Forty Days in the Desert

Greece Today

2011-10-20T12:44:00.000-07:00

Photos of the conflict in Greece today.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/greek-parliamentary-garage-fire-and-other-dramatic-footage-todays-athens-riots

Le plus ça change

2011-10-18T08:45:00.000-07:00

From - Alfred Crozier, US Money vs. Corporate Currency, 1912

If It Be Your Will

2011-10-03T13:39:00.000-07:00

The Titanic - or is it Spinning Straw Into Gold?

2011-09-29T17:39:00.000-07:00

“In the United States neither paper currency nor deposits have value as commodities. Intrinsically, a dollar bill is just a piece of paper, deposits merely book entries. Coins do have some intrinsic value as metal, but generally far less than their face value. What, then, makes these instruments - checks, paper money, and coins - acceptable at face value in payment of all debts and for other monetary uses? Mainly, it is the confidence people have that they will be able to exchange such money for other financial assets and for real goods and services whenever they choose to do so."

- Federal Reserve Board - Chicago, 1961
++++++++++++

As you know, dear reader, I have been banging the drum for a while about economic instability and also the potential for a coming problem of availability of cheap energy.

I am sorry if your eyes glaze over about some of this stuff, but I think we are living in a moment of history which could be as significant as the period of 1911-1920 where massive social change swept the world, regimes collapsed or were toppled, and new ways of living were introduced.

Of course, I could be wrong. But my purpose in discussing this is for us to seriously confront, as Christians, what happens when we may, for economic reasons and availability of resource reasons, no longer be able to jet-set around to air-conditioned conferences and different parishes flung far about (esp. the situation or Orthodoxy in the U.S. West), and we are forced to be closed to home, often without a parish anywhere near. And I think that in turn forces us to ask - what have we been about lately, anyway? And how should we, sojourners all, be passing through our societies, or local neighborhoods, our towns and environment?

This ship (the S.S. global economy) seems to have hit the iceberg already and while the band plays on the crew is frantically trying to calm those that can see there's a problem while trying to figure out what to do. Or are they simply organizing the limited lifeboats and who will be allowed to sit in them?

The quote of the last week:

"We need to find a mechanism where we can turn one euro in the EFSF into five, but there is no decision on how we could do that yet" the [EU] official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The means of that sort of leverage to get a 2 Trillion Euro facility seemed to be what some are calling the "CDO Squared" or the "Liesman rumor".

If you are confused, here is a somewhat succinct summary of the idea:

The complex deal would see the EFSF provide a loss-bearing "equity" tranche of any bail-out fund and the ECB the rest in protected "debt". If the EFSF bore the first 20% of any loss, the fund’s warchest would effectively be bolstered to €2 trillion. If the EFSF bore the first 40% of any loss, the fund would be able to deploy €1 trillion.

Using leverage in this way would allow governments substantially to increase the resources available to the EFSF without having to go back to national parliaments for approval, which in a number of eurozone countries would prove highly problematic.

As quid pro quo for an enhanced bail-out, the Germans are understood to be demanding a managed default by Greece but for the country to remain within the eurozone. Under the plan, private sector creditors would bear a loss of as much as 50% – more than double the 21% proposal currently on the table. A new bail-out programme would then be devised for Greece.

Source

Spinning straw into gold? The only way to make 1 Euro into 5 legitimately is to devalue the currency, which some claim (with good evidence) to be the way of all fiat currencies and leading ultimately to their demise. We've had several such fiat currencies in North America prior to the current Federal Reserve Note. FRNs are only about 40 years old.

Fiat currencies work because of the faith of the users that the governments backing them will maintain value. So a massive devaluation of currency essentially risks the faith of the public. In the Euro zone these frantic maneuvers could lead to a destruction of that currency and possibly the economic union. Such a destruction could have large effects on the US and other nations as the Fed, using its monopoly powers, has committed to keep huge dollar swap lines open into Europe, essentially betting on the continued value of the foreign currency holding up, or risking the future labor of US taxpayers on the gambit (for if the currency were to fail . . .).

**A swap may be described thus: foreign central bank draws on its swap line with the Federal Reserve, the foreign central bank sells a specified amount of its currency to the Federal Reserve in exchange for dollars at the prevailing market exchange rate. The Federal Reserve holds the foreign currency in an account at the foreign central bank. The dollars that the Federal Reserve provides are deposited in an account that the foreign central bank maintains at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. At the same time, the Federal Reserve and the foreign central bank enter into a binding agreement for a second transaction that obligates the foreign central bank to buy back its currency on a specified future date at the same exchange rate. The second transaction unwinds the first. At the conclusion of the second transaction, the foreign central bank pays interest, at a market-based rate, to the Federal Reserve.

Europe has largely thumbed their noses at this extreme idea, but they are still hoping for half-measures in bumping up the firepower of the EFSF - so some form of money "printing" may happen, unless some of the member states fail to ratify the changes.

Alright. Now your eyes are really glazed over. But friends, this is important. If you watch the world news (CNN World Edition, BBC, Reuters - etc. - forget Fox News and CNN domestic, it's drivel) you will quickly see that the economic elite are making statements nearly every day about this and that measure to shore up below decks. This is not normal. They are panicked.

And again, why should we care, as Christians? Well, big events have a way of restructuring whole societies - sometimes sweeping across the globe. If you were enjoying the summer of 1912, telephones and electric lights were barely coming in, as were motor cars. Could you have predicted that by 1918 there would have been a cataclysm of war, that three great world empires (Ottoman, Russian, and Austro-Hungarian) would have collapsed and entirely new and radical social structures arisen in their place? What effect did that have on Christians in Russia? On peoples in Germany? On the social mores of peoples in England and France? What continuing effects has the legacy of that collapse, only 100 years in remove, had on us today?

1912. 100 years ago. The reasons for massive social change potentially facing us are different today, but the rumblings of change itself are all around - the Arab Spring, the economic crisis, the after effects of 9/11, the rise of China and India as potential great powers. We should be prepared to think that things will not remain as they were, although how they will be is not entirely knowable.

However, I think, in rough outline we might see these sorts of things:

1. A collapse of the European monetary union as we know it now - whether to new drachmas and Deutschmarks or to some other type of currency is unknown.

2. A strong possibility of a loss of faith in the Federal Reserve Note in this country to the erection of another type of currency.

* I think such changes in money faith are always painful economically and socially

3. A possibility that the US currency will no longer be the de facto world reserve currency in which key products (oil, other commodities) are priced and traded

4. A rise in harsh and autocratic regimes in places where we might not have thought it possible in years past

5. A general lowering of the standard of living for a lot of people living in the West.

6. On a not-too-distant horizon, a concentration of life to more local concerns and reduction in travel using cars as transportation fuels relative to available money/wages becomes more expensive (note - absolute $ cost not issue here - gas could be $2.50/gal but if I'm unemployed, it's still expensive).

In the end, our economic woes may only be addressed by use of a fairly old idea - the idea of Jubilee, or something similar - where creditors are forced to take haircuts on their claims and debtor's debts are released. As always the question becomes "who gets relief." If it's primarily the wealthy, businesses and banks, then such things may only exacerbate misery for millions.

Here is a prescription to address the economic crisis. I doubt that any politico has the guts to try to get such plans put to consideration, and I doubt that creditors would be willing to accept it. The Hebrews and the Mesopotamians had the decree of the Divine to enforce such actions. Who could speak with such force now?

There you go, bringing class into it again!

2011-09-28T13:49:00.000-07:00

There's a lot of talk about "class warfare" going 'round about these days among politicos, and among Christians of this or that sort.

While it is sometimes useful to speak in shorthand about "oligarchies" or "elites" or the "poor" or "the working class" or "middle class" some such, I think too much adherence to such classifications is dehumanizing in our speech and outlook.

Thus, hurling epithets that someone or some group is a "fascist" or "bourgeois" or "capitalist pig" or "commie" or "tea-partier" (or the more cruel and crass "tea-bagger") is to abstract humans, especially when applied to individuals and small groups of people.

This is the issue I have with many ideological arguments, such as Marxism. It takes humans and crams them into a classification system to an extreme and tries to explain all of human history through the lens of this system in rigid terms.

I am not denying the existence of class structures - and in times and places such structures were given force of law. But this ought not mean that we should use the language of such classifications in our daily discourse - for it dehumanizes our neighbor.

In my day-to-day life, I do not constantly evaluate the neighbor across the fence or the neighbor up the road as to whether he is a "prole" or a "liberal democrat," or a "toff" or some such. We talk and we look out for the other's animals. We may not agree on politics or religion or a whole host of other things. Our differences may be the result of the inculcation of mores and worldview that come about because of social norms and tendencies causing us to move in socio-economic groups which, however veiled, are class lines in our society. But a man is more than that, and is not so bound to his class (even if there is a law assigning him to a caste) that the entire tide of history is inexorably set but such classifications.

So I think we would do well to have care in our ease of use of classifications. Let us use them when we must, but always with recognition that, like a photo made of dots of color, when viewed up close such things lose meaning.

Pax

Known knowns, known unknowns, and unknown unknowns

2011-09-23T12:46:00.000-07:00

Horatio:
O day and night, but this is wondrous strange!

Hamlet:
And therefore as a stranger give it welcome.
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

+ + + + + + + + + + + +

So scientists in the ivory tower (well, tunnel, er . . .) have been launching neutrinos at a target deep underground and far away and have noticed an odd thing . . . neutrinos seem to be arriving faster than C, the speed of light (remember, E=MC^2?), that speed which is supposed to be, according to the Standard Model of physics, the immutable law of physics, and one that has held up quite well in its application to all sorts of things that now enrich our daily lives, from synthetic aperture radars to transistors to microchips and fiber optic lines.

The bright folks at CERN are now mulling these findings to see if there's a flaw in the research or an explanation that is due to some sort of statistical error or what not. If the findings hold up, people are going to really have to reconsider the foundation of physics, which can be exciting for a scientist.

Of course, such things (if the research holds up), remind us that a theory which is damn-near-held-as-fact sometimes turns out to be just a convenient shorthand that is not at all accurate at the margins and does not really explain things, however elegant the model. You know -- like that quaint orbital model of the atom we used to like to draw as kids in the 60s and early 70s with electrons orbiting the nucleus like some sort of miniature planetary system.

Kinda makes you wonder what other scientific theories are useful tools, but not quite right as to how things really work.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15017484

-Pax

The Village

2011-09-20T15:08:00.000-07:00

Old man: People get too used to convenience. They think convenience is better. They throw out what's truly good.

Young man: But what about lights?

Old man: We've got candles and linseed oil.

Young man: But night's are so dark!

Old man: Yes, that's what night's supposed to be. Why should night be bright as day? I wouldn't like nights so bright you couldn't see the stars.

- An exchange between the young man and the old man in Kurosawa's Dreams

+ + +

In western lands beneath the Sun
the flowers may rise in Spring,
the trees may bud, the waters run,
the merry finches sing.
Or there maybe 'tis cloudless night
and swaying beeches bear
the Elven-stars as jewels white
amid their branching hair.

Though here at journey's end I lie
in darkness buried deep,
beyond all towers strong and high,
beyond all mountains steep,
above all shadows rides the Sun
and Stars forever dwell:
I will not say the Day is done,
nor bid the Stars farewell.

- J.R.R. Tolkien, Return of the King

On Patience in a Troubled World

2011-09-16T12:39:00.000-07:00

"Take your rest in the Lord, and wait for him; do not give way to anger when evil prospers, and seems to achieve its wicked ends." Psalm 37:7

The Efficacy of a Scythe for the Smallholder

2011-09-15T09:55:00.000-07:00

Exercise, quiet, meditative work - and actually quite efficient up to a point, with proper equipment and technique.

This is essentially a modern European scythe - quite a bit better tool than the American scythes you see in the antique stores, and with high quality blades from Austria.

Shape of Things to Come

2011-09-14T16:34:00.000-07:00

Well it's late in the hour and a few more grains of sand will fall.
On the colorful flowers grown upon the dust and moss.
Now I feel the worst is near,
I hold them close and count their years.
And pray a ray of light appears
To shine down on us here

Breakdown in the shape of things to come
But I'm moving on like a soldier.
And I say now when all is said and done:
It's not ours to break, the shape of things to come.

There's a crack in the clouds, but only for a moment now
Like an owl looking out, the blue sky spies the roads we will go down.
I wonder what they hold for us? I hold my family to my breast,
I feel the worst and hope the best will come to see us blessed.

Breakdown in the shape of things to come
But I'm moving on like a soldier.
And I say now when all is said and done:
It's not ours to break, the shape of things to come.
Hey! Hey!

Give me one more try in what I'll change.
I won't deny the thought is strange.
I've done my best and now will lay no blame myself.

Breakdown in the shape of things to come
But I'm moving on like a soldier.
And I say now when all is said and done:
It's not ours to break, the shape of things to come.

The shape of things to come.
The shape of things to come.

Lyrics to song by Audioslave - c. EMI Music - here for fair use.

Headlines from today

2011-09-14T15:32:00.000-07:00

If you don't think things are going badly . . .

Headlines on the Reuters page

EU Warned of Credit Crunch Threat

Obama gets slight boost from jobs speech: poll

Chances of another recession increasing

Number of poor hits record 46 million in 2010

Kabul siege shows Taliban strength

Protect your portfolio from a baby boom bust

Tuberculosis spreads at an alarming rate in Europe

World Bank chief says world economy in danger zone

++++++++++++

But, neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Nevertheless, many people will be in fear in these coming days, I think - and fear drives people to do evil deeds sometimes. Take care out there.

In Memoriam 9/11

2011-09-11T09:18:00.000-07:00

Image from Times Mirror - credited to Rex Features - posted here for fair use only

That Tuesday morning, I was at Naval Air Station Pensacola receiving training as a recently commissioned officer as to a variety of duties and obligations, customs and traditions. One of my fellow officers came rushing back from the break room during our first class break of the morning to say something was going on in New York. The news spread quickly, as things are won't to do on a military base - the Nation was under some sort of attack. Without orders, spellbound, class was abandoned as we gathered at the breakroom television and watched in horror as one and then the other tower collapsed.

I returned to military service at a time of relative peace, in 2000. Certainly there was a possibility of future conflict, but only like distant clouds on the horizon that might or might not portend a squall overhead later in the day.

But on that Tuesday morning in 2001, all of that changed and events were set in motion that would find me in the Middle East 3 times and, one way or another, for the last decade involved in a global war on Al-Qa'ida and its associated movements.

I make no commentary on the unintended consequences to our world and to our nation of the response and counter-response to those events, except to say that we will look back and perhaps identify that time as a moment when the world shifted and a new age dawned on global society, and not particularly with regard to trans-national terrorism, but rather with the social, economic and political order.

But whatever history may show us in retrospect - many lost their lives and others were cast into the fear of the uncertainty of existence on that day. In the years to come, other lives were lost and wrecked in the rippling choices from that evil day.

One cannot but wonder at the souls, above the flames of those burning buildings, as they considered their options. No doubt some helped and comforted others who were scared and hurt; some said prayers; some, to our horror, fell to their deaths, whether to escape a more horrifying manner of death or because of they were blown out only God knows; perhaps some cursed God. Yet all of us, I think, in some secret place, wonder what would be our own actions when faced with such a turn - waiting perhaps in hope of a miracle rescue - or despairing of such and recognizing the awful truth . . . .

For those who suffered, and lost their lives on 9/11 - rest in peace, in a place of verdure, whence no sickness nor sighing comes.

And so it goes . . .

2011-08-04T12:12:00.000-07:00

"Stress Test" by Arthur Rosenstein - 1936 Failed Kansas Bank - presented here for fair use

And so the exalted ones do the predictable thing after much drama and play extend and pretend. But this cannot help the real systemic problem that there is no economic recovery - here or anywhere. The great Ponzi scheme continues to unravel, while the wolves continue to accumulate real productive assets with their monopoly money.

The next step in the dance will be to watch the inevitable market turmoil as the masses are allowed to see a glimpse of the reality of economic collapse in the West - enough so that they will beg the exalted ones to encourage the temple masters to adopt another round of easing, with some unique twist (it's different this time - we have new and improved tools!) to quickly incur the full measure of debt recently authorized to be placed on the American people and monetize it.

A few things seem apparent enough - one is that there is a transnational plutocracy of extraordinary proportions. Whether such always work together, they nevertheless tend to serve similar ravenous ends which do not help the great mass of people. They may spear one another in the great game, but they mostly do not care whose field is ridden over or burnt in the process of their virtual vying for more power.

Another is that we are likely seeing the end of the dollar's run as the global reserve currency. It may take a while. As others have said, the Anglo-American banking cartel will defend against that change for as long as possible, whilst hedging for its eventuality. But many forces are arrayed against the dollar fiat currency remaining in its privileged position.

Another is that, whatever the manipulation of the current economic and geopolitical crises to nefarious ends by the moneyed interests, the fact remains that there is a global economic problem - we are seeing some sort of powerful reset after decades of excess (which has been unbalanced and not at all evenly distributed - some have not enjoyed those excesses at all).

John Kenneth Galbraith once said that some sort of bankruptcy process (whatever it may be called and whatever its rules) is essential to a fiat-money fractional reserve banking system. You must have a mechanism to deal out who ends up taking the losses because the system requires some way to shake out the excess credit. It seems the exalted ones have figured out how to assign the losses to the masses through government debts - that is, bankers and other creditor nations holding creditor claims on the future labor the various populations of nations. The recent petulance exhibited by China's media machine (see Xinhua article and Financial Times article) is a prime example of the sort of demands one might see as a result of this. The sort of demands which could start wars and riots, if pushed too far.

So who cares? Can't we just go to church and enjoy our summer conferences? Well, when "official" employment numbers are suspect (how is it that unemployment is below 10% but food-stamp recipients are somewhere north of 13% in this country??). Shall we sit idly and ignorantly by as our neighbors quietly slide into misery while in a stupor brought on by the latest reality TV show? Pay attention, for this is no mere localized movement of petty kings and thugs, but a globalized leviathan seeking to and fro for power and profit that does not care about the bellies of children or the comfort of the aged, the widow, or orphan.

Look on Tuesday for everyone to be begging the Fed for some financial easing, just as they've begged the ECB to buy the bonds of Italy and Spain. And thus do the bankers gain claims over the future labor of nations, to the point where they may demand that governments take actions in despite of their own people.

My favorite commentator ("Jesse") on the financial malfeasance infesting the world, had this reminder this week:

"We did not create ourselves, and we do not sustain ourselves; no one of this world can withstand the approach of death by the power of a self-seeking will. Life is a gift from God. We cannot keep our life, unless we are willing to give it back to Him, in the way in which he asks for it. This is the secret to happiness and contentment, and the path to everlasting life. We rise by falling, emptying our hearts and saying, not my own, but thy will be done."

Russian Beer and Other Ephemera from the Farm

2011-07-24T13:35:00.001-07:00

I have often wondered why, under the Russian Orthodox tradition, as I understand it (and if I understand it), beer is not prohibited on fast days. I chalked that one up in mirth as a nod to needing to allow folks to "maintenance" a little and not have DTs in liturgy on a Sunday morning in a nation of prolific spirits drinkers.

Whatever the reason, I also note that Russia has only just reclassified beer (and other beverages less than 10% ABV) as alcoholic beverages. This suggests there has been a strong social inclination in Russia to view beer as a quite ordinary beverage, like water, to be consumed regularly.

Well - in any case, one wonders what, in a truly organic North American Orthodoxy, would be appropriate selections of allowed and disallowed items during fasting periods.

++++++++++++

Speaking of beer, I've been brewing my own. I have gone the novice/lazy man's route of buying malt extract. I am just not up to cracking my own grains and malting the stuff, for now. I've made some pretty tolerable batches from the Woodforde's Ale kits.

I am looking forward, after a two-year hiatus, to making a sizeable crush for wine this year.

++++++++++++

It's been a terribly cool summer - but the broccoli has been prolific as a result. Early lettuce did quite well. Not much else to report on the gardening front.

++++++++++++

We expect to be able to sell 5 lambs for slaughter this year, with one kept back for home consumption.

++++++++++++

Our chicken flock has now increased to over 20 hens, and one unexpected rooster. No one in the family except me has the heart to cull the rooster, so I guess he's staying to crow and manage his large harem.

++++++++++++

One of the many nice birthday presents of the year: the Wondermill Junior Deluxe hand-powered grain mill. Looking forward to the first batch of a batter-style Entire Wheat Bread with freshly milled flour this week.

++++++++++++

We bit the bullet this year, after having some roof leaks, and spent money on re-roofing the house, which included new gutters. God-willing this particular essential maintenance item will last us for a long-long time to come.

++++++++++++

The Congress is at an impasse, with no good choices before them, having been maneuvered into a corner. While I tend to think the Icelandic approach to the banks and financiers of the world might be a good thing, perhaps it's different when your country has the reigns of the global reserve currency, and could risk losing that privileged status through missteps. This next week will be interesting, as the foreign exchange and Asian markets are already opening.

Debt-based-indentured-servitude abounds in the world; few of us are immune (I'm certainly not).

++++++++++++

Large Protests in Syria and Economic Woes May Hit Close to Home Come August

2011-07-01T13:48:00.001-07:00

In Syria there are massive protests against the regime. Note that there has long been a wary alliance between Alawis and various non-Sunni groups, including Christians, which has allowed a stifled, yet pluralistic country. The large majority in Syria are Sunni.

How all of this will play out for Christians is hard to say.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-13988701

In other news, something like $400+ billion in US Treasuries are set to mature in August alone - meaning that the Treasury has to issue new debt which is then sold to generate $$ to pay off the maturing debt and interest. Oh, add to that the current account payments (Medicare, Social Security, VA, Pensions, Military pay, Federal Pay, contract payments, etc., etc.). Oh, but we're right up on the debt ceiling already at ~$14.5 trillion. Treasury can't issue new debt without some headroom.

Did you see that New Jersey avoided the normal public funding process and instead ran to JPMorgan for a ~$2.5 billion loan to cover their budget gap (bridge financing - heh). And the State of Minnesota is going into the holiday with a budget crisis and looming government shutdown.

Some will say - so what? We look to the Lord! Indeed. But I think we are watching a societal change as fundamental as that which happened in the years from about 1910-1920. I think that power structures, governmental structures, and economic structures are all in line for massive changes, and a lot of this may be very unpleasant - leading to potential totalitarian regimes, possibly hard line fascism or other oppressive ideologies, and misery for many. Sometimes it seems the Church is asleep through all of this, conducting its insular meetings and conventions and writing contests without giving much thought to what's on. I will class myself here too. We have 44.7M people on foodstamps in this country, an unprecedented figure. We have millions in foreclosure or having been foreclosed out of houses. We have high jobless rates and inflation - higher than the "official" and manipulated stats. Are we looking to help any of these folks?

For my part, I am changing my practice to focus more on foreclosure relief work. As one blogger writes:

When you socialize the losses and privatize the gains for a powerful few, when you reward the perpetrators and punish the innocent and unsophisticated victims of fraud, when you idolize greed, selfishness and deception and vilify simple hard work and honest decency, how can one really expect a healthy, vibrant economy? You are birthing a monster.

Austerity will not improve this picture, and will inflict intense misery on the growing number of unfortunates. They know this, but they don't care. When the oppressed react, there will be calls to put them down, to subdue them, savagely. Provoke and react. Never waste a crisis, and if you need it, create one.

This is the road to hell.

The Banks must be restrained, and the financial system reformed, with balance restored to the economy, before there can be any sustained recovery.

From Jesse's Café Américain

Debtocracy - A Greek Documentary

2011-06-28T07:56:00.000-07:00

Since some of those who stop by may have brethren in Greece, and we are all in the same pickle anyway - here is a documentary worth watching:

Psalm 23 in Scots

2011-06-21T08:01:00.000-07:00

I love language - here is the 23rd Psalm in Scots - a lowland dialect/language used in Scotland and not to be confused with Highland Gaelic (in the Renaissance period Scots would have been called Inglis and Highland Gaelic called Scottis or "Erse", I believe).

A Wee Drappie O't

2011-06-07T17:16:00.000-07:00

A Wee Drappie O't
1.
This life is a journey we a' hae to gang,
And care is the burden we carry alang;
Though heavy be the burden and poverty our lot,
We'll be happy a' thegither owre a wee drappie o't.

Chorus:
Owre a wee drappie o't, owre a wee drappie o't,
We'll be happy a' thegither owre a wee drappie o't.

2.
View the birk in winter, a' leafless and bare,
Resemblin' a man in winter wi' a burden o' care,
But view the birk in summer, wi' its braw, leafy coat,
Rejoicin' like a man owre a wee drappie o't.

Chorus

3.
We're a' met thegither owre a glass and a sang,
We're a' met thegither by special command;
Free frae mean ambition and every evil thought,
We'll be happy while we may, owre a wee drappie o't.

Chorus

4.
When friendship and truth and good fellowship reign,
And fouk grown auld are made youthfu' again;
Where ilka heart is happy, and wardly cares forgot,
Is when we're met thegither owre a wee drappie o't.

Chorus

5.
Job in his lamentation said man was made tae mourn,
That there's nae such thing as pleasure frae the cradle to the urn;
But in his meditation Job surely had forgot,
The pleasure man derives owre a wee drappie o't.

Cold Spring

2011-06-02T11:39:00.000-07:00

I really have nothing much to write about here. I have much on my mind of late, but none of it really of posting value here.

Spiritually I am in a cold Spring, much like our weather has been. That's all I will say about that.

************

Watching a recent "period drama" of BBC origin, as a military man I was reminded that things we do in service now (standing to attention when the CO enters the room, saluting) are essentially (with martial modification) just the courtesies that ordered society used to do as little as 75-100 years ago (and in some cases less) -

1. Stand when a superior enters the room (ahh . . . I suppose we have no superiors anymore, eh?), such as the head of household, or even just the eldest present;

2. Stand upon a lady entering or departing;

3. Greet others with a salute (tip of the hat, bow, curtsey, what have you)

What are now a military peculiarities were once just good manners exercised by most.

************

As a child I very much liked LeGuin's Earthsea Trilogy. While the fictional world she created had a cosmology which cannot be said to have any relationship to a Christian view of the world, she provides grist for strong questions to be explored (perhaps the best part of LeGuin's writing is her ability to create the contextual situation so as to get at questions that are in her mind, and ours).

In one scene near the end of The Farthest Shore, the Archmage Ged stands at the "dry river" in the land of the dead, speaking with Cob, a mage who has sought to save himself above all other things, out of fear of death, and has woven such great magic that men are drawn to his nothingness, the wells of wizardry have gone dry, and men have gone mad, being drawn to his same lust for avoidance of death:

"I was in Paln," he said to Ged, "after you, in your pride, thought you had humbled me and taught me a lesson. Oh, a lesson you taught me, indeed, but not the one you meant to teach! There I said to myself: I have seen death now, and I will not accept it. Let all stupid nature go its stupid course, but I am a man, better than nature, above nature. I will not go that way, I will not cease to be myself! And so determined, I took the Pelnish Lore again, but found only hints and smatterings of what I needed. So I rewove it and remade it, and made a spell- the greatest spell that has ever been made. The greatest and the last!" "In working that spell, you died." "Yes! I died. I had the courage to die, to find what you cowards could never find: the way back from death. I opened the door that had been shut since the beginning of time. And now I come freely to this place and freely return to the world of the living. Alone of all men in all time I am Lord of the Two Lands. And the door I opened is open not only here, but in the minds of the living, in the depths and unknown places of their being, where we are all one in the darkness. They know it, and they come to me. And the dead too must come to me, all of them, for I have not lost the magery of the living: they must climb over the wall of stones when I bid them, all the souls, the lords, the mages, the proud women; back and forth from life to death, at my command. All must come to me, the living and the dead, I who died and live!" "Where do they come to you, Cob? Where is it that you are?" "Between the worlds." "But that is neither life nor death. What is life, Cob?" "Power." "What is love?" "Power," the blind man repeated heavily, hunching up his shoulders. "What is light?" "Darkness!" "What is your name?" "I have none." "All in this land bear their true name." "Tell me yours, then!" "I am named Ged. And you?" The blind man hesitated, and said, "Cob." "That was your use-name, not your name. Where is your name? Where is the truth of you? Did you leave it in Paln where you died? You have forgotten much, O Lord of the Two Lands. You have forgotten light, and love, and your own name."

