Elevation of the Cross

Let all the trees of the wood, planted from the beginning of time, rejoice; for their nature hath been sanctified by the stretching of Christ on the Tree. Wherefore, now, we worship Him, lifted up, and magnify Him.

--Orthros of the Feast, Tone 8

By the mere planting of thy Cross, O Christ, the foundation of death did shake; for him whom Hades did swallow eagerly, it delivered up with trembling; for verily, thou didst reveal to us thy salvation, O holy One. Wherefore, do we glorify thee, O Son of God. Have mercy upon us.

--Orthros of the Feast, Tone 6

We are currently celebrating the Feast of the Elevation of the Cross (officially, the feast day was Sept. 14, but we continue to honor it). If you would like some historical info on this feast go here: www.antiochian.org/feast-of-the-holy-cross

Tonight at Vespers, our Relic of the True Cross was set out to be venerated by the Faithful. As the prayers were nearing the end, I began to be struck by the reality of Christ's existence. As I filed into the center of the Nave to venerate the icons and the Relic of the True Cross, I was overwhelmed by the sheer miracle of its existence and preservation. All I could do was say, "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!" over and over and over and over.

As I stood in line, I could almost see Christ's body hanging on the wood as He reconciled all of mankind to the Father and abolished our fear and sins. I slowly continued forward on my journey to the foot of the cross.

When I arrived, Father John had picked up the cross to hold it for us to venerate. This made it easier to kiss the sacred relic, especially for the small children who can't wait to share their love and kisses with everything that is precious. I made a prostration and was overwhelmed with sorrow, joy, holy fear, reverence and adoration. I stayed on the floor for what seemed not long enough, given the magnitude of what I was doing. As I kissed the cross, Father John gave me his blessing and I continued along the path to the icons.

I wish I could put fully into words how wonderful this experience was. What a connection to an unbroken faith it is. How wonderful it is to be Orthodox.

Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us.

The Lord's Prayer

I love the picture of this guy praying the Lord's prayer :)
Notes from yesterday's class:

The Church has called this “The Perfect Prayer”

This is said in the Liturgy almost immediately before receiving the Holy Mysteries. This is because it is the best prayer to pray before meeting Christ. This is not a general prayer for everyone. It is given specifically to Christians and the Church

Our Father who art in heaven
• The word “our” is a reminder that we have personal prayer, but not individual prayer because we are never “alone”.
• Our Father is something that we can say because Christ is come in the flesh and allowed us a way to know God. He is not directly MY Father, but “our” Father as believers.
• “Father” is different than that used in the OT. The word used by Christ is Abba, or daddy. This is because we have gained a personal relationship to the Father through Jesus Christ.
• “Who art in heaven” We must be careful when saying this. The Fathers advise us not to use our imaginations when saying this because it limits our view of God and creates a box that hinders our encounter of Christ. It is slightly better understood as our Father who art not of the earth. This is what is meant, not a place of residence.

Hallowed be Thy name
• Hallowed also means not of the earth. We are praying for God’s name to be hallowed in our lives. Not that we contribute to His holiness! This goes hand in hand with the prayer in the Trisagion that asks for us to be cleansed from every stain, for THY name’s sake.
• Matt 5:16; 1 Cor. 6:20

Thy Kingdom come
• John the Baptist and Christ preached, “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.” This is, in essence, the Gospel. As Christians, we CHOOSE to have Christ as King in our lives.
• St. Syprion says that the spiritual life is “That we who have been sanctified through baptism may persevere in being what we have begun to be.”
• Maranatha – Christ come quickly in your Kingdom! 2 Peter 3:11-12

Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven
• Ephesians 5:16-17
• Our example for doing God’s will is Jesus Christ. Look at the prayer before His crucifixion. “Not My will, but Thy will be done” Here, Christ brings His human will into submission of the divine will. Are we willing to fight with our will to the point of our sweat becoming as drops of blood?
• His will is: keep His commandments, resist evil and do good (“Pray and do what’s right.” Fr. John), don’t forsake the Church, pray.
• St. Simeon The New Theologian calls this petition a daring and dangerous act.

