palm pilot to listen at my convenience. It's a lot more relaxing than listening to the radio. It helps me to have a better night at the pizza place. I'm less flustered, more peaceful.
Tonight, I'm finishing my lesson series on spiritual disciplines at YL Leadership. It has been an interesting time. Tonight we're going to spend some time talking about the Jesus Prayer and Fixed Hour Prayers.

On Greek Food

2006-02-04T16:24:00.000-06:00

Today when I stopped at the Greek place to get some mousaka, gyros, and baklava, I asked the woman, on a hunch, if she could tell where the closest Orthodox Church was. She looks at me and says, "What- are you Greek?"
"Um, no, but my family and I are sorta converting to the Orthodox Church."
"Oh, we go up to St. Louis, to St. Nicholas or Assumption."
"We've been going up to an OCA church in the St. Louis area, too. I have a friend who is trying to start an Orthodox Christian Fellowship on campus at SEMO, and so I wanted to see if there were other Orthodox people around."
"Well, there's a lot around here. There's Greeks, Bulgarians, Albanians... We always wished there was at least some sort of chapel here, but where do you get the priest from?"
"If you get one started, let me know."
"Oh, you start it."

That was my interesting conversation with the Greek Orthodox woman who cooked my lunch. The gyro was good, by the way.
I guess it'll be interesting to see if I can get her to connect with the other Orthodox in town.

Religion & Violence

2006-02-03T09:15:00.000-06:00

So, my class on Religion & Violence is pretty tough. The workload isn't that hard. We just have to read a chapter from one of an assortment of religion books, then come to class prepared to discuss it in class. No quizzes. No exams.
But, it is hard to face up to the violence perpetrated by devout religious people, many times in the name of their religion. And this isn't limited to "those crazy islamists". Throughout the history of the three great monotheistic religions violence has existed amongst the faithful of all three groups. Religion violence doesn't stop with the the Theists. Non-theistic religions like buddhism still result in plenty of interreligious violence.
Yesterday we talked for a while about the roots of Christian anti-semitism. Nothing I've never heard, but still, who wants to talk about the failings of their co-religionists? Since it isn't limited to any one religion, the problem is clearly not the fault of a specific religion. But is it related to religion in general? Who knows. And one might attribute it to so-called "fundamentalists" of whatever religion. Of course, such a word in heavy in connotation, but lacking in substance.
Sometimes when the semester gets going it's hard to think about much outside of class. My brain is consumed learning advanced logic, reading and commenting on chapters on religious violence, reviewing my spanish grammar and listening skills.
Pray for me.

Weekend Recap

2006-01-30T08:10:00.000-06:00

First, I'll give a brief summary of our weekend, then I'll reflect on some of the things we did.

Friday we went to Barnes and Noble as a family. No, not to support the wholesale homogenization of American culture, but I needed to buy Karen Armstrong's A History of God for my Religion & Violence class.
Saturday I listened to Fr. Anthony's interview on Ancient Faith Radio, which was great.
Then we took the kids to a great Nature Center in Cape Girardeau.
Then in the afternoon we drove up to Madison, IL, to attend Vespers and stay with the Huniaks.
Sunday morning we went to Divine Liturgy at Nativity of the Virgin Mary Orthodox Church (OCA).
Last night I worked four or five hours at my pizza delivery guy gig. I put 40+ miles on my car. Unbelieveable.