Earlier, Prince Arren, Ged's (known by his use-name, Sparrowhawk) young charge and companion, explains his fear of death and Ged discusses what seems to be wrong with the world:

"I betrayed-" he said, and stopped. "I betrayed your trust in me." "How so, Arren?. "There- at Obehol. When for once you needed me. You were hurt and needed my help. I did nothing. The boat drifted, and I let her drift. You were in pain, and I did nothing for you. I saw land- I saw land, and did not even try to turn the boat-" "Be still, lad," the mage said with such firmness that Arren obeyed. And presently, "Tell me what you thought at that time." "Nothing, my lord- nothing! I thought there was no use in doing anything. I thought your wizardry was gone- no, that it had never been. That you had tricked me." The sweat broke out on Arren's face and he had to force his voice, but he went on. "I was afraid of you. I was afraid of death. I was so afraid of it I would not look at you, because you might be dying. I could think of nothing, except that there was- there was a way of not dying for me, if I could find it. But all the time life was running out, as if there was a great wound and the blood running from it -such as you had. But this was in everything. And I did nothing, nothing, but try to hide from the horror of dying." He stopped, for saying the truth aloud was unendurable. It was not shame that stopped him, but fear, the same fear. He knew now why this tranquil life in sea and sunlight on the rafts seemed to him like an after-life or a dream, unreal. It was because he knew in his heart that reality was empty: without life or warmth or color or sound: without meaning. There were no heights or depths. All this lovely play of form and light and color on the sea and in the eyes of men, was no more than that: a playing of illusions on the shallow void. They passed, and there remained the shapelessness and the cold. Nothing else. Sparrowhawk was looking at him, and he had looked down to avoid that gaze. But there spoke in Arren unexpectedly a little voice of courage or of mockery: it was arrogant and pitiless, and it said, "Coward! Coward! Will you throw even this away?" So he looked up, with a great effort of his will, and met his companion's eyes. Sparrowhawk reached out and took his hand in a hard grasp, so that both by eye and by flesh they touched. He said Arren's true name, which he had never spoken: "Lebannen." Again he said it: "Lebannen, this is. And thou art. There is no safety, and there is no end. The word must be heard in silence; there must be darkness to see the stars. The dance is always danced above the hollow place, above the terrible abyss." Arren clenched his hands and bent his forehead down till it pressed against Sparrowhawk's hand. "I failed you," he said. "I will fail you again and fail myself. I have not strength enough!" "You have strength enough." The mage's voice was tender, but beneath tenderness was that same hardness that had risen in the depths of Arren's own shame, and mocked him. "What you love, you will love. What you undertake, you will complete. You are a fulfiller of hope; you are to be relied on. But seventeen years give little armor against despair... Consider, Arren. To refuse death is to refuse life." "But I sought death- yours and mine!" Arren lifted his head and stared at Sparrowhawk. "Like Sopli who drowned himself-" "Sopli was not seeking death. He sought to escape from it and from life. He sought safety: an end to fear- to the fear of death." "But there is- there is a way. There is a way beyond death. Back to life. To life beyond death, life without death. That is what they seek. Hare and Sopli, the ones who were wizards. That is what we seek. You -you above all must know- must know of that way-" The mage's strong hand was still on his. "I do not," Sparrowhawk said. "Aye, I know what they think they seek. But I know it to be a lie. Listen to me, Arren. You will die. You will not live forever. Nor will any man nor any thing. Nothing is immortal. But only to us is it given to know that we must die. And that is a great gift: the gift of selfhood. For we have only what we know we must lose, what we are willing to lose... That selfhood which is our torment, and our treasure, and our humanity, does not endure. It changes; it is gone, a wave on the sea. Would you have the sea grow still and the tides cease, to save one wave, to save yourself? Would you give up the craft of your hands, and the passion of your heart, and the light of sunrise and sunset, to buy safety for yourself - safety forever? That is what they seek to do on Wathort and Lorbanery and elsewhere. That is the message that those who know how to hear have heard: By denying life you may deny death and live forever! -And this message I do not hear, Arren, for I will not hear it. I will not take the counsel of despair. I am deaf; I am blind. You are my guide. You in your innocence and your courage, in your unwisdom and your loyalty, you are my guide- the child I send before me into the dark. It is your fear, your pain, I follow. You have thought me harsh to you, Arren; you never knew how harsh. I use your love as a man burns a candle, burns it away, to light his steps. And we must go on. We must go on. We must go all the way. We must come to the place where the sea runs dry and joy runs out, the place to which your mortal terror draws you." "Where is it, my lord?" "I do not know." "I cannot lead you there. But I will come with you."

For some reason I find a glimmer of great truth in this discussion - and an apt analogy to the sickness which seems to pervade our society today. We have, in so many ways, a culture which is so fearful of death that we wish to give up everything for prolongation of "life" or escape from death - the sort of Kurweil-like desire to live by any other means than to accept that we must die.

Now, again, I say 'glimmer' because I, of course, would not agree with this sort of cosmology - but I do think there is something that we must accept about the reality of this saying of Jesus: "I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds." As St. Paul says: "Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die." Sometimes I think our Christianity becomes more like Cob and his followers - escape from fear of death by denying death and living forever! A sort of fairy tale view of salvation. The recent debacle of the Harold Camping predictions were of this sort - the "true believers" would be raptured and escape the destruction to follow.

The Way of the Cross, and back from death to life is, like in the Earthsea story, over the Mountains of Pain, if it is any way.

Of Scythes and Sheep

2011-04-10T20:34:00.000-07:00

So a snath and blade arrived a little over a week ago - together a "scythe." In order to get the hang of it I've mown the back lawn and a swath in the orchard. I have used the fresh cut to feed my rams - they seem happy enough with it as they have now little to forage on in the current enclosure they are in.

Yet another quite cold Spring - very wet with over 7 inches of rain last month alone and we continue to struggle to get even a couple of days in the upper 50s. As a result the grass in the pastures has been slow to come on, alas. I worry that we'll jump from that to an excessively hot summer - putting the grass into heat dormancy before we can get a good 3 months grazing out of it. We'll see.

The scythe is a good tool for the 2 acres or so of productive grass growing land we have. It can reach corners where even my small tractor can't get into, and rather than mulching the mown grass it lays it over into windrows and thus we can make hay rather simply and easily when desired. It requires little strength, is quiet, and needs no gasoline. I suspect you could manage easily 5 or more acres of pastureland/hayland with two good hands experienced with a scythe. With a little better management I could probably put up a fair amount of loose hay for the Fall period and only have to buy winter feed farther into November for the breeding stock, to last until about March 1.

This year I need to manage slaughter and sales so that I can do breeding a little earlier and push lambing into late Feb. This will reduce Fall feed purchasing and impact to the land and get the timing right for the new lambs in Spring for our usual grass production.

For Those Who are Far Off

2011-04-08T13:03:00.000-07:00

I was much edified to be able to attend the reading of story of Abba Zosimas and St. Mary of Egypt, together with the service of the Canon of St. Andrew of Crete.

I was reminded of the publican, standing far off, casting his eyes to the ground - and of the words of St. Paul regarding those who were "far off" - the Gentiles - being drawn near to the Presence by the blood of Jesus Christ, and being made one body with those near, through the cross. See Eph. 2.

Tonight the Akathist will be sung in full.

Much is happening in the world - thievery and war; poisoning of earth, sky and water.

But there is only this One Truth.

- Pax

Please pray for the people of North Africa, the Levant, and Arabian Peninsula

2011-02-01T12:21:00.000-08:00

Revolution is sweeping the Arabic-speaking world in a ripple effect, and causing the collapse of governments.

This may be good in the long term generally. However, whether any of this change bodes well for Arabic-speaking Christians in the region is doubtful.

In the short term - chaos may ensue and we should keep people in our prayers. Some are hungry, many are hopeful, but also probably afraid of the unknowable future.

Would that our Fed Chief Were So Forthright

2011-01-28T08:37:00.001-08:00

Plain talk from the Bank of England's chief.

Hang on to your hats - it's gonna get bumpy.

I am taking a hiatus from here for a bit. You can follow my other not so-well-tended blog here.

May He Who rose from the dead, Christ our True God, through the prayers of His mother, the Theotokos and ever-virgin Mary, keep you.

I'm sure I'll be back here posting some times, unless they turn out the lights at blogger.

-Pax

In Honor of St. Hilary's Day - 13 January

2011-01-13T13:23:00.000-08:00

"Keep this piety of my faith undefiled, I beseech you, and let this be the utterance of my convictions even to the last breath of my spirit: that I may always hold fast to that which I profess in the creed of my regeneration when I was baptized in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, namely, that I may adore you, our Father, and your Son together with you, and that I may gain the favor of your Holy Spirit who is from you through the only-begotten. He is a suitable witness for my faith who says: 'Father, all things that are mine are thine, and thine are mine,' my Lord Jesus Christ, who always abides as God in you, from you and with you who is blessed forever and ever. Amen."

-- St. Hilary of Poitiers

Cheap Oil and the Orthodox Churches in North America

2011-01-13T08:50:00.000-08:00

Excuse this rather odd post, but I've been thinking about these things quite a bit - right use of "energy slaves" as some call them, and how that affects the distribution and growth/health of the Orthodox Churches in North America.

The closest Orthodox Christian parish of any kind to me is about 15 miles away. A full day's journey or more by horse drawn wagon (there's a rather sizeable river in between). It happens to be an Old Believer community. I'm not probably welcome.

The next closest parish to me is approximately 16-17 miles. For various reasons for now I do not attend this parish, although I may in the future. My parish is approximately 35 miles away - meaning a round trip for each service of about 70 miles.

My friend/correspondent John over at Notes From a Commonplace Book used to drive, I believe, as much as two hours one way to his parish once upon a time. He can correct me if I'm wrong.

This is not unusual, especially in the West where the numbers and spacing of Orthodox parishes is spotty at best.

All of this is possible through the miracle of cheap oil - the wonder substance of the age.

While many have scoffed over the years at the idea of "peak oil" and the effects of a declining supply of oil and gas in the face of growing demand, one must sit up and pay attention when (1) the US Department of Energy commissioned an analysis, which resulted in some grim findings in 2005 (the Hirsch Report); (2) The International Energy Agency (Paris), long resistant to ever mentioning the words "peak oil," now report in their 2010 World Energy Outlook that crud oil production probably peaked, in fact, in 2006, while global oil production of all sorts will peak and start to fall somewhere between 2020 and 2035!; and finally, the US Joint Forces Command, a functional unified command (as opposed to geographical, such as CENTCOM or PACOM), issued it Joint Operating Environment 2010 estimate addressing future trends and risks of concern to joint force military commanders which highlighted the concerns of peak oil and growing energy demand.

Notably in the JFCOM JOE are these chilling statements:

"[P]etroleum must continue to satisfy most of the demand for energy out to 2030. Assuming the most optimistic scenario for improved petroleum production through enhanced recovery means, the development of non-conventional oils (such as oil shales or tar sands) and new discoveries, petroleum production will be hard pressed to meet the expected future demand of 118 million barrels per day.

. . .

A severe energy crunch is inevitable without a massive expansion of production and refining capacity. While it is difficult to predict precisely what economic, political, and strategic effects such a shortfall might produce, it surely would reduce the prospects for growth in both the developing and developed worlds. Such an economic slowdown would exacerbate other unresolved tensions, push fragile and failing states further down the path toward collapse, and perhaps have serious economic impact on both China and India. At best, it would lead to periods of harsh economic adjustment. To what extent conservation measures, investments in alternative energy production, and efforts to expand petroleum production from tar sands and shale would mitigate such a period of adjustment is difficult to predict. One should not forget that the Great Depression spawned a number of totalitarian regimes that sought economic prosperity for their nations by ruthless conquest."

I will leave to the reader to consider other sources regarding these matters, and the various data that such sources provide. It is enough to say here that all that you and I take for granted - our lights, our grocery-bought food, our lovely cell phones, our drive to our parish to sing praises to our Lord, have come in the last 60-70 years, at least, from the glory of cheap oil, for which there are questionable replacements, and none of which portend that life will go on as "business as usual."

So what? So what has this to do with Orthodox North America? Well, frankly, we go to church and have parishes based on this very model of the assumption of the availability of cheap oil, enabling us to afford the cars (each new tire takes about 22 gallons of oil to produce, a retread takes about 7 - not to mind the oil-based energy to build your car, to make the plastics in it, and the shipping energy costs to get it to the lot, maintenance it and run it) which allow us to whisk over and back to the parish.

So what happens if (some will say - when) in the not very distant future (some will say quite a bit sooner - perhaps this decade) the price to obtain the fuels and parts to provide these wonderful transportation options becomes so unrealistic that one cannot make these sorts of travels? While I don't believe cars will go away - they may become a decided luxury.

How should we order the establishment and growth of parishes to reflect these sorts of energy estimates. Or to put it another way, should we really start thinking about parishes serving a much smaller area and focusing on their local neighborhoods? What do we do for parishioners that are quite distant from their parishes - not uncommon in rural America. What resources can we start providing now to support them, and possibly help grow small Orthodox communities that may not be able to support a priest full time. Should priests start becoming circuit riders rather than parishioners converging in their cars on a central parish location?

On a personal level, I've though a lot about right use of resources in going to parish. While "conservation concerns" should not be used as an excuse for not attending church at this time, as fuels are still cheap - there is something to be said for the idea that whether or not we have abundant oil - we are quite wasteful in our culture as it relates to energy use and this does not seem to be the way in which we should be stewards of our resources. I have thought that perhaps, at minimum, I should be going to a closer parish for now and cutting half the miles traveled off, not to mention time. The other option, of course, is to move close to the parish simply to be close to the parish. This is not an option for a lot of people in some rural communities in America since, even to be "close" entails considerable distance.

Much like the local food movement and such, I think we need to really think about local parishes in future - or proto parishes. The density of Orthodox parishes, especially in the West, is so low that perhaps we need to address local small gatherings (readers services) that are supplemented perhaps by trips to the nearest parish for feast days and other opportunities. Looking to the history of the Church in Alaska may provide good instruction in how this has been done where there is low density and distant populations. Beyond that, however, is the need to have the Orthodox Church be "where you are at now" - two or more gathered and all that.

The Age of Cheap Oil is coming to an end. Whether, in decades to come, we have the sufficient investment that advances in fusion or other alternative electricity production comes along sufficient to divert fossil fuels more fully to transportation fuels and "hang on" for a while happens is unclear. But nevertheless, whatever that future, we need to sow seeds now for looking at our little local communities around us, not gathering parishioners by crossing "sea and land" for a single proselyte. The fields are close by.

There is a movement out and about, getting some air time with local governments, called the Transition Movement. I find their model interesting, but troubling and perhaps unrealistic in some respects. However, it does provide interesting food for thought insofar as we think about how we "do church" (sorry for the cliche!), especially in the Western US, and how we might do things differently.

In all things, I do not wish here to suggest that the reason for doing these things is primarily to conserve energy. Rather, I suggest that we may find ourselves, perforce, cut off from regularly getting to those rather distant parishes for spiritual food and forced to reconsider how we are evangelizing. Perhaps we should think now how we take care of our fellows and prepare them. Perhaps in doing so, we can build a more "resilient" church and "resilient" parishioners (to borrow a Transition Movement term that's bandied about) that ensures that our brethren have the tools and resources to address such situations. In the process, perhaps also we can be better stewards of our resources, and divert saved resources of time and money to our local community, spreading the seed of the Gospel locally.

To me such as task is challenging and frightening. But perhaps it will be thrust upon us nonetheless.

The use of land

2011-01-04T08:21:00.000-08:00

I have read estimates along this order:

1. The average American requires about 24 acres worth of land productivity to produce all the food, textile, wood, and similar land products, produce energy, and manage the garbage that he or she consumes in life.

By comparison, the average available land on the planet per person is something less than 5.

You can run a "footprint" that meets some international ecological footprint standards on "earthday.org"

*The model obviously has some biases, at least for North America - for example I suspect the presumption if I eat meat is that it's coming from some sort of factory/industrial-based production (with the resultant energy inputs) when, in fact, we each much of our own meat grown right on our little acreage. But, even so, the real consumption is in petro-based or supported things like cars, airplanes, and electricity (we have a lot of hyro-power here, but still the support, transmission, distribution, and access and parts to maintain those points is supported by fleets of trucks moving goods and services hither and thither).

2. Another estimate is that it takes about 9-10 acres of land to support the average New Yorker - even though they don't have the land and it's "out of sight" to them, it's still necessary. That's some "food for thought."

Time's a-comin' when this unsustainable life of luxury will finally bite us in the @ss. Some suggest the next 10 - 20 years.

Misc. Ramblings - cont'd

2011-01-01T17:08:00.000-08:00

originally started before Christmas, A.D. 2010

I haven't posted much in a while. I have been spiritually dry and frustrated by the reality of all our frail institutions, religious and otherwise. While knowing to put no trust in princes, one still remains disappointed, even if not surprised.

I had to make a trip to California recently. I picked up a book: World Made By Hand from the used book bin. In a sort of post-apocalyptic vein, the book recites the tale of a man and his community in Upstate New York after society has collapsed in the U.S. following several economic catastrophes, terrorist bombings, and loss of access to oil byproducts for most of the population.

It was a good enough tale for the flight - and while perhaps unrealistic insofar as people are probably better able to generate electricity than the book will admit (also it simply gets a bit odd in places), and to figure out radio/telegraph, and similar transmissions to keep in touch, it nevertheless was a good vehicle to think about how different life could be in short order in this country - on the whole more like Iraq or Yemen or Afghanistan or other places in the world. How would we do if stripped of our technologies and wealth that allow us to hop flights hither and yon?

The world is quite unsettled right now - North Korea, economic catastrophe still looming in the EU, terrorist threats - low level, but sensational - and the as-yet unintended and unknowable social consequences arising from the Wikileaks battles between governments, hackers, multinationals and their various proxies. In a striking reversal of business as usual, the International Energy Agency (Paris) now says peak oil probably occurred in 2006. The Executive Summary of the IEA's World Energy Outlook for 2010 is sober reading. In the meantime, most tune out and watch episodes of Palin's Alaska, or the Sing Off, or It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, or some such. We fiddle away madly.

For the Orthodox, we trouble ourselves with the shenanigans of ecclesiatical politics while not attending to the real troubles pressing the most unfortunate of the world: sickness, starvation, and spiritual malaise. I am guilty of this.

I am not sure what to make of it all. My thoughts on "agrarianism" are posted here. In the end I do not put my trust in human ingenuity, government bailouts. Our help comes from one Holy Source, in Trinity - Father, Son and Holy Spirit, one in Essence and Undivided.

With that said, doubts trouble me - how shall an Orthodox Christian live in our times to come. I drive at least an hour each way to my parish now, at speeds which would astound our ancestors. What if energy costs "prohibit" that travel? Is it even good stewardship to make such trips now?

In the absence of making such trips to a parish, what does one do? Reader's services they say. But Orthodoxy is no Book of Common Prayer practice. In some ways I like the old BCP for it's ability have a great deal in one volume you can plunk in a satchel with a bible and off you go. But this does not reach to the level of Orthodox wisdom contained in the Church's services. Frankly one might need several such books in order to appropriately cover what richness a reader's service could give over times and seasons. Any suggestions from readers out there? What really is the basic library for a year's worth of reader's services?

I leave you with a couple of links for you to consider. I do not prophecy. But I think, whether our oil is going to run out or not, it's simply wise to think about what happens to us in the next 15 to 30 years if our Lord should tarry. What is our proper lifestyle, as Christians. We, in North America, live the life cheap oil has given us much like the next man. I know the irony of saying anything about this whilst typing on a machine built by the oil economy, hooked to an energy grid supported by the same. Nevertheless . . . for your consideration:

16 minutes of your time

60 minutes of your time

These are 'secular' concerns, indeed. But with food price riots in Algiers this week, one does have to what changes we should make as a matter of recognizing we are expending wealth constantly in this oil economy, to the detriment often of others in the world.

-Pax

Behold a New and Wonderous Mystery

2010-12-25T10:33:00.000-08:00

Homily on the Nativity of the Lord
By St. John Chrysostom

BEHOLD a new and wondrous mystery.

My ears resound to the Shepherd’s song, piping no soft melody, but chanting full forth a heavenly hymn. The Angels sing. The Archangels blend their voice in harmony. The Cherubim hymn their joyful praise. The Seraphim exalt His glory. All join to praise this holy feast, beholding the Godhead here on earth, and man in heaven. He Who is above, now for our redemption dwells here below; and he that was lowly is by divine mercy raised.

Bethlehem this day resembles heaven; hearing from the stars the singing of angelic voices; and in place of the sun, enfolds within itself on every side, the Sun of justice. And ask not how: for where God wills, the order of nature yields. For He willed; He had the power; He descended; He redeemed; all things yielded in obedience to God. This day He Who is, is Born; and He Who is, becomes what He was not. For when He was God, He became man; yet not departing from the Godhead that is His. Nor yet by any loss of divinity became He man, nor through increase became He God from man; but being the Word He became flesh, His nature, because of impassability, remaining unchanged.

And so the kings have come, and they have seen the heavenly King that has come upon the earth, not bringing with Him Angels, nor Archangels, nor Thrones, nor Dominations, nor Powers, nor Principalities, but, treading a new and solitary path, He has come forth from a spotless womb.

Since this heavenly birth cannot be described, neither does His coming amongst us in these days permit of too curious scrutiny. Though I know that a Virgin this day gave birth, and I believe that God was begotten before all time, yet the manner of this generation I have learned to venerate in silence and I accept that this is not to be probed too curiously with wordy speech.

For with God we look not for the order of nature, but rest our faith in the power of Him who works.

What shall I say to you; what shall I tell you? I behold a Mother who has brought forth; I see a Child come to this light by birth. The manner of His conception I cannot comprehend.

Nature here rested, while the Will of God labored. O ineffable grace! The Only Begotten, Who is before all ages, Who cannot be touched or be perceived, Who is simple, without body, has now put on my body, that is visible and liable to corruption. For what reason? That coming amongst us he may teach us, and teaching, lead us by the hand to the things that men cannot see. For since men believe that the eyes are more trustworthy than the ears, they doubt of that which they do not see, and so He has deigned to show Himself in bodily presence, that He may remove all doubt.

Christ, finding the holy body and soul of the Virgin, builds for Himself a living temple, and as He had willed, formed there a man from the Virgin; and, putting Him on, this day came forth; unashamed of the lowliness of our nature.

For it was to Him no lowering to put on what He Himself had made. Let that handiwork be forever glorified, which became the cloak of its own Creator. For as in the first creation of flesh, man could not be made before the clay had come into His hand, so neither could this corruptible body be glorified, until it had first become the garment of its Maker.

What shall I say! And how shall I describe this Birth to you? For this wonder fills me with astonishment. The Ancient of days has become an infant. He Who sits upon the sublime and heavenly Throne, now lies in a manger. And He Who cannot be touched, Who is simple, without complexity, and incorporeal, now lies subject to the hands of men. He Who has broken the bonds of sinners, is now bound by an infants bands. But He has decreed that ignominy shall become honor, infamy be clothed with glory, and total humiliation the measure of His Goodness.

For this He assumed my body, that I may become capable of His Word; taking my flesh, He gives me His spirit; and so He bestowing and I receiving, He prepares for me the treasure of Life. He takes my flesh, to sanctify me; He gives me His Spirit that He may save me.

Come, then, let us observe the Feast. Truly wondrous is the whole chronicle of the Nativity. For this day the ancient slavery is ended, the devil confounded, the demons take to flight, the power of death is broken, paradise is unlocked, the curse is taken away, sin is removed from us, error driven out, truth has been brought back, the speech of kindliness diffused, and spreads on every side, a heavenly way of life has been ¡in planted on the earth, angels communicate with men without fear, and men now hold speech with angels.

Why is this? Because God is now on earth, and man in heaven; on every side all things commingle. He became Flesh. He did not become God. He was God. Wherefore He became flesh, so that He Whom heaven did not contain, a manger would this day receive. He was placed in a manger, so that He, by whom all things arc nourished, may receive an infants food from His Virgin Mother. So, the Father of all ages, as an infant at the breast, nestles in the virginal arms, that the Magi may more easily see Him. Since this day the Magi too have come, and made a beginning of withstanding tyranny; and the heavens give glory, as the Lord is revealed by a star.

To Him, then, Who out of confusion has wrought a clear path, to Christ, to the Father, and to the Holy Spirit, we offer all praise, now and forever. Amen.

MERS Debacle

2010-12-14T16:57:00.000-08:00

I don't discuss economic issues much, but these last months have seen the development of some very significant issues. While the press and the various State's AG's talk about 'Robo-signers' (a problem to be sure), there is another quiet disaster going on.

This is an opinion piece of my own:

If you have not heard of the MERS crisis, do not be surprised - it is but one of the many quiet disasters going on in our economy.

It's gotten some airplay, but it's probably too bewilderingly technical for most to spend some time with.

Basically, MERS was established in approximately 1993 so that big banks could have Mortgage Brokers "lend money" and quickly transfer the mortgages around without further recording of various assignments so that this "mortgage paper" could be directed into certain mortgage-paper-backed investment certificate vehicles sold to investors.

Several courts are now questioning the whole house of cards as having blown traditional land law regarding transfer of mortgages and bringing into question the validity of a huge number of foreclosures, as well as transfers of mortgage-paper into these investment vehicles.

In many cases (one quoted from the Kansas Supreme Court at length below), the problem is that MERS seems to have gotten the promissory note separated from the mortgage

Here's the scenario background, as described by one court (sorry for the lengthy quote):

The mortgage instrument states that MERS functions "solely as nominee" for the lender and lender's successors and assigns. The word "nominee" is defined nowhere in the mortgage document, and the functional relationship between MERS and the lender is likewise not defined. In the absence of a contractual definition, the parties leave the definition to judicial interpretation.

What meaning is this court to attach to MERS's designation as nominee for Millennia? The parties appear to have defined the word in much the same way that the blind men of Indian legend described an elephant--their description depended on which part they were touching at any given time. Counsel for Sovereign stated to the trial court that MERS holds the mortgage "in street name, if you will, and our client the bank and other banks transfer these mortgages and rely on MERS to provide them with notice of foreclosures and what not." He later stated that the nominee "is the mortgagee and is holding that mortgage for somebody else." At another time he declared on the record that the nominee

"is more like a trustee or more like a corporation, a trustee that has multiple beneficiaries. Now a nominee's relationship is not a trust but if you have multiple beneficiaries you don't serve one of the beneficiaries you serve the trustee of the trust. You serve the agent of the corporation."

Counsel for the auction property purchasers stated that a nominee is "one designated to act for another as his representative in a rather limited sense." He later deemed a nominee to be "like a power of attorney."

Black's Law Dictionary defines a nominee as "[a] person designated to act in place of another, usu. in a very limited way" and as "[a] party who holds bare legal title for the benefit of others or who receives and distributes funds for the benefit of others." Black's Law Dictionary 1076 (8th ed. 2004). This definition suggests that a nominee possesses few or no legally enforceable rights beyond those of a principal whom the nominee serves.

In its opinion below, the Court of Appeals cited Thompson v. Meyers, 211 Kan. 26, 30, 505 P.2d 680 (1973), which provides the only discussion in Kansas of the legal significance of a nominee:

"In common parlance the word 'nominee' has more than one meaning. Much depends on the frame of reference in which it is used. In Webster's Third New International Dictionary, unabridged, one of the definitions given is 'a person named as the recipient in an annuity or grant.' We view a 'nominee', as the term was used by the parties here, not simply in the sense of a straw man or limited agent. . . , but in the larger sense of a person designated by them to purchase the real estate, who would possess all the rights given a buyer . . . ."

The legal status of a nominee, then, depends on the context of the relationship of the nominee to its principal. Various courts have interpreted the relationship of MERS and the lender as an agency relationship. See In re Sheridan, ___ B.R. ___, 2009 WL 631355, at *4 (Bankr. D. Idaho March 12, 2009) (MERS "acts not on its own account. Its capacity is representative."); Mortgage Elec. Registration System, Inc. v. Southwest, ___ Ark. ___, ___, ___ S.W.3d ___, 2009 WL 723182 (March 19, 2009) ("MERS, by the terms of the deed of trust, and its own stated purposes, was the lender's agent"); LaSalle Bank Nat. Ass'n v. Lamy, 2006 WL 2251721, at *2 (N.Y. Sup. 2006) (unpublished opinion) ("A nominee of the owner of a note and mortgage may not effectively assign the note and mortgage to another for want of an ownership interest in said note and mortgage by the nominee.")

The relationship that MERS has to Sovereign is more akin to that of a straw man than to a party possessing all the rights given a buyer. A mortgagee and a lender have intertwined rights that defy a clear separation of interests, especially when such a purported separation relies on ambiguous contractual language. The law generally understands that a mortgagee is not distinct from a lender: a mortgagee is "[o]ne to whom property is mortgaged: the mortgage creditor, or lender." Black's Law Dictionary 1034 (8th ed. 2004). By statute, assignment of the mortgage carries with it the assignment of the debt. K.S.A. 58-2323. Although MERS asserts that, under some situations, the mortgage document purports to give it the same rights as the lender, the document consistently refers only to rights of the lender, including rights to receive notice of litigation, to collect payments, and to enforce the debt obligation. The document consistently limits MERS to acting "solely" as the nominee of the lender.

Indeed, in the event that a mortgage loan somehow separates interests of the note and the deed of trust, with the deed of trust lying with some independent entity, the mortgage may become unenforceable.

"The practical effect of splitting the deed of trust from the promissory note is to make it impossible for the holder of the note to foreclose, unless the holder of the deed of trust is the agent of the holder of the note. [Citation omitted.] Without the agency relationship, the person holding only the note lacks the power to foreclose in the event of default. The person holding only the deed of trust will never experience default because only the holder of the note is entitled to payment of the underlying obligation. [Citation omitted.] The mortgage loan becomes ineffectual when the note holder did not also hold the deed of trust." Bellistri v. Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC, 284 S.W.3d 619, 623 (Mo. App. 2009).

The Missouri court found that, because MERS was not the original holder of the promissory note and because the record contained no evidence that the original holder of the note authorized MERS to transfer the note, the language of the assignment purporting to transfer the promissory note was ineffective. "MERS never held the promissory note, thus its assignment of the deed of trust to Ocwen separate from the note had no force." 284 S.W.3d at 624; see also In re Wilhelm, 407 B.R. 392 (Bankr. D. Idaho 2009) (standard mortgage note language does not expressly or implicitly authorize MERS to transfer the note); In re Vargas, 396 B.R. 511, 517 (Bankr. C.D. Cal. 2008) ("[I]f FHM has transferred the note, MERS is no longer an authorized agent of the holder unless it has a separate agency contract with the new undisclosed principal. MERS presents no evidence as to who owns the note, or of any authorization to act on behalf of the present owner."); Saxon Mortgage Services, Inc. v. Hillery, 2008 WL 5170180 (N.D. Cal. 2008) (unpublished opinion) ("[F]or there to be a valid assignment, there must be more than just assignment of the deed alone; the note must also be assigned. . . . MERS purportedly assigned both the deed of trust and the promissory note. . . . However, there is no evidence of record that establishes that MERS either held the promissory note or was given the authority . . . to assign the note.").

