It's a ... one of each!

UPDATE!! UPDATE!! (DATED FEBRUARY 6, 2006, 9:50pm)

Deanna came home today, so don't bother to phone the hospital number -- you'll only be interrupting the poor woman who took Deanna's place! The twins are still at BC Women's, though, so we'll be going back for visits often -- and if any of you happen to tag along with us, you can see them too!

In the meantime, my parents have posted a few of their pictures here, and I've started a Flickr account with a few more photos here.

- - -



And to think I was going to see Curious George this morning.

For those who just want the baseball-card stats, Deanna went into labour Saturday morning and gave birth to Elizabeth Joy Chattaway (4 lbs, 12 oz) at 3:17pm and to Thomas Lawrence Chattaway (5 lbs, 2 oz) at 3:46pm.

Deanna will probably stay at BC Women's for only two or three nights, including tonight, but the twins could be there for up to three weeks -- it depends on how quickly they learn to "eat". Apparently it is the hospital's policy to keep premature babies in the "intermediate care ward" there until the 36-week mark, and Thomas and Elizabeth (how patriarchal of me to keep listing their names in that order, when it was she who was born first!) were at 33 weeks and 2 days today. So, I'm not sure who can see the babies in person just yet -- just relatives and "support" personnel, I think, and while I would normally interpret "support" to mean medical types, they did allow Fr. Lawrence to come in and say a prayer.

For those who want a little more story ... and a few more gory details ... I'll post it in a comment to this post. No point in clogging the home page with my anecdotes.

But there's always room for one more picture! Here's one of Deanna's hand touching Elizabeth:

Thomas and Elizabeth

Welcome to the World!
Thomas and Elizabeth Chattaway were born today.
I don't know the details, but they will come no doubt.

Mark your calendar

The MaRimba SoiRee!
Fundraiser to benefit Saint Innocent Orphanage/
Project Mexico 2006 Team

7-10pm, Friday, March 3rd, 2006
HOLY RESURRECTION UPPER AUDITORIUM
75 - 43rd Ave, (one block west of Quebec and Main), Van
Contact: Kimberley Francis cell: 604.626.3296

Those interested in helping out are invited to one
of two planning meetings: Monday, February 6th at 7:30pm
Sunday, February 19th at 5pm
at: 6229 Chester Street, Van (49th and Fraser area)

Awwww... God bless you Owen!

Say hello to your new little brother....
Owen Pierre Edward Lanteigne!
God grant you many years!

Gabe just sent these on and asked us to share them around while Amy and him get some well deserved rest with the little guy.

Deanna and the twins -- week 32

UPDATE!! UPDATE!! (DATED FEBRUARY 1, 2006, 4:15pm)


I don't wanna steal Owen's thunder, so instead of posting another message, I'll just revise this one by adding some new information at the top.

Deanna called this morning to say that there's a home-care space for her now, so she'd be coming home today! So I rented a car, and then helped her pack, and then we bought groceries and a few pharmaceutical items, and then we came home an hour or two ago.

So ... if anyone was planning on visiting Deanna, you'll have to visit her at our apartment, and not at the hospital!

She still has to go back for a test of some sort next week, and the doctor we spoke to today said they are thinking of inducing labour on the Monday or Tuesday of the week after that. I told him that that Monday would be our wedding anniversary. Hmmm.

In the meantime, I get a kick out of the "notes" from the twins that Deanna's mother taped to the wall of the bathroom, where she could read them when she was, um, in there. Who knows, you might get a kick out of them too. Click on the image at right for a larger version of that image.

- - -

Hallelujah, Deanna is now off bed rest! For now, she is staying at the hospital -- but at least, as of last Thursday, when she officially reached 32 weeks, she is no longer confined to her bed!

Last night, Deanna went for one of several recent ultra-short walks to the nearby hospital lounge, and then out onto the patio, and it was a joy to see her standing outdoors, leaning against a railing and taking in the view. (She really likes trees, of which there are a few around the hospital, and the moon liked quite nice, too.) It was also encouraging to find out that I no longer need to hold her hand in order to help her walk -- though I do miss doing that. (She tells me it's easier to walk if she's holding her belly.) Alas, I did not have my camera with me last night, and when I brought it tonight, the rain was coming down fairly hard; so I snapped a picture in the lounge, instead.

The plan right now, as I understand it, is for Deanna to stay at BC Women's until and unless a spot opens up on the home-care waiting list. If and when it does, she will then come home.

But the doctors are also talking about possibly inducing labour in a couple weeks (coincidentally, around the time of our first wedding anniversary), because they are now concerned that the twins -- who now measure 4.75 pounds and 5.75 pounds according to the most recent ultrasound -- might become too big for a natural childbirth at full term. Seems like only yesterday the dilemma we faced was that the twins were too small and not developed enough.

So, while it is possible to say, on any given day, that Deanna will still be at BC Women's tomorrow morning, it is impossible to predict where she will be beyond that. She might come home; she might stay at the hospital; and who knows, the twins might decide to pre-empt the induction. Anything's possible.

As always, Deanna loves visits, but if you're thinking of dropping by, phone her hospital line first (604-875-2424 ext 6271) just to make sure she's still there! And thanks, as ever, for all the prayers and stuff.

Welcome Baby Owen Lanteigne!!! 8 lbs. 9 oz. this night! Glory to God!

Amy went from 0 to 10 cm in an hour!
They are ecstatic! And so grateful for all your prayers!

Prayers for the excited/anxious

Just a quick note… the job application is due tomorrow and I am sitting on edge—still waiting for future course information for the summer (course history required and needed for the application), waiting for a fax with the job description, hoping the cover letter and resume I am working on is the well done…. Any prayers for me as I finish this off, are fully welcome!

On another note… how is everyone? I realized I have not heard in the blog land, much from Neo, Graves, and others who are on our 'blog-member' list. And how are the people we have been praying for? Can we have some updates on some of these things. Also, please forgive my St. Herman’s ignorance, but Amy who is having a baby – do I know her? (from the time I was there)? How are the people you asked us to pray for Kimberly? And others….

Am still rejoicing that Jonah is doing better, and that the Twins are thus far doing well…

The Onion Dome is back!

...and among the new articles in the latest issue is an account of a strangely familiar wedding celebration.....

recommendation

We heard today that the arrival of Deanna and Peter's children could be anytime now... I thought it best to remind everyone that I am collecting the funds for the stroller. Deanna and Peter have said this would be a very useful gift.

The stroller pictured here is not necessarily the one we hope to purchase but I recommend something very similar. This is much more useful than having side by side - some grocery aisles are very narrow. The big wheels are important - and you need a good suspension system. My stroller was my lifeline to the outside world. It allowed me to get outside and walk everyday ...

calling all women of God!

Women's Orthodox Ministries and Education Network

I just found this great site. It looks to be Antiochian Orthodox in origin, but of course, pan-Orthodox in relevance. Anyway, this is not the purpose of this post. I would like to ask for your help. We (Juliana and I) are organizing an Orthodox Women's Retreat for February 2007. Don't laugh! We had to book the speaker early!! (can you guess who this is? have you already heard? are you beside yourself with excitement? I am). The nature of the aid I need from all of you strong, intelligent, thoughtful women is this: what would you like to hear our speaker speak about? What is on your mind? What issues are pressing and relevent to modern Orthodox women? And please nothing on motherhood or marriage. Not that we're all such amazing wives an mothers already, but there are already so many such resources available, and we would like something big and shattering and epiphanal (is that a word?). Whether or not this is possible remains to be seen. All my ideas just sounded so pedantic; I thought I'd throw the challenge out to y'all:) Anyway, if you could, please give it some prayerful thought; this is important. I will keep checking back here periodically to see what jewels you've posted. Thanks ladies!