Give us this day our daily bread
• The fathers understand this as both wheat and epiousion. Epiousian is the word translated as daily. Epi-above ousian-essence. Obviously, this is meant much more than ordinary bread. It also means the Bread of Life. He is the Bread behind the bread ☺
• We are able to call Him the Bread in the same manner that we can now call God our Father. He has given Himself to us.
• Matt. 6:34

And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us
• This indicates we have done something wrong, or that we owe something. We fall short and go against what God desires for us.
• We also owe all those who came before us something for our salvation. They all contributed. We are never saved alone, but with each other.
• We have to forgive the wrongs done to us in order to experience the forgiveness of Christ. This seems conditional. Think about Peter. Peter asks, “If my brother sins against me 7 times, is that enough…?” Christ says, more or less, don’t even try to count the number. Christ immediately tells the parable of the unforgiving servant.
• What does it mean to be forgiven? This is not easily answered. It means that we let go of the right to feel wronged.
• James 2
• The deacon constantly says, “In peace let us pray to the Lord.” This means in peace with each other.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one
• This means a testing or trial. We are asking Him to give us strength to withstand those temptations that we face in our lives. We are talking about dealing with the progression towards sin.
• If we receive any temptation, it is because God has thought us strong enough to withstand it.
• The saints did not resist sin lightly, but took it extremely seriously.
• The demonic desire is to destroy and deface God’s creation out of jealousy.
• We have to wrestle our wills into conformity!

Sacraments

I wanted to take a minute to talk briefly about sacraments. Here is a brief description of sacraments from the Orthodox perspective:

There are special experiences in our corporate life as Orthodox Christians when the perception of God's presence and actions is heightened and celebrated. We call these events of the Church Sacraments. Traditionally, the Sacraments have been known as Mysteries in the Orthodox Church. This description emphasizes that in these special events of the Church, God discloses Himself through the prayers and actions of His people. (www.goarch.org/ourfaith/ourfaith7105)

One thing that I've learned to appreciate so much more since I became Orthodox is the celebration of matter. This may seem silly, but it is wonderful to realize how sacred our own flesh, bone, marrow and everything that makes up the world is! The quintessential example of this is the Ascension of our Lord. There is now flesh and bone in the Godhead forever. As He is now, we have the hope of one day becoming. Not in essence, but rather in our glorified state (...I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come).

I also wanted to take this time to relay a wonderful analogy of why sacraments exist:

Let's imagine you come across an alien life-form. For all intents and purposes, we will call him Zarlac. Now, you have come to truly love Zarlac and wish to let him know. There is only one problem, Zarlac has 13 senses and none of them are any the 5 that we possess. Now, you could try to say to Zarlac, "I love you." However, he does not possess the sense of hearing. You could try to show him through physical touch, but he doesn't possess that sense either. The senses that he does have are the senses of zop, blonch, ujjios, etc. So, as of right now, Zarlac is alienated from you completely even though you are so near to him (remember he does not possess sight either). The only way you will ever get Zarlac to know of your love for him is if you communicate to him through one of his senses.
Now, I am sure this analogy is full of holes, but I bet you are starting to follow my train of thought. For God to commune with man, he must engage us through our senses. If not, we cannot be aware of Him. Since we cannot share in His essence, He finds ways to send His love, grace and presence to us in a way that we can experience it. Not just know, but experience.

This idea of the ordinary becoming holy and sacred is essential to our understanding of the sacraments. One of the best examples I can think of comes from the Old Testament : God uses a burning bush to communicate to Moses and the ground became Holy. Another great scripture is found in Matthew 7:6: "Do not give what is holy to the dogs, nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces." According to the Fathers, dogs are those who habitually live immoral and impure lives. The pearls are the inner mysteries of the Christian faith, including Christ's teachings (13:46) and the great sacraments. These holy things are restricted from the immoral and unrepentant, not to protect the holy things themselves, for Christ needs no protection. Rather, we protect the faithless people from the condemnation that would result from holding God's mysteries in contempt. (Orthodox study Bible)

So, no matter if it is participating in the Eucharist or basking in the joyful laughter of a child, all are sent from God for our communion with Him.

Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us.

Wrap up on the Creed. Nicene, that is...

So we finally finished up the classes on the formation and doctrine found in the Nicene Creed, it only took 6 months! Here is the last bit of notes. It also has some great notes concerning sacraments:

I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins, I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

Sacrament = Sacramentum/Mysterion
• Augustine of Hippo said it is an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual truth. The wedding ring is the invisible matrimony made visible.
• St. Leo the Great (5th Century) says all that Christ has done (Life, death, resurrection, teachings, miracles, etc.) is channeled to man through the sacraments.
• The Orthodox emphasize the importance of the physical. The physical is no less spiritual than the invisible world (soul and spirit). Human flesh is considered sacred. Think of the Ascension: there is now, forever, human flesh and bone in the Godhead. The heart of how we are saved is matter.

Baptism is one of the Holy Mysteries
• The outward sign is easy to identify (water and words)
• The inward reality is the entry into Christ’s Body
• Christ was baptized. This is how he fully identified with our humanity. His dissent into the human condition.
• Christ directs us to baptize.
• Romans 6:3
• God is my Father. the Church is my mother. I came forth from the womb of the font (baptismal font)
• For the Orthodox, baptism is the beginning of a life of repentance.

I look for the resurrection of the dead:
• This is what’s in it for me…
• This is not just immortality of the soul, it is immortality of the person: body, soul, spirit.
• Immortality is NOT salvation. Immortality is NOT communion with God. You can live forever and be apart from God. Salvation is being in communion with God; this can start now!

Paul writes of One faith, One God, One Body, One baptism.
• The church from the beginning has said there is one way into the Church-baptism.


In the next day or so, I plan to blog a bit more about sacraments. Stay tuned! For now, I am off to Vespers.

Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us

Insert Brain Here.

So, I am a reader of RELEVANT magazine and sometimes like it, sometimes not so much. In the July-August 2009 issue, there is an article titled, "Insert Soul Here." The article deals with faith and doubt and admonishes the reader to doubt and question all things, and that such actions lead to true faith in God, rather than faith in our own faith.

While I agree with some of the basic points made by David Dark, I was floored by one of the final paragraphs. Here is how it reads:

"And far from being a tradition in which doubts and questions are suppressed in favor of uncritical, blind faith, Christianity is a robust culture in which anything can be asked and everything can be said. The call to worship is a call to complete candor and radical questioning. Questioning the way things are, the way we are and wondering about the way things ought to be. As G.K. Chesterton observed, the New Testament portrays a God who, by being wholly present in the dying cry of Jesus of Nazareth, even doubted and questioned Himself. (italics and bold mine) The summons to sacred questioning-like the call to honesty, like the call to prayer, is a call to be true and to let the chips fall where they may. Like the call to authenticity, it is deeper than the call to sign off on a checklist of particular tenets or beliefs. It is also more difficult."

This paragraph implies many disturbing things about our Lord. First let's put this in context. I can only assume that Mr. Dark is referring to Christ quoting the beginning of Psalm 22 at his crucifixion, "O God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" To say that this is the Creator of the Cosmos doubting in the love and salvation of the Father is, at best a gross misunderstanding of scripture, and at worse...
To stop reading, or thinking, of this Psalm after the first line is to miss the point of our Lord. Christ is quoting this Psalm to show his fulfillment of prophecy, as well as affirm his hope in God. Reading further the Psalmist proclaims, "You who fear the Lord, praise Him. All you seed of Jacob, glorify Him; fear Him, all you seed of Israel. For He has not despised nor scorned the beggar's supplication, nor has He turned away His face from Me (God did not turn his face away from Christ at the hour of his death!); and when I cried out to Him, He heard me."
I believe that the type of statements Mr. Dark has said lead to a misrepresentation of the nature of Christ. The Church has always taught that Christ is one person with two natures!
This means He is both fully God and fully Man. The only way Christ could doubt His divinity (don't forget that he is God) is to split him into two persons. To say that his wills were split between two persons, which is what I believe Mr. Dark is implying in his thought process, whether intentional or not, is to follow the way of the those who followed Nestorius in the 5th century and denied the fourth Ecumenical Council of the Church! There is nothing new under the sun and I pray we use our brains and not go the way of Emergent nonsense! Doctrine is critical and so is the preservation of what has been taught from the beginning (1 John 2:23-25).

Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy.

One Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church

More notes about the Creed:

And I believe in One holy Catholic and Apostolic Church

I believe
• Again meaning “I stake my life on this”
• “One” is used again for the third time. This is to exclude purality

Church
• Ecclesia – Called out ones (called out of worldliness)
• The Church is not a building, it is people
• The Church is visible. It is not an idea. It is not a set of theological beliefs.
• We come from the Jews and they were visible. You were either Jewish or you weren’t. You could circumscribe the community and you can circumscribe the church.
• We are the Body of Christ. Not the club of Christ or the Society of Christ, etc. We are living stones being built into a spiritual house.
• We are literally the flesh and bone of Christ. We are one flesh and there is one head controlling the body.
• Christ says to Saul, “Why are you persecuting me?” He did not say, “My followers”, or “My organization”, etc.
• We know where the church is. We do not know who will be in it.

Westminster Confession Chapter 25
• Of the church, the catholic or universal church which is invisible consists of the whole number of elect…
• The church are true believers scattered about through the various expressions of Christianity. The church is dismembered, you don’t even know where the lines are. It won’t be clear until the end of the age who is in the church.
• The Orthodox says No! That is not right! If the Head were circumscribable, it does violence to that idea if we say the church (the body) is not also circumscribable.

The Orthodox Church says she is the church not because of her beliefs, but because it is on her birth certificate!

The Major Departures
• Non-Chalcedonians (5th Century)
o Fourth Ecumenical Council (451) confirmed Christ’s dual nature. Nestorius was the chief heretic and says that Christ only had a divine nature.
o The Egyptian churches (now referred to as the Coptics) did not accept the decision of the council. They said that to believe Christ has 2 natures is blasphemous. They then departed from the Church.
o 1 John 2:19. People left the faith. They were not wished well, nor did the apostles pray that God would bless their expression of the faith.
• Latin
o Reformation

Holy Spirit and the Creed

More notes:

And I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, and Giver of Life, Who proceedeth from the Father, Who with the Father and Son together is worshipped and glorified, Who spake by the prophets

Acts 2
• Sound from heaven filled the whole house and divided tongues as of fire sat upon each of them.
• This happened on Pentecost
• Church says this was at least the 11. When they spill out into the streets, it is the Jewish feast of Pentecost. This was a reversal of the confusing of the languages at Babel.
• Now all the world can hear the proclamation of salvation.

God has revealed Himself as a communion of three persons sharing the essence of God.

The word “spirit”
• In Hebrew the word is “breath or air”
• Holy Spirit is the third person of God
• The Triune nature of God is foreshadowed throughout the OT.
o Genesis 1:26; Genesis 18 (2 angels and the Word); Psalm 33:6; Isaiah 6 (who will go for us); etc.

The person of the Son and the Person of the HS are each unique and have their source in the Father. I love you !!!!!!

Activity of the Holy Spirit
• Prior to descent on Christ, the Spirit would come upon particular people at particular times for particular tasks.
• However, there was a prophecy of a general outpouring. Joel 2:28; Ezekial 36:26
• Paraclete – Advocate, Helper, Counselor, Comforter

Christ’s dialogue with Nicodemus
• Water and the Spirit
• He is speaking of how the Spirit is the Giver of Life

The Holy Spirit is confessed as Lord just like Christ

Who proceeds from the Father
• John 15:26

Filioque clause (Which adds “and the Son” )is rejected by the Orthodox Church. This makes the Holy Spirit subordinate to the Father and Son
Rejected for Theological reasons
• St. Augustine was a great teacher and influential writer, but the Orthodox see some major errors in his theology: He described the Trinity as mutual love between the Father and the Son. He says this love is the Holy Spirit. This is rejected by the Orthodox Church
• This leads to depersonalization. God is three persons, not two persons and an emotion or feeling!

