Showing posts with label Prayer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Prayer. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

My Journey to Orthodoxy, part 1.

My journey to Orthodoxy is not normally considered a journey.  I was born into an Orthodox family, and I was baptized about 40 days after my birth, and I grew up as an altar server, and singing in the church choir, and in general receiving a first-class youth of instruction in practical Orthodoxy.  I learned how to be a reader, and I learned chanting in the Greek, Antiochian, and Russian styles.

But in college, as is often typical, I fell away from the Church.  I stopped going to Liturgy regularly, and I was only an occasional churchgoer.  I attended church regularly when I was at home with my parents, but I had never been someone who didn't have a job in church.  I had never known how to worship without something to do.

And so for a long time I was C and E (Christmas and Easter).  And when I moved to Jackson, Mississippi, after law school, I began attending Holy Trinity and St. John the Theologian Greek Orthodox Church.  In contrast to the stereotype of old Greek parishes, I found a welcoming community struggling through the change from being a city church with a city congregation to being a city church with a suburban congregation.   Eventually, the church had to move away from its historic location on West Capitol Street to its new home in Ridgeland, and I pray God that they are doing well there.

After I moved to Hattiesburg, I again lapsed.

Forgive me, but I will continue later.  It's time to listen to two sociopaths lie to the country again.

Sunday, August 26, 2012

You've missed divine liturgy on a Sunday; now what?

A difficult question for the Orthodox Christian.  Luckily for us, there is an answer.  Prayer.

I did not make it to church this morning due to an upset stomach and a splitting headache (caused by overindulgence yesterday).  So I read the Psalms (not the entire Psalter).  The Psalms are a great tool for prayer; the fathers tell us that the entirety of Christianity can be found in the Psalms.

I have noticed that everyone has a favorite Psalm.  My favorite is Psalm 144.