添護摩祈祷 Jesus in Japan

From my journal…

Monday, 4-21-08, morning…
Woke up at 4:30 a.m. Still a little dark, but it got light fast. By 5 a.m. the sky was bright, blue above, and pink to the east.
The room we’re staying in is the second floor of Taka’s house. It’s about 8 feet wide and about 20 feet long. There’s a window in one short wall, and two wide windows in both of the long walls. At the windowless end of the room is the metal stairway that connects us to the rest of the house. Waking up our first morning in Japan, all I saw was tiled roofs around us, and in the distance industrial buildings and hi-rises. Family memorabilia and some small furniture, a queen-size bed and a wardrobe are all that’s in the room, except for our two futons.

Japan—a country of contrasts, lifestyles almost primitive in counterpoint to almost futuristic.

Where we are staying with Taka is a small neighborhood with rice paddies, vegetable gardens and small orchards interspersed. A cock is crowing in the distance as we walk down the narrow, paved lane between rice paddies to a main road.

The house is one of three around a small courtyard. Laundry (turned inside out) hangs out to dry in the sun and wind. The survivors of Yoko’s garden are clustered in a corner. Taka and his father Akira do their best to keep the little garden alive… roses, wisteria, a jade plant, and many bulb flowers… Luckily the little creatures in the garden don’t need to be fed—they’re statues…

Monday, 4-21-08, evening…
Apostle Paul writes, “For instance, pagans who never heard of the Law but are led by reason to do what the Law commands, may not actually possess the Law, but they can be said to be the Law” (Romans 2:14 Jerusalem Bible).
After our first, very full day in Japan with Taka as our guide, we both came to very much the same conclusions—Japan’s native ways are almost exactly what a society following the gospel would be like—and here is a country without Christ.

I have not seen a single Christian church, nor any sign of Christian symbolism except the Red Cross on medical buildings. Yet this people knows that “it is better to serve than be served” (cf. Mark 10:45).

So much for my journal…
I didn’t write too much in my journal while I was in Japan. Our life there was just too full. Brock shot several hours of video on every leg of our journeys, and Taka took about a thousand photos. Both of them are expert camera men, while I barely know how to take a snapshot. So, aside from manning the camera on occasion so Taka could be in some of the photos, I just absorbed the experiences we had, hoping to remember and recount them later.

This post is to draw your attention to a new blog that I hope to start, Taka’s Japan, where I will try to post as many of the photos we took along with an account of our travels in Japan.

The new blog will focus on the day to day aspects of the trip, while any spiritual musings of mine, such as this one, will appear here on Cost of Discipleship.

The kanji used in the title of this post do not translate to “Jesus in Japan,” but rather something like “May our prayers accompany, protect and refine [the departed souls]”. The on’yomi reading of the kanji is “Ten-go-ma-ki-tou”, but I’m not sure if either my translation or transliteration (based on my ancient Japanese dictionary) is correct. If any Japanese Buddhist visits my blog, please correct me.

This phrase is printed on a wooden votive tablet I bought at Koshouji Temple in Nagoya, where our best friend Taka’s mother’s ashes are interred.

On the first day of our visit to Taka’s Japan, we got up early, had breakfast, kohii, pan and yogurt, at a coffeehouse nearby, and then headed over to pay our respects and visit Yoko’s grave.

Taka tidied up the monument and offered a bundle of incense. After that we witnessed the 8 o’clock service at the temple, where the abbot and about seven or eight monks rhythmically chanted their prayers.


What do I mean by Jesus in Japan?

Well, again forgive my impertinence, but I know that Jesus is walking among the Japanese people, He’s in Japan, as alive as He is everywhere else, and looking for His lost sheep.
Chances are, He has as many people walking with Him in Japan as He has in America, a “Christian” country, even though I never saw more than maybe three or four church buildings the whole time I was there.
Maybe that’s a good thing, too.
Jesus has a better chance of being accepted and followed in a land largely unaffected by institutional Christianity.
And if God grants me this, I too want to follow Jesus in Japan.

And many of those who are following Jesus are doing it without even seeing His face!
Let me tell you more…

Taka’s mother, Yoko, reposed (passed away) about 2 years ago. The story of this remarkable woman and the effect she has had on her four sons, especially Taka, is amazing. Without being “Christians,” this family has not only Christian virtue and integrity, but also many signs of God’s providence in their lives.

Though prayers are offered by the Buddhist abbot and monks of Koshouji, the dead are not rescued or liberated from hell by Buddha, but by Jesus Christ. We cannot say for sure what becomes of those virtuous souls that went to the land of the dead without knowing Christ. But neither can we say for sure that they did not know Christ—how else could their lives have been filled with His strength, were they not in some way acknowledging Him?