...and just after I published my last post

.... I discovered Fr. Justin has now posted the new issue of the calendar and newsletter. Hard copies will be at church this weekend, but this is cool-- Fr. Justin has added a couple of links to the online version! So if you want to be in the know before the Luddite contingent, hop over to the parish website and say "ha-ha!" like Nelson from the Simpsons....

thanks Fr. Justin!

-- Mat. D., cultivating a bit of a silly mood to counteract the grim grey outdoors we are currently experiencing......

Holy Fathers

I was blessed to visit the skete up in Gibsons yesterday, I rode my bike there from the ferry, quite a hill for those of us who drive everywhere...
it was so good to see them, to pray vespers.
I got to bring a letter from Dn. Gregory about Papa John and his gratitude for Fr. Gregory's influence, we talked a great deal abouut Papa John and his Holy Foolish Generosity, His wife's strength and beauty, and their legacy.
I showed them some pictures of the funeral.
Mostly I was blessed to know how far reaching the love and generosity I experienced was, how it was so well and widely known. Fr. John trusted our Father for everything, and did it with a child like naivete that only comes from years of knowing. Beautiful.

So grateful for all of our Fathers here, the ones in the bush and the ones in the churches.

The KRF report

Well we're up to $37 now.
Getting closer to that 1600 every minute.
(I'll give you guys a full report on Sunday.)

By the way, Matt wrote a good story about
the fire alarm going off in Edmonton at the pinacle of Divine Liturgy!
Bishop Seraphim was there and handled it in classic style.
Check it out. Just Another Sunday

Also, please add my tired friend Andrea and her unborn child to your prayers. Her pregnancy is experiencing trauma, and yet this little one's heart just keeps beating. It's totally touch and go as she is just entering her second trimester. Her husband is Sam. They are so dear to me and have had an extremely difficult year, now trying to pack and move this weekend to Kelowna in the midst of it all. May God have Mercy on them, and may his will be done.

Thanks very much.
Look forward to
being back with you
this Sunday.

CBC News: Missing B.C. boy may have met man on internet

From my friend Jen’s blog:


CBC News: Missing B.C. boy may have met man on internet: "'I know he goes on the internet all the time with his friends, but I had no idea he was in contact with someone so far away.' "

I want to call this father an idiot, but he's not alone - there are way too many parents out there who STILL don't get the risks associated with the internet. It's taken talking to stranger to a whole different level.


My own comments:

One, we should pray for this boy and his parents.

Two, all of those on this blog who have children, be sure to be monitoring their use, esp. blogs and chats… logging the chat information is also a good idea…


Lord have mercy on us all in this time…

Deanna and the twins -- week 31

Hi, y'all. Time for another Tuesday update.

Last week, I said Deanna might be coming home by the end of this week. As of yesterday, however, that isn't looking so likely; in fact, today she told me that she has specifically been told that she won't be coming back home just yet, and there is even some debate over whether to keep her at BC Women's or to transfer her to St. Paul's. (Since St. Paul's is only three blocks from our home, I would very, very, very much like it if they could move her there, but we shall see what happens.)

I'll spare you all the clinical details, but suffice to say that a minor complication came up yesterday morning, which led to Deanna being given some antibiotics intravenously for the next couple days, and the doctors want to keep her where they can watch her. So, as usual, we keep on praying.

I don't think there's much else to report. Deanna's birthday was last Sunday -- her first since we were married -- and I'm sure she appreciated hearing the choir sing "Many years" to her over Dave's cell phone. A couple friends came over Sunday night and helped me do some cleaning up, though the real spring-cleaning still lies before us. I've been watching videos on childbirth and C-sections and other fun stuff. And meanwhile we wait ... and wait ... and wait ...

Joyful Sorrow - Incredibly Beautiful Music

As I mentioned over on 1 Timothy 4.12, I have just discovered this incredible musical duo from the States called Joyful Sorrow. I can honestly say that I do not gush like this about many bands. Our friend from St. Athanasius Mission, Micha, shared it with Krista and I, and I've had it on repeat pretty much continuously since Saturday. Joyful Sorrow are a husband wife duo that put out this amazing recording called Quietude, with nine songs - each inspired by the life of a particular saint.

I thought I might share here on Spruce Island the lyrics of the song about St. Herman, called Forest to Forest.

FROM FOREST TO FOREST

We were picking mushrooms in the forest
Who knew we'd find you
They spoke of revolution in the country
While you just stood in constant prayer
Living a life so otherworldly
Silently interceding for our souls

There are no church bells to be heard
There's no incense to be burned
Miles away in your humble abode
Only the animals know your name

Your elder spoke so much
Wisdom with his words
He said humility is power
And patience is defence
While love is protection
And where there is love, there is God
And where there is God there is goodness

You're going to America

And when you came here, you met the natives in Alaska
With violence they wanted to kill you,
In peace you strove to know them
Like home, you built a hut in the forest
Prayed for God's mercy
The natives came to love you (x3)

Lyrics by Steven Zydek

S. Zydek - vocals, guitars, bass
H. Zydek - vocals, keyboard
S. Lamos - drums

prayer within our beloved blog

Dear Everyone,

I have not written much lately on our beloved blog… I wanted to say that I still really appreciate it though… and love that I can pray for people because of it… to rejoice that Jonah is getting better, to pray for the twins-within-Deanna, and to pray for those who have experienced heartache, it is all such an honour….

and... (speaking of prayer requests)... I am starting my job search (found out today that I will be done my classes August 11 2006)... I hope to get a library job in Ottawa... and a lot of these jobs take a while to get... the first one I am applying to is due next week, on the first! Please pray for me... and I am always honoured to pray for you...

Thank You...

fake new years 2006... we ate, we laughed, we stayed up late (drawing angry eyebrows on those who fell asleep too early:)

sorry these are a little overdue, folks, I just received these by email last week (or was it 2 weeks ago?) anyway, thanks abby, for all these wonderful pictures. I think there are a few more I missed, I'll have to go back and check, but to see the album, clickety-click here!

Macarius

Today is my Names Day so I thought I would tell something of Macarius. I like him so much. Each time I read his story I am encouraged. I began to look for more of his story when I noticed that many of the daily prayers that we pray are his. Just before my baptism I noticed that he reposed on the eve of my birthday so that clinched it for me. I would ask him to be my patron saint to look out for me and to pray for me. Also 1. He struggled hard to not care what people thought of him, only being mindful of what his Heavenly Father thought, and 2. He was an artisan, a weaver of baskets. Anyway here's his story.

Saint Macarius the Great of Egypt was born around 331 in the village of Ptinapor in Egypt. At the wish of his parents he entered into marriage, but was soon widowed. The Lord sent him an experienced Elder, who lived in the desert not far from the village. The Elder accepted the youth with love, guided him in the spiritual science of watchfulness, fasting and prayer, and taught him the handicraft of weaving baskets. At one point he was falsely accused by a woman from a nearby village of seducing her and fathering her child. The villagers dragged him out of his cell and jeered at him. St. Macarius endured the temptation with great humility. Without a murmur, he sent the money that he got for his baskets for the support of the pregnant woman. The innocence of St. Macarius was manifested when the woman, who suffered torment for many days, was not able to give birth. She confessed that she had slandered the hermit, and revealed the name of the real father. When her parents found out the truth, they were astonished and intended to go to the saint to ask forgiveness. Though St. Macarius willingly accepted dishonor, he shunned the praise of men. He fled from that place by night and settled on Mt. Nitria in the Pharan desert. Thus human wickedness contributed to the prospering of the righteous. Having dwelt in the desert for three years, he went to St. Anthony the Great, the Father of Egyptian monasticism, for he had heard that he was still alive in the world, and he longed to see him. Abba Anthony received him with love, and Macarius became his devoted disciple and follower. St. Macarius lived with him for a long time and then, on the advice of the saintly abba, he went off to the Skete monastery (in the northwest part of Egypt). He so shone forth in asceticism that he came to be called "a young Elder," because he had distinguished himself as an experienced and mature monk, even though he was not quite thirty years old. "When the saint reached the age of forty, he was ordained to the priesthood and made the head of the monks living in the desert of Skete. During these years, St. Macarius often visited with St. Anthony the Great, receiving guidance from him in spiritual conversations. St. Macarius worked many healings. People thronged to him from various places for help and for advice, asking his holy prayers. All this unsettled the quietude of the saint. He therefore dug out a deep cave under his cell, and hid there for prayer and meditation. Despite attaining such heights of holiness, he continued to preserve his unusual humility.One time the holy abba caught a thief loading his things on a donkey standing near the cell. Without revealing that he was the owner of these things, the monk began to help tie up the load. Having removed himself from the world, the monk told himself, "We bring nothing at all into this world; clearly, it is not possible to take anything out from it. Blessed be the Lord for all things!"