What stake in the outcome of an independent action for foreclosure could MERS have? It did not lend the money to Kesler or to anyone else involved in this case. Neither Kesler nor anyone else involved in the case was required by statute or contract to pay money to MERS on the mortgage. See Sheridan, ___ B.R. at ___ ("MERS is not an economic 'beneficiary' under the Deed of Trust. It is owed and will collect no money from Debtors under the Note, nor will it realize the value of the Property through foreclosure of the Deed of Trust in the event the Note is not paid."). If MERS is only the mortgagee, without ownership of the mortgage instrument, it does not have an enforceable right. See Vargas, 396 B.R. 517 ("[w]hile the note is 'essential,' the mortgage is only 'an incident' to the note" [quoting Carpenter v. Longan, 16 Wall. 271, 83 U.S. 271, 275, 21 L. Ed 313 (1872)]).

When it found that MERS did not have an interest in the property that was impaired by the default judgment, the trial court properly considered four factors: (1) that the written pleadings and oral arguments by MERS and Sovereign identified MERS as acting only as a digital mortgage tracking service; (2) that counsel for MERS insisted that no evidence of a financial or property interest was necessary and its argument rested solely on its identity as the mortgagee on the mortgage document, when counsel was directly challenged to produce evidence of a financial or property interest; (3) that evidence showed that Sovereign was on notice that Landmark had leave of the bankruptcy court to proceed with foreclosure and that MERS did not attempt to intervene in the action until after its alleged principal, Sovereign, had already had its motion to intervene and to set aside judgment denied; and (4) that the case law submitted by the parties weighed more in favor of denying the motion. These factors were properly before the trial court and were consistent with the evidence and supported the court's legal reasoning.

Counsel for MERS explicitly declined to demonstrate to the trial court a tangible interest in the mortgage. Parties are bound by the formal admissions of their counsel in an action. Dick v. Drainage District No. 2, 187 Kan. 520, 525, 358 P.2d 744 (1961). Counsel for MERS made no attempt to show any injury to MERS resulting from the lack of service; in fact, counsel insisted that it did not have to show a financial or property interest.

MERS argued in another forum that it is not authorized to engage in the practices that would make it a party to either the enforcement of mortgages or the transfer of mortgages. In Mortgage Elec. Reg. Sys. v. Nebraska Dept. of Banking, 270 Neb. 529, 704 N.W.2d 784 (2005), MERS challenged an administrative finding that it was a mortgage banker subject to license and registration requirements.

The Nebraska Supreme Court found in favor of MERS, noting that "MERS has no independent right to collect on any debt because MERS itself has not extended credit, and none of the mortgage debtors owe MERS any money." 270 Neb. at 535. The Nebraska court reached this conclusion based on the submissions by counsel for MERS that

"MERS does not take applications, underwrite loans, make decisions on whether to extend credit, collect mortgage payments, hold escrows for taxes and insurance, or provide any loan servicing functions whatsoever. MERS merely tracks the ownership of the lien and is paid for its services through membership fees charged to its members. MERS does not receive compensation from consumers." 270 Neb. at 534.

Even if MERS was technically entitled to notice and service in the initial foreclosure action--an issue that we do not decide at this time--we are not compelled to conclude that the trial court abused its discretion in denying the motions to vacate default judgment and require joinder of MERS and Sovereign. The record lacks evidence supporting a claim that MERS suffered prejudice and would have had a meritorious defense had it been joined as a defendant to the foreclosure action. We find that the trial court did not abuse its discretion and did not commit reversible error in ruling on the postdefault motions.

We note that various arguments were presented suggesting that economic policy provides independent grounds for reversing the trial court. MERS and the amicus curiae American Land Title Association argue that MERS provides a cost-efficient method of tracking mortgage transactions without the complications of county-by-county registration and title searches. The amicus suggests the statutory recording system is grounded in seventeenth-century property law that is entirely unsuited to twentieth-century financial transactions. While this may be true, the MERS system introduces its own problems and complications.

One such problem is that having a single front man, or nominee, for various financial institutions makes it difficult for mortgagors and other institutions to determine the identity of the current note holder.

"[I]t is not uncommon for notes and mortgages to be assigned, often more than once. When the role of a servicing agent acting on behalf of a mortgagee is thrown into the mix, it is no wonder that it is often difficult for unsophisticated borrowers to be certain of the identity of their lenders and mortgagees." In re Schwartz, 366 B.R. 265, 266 (Bankr. D. Mass. 2007).

"[T]he practices of the various MERS members, including both [the original lender] and [the mortgage purchaser], in obscuring from the public the actual ownership of a mortgage, thereby creating the opportunity for substantial abuses and prejudice to mortgagors . . . , should not be permitted to insulate [the mortgage purchaser] from the consequences of its actions in accepting a mortgage from [the original lender] that was already the subject of litigation in which [the original lender] erroneously represented that it had authority to act as mortgagee." Johnson, 2008 WL 4182397, at *4.

The amicus argues that "[a] critical function performed by MERS as the mortgagee is the receipt of service of all legal process related to the property." The amicus makes this argument despite the mortgage clause that specifically calls for notice to be given to the lender, not the putative mortgagee. In attempting to circumvent the statutory registration requirement for notice, MERS creates a system in which the public has no notice of who holds the obligation on a mortgage.

The Arkansas Supreme Court has noted:

"The only recorded document provides notice that [the original lender] is the lender and, therefore, MERS's principal. MERS asserts [the original lender] is not its principal. Yet no other lender recorded its interest as an assignee of [the original lender]. Permitting an agent such as MERS purports to be to step in and act without a recorded lender directing its action would wreak havoc on notice in this state." Southwest Homes, ___ Ark. at ___.

In any event, the legislature has established a registration requirement for parties that desire service of notice of litigation involving real property interests. It is not the duty of this court to criticize the legislature or to substitute its view on economic or social policy. Samsel v. Wheeler Transport Services, Inc., 246 Kan. 336, 348, 789 P.2d 541 (1990).

quoted from the aptly named Kansas Supreme Court Landmark case - slip op available here: Opinion

There estimated to be about 60 million mortgages with MERS as nominee in this country. Interestingly, I have seen evidence that MERS and the banks are acting to quickly rectify their errors and have actual recorded assignments done before they start a new foreclosure. I suppose that is good. However, the robotic behavior and strong desire to avoid doing the basic work of recording mortgages in the traditional way continues. I wouldn't be surprised to see some move to nationalize the mortgage recording system, at least for the big National Association type of lenders. There are already numerous laws that exempt such players from otherwise applicable State law requirements about mortgages and trust deeds.

The big problem is really with loans made in the (very roughly) 2004-2007 timeframe. And the problem isn't, sadly, as much with the poor borrowers who will ultimately get foreclosed. It's with the investors in the securitized investment vehicles who are waking up to realize that the trusts that are supposed to be holding certain mortgage paper may not be holding anything because transfers weren't done properly. This may give a right for the trust to "put back" the asset to the banks and demand the investors money back - something the banks simply can't swallow because it would mean yet another round of disaster.

Here is an article which covers most of the basics of the investor problem:

Businessweek Article

So is the economy going to rebound? My bet is, not yet. I think there's a lot of hot air to be let out yet.

Reprise - A Man's a man for a' that - or a reminder to those who chafe under foibles of those in power

2010-10-31T22:42:00.000-07:00

For Owen

Rent-a-Friend

2010-10-05T08:19:00.001-07:00

An article I saw posted on BBC News:

Rent A Friend

It may not be the end of time, but it's certainly the end of something when these sorts of things are in vogue.

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In brighter news, the fogs and fall slanting sun have intermixed and leaves are slowly changing. Sheep are sheared in preparation for fall breeding and, for some, fall slaughter. Up the road, the vignerons are about ready to harvest [aside - Blogger doesn't know how to spell "vignerons"]. Walnuts are about ready to fall and acorn squash are ripening fast, although the deer have wreaked havoc on much of the tender acorn squash crop, surprisingly.

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Truly St. Paul was right about marriage:

32 But I want you to be without care. He who is unmarried cares for the things of the Lord—how he may please the Lord. 33 But he who is married cares about the things of the world—how he may please his wife. 34 There is a difference between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman cares about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. But she who is married cares about the things of the world—how she may please her husband. 35 And this I say for your own profit, not that I may put a leash on you, but for what is proper, and that you may serve the Lord without distraction.

1st Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians, Ch. 7

Misc. Rambling - Tommy Jarrell - NC - and Irishmen

2010-09-03T08:48:00.000-07:00

As you know, I am an Orthodox Christian by adoption (we are all Christians by adoption, of course). While I have affinity for my Arabic-speaking brethren and love them, having spoken Arabic for 20 years and lived and worked in the Gulf, I am nonetheless a son of this land. My people on my father's fathers' side came to this land in the mid-1600s from the low countries; my father's mother's fathers' people were Irish, homesteading in Illinois before the Civil War, and my grandfather's mother was a Scot. My wife's fathers' people were probably Konomihu/Shastan, and probably interrelated with the Karuk.

Thus, the Byzantine rite remains somewhat alien to me, though nonetheless beautiful. But my own family history makes me wonder, how will Orthodoxy fare and how will it be expressed in different corners of this country? Will we see a unique face such as we have seen in the Arabic-speaking, Romanian-speaking, Russian-speaking, and Greek-speaking cultures? The closest I've ever seen to this is a couple of fairly old Greek Orthodox parishes in South and North Carolina - although at least one of these was both extremely Greek and Carolinian - not having a good Greek name was a distinct disadvantage.

I lived for several years in North Carolina and Virginia, and came to love the sense of place that can be found there. To be sure, the last time I visited, there has been some change wrought by the ever-increasing sameness brought about by the leviathan forces of strip malls, technological uniformity, and tv, but the Southeast still is a very rural corner of the country, in ways different from the rural West that I call home.

I think that until we are honest in our Orthodox faith, we will not find it expressed in a way that embraces the beauty to be found in our traditional cultures (fast dying though they are), whether that be in Spanish-speaking corners of Texas, frost-bitten expanses of the Badlands of North (yes - I said North) and South Dakota, or the hollows of North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee. In parts of the country we are probably finding this, but we must both be careful to avoid thinking in terms of "essentials" and also to avoid imposing a McOrthodoxy version of Orthodoxy which imposes such a sameness that there is no local flavor.

I love the music of western North Carolina, as it hearkens to my Irish and Scot side.

Do you think one day we might see an Orthodox "festival" at a parish where this sort of music is being played in the parking lot after liturgy?

Maybe Fr. Stephen is already doing that?

Tommy Jarrell:

And a lovely lady flat-footing with some Irish musicians and Tommy Jarrell.

Pray for Syria's farmers

2010-08-28T11:31:00.000-07:00

Please read this news article.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11114261

Lord, have mercy.

Miscellaneous ramblings - continued

2010-08-23T09:52:00.001-07:00

More bad news for the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese in North America - for all practical purposes our "diocesan" bishops continue to be considered auxiliary in fact and by decree - thus we are served by only one proper bishop - the Metropolitan. Moreover, despite some brave efforts by a few, and desire (but not bravery) by others, to reform financial reporting and appointments to the Bd. of Trustees, these efforts have been subverted.

The question, for Orthodox Christians in the Antiochian jurisdiction, is what to do. There is a strong temptation on my own part to act to "cleanse the temple." But until I cleanse the temple of my own spirit and body, I will have little success and indeed, the desire is one borne more out of pride.

In Matthew 23:2 Jesus tells the listeners in the temple:

"The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat; so practice and observe whatever they tell you, but not what they do; for the preach, but do not practice."

I think this is good advice even now (of course it is, coming from the Son of Man!). Rather than seek to drive out those who sit in Moses' seat, we can (obediently) observe what they preach (that is - Jesus words - if they preach another gospel that is another matter), but not what they do.

We must, as my friend Romanos constantly reminds us, do what we see Jesus doing (not the cliche WWJD style, but honest efforts to "put on Christ" - to imitate Christ - to be like him). If we cleanse the temple of our own spirits, this nonsense will soon pass away - in 10 years, in 2, maybe in 100, but it will not last against the inexorable Will.

In the meantime, what I will endeavor to do is seek for fiscal responsibility and transparency at the local parish level pursuant to local nonprofit corporate law under which the local parish is organized; and, as much as is reasonably possible, to make most contributions "in kind" to the parish (foodstuffs for the priest's family, etc.) and specifically earmark monetary contributions in such a way as to avoid financing Englewood - for I cannot trust where this money goes. It may go to support Hizbollah (through many indirect means), or the Syrian regime, or simply to line pockets of graft. It may go to wholly worthy causes. However, being unable to reasonably ascertain where the money goes, I will personally exercise discretion in contributions.

Moreover, money can be spent locally more effectively, and personal work in support of the Kingdom is better for the soul than throwing cash at some charity far off that I know little enough about. There are hungry and cold people right here.

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For a friend in the Santa Clara area:

CS Lewis wrote:

"I used to ask how on earth it [faith] can be a virtue -- what is there moral or immoral about believing or not believing a set of statements? Obviously, I used to say, a sane man accepts or rejects any statement, not because he wants to or does not want to, but because the evidence seems to him good or bad. If he were mistaken about the goodness or badness of the evidence that would not mean he was a bad man, but only that he was not very clever. And if he thought the evidence bad but tried to force himself to believe in spite of it, that would be merely stupid.

Well, I think I still take that view. But what I did not see then -- and a good many people do not see still -- was this. I was assuming that if the human mind once accepts a thing as true it will automatically go on regarding it as true, until some real reason for reconsidering it turns up. In fact, I was assuming that the human mind is completely ruled by reason. But this is not so. . . .

. . . I am not asking anyone to accept Christianity if his best reasoning tells him that the weight of evidence is against it. That is not the point at which Faith comes in. But supposing a man's reason once decides that the weight of the evidence is for it. I can tell that man what is going to happen to him in the next few weeks. There will come a moment when there is bad news, or he is in trouble, or is living among a lot of other people who do not believe it, and all at once his emotions will rise up and carry out a sort of blitz on his belief. Or else there will come a moment when he wants a woman, or wants to tell a lie, or feels very pleased with himself, or sees a chance of making a little money in some way that is not perfectly fair: some moment, in fact, at which it would be very convenient if Christianity were not true. And once again, his wishes and desires will carry out a blitz. I am not talking of moments at which any real new reasons against Christianity turn up. Those have to be faced and that is a different matter. . . .

. . . That is why Faith is such a necessary virtue: unless you teach your moods 'where they get off', you can never be either a sound Christian or even a sound atheist, but just a creature dithering to and fro, with its beliefs really dependent on the weather and the state of its digestion. Consequently one must train the habit of Faith.

The first step is to recognise the fact that your moods change. The next is to make sure that, if you have once accepted Christianity, then some of its main doctrines shall be deliberately held before your mind for some time every day. That is why daily prayers and religious readings and church-going are necessary parts of the Christian life. We have to be continually reminded of what we believe. Neither this belief nor any other will automatically remain alive in the mind. It must be fed. And as a matter of fact, if you examined a hundred people who had lost their faith in Christianity, I wonder how many of them would turn out to have been reasoned out of it by honest argument? Do not most people simply drift away?

- Mere Christianity, Ch. 11

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I recently had a change to see two wild bison bulls challenge each other in Wyoming. At 35 yards when the two bulls are a bit above you on a bank, it is a terrifying and awesome thing to watch, wondering if one will slide down and crush you or turn and trample you in an effort to escape the victor.

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I had the good fortune of attending Divine Liturgy with one of our local Greek parishes and was much edified.

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On the farm here figs are in season, as are blackberries. Pumpkin is slow to develop this year, as are the plums, but hopefully we will have some pumpkin by mid-to-late October and have plums in a few weeks. Granny Smith apples are pickable now. Our blueberries are almost finished and the first glimmering of fruit on the persimmons (harvested in late November) is visible. Shearing is due, and getting hay in the barn, and then fall slaughter and fall breeding as we prepare for another winter.

Heaven's Cloths

2010-08-11T14:01:00.000-07:00

Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

- Yeats

Words heard "on the street"

2010-07-25T13:55:00.000-07:00

Some things heard in the agora of ideas, and some Holy Scripture -

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Consider who Jesus is. We know that He is fully God. We know that He is rightly called prophet, priest, and king. We know that He not only represents, but in a certain sense is the true and holy Israel of God. It should not be lost on us that God's people are now called "the Body of Christ." This Man who is God walks up to the River Jordan. And what happens? What should we expect to happen? Well, a man who is versed in the Old Testament and who also knows Who this Jesus is might have a very reasonable expectation. In the Old Testament when the people of God, the Israel of God, come up to the waters while running from pharaoh, the waters part. In the OT when the prophet of God comes up to the river Jordan, the waters part. In the OT when the ark of the covenant, which was God present to His people, came to the river Jordan, the waters part. This man well versed in the OT, when seeing Jesus come to the waters should have every expectation that they too will part. Jesus is the fullness of the presence of God, He is the fulfillment of all prophecy, He is the true Israel of God, all people of God are in Him. But the waters do not part. Instead, God enters into the chaos and death of the water, and He is covered. With Christ, all bets are off, the rules of the game have changed. God is now not seeking a people for whom to part waters. He is seeking a community of the drowned.

When you enter through baptism and chrismation the Orthodox faith, and are therefore baptized into Christ, do not think that God is in the business of going about separating waters for you. No, this is not the path you have chosen. You have chosen to hold fast to the One for whom the waters do not part. You die with Him, in Him, through Him, as Him, for Him. Orthodox Christianity is the exact opposite of "health and wealth" spiritual economics, which infects not just Pentecostalism, but much of American Christianity. God will heal whom He will, God will allow the deaths of those whom He will, but in a real and certain sense, friends of God, as those who are the dead in Christ, you have given up any right to claim that God must part waters for you. As Bonhoeffer said, "when Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die." A dead man can claim nothing as his own.

The mystery takes us further. That day not only does Jesus come up to the water and the waters stay still to swallow Him up, but it is this very day that for the first time God reveals Himself in His fullness: Father, Son, Holy Spirit to humankind. The threefold nature of the Godhead is revealed to us at the moment in which God reveals Himself as the God for Whom the waters do not part. In the feast of Theophany we learn that God reveals Himself formally and most clearly in the very midst of human suffering. Indeed, we may even speak with St. Cyril of this mystery of the suffering of the impassible God.

Throughout Christian history so many faithful have been led to seek some sort of magic help potion from God or his agents, or at the very least thought that God would give them a statistical advantage, as if they were a bit more likely to have things go well if God were in their corner. Both are lies. Of course we pray that God bless us, and we have faith that he will. But we may seek blessing in a different spirit when the waters have already passed over our heads. Most Holy Theotokos, joy of all who sorrow, pray for us.

From here.

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Let’s just be honest with ourselves and admit that we never wanted to be saints, if that means to live our earthly lives as though the resurrection of Jesus Christ really happened, and if that further means that we do what He tells us to do.

From here.

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2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
9 Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation, 10 but the rich in his humiliation, because as a flower of the field he will pass away. 11 For no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat than it withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beautiful appearance perishes. So the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits.
12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.
16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. 18 Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of His creatures.
19 So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; 20 for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
21 Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
26 If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is useless. 27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

- Epistle of St. James, Ch. 1 (NKJV)

Vanity of Vanities - all is Vanity

2010-07-19T10:57:00.001-07:00

A line from a song I like goes like this:

At times life's unfair and you know it's plain to see. Hey God, I know I'm just a dot in this world, have you forgot about me? Whatever life brings I've been through everything And now I'm on my knees again

But I know I must go on,
Although I hurt I must be strong,
Because inside I know that many feel this way

++++++++++++

I had occasion to fly to LA recently on a short business trip. I am always amazed at the lack of interest people have in the fact that they are cruising through the heavens faster and higher than any bird, and able to see the world laid out below them in a way that was inaccessible to mankind generally prior to the Jet Age. People are now so immune to wonder that they'd rather think or talk about anything but this incredible marvel of zooming through the heavens.

Flying past cities, particularly as we skirted to the East of the Bay Area and Sacramento, and as we crossed the coast east of Point Conception and the massive megalopolis of the Los Angeles area spread out to our Southeast, I was reminded, as I am often when flying, of the myriads of people down there (and sitting around me) with their hopes and fears, worries and stratagems, and how insignificant all of these concerns are, and yet how precious each one of these souls are, with all their foibles and farces that are pursued with great seriousness.

There are so many people, it staggers the imagination. Next time you are in an airport, just sit and people watch and consider all the people rushing to fly somewhere and wonder - where are they going in such haste, each one feeling that their journey is of great importance (perhaps of greater importance than yours!)? Then get in your plane, look out the window (if your neighbor doesn't rudely close the blinds to blot out any distraction created by the real world so that they may enjoy their cocktail, reading light, and banal conversations), and consider that those forests have been there, those rivers have flowed, and those mountains have imperceptibly crept along while we, like mayflies, rush around in futile pursuits.

And then . . . be still . . . and remember God and marvel that he might deign to remember you.

It's a marvel.

I Have an Elder Brother . . . or . . . I pledge Allegiance to my King

2010-07-01T13:40:00.000-07:00

I have an elder brother.

Well, I say he is my brother, although actually I am adopted. I was born in an impoverished state, and although distantly related to my adopted brother on one side of the family tree (his mother's), I have no relation to his father, except through him.

While I am proud of my brother-by-adoption, I don't see him too much, for our life and lifestyles often diverge. You see, he is a King and a Great Lord of a nation, and thus his station is far removed from my humble origins. He is also a priest, the spiritual leader of his people, and has been known to give great prophetic utterances.

Frankly, I am lucky to be called his brother.

His mother's side was, like me, of humble origin, but she was the best, and most fair Lady of that entire side of the family. If it hadn't been for her, I don't suppose there would have been an adoption.

My brother, being a King, is owed allegiance by his people and, although I am a U.S. Citizen by birth, I ultimately owe him my true allegiance, being family-by-adoption. Blood is thicker than water, as they say.

Sometimes I forget that I am the adopted brother of a King, and fall into acting like someone who grew up in a rougher part of town - bad language, bad tastes, and all sorts of uncouth behaviors. I have to remind myself constantly that my life as it was is not at all becoming of being the adopted brother to a King. I'm often worried that my brother will one day tell me "I know you not" (like Prince Hal to Sir John Falstaff in the play by Shakespeare) if I don't clean up my act and start doing what he keeps asking me to do.

Not that he's a tyrant - he asks some seemingly simple things, you know? Feed the hungry, help the sick, and visit those in prison. Some things are harder - like praying unceasingly, or not striking back in anger when someone strikes you. But he doesn't ask for anything immoral or improper. He's not that sort of King.

Fairly regularly I get to gather in one of his many palaces where we await a brief audience with him. Usually there is a lot of pomp and ceremony surrounding these gatherings, as is fitting when a Great Lord comes to town. I rather like this and it reminds me just what sort of family I've been adopted into - it's a real honor to be there.

Surprisingly, my brother really doesn't care that I'm a U.S. Citizen, or a military servant of the U.S. So long as I know where my true allegiance lies, I think he's fine with that. Of course, so far this government hasn't expressly asked for me to deny him or something like that. Nevertheless, I worry that some day in the future he will be seen as sowing sedition in this country. It's happened to other countries from time-to-time. In the end, you can't have two sovereigns and one has to submit - some nations (or their leaders) just don't want to admit to doing that and become jealous of him and hate anyone who's associated with him. It's caused a lot of trouble in the past and it could happen here. In the end, he doesn't want us to fight about it - just don't deny him and our allegiance to him. He really doesn't want their power and their glory anyway, and he keeps reminding us that such things are empty.

Because there are a number of people out there in the world that don't like him and his people, sometimes it feels as if I'm out on a mission in enemy territory. It's sad to say it that way, but sometimes that's how it feels. One day he'll call me back in from field operations (so to speak), but for now I'm "on orders." But they are odd orders -

"do not intimidate anyone or accuse falsely, and be content with your wages."

"He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise."

"Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you."

"from him who takes away your goods do not ask them back."

"be merciful, just as your father is also merciful."

Sunday is Independence Day in this country - Independence from Great Britain, who ruled the Eastern States (then Colonies) for a little over a century. Now the U.S. and Great Britain are fast friends. It's a good country, ours - good land and generally peaceable. I was born here and owe a natural allegiance to the country of my birth as a result, and I am proud to serve its people.

But my adoptive brother rules a different Kingdom, and a far more important one. So this Sunday, I will go to his palace, bow my knee and make obeisance to Him, and make my allegiance known - I pledge allegiance to the King:

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and of earth
and of all things visible and invisible;

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Only-Begotten, begotten of the Father before all worlds, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, begotten, not made;

Of one essence with the Father;

By Whom all things were made;

Who, for us me and for our salvation, came down from heaven and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and became man;

And was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered and was buried.

The third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father, and He shall come again with glory to judge the living and the dead;

Whose Kingdom shall have no end.

And I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life, Who proceeds from the Father, Who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified, Who spoke by the prophets.

And I believe in One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.

I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins.

I look for the resurrection of the dead,

And the life of the world to come.

Amen.

Discipleship and the Cross - Pt 2

2010-06-15T10:47:00.000-07:00

This is a continuation of some musings here.

As I reflected in the earlier article:

Saturday, November 21, 2009
Discipleship and the Cross - A Meditation on Bonhoeffer's ideas
In the Cost of Discipleship Bonhoeffer argues against the "cheap grace" of his day in the Lutheran and other Protestant churches (I suppose) wherein obedience and suffering are not necessary. His life is an object lesson in the reality of a Christian walk, and a stern reminder to us in this country where it seems we tend to want health, wealth, and expect a merciful Lord to simply say: "it's OK, John, I know you didn't 'mean' to do it! Come, good and faithful (wishing) servant, enter in to the Joy of your Lord!"

The first thing Bonhoeffer points out is that there is a call to discipleship which insists on rote obedience. He seems to parse this a little too finely in showing that faith follows on obedience, whereas I think this is perhaps too clinical, too mechanical a view. Nonetheless, I agree that where faith is lacking, obedience is still necessary. In this great discussion of "the Call" he focuses ultimately on the rich young ruler and the insistence of our Lord that nothing come between our Lord and his disciple - every attachment, stratagem, argumentative device, even hiding behind the law as a means to avoid obedience, is to be, as Bonhoeffer says, abandoned in the face of the call. Thus, when riches are thrown up as a roadblock to true obedience to the call of the Eternal Logos speaking face to face to him, Jesus commands the rich ruler to cast them aside and follow him.

Having set the stage, Bonhoeffer then turns to the matter of discipleship. He argues that discipleship is bound up in suffering and rejection:

"Had he only suffered, Jesus might have been applauded as the Messiah. All the sympathy and admiration of the world might have been focused on his passion. It could have been viewed as a tragedy with its own intrinsic value, dignity, and honour. But in the passion Jesus is a rejected Messiah. His rejection robs the passion of its halo of glory. It must be a passion without honour. Suffering and rejection sum up the whole cross of Jesus. To die on the cross means to die despised and rejected of men.

. . .

Jesus must therefore make it clear beyond all doubt that the "must" of suffering applies to his disciples no less that to himself.

. . .

. . . there is another kind of suffering and shame which the Christian is not spared. . . the Christian also has to undergo temptation, he too has to bear the sins of others; he too must bear their shame and be driven like a scapegoat from the gate of the city. . . And the only way to bear that sin is by forgiving it in the power of the cross of Christ in which I now share."

++++++++++++

It is here that I wish to pause and meditate. What is our personal cross that we must take up if we should follow Him? What is the cross? It is, to my mind, and as I think Bonhoeffer rightly points out, not the bearing of temptation, or even simply unjust treatment for the sake of the gospels. It is to bear the sins of another (to the extent we are tasked to do so - our Lord has ultimately borne it for all). It is to bear a shame to our condemnation, or to bear with another sinning against us in person (whether by wrongful violence against our person), or to bear the consequences of others' sins rippling out into our lives, even if not directed against us, for the sake of the Gospel. Not for our own ascetic virtue, our patience, or our glory. If we were receiving some sort of adulation for our suffering, I should be very wary of it being for the sake of Christ.

One cannot, then, choose your cross, nor is this a bearing of sins like a 'martyr' as that word has come to mean in modern parlance ("Oh, don't be a martyr!"). It is to bear it as a true martyr - a witness - to the Gospel of Christ. And the witness may not be in the visible bearing of the cross, but in the gifts given by the Spirit and the fruit that one bears in other ways. It means being scarred and not being healed of the wounds in a conventional sense, but being glorified and transformed through those wounds in the transformative process of becoming partakers in the life of Christ (note that Jesus retains the marks of his cross, and in Revelation we see the lamb slain since the foundation of the world). The blind man saw and the lame walked, but to what end? To be scorned and ridiculed by the leaders of the community - the "eminent men" of their time and place, the wise of their world.

Thus, I don't think the bearing of the cross is as much about the bearing of suffering and condemnation for my own sins, for such would be (as the good thief points out) simply justice. It is not merely about suffering under temptations and resisting though it feel to cost us dear (this is obedience and discipline), though undoubtedly this is part and parcel of the Christian life. I think primarily the cross the Christian is to bear is the bearing of sins and the shame of others willingly and quietly, for the sake of Christ and in imitation of Him. In this way we crucify that which is in us which is prideful, selfish, and of the world. We die to self and live only to Christ.

Most of the suffering in my life is self-wrought and fairly deserved. Where it is not deserved, as a good American I quickly want to cry "unfair!" But it is as this moment that perhaps I should be looking to see a cross flung down in my path to pick up and bear. Perhaps it is my lot this day to bear the false accusation of another, in love, for Christ's sake. Perhaps it is my lot this day to bear hatred from another in humble silence, for Christ's sake. Perhaps it is my lot to be ridiculed unjustly, for Christ's sake. Perhaps it is my lot this day to bear being cheated by another, for Christ's sake. Perhaps there is even a cross which has been flung down before that I have refused to take up, unwilling to bear the burden because I have been unwilling to forgive "in the power of the cross of Christ in which I now share" as Bonhoeffer suggests.

Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. - St. Paul to the Galatians, 6:2

And he said to [them] all, If any [man] will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. - Gospel According to St. Luke, 9:23

Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009 - write your Congressman!

2010-06-14T09:13:00.000-07:00

The FSMA of 2009 (HR 875) will create a new Food Safety Administration with sweeping powers to inspect, require certain registrations of farms and processors, and other unknown regulatory requirements based on a mandate to create a "national" food safety program.

Whatever the wisdom (or, rather, unwisdom) of creating yet another federal agency, if you participate in a CSA, or buy food direct off the farm (such as from farm stands or from u-pick orchards), or are a smallholder - write your congressman asking that the law include carve-outs for direct-to-consumer sales, CSAs, and sales at farmers' markets.

The food security risk of smallholders to the buying public at large is nothing compared to the risk created by packagers of meats, dairy, and produce who sell to the Wal-Marts, Costscos, McDonalds, and other large users of products who penetrate the marketplace overwhelmingly more than any smallholder would ever dream of or desire to. There is enough regulation on smallholders to hold them liable for the sale of tainted goods, and to get information on who they are selling to in the event of an identified illness. This is just overreaching legislation.

On Memorial Day

2010-05-31T19:48:00.000-07:00

There are some that think that Memorial Day is about patriotism and flag waving. Some feel that this is tripe, given the hypocrisies of Presidents, Generals, and corporations in all generations.

It is neither - it's about boys and girls who have lost their lives in horrible conditions, whom we, collectively, sent out to do nasty, brutish work, not about the politics of why they were sent, or whether they should have been. We must, we should, remember our war dead. Shall we forget them? Then shame, shame to us.

Remember our dead, and pray for their souls, and ours.

Insensibility

I
Happy are men who yet before they are killed
Can let their veins run cold.
Whom no compassion fleers
Or makes their feet
Sore on the alleys cobbled with their brothers.
The front line withers,
But they are troops who fade, not flowers
For poets’ tearful fooling:
Men, gaps for filling:
Losses, who might have fought
Longer; but no one bothers.

II
And some cease feeling
Even themselves or for themselves.
Dullness best solves
The tease and doubt of shelling,
And Chance’s strange arithmetic
Comes simpler than the reckoning of their shilling.
They keep no check on armies’ decimation.

III
Happy are these who lose imagination:
They have enough to carry with ammunition.
Their spirit drags no pack.
Their old wounds, save with cold, can not more ache.
Having seen all things red,
Their eyes are rid
Of the hurt of the colour of blood forever.
And terror’s first constriction over,
Their hearts remain small-drawn.
Their senses in some scorching cautery of battle
Now long since ironed,
Can laugh among the dying, unconcerned.

IV
Happy the soldier home, with not a notion
How somewhere, every dawn, some men attack,
And many sighs are drained.
Happy the lad whose mind was never trained:
His days are worth forgetting more than not.
He sings along the march
Which we march taciturn, because of dusk,
The long, forlorn, relentless trend
From larger day to huger night.

V
We wise, who with a thought besmirch
Blood over all our soul,
How should we see our task
But through his blunt and lashless eyes?
Alive, he is not vital overmuch;
Dying, not mortal overmuch;
Nor sad, nor proud,
Nor curious at all.
He cannot tell
Old men’s placidity from his.

VI
But cursed are dullards whom no cannon stuns,
That they should be as stones;
Wretched are they, and mean
With paucity that never was simplicity.
By choice they made themselves immune
To pity and whatever moans in man
Before the last sea and the hapless stars;
Whatever mourns when many leave these shores;
Whatever shares
The eternal reciprocity of tears.

- Wilfred Owen

Moments in Life

2010-05-28T09:38:00.000-07:00

Do you find there are watershed moments in life that stand out beyond the others? There are several in my life, for different reasons.

There is that moment when I fell to my wife's knees, weeping, the day I moved the last of my things out of the house, but unable to say the words "I was wrong - forgive me - can we begin again?" and find the long way back, through repentance to some semblance of life. It was the end of a 10 year marriage.

There is was moment, in West Texas, late at night (I had been out drinking with my fellow comrades-in-arms) when I came back to my quarters and happened on tv program of a pastor talking to teens about Jesus' great discourse in Matthew about the Sheep and Goats, and I was terribly convicted, and remained convicted, to this day - though my condemnation is more pronounced since I have done little since then.

There is a moment when the nurse hit the red button on the wall and we did not know whether my new baby boy would live the night and I had to walk down the hall to tell my wife the news [she was trying to get sleep as I went to watch the boy get what was a somewhat routine blood draw], as the crash cart came in and they rushed him to the pediatric ICU.

There is a moment when my first child was born, and lay in the crib, looking at me with dark eyes and holding my finger.

++++++++++++

Over the last 24 hours a series of moments have reminded me, in no uncertain terms, that my life is forfeit to my Master, and my plans and stratagems and ideas are but dust. Among several other little things, we have learned that we have but a few months to schedule a series of precarious but necessary surgeries to avoid paralysis and other permanent damage to joints, bones, and spine in my son. My vehicle, at a venerable 132,000 miles, has broken down for the 4th time in as many months, and my tractor sits broken as well, beyond my ability to repair (little enough things, but even on a small farm, truck and tractor are essential since I don't have the animal and equipment for horse-powered work). My self-employment, whilst barely keeping us afloat, is not yet generating enough to keep us going into the winter.

I say these things, not to ask charity, or sympathy or pity. I still live like a great lord compared to most of those on earth and those who have ever lived. I will eat tonight. I have seen the sad faces of the men in the Middle East, forced to build buildings in the blazing sun and waiting, waiting, each day for day labor at slave wages [1-2 dinar/day, no different than in the scripture]. I have seen the orphans in cities in Mexico, and the hungry, the mentally ill, and the destitute on the streets of our own cities. No - it is not that.

But I realize that my plans and ability for a new barn, to plant some certain crops, to get the brush removed from the fencerow, to simply make the mortgage or ever hope to pay for my son's medical bills; even my son's very life and all that I call "my family" and "my household" are forfeit to One and such petty dreams and aspirations may never come to pass and yet I am commanded to die to that and live to Him.

The little things of the past 24 hours make me think of Job and wonder - could I stand it? If the house were knocked down by earthquake; if tomorrow the wrong nerve were pinched and my child were paralyzed permanently, could I stand it? Would faith hold? What sort of faith do I have? Any?

It is exceedingly hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of Heaven. God help me.

There is much more - more that I wish to put out on a blog; but my realization finally is that I have not put to death the old man every day as I should, and nothing that I have done amounts to much.

I stand hearkening to the whirlwind, but unlike Job, I have no claim to righteousness. My sufferings (such as they are) are well deserved, even if my child's are not.

Adsum Domine

Here I am, Lord

All I have is Yours, and nothing worth. Take my mite, forgive my transgressions, and heal me, if Thou wilt.

++++++++++++

I will be taking a break for a while. May you have a memorable Memorial Day, remembering the fallen. You do remember them, don't you?

I think I see a valley,
Covered with bones in blue,

All the brave soldiers,
That cannot get older,
They're asking after you . . .

Quote of the Day

2010-05-25T11:16:00.000-07:00

The Christological prayer, "That They May be One," is not fulfilled by jurisdictional regularity.

- Fr. Jonathan

Read the full article here:

Bored with Theosis

In their own words - Synthetic Cells/Synthetic Life

2010-05-21T18:27:00.000-07:00

For your consideration, from the BBC

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/8696148.stm

"Potentially the Flu Vaccine you get next year may be developed by these processes."

Retreat

2010-05-20T16:54:00.000-07:00

retreat |riˈtrēt|
verb [ intrans. ]
(of an army) withdraw from enemy forces as a result of their superior power or after a defeat : the French retreated in disarray.
• move back or withdraw, esp. so as to remove oneself from a difficult or uncomfortable situation : it becomes so hot that the lizards retreat into the shade | [as adj. ] ( retreating) the sound of retreating footsteps.
• withdraw to a quiet or secluded place : after the funeral he retreated to the shore.
• (of an expanse of ice or water) become smaller in size or extent : a series of trenches which filled with water when the ice retreated.
• change one's decisions, plans, or attitude, as a result of criticism from others : his proposals were clearly unreasonable and he was soon forced to retreat.
• (of shares of stock) decline in value : [with complement ] shares retreated 32 points to 653 points.
• [ trans. ] Chess move (a piece) back from a forward or threatened position on the board.
noun
1 an act of moving back or withdrawing : a speedy retreat | the army was in retreat.
• an act of changing one's decisions, plans, or attitude, esp. as a result of criticism from others : the unions made a retreat from their earlier position.
• a decline in the value of shares of stock.
2 a signal for a military force to withdraw : the bugle sounded a retreat.
• a military musical ceremony carried out at sunset, originating in the playing of drums and bugles to tell soldiers to return to camp for the night.
3 a quiet or secluded place in which one can rest and relax : their mountain retreat in New Hampshire.
• a period of seclusion for the purposes of prayer and meditation : the bishop is away on his annual retreat | before his ordination he went on retreat.
PHRASES
beat a retreat see beat .
ORIGIN late Middle English : from Old French retret (noun), retraiter (verb), from Latin retrahere ‘pull back’ (see retract ).

- Oxford American Dictionary

Today in the news: Scientists in the US have succeeded in developing the first synthetic living cell.

I have retreated to my retreat - a small 2.5 acre patch of wood lot, garden/orchard, and pasture. But I cannot maintain stewardship over this little demesne but that I continue to engage the world, so far on terms less than satisfactory.

I punch up these words on the machine that will be the death of us all - a slow insidious death. No more the quill pen, grown from a living thing, dipped in inks from plants. No more the mechanical snap of typewriter keys striking crinkly typing bond.

Today I have to help someone who wants to know whether rules allowing signs that say "No visitors" are to be interpreted so literally that signs of the same type and method of posting saying "No solicitors" are, in fact, prohibited. Surely the work of Sharkey's men, such thinking. Sam-wise, I wish to tear down the rules. All my work - review of texts, elucidation of the principles involved, etc., are done in communion with this horrible machine.

E-file this and e-mail that; you cannot now escape it unless you are prepared to wholly disengage from the world. Careful, however, for it will be seen (soon, very soon, I think), as an act of civil disobedience to not be plugged in, cell-phoned, and in constant communication. The Authorities will start looking askance and wondering if you are a Rebel.

The problem with agriculture is you have to be able to own land for a sufficient period of time to improve the qualities of the soils and allow things to grow. The problem with that is you must pay the Sovereign for your tenure and the banker for the inflated value of your building, which must have systems and things in it not seen before 1900 (or later) or else it is "uninhabitable." And that means cash money, my friends. And welcome back. Do you have an e-mail? Cell phone? Please keep us informed of your whereabouts.

So I continue to work, not for work's sake but to pay for my retreat. And that retreat I do not make (or hold) simply for myself. Nay, the tree I am planting now will likely be cut down for firewood by my successor (if they allow fires - the Boss may not hold with fires then) when I have made my final retreat. I hold it to keep a little green corner where you are welcome to come and listen to the wind sighing in the trees, and have respite - if you want. A place where, incongruously enough, I hope that my children and others will be able to unplug, turn off their cell phones, remember God, and not forget.

One day, I hope, Noah-like, to plant a little vineyard and make some wine. Even that seems out of reach now, and maybe it's not in His will for me. If not, it's still good to be here for now.

In the meantime the scientists will continue to unleash God-knows-what into the world. In 1993 a Biology professor of mine opined that we knew much of what we needed to know to manipulate the genes to cause the tobacco plant to push a flower out here, or leaf there (and many other things). He warned then that the problem was we had to have the wisdom (as scientists) to figure out whether we ought to do it. I left the sciences, but 17 years later it is clear that such pious words are to little effect. We will clone humans - we will seek to create life on our own terms. Our new tower to heaven.

I have a little corn to plant sitting in trays out near the garden. I wonder if its owned by Monsanto.

. . . Switching off . . .

A Man's a Man for A' That - Robert Burns

2010-05-17T08:48:00.000-07:00

The Angel of the Lord Sat Under the Fir [Oak] Tree, and Other Tales

2010-04-27T20:46:00.000-07:00

I was reading Judges recently. Haven't taken a tour through that book of the Old Testament in a number of years, alas.

Coming back to the tale of Gideon, at this point in my life, I was refreshed and found the old story one of wonderment:

"And an angel of the Lord came, and sat down under the fir[*] tree, which was in Ephratha in the land of Joas, father of Esdri; and Gedeon his son was threshing wheat in a wine-press in order to escape from the face of Madiam. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty in strength.

And Gedeon said to him, Be gracious with me, my Lord: but if the Lord is with us, why have these evils found us? and where are all his miracles, which our fathers have related to us, saying, Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt? and now he has cast us out, and given us into the hand of Madiam. And the angel of the Lord turned to him, and said, Go in this thy strength, and thou shalt save Israel out of the hand of Madiam: behold, I have sent thee. And Gedeon said to him, Be gracious with me, my Lord: whereby shall I save Israel? behold, my thousand is weakened in Manasse, and I am the least in my father's house. And the angel of the Lord said to him, The Lord shall be with thee, and thou shalt smite Madiam as one man.

And Gedeon said to him, If now I have found mercy in thine eyes, and thou wilt do this day for me all that thou hast spoken of with me, depart not hence until I come to thee, and I will bring forth an offering and offer it before thee: and he said, I will remain until thou return.[**]

And Gedeon went in, and prepared a kid of the goats, and an ephah of fine flour unleavened: and he put the flesh in the basket, and poured the broth into the pot, and brought them forth to him under the turpentine tree[***], and drew nigh. And the angel of God said to him, Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and put them on that rock, and pour out the broth close by: and he did so. And the angel of the Lord stretched out the end of the rod that was in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened bread; and fire came up out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened bread, and the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight.

And Gedeon saw that he was an angel of the Lord; and Gedeon said, Ah, ah, Lord my God! for I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face. And the Lord said to him, Peace be to thee, fear not, thou shalt not die.

And Gedeon built there an altar to the Lord, and called it The Peace of the Lord, until this day, as it is still in Ephratha of the father of Esdri."

From Judges Ch. 6 - LXX as translated by Sir Lancelot C.L. Brenton

Notes:
*Some trans. this as a "Terebinth," many as "Oak." The translation to "Fir" found in Sir Lancelot Brenton's LXX translation is unusual.

**The NETS translations of the LXX [variants A & B] read: [A] "And he said 'I am he; I will stay seated until you return.'" [B] "And he said, 'I am he; I will sit down until you return.'"

***"Turpentine" tree as translated here is consistent with the Terebinth trees, part of the cashew family, one of which is indigenous to the areas of Palestine, and a source of resin for turpentine.

++++++++++++

The angel of the Lord comes and sits down under the tree. Gideon hastens out and talks to him. It is only after he makes his offering and it is consumed that he realizes fully with whom he is speaking. Nevertheless, he seems to have some inkling of this, or else to whom was he offering sacrifice? If devout, Gideon would only have made sacrifice to the Living God, the God of Jacob.

In the NETS translation the significance of the words "I am he" are telling. Brenton's parallel Greek text has the words [roughly transliterated] "Ego Eimi." In Exodus 3:14, the Lord tells Moses: Ego Eimi Ho On, which Brenton translates, not unrightly I think, "I am THE BEING." As our priest says "Christ our True God, the Existing One."

Gedeon sees the pre-incarnation manifestation of the Word, the Second Person of the Trinity, and is afraid, for no man may see the face of God and live. But the Angel of the Lord brings the words he brings to the disciples in the upper room: "Peace be to thee."

Many times during the Orthodox Christian Liturgy the presbyter or bishop, in the name of Christ, turns and stands forth and proclaims: "Peace be to thee." I have never thought of it in terms of the mortal fear of being in the presence of the living God and Gideon's story. For indeed, we stand in the throne room at that moment, and we need to hear those words, for we should be like Gideon and cry "Ah! Ah!"

Gideon's experience is very similar to Abraham's hospitality to the three men. Indeed, the interplay of conversation has many similarities.

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I commend to any reader to read the more lengthy account of Esther found in the LXX, and of course, the tale of Esther is one worth reading many times.

more to follow . . .

More Miscellaneous Ramblings

2010-04-13T20:48:00.000-07:00

My brother, when he graduated High School, and was bound for college in an Engineering discipline, was the proud recipient of a calculator that could add, subtract, multiple, and divide, and (I believe) do a square root function. It was a bit bigger than an iPhone and cost somewhere on the order of $50.

All of my brother's mathematics, through High School calculus, was done using slide rules.

To put that in perspective, I recall my mother and father paying something like $52 - $55 for a week's worth of groceries in the same time period.

About this time I learned about programming in BASIC on a teletype terminal to a mainframe school district computer. The terminals had that distinctive yellow paper and made a distinct chunck-chug sound.

As kids, my brother and I were quite the fans of Star Trek, and in 1977 I stood in a long line for the opening of Star Wars at a cruddy little theater than no longer exists. To say we were stunned and awestruck hardly does justice to the effect of that movie.

Some twenty five years now away from my own High School graduation, I spend a lot of time at the computer. Yesterday I dictated the text of a lengthy letter, told the computer to open Word, to copy my dictation and paste it into that program, and also verbally relayed instructions to my computer to send an e-mail.

My phone does more than Mr. Spock's tricorder and communicator in combination could every hope to do, and it has the capability to hold many, many times more albums and books than my father's LP collection and library.

One can play video games that are breathtaking for their realism and for which we would have slavered in my youth.

Yet for all of that, I find it largely restrictive, this "world wide web" of electronic capability. It is increasingly hard to be "legitimately" incommunicado, with friends, with family, or with business associates. The devices which are supposed to allow you the freedom to do your work on the move don't really accomplish the hype of a life of greater freedom - I do not look at the stars at night as often as I used to, for I always seem to be tied to the glowing screen for one reason or another. My ability to be present in the moment is robbed by the constant awareness of the communication and computing devices at my disposal, and my pocketbook is depleted by their repair, replacement, and upgrading.

I am no Luddite - Google Books has offered the opportunity to obtain old texts (in pdf form), and search them, in a way that would not have been possible. Information is far, far more available for fast research than was possible in the 1970s and early 1980s. I happen to like that.

But deep down, I might miss these new things if we were to suddenly lose them . . . but not that much; as long as I have a decent bookshelf.

So if reduced to a small library of real books, what would YOU put on it? Let us arbitrarily say 50-100 books tops.

++++++++++++

So I'm down to the school the other day for one of my kids' music programs. Children doing their bit, proud parents taking pictures - you know the scene. It's elementary school.

But . . . the program was about "Healthy Choices" and the "6 Pillars of Character." This is part, I believe, of a statewide curriculum requirement to indoctrinate students, with the added benefit (if you do this music bit) of getting to have the children indoctrinate the parents.

Now, the 6 "Pillars" were, I suppose, something any parent could approve of: Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring, and Citizenship.

The national producers of this program describe it thus:

The nonsectarian and nonpartisan assembly programs entitled “CHOICES COUNT!”, “IT’S YOUR CHOICE!” and "START DREAMIN'!" feature an interactive educational format focusing on the nationally recognized Six Pillars Of Character. These six pillars are: Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring, and Citizenship and are presented as a counterbalance to the negative influences bombarding our children everyday such as bullying, conflict resolution, drugs, tobacco, alcohol, gang violence, and dropping out of school.

As basic ideas, not bad. However, the delivery was as muddied as anything could be. At one point, a little vignette is played out where children of different types
ask each other "why are you so small," "why do you dress like that," "why are you so pale," "why are you so brown," "why don't you go mass like us, we're Catholic" [to which the other replies "We're Jewish, we go to the Synagogue."

Then follows a brief lecture about being rude and how we should be kind and not make note of our differences in race, color, or religion - and then we are admonished as to how we should follow the Golden Rule in all things (I nearly chortled at that as this is most directly the command of a certain Jesus of Nazareth).

It included such rousing songs as "If it is to be it is up to me," where we parents were commanded to read the words as they sang in a sort of cheer/chant.

Thinking about the whole episode, I realized that what bothered me was that the ideas, not bad in themselves, were the product of convergent thinking. So that, at the margins, the values themselves may not mean the same thing depending on one's cultural and religious heritage.

For example, in being admonished that one is responsible for the consequences of one's own choices, and that therefore don't drink, smoke, do drugs, etc. A grand non-sequitur. If one is a peace loving pot smoker, he may find the consequences of supporting a certain governmental action to be more morally objectionable than sparking up a doobey. Thus, at the margin the idea of healthy choices takes a different dimension than the neighbor down the street who thinks all drink is of the devil and military action is necessary in some cases. Both sets of parents can agree on the slogans, but only because they loosely converge, not because their moral source is the same.

The reasons that certain cultural and religious viewpoints might converge on these "Pillars" suggests that, at the limits, the meaning of the same may grossly diverge, so that the Buddhist, the Hindi, the Muslim, and the Christian may see these things in a different light.

In the end, I felt like I was in some sort of State indoctrination class, devoid of any deeper content as to "why" I should be fair, trustworthy, or care. That this must come from the parent and the child's cultural and religious upbringing is obvious, but it obviously shows the lack of depth to which our public schools can reach to draw on such matters.

I get all my papers and smile at the sky, for I know that the hypnotized never lie.

++++++++++++

[segment deleted]

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I've planted broccoli, onions, lettuce and spinach in the garden. Rhubarb is coming along well, as well as grape buds, and the fruit trees. I have some red spuds to dig in, but need to get some tractor/rototiller attachment to dig the patch for my rows. I'm looking to get some 50+ lbs of spuds this year as it's my first year doing this.

I'd like to plant about 50 linear feet of grain, too, but I need a spot. Maybe next year. I'd like to mill a certain amount of my own grain.

++++++++++++

For you readers out there that are trying to do smallholder farms - you might care to visit this guy's site:

http://thedeliberateagrarian.blogspot.com/

This fellow obviously has some interesting ideas and has some useful kits.

++++++++++++

If anyone is looking for raw fleece, I have some.

Misc. Bright Week Ramblings

2010-04-08T10:21:00.001-07:00

We were joyed to see our newest ewe, Mariela, successfully deliver her firstborn, a healthy ram lamb, on Holy Saturday.

Sanctify unto me all the firstborn, whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of Israel, [both] of man and of beast: it [is] mine. Exodus 13:2

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Gardening is in order, but the rains have made it difficult to get out there and get some things in . . . Rhubarb is showing nicely, and the figs are starting to leaf.

++++++++++++

Please offer prayers for Ochlophobic Owen's sister-in-law, Esther, who reposed this week. There are no words to comfort is such matters. We only have the silent witness of our Lord Christ, who never really seems to answer with "why" - but is there showing us that he has partaken quite fully of our sufferings, and the loss. His cousin was beheaded and he withdraws into the wilderness. He weeps at the grave of Lazarus before calling him forth. He is moved by the suffering of Martha and Mary. He commends his mother to St. John's care, seeing her grief.

There is great mystery to me in suffering and death - Jesus seems to teach us that it is in his suffering and death, this bearing of the cross, that glorification and partaking of life with him is to be found. It is a Narrow Way, to be sure.

Many will speak words of philosophy about evil and sin, using large derivatives of Greek words that I am sure have good and profound meaning. But more and more I think the mute witness of Jesus on the cross is the only answer we'll get - we must embrace and take up our cross of suffering and, through Him, be transformed.

The apostles speak of this:

2Cr 1:5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.

2Cr 1:6 And whether we be afflicted, [it is] for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, [it is] for your consolation and salvation.

2Cr 1:7 And our hope of you [is] stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so [shall ye be] also of the consolation.

Phl 3:10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

Col 1:24 Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church:

Hbr 2:10 For it became him, for whom [are] all things, and by whom [are] all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

1Pe 4:13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

But to say "why" this is so, or should be so . . . I will not venture and I shall keep silent. It defies a neat "rational" explanation, and I cannot expect some equation on a chalkboard as school.

I thought about something Major Dick Winters, the CO of E Co. of "Band of Brothers" fame, said in an interview about men dying at the Battle of the Bulge - how they were happy for them because they looked so peaceful and were finally able to rest.

Och mentioned that perhaps in times past, where death was more common, the pious consolations of heaven were better balm. I suspect that the grief was the same, but nevertheless, he may have something in that we are so much now in a world where we do not see the pain and struggle of life playing out every day (conflict, starvation, struggle for shelter) (magnified in Dick Winter's case by those things present in a most horrific battle in the midst of numbingly cold winter), and thus we are immune to the pain and suffering of life, and instead wallow in our own existential ennui, afraid of life and death together but mainly just frustrated about everything and not satisfied with the blessing we have been given.

Nothing suggests this more than the odd death-defying desires of Ray Kurzweil. I stumbled across this [yet another] article about the man, and the Singularity movement, while reading these articles [(a) and (b)] about real-life Avatar dreams.

Many see the shape of the beast in RFID chips, etc. Me, I think this fairly serious desire on the part of some bright people to fashion a world where I will upload my "consciousness" to a machine is the insidious lie - you shall be like God! Live forever! Be immortal on your own terms!

I don't understand death, or even how we die yet Christ has trampled down death by death, bestowing life. Not really. How could I know, when I still haven't begun to grasp what it means to take up the Cross? I know the terrible loss of loved ones untimely. Beside the grave there is still weeping. Perhaps, in the midst of our weeping, we should walk among the graves shouting: "Christ is Risen!" What else shall we do?

Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Rom. 12:15.

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If I may make a couple of blog recommendations, please visit Romanos' blog and stop by Fr. Jonathan's blog.

Romanos (who graciously stops by here from time to time) has strong words for us that need to be heard. Not his words, generally, but what's given to him to say. You may be taken aback by what he says and does sometimes, but he does, I believe, to the extent God gives him grace to do it, attend to the mightier things of mercy, justice, and faithfulness, while not neglecting the tithe of dill and cumin, if you know what I mean.

He is a staunch Orthodox Christian, and defender of the Church and her faith in her Lord, but does not put his trust in princes, either. Yet his criticisms (which are rare - better to call them calls to action), are never in that political vein and weighing of the niceties of proprieties that plague a lot of us Orthodox bloggers.

I know that Romanos might be embarrassed by this post - nor would I wish this to go to his head. But if you want to read some things worth while - please drop by his site.

As for Fr. Jonathan - there are depths of clarity there and reflections of such subtlety to one, like me, who's not read Belloc or GK or any of dozens of writers and thinkers, that you can scarce take in half of what he is saying. But that half is nonetheless well worthwhile. When he speaks with authority, he does not speak on his own authority and it shows well. When he speaks plainly, it is as if a breeze blows the smoke out of a smoky room with a bad fireplace.

Great and Holy Friday Anno Dominus 2010

2010-04-02T13:48:00.000-07:00

Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

Today He who hung the earth upon the waters
Is hung upon a tree

He who is King of the angels
Is arrayed in a crown of thorns

He who wraps the heavens in clouds
Is wrapped in the purple of mockery

He who freed Adam in the Jordan
Receives a blow on the face

The Bridegroom of the Church
Is affixed to the cross with nails

The Son of the Virgin
Is pierced by a spear

We worship Thy passion, O Christ!

Show us also Thy glorious resurrection!

-From the Ninth Hour Service of the Royal Hours of Great and Holy Friday

When Christ Comes into His Glory

2010-03-31T07:56:00.000-07:00

Image from the Antiochian Diocese of Los Angeles and the West

I was musing on passage in scripture where the two disciples ask Christ to allow them to sit at his right and left (or their mother asks on their behalf - compare the Gospel of St. Mark Ch. 10 and Gospel of St. Matthew Ch. 20). He admonishes them that they really don't know what they are asking and notes that those appointments he cannot give - they have been appointed.

Are the two thieves those that are appointed to be on his right and left? And the Glory - it is (isn't it?) the Glory of his suffering, the Glory of his Cross. Death is confounded by His death.

And in the two thieves, we see perhaps also an illustration of the parable of the Sheep and Goats.

I wonder.

Quote of the Day - St. John of Damascus

2010-03-23T10:01:00.000-07:00

This morning I ran across this quote from my patron, St. John of Damascus:

As regards what God is, it is impossible to say what he is in his essence, so it is better to discuss him by abstraction from all things. For he does not belong to the class of existing things, not because he does not exist, but because he transcends all existing things, even existence itself. For if all forms of knowing have to do with what exists, certainly that which transcends knowledge must certainly also transcend essence: and so conversely that which transcends essence will also transcend knowledge.

An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, 1.4

Many of you know that St. John wrote the Paschal Canon which in a few days we will hear. Here is a worthy, footnoted version of that Canon (in .pdf form) from Archimandrite Ephrem in England that you may find useful as we come into Holy Week [there are depths there which are easily missed by neophytes like me].

Holy St. John, pray for us!

Lambs in time for St. Patrick's Day (Updated)

2010-03-17T18:04:00.000-07:00

We were blessed to have two twin ewe lambs last night in time for St Patrick's Day. We hope for our other ewe to lamb in the next few weeks.

We are also enjoying 7 new chicks which will add to our flock of laying hens.

[Updated with photos]

Shearing sheep in preparation for lambing - the old fashioned way

2010-02-14T15:27:00.000-08:00

So lambing for us this year is less than 30 days away. Typically, with the breed we "husband" shearing is a twice-a-year event, and everyone has a rich, full fleece even though shearing happened back in September last.

Due to budget cuts on the farm, I decided to not have the shearer come out for this period, but to do it myself. I had other reasons too - a desire to think about how it must be done, to learn more about the wool in a new way, and to appreciate my shearer even more (the guy, not the equipment).

