OFFICIAL WIFE: The Cookies Are More Than They Appear

--and the tomato pies.

The intertubes are not as commenty as I'd like. People are still learning how this works. People are scared, and I guess rightly so. "People are scared," is almost a mantra at this point. I wish there were less cause for the phenomena. The internet is no worse than real life, really. I wish people understood that. Wishes for fishes?

Still, I had a remark about some cookies. Evidently it meant something to someone so that's good.

I made these cookies again today because it's a holiday. I only baked three and put the rest of the dough in the freezer because we're fat.

--and I thought about --I guess-- my church family. You'll have to forgive me, just a bit, a tiny bit. I'm not Ortho. I even hope not to be Ortho, although I continue to consider it, and a child will make it very hard to deny. Still, I'm gonna call you my church family. I may not be on the roll, but there's names I could name who I call friends. It's more than rules as much as it is more than a building.

I am confident I know what Church is.

What is little c church? [and if you quote a saint, and they are less than genius in this particular quote, you are immediately disqualified in a made-up competition.][[but all responses will be gladly accepted]][[[And living people's opinions are favored]]]

OFFICIAL WIFE: Superstition

People change. I delighted in most school transfers growing up. I could reinvent myself. I worry now that my bosses still see in me the twenty-one year old girl that they hired while now I pretty much am the one to tell them how things (procedurally, not policy) work.

I am not Orthodox. Loud and clear. Don't claim it. Am very adamant when someone says I'm Ortho because Alex is. (We all know that's not correct.) I am also not Baptist because my father was Baptist. I'm not one of you, with your 'one of us' chant, which isn't all of you lumped together but a disturbing quality of every denomination ever. However, converting is not the only way to grow towards other groups of Christians.

I think my post about going to the church in Alabama, the first one, where I was so ashamed that I bowed to another person and saw a lady pray to an icon and was so scared I thought I might go to Hell-- yeah that post-- I think that scared some very normal people who happen to be Orthos. It shouldn't. That's how it looked to me. You don't have to convince me. For better or worse, as the saying goes, I'm stuck. And I chose this life. Still there's no reason not to be honest. And it was scary.

Tonight, while I was examining holy rolls to see if I could guess which one Alex would most prize (pretty radonkulous, I get you want to offer your best, but also people's best is different and that is SO important to note for me), I realized, that, while I thought a lot of times that Orthos are superstitious, in particular that night where the lady laid a tinfoil bound bouquet of fake flowers to a picture and prayed to it, I was the one superstitious. Scared honestly so I wouldn't confront me then, but scared for no reason. I wasn't doing it, and I should have faith in God to protect me. Alex said it brought her comfort. It did. She was praying for her husband overseas in war. He was right. While I don't think human beings can answer prayers or even that dead people can influence our omnipotent God, there's no reason for me to be afraid.

This is the Sabbath

Right now is the Sabbath, the glorious day of the Lord's rest after creating the world, which is commemorated on Holy Saturday.  Pascha occurs just after midnight, when we impatiently greet the Risen Lord after finding His tomb empty.

Today is my Sabbath, and right now I am enjoying the liturgically prescribed wine and bread in the form of a beer, the great glorious combination of wine and bread.  Everything in the house is ready for tomorrow morning, when I will return, bright, tired, cranky, rejoicing, and above all, at peace following the celebration of the Resurrection.  Our pascha basket is prepared, filled with a combination of fresh fruit, cured meats, kulich, cheeses, salt, and butter.  We are prepared to recognize the glory of the Lord.  In my mind, I am pacing my restoration of the temple to its traditional layout following the procession.  I can usually manage to finish it by the second time the parish makes it around the church.

This morning we enjoyed the beautiful apprehension of anticipation, reliving the promise of the restoration to paradise and life eternal through the fifteen Old Testament readings, punctuated by the Song of Moses and the Song of the Three Youths.  This evening, we will meet the Messiah in Jerusalem.  Glory to Thy Resurrection, O Lord!

Adventures in Lent

Attending the Mississippi Prosecutors' Association Annual Spring Conference in Biloxi.  In a casino.  The temptations abound.  Had a nice shrimp po-boy for lunch.

As well as the frustrations of having your serpentine belt slip off your car engine.  Luckily, the belt appears to be intact.  I anticipate that, God willing, I'll be mobile again tomorrow.  In time for firearms training.  Huzzah.

Lent in the third week

The third week of Lent this year, and already the Feast of Annunciation is behind us.  The Sunday of the Cross, perhaps the most solemn Sunday of Lent, awaits us.  After that, the Mid-Fast.

Morning prayers in Lent are especially useful.  Nothing focuses me on Lent so much as the Prayer of St. Ephraim, coming as it does towards the end of my morning rule.  Not only is the prayer a physical exertion, but it is a mental workout.  I keep coming back to Fr. Alexander Schmemann's analysis in his text on Great Lent.  I thoroughly recommend it, reproduced here..  Like all short, seemingly simple prayers, the Prayer of St. Ephraim contains great depth and pith.

We must consider not just the surface meaning of the prayers, but also the deeper connection within the prayer practice of the Orthodox life.

Morning prayers

This morning I was a little distracted, and by the time I realized it, I was sitting down to coffee before my morning prayers.  So I stopped drinking coffee, and started praying.  My preferred morning prayer rule is from the Jordanville Prayer Book, which was the first prayer book I ever purchased.  I paid $3.00 for it in 1982, which was probably all of my money for the month in which I bought it (I was six).

About the time I reached the first prayer of St. Macarius the Great, Birdie (our younger female dog) came into the room with a squeaky toy in her mouth.  This was not a problem, since she immediately dropped the toy and began watching me pray.  Usually, the dogs are not up and about when I am in the morning, so I think this was the first time she's ever watched me pray.

After a while, she became bored, and lay down next to where I was standing.  Until, that is, I began the prayer of St. Ephraim.  She began responding to the prostrations and metania, and for the last three metania I made during the prayer, I got licked on the side of the face.  Great way to greet the morning.

Signs of the Lord

Witness the sign that occurred at the wedding in Cana of Galilee, as famously recounted by Rowan Atkinson.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umRRCkspaQU