When the monks asked him how to pray properly, he answered, "Prayer does not require many words. It is needful to say only, "Lord, as Thou wilt and as Thou knowest, have mercy on me." If an enemy should fall upon you, you need only say, "Lord, have mercy!" The Lord knows that which is useful for us, and grants us mercy." One time St. Macarius sent a youth to a cemetery to rebuke and then to praise the dead. Then he asked him what they said to him. The young man replied, "They were silent to both praise and reproach." Macarius told him, "If you wish to be saved, be as one dead. Do not become angry when insulted, nor puffed up when praised." The prayer of St. Macarius saved many in perilous circumstances of life, and preserved them from harm and temptation. His benevolence was so great that they said of him: "Just as God sees the whole world, but does not chastize sinners, so also does Abba Macarius cover his neighbor's weaknesses, which he seemed to see without seeing, and heard without hearing."The monk lived until the age of ninety. Shortly before his death, Sts. Anthony and Pachomius appeared to him, bringing the joyful message of his departure to eternal life in nine days. After instructing his disciples to preserve the monastic Rule and the traditions of the Fathers, he blessed them and began to prepare for death. St. Macarius departed to the Lord saying, "Into Thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit." Abba Macarius spent sixty years in the wilderness, being dead to the world. He spent most of his time in conversation with God, often in a state of spiritual rapture. But he never ceased to weep, to repent and to work. The saint's profound theological writings are based on his own personal experience. Fifty Spiritual Homilies and seven Ascetic Treatises survive as the precious legacy of his spiritual wisdom.Several prayers composed by St. Macarius the Great are still used by the Church in the Prayers Before Sleep and also in the Morning Prayers. His holy relics are in the city of Amalfi, Italy.

About ten years ago, my friend Josh sent me a picture of himself aboard a boat just off the Amalfi Coast. I didn't know anything about St. Macarius at the time and just came upon this photo a couple of days ago in packing. I just learned yesterday that St. Macarius's relics are in the city of Amalfi. I have decided to add that picture to my collection of things in my little box of things about Macarius and I hope to visit and venerate his relics sometime in my life.

Spruce Island

Yes, this post is a self-referent of sorts.
Perhaps it is obvious to most, but one of the things that shows the blessing that this blog can be is how those of us at a distance are able to be connected to each other, whether it is the far off metropolis of chilliwack (aka the 'wack) or the even farther flung ville of Oshawa Ontario, or perhaps the ever so distant yukon. not to mention those stuck in the nether regions south of the border, no disrespect intended, okay well just a little in jest. In any case, I just wanted to extend a small feel good thank you for my times away, and I know that whenever we travel, we are blessed to know that we are cared and prayed for, as is noted when reading Dan's post below.

In other news, I have been reading about how the transition between Jewish liturgical practices and Christian liturgical practices took place, and it is amazing how many similarites there are between their prayers and ours. It is so clear that they are derivatives.

Prayer

Hello everyone. I was wondering if you could keep me in prayer for the next week. I'm in Ontario visiting family, and our conversations about Orthodoxy have so far been more challenging than I had anticipated (although, I believe that they've ultimately been good). You prayers would be greatly appreciated!

blessings,
Dan

Deanna and the twins -- week 30

I hope no one minds if I flex my graphics muscles a little -- these images are both a few weeks old now, and instead of scanning them I took photos of them with my new digital camera, so they're both kinda fuzzy and outdated. But what the hey, they're the most recent images I've got. And aren't they kind of spooky?

FWIW, I almost called this post "week 31", but the pregnancy doesn't officially reach that number until Thursday, so I'll play it cautious.

Nothing much new to report this week, except that Deanna came home on another "day pass" last Saturday -- which, thankfully, was our first day of real sunshine in ages. Actually, we had an hour or two of good sunshine when Deanna came home the previous time, too, on New Year's Day; that was when I parked the car in the parking lot by the beach. I think the weather likes Deanna.

Because the twins are basically "in the clear" now, our thoughts have turned from urgent life-or-death matters to subjects of a more mundane nature.

Such as paperwork. Dealing with the folks at Employment Insurance has been fun. We applied for it over a month ago, and they're still calling us and writing us to let us know that our case is being reviewed, or to ask us to give them certain bits of information that we've already given them, etc., etc. My favorite bit so far is the message that someone left on our home-phone voice-mail yesterday, saying that she called the hospital number Deanna had left for her, and "it sounded like a work number, but you say you're not at work." Have they never called sick-leave applicants at the extensions in their hospital rooms before!?

I am awed and grateful beyond words to hear and read so many people making plans to help D and me once she comes home and/or once the twins are born. During my first-ever Pascha service -- I had only known Deanna for a few months, at that time -- I remember thinking, "This would be a good environment in which to raise children." I was thinking of the service and its beautiful expression of the truth of the Resurrection. But I realize more and more that the people who attend these services and make them happen are a good environment, too, and I am glad to think that my children will be growing up among folk such as yourselves. :)

That said, as I mentioned last week, Deanna might be coming home at the end of next week, and we're not entirely sure what we'll be doing churchwise. I hope to keep coming to St. Herman's at least every other week, but Deanna doesn't want to commute all the way out to Langley in her condition, so we might also go to Holy Rez every other week, or perhaps we'll check out the Saturday liturgies at Holy Cross. Then again, by the time she comes home she'll have only 8 weeks of pregnancy left at the most, and it might take her a while to get her "land legs" back, so this should be a very temporary dilemma.

Just a couple more things. As of today, the doctors figure the boy twin is 5 pounds and the girl twin is 4 pounds -- genderwise and sizewise, we're assuming we can trust the doctors' interpretation of the ultrasounds -- and apparently they are now concerned that one of the twins has fallen behind the other. Seems like there's always something for them to be concerned about, but whatever.

Plus, Deanna tells me that she's been telling people the names of our twins, but I've been holding that information back. So, in a spirit of compromise, I can let slip that the boy's initials will probably be TL and the girl's will probably be EJ. Again, that's assuming the doctors haven't misinterpreted the ultrasounds.

Feel free to guess what those initials stand for, and to guess which of the images above goes with which name. :)

Vespers tonight

Just reminding everyone that Vespers is happening this evening!

Where: St. Mark's College Chapel (UBC/Vancouver School of Theology)
When: 6:30pm

And, of course, there will be coffee, cookies, and more coffee afterwards.
Check the Holy Cross UBC site for the official word.

Would someone be so kind ....?

Dear Friends at St. Herman's and others,

I don't know if Fr. Gregory Papazian knows about Fr. John's repose. They served together in the early years of the english langauge Orthodox mission in Ottawa. If someone at St. Herman's could let Fr Gregory know about Igumen John's death, it would be much appreciated.

Maybe somebody could ask Mother Anna or someone else with Fr. Gregory's phone number to call the monastery and leave a message.

Fr. Gregory may already know but please make sure he does.

I love church!

I know I wasn't the only one mesmerized by little Thomas' wonderful personal sign-language interpretation of "The Creed" this morning. Wasn't that simply delightful?

And it was so good to see you Jordans looking so...so full. Especially so full of love and joy. The gratitude you have for the blessings in your life was evident on all your faces. It was also good to see Jonah looking so spunky and spry. I am so happy for you guys!

