Sunday, January 11, 2009
A proud moment...
Today our little parish decided to donate money to help a mission in Iowa and work on forming a Mission Committee. Well done St. Elias!
Friday, January 9, 2009
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Valerian update...
Three days of Valerian, 500 mg just before bed time, and so far so good. Refreshing sleep free from the "medicine hangover" that comes with pharmaceuticals and a generally calm day. It's amazing what just a good run of regular sleep can do for your wellbeing.
Just a note, though, about the product itself. When properly prepared it has a kind of smell you won't forget, a smell that fortunately is not passed on to the consumer. Oh, and did I tell you that cats go after it like catnip?
Regardless, as I've pondered this my mind wandered to the creation story and how God gave humanity all the plants of the earth for sustenance (Genesis 1:29-30). Everything God created was for our good and even in a world disfigured by sin where people are restless and the night is devoid of sleep that goodness, in the root of a common flowering plant, still shines through. How unaware I have been of the countless ways I'm sustained by what God has given, those silent taken for granted things that keep body and soul together, and how ungrateful I've been as well.
But that can change.
Just a note, though, about the product itself. When properly prepared it has a kind of smell you won't forget, a smell that fortunately is not passed on to the consumer. Oh, and did I tell you that cats go after it like catnip?
Regardless, as I've pondered this my mind wandered to the creation story and how God gave humanity all the plants of the earth for sustenance (Genesis 1:29-30). Everything God created was for our good and even in a world disfigured by sin where people are restless and the night is devoid of sleep that goodness, in the root of a common flowering plant, still shines through. How unaware I have been of the countless ways I'm sustained by what God has given, those silent taken for granted things that keep body and soul together, and how ungrateful I've been as well.
But that can change.
Wow...
A Duluth, Minnesota, woman survives hypothermia that dropped her body temperature to 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Truly, as the Psalmist said, we are "fearfully and wonderfully made". (Psalm 139:14)
Many thanks...
Many thanks to visitor 12,000 arriving on this blog. Whether you came on purpose or just drifting along on the waves of the web I appreciate each and every guest.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Resolutions...
I invariably don't keep New Year's resolutions. In fact a few weeks ago I joked with some of the residents at work that in 2009 I planned on gaining 30 pounds, stopping exercise, and taking up smoking knowing that I would inevitably fail at it just because they were resolutions and may end up healthy by default.
I have a stirring, though, for what I should be doing now that the year is fresh. I would like to draw closer to God and become more human. They're tied together, of course, and they sound grandiose but its what I know I need to do whether its in resolution form or not. Some of what I must do is already apparent and I trust that God will clue me in for whatever else needs to be done.
And then, one foot in front of the other...
I have a stirring, though, for what I should be doing now that the year is fresh. I would like to draw closer to God and become more human. They're tied together, of course, and they sound grandiose but its what I know I need to do whether its in resolution form or not. Some of what I must do is already apparent and I trust that God will clue me in for whatever else needs to be done.
And then, one foot in front of the other...
Valerian...
As some of you have noticed by the time/date stamps on some of my postings I can have occasional bouts of insomnia. Have any of you tried Valerian and if you have how have you experienced it?
Saturday, January 3, 2009
This Sunday's sermon in advance...
Tarpon Springs, Florida, Epiphany, and the crowds have come early. The Bishop will be present and standing at the edge of the water. At the appropriate time, a group of young boys at the ready, he will throw a cross into the water and the young men will dive in the hope of recovering it and gaining a little bit of celebrity and blessings for the year.
Up here where the snow falls and the water gets hard around December we try to avoid doing this. It’s not that we don’t cherish Epiphany, we do, but we prefer those who dive into the water to come out intact so we put the cross in the hands of a Priest and plunge it into a bowl of water to bless it. If the weather is better and the people more inclined they may process to a local river or lake and bless the water from the shore or through the ice.
