Holy and Good Friday ~ AND ~ Looking Towards Pascha

We have made it! Holy Week has flown by... we stayed local through today, Holy Friday.  It was what we needed to do in this seeming in-between time of not being in a pandemic hot zone but not out of the pandemic.  We needed more rest than normally and so this was the way through for us.  Tomorrow DV we will be at our far-away church.  I have dear dear friends in Ottawa who can't fully go to church right now because of the pandemic.  Not to mention the world-situation is difficult for it.  But still.  I am so grateful.  We were IN church.  We've been spared a lot of pain that others are still going through.  Though my sister-friend and I were talking recently and it is clear that each person on this planet is suffering something because of the pandemic.  We all have our difficulties, many of which stay in the world of privacy and not written about publicly.  

A friend sent us Polish Pansky eggs, I am so grateful for the additional beauty.  I find that doing the work for feasts of Christmas and Easter (and others too!) by what we eat, how we decorate the house, really matters.  It turns our sorrow into joy or at least we are consoled by the beauty that our home contains.  And having such traditions really help sustain in hard times.  And we all know this past year has had lots of hard times. 

And so, my Pascha baskets are ready to take to church, my Pascha outfit (mainly white with hints of red), are all ready.  I am ready to go from Christ's Passion to His Pascha, His glorious, beautiful life-changing Resurrection. 

I don't think I will blog again until after Pascha, so don't worry about any silence here.  I am just busy and away from my computer. 

God bless you all and keep you! May Christ carry us to His Holy Resurrection! 

Getting Ready

 

I am slowly getting our home ready for Pascha.

This Holy Week I am blessed to be able to be 

in church but I am close friends with some who can't

be in church because of the ongoing pandemic.

I know so many are going through such great difficulties.

May God save us and have mercy on us. 

Palm Sunday 2021

So Friday was kinda rough.

Please pray for the efforts for my sister to adopt her foster son,

who they have had since he was born.

A curve ball happened and prayer is most welcome.

***

My friend (with the Saints name) Peter is plunging.  His ALS continues to very decline rapidly.

From walking to bedridden with breathing machine in two weeks.

He's now on palliative care. 

Please pray for him and his wife and 2 kids.

***

The book pictures are from a bookstore in Scotland who I had emailed

about a DE Stevenson book, all to find out that the seller had many!

So these are my future Pascha, anniversary, names day, St Nicholas day,

birthday and Christmas gifts. :) 

***

This week is Holy Week!

I may not have much time to write, we have church every day

this week and I still have so much to clean to get our house ready.

***

May God bless and save us! 

Last Wednesday of Great Lent or Wednesday but Feels Like Friday

I was amazed that today is not Friday.  Well, today I was sore in my arm.  I did get a little bit done.  Including a spreadsheet on the books I am going to read for my writing project.  I have at least 20 to read.  Some are novels, some are non-fiction (and more complicated).  We will see what happens. 

It was really good to go to church tonight.

I am really weary and hope to get more rest.

I am feeling like my list of things to do is toppling over, I hope tomorrow is a bit easier for me. 

May God have mercy on us. 

Tuesday: Sunshine and Blessings

I got a wonderful book today!  I was so sorry when this priest died; I remember when he was ill.  It was like watching the pandemic happen before the pandemic.  This book is going to be a deep treasure.  So that's a blessing.  It's fascinating already (I've begun reading it) and it speaks so much to our lives, our current very real lives... 

I got my first vaccine today.  That's another big blessing! My arm is a little sore but not bad. 

I am re-reading, slowly, carefully, L'Engle's Severed Wasp novel from 1982.  She's a more complex writer than a lot of people think.  Not easy to pin down in a lot of ways and you really have to listen to understand the layers of what she is thinking, as she was really into science and theology and those two things together.  One of the things that I love about this novel is the question she is asking via a 1940 essay by Orwell.  The question, as I understand it right now, is trying to look back to understand what has happened that creates our current life/situation.  I am going to be re-reading it to try to see more closely what she is doing in the novel.  