As I said, there are many things about this remarkable woman, Yoko, that show God’s hand on her life. I only met her briefly when she visited him here in America a few years ago, and she didn’t speak English. But to Whom was she praying when, as Taka related, she prayed for the defeat of Japan in World War II? And for Whom did she suffer imprisonment and abuse by her own people, when she refused to support the war effort? And why did God spare her and her mother and their home when everything around them, including the bomb shelter in their neighborhood was destroyed. (Their neighbors told them to leave their home and come to the shelter, but they refused, saying that their lives were in God’s hands.) That night, their neighborhood was leveled, including the bomb shelter, and their house alone survived. Taka’s mother had severe burns, but she survived the war. We saw the house, which still stands, surrounded by modern buildings. And her spiritual legacy lives on in Taka, in his father and brothers.
May her memory be eternal.

Yes, Jesus is in Japan.
Let’s help Him reveal Himself to His new people.

How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
Romans 10:14-15 NIV

Kami wa go jibun no hitori ko o ataeru hodoni yo o aisaretakarada. Sore wa, kare o shinjiru mono gamina horobiru kotonaku, eien no inochi o motsutameda.

Hostages in America

Yesterday evening, I noticed that the household was in need of a few grocery items, and so I decided to drive down to the supermarket to buy them. On the way out the back door, I noticed a large plastic trash bag full of empty pop cans and plastic bottles waiting to be taken to the store for recycling. Even though I don’t drink pop or beer, it seems that I’m always the one who takes the bottles in. I don’t mind doing it, since in Oregon it’s 5 cents deposit each that I can use as pocket money or, as in this case, helps me out with the grocery bill.

I got to the store and luckily, the recycling area was nearly deserted—just a young store clerk fiddling around with one of the machines, and an older fellow standing by with a small sack of recyclables, waiting for the machine to be re-set.

I looked into the top of my bag, tearing apart the handles so I could get a better look. Hmm, mostly cans but quite a few plastic bottles on top. The “cans only” machine was available, so I walked over to it and started loading cans, one at a time, into the chute. As I came upon a pop bottle, I carefully laid it down on the sidewalk, using my right foot as a bumper to keep them from rolling down the slight incline to the street.

After I had about five bottles laid out on the ground, I felt a little nudge as I was loading another can into the chute. I looked over my shoulder, and there was the older chap I’d noticed as I walked up, pushing an empty grocery cart to me. He looked at me with a soft stare, and I nodded back and smiled, grabbed the cart and pulled it closer. Then I bent down to pick up the bottles off the sidewalk and drop them into the cart. There was quite a lot of cans and bottles in my bag, as it turned out, about four dollars’ worth, and about a dozen or more were bottles.

After the last can was recycled and I took my receipt, I quickly unloaded the bottles into the machine next one over, and noticed that my benefactor was still patiently waiting for the youth to untangle whatever was wrong with the machine he wanted to use. I took the receipt for the bottles and then turned to him and said, “Thanks for the cart.” With a shy smile he responded, “Don’t mention it.”

My entire time with this fellow lasted only a few seconds in two exchanges. I’ve trained myself to look deeply, and in those brief moments had a “handshake that goes to the heart” experience. He was probably a few years older than me, was dressed in clean, plain clothes and wore a baseball cap. He resembled my old elder Philip Holte a lot, so I guessed he was probably a Scandinavian—he had the same soft, serious look in his eyes, with a hint of a twinkle.

Along with the empty shopping cart, something else was passed to me. It was a furtive acknowledgment that our interaction was something contraband, helping a stranger for no other reason than “if I can lend a hand, I will,” a vestige of a vanished era, when such kindnesses were commonplace, where good deeds were done unselfconsciously and unselfishly. “Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.”

Forgive me, brothers, but I felt at that moment, and still feel now, as if my friend and I were hostages in America, prisoners of the new age in a land ravaged by lust. These thoughts weighed heavy on me, who had just returned from living in Japan for two weeks. The America where I was born, I experienced it again for a few moments of time… but, where did it go?

“Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 24:12-13 NIV)

Bring me to life

Are you afraid of death?
If you are, you are afraid to confess your faith in Christ the Lord!
It means that your faith is not strong and your prayer is not strong, that your soul has been lulled to sleep by the littleness of your faith, by the half-heartedness of your faith, or by your lack of faith.
Arise, you who are asleep in your soul.
Arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light and eternal justice, and through them eternal life as well.
And then you, like an immortal valiant hero, will turn to battle all the deaths which in this world are storming your soul, and you will utterly vanquish them forever.

—Fr. Justin Popovich

Bring Me To Life

Evanescence

How can You see into my eyes like open doors
leading You down into my core
where I’ve become so numb without a soul
my spirit sleeping somewhere cold
until You find it there and lead it back home

(Wake me up)
Wake me up inside
(I can’t wake up)
Wake me up inside
(Save me)
Call my name and save me from the dark
(Wake me up)
Bid my blood to run
(I can’t wake up)
Before I come undone
(Save me)
Save me from the nothing I’ve become

Now that I know what I’m without
You can't just leave me
Breathe into me and make me real
Bring me to life

(Wake me up)
Wake me up inside
(I can’t wake up)
Wake me up inside
(Save me)
Call my name and save me from the dark
(Wake me up)
Bid my blood to run
I can’t wake up)
Before I come undone
(Save me)
Save me from the nothing I’ve become
Bring me to life
(I've been living a lie, there's nothing inside)
Bring me to life

