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?)

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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.