Veneration of the Holy Cross: An Orthodox Apologia

Mark threw a good question my way about the Orthodox practice of venerating the cross, so I've just added a quick post to my blog on the subject.

gee-are-DI-uh-sis

Giardiasis is a parasitic infection of the small intestine. It's a protozoa.
This is what ails Jonah. So weird. And relieving. So after 5 days of medication, he should be back to full health, God grant.
We were envisioning a much more complicated and dire diagnosis.
We're glad it's not. I just wish I knew how he caught it (and the other kids didn't). I read some stuff about it, and it sounds yucky, kinda like getting lice. Oh well. I'm thankful my boy is going to be healthy again!

and now for something completely different...

Okay, my previous post was a little on the heavy side, so this time let's go from the not-so-sublime to the definitely ridiculous. Last time I said "don't look if you aren't feeling serious!" This time—don't look if you aren't feeling silly!

The Onion Dome has not been updated for a long time. The editor, Alex Riggle, has gone on hiatus and left a couple of very fine webbabas in charge. And even though they love the Dome, they have lives, so they aren't able to get it updated as often as they and the Domies of the world would like. I have had a couple of articles accepted by them, but those will only be up whenever they have time to put a new issue together.

So while we are waiting for the next issue—I for one will never last till Lent without something resembling an Onion Dome fix-- my newest piece(not one of the ones the Dome is holding)will appear at the Rafters Scriptorium instead.

This one is a lesson in "be careful what you put in your blog; anything you post can and will be used against you!";-)

A mere two days after Christmas, a member of our very own community was so very foolish as to remark on her own blog for all the world to see "I am sick of chocolate". Her punishment for such an intemperate remark is now recorded at the Rafters Scriptorium.

And oh yeah—see all you ladies at the women's group dessert night…… ;-)

The Candle

A poem to ponder perhaps when we light our candles before the Lord this week...

THE CANDLE
By Derek Liebenberg

They say the light from a single candle
Can be seen for miles through the gloom
Of a black forgotten night.
They say that the heat from even one small candle
Can save the life of a stranded motorist
Held fast in the icy grip of a blizzard.

Strange.

That one so obsolete in an age of microchips and halogen lamps
Should possess the power
To give hope
To give life.
That the fragile flicker of a flimsy wick
Shines forth with a redemptive power
So much greater than the sum
Of its string and wax.

Imagine.

A billion candles blazing out
Defying the deathly darkness
Undaunted by their own frailty.
Myriads of tiny flames
Gathered in a city on a hill.

Glowing in a symphony of light
A beacon
Beckoning to the weary traveller
Bursting through the black
To fall upon the eyes of those
Whose lives are engulfed
By the grim chill of the night.

Lord.

Grant that the mysterious
Tongue of fire
Shall never become dull or simply peter out.
Ignite hearts yet unlit.
Together
May our fires unite
A burning reflection of your glory
To a generation of unseeing eyes.
Teach us to pass on the flame
To those who follow.
Make us truly
The light of the world.

Thanks

Thanks, Mat. Donna, for the Project Mexico plug -- only 3 months to go! Wow!
Gettin' ready to eat some serious enchiladas. Oh, and work, of course. . .

Overheard

One of my coworkers asked me today if I've been Orthodox all my life. I told her that I converted a few years ago. She promplty asked, "Were you Christian before?"
I said, "Yes, I was a Baptist."
She replied, "Oh you were a Baptist. That's not a Christian." At that point I smiled quizzically and started to turn my attention to other things but then another coworker jumped into the budding conversation.
He said, "Of course that's Christian." So she quickly explained to him that it wasn't and that saying you're Baptist and a Christian is like saying you're pentecostal and saying you're a Christian (the bizarre part of that is that her own church webpage says it's a pentecostal church). He said, "Oh, it doesn't matter. As long as you believe in God you're good in my book. Yup, just worship God."
She said, "No! Worship Jesus!" He looked at her as though she were crazy and said, "Well, Jesus is God."
"No he isn't!" she insisted. "God is God because he's the Father and then there's Jesus. He's not God. I'm _______ and we believe in Jesus! Jehovah's Witness's worship God because "Jehovah" means God but we worship Jesus not God!"
I sat in my seat completely at a loss for words. I mean, where do you begin? Finally, she turned to me and demanded, "Well!" I tried to act innocent as though I hadn't heard the conversation but she persisted and so all I could muster was, "Well, Emmanuel does mean 'God with us.'" Then I asked her, "Does your church believe that Jesus is God incarnate?" (I know full well that it does.) I'm fairly certain she didn't know what the word 'incarnate' meant but she said, "Well, I don't know. But how can Jesus be God and Jesus as the same time?"
I thought to myself, "Well now that's a very mysterious question that the Church has pondered for 2000 years."
Amazingly enough the title of her church bears the phrase "God in Christ" within it. Apparently that escaped her reasoning. I was completely befuddled by her line of thinking and I reminded myself how important it is to try and understand how other people are processing things and how that influences they way they take in what they hear (of course the same is true for me, too).
The good news is that apparently in her world, as evidenced in surrounding conversation, Orthodox Christians are indeed Christians.
Of course the entire conversation began when she and some other coworkers got into an argument over the fact that I've chosen to leave sex for marriage (they think that is ridiculous and talk about it almost daily -- they used to try and argue with me but I would merely smile and remain silent so now they just discuss my oddness amongst themselves theorizing loudly about why I'm an idiot, hoping that I'll 'wise up' by osmosis or something). "It's a part of her faith" one coworker explained, "so we should just respect her for that." I happen to know that well over 95% of my coworkers belong to a Protestant Christian denomination. How strange that such a choice is merely a part of my faith.

Franciscan travel blessing

May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers,
half truths and superficial relationships
so that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger at injustice,
oppression, and exploitation of people,
so that you may wish for justice, freedom, and peace.

May God bless you with enough foolishness
to believe that you can make a difference in this world,
so that you can do what others claim cannot be done.

Evil, rudeness and charity

Forgot to note here the other day that I have a new post on my blog

It's long, and some of it's sort of heavy, so please don't feel obligated to surf over there if you aren't in the mood. But I will just put the conclusion here, as it should be of interest to all here:

"...there is another charity to benefit children in need with which we will have a more direct connection. The Project Mexico/St. Innocent Orphanage has been the recipient of donations and labour from members of our Archdiocese for a number of years now; this year at least one member of our local parish, Kimberley Francis, is planning on going on this mission trip, to help out the children of Project Mexico. This is something those of us who aren't actually going can at least support financially, whether as a parish or individuals-- there is a poster for the Victoria fundraiser on our bulletin board, but even if we can't go to that, we can make direct contributions to help provide for the costs Kimberley will incur in this good work, and thustake part in it too."

Peter Drobac

hey y'all, Mag is looking for Peter Drobac's email address, if you could post it here without actually posting it, you know, use the
words like at and dot instead of the symbols so that his email address is not snagged by some lame computer program harvesting email addresses, I am sure she would appreciate it.

Hey Vic,
Did Abby send her party pictures to you, to post?

It's getting closer

As most of you know, Kim, Mira, Mat Jenny, some others and Myself are going to Mexico in March, on the Project Mexico trip! Most exciting yes, but it's coming fast and I will be traveling to Vancouver first before we all go on to Mexico. I plan to come in on the 9th of March (which is a thursday) and hopefully spend some time with some of you. It is lent then (coming soon isn't it) so there will be evening services, which I hopefully will be able to attend. So the reason I'm posting this is to ask if someone from St. Herman's is willing to host an orange-haired Saskatchewanian (me ;) for a few days and nights. And perhaps some are willing to have a few little outings. Mira suggested that I should sometime get to the monastery and see the monks there. Which I would love to do. Anyway, if anyone would be willing to have me or whatever that would be pretty awesome. I really can't wait to see everyone.