Frozen inside without Your touch
without Your love
Darling only You are the life among the dead
All this time I can't believe I couldn't see
kept in the dark
but You were there in front of me
I’ve been sleeping a thousand years it seems
got to open my eyes to everything
without a thought without a voice without a soul

Don't let me die here
There must be something more
Bring me to life

(Wake me up)
Wake me up inside
(I can’t wake up)
Wake me up inside
(Save me)
Call my name and save me from the dark
(Wake me up)
Bid my blood to run
(I can’t wake up)
Before I come undone
(Save me)
Save me from the nothing I’ve become
(Bring me to life)
I’ve been living a lie, there’s nothing inside
(Bring me to life)

He opens the tombs

When you hear that at that time the Lord freed the souls from hell and the regions of darkness and that He descended into hell and did an amazing work, do not think that this does not have any personal meaning for you.

Man, indeed, can readily accept the evil one. Death has its grip on the children of Adam and their thoughts are imprisoned in darkness. And when you hear mention made of tombs, do not at once think only of visible ones. For your heart is a tomb and a sepulcher. When the prince of evil and his angels have built their nest there and have built roads and highways on which the powers of satan walk about inside your mind and in your thoughts, then really, are you not a hell and a sepulcher and a tomb dead to God?

... But the Lord descends into the souls of those who seek Him. He goes into the depths of the hellish heart and there He commands death, saying, "Release those captive souls that seek after Me, those that you hold by force in bondage." He breaks through the heavy stones that cover the soul. He opens the tombs. He truly raises to life the dead person and leads that captive soul forth out of the dark prison.

—Abba Makarios the Great

This could be any of us

A special thanks to Presbytera Candace for this testimony…

The dye has been cast.
The decision has been made.
I have stepped over the line.
I won't look back, let up, slow down, or back away.
My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, my future secure.
I'm done with low living, sight walking, small planning, colorless dreams, tamed visions, mundane talking, cheap living and dwarfed goals.
I no longer need pre-eminence, prosperity, position, promotions or popularity.
I don't have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded.
I now live by faith, lean on His presence, walk with patience, live by prayer and labor with power.
My face is set, my goal is Heaven, my road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions are few, my Guide is reliable, my mission clear.
I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded or delayed.
I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of adversary, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.
I won't give up, shut up, let up, until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up, and spoken up for the cause of Christ.
I am a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ.

—Written in Africa by a man imprisoned for his faith
who was later martyred

Another sheep leaves the fold…

…though not, we hope, taken by the wolf, while the hireling continues to exploit the flock.

Unhappily I want to put it on record that another of the brethren, an old friend and excellent Byzantine cantor, has decided to depart from Aghía Triás, as have many others whom I have not noticed in this blog. He still isn't sure where he will try to find a new spiritual home. His faith is intact, but the ravages of the hireling have gotten the best of him. I sympathise.

These are things that go unnoticed by church hierarchs as they progress in honor and splendor from parish to parish on their rounds. When we have a true shepherd who takes as his model the Good Shepherd, the flock prospers, from bishop to presbyters to people, and the vineyard flourishes. God grant us patience and strength as we wait for better times. Pray for Aghía Triás and her faithful people.

More straight talk from the fathers

Who are these people?

The one who knows God will follow the Lord's footsteps, bearing the cross of the Saviour.
It is said, "The world is crucified to him and he to the world."
The Lord says, "He who loses his life will save it."
We can "lose our lives" in one of two ways.
First, we can risk our lives just as the Lord did for us.
Secondly, we can separate our lives from the customary things

of this world.
Bearing the cross means to separate our souls from the delights and pleasures of this life.
If you do this, you will find your life again, resting in the hope of what is to come.
Dying to ourselves means being content with the necessities of life.
When we want more than these necessities it is easy to sin.

— Clement of Alexandria

Am I missing something?

I suppose the young man who wrote the paragraph I'm about to quote will tell me, "Yep! You're missing something! You need to have that close, personal relationship with Jesus that I have! Then you can get all the great gifts I get, and find out what an awesome God we serve!" Of course, I'm putting words in his mouth, and maybe he wouldn't one-up-man me like this, but if he did, it wouldn't surprise me. I probably deserve it.

The God who called me, who saved me, whom I meet in the pages of His written Word, in the mysterion of the Eucharist, and in the love of the Brethren, His Body, the God who (Scripture says) is the Holy One who makes His home in the praises of Israel (cf. Psalm 22:3), who lives in a High and Holy place, yet is also with the contrite and humble spirit (cf. Isaiah 57:15)—This is the God whom I approach, at all times, with faith, fear (awe) and love. I call the Father, "Abba" as I make my metanoia before Him, thanking Him for creating me, forgiving me, and redeeming me through the sacrifice of His Only-Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, "by Whom all things were made" (cf. Symbol of Nicaea), "the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world" (cf. 1 Peter 1:20), and for sealing me into His Kingdom by "the Seal of the Gift of the Holy Spirit" (cf. Orthodox baptismal service). "What great a god as our God, who alone performs wonders!" (Greek hymn, Tis Theos megas). How can anyone address YHWH Sabaoth, the Holy One of Israel, the King of kings of kings (blessed be He!), as "Dude"? But someone does. I will quote only the beginning of his post. Click here to read the whole post.