By the way - we have a snug barn where everyone beds down each night and we have relatively mild winters. I might only "crutch" a sheep if I lived in Vermont or Minnesota or some such, as sheep can suffer if sheared and then forced to confront a late winter storm.

Good shearing looks "easy" - but it's hard work. The typical Australian method with electric shears requires a sturdy back. And despite some good immobilizing holds on a sheep, if they feel they can get their feet back under them, they will struggle, and even a 175-200 lb struggling sheep can tire you out, even if you don't lose control. I've seen some references that in Scotland sheep were sheared with the sheep standing (mostly), unlike the Australian methods, but little else can I find about it.

In most electric shearing instructions using the typical modern method, the belly wool is done first, then moving to more valuable areas.

Electric, and flywheel/crank shearing having been around for more than 100 years, it's a little hard to find good guidance on proper hand-shearing method. I found little enough on Google Books. The New Zealand sheep board has a methodology, but it looks a lot like the method used with electric shears.

There is a fellow in Vermont that does a workshop on traditional shearing. There's a brief video on the site indicates that in some ways the method differs (insofar as the animal is at times on fully lying one side and the other, and quite calm). The belly wool still seems to be the starting point.

Conversly, I found a very interesting Hungarian YouTube video of traditional hand shearing that starts with the topknot and then proceeds immediately to the neck and the most valuable back wool. I found the method to be very intuitively proper and decided to use it on sheep #2.

Here's the video:

Generally I was more satisfied with this approach than others I have found, although I still have a lot to learn about the amount of wool to take up/cut in each "throw" or pass. There is also something to be learned about the proper hold on the hand shear and the different results of clipping close to the skin rather than leaving it long (shearing seems easier when clipping quite close to the body).

The most crucial thing is getting a proper immobilizing hold on the sheep that is at once not too distressing for the sheep and not too tiring for the shearer (IMO). As I have somewhat weak lower back, the more I can put the sheep on its side, or be working straight down without twisting at the trunk while bending over, the less constant strain I have from bending over. Thus, I like the "Hungarian" method shown in the video.

For another style - here is a video of hand shearing done by a guy in New Zealand - clearly a very powerful and quick hand and beautifully sharp shears. Note the different in how he works the flanks and hip rather than straight down the back.

Frankly, the sheep I have done have a less than beautiful clip, due to my inexperience, and most of the wool from the last two is going to compost rather than to "market" simply because the sheep struggled enough to kick a fair bit off the boards into the straw. I suspect the bad clip will also have repercussions for the next "professional clip" as well, but I think the hands-on education gained is worth the loss.

There is something satisfying about working back the living wool, talking quietly to the sheep to calm it, and the quiet "clack" of the hand shears instead of the whir of the electric shears. It takes enough time that I can examine the sheep fairly closely for any health issues - time I need since I am a novice shepherd. I am sure my regular shearer, who has handled thousands of sheep, does not need but the few minutes he takes shearing to assess the overall health of a sheep!

God willing we will have lambs in early March!

Jacobus the Syrian

2010-01-28T23:08:00.000-08:00

Procopius of Cesarea [c. 527 A.D.], legal advisor and secretary to General Belasarius, the great General of Emperor Justinian [527-565 A.D.], recounts the following:

[Cabades, the Persian ruler, decides to invade Roman controlled Armenia and invests the town of Amida, which is ill prepared to defend itself]

Now there was among the Syrians a certain just man, Jacobus by name, who had trained himself with exactitude in matters pertaining to religion. This man had confined himself many years before in a place called Endielon, a day's journey from Amida [in Mesopotamia], in order that he might with more security devote himself to pious contemplation. The men of this place, assisting his purpose, had surrounded him with a kind of fencing, in which the stakes were not continuous, but set at intervals, so that those who approached could see and hold converse with him. And they had constructed for him a small roof over his head, sufficient to keep off the rain and snow. There this man had been sitting for a long time, never yielding either to heat or cold, and sustaining his life with certain seeds, which he was accustomed to eat, not indeed every day, but only at long intervals. Now some of the Ephthalitae who were overrunning the country thereabout saw this Jacobus and with great eagerness drew their bows with intent to shoot at him. But the hands of every one of them became motionless and utterly unable to manage the bow. When this was noised about through the army and came to the ears of Cabades, he desired to see the thing with his own eyes; and when he saw it, both he and the Persians who were with him were seized with great astonishment, and he entreated Jacobus to forgive the barbarians their crime. And he forgave them with a word, and the men were released from their distress. Cabades then bade the man ask for whatever he wished, supposing that he would ask for a great sum of money, and he also added with youthful recklessness that he would be refused nothing by him. But he requested Cabades to grant to him all the men who during that war should come to him as fugitives. This request Cabades granted, and gave him a written pledge of his personal safety. And great numbers of men, as might be expected, came flocking to him from all sides and found safety there; for the deed became widely known.

[Cabades attacked Armenia in ~502 A.D.]

The Church of Facebook?

2010-01-26T15:58:00.000-08:00

And now for something completely different . . .

Visit Mr. Rice's site here:

THE CHURCH OF FACEBOOK: The Book, the Blog, and the Man Behind Both

This (Frozen) England! [And Scotland, and Wales too!]

2010-01-08T09:12:00.000-08:00

Remarkable photo of a frozen United Kingdom - taken January 7 by a NASA Satellite. From BBC News Site.

Germans have been warned to stock food for 2-3 days and have alternative cooking capability (camp stoves?) available in expectation of a huge blizzard. The Swiss are having trouble with snow, it's snowing in Provence, France, and Northern Spain. Let's keep our friends in Europe in prayers during this tough winter.

On the Fifth Day of Christmas - Let it Snow!

2009-12-29T15:49:00.000-08:00

We expected freezing rain today, but instead a beautiful snow began to fall this afternoon after a lovely silvery hard frost this morning.

The flakes are huge, and the snow is powdery but packable into lovely snowballs. My children and the dog enjoyed a good snowball fight and romp in the fluffy stuff. Magic!

Pax

Four Calling Birds

2009-12-28T13:17:00.000-08:00

On this the fourth day of Christmas* I think about what might seem the sheer credulity required to accept our faith. Truly God confounds the Wise and we preach that which is to the Jews a stumbling block, and to the Greeks foolishness.

God takes flesh in the womb of the Virgin and is born a babe in Bethlehem. Wholly man and wholly the Eternal Word. What is a baby Who Is, like? Was he aware of himself? He by Whom all things were made suckles at the breast. Were the courses of the Universe maintained as effortlessly and unconsiously as the breathing of a sleeping child? It is a Mystery.

St. Ephraim the Syrian had this to say about the Mystery:

"Our Savior, Both God and Man" from A Spiritual Psalter by St. Ephraim the Syrian, 4th c.:

We confess one and the same individual as perfect God and perfect man. He is God the Word Which was flesh.

For if He was not flesh, why was Mary chosen? And if He is not God, whom does Gabriel call Lord?

If He was not flesh, who was laid in a manger? And if He is not God, whom did the angels who came down from heaven glorify? If He was not flesh, who was wrapped in swaddling clothes, And if He is not God, in whose honor did the star appear?

If He was not flesh, whom did Simeon hold in his arms? And if He is God, to whom did Simeon say, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace?

If He was not flesh, whom did Joseph take when he fled into Egypt? And if He is not God, who fulfilled the prophecy: Out of Egypt have I called my Son?

If He was not flesh, whom did John baptize? And if He is not God, to whom did the Father say: This is my beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased?

If He was not flesh, who hungered in the desert? And if He is not God, unto whom did the angels come and minister?

If He was not flesh, who was invited to the marriage in Cana of Galilee? And if He is not God, who turned the water into wine?

If He was not flesh, who took the loaves in the desert? And if He is not God, who fed the five thousand men and their women and children with five loaves and two fish?

If He was not flesh, who slept in the ship? And if He is not God, who rebuked the waves and the sea?

If He was not flesh, with whom did Simon the Pharisee sit at meat? And if He is not God, who forgave the sins of the harlot?

If He was not flesh, who wore a man’s garment? And if He is not God, who healed the woman with the issue of blood when she touched His garment?

If He was not flesh, who spat on the ground and made clay? And if He is not God, who gave sight to the eyes of the blind man with the clay?

If He was not flesh, who wept at Lazarus’ grave? And if He is not God, who commanded him to come forth out of the grave four days after his death?

If He was not flesh, whom did the Jews arrest in the garden? And if He is not God, who cast them to the ground with the words: I am He?

If He was not flesh, who was judged before Pilate? And if He is not God, who frightened Pilate’s wife in a dream?

If He was not flesh, whose garments were stripped from Him and parted by the soldiers? And if He is not God, why was the sun darkened upon His crucifixion?

If He was not flesh, who was crucified on the cross? And if He is not God, who shook the foundation of the earth?

If He was not flesh, whose hands and feet were nailed to the cross? And if He is not God, how did it happen that the veil of the temple was rent in twain, the rocks were rent, and the graves were opened?

If He was not flesh, who hung on the cross between the two thieves? And if He is not God, how could He say to the thief: Today thou shalt be with me in paradise?

If He was not flesh, who cried out, and gave up the ghost? And if He is not God, whose cry caused many bodies of the saints which slept to arise?

If He was not flesh, whom did the women see laid in the grave? And if He is not God, about whom did the angel say to them: He is arisen, He is not here?

If He was not flesh, whom did Thomas touch when he put his hands into the prints of the nails? And if He is not God, who entered through the doors that were shut?

If He was not flesh, who ate at the sea of Tiberias? And if He is not God, on whose orders were the nets filled with fishes?

If He was not flesh, whom did the apostles see carried up into heaven? And if He is not God, who ascended to the joyful cries of the angels, and to whom did the Father proclaim: sit at My right hand?

If He is not God and Man then, indeed, our salvation is false, and false are the pronouncements of the prophets.

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Credo . . .

I believe . . .

*Some people claim that the Four Calling Birds in the song are the four evangelists, and that the song was a sort of underground catechism for Roman Catholics during some of the anti-Catholic purges in Tudor England.

The Messiah is Born! Glorify Him!

2009-12-25T18:12:00.000-08:00

"Today the Virgin giveth birth to the Transcendent in essence; the earth offereth the cave to the unapproachable One; the angels with the shepherds glorify Him; and the Magi with the star travel on their way; for a new child hath been born for our sakes, God before the ages."

Today the Virgin Comes

2009-12-24T14:47:00.000-08:00

Today the Virgin comes to the cave

to give birth to the Eternal Word.

Hear the glad tidings and rejoice, O universe!

Glorify with the Angels and the shepherds,

The Eternal God,

Who is willing to appear as a little child!

Veni Veni Emmanuel

2009-12-23T14:08:00.000-08:00

Self - Assessment (With Humour in his eyes and laughter in his heart)

2009-12-14T21:02:00.000-08:00

As most of blogging is a sort of queer form of self-aggrandizement [oops, sorry, that's IMO! heh], or some sort of quasi-public introspection, like a reality tv-show in type . . .

I thought it befitting to conduct a brief self-assessment of this blog and recent posts.

1. The last post resulted in a single comment which appears to be an advert from a conservative R.C.C., which incidentally also showed up on the same day on the Ochlophobist's site;

2. Speaking of Ochlophobists, it has gotten so crowded with comments over on some posts at Owen's site that I wonder whether he wished he were somewhere else.

3. I have one regular reader, who is hands-down the kindest Orthodox blogger I know. I appreciate those visits, dear reader, more than you know! I have two "followers" of the which only one is "known" in the sense that I've seen his postings around the Orthodox blogosphere here and there. I have been kindly included on a couple of (otherwise) highly worthy blogrolls.

4. There have been a grand total of 36 comments left since July, 2009. Some blogs seem to get that in less than 36 minutes. The most significant comment day was related to a nice mention from Owen on his blog about my note that I had lost 1/2 my job and was worried about the farm. There were 7 (count em!), 7 whole comments!!

5. Blog posts varied from notes about the agrarian life, comments on the Antiochian struggles, personal reflections on the Christian life and scripture, and miscellaneous poetry and song. There seems to be no correlation between topics I choose to write about and the comments left here.

In conclusion I am either:

a. extremely boring;

b. too conventional in my thinking;

c. far, far from the mainstream, or any stream, of what passes for interesting stuff on the blogscape; or

d. all of the above.

Well - I suspect "d" is the likeliest candidate. And really, that is good news to me. I couldn't stomach dealing with 50 or 100 comments from passersby.

Anyway, I have animals to get into the barn now for the night. And they don't mind boring, so long as food and shelter are regular as rain West of the Cascades.

Pax

Authentic Orthodoxy(tm)

2009-12-10T12:08:00.000-08:00

So, I am reading Brothers Karamozov. I withheld reading Russian literature until now (my 40s), feeling, well, inadequate to the task. I have also not read A La Recherche du Temps Perdu (Proust) for the same reasons, and am reluctant to dive in even yet to that work. Maybe when I'm 50.

It so happens that I also came to the Orthodox Christian faith, which is fortunate for I'm afraid much would be lost in not having been exposed to the living Orthodox faith prior to picking up Dostoyevsky's great work.

Being in the midst of this reading, and watching from the sidelines the various skirmishes on the internet about what is, and what is not, appropriately Orthodox (something those of us on the North American continent particularly struggle with, I think, for we have few, if any, inherent Orthodox reference cultures of our own unless brought with us recently from foreign lands; moreover, we tend to be navel gazers like the rest of our society ["and how does that make you feel, Mr. X?"]), I have been thinking about some of the things we North American Orthodox take for granted as "Authentically Orthodox(tm)" that hardly more than a century ago might have been quite open to debate.

In the Bros. K., for example, there is a recurring theme about the then-current debate among monastics and other Russians about the idea of an "Elder" or Staretz even being properly Orthodox:

"Authorities on the subject assert that the institution of 'elders' is of recent date, not more than a hundred years old in our monasteries, though in the [O]rthodox East, especially in Sinai and Athos, it has existed over a thousand years. It is maintained that it existed in ancient times in Russia also, but through the calamaties which overtook Russia--the Tartars, civil war, the interruption of relations with the East after the destruction of Constantinople--this institution fell into oblivion. It was revived among us towards the end of the last century by one of the great 'ascetics,' as they called him, Paissy Velitchkovsky, and his disciples. But to this day it exists in few monasteries only, and has sometimes been almost persecuted as an innovation in Russia.

. . .

"Meantime the elders immediately began to be highly esteemed among the people. Masses of the ignorant people as well as men of distinction flocked, for instance, to the elders of our monastery to confess their doubts, their sins, and their sufferings, and ask for counsel and admonition. Seeing this, the opponents of the elders declared that the sacrament of confession was being arbitrarily and frivolously degraded, though the continual opening of the heart tot he elder by the monk or the layman had nothing of the character of the sacrament."

- Bros. K., in Chapter Entitled: Elders (Garrett Trans.)

". . . several different causes were simultaneously at work, one of which was the deeply rooted hostility to the institution of elders as a pernicious innovation, an antipathy hidden deep in the heart of many of the monks."

- Bros. K., in Chapter Entitled: The Breath of Corruption (Garrett Trans.)

Clearly Dostoyevsky sought to describe life in Russia, and the political and social milieu in approximately his own time, and one could posit that these views on the authenticity of Elders were, in fact, in debate in the mid- to late-1800s in Russia, whatever the provenance in Athos, Antioch, and North Africa.

C.S. Lewis, in his introduction to St. Athanasius' great work On the Incarnation, notes that one of the values of reading history and paying attention to our elders is that (I highly paraphrase here) probably those we tend to agree with and those on whom history has adjudged profoundly evil or wrong, shared certain assumptions and worldview about a great many things that they would simply not debate, for all their differences.

Thus, one might argue that the Orthodox do not take an Augustinian view (modified by scholastics, or not - not germane here) of original sin; but nevertheless, probably all of the Orthodox of Augustine of Hippo's time, and St. Augustine himself, likely shared more common opinion together about most things and would stand on their side of history against a great many things we take for granted now as "established" about both doctrinal, worship and ethical and moral matters in the Church.

[As an aside, this is one reason why I ultimately had to abandon my childhood denomination's views about 'believer's baptism.' If this was such an important issue, surely it would have caused as great a battle as the Arian schism over the use of, essentially, one very carefully worded statement. The fact that there is silence coupled with long-standing practice of baptizing infants suggests that the historic Church never saw this as a particularly troubling issue.]

We now, here in North America, take the role of Elders as "Authentic Orthodoxy(tm)" with almost no questions. Some, particularly in the Slavic traditions, will often opine from sayings of the Elders almost to a point of ignoring the original statements of our Lord in the Gospels or the teachings of the Apostles, early Saints, or Desert Fathers of the first centuries. There is a certain fashionability, I suppose, to quoting the later elders.

I am not challenging the institution of Elders, or their work (a tree shall be known by its fruit). I have a quote by Elder Pasios on the masthead. But what Bros. K. makes me consider is, what other things that we, in North America, take as "Authentically Orthodox(tm)," whether choral styles, or prayers, etc., would be seen by our forebears as potentially dangerous and questionable innovation?

[Another aside on choirs - I have a lovely record (yes folks, real vinyl 33 1/3rd LP!) of the Heirarchical Divine Liturgy recorded in the local Greek Orthodox parish in the 1960s, replete with organ accompaniment. I can attest that the music is VERY different from some more "modern" adoptions of a more "pre-1054 Byzantine chant" such as is in vogue now. What does that say about our pretensions and desire to get more "authentic" over and above the real point of our worship?]

I have no answers - but I think that we need to be careful in this age of rapid change, challenges to traditional life, and the like, that we neither embrace new ideas too quickly, nor rush to announce that we have found a "more authentic" historic way that we should "return to." Either has pitfalls in a society where authenticity is marketed to us as a thing to purchase, and to be desired above all else. We should listen to the collective voice of the Church from the past, and weigh carefully, in love, that which leads us soberly to our Lord, and that which is enthusiastic but misguided change (whether to the "old stuff" or to the "new stuff") that, in fact, leads us into pride and delusion.

Here, I am not speaking of rather straightforward things, such as abortion being wrong, or women's ordinations - these appear so settled in the life of the Church that to start announcing some new changes would (IMO) be a dangerous innovation. I am speaking about things like debates over translations of prayers, and texts, and the ordering of bishops among themselves, or whether we ought to rush to through the pews out of the 1930s church when 60% of the parish grew up that way, simply because it's "less Orthodox."

In the end, there is but One whom we seek, and He is not more authentic or less authentic, neither old nor new, but rather the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the Existing One.

I welcome any thoughts on this - for mine are poor enough.

Thanksgiving

2009-11-25T13:09:00.000-08:00

I bow down to Thee, O Master; I bless thee, O Good One; I beseech Thee, O Holy One; I fall down before Thee, O Lover of mankind; and I glorify Thee, O Christ; for Thou, O Only-begotten master of all, O Only Sinless One, wast, for the sake of me, an unworthy sinner, given up to death on the cross in order to free the soul of a sinner from the bondage of sin.

And how shall I repay Thee, O Master? Glory to Thee, O Lover of mankind! Glory to Thee, O Merciful One! Glory to Thee, O Longsuffering One! Glory to Thee, Who forgivest every fall into sin!

Glory to Thee, Who didst descend to save our soul! Glory to Thee, Who didst take flesh in the womb of the Virgin! Glory to Thee, Who didst suffer bondage! Glory to Thee, Who didst accept scourging! Glory to Thee, Who was made an object of humiliation! Glory to Thee, Who wast crucified! Glory to Thee, Who was buried!

Glory to Thee, Who didst rise from the dead! Glory to Thee, of Whom the prophets spoke! Glory to Thee, in Whom we have believed! Glory to Thee, Who didst ascend into heaven! Glory to Thee, Who didst sit with glory at the right hand of the Father and Who art coming again with hosts of angels to judge every soul that has scorned Thy holy passion!

In that anxious and dreadful hour when the heavenly powers are roused, when all the angels, archangels, seraphim and cherubim will stand with fear and trembling before Thy glory, when the foundations of the the earth will be shaken, and when all that breathes will be terrified by the incomparable greatness of Thy Glory--in that hour mayest Thou take me under Thy wing and may my soul be delivered from the terrible fire and from the gnashing of teeth, from outer darkness and eternal lamentation, that I may bless Thee and say: Glory to Him Who has desired to save a sinner according to the great compassion of His mercy!

- St. Ephraim the Syrian, a Spiritual Psalter, No. 2

Discipleship and the Cross - A Meditation on Bonhoeffer's ideas

2009-11-21T10:56:00.000-08:00

In the Cost of Discipleship Bonhoeffer argues against the "cheap grace" of his day in the Lutheran and other Protestant churches (I suppose) wherein obedience and suffering are not necessary. His life is an object lesson in the reality of a Christian walk, and a stern reminder to us in this country where it seems we tend to want health, wealth, and expect a merciful Lord to simply say: "it's OK, John, I know you didn't 'mean' to do it! Come, good and faithful (wishing) servant, enter in to the Joy of your Lord!"

The first thing Bonhoeffer points out is that there is a call to discipleship which insists on rote obedience. He seems to parse this a little too finely in showing that faith follows on obedience, whereas I think this is perhaps too clinical, too mechanical a view. Nonetheless, I agree that where faith is lacking, obedience is still necessary. In this great discussion of "the Call" he focuses ultimately on the rich young ruler and the insistence of our Lord that nothing come between our Lord and his disciple - every attachment, stratagem, argumentative device, even hiding behind the law as a means to avoid obedience, is to be, as Bonhoeffer says, abandoned in the face of the call. Thus, when riches are thrown up as a roadblock to true obedience to the call of the Eternal Logos speaking face to face to him, Jesus commands the rich ruler to cast them aside and follow him.

Having set the stage, Bonhoeffer then turns to the matter of discipleship. He argues that discipleship is bound up in suffering and rejection:

"Had he only suffered, Jesus might have been applauded as the Messiah. All the sympathy and admiration of the world might have been focused on his passion. It could have been viewed as a tragedy with its own intrinsic value, dignity, and honour. But in the passion Jesus is a rejected Messiah. His rejection robs the passion of its halo of glory. It must be a passion without honour. Suffering and rejection sum up the whole cross of Jesus. To die on the cross means to die despised and rejected of men.

. . .

Jesus must therefore make it clear beyond all doubt that the "must" of suffering applies to his disciples no less that to himself.

. . .

The disciple must say to himself the same words Peter said of Christ when he denied him: 'I know not this man.' Self-denial is never just a series of isolated acts of mortification or asceticism. It is not suicide, for there is an element of self-will even in that. To deny oneself is to be aware only of Christ and no more of self, to see only him who goes before and no more the road which is too hard for us. Once more, all that self-denial can say is: 'He leads the way, keep close to him.'"

He then turns to suffering and rejection:

"To endure the cross is not a tragedy: it is the suffering which is the fruit of an exclusive allegiance to Jesus Christ . . . It is not the sort of suffering which is inseparable from this mortal life, but the suffering which is an essential part of the specifically Christian life. It is not suffering per se but suffering-and-rejection, and not rejection for any cause or conviction of our own, but rejection for the sake of Christ. . . Jesus says that every Christian has his own cross waiting for him, a cross destined and appointed by God. Each must endure his alloted share of suffering and rejection. But each has a different share: some God deems worthy of the highest form of suffering, and gives them the grace of martyrdom, while others he does not allow to be tempted beyond what they are able to bear. But is the one and the same cross in every case.

. . .

Jesus' summons to the rich young man was calling him to die, because only the man who is dead to his own will can follow Christ. In fact every command of Jesus is a call to die, with all our affections and lusts. But we do not want to die, and therefore Jesus Christ and his call are necessarily our death as well as our life. The call to baptism in the name of Jesus Christ means both death and life. The call of Christ, his baptism, sets the Christian in the middle of the daily arena against sin and the devil. Every day he encounters new temptations, and every day he must suffer anew for Jesus Christ's sake. The wounds and scars he receives in the fray are living tokens of this participation in the cross of his Lord. But there is another kind of suffering and shame which the Christian is not spared. . . the Christian also has to undergo temptation, he too has to bear the sins of others; he too must bear their shame and be driven like a scapegoat from the gate of the city. . . And the only way to bear that sin is by forgiving it in the power of the cross of Christ in which I now share."

I will tell you, friends, that this dying daily is a fearful thing, in my opinion. It is where I fail my Lord constantly.

More to follow . . .

Caveat: Recently mired in recurring besetting sin, I do not offer this meditation by way of preaching; it is a meditation in order to repent, refocus, and move forward. I post it for record, and for only a small hope another may find some reflection wherein the image of the Logos Incarnate may be glimpsed - not because of me, but because of that great cloud of witnesses.

Miscellaneous Observations

2009-11-17T18:28:00.001-08:00

Things I thought I'd write about in this post, but then decided I wouldn't after all:

- The Antiochian Archdiocese Board of Trustees' decision to have an internal audit and what a bad business decision that was;

- Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon's Pastoral Ponderings podcast and its thinly veiled shot at Ochlophobe Owen White, and the subsequent large number of comments generated by Owen's responsive blog post (at last check, there were 98 comments - sheesh!);

- Comments made here and there in the Orthodox blogosphere about how we ought to get out of Afghanistan, and quick;

- On the continued erosion of any sense of private life in this country

In the end, I decided none of this would be useful other than to allow me a place to vent, albeit with the secret hope that someone would read my post with high approbation.

Instead:

I am thankful for a friend that lent me some of Forster's Hornblower series - a good read, and far better (in my estimation - sorry fans) than the Patrick O'Brien novels. I am particularly pleased to have the loan of a "handbook" written by the author which is replete with maps and notes and short discussions about the places featured in the novels.

I am in awe of the windstorm we had last night - truly a wild one, but thankfully we sustained no damage.

I am happy to report our freezer is filled with nearly 90 lbs of lamb for the winter and early tasting reveals it to be all we had hoped - quite mild but flavorful and reflective of having finished on grass. Given the fast, we will next have lamb probably for Christmas. We are thankful for this

I am also happy to report that we quite likely have both ewes successfully bred for next year and everyone is in good condition going into the Winter.

I am anxiously watching the persimmons come on - should have some ready to go by next week! Persimmon pudding is (God willing) soon to be in our future!

AMC is playing "The Prisoner" (c. 1967) on demand on Comcast or streaming on AMC. I'm about 1/3 of the way through the original episodes.

Finally, friend John (Terry) Cowan has some interesting recent posts over at Notes from a Common-place Book.

As a sheep to the slaughter

2009-10-26T21:20:00.000-07:00

"He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth."

++++++++++++

A fine Fall day in late October. The westering sun filters through the maples and walnuts, creating a gold-green glow and casting long shadows out into the field. Spiders' webs gleam between blades of grass in the sun where, haphazard it would seem, industrious arachnids have made a carpet of gossamer to doom late fall hatches of whatever insects enjoy this crisp air.

I rest, waiting. We have gathered, and I have separated the flock, those that shall stay, and those that are destined to give themselves to us, for us. Soon now it will be time to spend what we have gathered.

It's quiet. They watch me, curious. I watch them, remembering little things. An ear scratched here, a shot given there. Breaking ice on the water last Winter during the snow so they could drink. Apples we have shared, and blackberries hand-picked for sheep to nibble on. The cold quiet of the barn during Christmas, when you could imagine a babe and a mother with shepherds visiting and sheep nearby.

The others are also quiet - who knows what goes on in their heads. They stand on the other side of the gates, waiting patiently.

Soon the men come, the last stop of the day. We talk briefly about how it is to be done, and where. There is no ceremony nowadays. No incantations or blessings. But that has been said before - call me a fool, but I prayed for them, and me.

We set about it - slowly drawing the pen gates in - hemming them in. The more experienced one decides the bullet is best not used and not needed in this case - draws his killing knife, and one is down, life leaving him. The less experienced one groans and cries out to God (does he mean it? He should, maybe), and says "only my second day." I reply with grim compassion that is nevertheless hard: "there's nothing easy about this sort of thing."

Our first one, in these few seconds while we say this, all the while moving earnestly to finish the work, gives a last sigh - he is already gone, his life's blood spilt on the ground. His blood given now that we may eat and live another day.

Now the next one is under the knife, and it is done, his blood staining the barn wall and the ground before me. He is gone, mercifully, faster than the first. As the men take the first up to lay him by the truck, I tell the second "God rest you."

They come back and we move the second up to the road. Riders in cars, passing by on their way down the hill, gawk at the spectacle. Maybe they are horrified. Maybe they'll stop for steaks in the high class restaurant down the hill. Maybe both, or neither. I think, perhaps, I am very, very far from them. But I have seen more than the slaughter of sheep.

The men load them in and take them to where the butcher will do her trade.

Meanwhile I look at where they have been - the bloodstained ground where sacrifice is made real. I open up the pen and lead the others out, taking them to the freshest pasture we have, to give them respite from all this. Good green grass, in our little quiet grove of cedars, redwoods, and firs. Then I walk to the base of a walnut tree, pull up a ring from the tree my neighbor and I cut up, crack a beer, and sit watching the shadows, the webs, and the westering sun, and sit quiet in their honor, if sheep may be honored. Theirs was an honorable life.

Away across the field I heart the bleating of the two new kid goats that we helped the neighbor see into this world.

I sigh and get up - supper is being set on and I have other denizens of this farm needing care and feeding before darkness falls.

Away in a tall fir a hawk screams, then takes to wing, circles twice, and flies away down the hill.

God rest you, friends.

Refreshment

2009-10-08T09:17:00.000-07:00

Some while ago I bought my wife a CD-Boxed-Audio-Set of The New Testament which is available as The Word of Promise: New Testament Audio Bible (Thomas Nelson, publ.), with the idea as she is not terribly inclined to pick up the New Testament, she might be more inclined to hear it while riding in the car or otherwise.

