Glory to God!

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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)

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

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

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

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

[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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.