Sunday, February 18, 2007

Syriac Prayer

Create eyes in me, and so may I see with Thy eyes,
for I cannot see with my own eyes.

May my mind travel inwards
towards the hiddenness of Thy sacrifice,
just as Thou hast travelled out into the open
and been cojoined to Thy Mysteries.

At this moment
may I be totally forgetful of myself,
and remain utterly unmindful
of my own person.

May every bodily image
be wiped away from my mind's Eye,
and may Thou alone
be depicted before the Eye of my mind.

And now, when Thy Spirit descends from heaven
upon your Mysteries,
may I ascend in spirit from earth to heaven.

-- Prayers of Joseph the Visionary in "The Syriac Fathers On Prayer And The Spiritual Life," translated from the original Syriac-Aramaic by Sebastian Brock, Cistercian Publications. Adapted to Thee-Thou.

But Y'all Kin Call Me Elizabeth...

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is:
Lady Madame Elizabeth the Convincing of Bartonhurst in the River
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Friday, February 16, 2007

Only Old Folks Know the Answers. . .

From an e-mail - too good to not publish here!

01. After the Lone Ranger saved the day and rode off into the sunset, the grateful citizens would ask, Who was that masked man? Invariably, someone would answer, I don't know, but he left this behind. What did he leave behind?____________



02. When the Beatles first came to the U. S. in early
1964, we all watched them on The __________________ Show.



03. "Get your kicks, ___________________."



04. "The story you are about to see is true. The names have been changed___________________."



05. "In the jungle, the mighty jungle, ________________."



06. After the Twist, The Mashed Potato, and the Watusi, we "danced" under a stick that was lowered as low as we could go in a dance called the "_____________."



07. "N_E_S_T_L_E_S", Nestle's makes the very best _______________."



08. Satchmo was America's "Ambassador of Goodwill." Our parents shared this great jazz trumpet player with us. His name was _________________.



09. What takes a licking and keeps on ticking? _______________



10. Red Skelton's hobo character was named __________________ and Red always ended his television show by saying, "Good Night, and "_______________".



11. Some Americans who protested the Vietnam War did so by burning their____________.



12. The cute little car with the engine in the back and the trunk in the front was called the VW. What other names did it go by? ____________ & _______________.



13. In 1971, singer Don MacLean sang a song about, "the day the music died." This was a tribute to ___________________.



14. We can remember the first satellite placed into orbit. The Russians did it. It was called ___________________.



15. One of the big fads of the late 50's and 60's was a large plastic ring that we twirled around our waist. It was called the ________________




Scroll Down for the Answers........






ANSWERS:


01. The Lone Ranger left behind a silver bullet.
02. The Ed Sullivan Show
03. On Route 66
04. To protect the innocent.
05. The Lion sleeps tonight
06. The limbo
07. Chocolate
08. Louis Armstrong
09. The Timex watch
10. Freddy, The Freeloader, and "Good Night, and may God Bless."
11. Draft cards (Bras were also burned.)
12. Beetle or Bug
13. Buddy Holly
14. Sputnik
15. Hoola-hoop

Oldie but Goodie!!

Years ago, Fr. Joseph Huneycutt posted this on the "O" list. It was funny then, and is still funny, now. It's copyrighted, so please don't take it without the copyright notice and the website reference!!

YOU KNOW YOU'RE SOUTHERN ORTHODOX WHEN:

10) At Pentecost, your church is decorated with Kudzu.

9) You spell "feast" with only three letters: B B Q.

8) You say "Father," "Barsonuphios," and "Monastery" without any pronouncing an "r."

7) You drive 3 hours to an Orthodox Church. But, could hop ... on one foot ... with your eyes closed ... (and a rock in your shoe) ... to the nearest Baptist Church.

6) All your services are all in English -- at least that's what YOU call it.

5) There's women in your church known as: Photini Beth, Thecla Beth, and Elizabeth Beth.

4) There's men going by: Athanasius Lee, Euphrosynos Lee, and Vasiliy Lee.

3) You got white folks, black folks -- even Democrats -- in your parish, but no Russians, Serbians, Arabs or Greeks.

2) You know someone who knows someone who knows someone with a velvet picture of Elvis celebrating the Last Supper.

AND ... the number one sign that you are an Orthodox Southerner:


1) You think grits are too good to be considered fasting!

(copyright 2000 - Fr Joseph Huneycutt)

Now, I'm very ROC (Redneck Orthodox Christian), but in my parish we do have Russians, Serbians, Arabs and Greeks - and most of them speak English with a Southern drawl! The services are partially in Slavonic - with a Southern drawl. And I *do* know someone with a velvet picture of Elvis celebrating the Last Supper!