Rejected for historical reasons too
• Arianism (Christ is a created being) hung around longer in the West
• The West was beginning to be taken over by Barbaric tribes. These tribes which were converting held onto Arianism. This was another reason why it held in the West for so long.
• Filioque was inserted to prove that Christ is equal to the Father. However, this is added without the concensus of the universal church. It was rejected by the East because it makes the Holy Spirit less than the two others in the Godhead. The Bishop of Rome initially rejected the clause, but by the 9th century, it is accepted in Rome. This is a HUGE first issue for the Great Schism.
• This originated in Toledo, Spain circa 500 AD

Quotes I Love!!!

Here are some quotes that I have come to love:

Come, my Light, and illumine my darkness.
Come, my Life, and revive me from death.
Come, my Physician, and heal my wounds.
Come, Flame of divine love, and burn up the thorns
of my sins, kindling my heart with the flame of love.
Come, my King, sit upon the throne of my heart and reign there.
For thou alone art my King and my Lord.
-St. Dimitrii of Rostov


O Trinity, uncreated and without beginning,
O undivided Unity, three and one,
Father, Son and Spirit, a single God:
Accept this our hymn from tongues of clay
As if from mouths of Flame.
-From the Lenten Triodion

God's name is not known, it is wondered at.
-St. Gregory of Nyssa

Again we pray that as thou didst deem a lowly cave to be a fit dwelling for the Lord Almighty, so thou wouldst ever make our souls and bodies temples worthy to contain the uncontainable God.
-From Paraklesis service from the Feast of the Nativity

The blameless Lady was amazed at the height of the mystery, in truth past speech, that covered the heavens with knowledge, and said, "The heavenly throne is consumed in flames as it holds thee; how is it, then, that I carry thee, my Son?"
-Also from Paraklesis of the Feast of the Nativity

Redemption and the Creed

It's been a while since my last post. So sorry. I promise to be more regular from now on...

These notes are from about a month ago. This class really blew my mind. I feel as though my eyes are being opened to the true reality that exists in Christ. I have been a believer for about 9 years and so many things that didn't seem to fit are piecing together.

The one thing that stood out most to me this week (if I had to choose one) is the difference in the East and West in regards to who or what is the great enemy. The west would say (traditionally) that the great enemy is Satan. While he is the deceiver and liar, the enemy Christ came to defeat was death! He has entered into it and conquered it for us.

Here are the notes:

…And was crucified fro us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered and was buried;
And the third day He rose again, according to the scriptures.

Redemption
• Dictionary: To compensate for the bad faults of something. To gain or regain possession of something in exchange for payment.
• Comes from middle English. Means to buy back
• Who did Christ pay the price to?

Why did He do it? Why did He come to earth?
• 4 Descents of Christ (4 icons)
o First descent is in the form of a person. Icon of the Nativity.
• It is a theological statement
• Notice the cave appears to be in the heart of the mountain. Somehow it is central. There is darkness in the cave.
• He is sort of wrapped as a mummy and his manger is as a coffin. Jesus, Who did not have to die, came in order to die. It is seen even from His birth.
• He was not under the sentence of death, but came into it.
o Second Descent is into the waters of the Jordan. Icon of the Theophany
• Crucial turning point in His life. He is about the age of 30
• Not much known or recorded prior to this time.
• Prior to this time He did not publicly appear as Christ.
• John the Baptist baptizes him in the water of baptism in a sinner’s baptism. John’s baptism was for repentance.
• John then points Him out as the Lamb of God. The One Who’s throat needs to be slit to spill his blood.
• Orthodox teach that it is at His baptism that He takes on the sins of the world.
o Third descent is into Death. Icon of Extreme Humility
• This is about the condition of death and our own death
• Christ is standing in a tomb. Our tomb. He has been there already and is in a sense waiting there for us.
• He takes upon Himself our death.
• John 11: raising of Lazarus shows us that death is not how it is supposed to be. We are here seeing our Lord’s response to death and its unnaturalness. In His death, Jesus Christ enters into that cursedness and death and descends into our condition.
o Fourth descent into the dead (or place of the dead) Icon of the Resurrection
• Christ descended to the dead (Hades or Sheol). This is where Christ went.
• We see his victory after his descent to the dead.
• In the icon, He is pulling up Adam and Eve out of the grave. He is Radiant.
• Death is transformed from emptiness into the means by which those who belong to Christ pass into eternal communion with Christ and the Father, for which they were created.

