Internet addiction is growing...

Ironically, you can read about it here.

I wonder if I'm spending more time on the www or just replacing the time I would normally spend reading newspapers and watching TV news with the web. My guess, though, is I'm probably on line way too much. Blame it on curiosity or laziness or whatever but I know that if I don't get away from the screens every once in a while I could turn into Jabba the Hutt.

Incense is good for you...

Apparently frankincense, a major component in many liturgical incenses, helps you relax and feel calm. I personally enjoy the "pine" incense we use at St. Elias and also like encountering what other churches use when I travel. If I go to a church where incense is not used it smells, for lack of a better word "bare" and something seems missing. I also feel at peace with the sight of it coming from the censer and ascending.

What do you like about incense? What scent? What aesthetic?

Hat tip to westernorthodox

A hard slap...

A story from Canada about a banner with "Jesus S#@*$" being flown over the city of Toronto as a "joke". Sometimes a person really wishes Jesus just once would say "Hey, forget that turn the cheek stuff and give them a good hard slap." But Jesus has endured worse from better and that's not what we're about. Pray for the poor, empty, soul who thought this was funny.

TV and autism...

An interesting article addressing possible relationship between television viewing and autism in children. Anecdotally I can tell you that television has ruined the art of the in depth sermon by creating a whole generation of people who's brains have been rewired by TV and can't endure more then ten minutes of the same person in front of them.

Oh and you might want to visit here as well and report back.

Orthodox Revolution RIP...

Some weeks ago I launched a blog entitled "Orthodox Revolution" but as of today I closed it. I'm spending way too much time in front of screens and I need to get out, breathe some fresh air, and get a life. So it's just back to my old friends at the Chronicles. Ah well....

Little pink houses part two...

We have a new family next to us and they're African American. So what?

After all, by our own choice we live in a racially mixed neighborhood, I've had black friends, even a date or two, but I was raised in the whitest of white worlds as a child in a small Wisconsin town and as a teen in the suburbs. From those safe distances it was easy to pretend that there wasn't a prejudiced bone in my body. But somehow, some odd way, next door is another thing altogether.

I'm feeling exposed. It's not about hate or that dreary and unintelligent KKK kind of stuff but I am being stretched by the new, the unexpected, the challenge of putting theory into practice, ideals into action. I'm embarrassed by a part of me that, despite all the facts, despite all my education, despite my daily interactions with people very different from myself, despite it all, is struggling, at times, with the arrival of the new neighbors next door, a nice couple with three kids and a dog.

Now if I was smart I would just shut up about all of this and pretend it wasn't there. But I want this out in the air and sunshine because I want it gone. To be who I was meant to be means that I have to find a way, like Christ does, to see the humanity in every person regardless of how they present themselves and love that person as myself. It appears the new neighbors have reminded me I have a ways to go on this, more things to sort out, and new ways to grow.

Thank you, Lord, for new neighbors.

Buddy...

He’s skinny now, a fragment of his old self with watery eyes and a weak voice. You can almost put one hand around his whole body and he looks tired. It’s like all the air has left him and only the heart is left. But he still has the eyes that look at you with a kind of gentle trust and he still gets up slowly to come to you for a gentle touch and the odd meow that’s his alone.

Something happens to old cats, happens too quickly. One day they seem sleek and alive and then suddenly without warning all the age catches up with them. No growing old in stages just everything all at once, or at least so it seems. It can be hard to look at, the sight of the ghost of a cat marking time. And yet something even more wistful looms.

In the wild, far from our eyes, nature herself would bring about both the beginning and the end. Her terrible laws would be enforced and something, some accident, some predator, some illness, some fate would return a cat to its cycle of life and death. But when they live in our world they endure our captivity but enjoy our bounties, the freedom from cold and fear and all those happenstances that normally make life a vapor by our standards. And so something happens to them that rarely happens outside our walls, they grow old, very old, and we must decide when there is too many years and too little life.

It’s not the techniques for this that are difficult. The sad duty, the thing we euphemistically call “putting to sleep” is quick and without pain, a matter of seconds. Many of us wish our own death could be so. The question is always the when. When is it right? When is it good? When is enough, enough? There is no numbing medicine for that, no anesthetic to ease the pain. In some ways this is good because it means we naturally shrink back from taking life, a trait we humans should always develop, but for us it brings to bear all the fears that come with being finite and still having power over life and death.

And they don’t make it easy for the most part. Even when an animal is desperately ill and deeply in pain they retain some of the spirit, the dignity, and the earlier form that attracted us to them. An old broken cat still purrs, still holds on to that something that makes them so unique, and we see that, and we remember in their faces all the times that have passed so quickly by and it makes it hard to let go. We want to hold on to every minute we can because we know that even if it is just an animal it still is, in its own way, a unique soul of a sort, an irreplaceable life.

Then at some point a kind of love takes over, a love stronger then our sense of loss and we realize that such a creature as this must not be allowed to endure another moment of a fragility which they cannot comprehend and deterioration they cannot transcend by faith or hope or meaning as we know it, and our fingers find their way to the phone.

It’s time, now, for Buddy to go. Buddy the beautiful old cat turned skinny and frail with time, true friend of an old lady till the day she died and companion for a whole floor of people who slowly but surely are losing their memories. Blind in one eye he had to turn in circles to look over his shoulder and walk with his whiskers to the wall for direction but every hand that reached out was rewarded with his gentle response. His life was a token of what will one day be, the time when the ancient fears dividing animals and man will disappear into Light. How different the world would be if each of us made as many people happy as that old cat with the funny meow and the beautiful, soulful, eyes. And if there is a life of some sort beyond this for him I wish him a well deserved rest.

A little more John Lee just because...

Little pink houses...

There's a little pink house next to mine and it never seems to hold its occupants very long.

Today, if I understand things correctly, there'll be a new family moving in and that should make five groups of folk who have tried to make that house a home in the nearly fifteen years we've lived in our neighborhood. Two families fled for the suburbs, one collapsed into foreclosure in a sea of dysfunction and drugs, the last couldn't make the rent after the father of her baby became allergic to child support. Now a new family will give it a try.

Up and down our street the block has been fairly stable and the upkeep crucial to maintaining a quality neighborhood has by and large been done. But this little pink house has been our crazy uncle, the guy who drinks too much at family reunions that we put up with in embarrassed silence. I've lost count of the times when we needed to shovel the walk or cut the grass or kill weeds and clean doggy stuff in self defense. It was all I could do to resist going over with a hedge clippers while the place was empty and taking out the tree growing in the front hedge and the six foot tall weed by the door.

Perhaps this sounds petty but the truth is that when you live in the city you don't have to be fancy but you do have to be clean. We live close together and our defense against the bad guys coming in and making us a block of crack houses is that united front of clipped lawns, pruned hedges, painted buildings, and shoveled walks that says "We pay attention here and you had better just move on." Poverty doesn't cause crime, crime causes poverty and if a block can be compromised the people holding fast for the good will leave and when they do the neighborhood collapses into house after house of people there only because they have no other choice.

So I'm hoping for the best. I'm hoping that this new family, however they're constructed, will be vigilant and responsible and even though they're just renters will still have some pride in the place they live. You gotta stay positive, but just in case it looks like things are going south I'll keep my hedge trimmer handy and the phone book open to the office of the city housing inspector.

Festival part 2...

It's festival plus two today and the inside clean up gets underway.

Usually on the evening of the festival itself all the things that need to be returned to the church are put in the basement and left, unsorted, for a few days while people recover. A day in the hot sun wrings everyone dry and any kind of ambition has been long poured out on the festival. Have dealt with the public and each other for eight plus grueling hours we gather up everything we can to take away, turn on the fire house to wash the grounds, and scatter home.