God Bless!
Later days.

Re-Ligare

Can anyone help me find a patristic source for the etymology of the word religion? or any ancient source? I hear it is an augustinian thing, but...if anyone else has any ideas, that would be great. thanks.

when it hasn't been your day, your week, your month, or even your year...

What a week last week was. It's not over yet, the differently weighted woman has yet to sing her aria on so many different issues in our lives; Jonah is the first among them, but they are many. (our name is legion?)
But I was pondering community last night, as I lay in bed, thinking how blessed we were to be "surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses". And then I read something (my bedtime reading these days is a jewel of a book I found at the Bookman downtown: "A Circle of Quiet" by Madeleine L'Engle). I started writing down favourite quotes, but quickly abandoned this to the realization that I would basically be scribing the whole book into my journal. So I sticky-noted the pages I liked to my heart's content. Anyway, to make a long story longer, I read a wonderful passage she wrote on community:

[on media and the news] - We can't absorb it all. We know too much, too quickly, and one of the worst effects of this avalanche of technology is the loss of compassion... I am apt to pay less attention when the daily figures for deaths on battlefields are given; it is too far away; I cannot cope emotionally. Occasionally it hits me hard when I hear the announcer say that there were only fifty-four deaths this week: only? what about the mothers, wives, sweethearts, children, of the fifty-four men who were killed? But it has to happen close at home before I can truly feel compassion.
We are lost unless we can recover compassion, without which we will never understand charity. We must find, once more, community, a sense of family, of belonging to each other. No wonder our kids are struggling to start communes. No wonder they will follow insane leaders who pull them into a morass of dope or murder. If they have no heroes, if we don't provide guidance, they are open to manipulation...
Compassion is nothing one feels with the intellect alone. Compassion is particular; it is never general.

She was writing more about compassion, but within the context of community. And I was reading it thinking: aha! exactly! this is the gift we have found at St.Hermans! Thank You Lord! We are a body. Never is this more evident than when one of us is suffering. The rest of us feel it. The rest of us gather round, and pray and comfort and do what we can. We feel it too, and we suffer with our brother and sister. Not out of contrivance, but out of love, and unconsciously. And they shall know us by our love. My favourite place is my church. It's where I feel accepted, loved, forgiven, upheld. It's like our Papa Lawrence says, where one walks and stumbles, he falls, but where there are many, with arms intertwined, one may stumble, but he won't fall.

John 13.34-35 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

How-to Q

Can anyone tell me how to cut and paste material from, say, a Word document into a post? I tried the usual highlight/copy/ but when I click in the compose window, it will not give me the paste option.

I've got the poster info from the upcoming Saskatchewan youth retreat and thought it would be good to put it here, as well as printing a poster for the church bulletin board.....

Munch on this:

"Prayer is a technique or art of loving, a method of Being in Love, who is God. It's effect is to hold the world together. Prayer is the measure, the key, the keystone of all things. If the Prayer is right, everything will be right. Your prayer will reveal to you your condition, as a mirror."
- an Orthodox Monk

another request.

I know Kurt sent out an email prayer request this morning, or last night, but I would like to request one of all of you.
Jonah saw a pediatrician today, and she was, frankly, baffled. He is over his strep-throat, but continues to vomit (2 or 3 times a week) and lose weight.
She ordered a battery of tests for him, so all day we made the rounds of the hospital, the lab, the x-ray clinic, etc. (I think I picked something up along the way, I'm feeling awful now, but that could be the endlessness of the day combined with the emotional stress of it all).
He's had every fluid imaginable taken from him, and hopefully this will solve the case. I'm feeling a little fragile about all this, and managing to keep myself in check. We were at the x-ray clinic at the end of the day, and it was all I could do to 'breath down' some tears watching my son standing barefoot in a small hospital gown before that big machine in that cold cold room. I don't want to alarm him or anybody. God grant, this may turn out to be something simple like a virul infection of some sort. The doctor mentioned Celiac disease, and at this point, if that's all it was, I would be vastly relieved. Wow, the fears that race through your mind. I've done my best to dismiss them, but please pray for Jonah, for us. When you're in the midst of the testing, the labs, the hospital, it's hard to keep your imaginings at bay.
Thanks everyone.

grumbling (but only from my stomach)

Can anyone out there tell me if I'm allowed to eat food today?

Question for the Orthodorks

Anyone know of a way to start learning the typicon? In form, function, and meaning/history?

Thanks.

Poetry

I update my own blog so irregularly, that it seems (to me at least) mildly noteworthy when I do. If you're not one of those people who run away screaming when poetry is mentioned (and there are remarkably few of those here at St. Herman's, in my experience), feel free to stop by and check out my poetic personal response to a remarkable photo-journal that Aaron lent me and a conversation we had about small-talk, and, much better, my favourite of my grandfather's poems.

edamame beans

These are really yummy steamed and served lightly sprinkled with coarse salt; a good finger food. I realize this seems like a post for Sprucies, but I was wondering if anybody outside of hicksville can buy some and bring them on new years day for an appy? I would be so happy. If not, well, I'll just cry myself to sleep...

by the way

Who out there can tell me Fr. Lawrence's email address? The one posted on the website doesn't seem functional.
peace
Q

rising from the abyss of digital silence

Hello all.
I've finally succumbed.
I'm up north visiting my family right now, and could really use some prayer, if any of you get around to it. This city has always had a weird psychological effect on me.
peace
Jesse

Prayers for Our Friends

Last night I received word that a very close friend of Kimberley and myself had died suddenly yesterday morning of a heart attack in his sleep. Our brother in Christ, Derek Liebenberg, was only 40, and leaves behind his dear wife Heather and their long-awaited 1st child due to be born in April. I got to know them first in Calgary, where I spent many a weekend at their peaceful log cabin (often having theological conversations with Derek while chopping wood). They have been evangelical 'urban missionaries' of sorts for the past 15 years, living in great simplicity and faith. They poured their hearts and lives into work for the needy and oppressed, especially widows and orphans in North East Calgary. Kim worked for them helping run their office for some time, and I did various volunteer stuff, but mainly they were just like a brother and sister to us both. We spent Christmases together, and went on long car trips. Derek & Heather returned a few years ago to South Africa (where he had grown up) in order to establish a centre of hope for victims of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Bhekulwandle, Amanzimtoti, near Durban. Krista and I were blessed in May to have Derek and Heather attend our wedding. It is hard to believe that he is no longer with us. His mischievious sense of humour was only overshadowed by a great zeal and love for God and neighbour. So your prayers are very much requested for the soul and blessed repose of the servant of God Derek, and also Heather in these last months of her pregnancy, as she grieves the loss of her husband and partner in God's work.

May his memory be eternal!

Do not be surprised that you fall everyday; do not give up, but stand your ground courageously. And assuredly the angel who guards you , will honor your patience.
~St.John of the Ladder

Don't miss the issue

The Orthodox Church publication of the OCA is changing format. It will be online in PDF as well as in hard copy. However, the current issue Nov/Dec 2005 is ONLY available in PDF online at the link above. Hard copy publication will resume bi-monthly in the new format in the New Year.

There is an interesting article on a church growth survey, and other articles I haven't read yet.

Canadian Military Force (a contradiction in terms?)

Upload Video at DropShots.com

Whoops, Tuesday was yesterday, wasn't it?

Yesterday Deanna gave me my Christmas present a little early -- and it was a brand new digital camera! I used to take pictures all the time (I took hundreds when I went to England for five weeks back in 1994, though I haven't scanned any of 'em yet), but my camera hasn't worked for years, and Deanna noticed a while ago how I kept grumbling about how I would like to take pictures of this, that, or the other thing -- so now I've got a new toy. And, of course, one of the first pictures I took was of Deanna herself.

I would have posted something last night, but (1) I wanted to figure out how to copy photos from the camera to my computer first, and (2) I fell asleep a little earlier than usual, while watching the new Simpsons DVD. So, my apologies for not posting an update on Tuesday like I said I would.

