Christmas fun

While reading various Christmas-related stories, I thought back to a Christmas concert with the Notre Dame Glee Club. It was fun - roughly seventy college kids in front of a fairly large audience in the now-defunct Stepan Center. I enjoyed being on the stage singing all sorts of Christmas songs, but the part that puts a smile on my face is the Undertones selection (the Undertones are a small group of glee club singers who both have their own concerts and perform during regular glee club ones). They were singing "Jingle Bell Rock" with a twist: the soloist was supposed to have forgotten the lyrics, so the other guys were trying to remind him of it.

As the song went, the only word that didn't get in there was "rock." The helping props were a sock, a duck, and other such items. Finally, at the end, a large rock gets pulled out of a duffel bag and the soloist gets it right. Except for our second performance of the evening. In between shows I went to the Undertones and asked, what if, instead of getting it right at the end, which everyone expects, the soloist sings "stone"?

I'm happy to say that the guys took the suggestion up and got quite a reaction from the second performance crowd.

On memory and remembrance - I

Perhaps it is the funerals and the chanting of "memory eternal" that have had me thinking about the importance of memory and remembrance in the Orthodox Church. And although prompted, at least partially, by "memory eternal," my thinking hasn't been so much about God's salvific remembrance (cf. Gen 8:1 and Lk 23:42-43), but about our remembrance. What do we do with our memory and the things we remember or call to mind?

To me, as a priest, the Liturgy is the starting place for figuring out what the Church has to say about remembrance. We repeatedly say "Remembering/Commemorating our most holy, pure, blessed lady Theotokos with all the saints, let us commit/commend ourselves and one another and our whole life to Christ our God." There are two distinct parts to this petition. The first tells us whom to remember: the Theotokos and the saints. We pray for a lot of things during our services, but we call to mind the saints. We bring to the front of our consciousness those whose lives serve as models for us. We concentrate on the good, rather than the bad.

The second part of the petition is the purpose of the remembrance: as a reminder that we, too, should follow the example of the saints in our dedication to Christ. Remembrance is not just a theoretical, mental activity; it has ramifications in daily life. To a certain extent, all our thoughts have an effect on us - on one level, I suspect this is part of why we are told to guard our thoughts. The petition, repeated several times during the service, directs our thoughts and, ideally, our lives, towards God.

There are many other instances of remembrance in the Liturgy, but the other explicit instance comes right before the consecration: "Remembering, therefore, this command of the Savior, and all that came to pass for our sake, the cross, the tomb, the resurrection on the third day, the ascension into heaven, the enthronement at the right hand of the Father, and the second, glorious coming, we offer to You these gifts from Your own gifts in all and for all." Perhaps we go on auto pilot, perhaps we forget once we come out of the church building, but I can't help feeling that these words are meant to jolt us out of that auto pilot mode, to reverberate within our minds long after the priest has said the "Through the prayers" and the doors of the church have closed behind us. Do we really bring to mind and think about the events of Christ's life, but even more so, do we care (or dare) to think about that "second, glorious coming"?

Well, it is getting late and a little boy keeps acting like a cross between a monkey and a koala bear, with me playing the role of the tree. So I'll have to think more about this topic another time; one when hopefully I will have the Philokalia handy.

Much ado...

about baseball today. I like sports. I grew up playing football (soccer) in the park close to my grandmother's house, in the parking lot inside our apartment building (it was U-shaped). I swam a little as a little kid. I played basketball with dedication for years. Occasionally I played a bit of volleyball, table tennis, football (American). I watched a lot of sports at various times in my life, though I find myself watching considerably less these days (the Cincinnati - NC State game in the background notwithstanding).

In any case, I like sports and, occasionally, I even listen to sports radio in the car. Since I live in the Tampa Bay area, the hot topic of conversation today was Derek Jeter's faking of having been hit by a pitch. Most people - including the opposing manager - did not take much offense: he was trying to do his job, win, get on base. In other words, it's part of the game. People even praised Jeter's presence of mind to react so quickly.