My Religion & Violence class is going to be a jarring experience as we look at essentially the worst in all three great monotheistic religions. Armstrong's gives an interesting account of the development of monotheism. She particularly disdains the western conception of Christianity. She does a less-than-average job of objective reporting of facts.
This nature center is big and nice. But, picture a nature appreciation exhibit as sponsored by the NRA. Everything was like, "How you can hunt [insert animal]..." Kind of comical. One nice thing, the place has great hiking trails. When Micah saw one of them he said, "can we go on an adventure? There's no dangerous species [sic] down there..." So we did. We'll have to go back some time and take full advantage of the nature center.
We'd never attended a Vespers service in an Orthodox Church and the Huniaks offered us beds at their house, so we took them up on it. The Huniaks have been so gracious to us, allowing us to stay in their home, feeding us, and letting our kids roam their house. And we've only known them two weeks. They're great. (btw, Huniaks, we got to WalMart and home fine :-) )
Sunday morning was a lot easier for us, since we didn't have to get up and leave our house at 7:30 for Liturgy. We got to relax around the house until 9 AM! Then we went to Liturgy. The kids were more of the same, asking, "Is it over yet?!" a little too loudly. They were very well-behaved for 2/3 of the service, then Amy took them downstairs. No use burning them out. They'll eventually learn to be good through the whole service. Oh, and we met the other attached priest, Fr. Oliver. He's very nice.
My job at the pizza place is very entertaining. I just smile and laugh at some of the off-the-wall conversations. I had the following weird deliveries last night: 1. I deliver a pizza to a big house. The adults (parents, I guess) are upstairs and say ' we didn't deliver a pizza, it must be for downstairs..' So, I walk through their house to the basement and into a room where a bunch of teens/college age people are watching TV in the dark, 'did you guys order a pizza?' Weird. 2. Apparently when someone from outside our delivery area wants a pizza we can meet them at the edge. Well, last night I delivered a pizza to the parking lot of a closed gas station. So, I'm sitting in my running car waiting, feeling conspicuous when up drives a truck, then they roll their window down. Can we say "pizza deal"?

That's the bulk of my weekend. Now I should be doing some Spanish homework.

Young Life to Orthodoxy

2006-01-23T17:03:00.000-06:00

This week Ancient Faith Radio is airing an interview with Fr. Anthony Karbo, who was a Young Life area director and converted to Eastern Orthodoxy. He's now the priest of Ss. Constantine and Helen in Colorado Springs, CO. The interview will be on at the following times:

Thu Jan 26 3:00pm CT/ 4:00pm ET
Sat Jan 28 11:00am CT/Noon Et
Mon Jan 30 7:15pm CT/8:15pm Et
Wed Feb 1 3:00am CT/4:00am ET
Fri Feb 3 2:00pm CT/3:00pm ET

As any regular readers know, I have been involved and on staff with Young Life for a few years. I'll be interested to hear Fr. Anthony's conversion story.

Whoo!

2006-01-20T08:11:00.000-06:00

I went to my Spanish American Culture class, and it was wayyyy over my head. I could understand every few words. Anyways, I got an email from the professor telling me she had to drop me, since I haven't finished SN200 yet. I emailed her back and said that I was more than happy to drop the class. Hehe. So, I dropped that class and added Religion and Violence (Are we fur it or again' it?).
That should be an interesting class. The professor is the local Episcopal rector. I've not met him yet, but I hear he's pretty great.
Last night I had my Advanced Logic class. It's just like Symbolic Logic I ("Baby Logic"), but harder and they change just about the whole system of notation. Plus, this course involves a lot more explanation of the methods and principles of logic, rather than just learning to symbolize and check for validity all the time (but we'll do plenty of that).

This weekend will be my fourth regional Leader Weekend. It's going to be great, I'm sure. I'm going to try hard to not stir things up too much with our spiritual disciplines seminar. I probably won't even take more than one of my ikons.
Traditionally it's very cold for this weekend. Last year I got ice crystals in my beard walking to and from meals. This year it's supposed to be a high of 57. Well- no ice crystals this year. How about that?

This weekend I'll have to work hard on reviewing my Spanish and I'll have a good time teaching the seminar.
Pray for me.

Class

2006-01-18T09:23:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was my first day back in class. What a thrill!
This is my lineup for this semester's classes:
Modern Philosophy
Symbolic Logic II
Spanish III
Spanish American Culture
Chem in our World (Intro Chem)

I'm not too worried about the difficulty of my schedule, although I am a little nervous about the Spanish American Culture class. When I picked up the book for that class, I looked at it and saw that it's completely in Spanish. I guess that makes sense, but it just scared me.
I hope the lectures are in English. I have that class today, so I guess we'll see.