There's not too much new to report, apart from the fact that Deanna was recently diagnosed with gestational diabetes, which means the range of hospital food available to her (which is always so delectable) is even narrower now than it was before; it also means that, whenever people drop off seasonal cookies and sweets and things, she passes them on to me because she doesn't expect them to still be fresh by the time she'll be allowed to eat them. But this is apparently a temporary condition, and not uncommon for women carrying twins.

According to the latest ultrasound, the condition that put Deanna in the hospital in the first place is exactly as it was during the last couple of ultrasounds, so thankfully that means nothing has gotten worse. (Remember how the doctors said, four weeks ago, that they didn't expect the twins to last more than one, maybe two, weeks? And remember how the doctors said, two weeks ago, that they gave the twins maybe another week-and-a-half? False prophets, all!) The latest ultrasound also indicates that the twins are in the neighbourhood of 2-and-a-half pounds each.

Tomorrow, the twins will hit 27 weeks, and a doctor said on Monday that it might be possible for Deanna to come home and finish her bed rest here when she reaches 28 weeks. That would be nice. Although, I'm going to be spending a night in Seattle next week and speaking at a conference on the morning of New Year's Eve, so it's probably best if Deanna doesn't come home until after that -- if she were to come home and stay in bed all the time, she would need me to be there so that I could run errands for her (and, so help us, I may even have to learn to cook for her).

I think that about covers it. The plan for Christmas Day is for her mother and brother to spend the morning with her at the hospital while I'm at church, and then I'll be having lunch at my parents' place in Surrey, and then I'll be heading to the hospital to spend the late afternoon and/or evening with her. It's a strange way to spend our first Christmas together as a married couple -- and it's weird to think that, at this time last year, we were still planning our wedding -- but hey.

in michigan, safe and sound

hi all... here i am in the States. every time i come home is joyous but always with a sense that i am suddenly missing part of myself...which i think has to do with not being in my own house, with my phone (sob) and not being in Canada :) but... i have nothing to complain about. i am blessed to be able to be with my family.

Victoria, i appreciated your post/lament about how our culture seems to think that love is shown by giving material gifts... i think it actually is a problem... i struggle with it for sure... perhaps one way to deal with it would be to make gifts of give smaller but meaningful things? i do not think there is an easy answer or even just one answer.

i am so thankful for each one of you! hoping and praying that everyone is well!

ps: Peter how is Deanna? (it's tuesday) and RW...any word on the interview you had last week?

On the Road Again...

Okay, this is really nothing more than an excuse to post this picture. There had been some mention of the song "On the Road Again" in relation to the many travellers out there at this time of year.

But, as well, I might add that the hierarch being embraced by Willie Nelson here is none other than His Eminence, Archbishop JOHN (Metropolitan-elect) of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada. Recently there had been plans for St. John's Institute here in Edmonton ( a popular student residence and the venue for the recent Pan-Orthodox Young Adult) to be sold to the University of Alberta. But, thank God, Archbishop John stepped in and said if this were the case, he would not de-consecrate the Chapel! All of the old 'Gidos' (Ukrainian Grandpas) on the Board of the Institute came out and stood behind their Archbishop. So, thankfully, the Institute will not be sold and will still be an Orthodox presence on the U of A Campus!

Hey everybody:

Check out Cathedral-dweller's latest post...

on the bus

hi all,

i am in the london ontario bus station and have wireless on my laptop; so here i am! saying hello. i should be DV in michigan by tonight... we are a half hour late which is great because it means less than a 2 hour layover!

i hope and pray that everyone is doing well. i was at the london church and talked to ryan about dave being there before... it was nice to see everyone, of course and i felt very loved by the welcome everyone gave. Fr. Polycarp, of course, teased me and called me the returning prodigal daughter :)

okay. the bus is leaving now... God love and peace to all...

Top Ten Signs That Indicate You Might Be An Orthodox Christian

I found these online, enjoy :)

Peace,
Neo

========================

Top Ten Signs That Indicate You Might Be An Orthodox Christian

You might be Orthodox if...

10. You are still in church four hours later after the priest concludes the Liturgy by saying, "May the holy Trinity protect all of you."

9. You forget to change your clock in the spring at Daylight Savings Time, show up an hour late, but the service is still going on....

8. ...but there are people in your community who still can't get to church on time when the clock gets set _back_ an hour in the fall.

7. You consider an hour long church service to be "short."

6. You buy chocolate bunnies on sale (after Western Easter).

5. When someone says, "Let us pray..." you reflexively stand up.

4. You went to church four or more times in a week.

3. Your priest is married...

2. ...and your vocabulary includes several titles for the wife of a priest: Presbytera (Greek), Preoteasa (Romanian), Matushka (Russian) and Khouria (Arabic). And you always get a funny smile when you use the wrong term at the wrong parish that you are visiting.

And the number one sign you might be Orthodox is...

1. You say a prayer before you pray.



Orthodox Kids Do The Darndest Things

Pre-schooler eschatology.

As I was driving my 4 year old son to preschool, we had to detour around a construction site. He seemed a little perturbed by the change, so I said, "George, construction doesn't last forever." He replied, "I think it will last until the last day." I was puzzled, so I asked him to clarify: "The last day of what, George?" So he said, "The last day until no one is left except God, because God lives forever!"

My 4 year old son was showing me a church he built from LegosTM. Since he seemed to be getting interested in things relating to church, I asked him if he wanted to be an altar boy in a couple of years. He answered, "No, I want to be a race car driver!"

Pre-schooler Concepts

My son (almost 4 yo) was showing me picture he drew. Lately he likes to draw what he calls "maps": pictures with roads, rivers, etc, on them. On this particular one there were some orange lines and he said: "There are pipes that are carrying regular water." Then he pointed to some blue lines and said: "These pipes are carrying Holy Water. They go to Church."

My twin 6 year old girls have been getting interested in guardian angels, and in angels in general. For example, one weekend they made wings out of construction paper, taped them to their backs and pretended they were angels ("Daddy, you can be Jesus!"), and I must say they were behaving pretty angelically as well.

Anyway, at school they have been learning about some safety issues: avoiding strangers, about fire, etc...., and that had been making them a little apprehensive. They want to be assured that their guardian angels would protect them. I asked them if they wanted guardian angel icons in their room, and they were agreeable, so I ordered some from a Conciliar Press catalog I had.

Now it so happens that at the time it was my father's birthday, so after they talked to him on the phone to wish him a happy birthday, they wanted to make something for "Papou" for a birthday present. They decided they wanted to make for him a couple of "guardian angel icons," so they got out some construction paper and colored markers. As they began, my wife told them that there were some "rules" for writing icons; she said "People usually pray make when writing icons," so afterward, I could hear them in the dining room chanting together aloud while they were coloring: "In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit... In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit..."

A few years ago, during a heavy thunderstorm, our power went out, so we lit some candles around the house for light. Our then-three year old twin girls were looking in wonder at the candles, and then one of them said "Daddy, we're in church!" Out of the mouths of babes...

When my twin daughters were three years old they received from my sister (their Godmother) icons of their patron saints, St. Catherine and St. Juliana. Although they had already had several icons they received at their baptism, they didn't have icons of their patrons until then because St. Juliana is hard to find, and my sister didn't think it was fair to give Catherine her icon until she found one of St. Juliana, which she finally did, from Holy Transfiguration Monastery. So they were looking at them one night, kissing them, and comparing them to the icon of St. George that their baby brother received from his Godmother. Now coincidentally, about that time I was given a small icon of Christ from a friend who had purchased it during a recent trip to Greece. My girls also wanted to see "Daddy's icon," too, and after Juliana observed that she had an icon of St. Juliana, Catherine had an icon of St. Catherine, and that George had an icon of St. George, I had to laugh when she pointed at my icon of Christ and said, "That's St. Daddy!"