I tend to live in a different world, in certain respects. I was the goalkeeper who, up 2-1 with time running out, would actually put the ball back in play quickly off a goal kick. I was also the player who, in a basketball game, went up for a block and got nothing but wrist. The refs didn't blow a foul, but I got the rebound and simply placed the ball out of bounds. Perhaps that sort of attitude explains why I am a priest, rather than a professional athlete...

I don't expect professional athletes to be role models and I don't expect a public outcry over such incidents. But with this particular incident having gotten so much publicity and so much of the public opinion seeming to be in favor of the exhibited behavior, I had reason to pause for a bit.

Enough of a pause. There's a lot of work to be done.

New beginnings

The last few months have been a big, ol' whirlwind, which has landed me about an hour South of my previous location. Sometimes it feels like my head is still spinning, but I am starting to find my parish legs. If I'd ever been out on the water in something other than a small boat, I could probably make an analogy between parish legs and sea legs, but, since I haven't, there will be one less analogy for this post. In any case, dear reader, if you have escaped my initial rambling and made it to this point, your prayers are requested for the parish of St. Barbara in Sarasota and for me, as I begin my ministry here.

As things continue to move along, I will try to post here on a more regular basis. But first, it has been two weeks since I added fish-roe salad (taramosalata/icre) to my shopping list and there is still none in the fridge. That issue needs to be addressed soon :)

February newsletter article

The early celebration of Pascha this year means that we are barely finished with the celebrations of Christmas and Epiphany and we need to think about our Lenten journey. The day after our festival finishes, we begin seven weeks of working on both our bodies and our souls through fasting, alms-giving, and prayer. Last year at this time I wrote on the Lenten services,
in particular the service of the Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified Gifts. If you would like a reminder of what that service is and why we have it, let me know and I will give you
a copy. This year, however, I will focus on fasting.

Why fasting? Because it is a practice of the Church which is not well understood. In the introduction to “The Lenten Triodion,” Bishop (now Metropolitan) Kallistos (Ware) and Mother Mary describe the two most common misunderstandings. The first overemphasizes the fasting rules,
while the other considers the rules outdated and unnecessary. However, these “are both alike to be deplored as a betrayal of true Orthodoxy. In both cases the proper balance between the outward and the inward has been impaired.” The misunderstandings and distortions of fasting, however, by
no means diminish its importance and usefulness in the spiritual life. After all, our Lord Himself gave instructions regarding fasting.

In Matthew 6, He tells His disciples, “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” Luke 5:34-35 is equally unequivocal about the fasting of Jesus’ disciples. When asked why His disciples did not fast, he answered, “Can you make the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? But the time will
come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.”

The question then remains: how shall we fast? The life of the Church has produced four major fasting periods, in addition to most Wednesdays and Fridays of the year. We are about to enter the longest and strictest fast of these four, in which, according to the strictest standards, no
meat, dairy, eggs, or fish are to be eaten on any day (with exceptions being made for fish on the day of the Annunciation and Palm Sunday) from Cheese-fare Sunday until the Resurrection, a period of seven weeks.

For most people who have not fasted before, the list of foods not to be eaten and the length of time for which we are to abstain can seem daunting. To these, St. John Cassian gives encouragement: “[The Holy Fathers] have not given us only a single rule for fasting or a single standard and measure for eating, because not everyone has the same strength; age, illness or delicacy of body create differences” (Philokalia v.1, pp. 74-75). Thus, someone who has not fasted before is not asked to follow the strictest of fasts from the beginning. Rather, under the guidance of a spiritual father, such a person should begin the discipline of fasting in a manner fit for that person. After all, St. John also reminds us that “food is to be taken in so
far as it supports our life, but not to the extent of enslaving us to the impulses of desire. To eat moderately and reasonably is to keep the body in health, not to deprive it of holiness” (ibid.). St. Peter of Damaskos concurs with St. John Cassian and adds that, through moderate fasting, “we can overcome gluttony, greed and [disordered] desire,and live without distraction” (St. Peter of Damaskos - Philokalia v.3, p. 90). Similarly, a desert father, Abba John the Short, said that “blessed fasting subdues the passions and the demons and ultimately removes them far from the combatant” (Ancient Fathers of the Desert - Section 1, on GOA website, www.goarch.org).