One of the interesting things about a festival is how much it reveals about the character of the people in a parish. When the crowds are big, the lines long, and a group of people are in a hot kitchen together trying to make it all work you quickly discover the nature of the person passing you rice, and yourself. Whatever else one could say about St. Elias her people, for the most part, can bind together, work hard, and willingly assume tasks with a minimum of complaint. Visitors from other Orthodox parishes were astonished at how efficiently and thoroughly our small parish approached the event and one visitor, comparing parishes, said "These folks at St. Elias have just kicked our $@#." I'll take that as a compliment.

It was good, as well, to have a decent group of people from our sister parish up the river, St. George. They came down seeking to help and learn how to hold a festival but at the same time they got to know us as well. The people of St. Elias needed to see they're not alone, and the people of St. George need to know there's a little church down the river they can pray for and visit if they so choose. There have always been family ties between the two churches but my hope is that there will also be ties of the heart that come from our working together.

The numbers aren't in yet, they matter but then again in a certain sense they don't. We banded together, we worked hard, we gave of ourselves for something greater and opened ourselves to the community. Yes, it would be good to make money from it all and we could sure use it but at the same time I hope it reminds us, again, of the possibilities in many parts of our life as a parish if we put that same spirit and effort to the other tasks that lie ahead for St. Elias.

We'll see, but right now I think I'll just stay in the shade for a few days.

A short video...

Festival...

Sunday is the St. Elias parish festival. For those of you who are Orthodox I actually don't have to write any more than this, you can fill in the lines yourself. For the rest I'll continue.

Whatever our jurisdictional differences in this country we Orthodox share at least one thing in common, most of us have festivals of one kind or another. At festivals we feed strangers, dance for strangers, hold raffles for strangers, and find other ways to entertain them, for a price. Of course that's a hard and cynical view of things. There's more to festivals than that, but the financial part is certainly important. Many parishes make significant income via their festivals and over the years we've gotten really good at giving our friends and neighbors quite an afternoon or weekend for their tickets.

St. Elias is no exception. The people plan ahead, work hard, and produce an amazing five hour Sunday afternoon event where we can feed and entertain anywhere from 500 - 1000 people. That's not bad for a parish of around 50 plus active members. And the food really is good, in fact having been in several denominations over the years I can assuredly tell you the food in Orthodoxy is simply the best. I've had stuff to eat at St. Elias during Lent that's better than many people could do on their best day.

But the truth is I'm torn about the whole festival thing. It takes weeks to plan and execute a festival and about 20 seconds to write a check. If every Orthodox Christian simply tithed we could rid ourselves of the hours spent sweating in front of steaming pots and smoking grills. I hate that feeling that hangs over all of our plans, the hope that everything turns out okay, that the weather is fine, that people come, that nothing too strange happens, the knowledge that we really do need this money to make ends meet. The atmosphere of a festival can be quite fun but underneath, for many Orthodox parishes, is a kind of grim, make or break, determination.

And yet the work of a festival can draw us together in that most ancient of ways, a shared task. It also gets us out in the community and in LaCrosse, like many small cities, church events are also community events. It's not unusual for the local television stations to provide some coverage and friends of members and just the curious attracted by the smells (did I tell you that we can really cook?) drop by. It's also kind of a family reunion for us. Orthodox who rarely attend church, people who have left but still have an emotional connection, and family friends stop by. We can reconnect at a festival, the picnic being a kind of safe ground where we catch up with each other.

We've made some changes, as well. We serve the Divine Liturgy on Sunday morning before the festival outdoors and on the grounds. It calls us to higher things and in its own way sanctifies all that follows. We pledge a tithe of our income to a special need. Last year it was orphans, this year we'll give the money to help with flood relief. I hope it reminds us that all our blessings are from God and that we should always return a gift as a sign of gratitude. We provide literature and books for those interested in the Faith. Is it perfect? No. Is it a start? Yes.

So if you're Orthodox you know what the next few days will look like. Say a little prayer for us for all the usual things, good weather, good attendance, and good service. If you're thinking about Orthodoxy just know that some day you might get the tap on your shoulder asking you to take up a task for your parish at the festival. And if you just happen to be passing by the Oktoberfest grounds in LaCrosse this coming Sunday stop in, the food really is that good.

Brett Favre...

One thing is certain, Brett Favre will finally retire. He simply has to choose whether he'll go out with grace or as a has been on a cart. Regardless, it's sad to see a person with so much who seems to be so empty.

John Lee Hooker...

Saying goodbye part 2...

I made the mistake of looking at the Guitar Center website and seeing what they were asking for the instruments I had traded in. Not a good idea because they usually, and I knew this, give you about half of their future selling price.

So the mixed emotions come in. It was a good thing to simplify and get down to the basics. Clutter has its own kind of weariness. But I came to understand again, that things are passing and no matter how valuable you may think they are in the passion of the moment their price fades and and all things will eventually be rendered worthless.

Now I think I'll go upstairs and rediscover why I got the new instruments in the first place...

Simple pleasures...

A cat who knows just exactly how to curl up next to you in bed.

Wisdom from Tony Snow...

A very well written article in "Christianity Today" about cancer, life, and death, from Tony Snow, a devout Catholic, and former presidential press secretary and reporter who passed away last week.

May his memory be eternal.

Hat tip to Get Religion

Tired...

I believe I may have set my personal record for sleep last night. Went to bed on Friday at around 5:30 pm and woke up around 8:00 am this morning. I must have been more tired then I thought.

Saying goodbye...

It's always hard to say goodbye and when you're a musician letting an instrument go can be melancholy. But its a fact of life; times change, people change, music changes, and your need for an particular axe flows with it all. The darling of your life fresh from the music store finds a way to the back of your rack and then its off to the store as a trade in.

I wanted to simplify, to move from six basses to just what I need. I wanted to add a guitar to increase my range for songwriting. So I traded in my six string, my fretless, my four string, and an electric mandolin in for a single four string (Fender Precision) and an acoustic (Dean Exotica). And despite the brand new instruments at home, each wood grain with great tone and function, I still miss the old ones.

That's natural. An instrument channels your thoughts, your faith, your emotions, and some of your deepest passions to the world. Yes, it's a thing but it's a thing that becomes part of you and sometimes part of your identity. I will miss the late at night moments with each of them, that quiet time when I could think about the day and life and let the music carry things through. Yet there was also a hunger to let the clutter go, to focus, to find the "one" in the many and to expand in a new direction. Eventually that won out.

Things change and perhaps some day the new instruments in my attic studio will take that ride in the back seat to a music store. But right now I'm in between, missing the old, enjoying the new, and only the music remains the same.

The stones cry out...

An article on a stone tablet dated before Jesus and speaking of a Messiah who would die and rise again in three days.Here's Get Religion's take on it. Interesting?

She's not there...

I still have that sweet kind of tired feeling from a night at the concerts.

In this case it was a double bill free concert at the Taste of Minnesota festival featuring The Zombies and Eddie Money. My sister was my accomplice, we came early and sat close drinking Sprite to combat the heat and eating popcorn well, because it was cheap.

Eddie Money was loud and in your face, doing his best to generate energy from the crowd and catch a bit of the groove that made him famous in the 80's. The mix blurred out his vocals and sometimes the distinctions between the instruments but at its best it produced that jumpin' up and down live concert feel where lights and sound and moment blend together.

The opening act, though, was actually the best. 60's British group, The Zombies, back and touring again after who knows how long, took the stage for their third concert of an American swing and it was hippie time in St. Paul at least for an hour. Now it wasn't actually the entire Zombies of those days gone by, but it was the lead singer and keyboardist, in effect the core, that came to play with a quality group of support musicians. And yes, while there were a whole bunch of folks with grey hair and tie dyed shirts in the crowd, The Zombies also played a great show for a new audience of people, like myself, who were children when they first toured.