Hanging with the Most Holy

I am starting to realize (it's being revealed to me?) that to have that close, intimate "Abba" relationship Jesus wants with me, I need to draw closer — to talk and think more closely... not like a bond-servant, but as a friend, as an intimate. John (the apostle) was, perhaps, Jesus's best friend here on earth, (the one that Jesus loved). We need to be like that, too. So what I realized was that the "traditional" way of thinking about and talking about Jesus was limiting me. I should be able to say, "Dude, you are just so awesome! All this stuff you made, cool beyond compare. I just LOVE what you do!" And you know what? I DO feel closer to Him when I start to think and talk like that, because that artificial wall between us that makes me feel "He's TOO great and TOO big for me to talk to completely free and honestly" disappears…

Am I just being stuffy and old-fashioned? Honestly, I don't know. But I've never felt closer to the Lord than when I draw near to Him in faith, fear (awe) and love. He is an awesome God, really awesome, not "awesome" like just about every other thing is "awesome" to some people, "That's awesome, man!"

No. Our God is not like that. Our God is the Almighty, and as we say in Greek, Ο Παντοκρατωρ ζη (o Pándokrator zi, "the Almighty lives"). He is the One who says of Himself, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, who is, who was, who is to come, the Almighty" (Revelation 1:8).

Yes, someone is missing something…

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Thinking about baptism

Thanks to Presbytera Candace for these words from the church fathers…

Noah's Ark marked out by its course the sign of its Preserver. The Cross of its Stearsman and the Wood of its Sailor Who has come to fashion for us a Church in the waters of baptism: with the three-fold name He rescues those who reside in her, and in place of the dove, the Spirit administers her anointing and the mystery of her salvation. Praise to her Savior.
—Ephraim the Syrian

Did you see how baptism is a cross? Learn that even Christ called baptism the cross when He used the name of baptism interchangeably [with that of the cross]. He called your baptism a cross. 'I call my baptism a cross,' he says. Where does He say this? 'I have a baptism to be baptized with, of which you do not know.' And how is it clear that He is speaking of the cross? The sons of Zebedee came up to Him - rather, the mother of the sons of Zebedee, saying 'Command that these my two sons may sit, one at thy right and and one at thy left hand, in thy kingdom.' A mother's request, even if it was an inconsiderate one! How then did Christ answer? 'Can you drink of the cup of which I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?' You see that He called the cross a baptism.
—John Chrysostom, Baptismal Instructions

Sober for God

A famous evangelical, Frankie Shaeffer, has written a number of books as he transitioned out of evangelicalism and into Orthodox Christianity, as have many others making the same journey. I can't say that I've read any of his, but I have read one or two others, most recently One Flew Over the Onion Dome, which isn't so much a book about one person's journey "home" to the Orthodox Church, but rather a somewhat light-hearted look at the experiences of many people coming to canonical Orthodoxy in a number of different jurisdictions (Greek, OCA, Antiochian, etc.). I guess Frankie Shaeffer has a new book out, Crazy for God, which has been reviewed on the blog of my Greek Orthodox community. I took the idea for the title of my post from the title of the church's post, Crazy for God, which is of course, the book's title. I'm just tired of being crazy for God.
Now it's time to just be sober.

What I mean is, even I used to describe myself as being "crazy for God," though I never wrote a book about it. In my case, what I meant was that the pursuit of God was my number One priority, that my whole life revolved around this pursuit. Other people thought of me as excessive and even obsessed, and many still do. That used to worry me a lot, and it altered my behavior to the point where I tried to "fit in" and act as though "nothing was going on."

More than thirty years into it, looking back I see what a mistake that was. On the evening of Yom Kippur of 2005, as I sat alone in my arbor meditating and praying, I had a conversation with the Lord that placed me back on the way of the Cross. I described it in a blog post written a year later. I hoped that things would improve in my daily life and in my relationships with others, but I was ready to accept whatever God would send me. As it turns out, from an earthly point of view, things have gone from bad to worse. This is why I would rather describe my life in Christ as "sober for God." It's a sobering experience to have everything you lived and worked for just melt away in a matter of a couple of years. Everything earthly, that is.

My life in Christ certainly doesn't fit the picture of that happy couple examining their bank account statement in my previous post, Shameless.

I started this post this morning before going to the Divine Liturgy. I'm finishing it in the afternoon. Every Sunday we're handed a bulletin that has an icon on the cover, and usually some mediocre or sanctimonious verbiage on the back, not always related to either the icon, or the Sunday theme. Occasionally a real gem turns up on the back, or at least something that speaks to me where I am right now. Today that happened. I'm going to close this post by just quoting the message on the back of the Orthodox Weekly Bulletin…

The Consequences of Our Commitment to Christ

When we choose to follow Jesus Christ, it should be understood that this will not be a journey free from trials and tribulations. Throughout the history of the Church, a countless number of men and women have suffered greatly for choosing His ways over the ways of the world, which are inherently sinful and evil. The final beatitudes remind us of the possible consequences to our Christian commitment:
"Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake… Blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for My sake."

