Call no man father

Interesting article disputing Protestant misgivings over the title Father.

not a victim

I have a lot running through my head after our catechism this morning.

We looked at our icon of the Nativity of Christ closely.

Notice the wrappings of the Christ child. These are grave wrappings. Notice where He is laid, not in a light-illumined, hay filled manger, but upon the tomb. Christ was born to die. He was not born to live, as we are, but to die.

Our priest spoke about how Western Christianity views Christ as a victim, but He was not a victim. He was in control of his crucifixion and of His sacrifice. As we say in the Liturgy, He is both the High Priest and the sacrifice. But what does this mean? We discussed this today, and particularly what is on my mind is a relatively new concept. It's not exactly entirely new to me, but I guess I should say unexplored. Everything I have received in Protestant churches has been scratching the surface. What I receive in Orthodox teaching is full of depth and light. Father asked us what redemption is to us. We gave such answers as we knew, or explained what we had previously been taught.

Here is the jist of it, as eloquently as I can manage:

Christ died to trample death by death, as we sing. This is the thing we should focus on. It is not that Christ came to wash us clean from our sins, or to defeat evil, or to make God like us again. What was redeemed was death itself. Christ came into the world to die and in the death of His Divine Humanity, humanity was sanctified and will be resurrected. Christ did not die to pay a debt we sinners owed to God, or a debt owed to the evil one. He died so that death would not be our end, and that eternity would be possible for the souls which He created. We had brought death upon ourselves, and death became nothing through His death and resurrection.

Christ didn't die for me. He didn't die for you. He died to trample down death. His Passion was voluntary, He was in control of the Resurrection, and as a result, upon those in the tombs He bestowed, and is bestowing, life.

Help rebuild St. Nicholas Church!

The above photo is St. Nicholas Church moments before it was destroyed.

Read about St. Nicholas church here. This church must be rebuilt! Support it in whatever way you can, even if it's just spreading the word.

This isn't about the building of a mosque, which has been huge in media. This is about a church which should have already been rebuilt, before any new worship building is constructed. St. Nicholas's history of 91 years at the site deserves precedence.

Chickens

I am going to get chickens, I think. Under 4. Just enough to provide us with eggs, but not too stinky or noisy because of our neighborhood. Surely, if our neighbors put up with goats they will put up with chickens.

First, I have to build a chicken tractor. I won't be buying one, since they are absurdly expensive for such a simple structure. I am a wee bit handy. My dad is a woodworker, and I helped him out all the time in his shop as a kid. If I run into a really confusing problem I can call him and I know he'll have a simple answer.

I have looked extensively at plans for a coop. The tractor, which is moveable seems extremely advantageous for the small scale chicken owner. I don't want to do wheels, as the plans I have seen with wheels are more complicated than I have the tools/time for. Instead, I want to build a tractor with lifting handles. If I get lightweight wood the weight should be manageable, and if it's a little heavy (which as small as I'm thinking it should not be) my son or husband can help me move it. I read the tractor should be moved every two or three days, and can be left up to a week if you're ok with the chickens scratching to bare ground, like in a garden. They're like natural tillers! Not to mention fertilizers. They also eat unwanted pests like grubs and snails and the like.

Anyway, I am inclined to try to build a triangular tractor, with a run in the middle and a nesting box and roost on one side, with hinged access for collecting eggs. The other side

(think ---nesting box>/\--run--/\<---feeder cover)

will have the water and feeder inside in order to keep them dry. The feeder side will need hinged access as well, and I have seen a hinged door on the run for access to the chickens as well which I think is a good idea. I had hens growing up and they are stubborn, so if we need to catch one the access door would be helpful.

If all goes as planned, we should have chickens within a few months. This plan might be aborted till spring if something else comes up or I need to focus on school...we'll see. I have a friend who has chickens and is helping me figure out what type of chicken does best here in the south.

My husband is a police officer. I saw this short video recently. I've seen it before. What I didn't know is that it's narrated by Paul Harvey, talk radio legend, whose father was a police officer that was killed when he was only a small boy after four men tried to rob him off duty.