Most folks, if they know of The Zombies at all remember a couple of songs including "Time of the Season" and "She's Not There" but their set included other popular but lesser known songs, a few from their current CD, and the hit "Hold Your Head Up" from the group Argent which emerged from the remnants of the Zombies in the 70's. But there was something else happening at the show.

I think the popularity of some of these "dinosaur' acts lies partly in their ability, by just being present, to recall what many perceive to be better times, some long ago youthful past. But for newer people the appeal seems to be bands that actually play their instruments. Its kind of a shock for kids raised on rap and shredding to see music featuring changes of tempo, musicianship, and varying volume levels. There's mood there, not just tons of faux cynical anger and posing, and vocal quality as well; words that mean things without profanity. There's a world of difference between Eminem's nasal rantings and The Zombies "A Rose for Emily's" tale of lost love and heartache. And some of the folks seemed to be getting it.

Anyway, now its Monday morning and I'm tired and making the best of my day off with a bit of the music still swirling around in my head. To whoever called me from LaCrosse during the concert I'm sorry you couldn't hear me because I had great seats by the stage but I left a message between concerts and I'll call back today.

America...

It's the 4th of July and everything is fairly quiet around St. Paul. Most folks are just laying low, hanging around with family and friends. I'll be at a Twins baseball game tonight and then get ready to head to LaCrosse in the morning.

I've been thinking about the shape of things lately, the way of the world and the future of this land. We're in a crazy time now, possessed of a politics of selfishness and a culture grown tired. It looks like another election where we'll have to choose which person hurts us less and a year when most of us will watch with open mouths as forces larger than us play the game with our lives as pieces.

Yet I know that some of this is real, some of this is hype, some of this is our foolishness, and some of this is just a generation coddled by materialism coming to terms with limits. And as bad as it can get sometimes I still am glad that over a century ago my great grandparents made the trip from what was then Prussia and came to this land. Things were hard for them, too, in their own way and they made it and I'd like to think that some of that spirit remains.

I've traveled to other countries. I respect other countries. But this one, the United States, is home and always will be.

Happy Americans...

We're #16! We're #16!

Election cereal...

Viva Viagra...

Perhaps the most annoying commercials on television are those pathetic gatherings of men singing "Viva Viagra..." to the tune of the Elvis song "Viva Las Vegas". The King is most certainly turning in his grave and every one of the actors should have their ear flicked just for showing up for the gig.

What is your most annoying commercial?

Thoughts from the road to Grand Rapids...

Back from a mid week run to Grand Rapids, Michigan, and the Midwest Diocesan Parish Life Conference. I've seen enough of cars for a while but learned a few things along the way...

Don't use Hotwire or Priceline to make reservations. When they lock in that "special" rate for you the contract is non negotiable and they will penalize you for any change in schedule no matter how trivial. Think a hundred times before pressing their buttons.

A Chevrolet Aveo has great gas mileage and plenty of room, but the seats have no support for a long drive. If you want to rent one make sure to get out and stretch every hour or so to avoid, so to speak, a cramping of the buns.

That Orthodox Bishops don't go insane within a year of their consecration proves the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. Bishops are seldom left alone, always overworked, and our Bishop MARK went to his father's funeral on Monday and then was present for the Diocesan convention, and all of us, on Wednesday. I can't imagine the life of a Bishop and every one of them should make at least a hundred grand a year with one month off.

The old saying that everything can change in an instant is true. On our way north into Michigan, in the vicinity of Benton Harbor, there was an accident. Apparently a few minutes ahead of us a car and a truck collided and two lanes were closed. As we passed the scene the fire crew was rolling out a body bag.

I'm not as alone as I thought. When Priests gather together they talk and I was reminded that others are working full time jobs and trying to help missions and small churches get on their feet. I wish it wasn't so. I wish mission parishes had all the financial support they needed and small church pastors would get the tools they need to give new life to their charges. But until then knowing that my lot is shared makes it easier and helps me focus my prayers for my brothers in arms fighting this good fight.

Filed under "I couldn't resist"...

After the service a young couple talked to a church member about joining the church. He hadn't met the husband before, and he asked what church he was transferring from. After a short hesitation, he replied,"I 'm transferring from the Municipal Golf Course."

Simple pleasures...

Open road. Hot wind in your face. Thin Lizzy on the radio.

Simple pleasures...

Laundry hanging on the clothesline, way better than the dryer.

A little work...

I'm doing a little work to recreate and refocus this blog so hang in there with me. My hope is to have this blog become more autobiographical, more focused on reflection and writing and moving the comments about the greater culture to another blog OrthodoxRevolution. Stay tuned.

A little bass...

Out of control...

An AP article about the world being out of control brings two things to mind.

First, I'm not sure that the world is worse then its ever been, its just that with modern media we know more about it, in fact we're immersed in it. 500 years ago there were wars and famines and all kinds of nasty stuff happening all over the world, just no TV cameras. Remember folks, media is not about the truth, its about getting you to look so they can sell commercials and disasters make you look.

Second, the world is only coming apart if your only hope is in this world. If you were counting on humans things to save you then when they fail so does your heart because, as Jesus said, where your treasure is there will you heart be as well. People of faith need to see hard times as a reminder to put ultimate trust in God and a call, not to panic, but to do whatever is possible to alleviate human suffering.

Another simple pleasure...

Opening the car window on a hot day, sitting forward, and letting the breeze dry out the back of your shirt.

Miscellaneous thoughts...

Politicians are the only folks who can mess things up and then campaign against their own mistake.

If they have to advertise, they're not really a psychic. A real psychic would be calling you.

A simple rule: If you want less of something tax it, if you want more subsidize it.

The simplest diet costs nothing: eat less, move more.

Counting blessings...

I recently had a Priest from Ohio write after he learned that I traveled over a thousand miles per month back and forth to St. Elias and tell me he'll never again complain about his 50 mile commute. It brings up a good point.

Every parish, every assignment, has its strengths and weaknesses. Because we Priests are often the only ones of our kind for miles and because we largely work alone the struggles of our tasks often feel more significant because we have little to which they can be compared. Our problems are our own in a unique way and our isolation magnifies their significance. Everything has to be seen in balance.

I drive a lot but at the same time I work with a dynamic, proactive, and solid Parish Council. There are other Priests who have larger churches and higher incomes but their parishes are in conflict. What can you say? To survive in ministry you have to see the larger picture, not in a dreamy idealistic way, but with reality tempered by hope. You're not perfect, your Parish isn't either. You'll have problems, but then so does the Priest up the highway.

Sometimes realizing this just takes an email from Ohio.

A simple pleasure...

One of the great simple pleasures of life, taking off your shoes and socks at home after a long day of work. Ahhhhhhh!

Orthodox Revolution...

I'm looking for writers and thinkers for a new site called Orthodox Revolution...

Education vs Paranoia...

When I first started this blog I hoped to present a snapshot into my life as a Priest traveling down the river road from St. Paul, Minnesota and LaCrosse, Wisconsin. The road allows time to think and time to think is the seed of writing.

As I traveled around the www myself I began to see a picture of the world that sometimes left me cold. The www thrives on the freedom of speech, the ability of people like you and I to investigate, learn, share, and encounter as journalists in our own right. Yet such freedoms are often under threat. In past times, especially in the West, the idea had been that free speech was dynamic and a good for its own sake, the free give and take of ideas the definition of a free people. Repression of speech was the mark of dictators, repressive regimes, and a backwards past. This is changing.

