The Pope is correct...

The studies are starting to trickle in and it appears that the Pope, much maligned for his statements about condoms and AIDS prevention, is actually right, they aren't the panacea the activists would like you to believe.

Clinging...

I went to bed early last night and so I woke up in the wee small hours and decided to do some writing.

Yes, the world is a mess. We're reaping what we've sowed. We've wasted our inheritance on riotous living and now the accounts are due and we have no money. We've ignored everything that matters for everything that doesn't and so we're unable to cope when life turns hard. This is the way it is. Rub your eyes and wake up. The time for dreams is past and the morning is cold, gray, and bitter.

Some say you should plant a garden. Some say you should start storing food now. Some people are picking through Revelation like a fortune teller looking at tea leaves to see wisdom. There are a ton of practical things, I suppose, a person can do as the rules are changing and things are going to be different, but one thing is certainly important. Cling to Christ.

Those who have wisdom in these times will understand that the idea of Faith being a convenience we can indulge as a hobby are over. In the days to come being rooted deeply and firmly in Christ will be among the most practical things we can do, the key to survival in an age of turbulence. It matters to take practical and wise steps for food and housing and all the needs of life but what is more desperately needed is a cohesive framework through which we can understand ourselves, the times, and the future and that comes with drawing our lives and all that we are towards Christ.

Am I a perfect example of this? No. But I do know, if only from my lack, where the substance is. I know from my thirst where water can be found. I know from my struggle where peace is and in moments of despair I have discovered where hope resides. It's all in Christ and wise people looking for the call of God in these times will understand.

Some time ago...

Some time ago I received an invitation to the wedding of one of the young adults I baptized when I was a Baptist pastor. Now there's a sign you're getting old!

Anyway, I just had a passing thought of her and hope her life is full of all good things. One of the things about being a Priest is that you have to realize your work is often beyond your horizon. It would be nice to have production reports where you could say "This past year I made so many thousand of this or that" but when you serve the Church its rarely that way. That's probably why so many Priests focus on numbers and programs, it allows them to think about their own work like most of this culture thinks about theirs.

To be a Priest is to be a link in the chain. You add to what has gone before and someone else adds on to you when you move on. You have no control over the before and after, only your section is as good or strong as you can make it, or better still as God makes it. But I do hope I didn't let her down, that young woman buried and risen in new life, and that during at least my watch and hopefully all the others she'll be okay. I'd like to think that if I never meet her again in this lifeat least I'll meet her in heaven.

So Michelle, if you're out there know that Pastor, now Father John, remembers you and will say a prayer for you today. I hope everything is okay and that you, now in your 20's or dare I say early 30's, are enjoying the bloom of your life. And if you think about me every once and so often I'd appreciate the same. I'm nearly 50 now, with gray hairs coming in but I haven't forgotten.

Ahhhhhh spring...

I know spring isn't officially here until later this week and winter here can come back well into April but it was 60 degrees outside today (farenheit) and as I drove north from LaCrosse I saw people emerging from their dens and taking those first few steps into the sunlight.

What a joy to open the windows!

More things Antiochian...

As I've pondered what''s been happening in my Archdiocese I've noticed something.

On one side there are the official news items about the recent decision returning our diocesan Bishops to auxiliary status, but that process doesn't work in our 24 hour a day everything always on world of information. So in the absence of official information we the people provide our own content in various on line forums, each of us a pundit, each of us trying to fill the void with our own thoughts.

One of the great things about the www is that the stranglehold of an elite class of professionals called journalists has been broken. Because of this people who are actual experts in their fields and not simply experts at writing or reading copy have a say in a story and often provide valuable insights. But the problem is also that anyone with an axe to grind can broadcast their thoughts to the world even if they have nothing constructive to say at all. That's the price of freedom I guess.

I think the worst part is the anonymity of the www. It's not an actual anonymity of course because if I wanted to I could track the IP addresses of everyone who visits this site and any site can do the same and perhaps more. Rather its the perception of anonymity that allows people to speak to each on other online in a way that they would generally not do, at least I hope, in person. That makes problem solving and true consensus difficult because the score is kept not by how you reach insight and consensus through wisdom but on how many cuts your words can inflict on those who disagree with you.

On some of the blogs discussing the recent decision from the Holy Synod of Antioch that spirit was very much alive. There were a lot of people calling each other names, demanding that someone repent, calling for Priests to be deposed, and saying things about fellow Christians that were just plain nasty. I know the www can be rough sometimes but I was disappointed that things could sink that fast in forums discussing an issue in the life of the Church. I understand it, there's a part of me that can fall into the trap of thirsting for verbal combat and the power it can give me when I strike a verbal blow, but I know, as well, that if we're going to live together we have to be temperate with each other or risk adding the hurt of words to the process of coming to agreement.

So I hope if anything else happens in all of this we'll come to the realization we need to keep things Christian in all of this. Yes we can disagree. Yes we can make our points. Yes we can present our information. But everything should be done with a mind to the fact that the person across from us, whether they are in person or across the world typing into their computer is a person for whom Christ came to earth. I think we'll get to where we need to be faster if we do.

Things Antiochian...

