I suspended my blogging during the election season, because I was in such turmoil over the election. Now that it is over, and I have hopefully not alienated too many people, I will resume blogging at my schedule of two to three times a week, and I will begin with continuing the story of my return to the Church, hopefully on Sunday.
Friday, November 9, 2012
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.
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.
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Vespers, an appreciation
Fr. Lawrence gives a concise explanation of the historical importance of vespers. I have been privileged over the years to serve vespers at our mission in Hattiesburg. This week we have Divine Liturgy on Saturday, and Vespers Friday night. I look forward to vespers, especially now that we have more regular attendees.
Vespers is the reminder of the Old Testament services in the temple. It provides us a vital link to the Holy Fathers of the Old Testament, and in particular to the Jewish priesthood. All Orthodox Christians are put into the priesthood now, and symbolically and mystically serve God in our collective worship. As St. Basil's anaphora prayer says, "He procured us for Himself as a chosen people, a royal priesthood and a holy nation."
The Vespers service is a reminder of the closed priesthood of blood and descent of the Old Testament, and mystically calls us to service in the royal priesthood of Christ, who is High Priest forever, in the words of the entrance prayer from the Christmas liturgy: "Out of the womb before the morning star have I begotten Thee. The Lord has sworn, and will not change His mind: "Thou art a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek."
Vespers begins the liturgical day, and announces to us the story of the saint we commemorate throughout the day. It is educational and pedagogical, and an excellent preparation for the coming liturgy.
Vespers is the reminder of the Old Testament services in the temple. It provides us a vital link to the Holy Fathers of the Old Testament, and in particular to the Jewish priesthood. All Orthodox Christians are put into the priesthood now, and symbolically and mystically serve God in our collective worship. As St. Basil's anaphora prayer says, "He procured us for Himself as a chosen people, a royal priesthood and a holy nation."
The Vespers service is a reminder of the closed priesthood of blood and descent of the Old Testament, and mystically calls us to service in the royal priesthood of Christ, who is High Priest forever, in the words of the entrance prayer from the Christmas liturgy: "Out of the womb before the morning star have I begotten Thee. The Lord has sworn, and will not change His mind: "Thou art a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek."
Vespers begins the liturgical day, and announces to us the story of the saint we commemorate throughout the day. It is educational and pedagogical, and an excellent preparation for the coming liturgy.
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
OFFICIAL WIFE: In Response to What do I get out of church?
I always ask Alex to look at my posts before I make them public. I want to be honest, but I don't want to offend anyone too badly. He knows people, in general. This is an area of expertise he has-- and he knows the specific audience. He tells me who reads.
He wanted me to review his most recent post because he mentioned me.
"But I have to mow the lawn EVERY WEEK." This is a really good analogy.
"My wife asks me every Sunday upon my return from church how it was." What he doesn't talk about is what I say on Fridays, "Was Jesus there?" It takes two. Oh, how well aware am I of this, as a person who does not attend church. I know he's sad when no one else shows up. He's struggled but conquered and rarely cancels anymore. His entry, "I am the Choir," really resonates with my current experience and my history.
I just wanted you to know that I ask, not just, "How was church?" but also, on Fridays, "Was Jesus there?" It's a big deal for both of us. I am aware that I am staying quite comfortably at home.
He wanted me to review his most recent post because he mentioned me.
"But I have to mow the lawn EVERY WEEK." This is a really good analogy.
"My wife asks me every Sunday upon my return from church how it was." What he doesn't talk about is what I say on Fridays, "Was Jesus there?" It takes two. Oh, how well aware am I of this, as a person who does not attend church. I know he's sad when no one else shows up. He's struggled but conquered and rarely cancels anymore. His entry, "I am the Choir," really resonates with my current experience and my history.
I just wanted you to know that I ask, not just, "How was church?" but also, on Fridays, "Was Jesus there?" It's a big deal for both of us. I am aware that I am staying quite comfortably at home.
What do I get out of church?
This is an interesting question that has been knocking around the empty space inside my skull for a long time. My wife asks me every Sunday upon my return from church how it was. Thankfully the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom is pretty reliable, and so I can typically explain how I enjoyed Fr. Benedict's usually excellent and useful sermons.
But the question remains, what do I get out of church? Well, I get to worship with other Orthodox Christians; I get to sing very loudly some of the finest melodies that I know; I get to partake of the precious body and blood of Our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ. That is what I get.
