Lazarus

Wow- almost four years since the last update! I pray you will forgive me yet more poetry, but this one I've had chambered seems especially fitting on Lazarus Saturday during Covid-19:

Lazarus

My Lord, why do you tarry?

Your servant lies upon his bed close to death.

Mary sits beside me weeping

While Martha busies with making 

Ointments and stews.

And is there some sin that delays Your coming?

Might we lack faith in calling You here

When the Gentile knew You could heal from afar?

His servant healed in the very hour of Your speaking.

Might pride have slowed your journey?

The Centurion knew himself to be sinful

And so asked not that You enter under his roof,

Yet we have had You here many times over.

Did Mary sin, breaking the flask

And daring to touch Your feet with her hair?

Other women quailed to touch the hem 

Of Your robe woven of one piece.

Did Martha’s pettiness halt Your step?

Not realizing that Mary chose the needful thing

Until You chided her for her distraction

With the many cares of this World.

My Lord, could you but be here

Surely I would rise from this bed.

But my sight grows dim and I feel myself

Fighting for the breath You so freely gave Adam.

I can faintly hear Mary sobbing

And Martha’s ointments start to 

Smell of Myrhh and heavy spices.

And I feel myself start to feel no more.

My Lord, had You been here,

I would not have died.

In the land of shadows I find myself

And am met by Father Abraham.

Isaac stares at me with doubt.

For at the last hour an angel saved him from death,

Whose father had shown You hospitality but once,

Yet I had You at my house often.

Jacob looks to me with shame in his eyes,

He who wrestled with You until dawn.

Yet I embraced You and offered You drink,

And we spent many long nights talking.

Moses wonders what I had done wrong,

He who could only see You from the back,

While I had many times gazed in Your eyes,

What sin left me abandoned and alone?

Even John seems disheartened,

Holding his head in his hands.

For surely I was Your surest friend,

Are You the One, or should he have sought another?

I turn my face away from them,

My cheeks would burn had I still blood.

And as I begin to despair the ground trembles,

As we hear You call, “Lazarus, come forth!”

Water Song

Yet more poetry. Perhaps I should change the title of the blog!

The Fisher King

Another poem, written around the same time as Prodigal. I had been tempted to work more on this one at the time, but reviewing it, I think it's the perfect length. If I ever do a long-form treatment of The Matter of Britain, it will probably be prose.

A Little Lyricism/A Little Night Music

So, I've got a new song up on Soundcloud. I don't usually mention stuff like that because it would take this little barely existent blog off mission. Bonus points to those who can tell me why this belongs on "Music and Orthodoxy".

You get one hint:

A Little Poetry

A Little Poetry

Hey - a new post thingy. Imagine that.

So, instead of trying anything deep or profound, I decided to aim low. Enjoy.

The Giving of Alms

I apologize if I get a tad bit political here.

This is part one of a series of at least two posts on almsgiving. In this first post I will stress the need to give alms and in the next I will meditate on the "hows" of giving alms in a "cashless" society.

Taking care of the poor is one of the foremost duties of a Christian. Long before Christ Himself had anything to say on the subject, the responsibilities of those who have to those who have not were laid forth in the Law. The most often repeated accusation of the Old Testament prophets to the Hebrew people was not their continual fall into idolatry but their refusal to take care of the poor. Our Lord had much to say about caring for the poor - to the point of identifying the poor with Himself (Matthew 25:40). The office of the deacon was instituted primarily for the caring of the poor. St Paul tells us that those who care for the poor "entertain angels unaware" (Hebrews 13:2). The Church Fathers stressed caring for the poor so often that it would be wearisome to hunt down all the citations related to the topic (St John Chrysostom's "On Wealth and Poverty" would be a good place to start). A responsibility to the needy is stressed every Lent for Orthodox Christians. For Western Christians, one can point to St. Francis of Assisi, Martin Luther, or John Calvin as giving rather strong-worded exhortations on the responsibility of the Christian to the poor.

One of the most used buzz-phrases in modern Christianity is the "personal relation with Christ." While this is most often used to refer to prayer and Bible reading, what Christ Himself tells us (again, in the 25th chapter of Matthew) is that in order to have a personal relationship with Him we must have a personal relationship with others. How we treat family is how we treat Christ. How we treat fellow parishioners is how we treat Christ. And how we treat the poor is how we treat Christ.