This audio version features a "star-studded" cast delivering the gospels, all in the NKJV, and has some scoring and some sound effects - the sort of Foley effects one would hear on a radio show and other background. Sometimes the score is a bit much (the whole smashing cymbals and glorious angelic choir singing in crescendo at points), but overall the whole thing works well in delivering the Gospel as I think it was meant to be heard - as an oral tradition.

Jim Caviezel does the voice of Jesus and does a creditable job at it. The work is unabridged, so uncomfortable and difficult passages are not ignored or skipped - and the hearer must hear them and wrestle with them.

Today as I drove to work I listened to the Gospel of Mark this way, up until the reception of the little children. It is refreshing to hear the Gospel as a continuous narrative - and many things strike you as you hear it this way.

For example, in Mark 3:5, Jesus looks around at the scribes with wrath because he is grieved for the hardness of their hearts when they will not answer him whether it is lawful to heal on the Sabbath, and then he heals a man.

καὶ περιβλεψάμενος αὐτοὺς μετ᾽ ὀργῆς συλλυπούμενος ἐπὶ τῇ πωρώσει τῆς καρδίας αὐτῶν

And one sees that many, many times, even the disciples hearts are hard and thereby they cannot understand the Gospel even though they hear the parables and are later told the parables' meaning, and when they see a mighty work, but do not understand it:

Now when evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea; and He [was] alone on the land. Then He saw them straining at rowing, for the wind was against them. Now about the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea, and would have passed them by. And when they saw Him walking on the sea, they supposed it was a ghost, and cried out; for they all saw Him and were troubled. But immediately He talked with them and said to them, "Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid."

Then He went up into the boat to them, and the wind ceased. And they were greatly amazed in themselves beyond measure, and marveled.

For they had not understood about the loaves, because their heart was hardened.

Mark 6:47-52

and this:

Then the Pharisees came out and began to dispute with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven, testing Him. But He sighed deeply in His spirit, and said, "Why does this generation seek a sign? Assuredly, I say to you, no sign shall be given to this generation." And He left them, and getting into the boat again, departed to the other side.

Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, and they did not have more than one loaf with them in the boat.

Then He charged them, saying, "Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod."

And they reasoned among themselves, saying, ["It is] because we have no bread."

But Jesus, being aware of [it], said to them, "Why do you reason because you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive nor understand? Is your heart still hardened? Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember?

When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments did you take up?" They said to Him, "Twelve."

"Also, when I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of fragments did you take up?" And they said, "Seven."

So He said to them, "How [is it] you do not understand?"

Mark 8:11-21

Do you find that wonderful and troubling? I do. The disciples marvel about him walking on the waters, because their hearts were hardened and they didn't understand about the loaves. Likewise, their hearts seem to remain hardened and they don't understand about the loaves and they seem not to have ears to hear and eyes to see with, despite that he tells them earlier that they are "insiders" and to them are all things revealed and he tells them the meaning of the parables.

I tremble and wonder if I have any understanding as I listen to these passages (rather than read them). Does he mean - "do you not understand that I am the One, the I am, who brings bread from heaven to His people?" Does he mean something else?

I am sure someone will bring me the commentary of the Fathers about this - but sometimes it is good to just sit, bewildered, like the disciples, hearing the Master speak and striving to understand Him.

I wonder about my own hardness of heart - give me ears to hear, Lord. I realize that most of the time I am like a hearer who has poor stony soil by the side of the road, that is also choked with thorns - all of these things I have been beset by . . . .

I am refreshed by hearing the Gospel this way, even if sometimes the music is corny or the readers "unworthy." I too, am unworthy to read such great things. May you, dear reader, also have opportunity to just sit and have a good reader, or readers, read the Gospel to you so that He may be heard, and you may be refreshed.

May God protect you.

Of Fires and Fibre and Fall - Things Lost and Things Gained

2009-09-30T10:22:00.000-07:00

I built the first fire of the season in the hearth - cherry wood and maple, well seasoned and split by my own hand. I turned the lights out and the others had gone to bed. I sat down with a good bottle of brown brew, carded a rolag of wool sheared from a sheep that I have fed and talked to and led in to the fold and out into the fields. Then I took up an inexpensive drop spindle made locally and spun out the rolag of wool whilst sitting next to the fire, in the otherwise dark room.

Earlier in the evening I closed up the henhouse and checked on the roosting chickens, then walked up towards the barnyard gate to go out into the field in the dark and bring in the sheep. A fawn was in the orchard, and we regarded one another and I spoke words of greeting. Mother doe had got around behind me, as deer will do, without my hearing her, and stood next to the dwarf apple on the other side of the fig trees. I continued up toward the barn and she watched me with interest but not, for a deer, too much nervousness. After I brought the sheep in she, now reunited with her fawn and standing by the apple tree, regarded me once more and, satisfied, turned and went into the dark under the Sycamore and off up the hill.

Later as I spun and sat by the fire, I thought how very real all such moments are compared with most of the moments of my day, which involve pixels and motor cars, ghostly typed words and telephone calls.

There is this moment, in the quiet of a house, when you have a real fireplace, where the fire is dying and you hear a hiss of consuming wood and you smell the smell of wood smoke about you. It is a moment of reality, of human existence as old as the world. There is a moment when wool becomes carded wool and becomes spun yarn (however poorly spun by the spinner); when you join in something that is a part of the human experience of centuries, wholly apart from the stuff of punching plastic buttons to make ghostly print appear ephemerally on a screen. There is a moment when you join the Theotokos in her gentle (and I mean that in the old way) art, and the stuff of a living being becomes the stuff to sustain warmth and life of me, another living being. There is a moment when somehow you are drawn into the movements of the great dance and wheeling of the stars in the night sky, inexplicably.

I thought: I do not like that we shall not, when I am old, be allowed to have real fireplaces, because they cause too much carbon to be released in the atmosphere. I do not like the Nanny Marketplace, where we are told what we may and may not do, what we shall eat, and what we shall wear, and what we shall think, and love, and none of it respecting what we know, or knew and have lost - how to spin, how to make a fire, and how to tell stories to our children beside that fire (indeed I cannot even tell my little story aright here, dear reader, but I hope you understand it anyway). I do not like that we are too tired to be able to walk much in the moonlight and regard the deer and talk to sheep - too tired because we must (mustn't we?) be prepared to get in cars and join the suicidal race to nowhere.

So I will say it here - I am against gas fireplaces and presto logs. I am for weavers and spinners and spinners of yarns by fireplaces. I am for those who sing in pubs with friends and by fires with friends, not for money's sake or any other sake but that it is human to sing together on such occasions. I am for home raised chickens and kitchen herb gardens. I am for picking up walnuts on a cool fall afternoon. I am for working with your neighbor to salvage the wood from the tree that blew down in the storm across the common fence. I am for plum jam from trees one has pruned and, dare I say, talked to (whether or not they listen). I am partial to pumpkins from vines that one watered and fertilized and watched grow throughout the long summer.

I am not for these things because the represent some self-satisfied image of the self-sufficient American. No. Rather, it is because I know these things about me. The nut that fell from the tree I watched put out leaves, and that I sat under, or the plum that we watched grow with its fellows all season, anticipating the time. I have shared in their living.

I don't want to make religion out this - there is but One that is needful. But we divorce ourselves from how we were created at a peril, I think, of forgetting what and who we are, and Whose we are. If all I can say about cotton is: "I am one of these people who are quite happy to wear cotton, but have no idea how it works," then I am perhaps one who cannot appreciate those who have labored to clothe me and I devalue their work beyond all measure. Indeed, I devalue even the earth from which the cotton plant yielded its gift.

I say this knowing that I have succumbed - I have bought in the marketplace. I am no man's better.

But I still want to sit by the fire, and hear that sound in the stillness, and know to Whom I belong, and maybe sing a little song while the stars wheel. Thank God I can still do that, and may he grant my children can too.

The Lord gives, the Lord takes away - Blessed be the Name of the Lord

2009-09-23T16:09:00.001-07:00

My employer informed me yesterday that, due to availability of the type of work they employ me for, I am being cut to 1/2 time and 1/2 salary shortly.

While this does not put me on the street immediately, it is a difficult challenge for our family to have our income cut nearly in half (I am currently the sole source of income). We have means to manage for a while, but not forever, at such levels, without putting the farm up for sale.

I am trying to see this in a good light - a nudge to move on from an excellent paying, but not spiritually satisfying, career/employment. However, having recently purchased a small farm as part of our dream to achieve a little more self-sufficiency, and pursue some long hoped for things, it is a blow insofar as, pending figuring out alternatives to make up that income, we could face losing it again, in the long run. I hoped to be able to plant the vineyard this year which would make the farm pay for at least the taxes and mortgage on it in 3-5 years. But perhaps now we will be lucky to simply hang on through the next growing season with what we have (which is quite a blessing in itself).

I remind myself that we are but dust - and it profits a man nothing to gain the world but lose his soul. There is but One thing needful, in the end. We are only stewards of the land, for as long as we are granted to be stewards. Nevertheless, as a father and a husband, it is difficult to not be anxious that all that can be done for the family has been done.

Of your charity, I humbly ask for your prayers. Many face more dire circumstance each day, not even knowing what they may have to eat or where to sleep. Me, weak man that I am, am troubled by little things. Pray that I not be troubled by little things. Pray that what things the Lord would desire of me will be revealed to me in some fashion, and that I will not be blind to His purposes.

Pax

Memory Verses - Treasures Old and New

2009-09-21T10:58:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I heard these words spoken from the bema and I thought, "I must remember these words and cherish them in my heart" even though I have heard them many, many times before:

"I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ Who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me."

and this:

"For whoever is ashamed of Me and of My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed, when he comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels."

It is particularly the last phrase of Galations 2:20 that I am trying to commit to memory - verbatim: The life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me.

I may frame that and put it on my desk at work . . .

Our Newest Addition

2009-09-14T10:58:00.000-07:00

We have a new ewe coming to the farm - Mariela!

If we are so blessed, we may have as many as four new lambs this Spring!

Words of encouragement to suffering brothers and sisters

2009-08-25T11:37:00.000-07:00

My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand.

- Gospel of St. John, Ch. 10

'Thus says the Lord GOD to the shepherds: "Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks?

You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool; you slaughter the fatlings, but you do not feed the flock.

The weak you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor sought what was lost; but with force and cruelty you have ruled them.

So they were scattered because there was no shepherd; and they became food for all the beasts of the field when they were scattered.

My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and on every high hill; yes, My flock was scattered over the whole face of the earth, and no one was seeking or searching for them."

'Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD:

"[As] I live," says the Lord GOD, "surely because My flock became a prey, and My flock became food for every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, nor did My shepherds search for My flock, but the shepherds fed themselves and did not feed My flock"--

therefore, O shepherds, hear the word of the LORD!

Thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, I [am] against the shepherds, and I will require My flock at their hand; I will cause them to cease feeding the sheep, and the shepherds shall feed themselves no more; for I will deliver My flock from their mouths, that they may no longer be food for them."

'For thus says the Lord GOD: "Indeed I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out.

As a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep, so will I seek out My sheep and deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on a cloudy and dark day.

-Ezekiel Ch. 34

But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.

Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.

Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good.

For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men--as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God.

Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.

Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully.

For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God.

For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:

"Who committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth"; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness--by whose stripes you were healed.

For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

-1st Epistle of St. Peter, Ch. 2

Do not give up hope dear friends.

- Eric John

"I was no prophet, nor was I a son of a prophet, but I was a sheepbreeder, and a tender of sycamore fruits." - Amos Ch. 7

On Silence - And Even Now I Feel Summer Slipping Away

2009-08-14T10:38:00.000-07:00

Nine Lines, August 9

The gold of evening is closing,
drawing in, tightening.
The light is losing. It is
a little frightening
how fast August goes.
Others have noticed this.
The cat on his concealed switchblade toes
comes by, and what he says
is silent, but enlightening.

- Ursula K. Le Guin, in Incredible Good Fortune

Only in silence the word,
Only in dark the light,
Only in dying life:
Bright the hawk's flight on the empty sky

- Ursula K. Le Guin, in A Wizard of Earthsea

There have been a number of interesting bits about the silence of the Word around -

I commend to you these resources:

Fr. Jonathan Tobias

Fr. Dcn. Matthew Steenburg - ‘God is there, where the understanding does not reach’

David Dickens at Nothing Hypothetical

Do Not Fret - Times have been worse - Wisdom from the Past

2009-07-24T11:34:00.000-07:00

But when the enemy's policy against us was changed from one of long and bitter contention to open warfare, then, as everyone knows, the war was split into a myriad of factions, so that all men succumbed to irreconcilable hatred, either through individual suspicion or party spirit. What storm at sea was ever so savage as this tempest of the Churches? It has moved every boundary established by the Fathers; every foundation, every established bulwark of doctrine has been shaken. Everything still remaining afloat is shaken by unsound teaching and thrown back into the abyss. We attack one another; we are overthrown by one another. If the enemy does not strike us first we are wounded by our comrade; if he is wounded and falls, he is trampled by his fellow soldier. Although we are united in our hatred of common foes, no sooner do they retreat, and we find enemies in each other. Who could even list all the casualties? Some have fallen in battle with the enemy; some have been treacherously betrayed by their allies; others are the victims of their leaders' incompetence. . . A darkness full of gloom and misery has descended on the Churches: the lights of the world, established by God to enlighten the souls of the people, have been exiled. The terror of universal destruction already hangs over us, yet they continue enjoying their rivalries, ignoring any sense of danger. Private emnities are more important to these men than the struggle of an entire people; they prefer the glory of subduing their opponents to securing the common welfare and they love the immediate delights of worldly honor more than the rewards awaiting us in the age to come. . . Inspired scripture is powerless to mediate between these two parties [those who confuse the Persons and revert to Judaism and those who oppose the natures and are swept away into Greek polytheism - ed.], nor can apostolic tradition offer them terms of reconciliation. One honest word and your friendship with them is finished; one disagreement with their opinions is sufficient pretext for a quarrel. . . The ordinances of the Gospel have been thrown into confusion everywhere for lack of discipline; the jostling for high posititons is incredible, as every ambitious man tries to thrust himself into high office. The result of this lust for power is that wild anarchy prevails among the people; the exhortations of those in authority are rendered utterly void and unprofitable, since every man in his arrogant delusion thinks that it is more his business to give orders to others than to obey anyone himself.

Since no human voice is powerful enough to be heard in such an uproar, I reckon that silence is more profitable than words. If the words of the Preacher are true: "The words of the wise are heard in quiet," then with the present state of affairs, any discussion of them at all is scarcely appropriate. Moreover, I am restrained by the prophet's words: "Therefore he who is prudent will keep silent in such a time; for it is an evil time," a time when some trip their neighbors, others kick a man already fallen, others applaud, but no one is sympathetic enough to lend a helping hand to the weary, even though the old law says "if you see the beast of one who hates you lying under its burden, you shall refrain from leaving him with it, but you shall help him to lift it up." This is certainly not the case now. Why not? The love of many has grown cold; concord among brothers is no more; the very name of unity is ignored; Christian compassion or sympathetic tears cannot be found anywhere. There is no one to welcome someone weak in faith, but mutual hatred blazes so fiercely among brothers that a neighbors' fall brings them more joy than their own household's success. And just as a contagious disease spreads from the sick to the healthy during an epidemic, in these days we have become like everyone else: imitators of evil, carried away by this rivalry possessing our souls. Those who judge the erring are merciless and bitter, while those judging the upright are unfair and hostile. This evil is so rooted in us that we have become more brutish than the beasts: At least they herd together with their own kindred, but we reserve our most savage warfare for the members of our own household.

These are the reasons I should have kept quiet, but love pulled me in the opposite direction, the love that is not self-seeking, but desires to conquer every obstacle put in her way by time and circumstance. I learned from the example of the children in Babylon that when there is no one to support the cause of true religion, we must accomplish our duties alone. They sang a hymn to God from the midst of the flames, not thinking of the multitudes who rejected the truth, but content to have each other, though there were only three of them. There for the cloud of our enemies does not dismay us, but we place our trust in the Spirit's help, and boldly proclaim the truth. . . .

- St. Basil the Great (~330 - 379 A.D.), in his work On the Holy Spirit, concerning the Arian schism.

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The Church has seen far worse times - the gates of Hades will not prevail against her and "neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

We'll come through this.

Today We Commemmorate the Prophet Ezekiel - Pray for Our Church

2009-07-23T12:44:00.000-07:00

Inspired by the Holy Spirit, O Prophet of God, thou didst proclaim the fulfillment of mysteries: God the Word's ineffable abasement and the resurrection of the dead from all past ages. O glorious Ezekiel, entreat Christ our God to grant us His great mercy.

The Annual Convention for the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, in Palm Desert, appears to be getting difficult. According to several reports, a handbill of details calling for independent financial audits of the Archdiocese has been distributed to delegates and "Security" (not hotel security, but apparently "Archdiocesan Security") has been trying to take them away from people on the grounds that it's not "official" (it was handed out by Antiochian Orthodox Christians in attendance) and has also been trying to intimidate people with communication devices and cell phone cameras. Sounds like Iran, not the U.S., eh?

Hard questions have been put to the Metropolitan and things are uncomfortable. Whatever the long term, I don't think that AOCANA will be the same after this week.

Pray that love will be maintained, and truth will be spoken.

June 13, 2009 Toledo Blade Article on Antiochian Embroglio

2009-07-13T10:21:00.000-07:00

This article pretty well sums up what's been going on, other than the issues of financial transparency.

Toledo Blade Article

Fruitful Listening

2009-07-09T12:01:00.000-07:00

If you listen to pod-casts - you might like to listen to the two-part lecture of Fr. Deacon Matthew on St. Paul and conversion.

Good for getting away from the quotidienne and troubling peccadillos of our squabbling jurisdictions and getting back to what matters.

Part I

Part II

New Resources for those interested in Christianity in Arabic-speaking Cultures

2009-07-08T15:01:00.000-07:00

Over on the side-bar I've added a few new resources for those with an interest in Greek Orthodox Christianity (or Rum Orthodox, if you prefer) in Arabic-speaking cultures.

In North America we speak of the Antiochian Orthodox Church, but in Syria and Lebanon, it is known as the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All The East (or in perhaps more literal translation of Arabic - Antiochian and All the East Patriarchate for Rum [Roman] Orthodox).

Byzantine Chant in Arabic page by Basil Crow

Notes on Arab Orthodoxy 'blog

Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East

Hamatoura Monastery, Lebanon

I have taken off the link to the North American Antiochian Archdiocese until it 'normalizes' its relations with the Patriarchate with respect to the June Synod clarifications (wry grin). Links to the N.A. Archdiocese can be reached through the His Grace Bishop Joseph's website for the Diocese of L.A. and the West, which I commend to you for thoughts, speeches, sermons, and liturgical materials.

-Eric John

Abundance

2009-07-04T10:33:00.000-07:00

We have so much for which to be thankful. Oftentimes we may feel guilty about the abundance with which we are blessed here in this land that we may have been allowed to live in through accident of birth or decisions of our forebears. We are reluctant to voice our thankfulness for these blessings lest we be seen to be like the Pharisee who thanks God that he is not like "others" less fortunate. We do not wish to be seen as some sort of American Exceptionalist - that we are being 'thankful' for being one of God's 'chosen.' But this reticence can lead to failing to give proper thanks and praise where due. I think it is right and good to give thanks and praise for what we are given even if we may lose it in a moment - even if we later find we must spend our life's blood in a dry dusty land far away, or that our homes and land become confiscated because we lose jobs or health, or depression or other economic disaster strikes. Let us be thankful for the day at hand and the beauty and fruitfulness we have now, and let us be thankful and give praise for having had it even when it is taken away.

In my little corner of this country, the land is extremely fruitful, the rain falls well, the trees grow, and there are few dangerous reptiles, insects, or animals. The seasons are there, but not usually severe.

We cannot know whether tomorrow the barns will burn down or the Master come to require our souls, but at least for today I will say thank You and Glory to Thee for that over which we have been given stewardship.

Morning Thoughts

2009-07-02T10:14:00.001-07:00

Mar 11:12 Now the next day, when they had come out from Bethany, He was hungry.
Mar 11:13 And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find something on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.
Mar 11:14 In response Jesus said to it, "Let no one eat fruit from you ever again." And His disciples heard it.
Mar 11:15 So they came to Jerusalem. Then Jesus went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.
Mar 11:16 And He would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple.
Mar 11:17 Then He taught, saying to them, "Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations'?[fn5] But you have made it a 'den of thieves.'"[fn6]
Mar 11:18 And the scribes and chief priests heard it and sought how they might destroy Him; for they feared Him, because all the people were astonished at His teaching.
Mar 11:19 When evening had come, He went out of the city.
Mar 11:20 Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.
Mar 11:21 And Peter, remembering, said to Him, "Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away."
Mar 11:22 So Jesus answered and said to them, "Have faith in God.
Mar 11:23 "For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.
Mar 11:24 "Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.
Mar 11:25 "And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.
Mar 11:26 "But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses."

This morning I woke quite tired and lay in bed with my eyes still shut. As I did so for a few moments a couple of strong thoughts spread through my mind, one of which was - "Start walking by faith, stop walking by sight!" (2 Cor 5:7) I had, upon this thought, an image that in all that I do and say there is, in fact, an angel standing next to me and that we walk about together, as it were. I had not been acting this way at all - not walking in the faith of the truth of that matter - that around us is the invisible presence of witnesses (martyrs) (Heb. 12:1) and ministers that are a 'flame of fire.' (Heb. 1:7; Ps. 103:4 [LXX; Ps 104:4 in MT]). I had that distinct feeling that one reason I do not 'see' is that I do not walk in faith that things are as I claim to believe. Not that if I believe, I will see this physically, for blessed is the man who believes without seeing (John 20:29), and faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Heb. 11:1)

Walk by faith, not by sight.

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Today is a beautiful day here. Our summer squash is growing nicely, our broccoli is on the second tender harvest, and the onions are doing well. I think we may have a good grape harvest if the deer or birds don't wreak havoc at the last moment, and tomatoes are setting on. Blueberries are now on and will be for a couple of weeks yet, I think. I paced off the rows for a future vineyard, if we are so blessed to be able to afford to put it in. It was nice to spend a few minutes this morning looking over the valley and watching the flock nip the tops of dandelions. Morning and evening I like to get at least 10 minutes to watch the growing (or fading) light and hear the wind sigh in the trees.

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The Antiochian embroglio has heated up considerably with lots of skullduggery going on - multiple signed documents, translations, etc. For those of you who don't read Arabic, while I am not a native speaker I can assure you that the Synod's decision [the one posted on the Patriarchal website as the only authorized version] plainly reads "[The Holy Synod] affirms that Bishops in the Antiochian Eparchy in North America are Bishops [who] assist [or aid] the Metropolitan." There is no adjectival form used that could correspond to a meaning of "Auxiliary." Indeed, not only is it a verbal form, but it is not even derived from the same verbal roots that were used in the original February 24, 2009 decision. That certainly can be attributed to word choice rather than significant intent, in that Arabic is rich with different words with shades of meaning that may be translated to English the same way. However, I think that if the Synod had intended to reaffirm its decision it would have used the same words to describe the N.A. bishops' role.

That said, the next point, that (and here I am gisting the bracketed material because the literal Arabic would read stilted and in the interest of time) "[this does not mean at any time], that any [diocese, bishopric, episcopacy] from among the dioceses [or bishoprics] of this one [or - single] Eparchy can consider itself a distinct [or different] Eparchy because the decision [to establish Eparchies resides with the Antiochian Holy Synod]."

I don't really know where that leaves us, but I think a reasonable interpretation, given the rejection of the alternative documents by the Patriarch, is that, for North America only, the Bishops are diocesan bishops who assist the Metropolitan, but who are nevertheless not auxiliaries. Otherwise there needn't have been a distinction for North America at all and the Synod could have simply reaffirmed the earlier decision in all respects and use the words used in the original decision.

I think it is telling to use the term Eparchy (أبرشية) [nominally translatable to Diocese] and أسقفية - bishopric [also nominally tranlatable to Diocese] in contradistinction to one another - with أسقفية not being a term used in the February 24 decision. It introduces, to North America only, a distinction not found elsewhere in the Antiochian Patriarchate. Generally I believe one would simply use the term Eparchy to denote either an Archdiocese or Diocese in Arabic, but I'm willing to be corrected on this point. It's rather meaningless to make such distinctions where Bishops are either Auxiliary Bishops to Metropolitans or are, indeed, Metropolitans and where, in the old world, virtually all the major cities have Metropolitans and not just diocesan bishops (unlike North America).

Moreover, the distinction must have a purpose else it is surplusage.

Anyway - His Grace Metropolitan Philip seems to have overplayed his hand in several ways and makes one wonder (a) why is he so resistant to more transparency in Archdiocesan finances; (b) why is he trying to stack the Trustee selection process; (c) why on earth would he want to associate with Walid Khalife and use him as part of the delegation to Damascus - even if he is a reformed character after his brush with the full power of the US Federal Government [I will leave off any commentary on Khalife's very bizarre e-mails that appear to have been floating the ether]?

I hope that he has not, over the years, become beholden to a criminal or corrupt element such that he has no way out of a dilemma, for I cannot see why else he is trying to make the moves he is making. My beloved, being a charitable woman, wondered if he is, in his age, becoming susceptible to dementia or Alzheimer's, which can cause abberant behaviors. I must confess that while this would be an appealing revelation if true, the machinations we are witnessing are still too artful, even if not artful enough to be succesful, to allow such a conclusion at this time.

Unfortunately for the Bishops in the Antiochian Orthodox Church in North America, all eyes will be on them at the Convention to see how they stand (or fall) to the various camps that will be demanding something - will they speak firmly with love? Will they speak at all? And what will they say? Will they unite as one? Will they also become divided? God forbid it!

Pray for the Churches as Satan sifts us like wheat from chaff. I think Fr. Jonathan Tobias is right to suggest that we need to focus very small and close to home in these times - our parish and our families and keep our Orthodox Christian faith and simply preach Christ Crucified and remain fools for Christ not hope for grand schemes of Orthodox unity in North America right now.

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On the Economic front some pundits say that the infusion of money by fiat into the country is going to lead to inflationary pressures or falling value of the dollar and that we are in for further bumpy rides as a result. Some predict that gold and silver values will bump towards the end of summer, and we have already seen a lot of international talk about moving to a different sort of reserve currency - possibly even a new international currency for reserve purposes. I don't know . . . but I can't imagine that the huge deficits we are now racking up will be good in the long run and I don't see fundamental consumer behavioral change that would set things 'aright.'

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If anyone is looking for a milch goat - Wise Susan is thinking about selling a good one that she has had at St Brigid Farm.

Ghosts of Mississippi

2009-06-11T14:48:00.000-07:00

I wish to share a most beautiful piece of imagery written by Owen at his site: The Ocholophobist.

While it devolves briefly into a rant about the decadence of our parishioners at one point, I ask you focus on the ache and beauty of his memory of his Sunday School teacher Mary, and of his friend Davey.

Owen is a man of learning - apparently mostly self-taught (as all good learning must be), with a wide grasp of things philosophical, theological, and sociological. He provokes and is opinionated, but always worth reading.

Owen lost his job a while back. I think he is going to school again or still looking for work, or both. Keep him and his family in your prayers.

I have never met the man, but I have corresponded with him and read his work. I hope one day he will journey out this way, for he would find friends, drink, food, and fellowship. God willing.

This piece makes me think of my own teachers and relations - Missouri baptists forged in the troubles of the Depression; Kansas farmers become loggers become steelworkers who, like Owen's mentors have that:

"disposition [which might be called] the Mississippi of the heart. It is that peculiar tenderness that is found among those who have an ache that will not heal in part because the wound has no rest due to the constant motion of being given to others (even if in the quiet, in prayer), but are so glad to be able to give that they count the pain as nothing.

It makes me think of the North Dakota ranchers who came West as an entire family - never rich but in love for one another and generosity which seemed to spring forth from unknown resources, my own Grandmother being one who ended her days in a single-wide striving to remember her children from pictures on the wall while the Alzheimer's ravaged her mind, but always ridiculously, but yet in childlike wonderfulness telling us in song that "the more we get together the happier we'll be."

I am reminded of my neighbor in North Carolina who spent her life protecting her 'angel baby' who lay motionless for 21 years before giving up the ghost, who drove up the street a mile where the 'preacher-man' gave his sermons and was brokenhearted when her husband died. She and my other neighbor had been friends for decades, but the color line was still strong and they only spoke to one another outside the houses and went to different baptist churches. But they baked and shared their abundance with one another too and I believe truly loved one another. Hard to figure.

I'm afraid that I am more like Owen:

I know I have never had much in the way of faith, and maybe that's it. In my life, every time I've had a come to Jesus meetin' of any sort, every time I have tried a bit harder to be a Christian, I have found that my general problems in life have increased, and that I start to screw up more than I did when just coasting. Grant you, I have not tried all that often. In part because I came to wonder if laying low wasn't a more careful route to go.

And I wonder how we, my people, came from where they did to the debacle that was the nightly show of my childhood. I will not tell you that tale, no.

But when I look at where I am at in life, and what people may assume about me (look at him, he's never really had to suffer!), and compare that to what really has gone on in life, I am reminded that we do not know the contours of many another's life and we must assume there lurks there untold stories, and untold pains. They all have ghosts haunting them, whether old gnarled-hand Mississippi Sunday School Teachers or Gucci purse carrying urbanites - let us love one another as we would ourselves.

Worthy Thoughts - Good in Every Man

2009-06-10T14:00:00.000-07:00

Stop looking for that which is bad in your neighbors but rather find and love that which is good in them and you will save both them and yourselves.