The followup comes like this, however: how did it make you feel?
And this is a question that I don't know how to answer. And the fact that I can't answer the question leads me to an intuition I have had for a very long time that my friend Preston Salisbury identified on the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. What does it mean to worship God?
In the Orthodox world, it is work. Worshipping God is our daily job. This is a labor of love, but like all labors of love it is work.
I have a quip I like to throw out to people who have asked me if I have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I like to tell them that I have a professional relationship with Jesus Christ. My relationship with Christ is a vocation; it is a career. And right now, that career consists of prayer, and fasting, and going to Church every week.
It does not consist of ecstatic visions of angels. It does not consist of feeling warm fuzzies when I complete the Prayer of the Hours during the Sixth Hour. I don't experience rapturous joy at taking Communion. In the Orthodox Church, we are welcomed to communion with this prayer: "With fear of God, with faith and love, draw near."* Fundamentally, just like at my saecular job, church is not about what I get out of it. It is about what I put into it.
Going to church is like mowing the lawn, in a sense. It is in the Orthodox view necessary for the proper maintenance of the human being. I go to church to worship God and partake in the Eucharist. I do not go to church to feel aglow with happy thoughts. When I am at church, I am at my work. Mowing the lawn of the soul, if you will. Once the lawn is mowed, I am ready to edge the lawn, and clean up the crepe myrtles, and cut back the azaleas, and maybe even plant that garden. But I have to mow the lawn EVERY WEEK.
Does this mean that going to church is a chore? Well, it can be. Some days it's hot in church. Some days, there are only you and the priest's family and the choir director in church. Some days, everyone in church has a cold, or a sinus infection. Some days, there's a memorial service after church and you really want to get back to Hattiesburg. But that is part of the job of being a Christian. In the immortal words of the narrator of The Big Lebowski, "Some days you eat the bear, and some days the bear eats you."
The saints did not come to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit by accident. We read how in the monasteries they worked, and suffered, and fasted, and prayed. We read how they were tempted by demons, and how they fell victim to the seven grievous sins, and repented, and were healed. In the Brothers Karamazov, Elder Zosima, an undoubtedly saintly and pious man, dies and his body, in the utter defiance of the conventional wisdom and hope of the townspeople, rots foully, instead of being preserved incorrupt. The world is a harsh and terrifying place for the holy; how much more so for us? Through it all, however, they worked at being Christian. They did not wonder what they were getting out of it. They concerned themselves with what they were putting into it.
The work of the church is the work of the church. And we are all called to it. Just because it is sometimes unpleasant doesn't make it any less necessary.
* Both in ROCOR and at St. Tikhon's Seminary, there is no love.**
**This is inside baseball. But then, this is a blog about being an Orthodox Christian in Mississippi married to a Protestant whose theology is best summed up by Oliver Cromwell.*** So this whole thing is inside baseball.
***I am not kidding about the Oliver Cromwell thing. She thinks he may have been a little soft when it came to his approach to eliminating bear-baiting.
But the question remains, what do I get out of church? Well, I get to worship with other Orthodox Christians; I get to sing very loudly some of the finest melodies that I know; I get to partake of the precious body and blood of Our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ. That is what I get.
The followup comes like this, however: how did it make you feel?
And this is a question that I don't know how to answer. And the fact that I can't answer the question leads me to an intuition I have had for a very long time that my friend Preston Salisbury identified on the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. What does it mean to worship God?
In the Orthodox world, it is work. Worshipping God is our daily job. This is a labor of love, but like all labors of love it is work.
I have a quip I like to throw out to people who have asked me if I have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I like to tell them that I have a professional relationship with Jesus Christ. My relationship with Christ is a vocation; it is a career. And right now, that career consists of prayer, and fasting, and going to Church every week.
It does not consist of ecstatic visions of angels. It does not consist of feeling warm fuzzies when I complete the Prayer of the Hours during the Sixth Hour. I don't experience rapturous joy at taking Communion. In the Orthodox Church, we are welcomed to communion with this prayer: "With fear of God, with faith and love, draw near."* Fundamentally, just like at my saecular job, church is not about what I get out of it. It is about what I put into it.
Going to church is like mowing the lawn, in a sense. It is in the Orthodox view necessary for the proper maintenance of the human being. I go to church to worship God and partake in the Eucharist. I do not go to church to feel aglow with happy thoughts. When I am at church, I am at my work. Mowing the lawn of the soul, if you will. Once the lawn is mowed, I am ready to edge the lawn, and clean up the crepe myrtles, and cut back the azaleas, and maybe even plant that garden. But I have to mow the lawn EVERY WEEK.