1 Cor 15:3
• I delivered to you that which I have also received.

On another note, Ashley made Amish Friendship Bread and it is delicious! I love her so (I promise it's not just because of her culinary skills)!

Holy God. Holy Mighty. Holy Immortal. Have mercy on us!

Councils and such

This past week's class was a brief overview of the 7 ecumenical councils of the Church. Here is a little overview of my notes:


Councils of the Church

1. Nicea 325
• Nicene Creed in most of its form
• Controversy was Arianism
o Christ not equal with Father

2. Constantinople 381
• In time between, Arianism was at its height
• Creed put in its final form

3. Ephesus 431
• Reaffirmed the Virgin is Theotokos
• Nestorius said she was not Theotokos…christotokos

4. Chalcedon 451
• Important definition of who Christ is
• Monophysite heresy. Mono-one Physite-nature
o Said the natures were some how melded together
• Produced the definition of the Union of the Divine and Human Natures in the Person of Christ

5. Constantinople (second) 553
• Reaffirmed 4th council

6. Constantinople (third) 680
• Heresy of Monothelite. Only one will
• Council said He had to have 2 wills. What has not been assumed has not been healed.
• St. Maximos the Successor
o Tongue cut out. Hands mamed.

7. Nicea (second) 787
• Heresy of iconoclasm
• Icons bear witness to the fact that God became material and took on flesh.


Apart from this, I have been reading For the Life of the World, by Alexander Schmemann. It is a book that describes a sacramental worldview. Living out our lives as priests of the earth and offering everything back to God as he had planned from the beginning. It is very interesting and not very long...whew!

Lord have mercy

Rob Bell and relative theology...

Here are some notes and thoughts from the inquirer's class a couple of weeks ago. It is so great to hear the creed explained in the same context that it was formed.

Creed: The Son of God, the Only-begotten
• John 1:18, 3:16
• Christ is not a creature
• However, the Father is the source, who is unoriginate
• Father and Son share the same life and love: perfectly.
• The only difference between Father and Son is that the Father is the Father and the Son is the Son
• He is the Word of God. This is synonymous with Begotten
• Speech is a symbol of our uniqueness. Matt 12:34. We speak out of the abundance of our hearts. It is wonderful to think that God wanted us to communicate not only with each other, but also with Him

• He is the perfect icon of the Father (icon of the Father). The uncreated Light (the transfiguration)
• He exists in the eternal NOW of the Father. Consubstantial. One Essence. Homoousias.
• Col 1:15

St. Athanasius has become more and more interesting and important to me. It is amazing to read about his life. Here are a couple of bullet points about him:
• Bishop in Alexandria
• Strong opponent to Arianism: Arius was a priest
• Often it was him against the “world”
• Martyred by being eaten alive by lions


An interesting thought that has been popping up in my mind is the unity of the Church. We know the passage in John when Jesus prays for the unity of all believers. I recently noticed something that seemed important to me in this prayer. He asks for all believers to be one as He and the Father are one. This makes me think that the "unity" of the Church should reflect the unity shared between Christ and the Father.

What is the nature of Their relationship? They are unified not just in thought and expression, but also in doctrine. Christ only did and said what he saw and heard the Father do and say. This makes me think that the Church should be unified in doctrine and worship! This also makes ask, "If there is no unbroken doctrinal chain back to the apostles, how do we decide what is essential doctrine that unifies?" There is a HUGE difference between oneness pentecostalism and trinitarian theology. Can these two groups truly be unified?

