Monastery Trip

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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...

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

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

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

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

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

St. Thomas Sunday

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!

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

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

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!

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.

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 ]