Policemen

musings

I am sitting here in the car lane at the elementary school. Absentmindedly observing the fifty some or more butterflies that are flitting about in the field next to the school. I see after-school and extended care kids getting into daycare buses, the same kids whose parents dropped them off a half hour before the bell rang today. I suppose they won't get picked up from after care for a few more hours.

I feel in a bit of a time crunch picking my kids up and having time with them only till eight thirty, which we have declared school night bedtime. I don't know how any parenting gets done when you have the early and extended care situation going. I think it's horrific. That sounds impossibly judgemental, and I know a lot of parents dont't have an easy choice there. If it ever gets to that, I will live in a trailer before I only see my kids to wake them up and put them to sleep. I have quit jobs and lost income before to be at home with my kids, and I'd do it again.

It is a tradgedy, and I am full of sadness for those families. Homeschooling, it's easy to be idealistic and not notice the rest of the neighborhood. The school our kids attend now is small and operates on a neighborhood principle-the kids going here live closeby. I see five year olds holding their younger siblings hand, in this big, crime ridden city, no parent in sight, standing waiting for the bus, and afterward getting on a boxy white daycare bus.

Family in this sense is merely a business arrangment. These students I speak of are not the majority it seems, thank God. But even thirty kids is too many for my perspective. Lord, have mercy.

Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear. Except a creature be part coward it is not a compliment to say it is brave.

~Mark Twain, Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar, 1894

"Organic" food has also changed because the word "organic" is no longer synonymous with locally grown food. In fact, we actually see large corporate farms replacing smaller independently-run farms. California's $400 million organic produce market is now controlled by five massive organic farms, and Horizon Organic controls over 70% of our nation's organic milk market, with over 30% of its milk coming from two factory-style dairy farms with approximately 5000 cows each. This is far from the ideal of supporting small and local farmers.

-from a paper I had to read for my course recently. Hmm..

I get these awful migraines. Today, I was out with my son buying some groceries and got sick. It's so ugly and just overcomes me. I can't think, and feel like I'm unable to draw a full breath. I have severe visual disturbances that scare me. My arm might go numb. Behind my eyes I feel a terrible sharp pain. Then I get nauseous, so I can't keep medications down. I've tried several different medications over the years and nothing is that helpful. I still have to suffer through hours (usually around 4) of severe pain.

I actually haven't had one in a good number of months. Today a wave of pain hit me out of nowhere and I had to sit down in the middle of a grocery isle and was scared I wouldn't be able to drive my son home. I made it home and my husband immediately had to take over everything so I could go in my room and burrow under pillows. I always try to go to sleep, mostly to escape the pain, but I end up getting too nauseous and have to get up. My doctor has no idea why this happens, especially because it is random. I've had migraines since I was a small girl. I remember coming home from school because of them in elementary school.

I have prayed for the burden of these headaches to be taken away from me before. But today remembered the saint who is honored on July 27th, my husband's birth day. I prayed to Saint Panteleimon, who I recently learned about. I am serious when I say that I was despairing because after almost three hours the skull-splitting pain had not abated, even though I took strong medicines. Labor pains were not as bad as my headaches. Then, I started praying to Saint Panteleimon. I re-read the story of his life aloud and sang the Apolytikion and Kontakion. Beth, my newly seven-year-old daughter, is the best caregiver for the sick in our household, and brought me a small icon of the Theotokos enthroned to hold as well. I pulled up the above picture of the wonder-working icon of Saint Panteleimon on my laptop and sat it next to me.

I was feeling a lot better within minutes.

Apolytikion

Panteleimon, saintly champion and healer,

intercede with our merciful God to grant our souls remission of sins.

Kontakion

O Champion and Martyr of God,

imitating the Merciful and bearing from Him the grace of healing,

cure our spiritual ills by your prayers,

and set free from the temptation of the eternal enemy,

those who ceaselessly cry out, "Save us, O Lord."
 
 

I would love it if...

..you dear Orthodox women (or men!) out there would recommend something new and fun (but inexpensive to make) that is vegan. I've got plenty of soup recipes. I'm good on breads, too. I'm going to try a cheeseless pizza this fast, too. I worked in an Italian restaurant that was pretty traditional and they had several pizzas without cheese or meat.

Thanks to anyone that takes a moment.