Our responsibility to the poor is our own, each as an individual, and not something to be passed on to others. Giving to one's parish is indeed a good thing. Donating to a charity is good as well. Regardless of ones politics, one must admit that those who support welfare have their hearts in the right place. But our personal responsibility to the poor is just that, personal. It is about encountering, not organizations, but persons. A "charity" is an organization, run by people, who may or may not use the funds you donate in the ways you intend. True charity is yourself giving to others out of love - the same love the Only Begotten Son showed when He gave Himself for the world.

This is not to downplay tithing or contributing to charity or voting for a pro-welfare candidate. If your parish has an outreach to the poor, by all means contribute. But this contribution does not absolve you of the personal interaction of giving money to someone who asks for it. That is the point of almsgiving - not setting up some arbitrary monetary limit based upon your income - but personally interacting with another human being who, for whatever reason, is less fortunate than you.

Even if you don't currently have the money to give, give your time. Listen to their story. Pay attention, don't just duck your head and walk past - otherwise you are ignoring not some random stranger but Christ Himself.

Don't judge - that is, don't write off their hard luck to personal choices, no matter how obvious you think those choices might be. So they might spend any money they receive on alcohol or crack. By the standard which you judge you will be judged (Matthew 7:2). How much have you spent on things you don't "need"? How much credit card debt do you currently have? Sure, your poor choices might not have led to you sleeping on the streets, but given the wrong circumstances are you so entirely sure that you'd be able to focus only on "necessities" and not spend at least a little money on frivolous things? Should Christ judge you for every poor choice you make, even (or especially) those not related to money?

If someone asks, and you have the money, for the love of God (literally) give it. If you happen not to be carrying cash but have food, give it. If those options fail, tell that person of some place that will help - if your  parish happens to run an outreach tell them of that. Should you happen to not know of anything, give your time. Acknowledge the person is alive, that they are indeed a person, that because they are a person they are worth listening to, see the image of God in them. Give what you can, even if the only thing you have to offer is a sympathetic ear. "Silver and gold" you might not have (Acts 3:6), but God has most assuredly provided you with something you can give that will benefit the person asking (except for tracts. Those usually do more harm than good), and by giving of what you have you are giving back to God.

The Whys and Whats of Truth

Okay, so for a long overdue update to this little corner of the blogosphere I'm going to cheat a little. This post was originally a reply to a question on the OrthodoxChristianity.net forum, the original thread of which can be found here. As will be seen, this is a fairly old (in internet terms) piece, which was (in a redacted form answering only the second part of the question) posted to my Facebook account. I recently came across it again while searching through my online profile in response to a school assignment on how we present ourselves online, and decided to add it to this more search-friendly venue. I have also taken some time to add to and edit the original post. The middle portion is entirely new.

In Response to the Question “How does one differentiate what is true and what is not?”

In some cases we can ascertain what is true by mere observation: 2+2= 4 because every time you take two of something and add another two you end up with four.  This is good for physicists and forensic analysts, assuming all the data is correct (i.e. assuming cops haven't planted that bloody glove or that "universal constants" are in fact universal and not a localized phenomenon of our area of the solar system).

The Stereotypical Conversion Narrative

I promised myself I would never do this. Every Orthodox convert who starts a blog feels the need to go on about their "journey". It's not that I have not been edified by posts such as this, but I always felt my conversion was so typical that any story of it would only be like saying "me too!" The atypical elements are such that I could never recommend the path I took to an inquirer or catachumen. So, I promised myself I would never write the "how I converted post."

A Little Fiction

Back in May I had a class in mythology. One of our assignments was to write a creation myth of our very own. As a little of my current online reading had brought the story back to my mind earlier today, I have decided to share it here:

Icons and Desktops

As I was wasting time waiting to hear back from my team this week before finishing up our project for class I happened across a blog post from a few months back to be found here: http://luxchristi.wordpress.com/2012/05/25/the-end-of-catholicity-ii/
The entry itself is very well written, but I found something toward the end that I had to take exception to. There is a little line, buried in all the rest, that caught my attention (the entirety is given for context, the bolded part is what caught my eye):  "We must think of Him not only as the true icon of the Father, but the true icon of humanity, and this in the One Person of the Mediator (and, it should be noted that icon is not mere symbol or sign, like the icons on the desktop of our PCs)"
I have to disagree, not with the author's interpretation of Christ as the True Icon, or with the place of icons in the Church, but with his understanding of what an "icon" is in the world of computers.

