This is true...

Whatever happens it is still going to be 2010 anno domini, the year of our Lord.

That makes all the difference.

This is not a joke...

A Danish newspaper declares that President Obama is "greater then Jesus". 

I guess 2009 can't end soon enough...

It's a strange world...

My Facebook page had, as part of its rotating series of ads, an advertisement for a men's waxing service including a "brazilian" wax. I googled it just because while I had heard of waxing this was the first time I had heard of this particular form.

All I can say is owwwwwwwwww!

The sleet...

is already starting to fall, lightly now but with great fury in a few hours. They say up to 20 inches of snow will fall with rain and frozen ice mixed in. The world will go still for Christmas whether it wants to or not. 

Nativity services at St. Elias have been cancelled, a victim of what will come. I had been hoping everything would move south or north but the center of the storm is bearing down on us and even leaving the house looks like it will be a chore. I am at once comfortable with the idea that the people of St. Elias will at least be safe in their homes and disappointed that this evening will pass us by. I mark my years by Christmases and absent a Liturgy the evening seems, well, absent. 

Yet all is in God's hands. There is much I don't understand but this I do. 

If I don't get back to writing for a few days know that I will be out with the snowblower, cutting a hole in the snow even as it continues to fall and filling the air with its distinct and comforting note. Be blessed this Christmas and may it's Gift be in your heart always.

Christ is born! Glorify Him!

Memory Eternal...

It has been reported that his Eminence, Archbishop Job, of the OCA Diocese of the Midwest unexpectedly fell asleep in the Lord this morning.

May his memory be eternal.

It's things like this...

that reaffirm my doubts about capital punishment. Had this man been sentenced to death...

PC greeting for the season...

Please accept with no obligation, implied or explicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2010, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere. Also, this wish is made without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee.

Hat Tip to Mr. Baltz.

Gluttonous fasting...

For those of you who come to visit and are not Orthodox this period of time, despite the songs you hear at the mall, is not "looking a lot like Christmas...". Historically, in both the Eastern and Western forms of the ancient Faith this period, the weeks before Christmas, is a fasting time called Advent, or Nativity Lent. Less rigorous then the Lenten fast, except for the period of December 20-24 in the East, it still is a time when we are to limit our diets while increasing our prayers and charitable endeavors.

This, of course, is not regularly practiced in large swaths of Christian America. Most American Christians haven't even heard of this ancient practice and in a world where the weeks following Thanksgiving are largely an orgy of commercialism and consumption the idea of restraint in any period of the year, let alone now, is radical. Even many Orthodox Christians take a "wink, wink, nudge, nudge" approach to the fast before Nativity (Christmas).

For me the largely vegetarian part of the fast is not particularly difficult. My diet is predominantly vegetarian anyway and as I get older I'm less inclined to eat meat at any time of the year. I just don't like it that much. So I suppose a person looking at me from the outside would see that I'm largely in technical compliance with the rules of the fast. But is my "technical fast" a true fast?

Looking back I'm not sure. It's amazing how skilled a person can get in finding foods that technically meet the fasting requirements but are largely absent from its spirit. Twizzlers, a favorite candy of mine, are completely fast eligible in the technical sense of the word as they have no meat or dairy products (come to think of it they really don't have any natural ingredients) but is eating a "vegetarian" candy really fasting? No.

Yet another issue looms for me, quantity. It is quite possible to gorge yourself on vegetables and I've figured out, on many occasions, how to stuff myself while appearing to piously keep the fast. Gluttony is gluttony whether its ice cream or carrots and to consume more than I need is not only a bad health practice but also hardly an example of fasting in the best sense of the word.

That's the hardest deception for me to face, the illusion of fasting. Because of it I can feel like I have fasted but in fact my heart and soul are still in that place of feeding things which should not be nourished. The deep and true blessings of the fast, of any fast, still elude me if I have only managed nothing more then keeping chocolate out of my mouth or feasted at a salad bar.

Knowing that it's quite probable that after more then a decade in Orthodoxy I'm still just now learning to fast.

Call me a climate skeptic...

but its a wisdom born out of time. If you live long enough you develop an informed naivete, a kind of hope that people will be their best selves, Christian faith helps with that, but with one eye open just in case. I'm not, for example, sure I believe the caricature of every person concerned about the global temperature being a wild eyed communist bent on establishing a new world order but at the same time I'm skeptical about predicting weather 20 years from now when the meteorologist on TV often can't get it right for next week.

The truth is there is an argument for conserving the environment and seeking to live on this planet as gently as possible. It's a moral and spiritual argument rooted in the Christian tradition that all creation is God's and that we are merely stewards of it as we pass through this life. It's a beautiful argument based in the mystery of God and humanity and when practiced can be part of a larger and more whole kind of existence in the world.