Who decides what are the essentials of the Christian faith? Let me leave you with a quote from Rob Bell. You decide if it's important or not. We can't sit by while people teach relativism and a social justice gospel:
“What if tomorrow someone digs up definitive proof that Jesus had a real, earthly, biological father named Larry, and archeologists find Larry’s tomb and do DNA samples and prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the virgin birth was really just a bit of mythologizing the Gospel writers threw in to appeal to the followers of the Mithra and Dionysian religious cults that were hugely popular at the time of Jesus, whose gods had virgin births? But what if, as you study the origin of the word ‘virgin’ you discover that the word ‘virgin’ in the gospel of Matthew actually comes from the book of Isaiah, and then you find out that in the Hebrew language at that time, the word ‘virgin’ could mean several things. And what if you discover that in the first century being ‘born of a virgin’ also referred to a child whose mother became pregnant the first time she had intercourse? What if that spring were seriously questioned? Could a person keep on jumping? Could a person still love God? Could you still be a Christian? Is the way of Jesus still the best possible way to live? Or does the whole thing fall apart?…If the whole faith falls apart when we reexamine and rethink one spring, then it wasn’t that strong in the first place, was it?"

Lord have mercy

I read some awesome commentary on Matthew 13:3-23. It is the parable of the sower. Here is what Clark Carlton says in his book, The Life: The Orthodox Doctrine of Salvation:

"God wants all men to e saved. He offers salvation to all. Yet it is up to us whether or not His grace will find fertile soil in our hearts in which to grow and bear fruit. Prayer, fasting, vigils and all of the other works that the Church prescribes [the idea of the Church as a hospital administering Grace to the Faithful] are not attempts to win God's favor, but rather they are means of preparing the soil of our heart to receive and keep the grace of God."

I thought that was a great thing.

Keep on truckin

At the last inquirer's class, we talked about the Son section of the Nicene Creed. This was very interesting. After discussing the importance of the word Lord, we looked at the three types of anointed people in the Old Testament: Kings, Priests and Prophets.

We looked at the symbolism of pouring oil over the head. It is interesting to know how important oil was to our ancestors. It was such a symbol of life, since it had so many varied uses. The anointing was a symbol of God's grace and richness being poured out on an individual.

• Kings
Before exodus, Jews were ruled by Judges. God was their King.
Jews start noticing that all the other cultures have an earthly king. They wanted to be like them.
Samuel warns them that they will be sorry for it.
Saul was the first king of Israel. Samuel enthrones him by taking a vile of olive oil and pours it on Saul’s head. After this, there is a promise that a greater kingship was coming.
• Priests
Function to be a type of mediator between God and people. They gave offerings and sacrifices. It was a relationship of life and death between God and man.
The priest’s ability to reconcile between God and man was limited in the extent and the duration.
Foreshadows the perfect priest. The one who will offer the perfect sacrifice once and for all
• Prophets
Anointed by the pouring out of the Holy Spirit. That way they could say, “Thus saith the Lord.”
Not necessarily foretelling, but rather more often it was forthtelling: telling God’s will.
They were full of truth, yet they were limited. It was partial revelation.
When Messiah comes, all people will be taught by God. This is the perfect Messiah. John 8:28

Well, we'll see what this week holds.

Lord have mercy

February 20

Well, the inquirer's class is going well. I am learning tons. We spent the class 2 weeks ago discussing how the scriptures came to us and what version the Orthodox Church uses as its authorized version.

Last week, we started an in depth look at the Nicene Creed. Here is a quick copy and paste of the notes I took concerning the history of the first ecumenical council. I hope they make sense:

First council was in Nicea around 325. Nicea was just outside of Constantinople. This was the new seat of the Roman Empire. Rome wasn’t so safe, so the seat of Roman power was transferred east to Constantinople as the capital of the Roman Empire.

Bishops are summoned to Nicea by Emperor Constantine. Edict of Milan (313 after his conversion) said Christianity is no longer an illegal religion. Sort of called because of political unrest. Constantine wanted to make sure the Pax Romana was continued.

Many of these bishops come to Nicea maimed. Many were persecuted under Diocletian, so you can imagine their reluctance. Constantine's assignment to the bishops was to have them state what has been believed from the beginning. So, for the first time in Christian history the church was able to get together and state what had been taught from the beginning. Also, the faith needed to be stated in a way that all could understand and there needed to be clarity concerning the heresy of Arius.