This morning I'm watching the kids, then I'll go to the high school for lunch. It's getting to be more fun to visit the school, as I get to know more kids. It's hard work to walk into a school of strangers and visit. But I guess that's what's meant by "earning the right to be heard."
My awkwardness in hanging around in their school is worth it if it results in building real relationships with kids and pointing them to Christ.

Also, please keep my little brother, Noel, in your prayers. Yesterday he was sentenced to 2-10 years in prison for probation violation. Even though that's the just penalty for the crime, I still wouldn't want anything like that to happen to my kid brother. I just pray that he'll get some help for some of his things in there, and not just the usual.

St. Louis

2006-01-16T08:15:00.001-06:00

Yesterday we drove up to St. Louis (Madison, IL, specifically), to visit a different Orthodox Church. Since we've moved an hour and a half north the church in Memphis is not the closest anymore, so we decided to try and find a parish in St. Louis to find.
Not long after we walked in one of the priests, Fr. Michael, squatted down in front of our kids in his vestments, told Alexis she looked like a princess and gave them some spiritual advice.
Our kids' eyes were big as saucers. "Who is this man in a big gold robe talking to us?"
Micah asked several times during liturgy, "when's this going to end?", and one time he said, "This song is sooo long..." We were sitting next to Lauren, the girl from SEMO, and she kept laughing at our kids' hijinks. At one point I leaned over and said to Amy, "Relax. Our kids are being at least as good as those Orthodox kids." "But those kids are little!"
After liturgy we were standing around meeting folks when the older of the two priests came and got me. We sat in a pew and visited some over our story and our interest in Orthodoxy.
After all that, we went to the Huniaks for lunch.
I can say with some authority that this was definitely our kids' favorite visit to an Orthodox Church, even though the liturgy was 2 hours long. They especially liked the chance to play afterwards.
That's the latest in our journey in, around, and to Orthodoxy.

St. Louis

2006-01-16T08:15:00.000-06:00

Incense

2006-01-14T12:39:00.000-06:00

When I was in high school incense was a very popular item. I remember visiting stores with their large collections of incense, mostly of the stick-variety.
Today I added a censer and incense to my prayer corner. I ordered it from Conciliar Press. I should have ordered the manual with the incense starter kit. Unfortunately, I didn't. I lit the little piece of charcoal and, after dropping it on the floor, put it in the censer and added two honking hunks of incense. Whoa. Soon fragrant smoke was pouring out, and now our entire house smells like the incense. That's not so bad, but I also apparently bought the same incense that my wife says gave her a headache at a church.
What a day.
If anyone has incense/censer pointers for me, it would be great. I mean for the incense to add to my prayer rule, not distract from it.
Pray for me.

Life

2006-01-13T13:12:00.000-06:00

This morning I took the kids to a school screening. (Un)fortunately, they're both very bright, and so there's no preschool program offered for either of them. Micah will start Kindergarten in the fall. Alexis probably has another year or more to hang at home with me. Poor thing.
Then I took them to McDonald's for a little training in American consumerism. We had a little bit of a breakfast and they played in the Playland.
When Amy came I went to Jackson High School by myself for the second time. This time there were also three of the younger volunteer leaders. They're great. It's really weird walking around on a campus where i know barely any kids. Very nervewracking. In that way, I'm probably not very much help to my new leader friends. I'm sure we'll all do well.
This afternoon we're all driving down to campus so I can pick up my books and I've promised to buy the kids some kind of SEMO shirt. We'll see how that goes.
I start at the pizza place on Monday. Awesome. I always wanted to be a pizza guy. Next weekend I'm team teaching a seminar on spiritual formation/disciplines at the MO YL Leadership Weekend. That should be interesting.
This Sunday Amy and the kids and I are all going to church at an Orthodox Church up in the St. Louis area. Since we're closer now to St. Louis than Memphis we decided to try and find a parish up there instead of driving the three hours to Memphis to go to liturgy.
Did I mention that we got a new cat? He's from the Humane Society. He's a gray/white tabby named Ace. He's about 14 weeks old and very cute.
I've been enjoying all this time at home with the kids, but it is taking to some adjusting. I'm sure it will be a great experience for all of us.
Pray for me.