Across the West there has been a significant contraction of free speech. Whether in the speech codes and blinding uniformity of much of American academia to the human rights commissions of Canada to the hate speech laws of Europe the idea that speech is best encountered with more speech is gradually dying and being replaced by the idea that those in power have the right, for the sake of some notion of fairness or tolerance, to suppress speech in the hope of an elusive harmony.

This, of course, is hogwash. Repression of free speech doesn't produce more tolerance it produces a fascism where the powerful maintain power by denying dissent. Repression of speech doesn't produce human advancement, it smothers it as good ideas die for the fear of expressing them. Repression of free speech doesn't produce enlightenment because it limits the horizons of human thought. Societies that permit the repression of speech eventually decline, the victims of the intellectual, social, spiritual, and political contraction that comes with denying expression.

I believe its time for people of good conscience to begin to get educated about how their rights of free speech are being chipped away around the world. Education means facing the facts and becoming aware of how things actually are. This is not about paranoia, seeing things that aren't there, but about opening your eyes and seeing the big pictures often obscured by the day to day business of living. Too often we find ourselves so busy with the miscellania of our lives that the larger trends of our culture, especially its darker side, can achieve their effect in stealth. We fall asleep and wake up to a different world in the morning.

We need to rediscover, again, that freedom requires constant vigilance. Freedom is messy sometimes, it requires the engagement of the free to maintain it, and sometimes means that we have to live in discomfort. Too often we humans are willing to surrender our freedom in the hope of avoiding the work, the discomfort of what it means to be free. At times we hope, instead of freedom, for a world where we control the puppets strings and achieve our vision of utopia by silencing dissent. Mostly we're just lazy and don't care about what happens outside our own comfort zone. The result is that most precious right, the right to learn, grow, speak, debate, and express ourselves without fear is being, sometimes harshly and more often quietly, eroded and as it does we may find ourselves descending into a long night stunting the human soul for generations.

Love and marriage...

I'd like to underscore something to put some context into the posts about same sex marriage that are posted on this blog.

We need to know what we're up against as traditional Christians. There are movements afoot by certain elements of the gay community to try not just for accommodation by the greater culture but to use the power of law and society to harass and marginalize us. In the same way that gay activists used Christian's natural compassion and unwillingness to close doors to engage in an endless round of "dialogue" designed not to seek understanding but rather to wear down opposition the larger society is now experiencing this skilled maneuver aided by the deep sympathy of many in the media and academic worlds to the gay causes. The goal for these people is victory and we need to understand this.

Knowing that, however, does not mean we must respond in kind. We must be firm, factual, truthful, but also loving and understanding. By this I mean we cannot weaken our Christian vision but we must understand that our vision includes not just the truth but grace as well. Our goal is not social conquest but salvation. Those who oppose us, as harsh and vicious as that opposition can be, are still objects of God's love, persons in His image, and although we believe they have strayed in a part of their life (just as we have strayed in parts of ours) we can never lose the hope that one day they, and the whole world if possible, could be reconciled to God in Christ.

I'm not advocating quietism, the living of our lives under the radar of life in the hope that the world will leave us alone. We can and should be involved in all the processes of our culture. Rather I believe we need to live as revolutionary Orthodox Christians, working out our own salvation and through this bringing salvation to others and then to the larger culture. One person at a time our lights must shine and and the be passed on. In time, as in many cultures of the past, the light of Christ, the light which can never be overtaken by night, will again prevail.

It would be easy to see what is happening in the larger world and grow angry. It would be easy to see our culture so full of flagrant and unhealthy sexuality and grow disgusted. Instead we need to see to our own salvation and as part of that pray. When you see two men romantically kissing in public, pray for them. When the newspapers are full of pro-gay propaganda pray for the people mentioned and the writers as well. When court cases emerge pray for the judges who will decide. Pray for their salvation, not for revenge, and pray for wholeness and healing for them and yourself.

Above all remain confident and do not give in to fear. History remains in God's hands and the end of things will not escape God's love, God's plans, and God's design.

New Car...

I just put down my deposit on a Smart Car. It'll take about a year to arrive and hopefully I'll be settled in one place. It's a decent car, lots of room for two inside, and should be a great car for a non traveling Priest to use for calls. Mine will look like the one pictured above. My first Pastor car was a Ford Festiva, which I dearly loved, and I hope this one will do as well. The Smart Fortwo has good gas mileage 40/45 by 2007 standards, 33/41 by 2008, easy to park, easy on the earth, and fun to drive. A good little city car.

One of the things people may not know is just because I'm skeptical about the global warming hype doesn't mean I'm not an environmentalist in my own way. I feel that taking care of the environment and living on the Earth in the lightest way possible is about respect for God's creation. I like to think that not consuming as much is a way to promote peace in the world. I believe we have a moral responsibility to, as best we can, leave God's creation in at least as good, and hopefully better, shape as we found it. It's just that I guess I'm not "Al Gore" green so much as "Garden of Eden" green, if that makes sense.

The Bible as hate literature...

Many of us here in the US are completely unaware that in our neighbor to the north, Canada, there has been a concerted effort among certain gay and leftist activists to use various governmental and quasi-governmental bodies as hammers against people who stray from a politically correct orthodoxy. Of particular concerns are the various human rights commissions who receive complaints and have the power to act on them, including assessing penalties and forbidding certain kinds of speech, without following judicial process, rules of evidence, or even the various rights spelled out in the Canadian Charter.

The most visible current case is that of Mark Steyn a conservative columnist who has written a book about, among other topics, the spiraling Muslim birth rates in Europe and the potential demographic fall out. He has been brought before a human rights commission in British Columbia by a Muslim man who claims that he has been harmed by an article in a magazine covering roughly the same ideas as the book even though the facts, figures, and quotes are true and often merely recount what Muslims leaders themselves say. Mr. Steyn will almost certainly lose the case, virtually every one brought up before these commissions does, and will have to spend precious time and money to continue his defense (the government of Canada covers the expenses of the complaintant).

There have also been Christian clergy brought up before these comissions and draconian infringements on the rights of these clergy to speak, especially on the topic of sexuality, have resulted. It looks, for now, that if Canadians themselves don't wish to fight for their freedoms and their leaders stand back that the country will gradually descend into a quasi-totalitarian state where the rights of those who disagree with the current political correctness will be gradually shrunken to the point where they are meaningless.

First, pray for Canada and the handful of brave Canadians that are fighting these travesties in the public arena. Second, as much as possible refuse to do business with Canada. Spend your travel dollars elsewhere and tell the authorities about your unwillingness to support a system of government bent on oppressing traditional religious believers. Third see what has become of Canada and realize that some of the same hate crimes and hate speech laws now being used to suppress religious freedom and dissent are in place or coming soon to this country. Speak now so your rights won't be taken later. Hold your legislators electorally liable for their votes on these matters. Get educated because seemingly benign laws can be used with terrible effect in the wrong hands and when they come knocking on your door you'll discover how.

A statement on same sex marriage...

While I have theological disagreements with Roman Catholicism I have often admired the ability of their Bishops to make precise, cogent, and reasoned arguments on issues of debate in the public square.

The world is flat...

An article exploring the historic myths and realities in the conflict between Islamic and Christian civilizations. Read, return, and comment.

Zero...

I was working out this morning and the time came for the ski machine to register my heart beat. For a moment the number was "zero", not a good thing for a guy from a family with heart problems. Of course it was a glitch in the machine, I'm writing this aren't I, but it's always worth a pause.

I think about it from time to time, the idea of having a ticking machine in my chest with a propensity to one day just give up on the spot. I try to exercise, eat right, do good things, but the odds are the odds and with a brother who passed at 44 and a father who died at just barely 60 I'm aware of any bump in my chest in a way that others are not.