Question to readers: do you know of novelists who are looking at our current situation and trying to figure out how it happened (i.e. WWII changing things or ideas changing over 200 years, like Orwell says? 

Well, it's now about 9:30 at night, I wrote the above much earlier in the day.  My arm, for one, hurts a bit more.  My Husband says it is because a 'war' is going on there now, the vaccine verses my arm.  That's fine, it will pass, DV :) 

I have so much to do.  And I have yet to get to baking Pascha cookies.  Maybe Thursday.  Tomorrow I think will be a wash, is my guess, with presanctified at night and such.  

God bless and keep you all.  May the Lord have mercy on us and help us. 

Monday

 No pictures today but a quick hello!

I am pretty much behind on every thing so if I don't blog much right now

it's only that I am busy.

I need to get to baking cookies and am having a hard time

keeping up with it all.

At least my email inbox is less than 300.

A lot of it is things for my writing project that I need a day

to go through.

God bless you all.

May the Lord save us and have mercy on us!

Friday & Saturday: Rabbit Holes + Church

 

This beautiful icon of the Mother of God stays in the Altar other than on the day of the Akathist of the Mother of God 💙🕯🙏💙 It is a copy of the Kazan icon and was at our local church when our local priest and his wife arrived to serve over 2 decades ago 💙

***

Yesterday at breakfast we ended up discussing 

philosophy and then my Husband mentioned Whitehead

and then Russell and then Russell's paradox and then Godel

and the next thing I knew I wanted to understand what Godel did 

(a math person who changed the way math is seen)

and then I had a bunch of research and articles to read

and now my writing has a different turn that

goes with another math/computer science topic I liked

and it's all on the conceptual/high level and has me thinking questions about

existence and what can change and what cannot change in a living being's essence.

Like an apple seed can become an apple or even an apple tree but

an apple seed cannot become an orange or an orange tree. Or can it?

And if it can, should it be?

There's a lot of ethics and not all of it is being sorted out from what I gather.

Anyway, it's fun, though perhaps not fully.

I hope it will help me think, also, about some other things that are on the more

philosophical level / nature about some books I am reading.

***

Well.

I need to rest now.

***

I pray that God is near to you.

May Christ save us and have mercy!

Thursday (shockingly I took not one picture)

 Hello dear ones!

Well, not one picture today.

The house is a bit of a wreck.

Tomorrow DV I will clean house!

I finished re-reading the Musgraves today by DE Stevenson

A lovely novel, really a delight.

I also worked on my writing.

I was nearly going sideways with exhaustion

 after waking up nearer to 4 AM than 7 AM!

I managed however do do some writing

and reading.

My mind was whirling with ideas tonight...

***

It looks like blogger is going to lose it's email subscriptions.

So I need to figure this out.

Will get back to you on this!

***

Ok. I promised myself I would get to sleep on time

and...it's nearly midnight so!

Off I go.

***

I do hope you are well,

all of you, each of you.

God bless you, keep you, comfort, guide

and save you!

Lord have mercy on us!

Wednesday: Praise God for Presanctified Liturgy (and how is Lent nearly done?)

Hello dear friends.  Boy it was good to hear from some of you! Sorry I've been gone in a way for a bit.  My new writing project really has me going.  So question, a random one at that.  1700s.  I read today that Jonathan Edwards read Matthew Henry's (then fairly new) Commentary.  If you know what I am talking about, you may be able to answer my question (I've asked my Husband, no-go, waiting to hear back from a cousin but meanwhile...) 