It should be noted that our Lord never painted a "rosy picture" for His Apostles and disciples concerning what may lie ahead for them. He knew that He had many enemies and, therefore, so would they. "If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you." (John 15:20) Jesus proclaimed that He was the "Light of the world," maintaining that "everyone practicing evil hates the light." Persecution is almost inevitable for Christians striving to live in accordance with the righteousness required by the Gospel, for evil people will always detest those who speak out against their wicked deeds. Therefore, a Christian must be willing to patiently bear insults, mockery, disgrace, slander, defamation of character and yes, even death. Such must be the depth of our devotion to the One Whom we promised to love and serve on the day of our baptism.

But we are mere mortals! How can we endure all the fearful aspects of persecution? By never losing sight of the "prize" at the end of our arduous "race" — the Kingdom of Heaven. Finding a place there will, indeed, be a source of joy beyond our wildest dreams! Remember, "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him." (1 Corinthians 2:9)

Shameless

In the distant past, I'm ashamed to say that I was taken in by Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) and particularly by Benny Hinn. This man is an ethnic Palestinian Greek Orthodox who left the Orthodox Church to build his own following, and he's in the spiritual succession of such New Age "pentecostal giants" as Kathryn Kuhlman. In spite of the fact that I have done nothing to support this man financially, somehow I'm still on his mailing list. The images below are a photo essay of what this man is perpetrating in the Body of Christ. Hence, the title of this post.

Please click on the images to view them large and read what they say.

Discipleship means the Cross

Why bother blogging?

I've asked myself that question every time I go to my computer and work on my blog or visit others. I also ask myself that question in the presence of God in my prayer room. It seems like a worthless project, sometimes. I've never wanted it to be a way of "hanging out my shingle," though I suppose any time you give your opinion on anything to others, that's what it is. It's not as though I think I am going to save the world or anything, but I hope that something I might express will help someone. I get that help sometimes from reading other people's blogs. But there's a lot of tush talked out there in blogdom, probably even on my blog. If so, brothers, please forgive me. As Peter cried out to Jesus in the film Jesus of Nazareth, "I'm just a stupid man!"

This morning I received a gaggle of short quotes from Presbytera Candace that woke me up and stood me back on my feet. If nothing else, then, at least my blog, Cost of Discipleship, is a place to post reminders of what discipleship consists of, and that primarily is the Cross. As holy apostle Paul wrote, "I want to know nothing other than Christ crucified" (cf. 1 Corinthians 2:2). This is what discipleship in this strange world means, as you will see from these sayings of the fathers…

The knowledge of the Cross is concealed in the sufferings of the Cross.
— Gregory the Great

The Cross is the door to mysteries. Through this door the intellect makes entrance in to the knowledge of heavenly mysteries. The knowledge of the Cross is concealed in the sufferings of the Cross. And the more our participation in its sufferings, the greater the perception we gain through the Cross. For, as the Apostle says, "As the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ."
— Isaac of Syria

God does not create a cross for man. No matter how heavy a cross a man may carry in life, it is still just wood, from which man himself made, and it always grows from the soil of his heart.
— Ambrose of Optina

The way of God from the beginning of time and from the creation of the human race has been the way of the cross and death. How did you get your idea that everything is just the opposite? You must realize that you are outside the way of God, that you are far from Him, that you do not wish to walk in the steps of the Saints, but want to make some special way for yourself and travel by it without sufferings. The way of God is a daily cross. No one has climbed to heaven by living a life of pleasure.
— Ignatios Brianchaninov

A postscript comment:

What is this "knowledge of heavenly mysteries" that Abba Isaac speaks of? Well, all I can say it's not what most religious people think, as can be seen in many religious paintings (not icons). The heavenly mysteries are written on earth in pages of blood, in the martyrs' endurance of suffering to the end, even knowing that all things lead them to the Cross.

If we are not drawing near to the Cross,
we should ask ourselves, why?

Albert and Helen

A while back I discovered a youth ministries blog that comes out of Denver First Church of the Nazarene, and I visit it from time to time. This evening I read an interesting story in their Mid-High Student ministries blog, and I left a comment there. Writing that comment reminded me that I wanted to blog a little about my friends Albert and Helen, who were instrumental in leading me to Christ and back to Orthodoxy.

Helen was my wife's best friend, and they shared a common Ukrainian background, their ancestors even coming from the same region (Bukovina), and having put down roots in the same parts of rural Alberta (Bellis / Smoky Lake). Helen's brother Ihor (the Ukrainian pronunciation of Igor) was and is an Orthodox presbyter, as well as a musician and writer.