Now the tests show everything is okay. I've had pictures taken, wires attached, treadmills under me, and scanners over me. Every once in a while my heart throws in an extra beat or pauses between them but that's normal and so, for my age, is my heart. But its still there, the sense that time could be short, a kind of presence lurking in the background.

The interesting thing is that I'm not particularly afraid. I'm not crazy about the idea of dying mostly because I think of all the stuff I'll miss. I'm that way about sleeping, too, for the same reason. But the whole thing has been clarifying and rejuvenating for me. Knowing I might have a deadline, and not just an imaginary one but one that could be close, has made me better. I try not to idle away the time. I make sure that I give myself to good things. I plan on laughing more, sweating the small stuff less, and enjoying each day. Am I perfect about this? No, sometimes I still just flop in front of the TV and mindlessly scan the channels, but I also went outside yesterday and read excerpts from St. Basil's "On the Holy Spirit" and then just let the evening sun wash over me whenever I felt like it.

I've got as long way to go on all of this, or maybe not, but it's at least a start.

Sex in the City indeed...

1 in 4 New Yorkers have genital herpes...

Another interesting car...

Since I travel a lot I pay attention to cars. This one is interesting...

For cat lovers...

A backbone...

Some folks in the Church of England are developing a backbone...

I couldn't resist...

Scientists in New Zealand are in the process of developing a shot they say will reduce the emissions of methane gas from cattle and sheep. Apparently the emanations, both front and back, are a significant source of greenhouse gas but when I read the article I had a picture in my mind of these poor bloated animals dotting the fields with distressed looks on their faces and no relief in sight.

I want one...

The Aptera 230 mpg, $30,000, available only, for now, in California but production starts in fall of 2008. The folks who designed this are going to be very wealthy. Buy your stock now.

Political things...

I've had a number of postings about Sen. Barack Obama over the months and the presumption probably is that I'm a Republican of some sort.

Actually I'm not. I've voted for Republican candidates in the past but largely as a "This one will hurt me less..." vote then "Wow, I'm inspired" vote. Whatever else President Bush is he has appointed judges who are less likely to meddle with my life then others and that, for example, is a plus. Of the two major party candidates running neither sends chills up my spine.

Among the books I've been reading lately is "The Revolution: A Manifesto" by Rep. Ron Paul. The mainstream media have widely dismissed him as a crank but I appreciate his, unfortunately radical in these times, idea that we should govern the country by sticking as closely to the actual constitution as possible. That for those ideas he has been publicly marginalized, although he's a huge "underground" success, says something about the state of things these days. Not many Americans have read the Constitution and I suspect if they did they'd look at it and the current state of things and say "Something's wrong here." I suppose that makes me, in general, a "constitutionalist" because I think as a matter of politics the American experiment has abandoned its origins to its own detriment.

My interest in Sen. Obama, though, is largely as a cultural phenomena. His politics of change is hardly that and by the way neither is Sen. McCain's. Sen. Obama's programs represent nothing new, just a different packaging of decades old leftist ideas but the kind of 'rock star" quality around him intrigues me. Some of this is the media, many of whom see him as the "next big thing" and instead of doing their jobs want to get in on the action. Some of it is his personal style. Sen. Obama has mastered the art of African American preaching and even if don't agree with or understand what he is saying his oratorical skills are lightyears above Sen. McCain's, a man who always appears in speeches with the look of someone at the dentist. Some of it is our American desire for something new in politics and even if his ideas are leftovers his face is not and I suspect some of his support is a way for some Americans to "pay back" for the horror of slavery and segregation.

Yet its a long way to November and we'll see what happens. The greatest political act of all is your own conversion because as it progresses it touches the whole world with truth and light. In four years there will be another set of folks on the television pitching ideas but that truth will remain.

Campaign promises...

Elect Sen. Obama and the planet will heal? What job is he exactly running for?

I think it's already been taken.

A survey of Orthodox Priests...

A survey of Greek Orthodox and Orthodox Church in America Priests.

Obama on his personal faith...

An interview with the Senator on faith.

Highway 60...

The bridge over the Mississippi River at Hastings, Minnesota, has been under repair for some weeks now, the result of inspections begun when another bridge up river in Minneapolis collapsed last year. Being the only bridge for miles the delay can sometimes be up to half an hour as people crowd the one lane to alternatively go north and south. Having another route is a necessity.

Savvy travelers know you can go north of Hastings to Prescott, Wisconsin, cross the river there and then return to Minnesota at the quaint river town of Red Wing and head south along the river road. Or you can take Highway 52, crossing the river at St. Paul and any number of eastward roads back to the river through the farms and bluffs. And this was our plan, Highway 52 south almost to Rochester and east on 60 through Zumbrota Falls to Wabasha on the river.

As a child I always felt a kind of pity for the kids in Zumbrota and Zumbrota Falls. I have no idea why they gave such an odd name to the towns. Perhaps it was a Native name or about whoever settled the place but it started with a "Z" and that meant whenever the radio stations announced the school closings due to snow and weather the kids in places like Andover learned their fate early while those in Zumbrota had to wait. If you're 8 years old and you really want a "snow day" off from school its a special kind of torture. That being said I've never been to either place and so we turned left on Highway 60 and headed towards the river to find see what we were missing.

The normal course of roads heading towards the river through southeastern Minnesota is a path over rolling farm land with a steep descent to the river through a cut in the bluffs, what people on the Wisconsin side call a "coulee". Like the Ozarks the bluffs along the Mississippi River in this part of the world are not mountains, or even hills, rather they are, as they say down south, "hollows" places where the river has worn down the land on the edge of the prairie. In the bottom of the valley they stand up like mountains but from the sky they look like a giant cut in the land.

This was what I was expecting as I traveled east, miles of nice farms with the first green hints of corn in the fields and then a sharp scenic descent. But for some reason the coulees extended miles back from the river along Highway 60, amazing valleys cut deep into the heart of Minnesota following the path of the Zumbrota river to the Mississippi. Several times I thought, "We're getting close to Wabasha..." as the road traveled down and then we would go for miles via twisted scenic roads with valley walls on either side.

Nestled in between it all was the little town of Zumbrota Falls. One gas station, a few bars, and a church on the main drag with houses on any place of land level enough to hold them steady. The whole thing was hidden like a secret in the river valley, a secret most probably didn't notice as they drove by but one which probably revealed itself to anyone who wanted to stay a while. In my imagination it was a town that felt like those forts we would make out of pillows when we were kids, a tiny safe space protecting us from the world, even if for a moment.

I'd like to think there still are places like that in the world. I'm probably wrong. I'm sure they have dish and computers and all the gadgets required to bring the world into their quiet valley. But hey, it's my dream and I can think what I want! Right? Regardless I plan on coming back, certainly in the fall when the leaves have turned and the air will be cool while the trees are aflame with their colors. I may even may the place my imaginary home town and drop in now and then to watch the river flow. Who knows?

And for some reason I think this all is just the start of the story of Highway 60.

Truth is stranger than...

Hat tip to Get Religion for this link to the story about the number 666 and a recent piece of legislation in Britain attempting disestablish the Church of England.

Oh, by the way. If you remember all that stuff about scholars and the discovery of the "Gospel of Judas" which apparently challenged the established Scripture's version of the events of the betrayal and crucifixion of Christ? The media usually trots out these stories every Easter to poke the Church's eye at their holiest time (Amazing though, they don't do it at Ramadan) and this story, like the others, turns out to be, again, a hoax. This time it was poor translation and reporters who apparently were more interested in the splashy headline then examining the context. Sounds familiar.

This Sunday's semon in advance..