My question is WHAT do you call Matthew Henry's Commentary style? or how do you describe how he view/saw/interpreted Scripture.  He clearly (as Edwards also did) uses Scripture in very different ways than what we would call a close read of the text.  Deuteronomy 32 is the Song of Moses and verses 26-35, if you did a close read, are about the enemies of the Israelites.  Henry uses these verses to affirm that they are the enemies, but also the Israelites and the next thing you know, he's jumped to 1st Peter in the New Testament and how Deut. 32 is the beginning of what continues into the New Testament.  So a careful reading of the text to see what the actual chapter says is not what Matthew Henry is doing overall.  I have to think that there is a name for the type of Biblical reading/ interpretation/ commentary that he is doing... do any of you know?  Meanwhile, I call my Mom telling her that I was thinking about Dad who has a printed copy of Henry's Commentaries at home only to be told that that was HER book.  They met at a Bible College :).  

So I was in the 1700s today.  It was fun.  My Husband was quick to point out that it was a dangerous time history speaking.  

Meanwhile, I am thinking of the brevity of life.  This big writing project.  I really hope it works out.  Will I be able to finish it? I have a long way to go.  It's getting clearer (where I am going) but a lot of work to get it done.  I know, ultimately, that if I do finish it, it is because of God's mercy and upholding. 

Lent, how is next week the last presanctified liturgy?  

Well.  It's late.  Actually midnight again. 

Keeping it simple.  Sorry I don't have time to write more.

God keep you dear ones.  He is with us.  

Tuesday: Sun and Cloud

Right before I woke up, I was dreaming about facing death and I felt scared.  Then I suddenly thought of my friend Tim, who died when we were 10 and that he had gone before me and I was comforted.  A beautiful dream. Within minutes of waking, tears were falling down my cheeks as I thought of my friends in Ottawa with news of the continued decline of the one with the Saint's name of Peter.  Still in hospital.  Needing a wheelchair, losing ability to use his body because of ALS. It's going so fast, it's shocking.  

One of the many gifts I was given in Ottawa was the ability to cry.  Coming from Dutch background, with more stoic stock, I had to learn to cry.  It was a deep healing in my life and I am so grateful for it.  

I've been working super hard on my big writing project.  It involves a lot of research and writing drafts that I know I will need to change and edit like crazy.  It's strange to know I am writing things that need so much work but that's how it goes.  I've given my heart to the project and feel that God is opening doors (at least in the research part!) that I could not have foreseen, bringing books to me that I need... 

Before I forget, my Husband sent me this very lovely article on some of the first English translations of Russian literature and how Constance Garnett gave Dostoevsky to the world.  It's a really lovely read and sounds like a very good book that the author wrote on novels! 

I wrote the above earlier this morning.  Yesterday, by the way, I woke at 5 and by 6 was mopping the floors.  Crazy. And I was working by 9.  

Today I got up at 8 :) Was working a bit after 9. By working today I mean reading.  I am, amongst many other things, researching one's concept of who God is and what the Fatherhood of God means.  Let's just say that Jonathan Edward's famous sermon about an angry God is shockingly awful in many parts.  I read it very carefully, looking this up and makings lots of notes.  I am so glad that God is not like Edwards depicted.  Of course now I have lots more to read.  And listen to actually, thank God for podcasts like this one for questions about the Bible.  It's a lot to sort out.  My Husband knows this sermon by Edwards too and commented that it is hard to know what would be worse: to not believe in God or to believe that Edward's depiction of God (angry, hateful) is true.  I am going to need more time to figure out what is what in this one.  Whew. 

I am getting two books DV this weekend and others and it's all for my writing project.  It covers a lot of different things and is really fun that way, since I love reading and writing.  Oh, this podcast transcript on women and St Paul was helpful for me, thought I would give you an FYI on it! :) 

Ok. Well it's getting late.  Sorry I have not been posting as much.  I guess my life has changed, my writing project is keeping me really busy and engaged in other things.  I have to start thinking about when I will make cookies for Pascha because I am so busy now with my research.  For me (I am a librarian and a nerd) this is a really big blessing, to research things to try to write something.  For others it would be awful but for me it's wonderful.  I have no idea if my work itself (the writing) is any good but I know that for now I just have to read, write, pray, think, read some more and accept that my writing will need a lot of either re-writing or intensive edits, especially in places.  But somehow this all appeals to me!  