The wedding photo shows Albert and Helen being crowned during their marriage blessing, the priests being Fr Lavrenty (left) and Fr Ihor (right), the church being All Saints, Bellis, Alberta (photo above).


In another photo, we see the window in the front door of the house in which Anastasia and I lived with Albert and Helen in the Edmonton "flats" (the river bottom neighborhood, along the North Saskatchewan banks). Numerous windows in their little house were decorated with window paint to emulate stained glass. The designs were like this example, of heavenly beings and things.

The other three photos were taken later, after our first son Jacob was born, and we returned to visit Albert and Helen and their son Damian. You can tell from their wedding photo who is who in the other photos, except for the picture of the two boys.

Our son Jacob is on the left, sitting with Damian, his godbrother on the right. (I am Damian's godfather.)



In another post I think I'll write about my life as a dairy farmer's only farm hand, and post some interesting photos—like me milking a cow into a wine bottle, so I can feed colostrum to a newborn calf!

You'll have to wait for that story!

You can link back to the original blog post on the Nazarene church's ministry page, but this is the title, and how it starts out…

Fire, Pain, Fear, Eternity, HELL
And, let's just say that you're in line with millions of other people, to find your name in The Book Of Life, to determine...whether you'll go to Heaven.....OR Hell. Let's pretend....that today....you DIED. Yep, you DIED. The line is moving along steadily....and you can see the faces of many you knew on earth. Then, all of a sudden you see your best friend Emily.....and instead of rejoicing.....you hide yourself behind the person in front of you…

Here's my comment…

I visit this blog once in awhile and have sometimes commented, even tho I'm not in your age group or in your community or denomination. I guess I just don't believe in borders and labels.

This story reminded me a lot of the Chick tracts I used to look at when I was still an unsaved person in my early twenties, living for awhile with some Orthodox Christian friends of my wife's. We had just come to live in town after quitting my job as the hired man on a dairy farm near Wetaskiwin, Alberta, my wife five months pregnant, and without money to even rent a small apartment. Albert and Helen took us in, and let us stay with them that winter until we could get a place of our own, literally days before our first son was born.

This couple was people like us, in our early 20's. They shared Christ with us, reading to us parts of the Bible, and leaving tracts and spiritual books lying around the house. It was the Chick tracts that really got to me. I've never forgotten them, gruesome and graphic as they are.

It wasn't the Chick tracts, though. It wasn't believing in what they conveyed literally and graphically.

What won me to Christ was the patient, consistent witnessing of one poor, young couple to another that they took in and helped get on their feet over the course of four months of dark, icy Alberta winter. They witnessed in words, in deeds, and in love. There was almost nothing argumentative about their witness, except that they insisted and wouldn't budge on issues that I questioned at that time. They simply let me have it my way, but they didn't have an "I'm OK you're OK" attitude. They very definitely and unashamedly defended all the truths of the Christian faith as they came up.

I didn't actually accept Christ for another two years, but those four months I spent with this couple formed in me the very same attitudes they had. That's the way I've witnessed for Christ since I was born again, and joined the Greek Orthodox Church. It is Christ, not the church I belong to, that I witness for, and just the same, I know that having your name in the Lamb's book of life is really all that matters.

Oh, and one more thing matters. Getting your friends and neighbors to have their names written there too.

Mystery Driver

The Bible is not a science or even a history textbook. It reports things sometimes with the same naiveté and unselfconscious enthusiasm as a grandmother telling someone about what her little Danny did this morning. The Bible is about Truth, and especially the practical Truth of "how to enter the Kingdom of God, and live forever". The vehicle of this Truth is human language and the flow of human history, but it's the Driver of the vehicle that matters, not the car or even the scenery, and it's the Destination. Mystery Driver…

Mystery Driver

Thinking your thoughts in my head
does it ever get too dense in there for… you… to see
and what do you do with mine
when yours are sitting in the seat where mine… ought… to be
right behind my steering will
Do you really understand this car that… you’ve… hot-wired
Do you find you’ve got the feel
of the brakes, did you hear the motor when… it… backfired?

But Babe, don’t you know that you can’t drive me?
You’ve gotta trust that Mystery Driver
He knows how fast he can take a corner
He ain’t afraid, he’s in charge when he swerves
He’s got a map, that Mystery Driver
and he won’t nap, because he don’t tire
that Mister… … …Oh, my!
that Mister… … …Ah, me!
that Mystery Driver… Who can he be?

Bringing your worries instead
can you set them down beside that sha… dow… boaster
and listen to him define
his make and model, how to ride that roll… er… coaster?
He’ll show you his make-up mirror
and how to tune in if and when you want… some… sweet song
and when you need to go nearer
his right will take your left, and then you can… come… ay-long

But Babe, don’t you know that you can’t drive me?
You’ve gotta trust that Mystery Driver
He won’t be passed, but he can and does fly
and he goes fast, if he knows that we won’t die
He’s in control, that Mystery Driver
He knows our goal, but he’ll drive us higher
that Mister… … …Oh, Man!
that Mister… … …Oh, He!
that Mystery Driver… Who can he be?