These saints speak from their own experiences about the practice of fasting and its spiritual benefits. Their agreement with regard to the importance of fasting, to the way fasting is to be approached, and to the spiritual fruits of this physical labor bear witness to the common mind of the Church on these matters.

With that being said, Metr. Kallistos and Mother Mary have the last word: “On the outward level fasting involves physical abstinence from food and drink, and without such exterior
abstinence a full and true fast cannot be kept; yet the rules about eating and drinking must never be treated as an end in themselves, for ascetic fasting has always an inward and unseen purpose. [...] The primary aim of fasting is to make us conscious of our dependence upon God.”
Wishing everyone a blessed Lenten season,
+Fr. Peter

December reflection

We are in the middle of our time of preparation for Christmas. There are several similarities between this time and Great Lent. First, the preparation period is also forty days (Holy Week is considered a separate period from Great Lent). Second, both fasting periods end in days which were used as baptismal days in the early church. Pascha and Christmas concluded what had been periods of preparation and catechism for those being made ready to enter the Church. Finally, Pascha and Christmas mark births. At Christmas, Christ, the God-man (theanthropos), is born and becomes visible to human eyes for the first time. At Pascha, He is born from the dead—“He became the firstborn from the dead,” as the mode three resurrectional apolytikion tells us.

There are also similarities in the time following these great feasts. At Pascha, the entire week following Resurrection Sunday is a continuation of the Paschal feast. The Vespers, Orthroses, and Liturgies celebrated during Bright Week follow the same pattern as the Paschal services. Bright Week is a non-fasting period. Similarly, the period following Christmas is a non-fasting period. From December 25 to December 31 we are in Christmastide, which then continues with the preparation (still fast-free until January 5) for the feast of the Theophany. The Church rejoices in the birth of the Savior and remembers people and events related to Christmas. The very next day, for example, the Church commemorates St. Joseph the Betrothed and David the king and prophet who had spoken of Christ in his psalms.

Life within the Church has a rhythm focused on these great feasts and the pattern is similar: the preparation period is followed by the feast, which is itself followed by an extended period of resting in the joy of the feast. This rhythm becomes familiar as it is lived year after year. It ebbs and flows, building up to the important events of the year and easing away from the feasts. If it sounds like a training regimen for athletes, it is. This is our training for the Kingdom.

Athletes know that maximum performance can only be obtained a couple of times a year. Track and field athletes and swimmers speak of “building up” to the Olympics or the world championships,
soccer players speak of “building up” to the World Cup. As athletes reach their peak, these build-ups generate better and better results: faster times, longer jumps, more cohesion within the team.

As Orthodox Christians, we, too, are athletes. St. Paul, in admonishing the Galatians for having strayed from the Christian way of life tells them, “You were running a good race. Who cut
in on you and kept you from obeying the truth?” (Gal. 5:7). In writing to Timothy, he speaks of himself as having finished the race (2 Tim. 4:7). As athletes, we build up to our great feasts, with a training program of prayer and fasting, of love and care, of almsgiving and charity. We
begin with prayer because our final goal—salvation—is only achievable if we work together with God. It is through God’s grace that we discover love, care, almsgiving, and charity in
their fullness.

The similarities between the athletic and spiritual life cannot be taken too far, however. In sports, there comes a time when performance starts to decline. In the spiritual life, progress does not depend on a body which withers away like grass (cf. Ps. 102:11). Rather, progress is continual: a journey towards an ever-fuller communion with God.

So let us take from the athlete that which is useful. Let us have the dedication of the athlete in our spiritual lives. Let us use the training program of feasts and fasts that the
Church places in front of us to help us strengthen our faith. Let us strive to live the Christian life to its fullest and so to let the lights of our lives “shine before men, that they may see
[our] good deeds and praise [our] Father in heaven” (Matt. 5:16).

May the joy of the Lord’s birth dwell in our hearts.

Paper advertisements

I suppose the amount of advertising that is delivered to our house is not actually that large. A couple of flyers each day is about the norm. Still, I can't help wondering about, for example, Verizon. For over a year, week in and week out, they've sent a flyer to our house advertising their FIOS program. It's still not available at our location according to their website, but this doesn't seem to deter them from wanting us to join their as of now fictitious offering. I guess I should be glad we have a pretty good recycling program around here...