June 1, 2008


In days gone by it was often the custom for Orthodox to plant a new church simply by gathering a group of the appropriate immigrant ethnicity, sending them a Priest, and then let time and birth rate do its work. If there were enough of the appropriate group and they were reasonably pious and fertile the Parish would take root, and if not it would struggle, wither and die. Looking back it probably seems like a haphazard way of doing things, little planning, little support, limited strategic thinking, a recipe for failure. But if often worked and many of the larger and “successful” parishes in any number of Orthodox jurisdictions were built in just this way.

And how could they have known better? For the most part the Orthodox who came to this country came from two contexts. Either their church was the state church or it was a minority church living in varying levels of persecution or struggle. Either way these contexts often meant Orthodoxy was the faith of the tribe, the clan, the nation and planning, intentionality, and evangelism were either culturally unknown or considered unnecessary or impossible. The American context free of both a state church and persecution, a context where churches had to stand on their own effort and grow by conversion was unlike anything most Orthodox had ever experienced and the adjustment was, and still is, difficult. The great exception to this was Alaska where Orthodox missionaries worked hard to develop parishes drawn from the native population with indigenous leadership and liturgies in the native languages. But the lessons from that experience were largely lost on the rest of Orthodoxy in this country where, even to this day, many parishes are considered to be cultural outposts with leadership still drawn from the old country and liturgies in languages only a few can understand.

And it appears that in a general way this was the context in which St. Elias was brought into being, a gathering of an immigrant population sent a Priest in the hope that a shared culture, piety, and fertility would do their work. It was an old country model in a new world and in St. Elias’ case it didn’t succeed. There simply were'nt enough of all the things those who founded the church counted on and the parish lapsed into a netherworld of needing leadership and direction to grow but being too small to support the leadership it needed. Precious time and its potential were lost and a generation drifted away. Only the services of traveling Priests and the faith of a remnant kept St. Elias from disappearing from history until the parish was reborn. And now here I am, and you too, in this moment just a short while away from a Parish meeting to discern God’s will for the future.

The stated topic is about whether there’s enough to provide for Jane and I in full time service. Can the Parish not wishfully, not crossing their fingers and hoping the Festival turns out okay, support a Priest, any Priest, in a legitimate full time ministry? But I believe larger things are being called to mind.

Among these is one of the simplest lessons from our history, one that because it has become part of the background of our Parish is often neglected. There must be a reason why we’re here. For whatever else St. Elias is it’s a church that’s tough to kill, a church which should have been a footnote in some dusty book but has somehow managed to endure through the years. There is no rational reason why we should be here today because this Parish violates all the basic rules of how to plant, grow, and sustain a church, yet here we are. Some parishes are graced with a miraculous weeping icon as a sign of God’s favor but our every day miracle is that this Sunday the doors were open. And this quiet miracle calls us to consider that we are still, despite our circumstances, under divine favor. God still has a plan for us, some reason why we should be here, some call on our lives as a Parish. The book is on St. Elias is not yet closed, in fact we may not have truly even opened it yet.

The Scriptures tell us that without a vision the people perish. And far more then the nuts and bolts of how we can afford a Priest there is the question of our vision. It makes no sense to just send Priest after Priest into a parish without a plan, without a direction, without a sense of the call of God on their lives. The Church is a living movement, the vital transforming Kingdom of God placed in the world for the sake of the world’s salvation. The Church does have an institutional dimension, we need to pay the bills and keep the lights on, but that institution is a servant of the larger vision and not its substance. If we come to understand that God wants us here the first question we have to ask is not “How can we afford a Priest?” but “Why has God placed us here and allowed us to remain?” We are part of something infinitely larger then ourselves that wishes to show itself here.
Discover that and the rest will follow.

And from that vision comes intention and intention is key.

We as Orthodox in this country too often live without intention. We came from countries where our Faith and its life were either universal or persecuted and we became used to floating in either of those tides. We are decades past the time when we can count on our nation, our clan, our language, or our culture to sustain us. We speak in this country of cradles and converts but in truth in this country and in every country where we find ourselves whether as an established church or in persecution and struggle we must all be converts, people of intention for whom our Faith and our Parish is a central fact of our lives shaping and molding how we live in a world often deeply alienated from God.

In our personal lives this means that we have to live as actual Orthodox Christians not as Americans with an Orthodox veneer. We struggle with our ethnicity at times but truly the most dangerous ethnicity to Orthodoxy is our general acceptance of the materialistic and secular values of this country. A few words here and there in Greek or Arabic or Bulgarian are not nearly as great a threat to us as our wholesale adaptation to the values of our times. One makes some of us puzzled at times, the other kills our souls. It’s important to ask “How can we support a Priest?” but its more important to say “How do I grow in my faith, how can I let it’s life shine through me, how can I be truly Orthodox?” Answer that question and the other will be easy.

In our Parish it means we have to rediscover who we are. The dullness of so many in Orthodoxy, truthfully, often lies with those who wear these vestments. We have not taught you what the Church is and what it means and so too many have been going through the motions, feeling a sense of obligation but none of the lively substance of who we are. It becomes easy, then, when the choice is between the temporary thrill of a football game or a pleasant morning’s sleep to let the Church slide. Often when we do take part in the life of the Parish it’s out of guilt or even the sense that we have to do something so we can stand before God with our pile of good things and use it to pry open heaven’s door, but our heart is far away.

Yet the Church was never meant to be this way. The Church is a movement established by God to radically transform the world into blessedness. People have a religious fervor for politics because they’ve come to believe that politics matters because it has the power to change things. And when faced with a sleeping, passive, Church who could blame them? Too often when we see the Church we see buildings and programs, none of which are bad in themselves, but when our Lord speaks of the Church he uses words like “salt”, “light”, “yeast”, “kingdom”, words that call to mind images of life and vigor and transforming change. People who see this see the Church as powerful, dynamic, and life giving and when they do they see themselves not as passive spectators watching a show but active and intentional members of the most revolutionary group of people ever. It’s good to ask “How can we pay the bills?” but if you ask first “How can I rediscover the reality of the Church and my place in it?” the other question will be answered.

And all of this leads us to our desperate need of the Holy Spirit. We are literally lifeless without Him in our lives. Our life as Orthodox Christians, the saints tell us, is about the acquisition of the Holy Spirit and more than anything else in these days we need to open up the windows of our lives and our parishes and let a fresh wind of the Spirit blow in and through us, cleaning out the dust, scrubbing away our defilements, and calling us to heavenly things. Our friends in the Pentecostal churches can sometimes take this to emotional excess but at its core they are right when they see that in our own strength this Christian life, as individuals and parishes, is impossible but by the power of the Holy Spirit everything is possible.

In our baptism and chrismation the Holy Spirit came to us and lives in us even still but I must confess there is much in my life that has choked His life out. I am consumed by cares and sins and the sheer weight of my own mortality and I presume that my state is not unique. The truth is that before we gather and work out a way for any Priest to come to this parish and serve we first need to ask the Holy Spirit to come to us, warm us, cleanse us, and give breath again to our dry bones. As we are filled again all our other questions and needs will find their answer in God’s good time.

So, in truth I, in some ways, don’t care at all if a plan is developed today to allow Jane and I to come and live in LaCrosse. I can travel if I need to and God, in time, will provide. I would much rather have you use this time to make a more important decision. I would much rather have you unchain yourselves from the struggles of the past, open your hearts and lives to the quickening power of the Holy Spirit, and resolve today that you and this parish will never be the same again. And from this day forward if you would decide to change your lives and our lives, as God gives us strength, and become fervent in prayer, lively in faith, and full of good works the one who said “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and its righteousness and all these things will be added unto you…” will answer all our questions and care for us all the way home.

Harvey Korman...

Rest in peace.

Car anxiousness...

I watch the price of gasoline go up, sometimes every day, and I wonder what to do.