In late February a decision came down from the Holy Synod of Antioch regarding the status of all Bishops in the Patriarchate. The effect of that decision has been to reduce every Bishop not currently a Metropolitan to "auxiliary" status. This largely affects the Bishops in the United States, who, according to the agreement for self rule, had been enthroned as diocesan Bishops and now are faced with returning to the status of being functionaries for our Metropolitan.

The fallout has been passionate where discussion is occurring and there are many questions being asked as people are trying to make sense of the implications of this with little official information to use as sources. Some deep disagreements have been exposed. Personal issues that have simmered for some time are bubbling to the surface. And there are lot of anonymous www posts floating through the blogosphere. Feelings are hurt and people are confused. It may be a rough few months before the Archdiocesan Convention this summer and the convention itself, who knows?

The hardest part for me is that I still don't have something I can tell my people that has any substance. I know what happened but I don't know why. There seems to be a fog of byzantine intrigue in all of this and some cryptic statements neither of which help when I want to guide my own heart and those I care for through these times. It matters when you change the structure of a whole archdiocese and I wish I knew the facts behind the actions from an official source and didn't have to get information from blogs and personal contacts.

That being said it looks like I'll just have to sort it out like everyone else. One thing is certain, I'm not letting this stop me from being Orthodox. I'm here for the long haul and if things get nasty in the Antiochian Archdiocese I'm not giving up my Faith. I'm going to pray always, take a stand when I need to, take my hits if I have to, and ride it out. If you're Antiochian and you're reading this I encourage you to do the same. Scars may come be we will make it through.

Apparently these are real...

I couldn't resist...

A scientist has apparently found the answer to belly button lint...

Hey, folks, that's why I put the word "miscellania" in the header!

The President and conscience...

President Obama has been working behind the scenes to revoke the legal protection for health care professionals who refuse to perform or assist in abortion as a matter of religious conscience.

A better way...

The plan is in, massive government spending, unimaginable deficits, and a debt that our grandchildren will have to pay if the whole house of cards doesn't collapse before then. After all, you can't get blood from a turnip. All of it is about avoiding the pain our lifestyle is causing us, the consequences of our "who cares about tomorrow, swipe the card today" mentality.

I doubt it will work because in truth its more of the same.

The cure is harder, we don't need a better government or certainly not a bigger one, we need to be better people and until that happens none of the rest will follow. The primary cause of this current financial crisis is moral, people with power and wealth who didn't have the inner fabric to reign in their own desires and a lot of us further down the financial food chain who played the game in the same, but a more limited way. Every day when we go to the bathroom we see the face of this crisis in the mirror.

Of course we probably won't see our politicians calling for a time of repentance at least not in a way that would come close to a call to spiritual and moral renewal. That's for a day long ago, the times are different, change the government and the world will change except that it won't and never has and we're the crazies who think we can do the same thing over and over again but this time get it right. Reckoning is on its way and we are very much less then ready. Our world is still the world of dreams.

I presume, though, that some will sit up in their beds with a start and realize the nightmare which woke them up. And as they rub their eyes and come to their senses they'll think, "That was crazy..." and when they do they'll start on the path to a better way.

Chilling speech...

Follow this link to the story of an African American pastor fined and jailed for peacefully protesting at an abortion facility in California. There are a growing number of incidences in this country where people of religious conscience are being censored, punished, or marginalized simply because of their religious views. We need to be aware of these things without panic or getting wrapped up in conspiracy theories, but also with the understanding that the times are changing and the priviledged position that Christianity had enjoyed in this country is rapidly disappearing. God may be trying to get our attention and help us, as Christians, to wake up and stop taking our freedoms and our Faith for granted. Jesus told us that in the world we would have many troubles but that we were not to fear because he had overcome the world. Now is chance to understand this and act.

The chickadee says...

Saturday morning, 4 inches of snow needed shoveling. With each push and throw the walk cleared and the banks grew. The air was cold and the sky clearing and from somewhere the sound of a chickadee rose. "Sweet spring, sweet spring" of course it was too early but one can't help but admire the hope in the song. I looked to the sky to see where it was coming from but the trees wouldn't reveal their secret. The birds know things we don't, sense things we on the ground cannot. Spring is less then a month away no matter what the snow says.

Some thoughts from Cal Thomas...

On the developing government health oversight and the duty to die...

The numbers game...

Since my arrival at St. Elias I have been telling the people that in the United States in any given area the population can range from roughly 40 - 60 percent unchurched. That would mean that LaCrosse County with a population just over 107,000 could have as many as 40,000 people who for all reasonable purposes have no church home. That's an enormous mission field for such a small area and it certainly means we could find several hundred of those folks receptive to Orthodoxy.

I think some have doubted those numbers and so I've been sending emails with links to the Barna Group and Gallup that provide snapshots of the actual level of church involvement in this country. We have this veneer of Christianity in this country, and even the veneer is getting really thin, but when we press just a little below the surface we find out that regular church goers are a real minority in this country. People, for the sake of casual politeness or to avoid getting into discussing religion, may identify themselves in broad terms as Christian but the actual practice of the faith is quite limited.