You will save them since every man already believes in his own goodness, everyone likes and wants to be good, everyone feels that eternal and divine calling to perfection. One should, therefore, support others in this: believe in them and help them develop that which is good, which abides in them and which they ultimately respect in themselves, that they develop that inner goodness, that it be strengthened and that it bring them victory over evil… For, it is only that which is good in man that can be loved and it is only in love that one can live.

It is with this teaching that the Apostles set out into the world on this day [Pentecost].

—Bishop Hrizostom (Vojinović)

To read the whole from which these excerpts are taken, visit Fr Milovan's blog Again and Again, and read the post entitled Good in Every Man.

H/T to Romanos at cost-of-discipleship.blogspot.com and, of course, Fr. Milovan

The Red Pill - Leaving our Delusions Behind

2009-06-09T13:03:00.000-07:00

Morpheus: I imagine that right now you're feeling a bit like Alice. Tumbling down the rabbit hole?
Neo: You could say that.
Morpheus: I can see it in your eyes. You have the look of a man who accepts what he sees because he's expecting to wake up. Ironically, this is not far from the truth. Do you believe in fate, Neo?
Neo: No.
Morpheus: Why not?
Neo: 'Cause I don't like the idea that I'm not in control of my life.
Morpheus: I know exactly what you mean. Let me tell you why you're here. You're here because you know something. What you know, you can't explain. But you feel it. You felt it your entire life. That there's something wrong with the world. You don't know what it is, but it's there. Like a splinter in your mind -- driving you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you to me. Do you know what I'm talking about?
Neo: The Matrix?
Morpheus: Do you want to know what it is?
(Neo nods his head.)
Morpheus: The Matrix is everywhere, it is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window, or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work, or when go to church or when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.
Neo: What truth?
Morpheus: That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else, you were born into bondage, born inside a prison that you cannot smell, taste, or touch. A prison for your mind. (long pause, sighs) Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself. This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back.
(In his left hand, Morpheus shows a blue pill.)
Morpheus: You take the blue pill and the story ends. You wake in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. (a red pill is shown in his other hand) You take the red pill and you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes. (Long pause; Neo begins to reach for the red pill) Remember -- all I am offering is the truth, nothing more.

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My friend John at Notes from a Commonplace Book once quoted at length from Fr. Alexander Schmemman's journals about the problem of how we view (or ignore) death. In reading Fr. John Behr's "The Mystery of Christ - Life in Death," my mind has turned to contemplate that great mystery.

Reviewing John's post spurred me to think - we've really got it wrong, how we view death as a 'natural part of life' and sit around expecting the coming of the 'sweet by-and-by.' Our true death is also our rebirth - and it happens in our baptism with water and Spirit. But to walk around as if we are alive in ourselves ignoring that we must, in fact, be buried with Christ and raised in Him, is to live 'in the Matrix' - "the world that has been pulled over [our] eyes to blind [us] from the truth." What truth? That actually we live in bondage to sin and spiritual death, in separation from God, and that apart from dying to self and being reborn, we are already lost.

In 1944, the 506th Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division jumped into Normandy as part of the campaign to liberate Europe from the clutches of Nazi Germany. "Easy" Company of the 506th, made famous by Stephen Ambrose's Band of Brothers, jumped into Normandy with 139 officers and men on June 6th. Twenty-three days later they came off the line with 65 fewer souls [if my math is correct].

In the HBO/Play Tone production of Band of Brothers [which, incidentally, IMO is the best 'war movie' made to date], there is a conversation between a feared and respected Lieutenant Ronald Spiers and a Private Blithe. Blithe is struggling with the shock and fear of combat and confesses that he hid in a ditch after the jump rather than seek out his unit and join the fight. Factually, Albert Blithe was wounded in combat during the Normandy campaign and never fully recovered from his wounds, finally dying in 1948.

Spiers: "We're all scared. You hid in that ditch because you think there's still hope. But Blithe, the only hope you have is to accept the fact that you're already dead."

While the point of the [perhaps imagined] conversation was to give a soldier the means to overcome the fear of war and to act effectively, the idea of 'hiding in a false hope' due to fear has some application.

As Christians we are to also accept, as St. Paul says, that we have died to self and live only in Christ. Not "I" but Christ who lives in me. The only hope we have is to accept the fact that we're already dead without Christ. Moreover, in baptism we die with Christ, and our new resurrected life is hid in his.

We put our hope on accepting the fact that we are already 'dead' to the World - and we are [as St. Paul says] truly pitiable if Christ has not, in fact, risen. Then we are men bound to a false hope.

But if our belief is true, there is no other hope than to accept the fact that we were already dead in sin, and will only be alive in Christ by dying to the World and being raised with Him, and that acting otherwise is to hold out hope that we somehow will be able to live without Christ.

We hold to many truly false hopes. Recently, after realizing a sinful behavior, despite 'knowing better,' I was given to think as I suspect we often do: "perhaps I can yet redeem myself in the eyes of my Lord by the improvement of my behavior." If Jesus is (as I believe and confess) God from God, the Existing Logos, there is little I could do to 'redeem myself' in His eyes. I realized that I was clinging to a false hope, like Private Blithe, thinking this was a way to cling to life.

I believe this is a common false hope to cling to, even when we 'know better' through having been taught that no man can justify himself through his works (rather, his works are an external indicator of obedience to the commands of Christ and faith in Christ). We still want to hide in the ditch thinking there is still hope for life while remaining just where we are, hoping that at some little moment we will redeem ourselves in the eyes of our Lord - that we will be our own Savior in the eyes of our Judge, rather than really accepting, deep in our nous, our 'heart of hearts' that our Judge is our Savior, and realizing that there's nothing we can do to redeem ourselves. As we stand before him all we can do is throw ourselves upon his infinite mercy.

"To be Christian, to believe in Christ, means and has always meant this: to know in a transrational and yet absolutely certain way called faith, that Christ is the Life of all life, that He is Life itself and, therefore, my life. 'In him was life; and the life was the light of men." All Christian doctrines--those of the incarnation, redemption, atonement--are explanations, consequences, but not the 'cause' of that faith. Only when we believe in Christ do all these affirmations become 'valid' and 'consistent.' But faith itself is the acceptance not of this or that 'proposition' about Christ, but of Christ Himself as the Life and the light of life. 'For the life was manifested and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us' (1 Jn. 1:2). In this sense Christian faith is radically different from 'religious belief.' Its starting point is not 'belief' but love. . . And if to love someone means that I have my life in him, or rather that he has become the 'content' of my life, to love Christ is to know and to possess Him as the Life of my life."

-- Fr. Alexander Schmemann, from Ch. 6 of For the Life of The World, St. Vladimir's Seminary Press (1973).

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Today outside your prison I stand
and rattle my walking stick: Prisoners, listen;
you have relatives outside. And there are
thousands of ways to escape.

Years ago I bent my skill to keep my
cell locked, had chains smuggled in to me in pies,
and shouted my plans to jailers;
but always new plans occurred to me,
or the new heavy locks bent hinges off,
or some stupid jailer would forget
and leave the keys.

Inside, I dreamed of constellations --
those feeding creatures outlined by stars,
their skeletons a darkness between jewels,
heroes that exist only where they are not.

Thus freedom always came nibbling my thought,
just as -- often, in light, on the open hills --
you can pass an antelope and not know
and look back, and then -- even before you see --
there is something wrong about the grass.
And then you see.

That's the way everything in the world is waiting.

Now -- these few more words, and then I'm
gone: Tell everyone just to remember
their names, and remind others, later, when we
find each other. Tell the little ones
to cry and then go to sleep, curled up
where they can. And if any of us get lost,
if any of us cannot come all the way --
remember: there will come a time when
all we have said and all we have hoped
will be all right.

There will be that form in the grass.

- William Stafford

Of Wisdom and of the Voice of Truth (revised)

2009-06-08T09:52:00.000-07:00

I have edited the original post. My apologies to any reader who did not comment but might be looking for it. I reflected on this post over the weekend and decided that it was unworthy musing - worthy for a fireside chat with an old friend, perhaps, but when written in public blogdom it shows both my ignorance and does not serve to edify.

Thus I have redacted the discussion of time, and the discussion of a wistful desire to be an intellectual, a goal which I will never achieve but which I realize isn't necessarily all it's cracked up to be.
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The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth: While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world. When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth: When he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep: When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth: Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him; Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men.

Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children: for blessed are they that keep my ways. Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not. Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the LORD.

But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death.

Proverbs 8:22-36

Although Divine Wisdom is typically referred to in the feminine in the OT - the Fathers consistently saw this passage as a description of the Christ. The great Church Historian, Eusebius, almost casually ties the two together in talking about the eternal begottenness of the Son.

Jesus tells the Samaritan woman at the well (Gospel of John) that the time is coming, and now is, that people will no longer worship in the temple or on mount Gerezim, but the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth. In the same Gospel he explains he is the Truth, the Way, the Life and he promises that the Spirit will come and lead the Apostles in all Truth. All who hear His Voice hear the Truth.

Truth is a man. We worship in Trinity - Father, Truth (Son), and Spirit. This is Wisdom. Wisdom, if we find it, giveth life (Proverbs 8) and if we hear Him, we hear the Voice of Truth, we hearken unto Wisdom, who was with the Father when Time was not.

No philosophy of man or sophistry of education will get me farther than this, that I should truly know what Jesus is talking about: "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." (John 17:3).

A little child can hear His voice better than I can, and no 'book-larnin' will bring me closer - but there are things that will. I pray I may find that, for that is what I really long for. No field equations exist for love as yet. No mathematical nicety can model what happened at the Cross.

Today's Gospel reading (Greek lectionary) is:

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”

Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them.

Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly."

Of Grass, Sheep, Moles, and Dirt

2009-06-01T10:12:00.000-07:00

Currently it's in vogue to consider oneself, as a shepherd, to actually be in the business of being a 'grass farmer.' Of course, this assumes one actually understands the culture of various grass species and legumes, which I can say I don't. I am a novice. I can recognize winter rye and red and white clovers, and tall fescue. That's about it. So I'll stick to 'novice shepherd' for now as I feel my way along.

Right now my small flock cannot keep up with the grass on our current pasture rotation. So I spend time on the small tractor mowing. If I had a good farmer's mower, I'd put up some of the cutting for hay rather than mulch it with the mowing deck on the small tractor (it's a John Deere, but with front and back PTOs and can do a great deal - a lawn and garden tractor on steroids). If I had a good scythe and knew how to wield it, I'd take a swipe at cutting hay and gathering it into shocks after it dried.

Walking the North pasture last night, while rounding up the flock to put them in the fold for the night, I examined grass, which now nearly exceeds the height of the sheep, and generally am pleased with what was, over winter, a bit of a poorly pasture (the South pasture is much more lovely). The combination of overseeding with the gentle planting action of sheeps' hooves on moist soil seems to have encouraged some recovery.

Nevertheless, I continue to have moles working the soil in the North pasture far more abundantly than anywhere else on the property.

I have mixed feelings about moles - within limits they are actually good tillers of the soil and I will leave them be as they go about their business of aerating and mixing soil layers and providing better drainage, as well as eating large numbers of insects, insect larvae, and other pests. I sometimes take some of the freshly tilled soil to use for soil layers in the compost heaps and for mixing in the garden with compost and more sandy soil (our native soil on the farm is a silty clay loam of volcanic origin - fairly productive but I like to mix it for the raised beds in the garden). So the moles provide some benefit, so long as they don't get out of hand.

So far, one of our resident cats has ensured just that. Everyone earns his or her keep on the farm, whether sheep (grass management, wool, natural fertilizer, meat), chickens (eggs, some grass/weed control, bug control, some meat), dog (all around warning system/deterrent, hunting companion), cats (rodent management) . . . and of course, the farmer (caretaker, weed-puller, cultivator, ear scratcher, etc., etc.). Even the mole earns his keep - and for that I think some hills in the pasture are a fair trade. I like to think that moving the soil into other parts of the system (compost, garden) is a means to conserve the now-exposed soil and avoid any significant scatter/topsoil blowout as a result of wind-driven dust.

Today at lunch I got out the Farm Journal (sort of a log of doings so maybe I'll learn lessons from it), which I had failed to update in about three months, and started thinking of all that the last three months has brought. That got me to thinking of the inventory of all the things growing on the farm right now (besides weeds and grass and invasive but delicious blackberries). So here, dear reader, is an inventory of things striving:

In the Garden:

Lettuce (3 kinds)
Spinach
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Onions (Walla Walla)
Rosemary
Cilantro
Garlic Chives
Mint
Pepper plants (one red, one yellow)
Tomato (3 varieties)
Pole Beans
Pumpkin
Summer Squash
Yellow Zucchini
Blueberries (six bushes)
Grape vines (two old vines - "eating grapes")
Strawberries (Everbearing)

In the "Orchard" (actually orchard and other locations)

Apples (six+ varieties)
Pears (5 varieties)
Cherries (two varieties I think - one is Bing)
Italian Plums
Figs (3 varieties)

Persimmons will come on just after Thanksgiving
Walnuts (5 English Walnuts - aged but still producing beautiful nuts for October)

In noting this inventory today I realized how God-blessed we are to have this place, for we reap what we did not sow and we will sow what others will later reap. It is a special stewardship to hold the land for the time we will be able to hold it, however long that is.

In that regard, I recommend to you read "Mad Farmer Liberation Front" and consider the import of these words of Mr. Berry:

Ask the questions that have no answers.

Invest in the millenium.

Plant sequoias.

Say that your main crop is the forest that you did not plant, that you will not live to harvest.
Say that the leaves are harvested when they have rotted into the mold.

Call that profit.

Prophesy such returns.

May you have a blessed next few days awaiting Pentecost.

St. John Chyrsostom on Repentance and Crucifying Christ Afresh

2009-05-22T09:49:00.000-07:00

From time to time I have wondered what it really meant when St. Paul says in the book of Hebrews that it is impossible, once having fallen away, to come to repentence again, "crucifying to themselves the Son of God afresh."

In trying to learn the meaning of this passage, I happened to look up St. John Chrysostom's Homily where he provides an interpretation.

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Therefore leaving the principles of the Doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God; of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands; and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this we will do, if God permit.

1. You have heard how much Paul found fault with the Hebrews for wishing to be always learning about the same things. And with good reason: For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, you have need again that some one teach you the elements of the first principles of the oracles of God. Hebrews 5:12

I am afraid that this might fitly be said to you also, that when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye do not maintain the rank of learners, but ever hearing the same things, and on the same subjects, you are in the same condition as if you heard no one. And if any man should question you, no one will be able to answer, except a very few who may soon be counted.

But this is no trifling loss. For oftentimes when the teacher wishes to go on further, and to touch on higher and more mysterious themes, the want of attention in those who are to be taught prevents.

For just as in the case of a grammar-master, if a boy though hearing continually the first elements does not master them, it will be necessary for him to be continually dinning the same things into the boy, and he will not leave off teaching, until the boy has been able to learn them accurately; for it is great folly to lead him on to other things, without having put the first well into him; so too in the Church, if while we constantly say the same things you learn nothing more, we shall never cease saying the same things.

For if our preaching were a matter of display and ambition, it would have been right to jump from one subject to another and change about continually, taking no thought for you, but only for your applauses. But since we have not devoted our zeal to this, but our labors are all for your profit, we shall not cease discoursing to you on the same subjects, till you succeed in learning them. For I might have said much about Gentile superstition, and about the Manichæans, and about the Marcionists, and by the grace of God have given them heavy blows, but this sort of discourse is out of season. For to those who do not yet know accurately their own affairs, to those who have not yet learned that to be covetous is evil, who would utter such discourses as those, and lead them on to other subjects before the time?

We then shall not cease to say the same things, whether ye be persuaded or not. We fear however, that by continually saying the same things, if you hearken not, we may make the condemnation heavier for the disobedient.

I must not however say this in regard to you all; for I know many who are benefited by their coming here, who might with justice cry out against those others, as insidiously injuring them by their ignorance and inattention. But not even so will they be injured. For hearing the same things continually is useful even to those who know them, since by often hearing what we know we are more deeply affected. We know, for instance, that Humility is an excellent thing, and that Christ often discoursed about it; but when we listen to the words themselves and the reflections made upon them, we are yet more affected, even if we hear them ten thousand times.

2. It is then a fitting time for us also to say now to you, Wherefore leaving the beginning of the doctrine of Christ, let us go unto perfection.

What is the beginning of the doctrine? He goes on to state it himself, saying, not laying again (these are his words) the foundation of repentance from dead works, and faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms and of laying on of hands, of the resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.

But if this be the Beginning, what else is our doctrine save to repent from dead works, and through the Spirit to receive the faith, in the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment? But what is the Beginning? The Beginning, he says, is nothing else than this, when there is not a strict life. For as it is necessary to instruct one who is entering on the study of grammar, in the Elements first, so also must the Christian know these things accurately, and have no doubt concerning them. And should he again have need of teaching, he has not yet the foundation. For one who is firmly grounded ought to be fixed and to stand steady, and not be moved about. But if one who has been catechised and baptized is going ten years afterwards to hear again about the Faith, and that we ought to believe in the resurrection of the dead, he does not yet have the foundation, he is again seeking after the beginning of the Christian religion. For that the Faith is the foundation, and the rest the building, hear him [the Apostle] saying; I have laid the foundation and another builds thereupon. [1 Corinthians 3:10] If any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble. [1 Corinthians 3:12]

Not laying again (he says) the foundation of repentance from dead works.

3. But what is, let us go on unto perfection? Let us henceforth proceed (he means) even to the very roof, that is, let us have the best life. For as in the case of the letters the Alpha involves the whole, and as the foundation, the whole building, so also does full assurance concerning the Faith involve purity of life. And without this it is not possible to be a Christian, as without foundations there can be no building; nor skill in literature without the letters. Still if one should be always going round about the letters, or if about the foundation, not about the building, he will never gain anything.

Do not however think that the Faith is depreciated by being called elementary: for it is indeed the whole power: for when he says, For every one that uses milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe [Hebrews 5:13], it is not this which he calls milk. But to be still doubting about these things is [a sign] of a mind feeble, and needing many discourses. For these are the wholesome doctrines. For we call him a perfect man [i.e. of full age] who with the faith has a right life; but if any one have faith, yet does evil, and is in doubt concerning [the faith] itself, and brings disgrace on the doctrine, him we shall with reason call a babe, in that he has gone back again to the beginning. So that even if we have been ten thousand years in the faith, yet are not firm in it, we are babes; when we show a life not in conformity with it; when we are still laying a foundation.

4. But besides [their way of] life he brings another charge also against these [Hebrews], as being shaken to and fro, and needing to lay a foundation of repentance from dead works. For he who changes from one to another, giving up this, and choosing that, ought first to condemn this, and to be separated from the system, and then to pass to the other. But if he intends again to lay hold on the first, how shall he touch the second?

What then of the Law (he says)? We have condemned it, and again we run back to it. This is not a shifting about, for here also [under the Gospel] we have a law. Do we then (he says) make void the law through faith? God forbid, yea we establish the Law. [Romans 3:31] I was speaking concerning evil deeds. For he that intends to pursue virtue ought to condemn wickedness first, and then go in pursuit of it. For repentance cannot prove them clean. For this cause they were straightway baptized, that what they were unable to accomplish by themselves, this might be effected by the grace of Christ. Neither then does repentance suffice for purification, but men must first receive baptism. At all events, it was necessary to come to baptism, having condemned the sins thereby and given sentence against them.

But what is the doctrine of baptisms? Not as if there were many baptisms, but one only. Why then did he express it in the plural? Because he had said, not laying again a foundation of repentance. For if he again baptized them and catechised them afresh, and having been baptized at the beginning they were again taught what things ought to be done and what ought not, they would remain perpetually incorrigible.

And of laying on of hands. For thus did they receive the Spirit, when Paul had laid his hands on them [Acts 19:6], it is said.

And of the resurrection of the dead. For this is both effected in baptism, and is affirmed in the confession.

And of eternal judgment. But why does he say this? Because it was likely that, having already believed, they would either be shaken [from their faith], or would lead evil and slothful lives, he says, be wakeful.

It is not open to them to say, If we live slothfully we will be baptized again, we will be catechised again, we will again receive the Spirit; even if now we fall from the faith, we shall be able again by being baptized, to wash away our sins, and to attain to the same state as before. You are deceived (he says) in supposing these things.

Hebrews 6:4-5
5. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance, crucifying to themselves the Son of God afresh, and putting Him to an open shame.

And see how putting them to shame, and forbiddingly he begins. Impossible. No longer (he says) expect that which is not possible; (For he said not, It is not seemly, or, It is not expedient, or, It is not lawful, but impossible, so as to cast [them] into despair), if you have once been altogether enlightened.

Hebrews 6:6
Then he adds, and have tasted of the heavenly gift. If you have tasted (he says) of the heavenly gift, that is, of forgiveness. And been made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and tasted the good word of God (he is speaking here of the doctrine) and the powers of the world to come (what powers is he speaking of? Either the working of miracles, or the earnest of the Spirit [2 Corinthians 1:22]) and have fallen away, to renew them again unto repentance, seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh and put Him to an open shame. Renew them, he says, unto repentance, that is, by repentance, for unto repentance is by repentance. What then, is repentance excluded? Not repentance, far from it! But the renewing again by the laver. For he did not say, impossible to be renewed unto repentance, and stop, but added how impossible, [by] crucifying afresh.

To be renewed, that is, to be made new, for to make men new is [the work] of the laver only: for (it is said) your youth shall be renewed as the eagle's. Psalm 103:5 But it is [the work of] repentance, when those who have been made new, have afterwards become old through sins, to set them free from this old age, and to make them strong. To bring them to that former brightness however, is not possible; for there the whole was Grace.

6. Crucifying to themselves, he says, the Son of God afresh, and putting Him to an open shame. What he means is this. Baptism is a Cross, and our old man was crucified with [Him] Romans 6:6, for we were made conformable to the likeness of His death Romans 6:5; Philippians 3:10, and again, we were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death. Romans 6:4 Wherefore, as it is not possible that Christ should be crucified a second time, for that is to put Him to an open shame. For if death shall no more have dominion over Him [Romans 6:9], if He rose again, by His resurrection becoming superior to death; if by death He wrestled with and overcame death, and then is crucified again, all those things become a fable and a mockery. He then that baptizes a second time, crucifies Him again.

But what is crucifying afresh? [It is] crucifying over again. For as Christ died on the cross, so do we in baptism, not as to the flesh, but as to sin. Behold two deaths. He died as to the flesh; in our case the old man was buried, and the new man arose, made conformable to the likeness of His death. If therefore it is necessary to be baptized [again ], it is necessary that this same [Christ] should die again. For baptism is nothing else than the putting to death of the baptized, and his rising again.

And he well said, crucifying afresh unto themselves. For he that does this, as having forgotten the former grace, and ordering his own life carelessly, acts in all respects as if there were another baptism. It behooves us therefore to take heed and to make ourselves safe.

7. What is, having tasted of the heavenly gift? It is, of the remission of sins: for this is of God alone to bestow, and the grace is a grace once for all. What then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Far from it! Romans 6:1-2 But if we should be always going to be saved by grace we shall never be good. For where there is but one grace, and we are yet so indolent, should we then cease sinning if we knew that it is possible again to have our sins washed away? For my part I think not.

He here shows that the gifts are many: and to explain it, You were counted worthy (he says) of so great forgiveness; for he that was sitting in darkness, he that was at enmity, he that was at open war, that was alienated, that was hated of God, that was lost, he having been suddenly enlightened, counted worthy of the Spirit, of the heavenly gift, of adoption as a son, of the kingdom of heaven, of those other good things, the unspeakable mysteries; and who does not even thus become better, but while indeed worthy of perdition, obtained salvation and honor, as if he had successfully accomplished great things; how could he be again baptized?

On two grounds then he said that the thing was impossible, and he put the stronger last: first, because he who has been deemed worthy of such [blessings], and who has betrayed all that was granted to him, is not worthy to be again renewed; neither is it possible that [Christ] should again be crucified afresh: for this is to put Him to an open shame.

There is not then any second laver: there is not [indeed]. And if there is, there is also a third, and a fourth; for the former one is continually disannulled by the later, and this continually by another, and so on without end.

And tasted, he says, the good word of God; and he does not unfold it; and the powers of the world to come, for to live as Angels and to have no need of earthly things, to know that this is the means of our introduction to the enjoyment of the worlds to come; this may we learn through the Spirit, and enter into those sacred recesses.

What are the powers of the world to come? Life eternal, angelic conversation. Of these we have already received the earnest through our Faith from the Spirit. Tell me then, if after having been introduced into a palace, and entrusted with all things therein, you had then betrayed all, would you have been entrusted with them again?

8. What then (you say)? Is there no repentance? There is repentance, but there is no second baptism: but repentance there is, and it has great force, and is able to set free from the burden of his sins, if he will, even him that has been baptized much in sins, and to establish in safety him who is in danger, even though he should have come unto the very depth of wickedness. And this is evident from many places. For, says one, does not he that falls rise again? Or he that turns away, does not he turn back to [God]? Jeremiah 8:4 It is possible, if we will, that Christ should be formed in us again: for hear Paul saying, My little children of whom I travail in birth again, until Christ be formed in you. Galatians 4:19 Only let us lay hold on repentance.

For behold the love of God to man! We ought on every ground to have been punished at the first; in that having received the natural law, and enjoyed innumerable blessings, we have not acknowledged our Master, and have lived an unclean life. Yet He not only has not punished us, but has even made us partakers of countless blessings, just as if we had accomplished great things. Again we fell away, and not even so does He punish us, but has given medicine of repentance, which is sufficient to put away and blot out all our sins; only if we knew the nature of the medicine, and how we ought to apply it.

What then is the medicine of Repentance and how is it made up? First, of the condemnation of our own sins; For (it is said) mine iniquity have I not hid Psalm 32:5; and again, I will confess against myself my lawlessness unto the Lord, and Thou forgavest the iniquity of my heart. And Declare thou at the first your sins, that you may be justified. Isaiah 43:26 And, The righteous man is an accuser of himself at the first speaking. Proverbs 18:17

Secondly, of great humbleness of mind: For it is like a golden chain; if one have hold of the beginning, all will follow. Because if you confess your sin as one ought to confess, the soul is humbled. For conscience turning it on itself causes it to be subdued.

Other things too must be added to humbleness of mind if it be such as the blessed David knew, when he said, A broken and a contrite heart God will not despise. Psalm 51:17 For that which is broken does not rise up, does not strike, but is ready to be ill-treated and itself rises not up. Such is contrition of heart: though it be insulted, though it be evil entreated, it is quiet, and is not eager for vengeance.

And after humbleness of mind, there is need of intense prayers, of many tears, tears by day, and tears by night: for, he says, every night, will I wash my bed, I will water my couch with my tears. I am weary with my groaning. Psalm 6:6 And again, For I have eaten ashes as it were bread, and mingled my drink with weeping. Psalm 102:9

And after prayer thus intense, there is need of much almsgiving: for this it is which especially gives strength to the medicine of repentance. And as there is a medicine among the physicians' helps which receives many herbs, but one is the essential, so also in case of repentance this is the essential herb, yea, it may be everything. For hear what the Divine Scripture says, Give alms, and all things shall be clean. Luke 11:41 And again, By alms-giving and acts of faithfulness sins are purged away. Proverbs 16:6 And, Water will quench a flaming fire, and alms will do away with great sins. Sirach 3:30

Next not being angry with any one, not bearing malice; the forgiving all their trespasses. For, it is said, Man retains wrath against man, and yet seeks healing from the Lord. Sirach 28:3 Forgive that you may be forgiven. Mark 11:25

Also, the converting our brethren from their wandering. For, it is said, Go thou, and convert your brethren, that your sins may be forgiven you. And from one's being in close relations with the priests, and if, it is said, a man has committed sins it shall be forgiven him. James 5:15 To stand forward in defense of those who are wronged. Not to retain anger: to bear all things meekly.

9. Now then, before you learned that it is possible to have our sins washed away by means of repentance, were ye not in an agony, because there is no second laver, and were ye not in despair of yourselves? But now that we have learned by what means repentance and remission is brought to a successful issue, and that we shall be able entirely to escape, if we be willing to use it aright, what forgiveness can we possibly obtain, if we do not even enter on the thought of our sins? Since if this were done, all would be accomplished.

For as he who enters the door, is within; so he who reckons up his own evils will also certainly come to get them cured. But should he say, I am a sinner, without reckoning them up specifically, and saying, This and this sin have I committed, he will never leave off, confessing indeed continually, but never caring in earnest for amendment. For should he have laid down a beginning, all the rest will unquestionably follow too, if only in one point he have shown a beginning: for in every case the beginning and the preliminaries are difficult. This then let us lay as a foundation, and all will be smooth and easy.

Let us begin therefore, I entreat you, one with making his prayers intense: another with continual weeping: another with downcast countenance. For not even is this, which is so small, unprofitable: for I saw (it is said) that he was grieved and went downcast, and I healed his ways. Isaiah 57:17-18

But let us all humble our own souls by alms-giving and forgiving our neighbors their trespasses, by not remembering injuries, nor avenging ourselves. If we continually reflect on our sins, no external circumstances can make us elated: neither riches, nor power, nor authority, nor honor; nay, even should we sit in the imperial chariot itself, we shall sigh bitterly: Since even the blessed David was a King, and yet he said, Every night I will wash my bed, [&c.] Psalm 6:6: and he was not at all hurt by the purple robe and the diadem: he was not puffed up; for he knew himself to be a man, and inasmuch as his heart had been made contrite, he went mourning.

10. For what are all things human? Ashes and dust, and as it were spray before the wind; a smoke and a shadow, and a leaf driven here and there; and a flower; a dream, and a tale, and a fable, wind and air vainly puffed out and wasting away; a feather that has no stay, a stream flowing by, or if there be anything of more nothingness than these.