Regardless the symbolism is the same. In Tarpon Springs the cross symbolizes Christ and the boys who dive for it call to mind St. John the Forerunner lifting our Lord from the water following his baptism. And in places grand and humble Orthodox Christians will symbolically repeat that action, crosses in water calling to mind the baptism of Christ. But there is more to the story, truths the various customs call us to remember.
The word Epiphany itself means “to show” or "to reveal” and occasionally the word will be used to describe when a person has a moment when they finally understand something. As Orthodox we understand three things are made known to us in the events commemorated by this Holy Day.
The first is the truth of the Trinity. In the story of Jesus baptism we see the first time when in a very explicit way the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are present to humanity. Those who witnessed Jesus’ baptism heard the voice of the Father declaring that this person being baptized was indeed the Son and above it all the Holy Spirit hovered, as at the beginning of the world, over the waters.
As Orthodox Christians we need to be reminded that our view of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, did not arise out of some inner need to be esoteric or mystical but rather because God chose to reveal Himself this way. At times it’s difficult to conceive of a God who can be three persons in one essence, the uniqueness of God leaves us with nothing with which we can compare. Yet we know, as well, that there are things in the world which are true even though we cannot exhaustively understand them.Rather than seeing the Trinity as a puzzle which must be solved we understand this revelation as a gift given by love, an infinite God showing finite humanity the truth of His being in a way that we can at least grasp on to even as it challenges our senses and categories.
The second truth revealed in the Epiphany is the solidarity of God with His creation and with its redemption. People who study the scriptural accounts often wonder why it was that Jesus was baptized. We understand that baptism for us is regenerative, that is it brings us forgiveness of sins, enlightenment, salvation, and the grace of God to grow in a continuing life of faith. But Jesus had no need of any of this. So for Orthodox it was not the waters that sanctified Jesus but Jesus who sanctified the waters, and all creation, by his baptism. The waters of the Jordan and through them all creation were blessed by contact with Jesus in his baptism, a kind of preparation for the day when all creation will be returned to the goodness and glory with which it was endowed by God.
Related to this is our Orthodox understanding that as Jesus entered into physical matter, in his birth and in his baptism, matter itself, far from being crude or base, can be a channel of grace. This is why we bless people, objects and animals, use water, incense, oil, and a wide variety of physical items in our worship and life, and of course celebrate the icon. It’s also why we don’t cremate our dead; a body that has been, like all physical matter, touched by grace in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit becomes itself a sacred thing. When Jesus stepped into the water phyiscal matter began its return to sanctity and while many think of us as a mystical faith in reality Orthodoxy is very organic, earthy, and sacramental.
And finally there is a call to us as well, in remembering the significance of the Epiphany, to reveal the reality of God in our own lives. We’re challenged by our faith to allow God to be revealed in us so that through us God can be revealed to the world. The Epiphany is not just something we recall or an event that we can study for its significance but it should also be our lived experience, the reality of God living in us revealing God to a world that now more than ever needs to see his face.
Understand this and you'll begin to know your Faith.
Up here where the snow falls and the water gets hard around December we try to avoid doing this. It’s not that we don’t cherish Epiphany, we do, but we prefer those who dive into the water to come out intact so we put the cross in the hands of a Priest and plunge it into a bowl of water to bless it. If the weather is better and the people more inclined they may process to a local river or lake and bless the water from the shore or through the ice.
Regardless the symbolism is the same. In Tarpon Springs the cross symbolizes Christ and the boys who dive for it call to mind St. John the Forerunner lifting our Lord from the water following his baptism. And in places grand and humble Orthodox Christians will symbolically repeat that action, crosses in water calling to mind the baptism of Christ. But there is more to the story, truths the various customs call us to remember.
The word Epiphany itself means “to show” or "to reveal” and occasionally the word will be used to describe when a person has a moment when they finally understand something. As Orthodox we understand three things are made known to us in the events commemorated by this Holy Day.
The first is the truth of the Trinity. In the story of Jesus baptism we see the first time when in a very explicit way the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are present to humanity. Those who witnessed Jesus’ baptism heard the voice of the Father declaring that this person being baptized was indeed the Son and above it all the Holy Spirit hovered, as at the beginning of the world, over the waters.
