Monthly Archives: January 2007

beautiful testimony

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This just perfectly sums up my own feelings…

“Conversion is not easy, either before or after Chrismation. There is so much to learn, and it is hard to go back to grammar school after a lifetime of leadership. In a way, it is like emigrating to a new country. You get your ticket and go; that is like being catechumens. Eventually you get your new citizenship; that is like Chrismation. But you still have to adapt to the new culture and find your place in it; that is like the ongoing process of working out your salvation once you are in the Church. Pat answers and instant solutions are not part of true Christianity. But there is a real opportunity for everyone who “strives for the prize” to attain the riches that our new Motherland offers us.

Does it mean that there are not stumbling blocks and snares in the Orthodox Church? No. There are obviously many citizens in this new land who languish in spiritual poverty and disease, who, while they have the citizenship, do not cultivate the characteristics and privileges it offers. But there are towering examples of “success” to point the way for us. Dying to everything that is false and unworthy, first of all in ourselves, we find ourselves reborn as more human, more real, more peaceful, more settled, more healed, more loving and forgiving, even while we remain sinners. This is what Orthodoxy is about. It offers us real holiness, regaining the lost likeness of God; and we are not just given theories, but also the wherewithal.“

from Mission Accomplished

Also, if you haven’t already seen it, check out this article in Christianity Today: Will the 21st Be the Orthodox Century?

(thanks to Presv. Lisa for both links)

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Some hae meat and canna eat,
and some wad eat that want it,
but we hae meat and we can eat,
and sae the Lord be thankit.

Hannah and I went to a Burns Supper tonight. Bagpipes, kilts, dancing, and yes, haggis, made for a pretty wonderful time.

the space between

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Grades in our Public Interpretation class are based on the outcome of three projects, all covering one particular person or group from an anthropologist’s perspective: a text/photo project (poster, website, etc.), 4-5 minute audio recording, and 8-10 minute video.

So to get us thinking, our professor asked one of the girls in the class what she would shoot if she were making a video of her life. She said she’d want to focus on the extraordinary things, rather than her routine. She’d want to focus on what made her unique and different: her work, personal relationships, etc.

I think I’d do just the opposite. Getting the kids up, feeding my cats, taking time to pray, sipping my coffee while I log on…those things may seem mundane to me, but they’re who I am. I take care of my siblings, love my pets, have deep faith, and am a total computer junkie. I often wish that my calendar book would reflect the breadth and depth of my daily activities, rather than just the highlights. Let’s be honest: life is a series of mostly ordinary events. But, “In the right light, at the right time, everything is extraordinary. “