When I first bought my current car, a 2004 Saturn Vue, I had some concern about the efficiency. It's quite thrifty for a small SUV, usually around 28 mpg in combined driving with occasional post 30 mpg performances. But I was used to very efficient cars. My first new car was a Ford Festiva, tiny as a shoebox but routinely getting over 40 miles per gallon, so I had my doubts. In the end I chose to go with the size, safety, and storage capacity of the VUE, and for the most part it has been a great car, a wonderful multi-tasker and steady in rough weather.

Yet as the price of gas has gone up so have the second thoughts. Did I do the right thing? Should I try to trade it off for something else? I hear about dealers refusing to even take SUV's in trade because they have such a hard time selling them. My head says that for the most part everything is okay but I have to admit there's a part of me that panics a bit as well.

Economically its probably better to keep the car. We're down to one year's worth of payments and the cost of fuel is not yet so high that better fuel efficiency will make a difference over and against the car payments. Trading it in now just makes the payments go up because they'll roll the current loan into the next one. With less then 70 thousand miles on the odometer there's still a fair piece of life in the vehicle and unless fuel jumps to even more unbelievable levels we're still money ahead.
Someday, I suppose, there'll be no more travel and then the mileage (over 1000 miles per month just going back and forth) will level off as well. And I must say I do like the ability of this vehicle. Traction control and ABS for safety, a high riding position, absolute stability in the rain, and the capacity to haul groceries and boxes with ease. I once sat in a Honda Insight, 70 mpg but no back seat and no trunk; not exactly the car for a long highway trip.

Now if gas would only go down to $2 a gallon...

Another reason to avoid buying from China...

Death camps for cats. No. Really.

I've been posted...

I've had a comment posted on Orthodoxy Today's blog. Check it out (I'm comment 15) and check out the site, a politically and morally conservative spot on the www for Orthodox Christians.

An interesting site...

Check out xxxchurch an evangelical site with resources regarding porn addiction and sexual healing. With the internet full of the stuff having resources like this can make all the difference.

The numbers game...

An interesting link from "Get Religion" detailing the LA Times efforts to play fast and loose with poll numbers regarding Californians opposition to same sex marriage. I've already seen this article, with the misleading headline, in my own hometown paper. When it comes to yours make sure you do the numbers.

Christianophobia?

Did you know that German Christian Youth at a recent rally were harassed and physically assaulted as they peacefully gathered for meetings? Find out more about this and other acts of persecution of believers at http://www.christianophobia.eu/.

Another Obama email...

Got another Obama email today. I've had a few over the past months.

Some have been conspiratorial, some have had facts, some have been a little of each. In this case the email was an article written, apparently, by a New York journalist which attempted to bring the "real" Sen. Obama to light. Large portions of it were accurate. Sen. Obama is very left leaning for an American politician and despite his rhetoric about change and unity his voting record indicates a person occupying a fringe of the political spectrum. People who appreciate his speaking skills, and like many politicians he is adept at saying much about little, probably have never taken the time to actually examine his record and if they did some of them may be shocked.

One of the great problems in the politics of our country is that too much of what we see and hear is filtered through media and people in this country are still naive enough to believe what the television tells them without learning for themselves. At present the television loves Sen. Obama and to date very few hard questions have been asked. The article, written by an African American journalist (therefore avoiding the Obama campaign's not so subtle argument that any criticism of the candidate is, in fact, closet racism) opens up the record and exposes what, for traditional Christians, may be some significant issues in the realm of life, family, and marriage among other things.

The hard part came at the end when the person who sent the chain email, not the author of the article, added "The book of Revelation teaches that the antichrist will be a man of Muslim heritage in his 40's...". and then went one to describe this antichrist as a person with flowery language who persuades the world to follow him by offering peace and harmony and then suggests that perhaps "you know who" might be that figure. Talk about a stupid addition to a thoughtful article.

Conspiracy thinking is lazy. There is a simple reason that our culture may be on the verge of electing someone to its highest political office whose values on issues of life, family, and marriage are only tangentially connnected to historic Christian faith. We're lazy. Given the freedom to proclaim our message and live our faith we've chosen largely to do neither and because of this our impact on the larger society has drastically decreased. In large swaths of America the church is no longer taken seriously because, quite frankly, the people inside the church don't take it seriously either.

And that's what I wrote back to the those who received the email. Conspiracy thinking is just a way for Christians to avoid responsibility and blame others for the world they let happen. When Christians bend their knees and roll up their sleeves we'll really have the "change we can believe in". It's as simple as that.

Pepsodent...

When the prices rise you look for bargains and so an old friend has made a return. Pepsodent was the toothpaste I remember from my childhood, one of those products like Tide and Ivory soap that were just part of my life. Somewhere along the line we just started using other things and then when saving a dollar or two makes a difference we rediscover them. In this case Pepsodent is basically identical, in its core ingredients, to most toothpastes at about half the price. Oh, and it actually tastes pretty good too

Wierd hours...

I've been looking at some of the time stamps on my posts and it occurs to me that I keep some really wierd hours. It reminds me of the 36 hour, as I recall, day adopted by the Men in Black in the movie of the same name. I think the line went something like "Well either you get used to it or you go totally insane..."

The truth is I do sleep, but my mind keeps working and sometimes I get a dose of "holy insomnia" where I've had enough sleep and something seems to want my attention. I use the quiet of the wee small hours to pray and think and write and sometimes play music at a very LOW volume. One of the cats usually comes along to join me, they keep odd hours as well, and we watch the sun rise or listen to whatever sounds travel through the night.

The truth is I dislike sleep, it seems like wasted time. I know I need rest and and I do rest but it seems unfair that a third of my life is spent in semi-conciousness an the rest is spent in 21st century America which, sometimes, is another form of semi-conciousness.

Oh well...

An interesting conversation...

This past Sunday I had the opportunity to speak with a woman who was attending an Orthodox church's annual dinner. From what I could get from our talk she was a nurse who had once been Presbyterian but had converted to Catholicism. I appreciated her insights but I think at one point I offended her.

She spoke of her experience of coming to the eucharist before she converted to Catholicism, and that while it was a 'technicality" (as explained to her apparently by a Priest) that non Catholics should not receive she did so anyways and found that the experience was part of her coming to Catholic faith. It was clear from the conversation, at least to my ears, that she didn't see the inconsistency of violating the canons of a faith as part of her journey to embrace it. What mattered was her experience. And that's where the offense probably started.

I gently reminded her that non Catholic receiving the eucharist in a Catholic church is not a "technicality" but canon and then I pushed a bit. Seeing that she was of the same general era as myself (I'm a late baby boomer - 1960) I began to speak of how our generation was among the most arrogant ever in the world, we Americans who came of age in the 60's and 70's really do think we invented sex, and religion, and music, and the what matters is what matters to us, we are ruled by our experience, and anything else is, well, anything else.

One thing baby boomers do not want to hear is that they're arrogant and selfish, even though we are to an astonishing degree. And we don't want to hear we're wrong on anything, even though we often are. We don't believe in much outside of ourselves but we do believe in the mythology of our own enlightenment with a dogmatic power that makes historic religious belief look shallow in comparison. We change laws and cultures based on our whims and the sheer force of our demographic. We've laid waste to institutions and then recreated them in our own image, and our image is "we want what we want when we want it". We live in the vacuum of this moment with nothing past and nothing future and we call this wisdom.

So, although I believe all that and hope and pray enough of us recover some sense of sanity and preserve a shred or two of civilization for a future time, I didn't give her the full dose but enough to get her face scrunched up. And then I talked about Orthodoxy and how there was faith that transcended time and even the individual but by then the wall was probably up. When I spoke with her later she kind of mumbled about how this was one point on my "journey" (dang it all if we are always journeying and never arriving at anything except ourselves) and so on. At first I was concerned but then I realized I was running up against the real American religion and sometimes it takes a while to wake a sleeping person.