Reunion on Rome's Terms

Dear Connie*,

I need you, baby. Ever since we split up back in '54** it feels like I've been trying to breathe with one lung. I know what you're thinking, those last two centuries*** we were together I didn't treat you quite right. But, hey, that's the way it happens sometimes- I said some things, you said some things, and the next thing I knew it was over. Sure, I'm the one who broke up with you- by letter, no less- but baby, you just drive me so crazy sometimes.

I know we've tried to make it work in the past- we got back together for a little while in '74**** and then in '39 ***** (I still remember those times fondly, baby)- but you always end up leaving me again. Well, baby, I can't let you go. I can't promise I'll change- I'm not going to lie to you, baby, I'm not even going to try to change. I'm still the over-bearing authoritarian I was when we broke up, and I always will be. 

But baby, we can make it work! As long as you do everything I say, as long as you overlook the lying, the cheating, the drinking, the physical abuse (I only do it when you've been bad, baby); as long as you admit that I'm perfect, I am more than willing to overlook your many faults and welcome you back with open arms.

Hurry home to:

Papa

* Constantinople
** 1054, the year Rome excommunicated the Patriarch of Constantinople
*** Problems with Rome came to a head over the Filioque addition to the creed during the 9th Century
**** 1274 was the last year of the Second Council of Lyon
***** 1439 was the year the then Patriarch of Constantinople supposedly signed an agreement to reunite with Rome at the Council of Florence. Reunion was rejected by the Orthodox monks and laity the second it was announced in their lands.

Games and Culture

Sorry for not updating in a while, school has taken up most of my time. On that note, I'm deviating from the main themes for the next few posts to address my area of study: Video games.

On that note:

I'm Only Right When I'm Left

There is an interesting article in the NY Times (HT: Ad Orientem , by way of T19) on the Episcopal Church's "liberal" politics, "liberal" theology, and its decline in attendance. I have said everything I have to say regarding the Episcopal Church in my "Exes" post, but that is not what I wish to address. Instead, read the comments to the NY Times article and the first comment by "Anonymous" at Ad Orientem's blog. There is a lot of conversation going back and forth over "liberalism" and "conservatism" in Christianity, with a horrid lack of definition over what these terms mean.

Exes

Some might wonder why I have an occasional interest in the doings of the denominations I used to attend. As an Orthodox Christian I have found the fullness of the faith, so what matter is it to me what the Baptists or Episcopalians might be up to? I think it must be a similar feeling to being married (an experience I have yet to be graced with) and hearing news about a girl one used to date- perhaps even have been serious about at one point. You can be quite happily married and completely not interested in picking up an old relationship, yet still be interested in hearing what that person might be up to- you can feel joy to hear she has had a happy marriage with plenty of children, a pang of sadness to hear about her recent misfortune, or deeply shocked to find out she is in an abusive relationship.

More Spacious Than the Heavens

This post follows in line with the previous post about the communion of saints. Mary holds a very high place- suspiciously high to many Protestants- within the Orthodox Church. What I write now is a meditation upon the "Axion Estin", a hymn to Mary that can be heard in almost all Orthodox services, as well as the Megalynarion for St. Basil's Liturgy.

Punk Ethos and Orthodoxy

It might not come as much of a surprise to those who know me that I was a writer and listener of Punk Rock music (with a few forays into blues and hip-hop) throughout a good portion of my life. What might be surprising is that I believe that this love of punk is tied in with many of the same drives that led me to seek out Orthodoxy and join the Church.

Why we venerate saints

Wow, new blog. There is no mission statement as such. This is pretty much going to be random musings about music and Orthodoxy (though rarely the two at the same time). Still, for the first post, let's tackle a subject that is way over my head.

Recent "conversations" (that I have tried my best to avoid) with certain Evangelical family members has brought the topic of the Orthodox veneration of saints to the forefront of my mind. This post is not directed at the more vocal family members- they are less interested in discussion and more so in pontificating and argument in its most combative form. Still, I thought I would post my thoughts on the subject in hopes that someone might benefit.