Moved

2006-01-03T16:22:00.000-06:00

Well, we did it.
We're all moved in to our house in Jackson, MO. My dad stopped through for one day and Amy's parents were here for a week to help us with the move.
It went really smoothly. We had a bunch of help in Cville helping load the truck and were met with a bunch of help in Jackson to unload the truck.
Amy doesn't officially start work until next week, but she's going in all this week to have orientation. I guess it's going well. I know she'll do well and maybe even enjoy herself.
I am adjusting to my new stay-at-home househusband role. I fear I won't be very good at it, but the kids seem to like having me around more.
We'll see how soon they get sick of me.
Anyways, I'm at the public library writing this, because we won't be paying for any internet. If I can make it work, we'll be sharing DSL with the church through a wireless network-- if I can make it work.
That's all for now.

Thirsting for God

2005-12-22T16:53:00.000-06:00

In the last three days I have re-read two books I'd read about Holy Orthodoxy: Matthew Gallatin's Thirsting for God in a Land of Shallow Wells and Clark Carlton's The Way: What Every Protestant Should Know About the Orthodox Church. Yesterday I took an afternoon and read all of Gallatin and today I'm reading Carlton.
Both of them point out the primary problem with Protestantism from the start (and even moreso since the Great Awakening)- individualism. It's clear to see that individual interpretations and preferences are at the very heart of everything we practice and believe.

I guess I was inadvertently quoting Matthew Gallatin when I said to Bob yesterday, "If the Orthodox Church is The Church, then it doesn't matter I think about the Church, it only matters what the Church thinks about me."

He said something about our having better critical and hermeneutical skills than the early church, as well as many developments in psychology and science.
But, wait, by that reasoning we would have a better understanding of church than even the Apostles, because they lived in that age of comparative intellectual darkness. However, if, instead of discounting anything ancient, you assume that Christ's Church will always be present on the earth, (and not in secret, as some Baptists suppose), then the only way to objectively view the interpretation of Scripture is to compare mine to the early Church Fathers. In doing this, one will find that the Holy Orthodox IS the Church founded by Christ in the Apostles. This Church has been continuous for all these centuries.

Now, recognize, that, as a mere inquirer and novice of the Orthodox Faith, I don't assume to apologize for the Faith, but I am merely working through these things in answer to myself.
"What is it in the Orthodox Church that attracts you?"
And I guess that is my answer.
Yes, the Orthodox Church is mystical, experiential, sacramental, and communal- all things that are appealing to my personal bent.
If there is Absolute Truth anywhere, it is to be found in the Holy Orthodox Church.
If the Orthodox Church is The Church, then there's nothing I can do but submit myself to the Church of the Apostles, Fathers, Saints and Martyrs.
Pray for me.

2005-12-20T16:46:00.000-06:00

Well, in answer to a question in my comments, here is a regional map. In the center you'll see a big star: that's Jackson. That's where we're moving to. If you follow I-55 south from there a ways you'll see Caruthersville, MO. That's where we're moving from. To get an idea of the relative location in the U.S. I zoomed out so you can see the metro areas that surround us, St. Louis, Memphis, Nashville, Little Rock, Kansas City, etc.
Stacy, I hope this helps you place us. We moved to Missouri last December from Dyersburg, TN. Now we're moving farther north. Further up and further in, as Aslan says...

On another note, I did have a couple of conversations about my interest (some would say obsession) with Orthodoxy, and it was interesting. One guy (whom I'll call my benefactor) said that I wouldn't be using my full potential in the Orthodox Church, because I'm more of a free spirit and wouldn't handle being under authority. I wouldn't hesitate to say that he understands me very well, but the exact reason that I need to be under the authority of the Church. It's the only path to truly, humbly serving Christ.

