(128) New Years Day

 I went to liturgy this morning for (new calendar) St Basil's day and also the 

feast of the Circumcision of Christ.

I used to be at a Monastery, my beloved one in MI, for these days

but life changes and one must accept the changes. 

***

The last picture above is actually an enlargement that I made to show you the

icon/paining of Christ in the Altar. 

We went up the steps to receive Holy Communion today and

God blessed me with a moment where everything was ablaze with beauty; 

the icon of Christ, our priest, his white vestments.

It was a gift of profound beauty and I wish I would never forget it.

I don't often talk about the gifts God gives unexpectedly and often rarely but

I wanted to remember this one here... 

***

Nancy, thanks for your comment on yesterday's blog post and your question.

The question, which is a really great question, 

is a common one for those who are not 

either Orthodox or Catholic Christians is the thought (or question) that

because they have a written liturgy / written prayers that are

repeated that either it is not at all meaningful or sincere or, 

perhaps worse, that they never really pray or think of God or 

Jesus Christ His Son or depend on the Holy Spirit.

This thought/question/presupposition, does not, by the way,

bother me because I used to have such a thought myself!

I grew up Protestant.  

To be exact, I grew up in Western Michigan 

and within the Christian Reformed Church (CRC), 

a small denomination that is 

only 163 years old,  and is theologically Calvinist, 

and most people within it are not very,

generally speaking, 

aware of Christian history before the Protestant Reformation.

So there are so many ways to answer your question Nancy, I could

write all night and not be done. However, since I don't have all night,

I will try to do so briefly.

***

First, I think that all of life and certainly all of church services, have

a set pattern to them.  My CRC world and church did.

 Basically a welcome, hymns, a Pastor's prayer (longer), a sermon (longer yet),

more hymns and a benediction at the end. 

Does everyone in such a service focus deeply the whole time?

Does their minds ever wander? If they don't write notes of the Pastor's sermon,

does their mind stay on the sermon? 

Well, probably not. 

I know as a kid and a teen I was not always full present to the service.

I loved the hymns.  

I took notes of the sermon (I still do this!) 

so that I would pay attention!

But I remember distinctly when I was in

a Chaucer class in my undergraduate years, 

that I could read a passage / part of a text out loud

while thinking something totally other than the text I was

reading out loud at the request of my professor. 

So in my experience being present and focusing on what is being

presented to or even by you is a struggle.

And I think it is for all Christians, as you alluded to Nancy.

I think there is a danger in all of Christianity to make it a social club

and not a place of true conversion and repentance.

But I can also say wholeheartedly that the Orthodox Church is 

very much a place of true conversion to Christ and repentance.

That the Holy Trinity, Father Son and Holy Spirit, are all present and 

mentioned in the liturgy.  

What a lot of Christians don't realize today is that

the Christian church was ONE church for the first 1000 years!

And it was not until the 4th century that the church

decided definitively on the Books of the Bible.

The Bible comes from the Church.

 Our understanding of the complete humanity and divinity

 of Christ and of the Holy Trinity

 being co-equal and of one essence is from the Church.

A lot of this was accomplished in the 4th century if I remember correctly.

I can check with my Husband about this as his memory

for history is far greater than mine and he has read much more

than I have of history.  (It's one of the reasons I love him!)

Does this help Nancy? There is so much more I could say about

prayer and the Orthodox church.

Actually the book that converted me to the Orthodox church

was a book on prayer, called 

Courage to Pray

and I read it many times and can easily recommend it to others! 

It's a wonderful book and one that, when I began reading it,

I knew suddenly/immediately that it was the book

I had always been looking for,

that it spoke of the reality of the depths of the Christian life

(what is often called the spiritual life) that exist but that

I never had words for.  

***

The Orthodox church is very clear that it is important to 

consider yourself not only the chief of sinners, like St. Paul did,

but also as an absolute spiritual beginner. 

To not think of oneself that he or she has gained or

has accomplished great spiritual depth or gone to great heights. 

Pride, as they say, goes before the fall.

***

I can say that I have met others who are much more advanced 

spiritually than I am and also have heard life-giving stories

of holy ones, often monastics, who God have given 

great virtues to because of their efforts in praying constantly

and always remembering God ... and of their striving for

Christ-like humility.

***

Well, there's my 'short' answer. Perhaps it gives you an idea

of how long my 'long' answer would be! :) 

***

One of the questions I am wrestling with, that I 

alluded to yesterday, is what to write on or how to do it.

I want to bless others but I also feel that our more general culture

won't listen but may be able to read what I write if it is more

food/culinary based. 

And I was indeed thinking more of a cookie recipe I am

dreaming of.  I am beginning to keep notes on this idea

and hope to try it out in the next month.

Well, speaking of food, my Husband and I met friends we see 

about once a year and we enjoyed some delicious Chinese food! 

I really enjoyed it and am hoping to grow my culinary repertoire to 

include more Asian dishes, I think they will be especially great

for fasting periods (which is nearly half the year for us I think!).

  

We enjoyed two of the 4 lenten ginger cookies that our friend 

gave us for Christmas/my birthday! 

And we watched a really nice Walton's episode tonight!

I am really looking forward, DV, to cleaning the house tomorrow

and I need to wrap presents as well!

***

I have a prayer request...well, I guess I have many but here is two.

1. one of my local friends who is Romanian has a very sick elderly father in 

Romania and needs our prayers.

2. My right eye is not seeing things as clearly / distinctly as it should.

I will be making phone calls about this tomorrow.

***

Thanks for praying.

***

Well, this Sunday-Tuesday is the time for us leading up to Christmas,

with Christmas on January 7th and I am so excited. 

I just keep asking God to keep us healthy so we can go, 

ever since our flu over Christmas a few years ago, this is 

a more heartfelt prayer of mine!

And I know that so many of my friends had the flu over the

December 25th Christmas! 

***

May God have mercy on us all.