— Romanós

Celebrating wrong ideas

A good many people nowadays say, 'I believe in a God, but not in a personal God.' They feel that the mysterious something which is behind all other things must be more than a person.

Now the Christians quite agree. But the Christians are the only people who offer any idea of what a being that is beyond personality could be like. All the other people, though they say that God is beyond personality, really think of Him as something impersonal: that is, as something less than personal. If you are looking for something super-personal, something more than a person, then it is not a question of choosing between the Christian idea and the other ideas. The Christian idea is the only one on the market.

Again, some people think that after this life, or perhaps after several lives, human souls will be 'absorbed' into God. But when they try to explain what they mean, they seem to be thinking of our being absorbed into God as one material thing is absorbed into another. They say it is like a drop of water slipping into the sea. But of course that is the end of the drop. If that is what happens to us, then being absorbed is the same as ceasing to exist. It is only the Christians who have any idea of how human souls can be taken into the life of God and yet remain themselves—in fact, be very much more themselves than they were before.

I warned you that Theology is practical. The whole purpose for which we exist is to be thus taken into the life of God. Wrong ideas about what that life is will make it harder.

C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Ch. 24, "The Three-Personal God"

After work today I met my best friend Brock at Common Grounds, a cozy little coffeehouse in the Hawthorne district of Portland. He was there working on some details of a screenplay, sitting at a granite bar in the sunny front window. There was a magazine of some kind at the end of the bar, and I took a look at it. It turned out to be a booklet advertising the Body, Mind & Spirit Expo to be held in Portland, Oregon the weekend of April 19/20, that is, the first day of the Jewish Passover. Hmm, interesting, I thought. Also, the Saturday of Lazarus, and Palm Sunday (of the Greek Orthodox).

"Well, what have we here," I thought to myself, as I took a look at the booklet. On the cover a gloriously happy, liberated-looking woman was throwing herself up into the air in a grassy meadow. Four of the featured guests at this expo were also pictured on the cover, all smiling broadly to advertise their proficiencies… Magic of the Tarot… Move Through Life's Crossroads… The Science of Anti-Aging… and Learn to Talk to Animals.

Turning the booklet over, the back cover had four more smiling savants and their specialties… Attract Your Dreams… Become a Psychic Medium… Expand Your Consciousness… and (what I thought said "Potato Spirit 2012" but which actually said) Portal to Spirit: Transition 2012.

It was a long, boring day at the office, and my eyes must be playing tricks on me, I thought to myself. Was I seeing things?

Well, yes, I'm afraid I was. This expo, with 125 exhibitors and 75 "free lectures", acclaimed as the "Northwest's Largest Holistic Expo," is coming to Portland.

Looking inside the booklet, here are some of the other presentations that were advertised…

Fear & Self Sabotage
Fairy Forum
Fishing Guide to the Stars
Are You Toxic?
Direct Past Life Readings
Bliss 101: The Basics
One-2-One with your Angels
How to Embody Shambala Now
Opening the Conduit
Vibrational Awakening
The New Crystal Temple
Seeing Auras
Why Emotions Hurt
Make the Most of Planet Energy
Finding Your Soul's Purpose

"Duh… Too bad I'm gonna have to miss this great expo," I yawned pathetically, remembering I'll be out of town that weekend. And there was even this great offer… Volunteer at the Expo! with a phone number, 541-482-3722. This event comes out of Ashland, Oregon. It makes you wonder, what really goes on down there. Yeah, too bad we'll be out of town. Brock and I could've volunteered at the event… hand out Chick tracts or something!

All this reminded me of yet another saying of C. S. Lewis…

"…Theology is practical: especially now. In the old days, when there was less education and discussion, perhaps it was possible to get on with a very few simple ideas about God. But it is not so now. Everyone reads, everyone hears things discussed. Consequently, if you do not listen to Theology, that will not mean that you have no ideas about God. It will mean that you have a lot of wrong ones—bad, muddled, out-of-date ideas. For a great many of the ideas about God which are trotted out as novelties to-day are simply the ones which real Theologians tried centuries ago and rejected. To believe in the popular religion of modern England is retrogression—like believing the earth is flat."

What he said of "modern England" can certainly be said of "modern America." Sorry to have to repeat myself, but "Lord, have mercy on us!" We certainly need it!

Facing facts

Most people are not evil, nor are most people complete fools. We are, however, a very selfish race, and ungrateful. Some of us have met with circumstances in our lives that have halted us in our tracks, making us look at and think about the world around us a little more deeply. There is, after all, a lot to ponder. The deeper we live our personal stories, the more we can begin to understand the stories of others, and empathy grows in us. The human mind seeks patterns in its experience of the world and of the self. There are plenty of patterns out there too, and it seems the more we look for, the more we find. Sometimes we try so hard, we even find patterns that aren’t really there. Hence, the humanist atheist’s criticism of “religion” and God, which sometimes comes close to the truth. So much for the human world and our experiences there.