Of course we should have picked this up from our culture. If the majority of Americans were actually committed to their faith and their churches would our culture even come close to looking like it does? I don't think so. We are, in fact, a nation of baptized pagans, a society of people who by and large engage in the occasional religious ceremony but hardle ever actually practice the faith they claim. Or better yet we're a country of secular materialists who've added a splash of religion like salt on a hamburger.

Regardless, the mission field in America is open and every church needs to see itself not simply as an organization but as a mission station and be actively engaging a pagan culture with the Faith. In fact, in many Orthodox churches, we must engage our own people with the Faith because, in truth, they really don't know what they believe or why. The first thing that must disappear, though, is the myth that this is a Christian country. It is not, and we believe that falsehood at our own peril. It's hard to be jarred from a sleep to learn your house is on fire, but it will save your life. In the same way the Church needs to wake up from its slumber before it is too late.

This Sunday's sermon in advance...

Sunday of the Prodigal Son
February 15, 2009

When I disobey in ignorance thy fatherly glory, I wasted in iniquities the riches that thou gavest me. Wherefore, I cry to thee with the voice of the prodigal son, saying, I have sinned before thee, O compassionate Father, receive me repentant, and make me as one of thy hired servants.

I watch the headlines flash by on the television and hear the tales of a world gone wrong. And as I do I know why this is so, not because I possess any superior insight but rather because Jesus wisdom echoes over the ages.

We are prodigals, all of us, myself the first, and our pride has caused us to buy into a lie about who we are, what life is about, and the ultimate purpose of things. In our arrogance we, each in our own ways, discarded everything that went before us and struck out into the world full of ourselves and confident of our answers. Our precious inheritance has been squandered on rich living and harlots of our own making.

But now the money is gone and we realize, like the young man in this Gospel, that good time friends stay only for the party and vaporize into the hot winds of famine. When artificial props and false foundations are swept away by the rushing flood we fall and find our ourselves in reality, working hard for next to nothing, our minds coming to sense and longing for what we had selfishly scorned, a home, a place, a relationship, a father.

No, it may not be a pig sty where our heart becomes bereft of comfort and longing for what we have forsaken. It can be our office, our home, that last seat at the bar where we’re buried in our drink, or some moment alone in the small hours of the night when the culture’s anesthesia wears off and we’re finally alone with our pain. But the moment comes, it is inevitable, and face it we must.

Some of us will arrive at that hour and respond with even more of what brought us to that place. We’ll choose to drink more deeply from the squalid well that has caused our stomachs to churn and our life to be poisoned. We’ll hope that even more excess, more money, more of whatever we desire will finally break us through to where we had hoped it would all take us. One more drink, one more party, one more loan on our future, one more fix of whatever we crave, damn tomorrow and full speed ahead. It’s a recipe for death, body, soul, culture and world.

Some, though, will hear those small voices inside and be flooded with light and wisdom gained from pain. They will say to themselves “Why am I living this way?” and as they do they take the first step of the long journey home. Like the young man in Jesus wise story they have returned to sanity and in humility hope there is still a chance for them in the place they had left behind. They fear the worst but hope for the best and are willing to take the chance that even if they cannot be where they once were they still can be closer to home.

What they will discover is that even when they are still far away, when home is a speck in the distance, a welcome awaits. While we often stop caring about God; while we often assert our own wisdom against His and forget that He even exists, He has never forgotten us and what is more He has never stopped loving us and waiting for our return. While we are still on the horizon, covered in rags and smelling of our unwashed folly, God draws towards us and embraces even our filth as He escorts us safely home.

This is why we do battle against our passions and our sins. This is why we live this Christian life. This is why we fast and pray and worship and give alms and seek to be pure of character and filled with a lively hope. This love that God has for us so eloquently portrayed in Jesus holy words calls us out of ourselves, out of our selfishness, out of a broken world and back to our heart’s true home whether we have wandered far or only just around the corner. However we are, whatever we have become, for ourselves and our world there is a way back if we have the wisdom to see it and the humility to take the first step and as we do we begin to possess eternal life.

Musings after Vegas...

I remember looking out beyond the glittering lights of Las Vegas to the desert mountains beyond and thinking "This would be a good place for a monastery." And I can understand how people in days gone by, full up of all the lights and attractions of their time but empty of soul, would choose the desert to find God. The harsh, clean, absence of the extraneous world that clogged their spirit must have had an attraction to souls weary of everything and seeking emptiness as an antidote.

Word from the Desert...

I can't tell you how much I enjoy the blog "Word from the Desert". I'm not sure who the author is but I've always been blessed by reading short quotes from the fathers and mothers of the desert and the Church and this web site is a banquet of them ready for use.In my quest to stop filling my mind with all the cares of the world and replace that with holy things such sites are a welcome relief from the endless screaming voices and indicative of what the www can be for the discerning Christian.

I couldn't resist...

Here's a commercial for the Smart Car that apparently was banned in some markets...

Smart car...

I configured my Smart Car yesterday pending possible delivery in September. I thought this would be the perfect package for the snow and hills around LaCrosse.

Lord, have mercy...

Baby born alive in an attempted abortion is killed. What have we become?