As Orthodox Christians we need to be reminded that our view of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, did not arise out of some inner need to be esoteric or mystical but rather because God chose to reveal Himself this way. At times it’s difficult to conceive of a God who can be three persons in one essence, the uniqueness of God leaves us with nothing with which we can compare. Yet we know, as well, that there are things in the world which are true even though we cannot exhaustively understand them.Rather than seeing the Trinity as a puzzle which must be solved we understand this revelation as a gift given by love, an infinite God showing finite humanity the truth of His being in a way that we can at least grasp on to even as it challenges our senses and categories.
The second truth revealed in the Epiphany is the solidarity of God with His creation and with its redemption. People who study the scriptural accounts often wonder why it was that Jesus was baptized. We understand that baptism for us is regenerative, that is it brings us forgiveness of sins, enlightenment, salvation, and the grace of God to grow in a continuing life of faith. But Jesus had no need of any of this. So for Orthodox it was not the waters that sanctified Jesus but Jesus who sanctified the waters, and all creation, by his baptism. The waters of the Jordan and through them all creation were blessed by contact with Jesus in his baptism, a kind of preparation for the day when all creation will be returned to the goodness and glory with which it was endowed by God.
Related to this is our Orthodox understanding that as Jesus entered into physical matter, in his birth and in his baptism, matter itself, far from being crude or base, can be a channel of grace. This is why we bless people, objects and animals, use water, incense, oil, and a wide variety of physical items in our worship and life, and of course celebrate the icon. It’s also why we don’t cremate our dead; a body that has been, like all physical matter, touched by grace in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit becomes itself a sacred thing. When Jesus stepped into the water phyiscal matter began its return to sanctity and while many think of us as a mystical faith in reality Orthodoxy is very organic, earthy, and sacramental.
And finally there is a call to us as well, in remembering the significance of the Epiphany, to reveal the reality of God in our own lives. We’re challenged by our faith to allow God to be revealed in us so that through us God can be revealed to the world. The Epiphany is not just something we recall or an event that we can study for its significance but it should also be our lived experience, the reality of God living in us revealing God to a world that now more than ever needs to see his face.
Understand this and you'll begin to know your Faith.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
A prayer for those in depression...
I was browsing the www looking for resources on Orthodox faith and anger/depression and stumbled across this prayer...
O my beloved Queen, my hope, O Mother of God, protector of orphans and protector of those who are hurt, the savior of those who perish and the consolation of all those who are in distress, you see my misery, you see my sorrow and my loneliness. Help me, I am powerless, give me strength. You know what I suffer, you know my grief -- lend me your hand because who else can be my hope but you, my protector and my intercessor before God? I have sinned before you and before all people. Be my Mother, my consoler, my helper. Protect me and save me, chase grief away from me, chase my lowness of heart and my despondency. Help me, O Mother of my God!
The prayer is from a Priest who suffered much in the Russian gulag and is quoted in an article from Fr. George Morelli which can be found here.
O my beloved Queen, my hope, O Mother of God, protector of orphans and protector of those who are hurt, the savior of those who perish and the consolation of all those who are in distress, you see my misery, you see my sorrow and my loneliness. Help me, I am powerless, give me strength. You know what I suffer, you know my grief -- lend me your hand because who else can be my hope but you, my protector and my intercessor before God? I have sinned before you and before all people. Be my Mother, my consoler, my helper. Protect me and save me, chase grief away from me, chase my lowness of heart and my despondency. Help me, O Mother of my God!
The prayer is from a Priest who suffered much in the Russian gulag and is quoted in an article from Fr. George Morelli which can be found here.
Small pleasures...
New Year's Day. Sleep in for a while, health club before lunch, return home and find a three hour nap with my name on it. Wake up and discover a Looney Tunes (the old stuff with Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, Sylvester & Tweety) marathon on Cartoon Network and I get to be a kid again.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!
Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!
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