Does this mean that going to church is a chore? Well, it can be. Some days it's hot in church. Some days, there are only you and the priest's family and the choir director in church. Some days, everyone in church has a cold, or a sinus infection. Some days, there's a memorial service after church and you really want to get back to Hattiesburg. But that is part of the job of being a Christian. In the immortal words of the narrator of The Big Lebowski, "Some days you eat the bear, and some days the bear eats you."
The saints did not come to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit by accident. We read how in the monasteries they worked, and suffered, and fasted, and prayed. We read how they were tempted by demons, and how they fell victim to the seven grievous sins, and repented, and were healed. In the Brothers Karamazov, Elder Zosima, an undoubtedly saintly and pious man, dies and his body, in the utter defiance of the conventional wisdom and hope of the townspeople, rots foully, instead of being preserved incorrupt. The world is a harsh and terrifying place for the holy; how much more so for us? Through it all, however, they worked at being Christian. They did not wonder what they were getting out of it. They concerned themselves with what they were putting into it.
The work of the church is the work of the church. And we are all called to it. Just because it is sometimes unpleasant doesn't make it any less necessary.
* Both in ROCOR and at St. Tikhon's Seminary, there is no love.**
**This is inside baseball. But then, this is a blog about being an Orthodox Christian in Mississippi married to a Protestant whose theology is best summed up by Oliver Cromwell.*** So this whole thing is inside baseball.
***I am not kidding about the Oliver Cromwell thing. She thinks he may have been a little soft when it came to his approach to eliminating bear-baiting.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
The Universal Exaltation of the Holy and Life Giving Cross
Tomorrow marks one of the most solemn feasts of the liturgical year. The Universal Exaltation of the Holy and Life Giving Cross commemorates several occasions illustrating the prominence of the Cross in the faith. The OCA website precis on the feast describes the power of the Cross, demonstrating even that pagans and heretics recognized its sovereign healing power.
Heraclius was the elucidator of the heretical doctrine of Monothelitism. More importantly, he made Greek the official language of the Eastern Roman Empire. Finally and most importantly, in his campaign against the Persians, he recovered the True Cross which they had seized. This return of the Cross to Jerusalem and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is one of the occasions commemorated tomorrow.
Additionally, the feast commemorates the discovery of the True Cross by St. Helena, the mother of St. Constantine the Great. Because of her discovery of the Cross, St. Helena is regarded as Equal-to-the-Apostles by the Church.
The Cross is a symbol of the ultimate power of God, and the redeeming love of Christ for the world. For that reason, the Church has ordained a strict fast for tomorrow.
Tomorrow during the Liturgy, instead of the Typical antiphons, the Trisagion hymn, and the ordinary communion hymn, we will sing the following hymns (texts from the OCA website):
Heraclius was the elucidator of the heretical doctrine of Monothelitism. More importantly, he made Greek the official language of the Eastern Roman Empire. Finally and most importantly, in his campaign against the Persians, he recovered the True Cross which they had seized. This return of the Cross to Jerusalem and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is one of the occasions commemorated tomorrow.
Additionally, the feast commemorates the discovery of the True Cross by St. Helena, the mother of St. Constantine the Great. Because of her discovery of the Cross, St. Helena is regarded as Equal-to-the-Apostles by the Church.
The Cross is a symbol of the ultimate power of God, and the redeeming love of Christ for the world. For that reason, the Church has ordained a strict fast for tomorrow.
Tomorrow during the Liturgy, instead of the Typical antiphons, the Trisagion hymn, and the ordinary communion hymn, we will sing the following hymns (texts from the OCA website):
The
First Antiphon
God, my God,
attend to me! Why have You forsaken me? (Ps.21/22:1)
Refrain: Through the prayers of the Theotokos,
O Savior, save us!
Why are You so
far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?
(Ps 21/22:1b)
Refrain: Through the
prayers of the Theotokos, O Savior, save us!
O my God, I cry by day, but You do
not answer; and by night, but find no
rest. (Ps 21/22:2)
Refrain:
Through
the prayers of the Theotokos, O Savior, save us!
You dwell in the
sanctuary, the praise of Israel
Refrain:
Through
the prayers of the Theotokos, O Savior, save us!
Glory to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever,
and unto ages of ages. Amen.