Some time later it occurred to me how much I still buy into all the "stuff" of my generation. I would hope that I am aware of at least some of my delusion but the truth is that I've got a long way to go. Our culture is in a messy place right now, top to bottom, and this is largely because the generation in charge of most things, mine, has bought into a whole set of lies about life and faith and reality which are bearing bitter fruit even as we seem unwilling to change. It seems that to admit we were wrong and that parts of our wisdom are foolish and even dangerous is too much to ask. We're the monkey with the hand in the gourd grasping on to the fruit and unwilling to let go even when we see the hunter approaching.

Regardless it was a time for me to see how much I live in the matrix of this world, still, collar and all.

Sigh...

Old friends...

From time to time I'll browse the web looking for old friends. As time goes by the memory of them grows more special and it's interesting to see how life is treating them.

Tonight I browsed through the reunion site for Wausau West High School, class of 1979. Had we not moved to Minnesota in 1975 this would have been my class and as I looked through the names many of them were still familiar. One of my classmates is a minister in the suburbs of Minneapolis, another works in public affairs at an electric company in Wausau, many are still around town and some who I would like to have found were simply lost. It's all part of life I guess.

I find myself praying sometimes for people who've probably forgotten I even exist. Some are friends who drifted away over the years, some are people who I've hurt by my own selfishness, some are just passing acquaintances. Either way I truly do desire that God's blessing would follow them wherever they are.

This is especially true about Mahtomedi High School. The truth is that those years were hard years and I felt liked I never belonged there but its something that can't be undone. Over the years, though, I've tried to pray for everyone in the class of 79 in the hope that somehow it would, behind the scenes, make a difference for them and for me as well. For them I hope its an unseen blessing helping them along the way. For me its an ongoing opportunity to give and receive forgiveness in the act of prayer.

On these nights when I see the names and remember the faces and the times past as I google folks in the hope that someone familiar may appear my heart feels tender and a little bit melancholy. A part of me wants to get on the phone and say "Hi, do you remember me?" in the hope that somehow the old connections can be reanimated. It's probably not to be but the thought of it is comforting.

However time has taken us apart I do hope to see them in heaven.

Californication...

Today as I heard the news that the California Supreme Court had decided in its wisdom to declare same sex marriage a civil right I felt a wave of sadness.

On a constitutional level this decision was horrendous. The people of California had already voted in a referendum to affirm the traditional definition of marriage and the Court, like in Massachusetts, simply decided it knew best and did whatever it pleased. Why have people vote and a Legislative branch if Courts feel they can simply decide any issue? We have created a government here in the United States where basically five people, any majority of the federal Supreme Court, rule. Each time a court acts with the cavalier disregard for history and the rights of people to enact law through referendum and legislation democracy and representative government dies. And every time the people and legislatures meekly submit to these kinds of abuses the stage is set for either revolution or tyranny.

On a personal level I feel sorry for the people in California. At some point in the future the folly of these actions will bear bitter fruit. No the sky hasn't fallen in now and may not for some time, after all the mill of God grinds slow but exceedingly fine, but there will be a time when the pain, disease, and suffering caused by people who believe their right to sexual expression transcends common sense and even science will come to a head and it won't be pretty. Already we have spiraling rates of STDs, broken homes, psychological wounding, and the extraordinary social costs that come with them all. Yet instead of seeing these as calls to reexamine our vision of sexual and moral life we plunge in further, "waist deep in the big muddy and the big fool says march on..." Some future generation will have to clean up this mess and until sense returns a lot of people are going to be hurt and some will die. What a shame!

I have to admit there is a part of me that would like to grab, as it were, a musket and take back my country from the selfish and short sighted fools who often are in charge of things. That's not, however, our way, but one thing is certain. We Christians have got to look at events like this and realize its time to end our passivity and live our lives as Christians knowing that the only way this will change is to change our culture from the ground up, one person coming to Christ (and sanity) at a time. The people who have made these horrible decisions will have to stand before Christ for what they have done, but so will we if don't hear the call in all of this and realize that we need to combat this darkness the only way with can, with the Light of Christ.

A site worth considering...

From time to time I post the www addresses of sites worth considering. One such site is Lifesite News. Here you can get information on life issues, moral issues, and coverage of government actions in a way that you'd probably never find in the mainstream press either in Canada or the US.

Like any other site I recommend you need to visit and make up your own mind as to what you'll keep and what you'll toss but this site is certainly worth a look.

Re: Circumstances follow up...

Now we know why our vacation plans fell through. Had a visit from a plumber and electrician. The plumber was cheap but the electrician was around $2000. Oh well, to everything there is a season...

Your Brain on Video...

An interesting article on how technology actually changes brain chemistry and the way you think.

A website worth visiting...

The www site of Fr. Zakaria Botros a Coptic Priest with a profoundly influential ministry reaching out to Muslims with the truth and love of Christ. It speaks to a profound truth; we cannot change the Islamic world by offering them capitalism, secularism, and consumerism, indeed these in the extremes often practiced in the West are destructive of authentic life, but rather by offering something spiritual, true, and transcendent which can only be found in Christ.

This amazing man has been led to gently and truthfully confront the Islamic world with the reality of its own faith (he was the one, for example, who challenged Islamic scholars in Egypt to justify a hadith that suggested grown men should breastfeed with women so they would be considered "sons" and therefore unavailable as sexual partners ostensibly to get around that religion's strict rules regarding the mixing of genders) yet lovingly and without rancor provides an invitation to consider the claims of Christ. Thousands have responded.

In this we may have a model for reaching our own culture, stuck in the rigid orthodoxy of secular materialism and suffering from the results of that worldview's essential illogic. With love and truth we can confront that worldview (also embedded in ourseles) and call people not simply to a religious version of it, but to something better and higher, authentic life in Christ.

From 1936...

An interesting article on Islam written in 1936...

Circumstances...

My wife and I are scehduled for vacation time this weekend and we had grand plans. We were hoping to travel to Milwaukee and Chicago to catch a few baseball games. Actually we had hoped to go to Denver for the same reason but the costs was too high, flying, hotel, meals, game, etc..

So we got on the computer and began to attempt reservations. No go for Milwaukee, no go for Chicago. Tickets unavailable for games. We even tried Kansas City because we've never been to Kaufmann Stadium (we like to experience new baseball stadiums as we travel). Nothing doing there. So what to do?

From time to time we've had these experiences where plans seem to fail and all doors are closed. In this case rather then force the issue we came to the conclusion that for some reason we need to stay here this week. Now we don't know why, and we certainly hope it isn't something bad, but it looks like circumstances or fate or perhaps the hand of God have directed us to remain where we are this weekend. So we'll do a little traveling, catch a Minnesota Twins baseball game and watch events unfold.

Stay tuned...

A Day Off...

It's the first Monday off and we'll have to see what happens.

For the past several years I would come home on Sunday and simply go to work on Monday through Friday and return to church on Saturday to start the whole thing over again. But a few weeks ago I applied for a reduction in hours and got it sooner then I expected. Be careful what you wish for!

So now I have a whole day with, well, nothing. I don't doubt that I can fill the time its just that, like a lot of Priests, I'm a workaholic, addicted to the motion if not the substance, of work. Feeling busy makes me feel alive and after a few days of vacation I start itching to get back at it.

One thing that for sure will happen is a lot of home chores will get done. With both my wife and I working and traveling, the home front gets short shrift as we both come home tired. So I've got some raking to do and some picking up around the place and maybe a supper to make and given my nature I'll probably fill the day with different tasks.

I could try resting but that's just no fun!