At my son's baptism, he was given an icon of St. George which was written by his godmother. My daughter, who was three years old at the time, was studying it intently for awhile, and then a look of disappointment crossed her face. When I asked her what was wrong, she said, "I want an icon with a horsey on it!"

here we go again...

click here for a preview of The Da Vinci Code
A thoroughly ridiculous line of reasoning, as far as the plot goes, but along the lines of a good John Grisholm thriller, this is a highly enjoyable book. I'm not a big JG fan, but when a rebuttal to this book showed up in the orthodox messanger, I thought I should have a read, so I could at least pretend to know what I was talking about!
It was entertaining, but that's it. Nothing terribly profound to take away from the experience, or even very thoughtful. It was one of those books you buy at an airport stand for a long flight. So I was really surprised to discover how so many people have taken this book to heart, and lent it a credence it doesn't deserve.
I found a good article you may want to peruse. Understandably, the Catholics have jumped on this thing with a lot of vehemence. Anyway, it looks like it will be a good movie.
Hmmm. This brings up so much. I was reading a blog the other day that I stumbled upon, about how this movie would present an even better opportunity than "The Chronicles..." as far as evangelism opportunities go.
It made me wonder. About evangelism, that is. And are our protestant brethren putting us to shame in this matter? They are so much more unabashed about it. And concerned about it. Proselytising the unsaved. And in much more than "another notch in my evangelistic belt" sort of way. They think about it a lot. It's enough to make me wonder why I don't think about it so much...

past watchful dragons this Christmas

Every Advent I buy a gift for the Sally Ann or local Christmas Bureau. I like getting gifts that are suitable for older kids, pre-teens and teens, because they are often the ones most neglected and most difficult to find a suitable gift for.

What better gift than a book? And what better book than The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, especially this year? It will generate high interest in kids who don't usually read because of the movie tie-in-- I think perhaps even teens will find it cool this year because of the movie, though the book is written at a younger reading level.

I found what was apparently the very last copy at the Willowbrook Toys R Us. Beautiful cover, nice photos from the movie-- inexpensive paperback, an easy gift even if you aren't too flush with cash yourself. If you want to give to younger children, there are a number of junior reader versions and subsidiary books-- activity and coloring books and so on. And so you can take part in getting the Story "past watchful dragons".....;-)

Make the sign of the cross on your gift and say a prayer for the kid who will be opening it Christmas Day before you put it in the Christmas Bureau bin. You will never know who they are or what they think of the gift, but God and the angels will be there when they open it...

Question – what to say/what not to say

I had a later night conversation with one of my dear friends and the topic of the Orthodox Church came up. She goes to a Baptist church and is curious (and a bit concerned I think) about what I have done in becoming Orthodox. She had a lot of questions (including questioning why I cannot go behind the iconostas/into the alter area)… I did not know what to say…her questions were quite complex… I did try to explain that the Orthodox church is the church that was from the beginning… and for her to trust God that He has not/is not leading me astray… she asked if she could Google Orthodox and find information that way, I suggested she go to the OCA website and look in the questions and answer section. My question here is what would of you done in this situation and what would you suggest she look at? Looking forward to your thoughts… and thank you…

great CS Lewis article

go here to read this great article

I will be chewing on this one for some time to come. It makes clear the central thing about Lewis that the writer of the nasty "Narnia shows everything that's wrong with religion" article in the Guardian can never understand-- what Jesus was talking about when he said we must come to Him as a little child.

St. Herman

Well, being in Fargo ND, I have not been to church tonight to celebrate, but in spirit, right?
however, I want to express how excited I am to be a part of St. Herman's. I spent last night in wheaton Illinois, driving around with Sufjan serenading me, arriving at Isaiah and Elise's house, around 10pm. They were so hospitable, Jude and Esme were so cute, I got to hang out with them a bit in the morning. Jude has good taste in music, as was earlier reported somewhere in cyberspace.
but what was so crazy, and so normal all at once was the way that they had food for me, a great tasting beer aptly named Trinity, and were forthcoming with their story, asked me about mine. It was like I had known them for a long time. Christian hospitality at its finest, the kind I have grown used to being a part of this great family. anyways. It was great. I look forward to when they come back to vancouver.

St. Herman's taxi is continuing to run well, thank you for your prayers.
reading here, I understand more, like Peter said, how we all need each other to pray for each other. So many needs, many things to celebrate, but many things to hold up in prayer.

Happy Feast Day! Through the prayers of our Holy Father Herman of Alaska, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us.

Party at the Jordan's on January 1st

Be a party animal! Roll up for the Jordan's Annual New Year's Festival on January 1st, 2006 starting at 6 pm.

Bring an appetitizer and some beverages; if you need to bunk down over night, Kurt would be more than happy to have you count sheep on his side of the bed :P

But wherever you sleep on January 1st we don't care, we just need you there to help us rejoice -- and to rejoice fully; hence, just don't be a party pooper. So come one, come all; it should be a blast!

Looking forward to seeing all you party animals there!!!

///edited.by.rw.

Canadians who visit Graceland (aka: Memphis)

I think there's a few of you who might know this guy! He was a bit confused as to how I "know" you and how I'm affiliated with a St. Herman's blog (of course, then again, so am I) but he's a smart lad and figured it out. It was fun to throw around names that I know as though all of you are real and not merely a figment of my electronic imagination. It looks as though I'll get to see him again in a few weeks when I'm home for Christmas. He and his dad will be at the Cathedral in Wichita, KS for a mutual friend's ordination into the diaconate.

Blogging is good for my international math skills...

Tonight an old friend, Peter, was in town doing a choir conference for my parish (actually he's been doing it since Thursday). He was addressing the entire church after Vespers and he was giving us a history lesson that tied into the why's of Liturgical music just before he taught us all two new antiphons. As he gave this mini-history lesson he mentioned the length of the nave at Hagia Sophia and said that it's 70-80 metres long. Being that Peter is from Toronto this is excusable but being that his entire audience is American it's frustrating. I thought to myself, "Now how am I suppose to know now long 70-80 metres is?" And then I remembered Elizabeth's post and the comment section in which she mentioned a brief rule of thumb for doing conversions so I quickly did the math and figured it out. It was a rough estimate but at least it put me into the right ball park. Until then his whole point was lost on me!

Thanks y'all!

prayer request

May I be so bold to ask for prayers for myself this next week. I have been invited to interview for a position that I have wanted and worked towards for a long time. No, I mean a really Long Time. May God's will be done. I have worked long and hard to get to this opportunity. It is so close yet so far still. I am most grateful for the opportunity but the bottom line is that I want to leave them no choice but to pick me... which is a very strange thing to be praying for.

Can you say "Awesome Sauce"!

Wow! The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe was so good. I was amazed at how accurate it was. The director stayed very close to the book. Maybe one or two scenes that i didn't happen. Which was ok, they fit into the story, they were just sort of fill ins for the parts during the journey. But wasn't it great. My goodness. The director might have tried to ignore the religious part of it, but the story was not changed and the religion was there wether they liked it or not. Go see this movie, I loved it and I think it's worth it. I was so excited through the whole thing. I knew what was going to happen but it was still intense. I loved it! Man what a good movie. I was expecting lots and I received what I was hoping for. Yay! If you do go see it or have already (wasn't it awesome) tell me about it. This movie was the awesome sauce.

God Bless!
Later days.

I thought I would mention…

Since various friends, including Phil, Cheryl and maybe others (?) did not know… I thought I would mention first that I have a blog begun in conjunction with our collaborative blog; the URL is http://eroosje.blogspot.com/. What I would do, when one has the time, is go through the list of names of contributors for our blog and see which people’s blogs you may not know about…. (just a small suggestion…as there are a lot of cool blogs listed collectively through our Spruce Island blog).

I hope everyone is doing well; I enjoy reading other’s blogs by the way and am very grateful for each one of you on this blog. It is wonderful to see the church across many miles (and kilometres!) supporting each other.