For, tell me, what do you esteem great? What dignity do you think to be great? Is it that of the Consul? For the many think no greater dignity than that. He who is not Consul is not a whit inferior to him who is in so great splendor, who is so greatly admired. Both one and the other are of the same dignity; both of them alike, after a little while, are no more.

When was he made [Consul]? For how long a time? Tell me: for two days? Nay, this takes place even in dreams. But that is [only] a dream, you say. And what is this? For (tell me) what is by day, is it [therefore] not a dream? Why do we not rather call these things a dream? For as dreams when the day comes on are proved to be nothing: so these things also, when the night comes on, are proved to be nothing. For night and day have received each an equal portion of time, and have equally divided all duration. Therefore as in the day a person rejoices not in what happened at night, so neither in the night is it possible for him to reap the fruit of what is done in the day. You have been made Consul? So was I in the night; only I in the night, thou in the day. And what of this? Not even so have you any advantage over me, except haply its being said, Such an one is Consul, and the pleasure that springs from the words, gives him the advantage.

I mean something of this kind, for I will express it more plainly: if I say Such an one is Consul, and bestow on him the name, is it not gone as soon as it is spoken? So also are the things themselves; no sooner does the Consul appear, than he is no more. But let us suppose [that he is Consul] for a year, or two years, or three or four years. Where are they who were ten times Consul? Nowhere.

But Paul is not so. For he was, and also is living continually: he did not live one day, nor two, nor ten, and twenty, nor thirty; nor ten and twenty, nor yet thirty years— and die. Even the four hundredth year is now past, and still even yet is he illustrious, yea much more illustrious than when he was alive. And these things indeed [are] on earth; but the glory of the saints in heaven what word could set forth?

Wherefore I entreat you, let us seek this glory; let us pursue after it, that we may attain it. For this is the true glory. Let us henceforth stand aloof from the things of this life, that we may find grace and mercy in Christ Jesus our Lord: with whom to the Father, together with the Holy Ghost, be glory, power, honor and worship, now and for ever, and world without end. Amen.

Source. Translated by Frederic Gardiner. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 14. Edited by Philip Schaff. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1889.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. .

We are talking now of summer evenings . . .

2009-05-11T11:37:00.000-07:00

We are talking now of summer evenings in Knoxville Tennessee in the time that I lived there so successfully disguised to myself as a child.

...It has become that time of evening when people sit on their porches, rocking gently and talking gently and watching the street and the standing up into their sphere of possession of the trees, of birds' hung havens, hangars. People go by; things go by. A horse, drawing a buggy, breaking his hollow iron music on the asphalt: a loud auto: a quiet auto: people in pairs, not in a hurry, scuffling, switching their weight of aestival body, talking casually, the taste hovering over them of vanilla, strawberry, pasteboard, and starched milk, the image upon them of lovers and horsemen, squaring with clowns in hueless amber. A streetcar raising its iron moan; stopping; belling and starting, stertorous; rousing and raising again its iron increasing moan and swimming its gold windows and straw seats on past and past and past, the bleak spark crackling and cursing above it like a small malignant spirit set to dog its tracks; the iron whine rises on rising speed; still risen, faints; halts; the faint stinging bell; rises again, still fainter; fainting, lifting, lifts, faints foregone: forgotten. Now is the night one blue dew.

Now is the night one blue dew, my father has drained, he has coiled the hose.

Low in the length of lawns, a frailing of fire who breathes...

Parents on porches: rock and rock. From damp strings morning glories hang their ancient faces.

The dry and exalted noise of the locusts from all the air at once enchants my eardrums.

On the rough wet grass of the back yard my father and mother have spread quilts. We all lie there, my mother, my father, my uncle, my aunt, and I too am lying there.…They are not talking much, and the talk is quiet, of nothing in particular, of nothing at all in particular, of nothing at all. The stars are wide and alive, they seem each like a smile of great sweetness, and they seem very near. All my people are larger bodies than mine,...with voices gentle and meaningless like the voices of sleeping birds. One is an artist, he is living at home. One is a musician, she is living at home. One is my mother who is good to me. One is my father who is good to me. By some chance, here they are, all on this earth; and who shall ever tell the sorrow of being on this earth, lying, on quilts, on the grass, in a summer evening, among the sounds of the night. May God bless my people, my uncle, my aunt, my mother, my good father, oh, remember them kindly in their time of trouble; and in the hour of their taking away.

After a little I am taken in and put to bed. Sleep, soft smiling, draws me unto her: and those receive me, who quietly treat me, as one familiar and well-beloved in that home: but will not, oh, will not, not now, not ever; but will not ever tell me who I am.

-Knoxville: Summer of 1915, by James Agee, reproduced here for fair use.

Some thoughts about the Antiochian Imbroglio

2009-04-27T13:20:00.000-07:00

So the bishops and Metropolitan of the Archdiocese met on Friday of Bright Week and came to a limited joint statement about obedience to the Holy Synod. As it turns out, only three of six bishops signed a resolution prepared by the Metropolitan's staff.

The official press release, in relevant part, reads:

A significant discussion was held regarding obedience to this decision. It was reaffirmed that the Holy Synod of Antioch is the highest ecclesiastical authority in the entire See of Antioch, and that all of its Archdioceses are subject to decisions which are adopted by the Holy Synod. All of the hierarchs affirmed that they are currently in obedience to the Holy Synod of Antioch, and that there was never a question to the contrary. In conjunction with this, the hierarchs acknowledged that the decision had caused concern among the clergy and the people, and that there must be steps taken to begin to heal these misunderstandings.

The wordsmithing of the press release is careful - note the use of passive voice: "It was reaffirmed . . ." by whom? Note the use of the term "highest ecclesiastical authority." This does not appear to me to be random - it has specific legal meaning in this country as it relates to court cases about property disputes and the like in churches where there's a schism and, no doubt, in ecclesiatical circles.

Anyway - all such interesting things aside - I thought about these items:

1. Assume a bishop in a diocese is instructed by his Patriarch or his Metropolitan that he is being transferred to a different job - Auxiliary to the Patriarch, Dean of the Seminary at Balamand, Bishop of who-knows-where. Does a bishop have right to refuse? Somehow I think not - he could argue, or try to demur, but in the end if the Patriarch or the Synod as a whole wants him to leave his See and take over some other assignment . . . well, he could engage in some 'ecclesiastical disobedience'I suppose, but really . . . ?

2. If, as I have been instructed, the Canons that are not dogmatic are 'guidelines' rather than 'law' - might there be some flexibility in these canons regarding the relationships between Bishops? I think we have a natural tendency in the West, having a strong historic background in ideas of 'Canon Law' that these things are more iron clad than they really might be . . . and do we treat our bishops like Roman Catholics treat priests - as if they can be laicized but not ever really removed from office?

3. Assume that a Bishop has been instructed that he's no longer going to be Bishop of X Diocese, but a flexible, potentially itinerant Auxiliary to a Metropolitan who might assign him back to Diocese X, but might just as easily send him to Diocese Y. Assume said Bishop sees this as a deposition and demotion without trial or charge against him. What is he to do? Here, may I suggest that demanding 'rights' as a Bishop may not be the answer. Did our Lord demand his rights? Or did he meekly bear the burden of his oppressors and suffer unjustly? I think a Bishop may meekly submit to this 'injustice' of demotion (if that is what it is) and suffer the 'insult' (if that is what it is) even if he disagrees with the decision of the Synod. Which is the greater lesson to his flock? To insist on his status, or to take the role of a servant and least of men and let this sort out? This is not the Council of Florence in scope, folks, nor does the decision, in and of itself, countenance improprieties with respect to dogma or moral matters such as priestly malfeasance. I like to think that those who signed as 'auxiliary bishops' knowing full well that a few short years ago they were enthroned as full diocesan bishops with the support of the Metropolitan and of the Patriarchate might just have done so out of such a humble motivation.

Some will castigate those who signed and some, those who did not sign. I think God will judge - let us be gentle with all and continue to do what we need to do - pray, go to church, love our neighbor, do good to those that persecute us, proclaim the Gospel.

Bright Saturday

2009-04-25T23:06:00.000-07:00

Some days are so glorious.

Pax.

Misc. musings on Springtime down at the Farm

2009-04-22T10:27:00.001-07:00

The lambs are growing fast - weaning will come soon.

I plan to cull the herd down in the fall to winter over about 3/5's the flock - meat on the table and sheepskin rugs.

I have identified a mill in the East that I will send fleeces for felting - we'll see how that goes.

Rhubarb is mysteriously growing in odd places - any experience out there with volunteer Rhubarb?

I am behind in garden transplanting.

Pasture rotation seems to be working - I would love to have one stretch of portable electric woven wire fencing to create graze strips, but so far doing 3 weeks on each large pasture plus a week in the small pasture lot in between (giving each large pasture 4 weeks off) seems to be working out OK.

Grapes have gone into bud burst and are leafing out . . . I did some heavy pruning this winter so I am glad to see sufficient buds to support some crop.

Lilacs are coming on, and camelia is in bloom. Daffodils are going but cherries and apples are in full bloom now and its tulip time.

Oh - endless other things - all a joy to do, just wish there was more time to do them rather than work at a computer, but alas one must pay for these things somehow.

Enjoy your bright week, dear reader.

Pascha 2009

2009-04-19T21:24:00.000-07:00

If any man be devout and love God, let him enjoy this fair and radiant triumphal feast. If any man be a wise servant, let him rejoicing enter into the joy of his Lord. If any have labored long in fasting, let him now receive his recompense. If any have wrought from the first hour, let him today receive his just reward. If any have come at the third hour, let him with thankfulness keep the feast. If any have arrived at the sixth hour, let him have no misgivings; because he shall in nowise be deprived therefor. If any have delayed until the ninth hour, let him draw near, fearing nothing. If any have tarried even until the eleventh hour, let him, also, be not alarmed at his tardiness; for the Lord, who is jealous of his honor, will accept the last even as the first; he gives rest unto him who comes at the eleventh hour, even as unto him who has wrought from the first hour.

And he shows mercy upon the last, and cares for the first; and to the one he gives, and upon the other he bestows gifts. And he both accepts the deeds, and welcomes the intention, and honors the acts and praises the offering. Wherefore, enter you all into the joy of your Lord; and receive your reward, both the first, and likewise the second. You rich and poor together, hold high festival. You sober and you heedless, honor the day. Rejoice today, both you who have fasted and you who have disregarded the fast. The table is full-laden; feast ye all sumptuously. The calf is fatted; let no one go hungry away.

Enjoy ye all the feast of faith: Receive ye all the riches of loving-kindness. let no one bewail his poverty, for the universal kingdom has been revealed. Let no one weep for his iniquities, for pardon has shown forth from the grave. Let no one fear death, for the Savior's death has set us free. He that was held prisoner of it has annihilated it. By descending into Hell, He made Hell captive. He embittered it when it tasted of His flesh. And Isaiah, foretelling this, did cry: Hell, said he, was embittered, when it encountered Thee in the lower regions. It was embittered, for it was abolished. It was embittered, for it was mocked. It was embittered, for it was slain. It was embittered, for it was overthrown. It was embittered, for it was fettered in chains. It took a body, and met God face to face. It took earth, and encountered Heaven. It took that which was seen, and fell upon the unseen.

O Death, where is your sting? O Hell, where is your victory? Christ is risen, and you are overthrown. Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen. Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice. Christ is risen, and life reigns. Christ is risen, and not one dead remains in the grave. For Christ, being risen from the dead, is become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. To Him be glory and dominion unto ages of ages. Amen.

- St. John Chrysostom

Great and Holy Friday A.D. 2009

2009-04-17T11:48:00.001-07:00

NOW it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am."

Then He said, "Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you."

So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.

Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey; the lad[fn1] and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you."

So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together.

But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, "My father!" And he said, "Here I am, my son." Then he said, "Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?"

And Abraham said, "My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering." So the two of them went together.

Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood.

And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.

But the Angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" So he said, "Here I am."

And He said, "Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me."

Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son.

And Abraham called the name of the place, The-LORD-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, "In the Mount of the LORD it shall be provided."

Then the Angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, and said: "By Myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son--"blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. "In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice."

- From Genesis, Chapter 22 (NKJV)

Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

Today He who hung the earth upon the waters
Is hung upon a tree

He who is King of the angels
Is arrayed in a crown of thorns

He who wraps the heavens in clouds
Is wrapped in the purple of mockery

He who freed Adam in the Jordan
Receives a blow on the face

The Bridegroom of the Church
Is affixed to the cross with nails

The Son of the Virgin
Is pierced by a spear

We worship Thy passion, O Christ!

Show us also Thy glorious resurrection!

-From the Ninth Hour Service of the Royal Hours of Great and Holy Friday

The Last Supper

2009-04-16T11:10:00.000-07:00

Image from Antiochian Orthodox Diocese of Los Angles and the West

Perserverance and Love

2009-04-09T16:57:00.000-07:00

Despite the swirling discussions of the byzantine machinations surrounding the Antiochian Patriarchate's Synodal decision related to Bishops, the positioning of various jurisdictions in anticipation of a possible meeting this summer regarding the 'Diaspora,' and equally interesting maneuvers, I am calmed by words of +Joseph given in a few speeches within the last year.

May these words be edifying for you as well, dear reader:

Although religion has played a major factor in shaping the identity of the American Culture, the secularization of the society is inflicting evil on the American mindset. The attempts of de-Christianizing the American culture are ruthless. These malicious attacks are driving the new generation to forsake their centuries-old culture for the sake of self-gratification and alleged compensations.

Whereas the American population is still manifesting religious observances, the genuine characters of these observances are not for the most part worthy of acceptance. Many Churches are undergoing the worst predicament of Faith and Morals in their History. The fragmentation of American Churches into conflicting bodies has uprooted the Christian ethos from the Churches.

For this reason, many individuals and groups are changing their religions and their denominations, inasmuch as they are changing their jobs, their habitation, and their spouses. Many adults leave their cradle faith for another one. Becoming a highly competitive marketplace, religion is a buyer's market where many groups dilute their traditional beliefs in order to compete.

Likewise, basic relationships that we took for granted 50 years ago are now becoming abstract theory. For example, young people are having severe impairments in relating to necessary authority, as their parents abdicate their roles as mother and father. Many children cannot even plainly state who their parents are, listing step-parents and foster-parents, their parents latest dating partners and even gang leaders as the authority figures in their lives.

Now, we see what was meant by God when He proclaimed through the Prophet Isaiah:

"O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths." (Isaiah 3:12)

When true, and so I mean spiritual fatherhood is removed, human society collapses into decay and disintegration. Transformative spirituality is truly a longing for union and communion with God, the Most Compassionate Father. The capacity to live spiritually is the foundation of our Orthodox Tradition. Therefore, Orthodox genuine spirituality has a sacramental, pastoral and communal dimension which brings about the inner change in the spiritual children of the Church.

As a Bishop in the Church, I would like to address the way authority is exercised in the Church, and the relationship among the faithful and the clergy, in order to make others see and taste how our koinonia, is a koinonia with the Father and His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Having a spiritual communal tradition, the Church in this unique koinonia reflects the sacramental dimension of our Orthodox Christianity. Above all it will give testimony to our spirituality and show stability of faith and doctrine.

Although Orthodox priests are “men set apart,” their priesthood is not a hindrance in creating true Christian community. On the contrary, their status will create an indissoluble bond between them and their parishioners, as a reflection of the uncreated bond between the Heavenly Father and His Eternal Son. Without spiritual fatherhood, spirituality is not authentic, nor viable. In this spiritual relationship which stems from the communion with the Holy Spirit, the children’s behavior is transformed, as selfish desires are transformed into selfless love, kindness, compassion, mercy, and wisdom.

Loving fatherhood brings peace and order. Fatherhood, especially the fatherhood shown by the Bishop, the Priests and the Deacons, is not tyrannical, coercive or repressive. Sadly, those who have not experienced a good father, or are possessed by the immaturity of the passions, have no idea what real fatherhood is.

So, when we speak of a priest as ‘father,’ does anyone even understand what this means anymore? When a priest carries out his ordained duties in a parish, is he acting as a spiritual father to spiritual children, or is he merely a character in an exotic game of charades?

As a bishop of the Church, it has been very difficult to get Americans to comprehend that their cultural understandings of pastoral authority are at odds with the teachings of the Orthodox Church. Sometimes it can be a source for despondency as I watch good men throw away the blessings of God because they were ordained too quickly, before they had a chance to deeply experience their God-given role within the Church.

Even now, the confusion in American Orthodoxy is a direct result of the failures to understand this problem, and to make this teaching a priority. We have neglected the fruits of the Holy Spirit attained through spiritual struggle.

The parish priest is at risk of becoming relegated to the work of being a task-master, frequently battling unruly parishioners who refuse to take even the most elementary steps towards being actual Orthodox Christians. Instead of being a place of koinonia with the Holy Trinity with each other, the parish itself may become a spiritually squalid place, stinking of egoism and the lust of power. In this case, clergy and laity alike forget the divine call of love.

In this country, parishes die because the people love only their own opinions, and will consciously drive out those they disagree with, from inquirers to Hierarchs. Some priests feel they are fighting against the parish community simply for their own survival. Others think that, after ordination, they owe their bishop nothing more on account of his failure to do the priest’s bidding.

I am speaking to all of you in the hope that you will come to understand that the pastorate of the Orthodox Church cannot be taken for granted. The pastorate is a cross, a burden borne for the sake of others. It is borne with our human weakness and God’s strength.

Unlike the worldly leadership styles of the non-Orthodox, who seek to exercise brute authoritarianism and subtle deception in order to trick people into doing what the pastor wants, the priest’s first task is to exercise his authority with love. He must love God first and foremost, and become co-worker with the truth (3 John 4 & 8: I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. We therefore ought to receive such, that we might be fellow helpers to the truth.). This is as much a duty as it is a drive within his spirit.

After all, there are times when our love wanes and we grow cold. During such periods, the priest must continue to act lovingly until the awareness of God returns to him, and draws on himself the grace of the all-Holy Spirit. He must never forget that love is a verb, not a noun. If he does not love, he has no love.

Through the priest’s love of God, he receives the grace to love his people. He bears with them and encourages them, “not reckoning to them their trespasses.” (2 Corinthians 5:19). He also realizes that his love for them is not based on their cooperativeness or piety. They come to him broken, and they always desire to be healed. However, because we do not know the depths of their hearts, we must patiently endure their assaults and injustices in the hope that they will repent.

We must be spiritually ready to deal with their multi-faceted tribulations. If a doctor does not recognize the sickness of his patient and its causes, how can he prescribe the proper medicine? In the same way the priest who does not recognize the spiritual sickness of his parishioners, and how the enemy has captured them under sin, how can he expect a delivering power from the Lord and how can he offer the sacraments as a remedy and a treatment for them!

It is a powerful temptation to despair, since it feels like we are not doing anything for them. Yet, if we think in such a manner, we are using our human abilities rather than God-given grace. We must also never forget that only some people, even within the Church herself, will respond favorably to the Gospel. The Scripture proclaims the word of God:

"Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." (Matthew 7:14)

This necessitates a deep and abiding humility. We must accept that we cannot change the world, as we can hardly change ourselves. Look within, and you will find the same resistance to change that you will encounter in others. Our fallen nature resists change, because we have not yet renounced our selfish pride and accepted the protection and care of God. In fact, we doubt or even forget God in our daily lives, relying on our own limited powers.

. . .

If you are loving and humble, this ought to extend to your relationship with your bishop. Loving and obeying your bishop is not synonymous with always agreeing with him, and the same is true of your parish community and you. Just as you want the people to listen to you and obey, so you must heed your bishop and remember that he is the father and the Archpastor.

Humble obedience is a necessary part of the priesthood, because it is a sign of our love for God when we abandon ourselves to His care through obedience. True obedience is the greatest tool for spiritual development, as it is an active confirmation of our trust in God. Saint Peter says: “Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5). Most of us practice carnal obedience, in that we obey those we already agree with.

Carnal obedience has become very popular because many people have not yet been healed of the Protestant mentality regarding the Faith. This mentality consists of the notion that obedience is only bestowed to those with superior intellectual prowess. In a word, if I can prove you wrong, I do not have to listen to you.

Therefore, people set about studying with the subconscious drive to ensure their being answerable to as few people as possible. They read and read and read to find answers that get them off of the hook for having to do things they don’t want to do, including the taking of orders from others. This is the pridefulness of religious intellectualism, which is rampant in American Orthodoxy.

Obedience in the Church is not bestowed through superior learning. Read St. Paul. Does he appeal to his superior grasp of the Scriptures as the reason he was to be heeded? No, rather, he appeals to his suffering for the sake of the Gospel and for the people he brought into the Faith.

We are received into the Church through the ultimate sign of obedience: Baptism. We are to die to ourselves, and are given the Holy Chrism symbolizing the Apostolic Succession of obedience that conveys the Gift of the Holy Spirit. When the Bishop lays his hands on the priest, God is calling him to obey his commandments especially in converting the un-baptized, and the Christians who have lost the benefits of their baptism, and in assisting those who are disqualified from the joy that derives from the presence of God in their lives.

Descending on the priest, the Holy Spirit makes him like a pool of light to the people around him. As the Spirit regenerates him, it changes him from son of man into son of God, and into an icon of God the Father. Those of us who are ordained have been ordained out of mercy, not because we are particularly bright. We are ordained out of God’s love rather than our merits. We are not vessels of information, but vessels of God’s love and mercy. If we reduce obedience to intellectual performance, how are we any different from the Gnostics?

Therefore, obedience is an act of love, and humility of mind is the beginning of its illumination. It is not about power, but about active confession of God’s love. Love is the living Creed because it is ultimately divine.

. . .

To be a priest means to be crucified to the world, and by the world. Priestly obedience, then, must be followed to the point of martyrdom.

“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me” (Galatians 2:20).

St. Paul described his death to the world, and thus he could call the Galatians to obedience to his word as one speaking for God. He voluntarily gave himself over to martyrdom for the sake of the Lord. Are we prepared to do likewise?

Do you stand up for yourself? Are you the executioner of justice? Who has appointed you to such a high office, when you have not suffered? If you want to stand up for what is right, then you must first practice patience in the face of evil, because true evil seeks to elicit passions from us. The devil knows how we think, and he will take advantage of our pride by sinning boldly before us and provoking us to act without consulting God first. Then, when we stray from God’s will, the devil will separate us from the flock and kill us.

As priests of a diocese, you will have to lock shields with your brother clergy. Some are good soldiers, others are not. You are taught here to become well-trained soldiers in the spiritual army of Christ. However, this is what you have volunteered to do. You must resolve not to abandon your bishop or your brethren just because you think you know better than they do. In the end, if you break ranks, chances are they will band back together and leave you to face Satan on your own.

Disobedience is, first and foremost the byproduct not only in one’s own lack of faith in God, but actual fear for one’s selfish desire for singular salvation. By this, I mean that delusion which convinces one’s self that his salvation does not involve his brother. We know from our Holy Tradition that salvation is a work of the Church, which means that I am not saved, but rather that we are being saved. My salvation, my very relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ, is intimately connected with my fellow believers.

The heretic thinks his salvation is a matter of his own purity apart from others, and so he rebels when he thinks that his bishop’s mistakes will somehow drag him down. What he fails to see is that his tolerance of others’ mistakes is an ascetical work that will save him. It is a cross to be borne, one that leads to humble exultation.

The Neo-Donatism that has come to characterize our modern history has gelled from a faulty understanding of salvation, and a very distinct lack of love. It is like a sinking ship: the loving person remains to help others either to safely escape from the ship or keep it afloat, while the selfish person shoves others aside as he dives into a life-raft to save himself alone.

The rebellious man denies his cross because he fears being wrong more than he fears abandoning his fellows. For those of you preparing for ministry, I ask you to remain faithful to your bishop and your brethren. If your bishop commits sin, remember your own sins and beseech God on his behalf for the same mercy you would hope for yourself. I tell you, it will be easier for you to beg for mercy if you yourself have been merciful.

If you find yourself judging your bishop or your brother clergy, what can you do? The only thing that works is genuine repentance for your own sins and mindfulness of your own sinfulness. Never allow the evidence of your fallenness to depart from your mind. This way, you will always remember God’s love for you and His mercy. You will excel in gratitude, and obedience will come easily.

Once the bond of love is strengthened, then you can not only obey, but also genuinely pray. From the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican, we know that God does not hear the prayers of the proud. He turns His face from the rebellious man who trusts in his intellect over God’s divine grace.

I think that one reason so many bishops have fallen into controversy and scandal is because they are virtually alone. They are not loved. They are feared, or perhaps admired because they conform to the opinions of their admirers, but they are rarely loved. So, when they err, they are treated without mercy. Therefore, the bishops live in fear of their people, and so become captive to the passions, the same passions that dominate the people they are supposed to be helping.

We are losing our love for one another. We are growing cold. We are in danger of abandoning the Faith in favor of empty rituals and Gnosticism. We no longer catechize converts through prayer and spiritual experience, but rote memorization of facts emptied of their love.

Virtue is becoming a stranger. Men no longer recognize courage and honor, because they have been effeminized to value covert aggression and superficial etiquette. We are now more interested in courtly behavior or political intrigues than the quiet strength of loving humility and patience.

This effeminate understanding of love as a romantic emotional state is patently and completely evil. We must not confuse love with false emotive states. Love is not mushy, it is pure light and fire. It burns within the heart turned to God, and empowers us to undergo extreme hardship without muttering. The heart, which is not the romantic emotional center the modern world now makes it out to be, must be filled with repentance and a sense of its own humble estate so that it can be filled with divine love.

Being a loving pastor means not succumbing to the temptations towards using one’s authority and power to fulfill one’s emotional needs. Personal preferences must not be the rule, but rather loving obedience to the greater Church. No bishop, no priest, no deacon is his own authority, for each has been given a place under the authority of others for his own sake. God loves us by setting others over us, and sometimes that love can be painful when our self-will is challenged.

The Scriptures say we are to be known by our love for one another. Yet, it seems that love is all but forgotten. For example, when people complain about the overlapping jurisdictions in America, Australia and Western Europe, we never hear about love. We hear about people’s anger, despair and frustration, but those who complain almost never speak of their love for others.

I believe that God has allowed this present situation to teach us lessons that need to be learned, the greatest amongst these is love. Until we learn to love one another, we will not be united. In turn, the synod of bishops that takes up the cause of love will receive God’s blessing to shepherd the people of America.

We have hope, because God has not abandoned us. Nor will He allow the Church to be overtaken by her enemies. We have hope because God loves us.

And, it is this love that is all that we really have to offer. Everything else found in the parish can be found somewhere else in the world of much higher quality: better music, better food, better preaching, better art… the only thing we have to offer is love.

- From His Grace, Bishop JOSEPH’s Address to the Faculty and Students of St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, March 10, 2008, Crestwood, New York

And this:

Whenever we come together as a diocese we represent what is called in our theology, the Local Church. When the term “Local Church” strikes our ears, we tend to think that it means the parish that is nearby. This is not what the Local Church means in the Orthodox Tradition.

We may define the Local Church, in simple terms, in this way it is the diocese, with the bishop presiding at the Eucharist, surrounded by his clergy, with the laity gathered together with him. When we celebrate the Divine Liturgy at a Diocesan Parish Life Conference we meet this definition and we constitute the basic “unit” of the One, Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.

When we come together in our meetings, either at the Diocesan Parish Life Conference we never fail to celebrate the Divine Liturgy, and other divine services with the Bishop presiding. Our worship is the foundation of our Church life, including our charitable work, our social and fellowship events, church administration and yes, our organization meetings. Thus when we gather from all points of the Diocese to discuss the work of the Diocese we can do this in one of two ways: We can either have “business meeting” in which we act like we are legislators or corporation board members and struggle with our various personal agendas to accomplish personal goals, or we can purposely strive to truly continue the work of the Divine Liturgy, as the Local Church, to seek and to do the will of God.

It is this “MO” (method of operation) that I exhort you to follow in your meetings. Be asking yourselves these kinds of questions: Is what I want to say going to further the Gospel of Christ? How can we make the action we are now contemplating one that will build up the Body of Christ? Is it something that is God-pleasing? Do I wish to speak in order to edify my brothers and sisters in the Lord, or do I just want my opinion to be heard?

This is the mindset we need to bring to the administrative and organizational activities of our diocese and our parishes. It is only the degree to which we as individuals and as a body submit our minds, hearts and souls to our Savior that we can work together as His Holy Body and truly bear witness to His Death, Resurrection, Ascension and Second Coming.

Perhaps this approach sounds too “theological” or “spiritual” for mere meetings. I tell you that it is not. Recall the oft repeated phrase we hear in the services of the Church, “let us commend ourselves and each other and our whole life unto Christ our God.” The phrase “our whole life” indicates our common life the life we share as the Body of Christ.

Meetings and committees are necessary in Church life so that we can share ideas, formulate plans of action and gain from one another’s enthusiasm and talents. Good order and courtesy are needed so that all have a reasonable chance to be heard and at the same time that decisions are made in a timely fashion. What is needful for us, as believers, is to actively invite the Holy Spirit into our presence.

Let us therefore not treat lightly the prayers with which we open our meetings. These prayers should be more than the “first order of business” and then forgotten. Rather they should resonate in our ears as we go on to agenda items that follow. Just as the Holy Spirit created unity on the day of Pentecost, He will do so for us if we only actively invite Him to be in our midst.

Let us therefore proceed with the rightful concerns and activities of our Diocese seek to find the will of God and to faithful do it.

- From His Grace, Bishop JOSEPH’s Address to the 2008 Diocesan Fall Gathering, October 11, 2008, Riverside, California

May you, dear reader, be called forth, like a Lazarus, into the glorious light of the Resurrection of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Messiah. Pray also for me.