Still, some of us, as flawed as we are, and as damaged, insist on the reality of a Being we call God. Most of us are also not evil, nor are we complete fools either. We find ourselves to be, in spite of our “belief” in the existence of the Being we call God, very selfish and, yes, ungrateful too, just as selfish and ungrateful as the rest of humanity. That doesn’t stop us from believing and insisting that this God exists, whatever else we do or say about Him. This fact gives the majority of people a very sour taste in their mouths when it comes to the subject of “religion” and God, or as we have it in America, a “Christian” country, the subject of church. Most people are not evil, nor are most people complete fools. They can tell when people are “playing church,” and being sensible (except for a universal blindspot—personal sin) they want no part in the “game,” and can you blame them?

Most people will only play games that they’ve made up and whose rules they’ve accepted, games that are “fun,” and which they think they can win, that is, that’ll put them ahead of others. Hmm, what does that remind me of?

Back to my statement that most people are not evil, at least they don’t think they are. They haven’t yet encountered sin, or else they’ve refused to acknowledge it, being tutored by a world system that actually glorifies it under other names. So not meeting sin in themselves, or hiding from it, thus being unaware of the bad news about themselves, they have no ears for the good news. If they have heard the bad news preached at them somewhere, that only hardens their hearts against the good news even more. “First they tell me I’m broken, so they can fix me, but if you ask me, it’s them that are broken and need fixing! They can keep their Jesus!” I wonder why they would think that?

Can it be true that most people aren’t complete fools? Even if they were able to see their brokenness or whatever they might call it—though sin is its real name—how should they respond if the “repairers of the breach” are easily seen to be just playing a game, pretending to be healers, helpers, heralds of good news, but in fact, only playing?

“Where do you fellowship, brother?” a twinkly, heavily-bearded middle aged man asks a young man sitting in a coffeehouse, wearing a tallit [Jewish prayer scarf] and studying a Hebrew interlinear Old Testament. Without waiting for a response, “Tallit is rabbinical; I follow only Torah.” Then, as the young man begins to respond, and giving some testimony of his life in Christ, the other continues to promote his “messianic synagogue” and boasts of “following the commandments” because Y’shua [Jesus] was a Torah observant Jew. Then he goes on to say that living your life as “a living sacrifice” is impossible unless you know and understand the book of Vayikra [Leviticus] and what sacrifice is all about.

My mind is trailing off into silence and my eyes glazing over, while I wait for this blast of hot wind to pass. Ah, but his wife is a real Jew, who teaches Hebrew, and who was saved and is now a tongue-speaking, born-again believer in Mashiach. “Good,” I mutter softly and nod, while I half-listen patiently. Finally—I knew it was coming—the business card. After all, he’s on his Father’s business. He knows his lines well, though his Hebrew knowledge is spotty at best, enough to corral the biblically illiterate whom he usually meets here.

So why don’t they come to church and be Christians? What’s wrong with the people of the world? We’ve certainly given them enough time and plenty of free literature and televangelism to round them up. Don’t they feel welcome? We say on our church marquees, “Everyone welcome.” Look, we even have a prayer request box in the parking lot, if somebody needs to be prayed for. What more can they want? They don’t even have to tithe, at least not at first. After all, “the church doesn’t need” our money, “we need to give it.” As they say, "You can't outgive God!" And as for expecting miracles, like living a transformed life, well, don't worry… that’ll gradually happen. All they have to do is hang out with us, and they’ll be infected with Christianity. It’ll just rub off on them. See, we’ve made the way to God absolutely appealing, fun and easy. Got nothing to do, no where to hang out? Don’t worry! You can volunteer in one of our great ministry opportunities. What? What did you say? What do you mean “What does all this have to do with Jesus?” Why, it has everything to do with Him! After all, Christ is all things, and in all things, especially at our church! Don’t worry, we’ll put you to wo… I mean, we’ll give you plenty of opportunities for Christian growth. And remember, “grow where you’re planted!” We love you, and Jesus does too!

Christ, our Lord, have mercy on us!

Making the world love us

"I long for a ‘third way’ in the way the church can engage culture, perhaps it is being the kind of polis that the Scripture describes–a holy and loving people."

Not judging the non-Christian society around them, letting their praxis be taken as their logo, uncompromising in matters that cannot be compromised, undemanding in matters indifferent, avoiding argumentation, promoting the bare Word of God without comment, inviting to and helping those abandoned or helpless, intolerant of deliberate immorality, but pardoning and overlooking human weakness, and showing patience and forbearance with all—this is not a third way, as if there were options—this is the way of the true Church, in whatever time, place or denomination it can be found.

"A people who love God, neighbor, and each other. A people who are attractive to the culture because of their holiness, wholeness, and love."

A people who live love but do not preach it in words and proclamations, even so, that Church will only ever be attractive to those who are already part of her without knowing it, as for the rest of the "culture," it will never find the true Church attractive, but will always find fault, always find reason to try to drive it out of the world. If Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of our faith, perfect Man (and to us true God) could not be found attractive by the "culture," how can we poor copies of His nature do anything that will make us attractive to the culture of sin and death? For what else can "culture" be, despite its false beauty, fame and fragrance?