My pastor and I also discussed Orthodoxy for a bit. He's concerned about some 'problem doctrines' like infant baptism. I said, if I'm under the genuine authority of the Church, then it doesn't much matter what I think about a given issue. What has the Church practiced in all times at all places? That's more what we should be interested in. I've been looking for a Saint's principle of hermeneutics: universality, consensus, historicity.

Well, that's all for now.
My benefactor said, "If God's calling you to the Orthodox Church, then you need to sign up now, but I just don't think it would be the best use of your skills and personality."

What to do... what to do??

Dancing in the streets

2005-12-20T08:19:00.000-06:00

For those of you who haven't been following my blog for long, a little note of background.
In July I resigned as youth minister at my church. Then I registered to be a full time student at Southeast Missouri State University. This was my first semester as a full time student in five years. It went pretty well. My grades are up this morning- All A's. So, thanks be to God who allowed me to do well in the midst of all these hard transitions in my life.

Over Christmas break we are moving north to live near my college. Over this semester we have been pretty poor while spending around $300 a month in gasoline. Approximately 600 miles a week is a bit extreme.

Seeing as my college is paid for and it's about time I finish my education we decided to make it a priority even over my job and ministry.

So, what will we be doing? That's the real kicker.
God has provided a house next to the First Presbyterian Church of Jackson,MO. They love Young Life, and so they're excited to have a YL family live in their house for free.
Amy will be working as the secretary at the church (making as much as I did with YL) in the mornings. While she's at work, I'll be learning to be a good stay-at-home-dad and house-husband. I'm registered for 18 hours at SEMO in the afternoons and I'll volunteer with Jackson YL in the evenings.
That's what we'll be up to before long. We have a truck for the 28th. Hopefully, we'll have lots of help to load it and unload it.
Pray for us as we go through yet another hard transition. (And pray for a home for our dog.)

Finals

2005-12-15T09:11:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I finished my finals. I think I nailed them all. My grades should be up online on Tuesday, so now I just wait... I think I did pretty well.

Tomorrow I'm going to see underoath in Nashville at RCKTWN. Yet another hardcore/screamo concert for yours truly. We'll see how that goes. This time I'm getting really excited because I actually like underoath a lot. (They're not quite as "screamy" as the others.)

Tuesday night it was decided that we are moving. So, we'll be moving to Jackson, MO the week after Christmas. It should be great for us. I'll write more about it later.

Well, that's all in our wild lives.

Pray for us.

Finals Week

2005-12-12T07:11:00.000-06:00

Today is my first day of finals. I have one today and three back to back on Wednesday. I will try to be disciplined enough to spend minimal time on the internet in the next three days.

I've been reading The Brothers Karamazov and studying a lot lately. The novel is for pleasure for a break between studying times. We're allowed to bring one page of notes into the final today, so I've been typing that note. My handwriting is awful, so typing will fit a lot more information on the page.

Anyways, there's lots of stuff going on in our lives this week. I'll share more about that thursday when I know more.

Pray for me.

Of finals week

2005-12-09T06:10:00.000-06:00

Today is my last day of classes for the semester. Bright and early Monday I'll start my finals. I have one on Monday and three on Wednesday. That'll be a joy.
Consequently, my brain has been preoccupied with school.
Also, we have some big possible life changes and moves looming and I've spent a lot of time thinking about that.

I did want to give a plug for
Our Life In Christ & Ancient Faith Radio
One of the guys from Our Life in Christ read my blog the other day and posted a nice comment, so I want to mention their show. It is very thoughtful stuff. It's especially helpful for protestants who are trying to learn more about Orthodox Christianity. And I wanted to mention Ancient Faith Radio, because I first listened to OLIC on AFR. Ancient Faith, not American Family!!

I'm going to go heat up my car, it's pretty cold.

Pray for me.