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It was Jim’s turn to attend The Liturgy of the Pre-sanctified Gifts last night and so after I had put the kids to bed and said my prayers, I curled up on the couch with a tattered copy of Northanger Abbey, I had checked out from the library. In between reading about Miss Morland’s trials and triumphs with Mr. Tilney, I reflected on the whole Orthodox thing. That’s the way my crazy mind works. I almost have to go somewhere else to think about me.

One aspect of the whole Orthodox journey I thought of were the blogs written by Orthodox I often read. I am amazed by their knowledge of Saints and Orthodox dogmas and etc… And then there is me who will be officially Orthodox as of April 10, but has felt Orthodox for quite a while. But my blog doesn’t necessarily reflect this change. I talk about bumps on the head, and teacups and my children…because I like to tell stories and also to have some written record of significant and sometimes not so significant events and epiphanies in my life. I have been heard to say, “the un-examined life isn’t worth living.” I think that’s a true statement, Orthodox, or Buddhist, or Jewish, or Secular Humanist, or PoMo or whatever you choose to call yourself. Maybe I’m wrong…

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“Understand that you have within yourself, upon a small scale, a second universe: within you there is a sun, there is a moon, and there are also stars.”
~Origen, Homilies on Leviticus

I really like that quote. It seems appropriate for “Sunday of Forgiveness,” for if we are all able to appreciate the unique nature of our fellow humans and the reflection of Christ found therein, it is much easier to seek to forgive and to be forgiven, at least in my crazy mind. Perhaps, if we keep this idea in our mind in our dealings with each other, there will be much less reason to seek forgiveness from our fellow humans.

I’m a day late in asking for forgiveness of anyone I may have offended since this inception of this blog and all it’s numerous and sometimes humorous changes. I have some sort of upper respiratory “thing” going on again and I didn’t spend much time on the computer yesterday. I tried to type up some notes last night, and ended up deleting them all.

I think I’ll just keep it simple and say, “If I have offended you or sinned against you in any way, please forgive me.”

Lord have mercy on me, a sinner

The following originally appeared in my “Journey to Orthodoxy” article, but in recent editing I removed it, feeling as though it were part of another story. I expounded upon it’s content today and decided to post it as is, although perhaps someday it will appear somewhere else, transformed again.

One of the main tenets of Orthodox life is prayer…prayer in the morning, prayer in the evening and even midday prayer which I haven’t managed to conquer yet!

Archpriest John Breck sums it up this way in the preface to, The Bible and the Holy Fathers:

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On our most recent weekly library trip, I checked out the cinematic adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s, The Secret Garden. I had viewed this movie while attending graduate school around 10 years ago at the cheap ($1.50) movie theater on a study break. Interesting way to spend a study break, I know. I believe I even went alone to this one! The Secret Garden had been one of my favorite books while growing up a long with, A Little Princess, and I remember thinking at that time, “I wonder if the movie will do it justice.”

It had been a long time since I’d first seen the movie and an even longer time since I’d read the book for the last time, so I decided to give it a whirl again, only this time I wouldn’t be alone while watching the movie as I’d have my own very precocious two year old to to view the movie alongside me. I didn’t know how well it would work with her, as she is fairly fidgety when watching “for real” (not cartoon) movies. Unbelievably, she actually seemed to really enjoy it, or at least she enjoyed watching it with mommy beside her on the couch and was also allowed her to drink tea out of a real china cup. Her little hand made the delicate tea cup seem large and clumsy…life adds such a perspective to the superfluous matter in our lives.

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…and other news!

Yesterday, our priest, Father Gregory came to bless our house. This is something practiced in the Orthodox tradition as a way to sanctify all matter and return it into God’s hands. I can remember Fr. telling us the first time he visited our home that it was an “outpost” of the Church, sort of like a little church in the community. The houses are blessed yearly between Theophany and Great Lent as we tend to “fall away” from the Lord and therefore the matter we share takes on that fallen nature in a sense. A yearly blessing refreshes and reminds us that we are to be holy. Holiness takes work though, it’s definitely not something that comes naturally.

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I could have added more, but on four hours of sleep this was all I could manage. There may be another entry at a later time!

We attended our very first Orthodox Christmas Eve Service yesterday evening. The service starts with Matins at 10:00 PM and then moves on to a Divine Liturgy ending with a service of carols surrounding an Icon of the Nativity. We actually hemmed and hawed about the decision to attend this service because we would have to bring the kids with us. After talking with some other parishoners, we decided to bring them along in their PJ’s with pillows and blankets. Apparently, this is standard practice for the late evening/early morning services.

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It was better this time…no cookie crumbs on the floor!

So we went to church with the kids again. This time with only the youngest, Ana and David, as Mikey was with his Mom this weekend. I followed the advice of many kind souls offered to us in emails and in the comments section of this blog. Don’t be afraid to leave comments. Halo-scan won’t bite…I promise.

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What I remember of chapter 2 of Facing East

I continued reading in Frederica Mathewes-Green’s, Facing East yesterday evening. Jim and I are also reading it together. Eager beaver that I am, I have jumped forward somewhat in our “together reading” by about 40 pages or so. Honey, you may not want to read this because there may be spoilers. I would also suggest that if you are reading my blog and are truly interested in Orthodoxy that you also read my husband’s blog, Life’s Cocktails . You’ll get a more detailed picture that way. My husband and I are each other’s “missing piece” personality wise. We are both “IN” on the Myers Brigg’s personality type indicator although he is likely more “I” than I am and he, I would say is less “N” than I am. but the real difference is in those last two letters…I am an “FP” whereas Jim is a “TJ.” I am a “high F” whereas Jim is a “High T.” You’ll get many emotional entries from me as I always react emotionally first to new knowledge, especially of a spiritual nature as it is so close to my heart. Jim thinks and thinks and processes. So if you were to read both of our blogs, you’d get a better picture of the concepts…not just the mushiness from me. Just a suggestion!

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A marathon in itself!

Holy Guacamole. Well, today was our first Orthodox service with three kids in tow. I needed more than guacamole by the end of that one. Now I understand why they use wine instead of grape juice for communion. Oh yes, we parents with young children need that wine…unfortunately I am not yet allowed to have communion as I have not been chrismated. But, my day will come…oh yes…

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Imagine, if you will, the theme from “Rocky” playing in your head….

Apparently the Orthodox do fast quite a bit. Yesterday afternoon, two teenaged girls and their Mom came to visit us. They are members of Holy Cross parish, the little stone church. The girls, Belli and Tally are going to babysit for Ana and David while we attend the Introduction to Orthodoxy class on Tuesday evenings. Woo hoo, 2 hours every week with the kids 2 miles away…will I know what to do with myself? We shared a bit about our journeys and why we had been moved towards Orthodoxy. And then, for some reason, the subject of fasting arose. Apparently, a fast is coming up starting on November 15 and ending on Christmas. It’s not a complete fast…just no meat products. Jim’s eyes became a little buggy upon hearing that…

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