the blessing of boundaries

In an age where anything goes.  Where innovation is god, and change rules.  Where limits and restrictions are to be challenged, mocked and transcended at all costs.   Where in order to be relevant, you must become like the very world we are admonished in scripture to forsake, flee and disdain.  There is great wisdom in boundaries.  [...]

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“How old is your church?”

An interesting article I came across recently asked this very question… “How Old is Your Church?”  or better yet  “How accurate is your Church?  For the real issue here is not chronological age, but theological truth, adherence to the ‘faith delivered once for all’. If you are a Lutheran, your religion was founded by Martin Luther, [...]

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Worthy of Paper

 Books.  Processed pulp from trees, treated and pressed into thin acid free paper, and covered with ink… soy based ink if you are earth friendly.  I make my life and living joyfully immersed in the world of ideas, words, thoughts, letters and books.  I am a bit biased but books, and the transforming ideas in them, are [...]

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Of Hospitals and Emergency Rooms

This past Sunday April 24 Pascha Sunday, the day of Resurrection, 60 Minutes aired a marvelous and very well done video documentary on the Holy Mountain, Mt. Athos, in Greece.  Mt. Athos is the heart, the center, the core, the spiritual hub, the catalytic center, and source of Orthodox piety, wisdom and holiness for more [...]

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One Church: 42,000 Different Ways?

Jesus said, I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent me… John [...]

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A Return to Normal

Lent is here.  In the popular media, and in conversations around cubicles and water coolers the daily ‘chit-chat’ sometimes gravitates towards the idea of Lent, especially on the Wednesday known in the West as “ash” Wednesday, and the banter often goes like this, “So, (snicker, snicker) What are you giving up for Lent?”  Then follows an [...]

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Now or Never. “What will I do?”

  The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.     Better be despised for too anxious apprehensions, than ruined by too confident security.   Never despair, but if you do, work on in despair.   He who wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skill.  [...]

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Our Heritage – American Leadership

Out of many, one.   OBJECTIVES 1. To protect America’s leadership role in the world from the corrosive effects of terrorists, rogue states, rival powers, anti-American political movements, and weak allies. 2. To devise new ways to assert America’s leadership before we lose our sovereignty, our security, and our freedom.  3. To devise strategies to [...]

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Our Heritage – First Principles

If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.  – Thomas Jefferson OBJECTIVES 1. To reorient American politics toward the First Principles of the American Founding. 2. To reshape public policy to reflect our constitutional framework of limited government. 3. To [...]

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Socialism or Constitutionalism?

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.  We didn’t pass it on to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was [...]

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Our Sacred Honor. (Or what’s left of it)

  And for support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. -Thomas Jefferson – Declaration of Independence 1776 In a few days our family will travel to Williamsburg, Virginia.  As you may know, Williamsburg is a living historical [...]

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“…my confession before I die…”

After reviewing some of my recent posts, I am reminded by one of my favorite sayings:  Many attempts to communicate are nullified by saying too much. Convicting and true.  So thank you readers for putting up with my many words and with my struggling efforts at trying to write well. Often I think provide too much; much more [...]

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‘Fighter’ for the Irish

Growing up in the “West” ( i.e. every geographic location from Athens moving West to the Americas) one assumes that all the ‘famous’ saints are Roman Catholic, or at least, European in origin and Catholic in affiliation.  However, we need to remember that The Church has always been One: one in essence, practice, faith, and undivided in unity from Pentecost until about [...]

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The Orthodox Way

  Two books influenced me greatly on our journey home to the Orthodox Church.  “The Orthodox Church” and “The Orthodox Way” both by Timothy Ware; also known as Bishop Kallistos Ware.   In fact, if anyone reads either of these books (hopefully both) they’ll be introduced to knowledge, wisdom, history, and truth,  that is so compelling that they’ll either have [...]

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Mary – Mother of God

O Virgin Theotokos, rejoice Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Thou art blessed among women, and blessed [is] the fruit of thy womb, for thou hast given birth to the savior of our souls.   (Above is text sung in video taken from Luke 1:26f) Ecumenical Council of Ephesus 431 AD We confess, then, [...]

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“…icon of the voice of God…”

  On Saturday the 7th of November 2010  the bells of Holy Cross  Orthodox Church will be installed.   At sundown on that same evening, at the holy service of Vespers, as the suns sets, they will ring out announcing that Sunday has arrived.  The little Pascha (Easter) that awaits all Christians has arrived!  The Eighth [...]

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6th Day – 6th Hour

Friday.  Friday morning.  Friday morning, dark, raining, pouring, wet, really wet.  Flood. Friday, the 30th of October 2009.  Just another day, another Friday,  in another month, in yet another year.  Commute.  Raining.  Raining hard. No bike today, drop kids off. AM talk radio.  Crisis.  Bailouts.  Bankruptcy.  Terrorism.  Radical Islamists, Detroit, four dead.  Layoffs.  More layoffs.  The [...]

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O Gladsome Light…

Sunday – the “8th day”.  It is the day of Resurrection, and the weekly proclamation to the present world, that a new world, is coming, a day without beginning and end, an eternal day where no sun or moon is needed for the Lamb of God at the center of the Throne is the Light!  Sunday begins [...]

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Opening our Eyes – Conclusion – Part 4 of 4

One thing is certain about this timeline.  It’s hard to deny it.  To be sure, anyone can ignore it.  Someone might avoid it, and another might say, “Who cares about all that ‘old’ history stuff!”   “We are the ‘new’ Christianity that we’ve shaped to suit us (and me) and our times.  A hip, cool, modern [...]

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Opening Our Eyes – “SCHISM” – Part 3 of 4

As we near the end of the first century, the Church of Jesus Christ, which began in the upper room on Pentecost was still united in faith and practice.  There was one church, rooted in one doctrine, spreading around the entire Mediterranean basin.  The Church was growing, in size and in influence, and subsequently found [...]

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