In 381, second ecumenical council, held in Constantinople. The final touches were then put on the creed. This has been the church’s basic statement of faith since. Also referred to sometimes as the symbol of faith.

Anyway, after we looked at the history, we took about and hour and dissected the first 5 words of the creed: I believe in one God...here are my notes about that. If you need clarity on anything, let me know:

I Believe In One God
• This is an initiation statement (I)

• Believe has many connotations in our modern world. I believe in you. Do you believe in the easter bunny? Even the demons believe, and tremble (James). This really doesn’t make them any better than a demon. This must mean more than mere intellectual acknowledgement of a fact. It’s meaning is to entrust oneself or to hold dear. Or I give my heart to you. I make a commitment to you. I am staking my life on one God. This makes us different from the demons.

• One God. This is the God who revealed Himself to Abram. The one God of Judaism. We know this one God is made known to us in the person of Jesus Christ. What the jews gave to the world was Monotheism. No other people of note were making such a claim. For most people, the more gods the better. Deut. 6:4.

o Atributes: Good, Merciful, Holy, Eternal, True, Beautiful. These are grossly inadequate. I think about God with a horribly perverted tool, my brain. It’s a mess! Am I just praying to a big version of myself?

o Eternal: always existent. Dwelling outside of time. Time is a creation. The eternal is outside the created. The eternal now. That is God’s place. There is no past, no future… kairos time as opposed to chronos time. When he reveals Himself to Moses, he is I AM WHO I AM. John 8:52 Abraham rejoiced to see His day! In Icons of our LORD, in his halo, or nimbus, letter are omocron, omega and new. Translated they say, I AM…ha own (pronunciation)

o Holy: Agios, transliterated greek. A/GIOS. “Gios” means of the earth or of the world. “A” is a negation. So literally it is not of this world. Set Apart.

• Response of the Orthodox to Holiness?
Isaiah 6. Fell on his face before the LORD. Spoon used for the mysteries is a very similar word.
Luke 5. Fell on his face before Christ.
Revelation 1:17. Fell at his feet as dead.
The labor of prostration. Falling on your face. It’s not only good towards Him, but it is good for us to know who we are.


Until next time...
Lord have mercy

Saturday Morning

Well, I learned about something completely new. The miracle of the Holy Fire. This is really quite incredible. I can't believe that I have been a Christian for 8 years and was raised in a Christian home/environment and never heard of this in my entire life until last night. Check these links out:

http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/general/holyfire.aspx

http://www.holyfire.org/eng/

The Journey

"Faith, without knowledge, is superstition and knowledge, without faith, is empty philosophy." That is quite a statement. This statement is at the core of my spiritual journey. After a nasty divorce and having the foundations of my faith shaken, I needed a deeper look at what the roots of my faith are. I am searching for the deepest expression of Christ that exists. Some may say this is a fruitless journey because everyone has a different interpretation of what that may be. However, I believe that Christ will not (and has not) let the gates of hell prevail against His Church and I intend to find a rooted Faith that is not only historical, but alive and filled with wonder, awe and above all, Christ Himself.

Presently, I attend a non-denominational charismatic church that is full of very loving people and has a good sense of community. However, over the last 4-5 years, I have been becoming more acquainted with the Orthodox Church. I am drawn to its reverence, holiness, tradition, historicity and rhythm. I have attended many Vespers services and one Pascha service. I have lots of questions, and lots of people on both sides (protestant and orthodox) that are willing to give me their answers. I believe that the Holy Spirit will lead me into all truth and am excited about the journey and the destination. I am trying to be full of expectancy and not expectations as I travel this road as a man full of sin and needing mercy.

I am about to begin going to inquirer classes at St. John's Orthodox Church in Memphis and will be sharing questions and answers and welcome input!

My first general observation will be this:
So many Protestant Christians will openly admit that they have brothers and sisters in the Roman Catholic Church, as well as the Orthodox Church. Why is it then that if someone investigates these other traditions, they are almost always seen as falling away from the faith? This doesn't make sense.

Question: What is the essence and nature of worship as a Christian? What should it include? What should our musical worship be like?

That's all for now.

Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. Both now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Lord have mercy