Sinterklaas.....St. Nicholas

I'm so pleased to see how people have been celebrating St. Nicholas, and how traditions have been spreading. I wanted to share with you all some journalling I did a few nights ago on the eve of the feast of St. Nicholas (which happens to be the Cathedral's Saints day--St. Nicholas is our patron saint).

December 5th, 2005 Eve of St. Nicholas.

Festal Vespers with litya tonight, at the Cathedral, Bishop Seraphim presiding. This was my first experience of an Orthodox celebration of the feast of St. Nicholas. Growing up in the Netherlands I knew all the legends surrounding "Sinterklaas", 80% of them devoid of the spiritual truth about the man who really lived.
I have much nostalgia around this festive time of year--the annual parade through Amsterdam of St Nicholas in his Bishop's getup riding on a white horse with all his zwarte pieten in tow scattering candy to hundreds of kids with their families lined up along the streets...waking up in the morning every morning for a whole week leading up to December 5th and running to our shoes to see what was in it, and yes, finding carrots half chomped through by the schimmel (white horse)....Doing surprises (sur-PREE-sus) with our class or our family: gifts wrapped and disguised within elaborate cardboard and construction paper sculptures of animals, vehicles, robots, people, and other imitable objects, given anonymously by the family member or friend who drew your name out of a hat, addressed to you with an awkwardly rhyming poem from sint en piet which mostly makes fun of your foibles and alludes to the gift inside...

Ever since I've come to North America (8 years ago) I've missed this early December celebration that used to mark off the beginning of the Christmas season. And although I rejoiced to discover St. Nicholas as a true saint when I became Orthodox, indeed, one of the greatest saints to both the East and the West of Christendom, I was also a little sad. This new discovery makes a lot of the old Sinterklaas songs seem too silly, or even offensive, to sing in light of who he is to the Church. I won't be able to celebrate sinterklaasfeest in quite the same way ever again.

But there was something special tonight. Maybe it was a combination of the presence of our own beloved Bishop, the veneration of our icon of St Nicholas (reportedly wonderworking), the wonderful tropar to him, the service interwoven with hymns reflecting on Mary's conception and birth-giving of Christ in preparation for Christmas, the simple and small gathering around tea, coffee, and cookies afterwards--something about all this left me with a feeling that I somehow associate with my memories of this time of year, growing up in Amsterdam.

One of the hard things about becoming Orthodox has been that (as someone who needed it and desired it) in gaining a liturgical calendar and tools for the spiritual geography of our physical time, I have lost some of the few markers I did have before (which I loved and cherished in their sparsity). Technically I haven't lost them (Easter, Christmas, St Nicholas, Pentecost), but the way they are prepared for, celebrated, and spoken of has changed drastically and there sometimes seem to be none of the external markers (certain kinds of decorations, combinations of colours, songs, atmospheres) which evoke in me the memories of all previous celebrations of a given feast, and connect that Day with all those Days gone before. Last Pascha I really missed my Dad's mix-tape he played every Easter morning during my childhood, with lots of Keith Green on it and excerpts from the soulful '70's Young Messiah.

I have not grieved this loss with many tears, partly because I do not think I have lost that much more than nostalgia, and partly because I know that it is only a matter of time (though it may take years) before my experience of the liturgical year deepens and vests itself gradually with all the new externals that do not yet evoke the memories and connections for me which anchor in my heart the building and deepening of the thruth and the blessing that a feast brings year upon year.

Nevertheless, the memories of childhood, the atmospheres of time that were learned when time was long and deep, cannot be replaced, or lost--nor the later additions to my inner landscape (Anglican Advent) that are so connected to the spiritual awakening I had as a teenager.

The strange thing is that there was something tonight that was familiar, something subtle, something nameless, but something that was present in my memories of St. Nicholas days past. And it suddenly struck me that a very likely reason (since none of the externals are the same) is the presence of the Saint himself.

Perhaps, no matter how much sinterklaasfeest has lost its connection to the image of Christ which the Saint bore, when an atheistic nation (whose few christians don't believe in saints anyway) is still remembering him in some way--remembering his anonymous generosity, loving eachother in honour of him--he comes and honours them with his presence...secretly, anonymously, giving them his blessing as they celebrate.

I discover I have not lost Sinterklaas. I only know him better now.

esme singing

Our own Esme RB sings with the rest of

The Vancouver Children's Choir

on the steps of

The Vancouver Art Gallery.

Hannah and I went to one of her practices

a while back and it was beautiful.

The children are a talented bunch

and have to be commited to their practice

to remain in the choir.

If any of you get a chance to take in one of their

public events, I would encourage you to go and enjoy!

(can you spot her?)

happy saint nicholas day!

Maria was mentioning that at Holy Nativity during the Vesperal Liturgy last night, she noticed that some of the kids didn't have their shoes on and was puzzled until she remembered that they put their shoes by the door so that St. Nicholas (actually their Matushka) could put chocolate in them! She goes on to say, "they also leave carrot tops in the shoes for St. Nicholas's horse and when they wake up on December 6th there are treats in place of the carrot tops."

We did something quite similar as kids, and in fact if we're out visiting my folks around this time of year, my mom will fill our shoes left inside the front door with candy unbeknowst to us, during our visit. It makes perfect sense to do this as a parish family. I like this tradition very much.

"You appeared before your flock as a rule of faith,

An example of humility and a teacher of self-denial

Because of your lowliness heaven was opened too you,

Because of your poverty riches were granted to you,

O Holy bishop Nicholas pray to Christ our God to save our souls"

St.Nicholas Day @ St.Herman's

go here to see more...

God on the Internet

Here, this may address some of our blog questions...( I haven't read it fully, just a review, apparently it is quite popular among Christian bloggers...check out the main FT page for the discussion about the article.

CLICK ME




Dave

Christ the Good Shepherd

On every other Tuesday night I go to vespers at my small beautiful Carpatho-Russian Church—we have vespers and my priest teaches on the Gospel of John afterwards. It is such a special time for me there; this week we looked at John chapter ten. This Gospel is all about Christ as the Good Shepherd and about how His sheep know his voice. Then we talked about how a priest is also to be a good shepherd to his flock and the difference between a true shepherd and a false shepherd is that a true shepherd loves his flock and would die for it, and a false one would merely run away, not caring about the flock under his care.

I know I have seen true shepherds in priests—and this helps me see it also in God, as it gives me something tangible to see and experience. When I am in church, learning about these grace and love filled teachings, I feel so alive, and at the same time so safe, loved and at peace. The next morning the teaching was again confirmed—my more protestant-based flip calendar’s verse [paraphrased from The Message] was John 10:27-30:

My sheep recognize my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them real and eternal life. They are protected from the Destroyer for good. No one can steal them from out of my hand. The Father who put them under my care is so much greater than the Destroyer and Thief. No one could ever get them away from him. I and the Father are one heart and mind.

sadness

rosa revsin

New Web Address for 1 Timothy 4.12

Just wanted to let you all know that the web address for the Youth and Young Adults blog has changed, so you'll want to update your browsers and links.











1 Timothy 4.12 can now be found at http://www.ocacanadianyouth.orthodoxmission.org/.

Thanks to Fr. Justin for helping us to host the blog, safe and sound.

To all 1 Timothy 4.12 contributors, there is no need to re-sign up... the address and increased online security are the only signficant changes. But if there are any youth and young adults who would like an invite, feel free to email myself, Fr. Justin, Pasivirta, or Gabe F. from Saskatoon.

Grace & Peace!

does anyone have?

Well. Biss' idea for the cookbook blog [so to speak] is becoming more and more a Really Good Idea... since it is still beginning.... I am posting my request here!

Does anyone have a quick recipe for apple crisp this that uses regular oatmeal? :) I have company coming tonight for tea and I forgot to take my cranberry break out of the freezer... what can I say other than "busy week"...

Any other quick suggestions, please post them... thanks!