Dead Already

Dead already.  I have been thinking about this for a few weeks.  We, as Christians say that we have been crucified and buried with Christ at baptism.  We die Him in a death like His and  when we come up out of the waters and  we are live in Christ.  We live no longer for our own petty desires, but to strive to live as Christ on earth, to be Christ-bearers in the world.  If, in fact, we are dead to this world, to our sins, and alive in Christ why then do we seek out other things to distract us from the Gospel, from the life-giving, love creating words that we love one another just as Christ loved us?  I think of the Band of Brothers episode when a solider was so scared he could not move and many other soldiers came to him to tell him how to behave in a war zone.  Finally, a soldier who had displayed amazing courage, told him that he was looking at it wrong, and that he was already dead.  Then he could go do the work of a soldier.  I wonder if we think of ourselves as already dead what we could achieve in truth and love.  Would we be afraid to reach out to our brother who suffers if we already knew we did not have to worry about keeping everything together?  If we were not afraid of losing our home and security, would we reach out to those all around us who suffer in silence or right out loud? As we approach the death and resurrection of Christ this weekend, as we travel under that winding sheet and  and kiss the gospel, maybe we can remember that we are already dead, and alive in Christ.  If we are alive in Christ, let us embrace each other even those who hate us and forgive all by the resurrection of Christ.

I'm So Fired Up

Tomorrow is the big one......It is our first big time presentation in front of folks I don't know.  Having said that, I can't wait.  I have always been like that.  Opening night could not come soon enough as far as I was concerned.  I always just wanted to be on the stage doing the thing.  For those who know me, this might be a strange thing to find out about me.  I have a softer voice than most folks.  I always worked on projection of my voice.   I know I can have volume, but making it work has sometimes been a challenge for me. My neighbor in Hamilton says that everyone in the neighborhood knew I could be loud.  Having kids will do this to a person. At any rate, tomorrow, I get to stand and speak about things dear to me, and things I know are important for folks to hear.  No one wants to talk about death.   The industry knows it, and has made it their business to keep folks from exorcising their rights under the law.  In Illinois, the industry has lobbied to have the law change in 2009 so that we no longer have a say as to who can handle our body in death.  That is so not right.  It is so wrong,  I wonder why there are not riots in the street, but then again......no one wants to talk about death.  They can do what they want and most of us follow along because we don't know we can do something different.  So, I am fired up. 

No Words

Just a Word About Lent

Sin.....A big word, and in some circles, a very bad word.  It's a word that has suffered from popularity and from disuse.  I like the Orthodox view that sin as us missing the mark.  We are off target and need to aline the site better, perhaps, to hit it straight on.  In Lent we are asked to repent, and try hitting the target better, which might be why we are to give alms more, and try loving those around us more.  Lent is like a little school for us to learn to rely on God, and love our brother more.  We have to wake up to the truth and action of the Gospel.  Lent is just the time to start moving toward that target.  We get all our tools ready: fasting, prayer, alms giving, and we go out to love.

Preparing for Great Lent

Each year, I am struck by the wisdom of the church for easing us into Great Lent.  We are not thrown into it without preparation and warning.  Sometimes I think that Zacchaeus Sunday wakes us from the sleep and laziness of the festivals of the incarnation.  We move from the party time into a wake up Sunday were we are reminded that the Lord will come, and maybe unexpectedly.  I love Zacchaeus Sunday.  I start to pay attention.

Not only are we warned that we are entering the Great Lent by a series of "Wake-Up Sundays"  that culminates in to the Expulsion from the Garden,  where we had better wake up and start the great exercise, but we enter also train ourselves physically.  We start to prepare to fast, by having the fast free week, then a week were we dip into the fast just a bit.  We then have the meat free week, and finally The Fast begins.  As I said last year, we begin where we end, in the glory of the resurrection of Christ.  How wise it all is to me.  The deck is stacked, we are to all end in the light of the Risen Lord, so there's no need to despair.  The Fast is never to be a chore, but a joyful preparation to receive the joy of Pascha. 

The work of The Fast is so much more than controlling the mouth.  I, for one, find controlling what I put in it and what comes out of it to be a great exercise.   I like to shoot off my mouth from time to time, what my mother calls being smarty pantsy.  It is a great temptation for me.  The other part of The Fast is to pray more and give alms.  We are to let go of our egos, and turn toward The Living God for the fullness of life.  That requires us to love those he has given us in our life.  (Another task I find difficult.)  Sure, I find loving those who are a delight to be easy.  Those who challenge me in love are those I have difficulty because for one reason or another they threaten some part of me.  I am not asked to love those who are easy.  I am asked to love my enemies.  What a better time to practice this than in the season of The Great Fast where I can put away the extra distracting things, focus on what I am doing to pollute the world and make an effort to repent and change, and not for myself alone but for my brother. Praying for those I find difficult, so my heart is changed toward them might be the only action I can do at first.  Sometimes it takes awhile to turn the heart to flesh.  God willing, it will.  So wise is the Church.  How hard is it to enter the season of fasting without first preparing for it! I am grateful for the wisdom to give us a chance to prepare and enter into the joy of the fast awake and willing.

The Begining of the Begining

And then we enter Lent.  Many might remember the last Lent.  Most might not remember for us it was the Lent that wasn't.  We spent all our time at the tomb, and very little time at the Feast.  David's mother's household things were packed and moved on Holy Saturday.  I remember standing on our back porch in Hamilton at almost Midnight and felt the hush of Pascha. We went the next morning to the Western Rite Monastery where we sang Western Easter hymns.  This year we enter Lent, and we are in a totally place: physically, spiritually and emotionally.  Every Lent and Pascha brings a particular gift.  I look forward to the journey to arrive on the Holy Day Without Evening of the Pascha of our Lord where we remember that we belong to each other through His Death and Resurrection.  I don't just mean those who believe,  I mean all mankind.  Such and awesome journey were we learn again to rely on the Lord.  Blessed beginning of the beginning to you all and remember this week we eat meat on Friday.

The Incarnation and Love





I woke up this morning thinking about the incarnation.  I know how that sounds.  This does not happen to me often.  I am not always thinking on such high ideals.  So much rattles around in my head, it's a wonder something true gets through.  Anyway, I was thinking about the incarnation and how God goes to all this trouble to become a man so that we can become more like him.  I was thinking, as I put my feet to the floor, what do I do to honor such an act of love.  Here is this God who has and is everything, He empties himself to become a human baby boy to die on the cross, and what am I doing to show love and respect for such an act.  I was hard pressed to come up with a good answer.  I remember hearing Fr. Alexander Golizin speak once in Great Lent about Christ dying on the cross, and how we need only die a little. I believe he meant die to our passions and that which keeps us from loving God and our brother.  Maybe if I could just love a little bit, that would honor the incarnation and the love of God for us.  Just a little bit.  How can I ever hope to love as God loves?  Christ is Born!  Glorify Him!