Refrain:
Through
the prayers of the Theotokos, O Savior, save us!
The Second Antiphon
O God, why have
You cast us off forever?
(Ps 73/74:1)
Refrain:
O
Son of God, crucified in the flesh, save us who sing to You: Alleluia!
Remember Your
congregation, which You have purchased of old! (Ps
73/74:2)
Refrain:
O
Son of God, crucified in the flesh, save us who sing to You: Alleluia!
Remember Mount Zion
Refrain: O Son of God, crucified in the flesh,
save us who sing to You: Alleluia!
God is our King before the ages; He has
worked salvation in the midst of the earth.
(Ps
73/74:12)
Refrain: O Son of God, crucified
in the flesh, save us who sing to You: Alleluia!
The Third
Antiphon
The Lord reigns, let the people tremble! (Ps 98/99:1)
Tone 1 Troparion
of the Feast
O Lord, save Your people
and bless Your inheritance!
Grant victories to the Orthodox Christians
over their adversaries;
and by virtue of Your Cross,//
preserve Your habitation!
The Lord
reigns, let the people tremble! He sits enthroned upon the Cherubim; let the
earth quake! (Ps 98/99:1)
Troparion of
the Feast
The Lord is great
in Zion
Troparion of the Feast
Bow down in
worship to the Lord in His holy court! (Ps 98/99:9)
Troparion of the Feast
(Instead of the Trisagion)
Before Your Cross, we bow down in
worship, O Master,
and Your holy Resurrection, we
glorify.
Communion Hymn
The light of Your countenance has shone on
us, O Lord. (Ps
4/5:6)
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!
Saturday, September 8, 2012
Nativity of the Theotokos
Imagine my embarrassment last night at Vespers when I realized that Saturday was the Nativity of the Theotokos. I had forgotten completely about it, so focused was I on the Elevation of the Holy Cross on September 14.
So we went through our normal Daily Vespers routine at 6 pm, and this morning I awoke at 6 am to make the drive to Christ the Saviour in McComb. I took some video that may not have turned out too poorly.
The Nativity of the Theotokos is one of several important feasts of the Church we have in September. Indiction is the beginning of the Church year, and occupies an interesting position in the Church calendar; it is treated as a feast of the Theotokos, coming as it does in the gap between her Dormition and her birth. Father Benedict's sermon today was about the importance of the Theotokos in the plan of salvation.
Salvation is not a solitary practice in the Orthodox Church. We are all struggling along that road together. But salvation is not merely a process for man; it is a plan of God's. The Theotokos, child of two elderly, pious Judeans of David's line, was selected out of time to bear Christ for the salvation of all men. Holy Tradition tells us that the Archangel Gabriel spoke to both Joachim and Anna separately, telling them that God would answer their prayers for a child, and that that child would be dedicated to the Temple.
From about the age of four years, the Virgin Mary lived her life daily in the Temple, serving the Lord along with other children so dedicated. Today we commemorated her birth, and the reification of God's plan for man's salvation.
So we went through our normal Daily Vespers routine at 6 pm, and this morning I awoke at 6 am to make the drive to Christ the Saviour in McComb. I took some video that may not have turned out too poorly.
The Nativity of the Theotokos is one of several important feasts of the Church we have in September. Indiction is the beginning of the Church year, and occupies an interesting position in the Church calendar; it is treated as a feast of the Theotokos, coming as it does in the gap between her Dormition and her birth. Father Benedict's sermon today was about the importance of the Theotokos in the plan of salvation.
Salvation is not a solitary practice in the Orthodox Church. We are all struggling along that road together. But salvation is not merely a process for man; it is a plan of God's. The Theotokos, child of two elderly, pious Judeans of David's line, was selected out of time to bear Christ for the salvation of all men. Holy Tradition tells us that the Archangel Gabriel spoke to both Joachim and Anna separately, telling them that God would answer their prayers for a child, and that that child would be dedicated to the Temple.
From about the age of four years, the Virgin Mary lived her life daily in the Temple, serving the Lord along with other children so dedicated. Today we commemorated her birth, and the reification of God's plan for man's salvation.
Troparion of the Feast, in Tone 4
Thy nativity, O Virgin,
has proclaimed joy to the whole universe!
The Sun of righteousness, Christ our
God,
has shone from thee, O Theotokos.
By annulling the curse,
He bestowed a blessing.
By destroying death, He has granted us eternal
life.
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