Sadly, in our world of materialism there is no God and so no appeal can be made to anything truly and deeply spiritual. At best we can create a kind of secularized mythology but its power is tied to its substance and lacking both it has no real ability to convince, only coerce. Without something of higher substance to relate to it can only achieve its aims by fear. So we are given pictures of exaggerated apocalyptic scenarios in an attempt to manipulate us and if the evidence is not strong enough well, then, change the computer model to make it so.


In the end, the great failure of the global warming debate may be the failure of secular religions to inspire, built as they are on houses of sand, and that may actually open the door for an understanding of creation rooted in the heart and soul of humans responding in love to their Creator if people of Christian faith will take the time to learn what they believe and act on it.

Here's my solution...

Every so often we get another pseudo-intellectual talking about how we need to reduce the "over-population" of the world. So here's my solution.

Any person advocating population reduction to solve any problem in the world will be required, unless they are an only child, to commit suicide. After all, if China's barbaric one child policy really is the solution to global warming, as the article linked above proposes, then those who advocate it have a duty, if they are child two through whatever, to implement that policy or be considered elitist frauds. In addition, if they are an only child and have managed to bring more then one child into the world themselves they must choose which of their children must die therefore ensuring both the implementation of their policy and maintaining intellectual credibility. (BTW the author of the story linked above has two so we'll have to wait and see which one she wishes to get rid of).


Until this happens they should be ignored.

My Favorite Christmas Carol...

O Little Town of Bethlehem

O little town of Bethlehem
How still we see thee lie
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
The everlasting Light
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in thee tonight

For Christ is born of Mary
And gathered all above
While mortals sleep, the angels keep
Their watch of wondering love
O morning stars together
Proclaim the holy birth
And praises sing to God the King
And Peace to men on earth

How silently, how silently
The wondrous gift is given!
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of His heaven.
No ear may his His coming,
But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive him still,
The dear Christ enters in.

O holy Child of Bethlehem
Descend to us, we pray
Cast out our sin and enter in
Be born to us today
We hear the Christmas angels
The great glad tidings tell
O come to us, abide with us
Our Lord Emmanuel

We're waiting...

for the snow to come early tomorrow morning and into the evening. Up to a foot near LaCrosse and 4-6 inches around here. The shovel is by the back porch. The snowblower is gassed up and pointed towards the door. If you had anything left to do in the yard it'll have to wait until spring.

It's the trade off of life in these parts. The land is fertile in part because it rests in the cold for six months a year. Snow is water sinking in to the ground as spring emerges, ready for seed and growth and refreshing the lakes. Winter keeps the cockroaches around these parts small and always on the defensive and there's nothing like a night around zero to keep the thugs off the streets. Whether this makes up for the semi-hibernation of these days, the exasperatingly slow pace of traffic, and the possibility of losing a foot to frost bite is still up in the air. Somehow we just do it.

Anyway it was bound to happen. The weather has been wonderful for these parts all through November and whether we want it or not winter and snow are, like death and taxes, inevitable. My boots and snowsuit are ready. The shovel is right outside the back door. There's a full tank of gas in my car and a warm place to spend the night so let er rip.

The coming ice age...

of 1975. Yes I do remember. The lesson here is whenever someone tries to panic you take a deep breath, stop running with the herd, and look for the larger picture. Knowledge changes. Wisdom endures.

A wonderful package...

was in the mail today, arriving much sooner than I expected. It was five vials of oil that had been in the reliquary of St. John Maximovitch whose incorrupt remains are interred at the Cathedral Church of the Theotokos, Joy of All who Sorrow, in San Francisco.

In his life St. John was a wonderworker, a person used by God to perform miracles, and following his death his intercessions have been coveted by many who are sick or in need of a miracle. My hope is that this oil, applied to the faithful as per the Scriptures and Tradition, will bless those needing health and restoration.

What a joy to possess even a small amount of this oil. What a blessing to share it with whoever is in need. Holy St John Maximovitch pray for us!

Simply the best fuitcake recipe...

Grandma Ely's Fruit Cake (Single Recipe 2 Loaves)
Pan Preparation:
Standard bread loaf pan 9 x 5 x 3

Line with heavy duty foil with extra above edges to wrap over fruitcake when done
No shortening or flour needed if you use tin foil.

Ingredients

Boil Together for Three Minutes

1 1/2 pounds fruit (citrons)
2 cups of water
2 cups of brown sugar or dark brown sugar
2 tsp of cinnamon
1 tsp of nutmeg
½ tsp of cloves
½ of allspice
1 tbsp of salt
2 cups of raisins (light raisins make the fruitcake less sweet)
2/3 cup of shortening or butter – needs to be a hard margarine or butter do not use Take Control, or Benecol
After mixture has cooled to lukewarm add:

4 cups of flour
2 tsp of baking powder
1 ½ cup chopped nuts
Bake at 350 degrees for at least one hour
Test for done like cake with long toothpick. Clean toothpick indicates done.
Age at least one week, wrapped in tin foil, in the refrigerator before consuming.