God bless you dear ones!  I pray you are well.  That you are sensing the hope and love that we find in Christ.  Or if not, that you still have hope because sometimes we believe something and don't sense it in other ways.  Faith.  Not easy.  God keep you dear hearts. 

Monday: the hope we have

 

I wrote this about the above icon to a friend...

our local church has 

 beautiful large icon/mural of St Peter being saved by Christ 

when he was about to fall beneath the waves.  

I love how Christ is looking at St Peter with such love and is holding him up, 

while St Peter is looking at Christ still afraid and 

clinging to Him like a child would cling to his father.

***

I pray each of you are well.

***

I am well.  Reading and writing a lot.

***

God keep you dear ones in His compassion and care. 

Saturday: Quickly, She Writes...

 

Life has been very full lately!

Church Friday, Saturday AM and PM, writing, reading.

House tasks.  Various things.

I am reading, over half way I think now, 

Man, Target of God by Elder Zacharias.

Also Walking on Water by Madeleine L'Engle.

I pray you are well.

Thank you to each of you for praying

for my dear Ottawa friends!

May God bless and keep us!

Lord have mercy! 

Prayer Request for a Dear Family

 

Asking for your prayers for a dear family in Ottawa. 

I just mentioned him in yesterday's blog post I believe.

My friend's Saint name is Peter. He has ALS (diagnosed last year). 

He was hospitalized today. 

He has a loving wife, a teenage daughter and a son under 10 years old.

❤🕯🙏💜🕯☦

Wednesday: Midpoint of Great Lent, the Feast of the Annunciation and the Feast of the Cross

 It was a beautiful day today!

It rained on the way to church,

then we had liturgy and a meal outside afterwards

it was warm and the sun came out.

***

We did some errands on the way home,

nap after putting groceries away

and then cake and then I realized that there 

was presanctified liturgy tonight, locally, 

of course I could not have Communion, I was blessed with this

this morning, that I could go to 2 liturgies was merely because the 

churches were on different calendars and it's Great Lent when some

liturgies are at night. 

So I went, came home, afterwards,

prepared some food, called my Mom,

then ate, prayers and clean up and then an hour of writing 

and here I am now telling you all about it.

And now I need to go to sleep so I can wake,

God willing, tomorrow and continue on with the work

that I am given.

May God bless and save us!

Lord have mercy on us!

Glory to Christ's Resurrection!

Thank God for the Mother of God saying 

YES on the day of Annunciation!

Today is 9 months to Christmas (January 7th that is)

 and is the beginning of our salvation! 

Tuesday before the Feast of the Annunciation

A lovely warm but not too hot day.

I have the dishwasher running, it's swishing is calming.

I ordered a really special book today.

I won't have it for a bit but later hope to share.

I read a bit today.

I have some reading set out for me to do over the next weeks.

Actually, weeks and possibly months.

***

Please pray for my friends in Ottawa,

the ones I mentioned who the Husband got ALS this past year.

From what I understand, his disease is progressing rapidly.

From being able-bodied to needing a wheel chair and more.

With a teenage daughter and a son under 10 years old.

I can't imagine how hard it is also for his Wife of many years now.

***

Tomorrow is the feast of Annunciation! 

Thank God for such mercies.

***

I pray you are well.  And that you had a moment of peace....

God bless you, keep you, comfort you...

Monday: Sunny Spring has Returned

 

Hello! Here we are again!

It's nearly Midnight, as usual.

I was so happy to see this bud open so beautifully!

We had a walk today.

I did more research, reading and listening.

I also scaled Mount Laundry again.

Tomorrow, climb two of laundry.

Thank God we have leftovers to eat. 

My writing project is taking up a lot of my time.

I am loving it. I get to do lots of research, reading 

and such.  But I have to admit it is taking away from my blogging time.

I hope to write more soon. 

God bless you all and keep you!