I think this list from "Memoirs of a Neophyte" is more to the point:
You know you’re Orthodox if...
• On Wednesdays and Fridays you eat Japanese food.
• You are more comfortable standing in church than sitting.
• You can suck/vacuum up the crumbs of bread out of your hand without coughing.
• You can sing ison to any song (and you know what an ison is… LoL).
• Lent to you means peanut butter, tofu, soy, lots and lots of pita bread and hummus, and services at least five times a week.
• You’re used to skipping breakfast on Sundays.
• On your first encounter with long words, you pronounce them stressing the ‘next to the next to last’ syllable.
• You wonder why the Pope crosses himself backwards when you see him on TV.
• You wear comfortable shoes to church, because you know you’ll be standing a long, long time.
• To you, a ‘topless’ gal is one without a headscarf.
• You get great deals on Easter candy.
• You spend time figuring out the best way to remove smoke stains from your ceiling and wax from your walls.
• When you see a shopping-mall Santa, your first instinct is to hold out your hands to get his blessing.
• Before you pray, you say a prayer.
• You don’t flinch when someone throws water at you.
• When you first tell people who ask what religion you are, at first they think you’re Jewish. Oy!
• You’re experienced at removing wax from clothing.
• The service routinely starts at least 15 minutes late and lasts 2 ½ hours — and nobody around you complains.
• You consider any service two hours or under short/regular.
• You know you’re in an Orthodox church when the priest says, “Let us complete our prayer to the Lord”, and there’s still half an hour to go.
• At the end of Holy Week, you have rug burns on your forehead.
• Your Easter isn’t Easter without an all-night party (featuring 10 dishes of sausage with cheese).
• Your priest is married.
• You have seen all members of clergy in purple robes.
• You can differentiate between the eight different chanting tones.
• You typically celebrate a feast day by observing strict fasting.
• You celebrate feast days the night before.
• You address the City as Constantinople instead of Istanbul.
• You can say "Lord have mercy" 40 times without making a mistake.
• You say 'unto the ages of ages.' instead of 'world without end.'

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Which Original Phantasy Character?

OK - I'm bizarre...







What Original Phantasy Star Character are You?




Myau - the talking Musk Cat
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Which "Clue" Character

I'm going crazy on Quizilla - as if you couldn't tell...







What classic Clue character are you?




Miss Scarlet - Sexy and alluring, your mysterious charm has attracted much attention from unsuspecting males. A little smile, a well-timed wink...the poor saps never know what hit 'em...
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Which "Law and Order" Character?







What Law & Order Character Are You?




Claire Kincaid
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Monday, February 12, 2007

TMI!

Lynn tagged me with this - So here's another post with too much useless information!!

1. What time did you get up this morning? 4:17am

2. Diamonds or Pearls? Pearls

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Narnia

4. What is your favorite TV show? Forensic Files / Cold Case Files

5. What did you have for breakfast? hard boiled egg & toast

7. What is your favorite cuisine? Japanese

8. What foods do you dislike? I never met a food I couldn't eat, but I'm less fond of Turnips

9. Your favorite Potato chip? Lays Potato Chips

10. What is your favorite CD at the moment ? Ancient Russian Chant

11. What kind of car do you drive? Dodge Grand Caravan

12. Favorite sandwich? Tuna Salad

13. What characteristics do you despise? Cheaters, liars and those who play political games to get ahead . Ditto - double ditto

14. What are your favorite clothes? Sweatsuit

15. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where WOULDN'T you go? Middle East

16. Favorite brand of clothing? Don't have a favorite brand - but I get most of my clothes from Walmart...

17. Where would you want to retire? Nowhere - I'm where I want to be!

18. Favorite time of day? Early AM

19. Where were you born? Atlanta

20. What is your favorite sport to watch? Figure Skating

21. Who do you think will not send this back? Probably everyone.

22. Person you expect to send back first? Bev

23. Pepsi or Coke? COKE. Is there anything else? DITTO!!

24. Beavers or Ducks? ducks - Yeah!

25. Are you a morning person or night owl? Early bird

26. Pedicure or Manicure? BOTH!

27. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share? Same old same old...

28. What did you want to be when you were little? An OB

29. What is your best childhood memory? girls camp

30. Piercing? ears

31. Ever been to Africa? No

32. Ever been toilet papering? YEP - as a young teen, and I got grounded big time!!

33. Been in a car accident? Yes

35. Favorite restaurant? Sake Cafe - best sushi chef I've ever had the pleasure of meeting

36. Favorite flower? Carnations

37. Favorite ice cream? Dulce la Leche

38. Favorite Fast Food? Arbys

39. How many times did you fail your drivers test? 0

40. From whom did you get your last e-mail? Lynn

41. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? Would depend on my mood of the moment, but most probably either Home Depot or Woodcraft

42. Bedtime? 8:30 - 9:00pm

43. Who are you most curious about their responses to this? GFPG and the Bodacious Babes

44. Last person you went to dinner with? My ol' curmudgeon!! {my heart!}

45. What are you listening to right now? actually, I'm desultorily watching Animal Planet - Amazing Animal World Records

46. What is you favorite color? anything in the blue-green spectrum

47. How many tattoos do you have? one

48. How many people are you sending this to? about 25

49. Favorite magazine? American Woodturner

50. What vacation do you want to take next? Tour of Russian Churches - but I don't really anticipate ever getting there.

Thursday, February 08, 2007

God Creates Us for Himself!

My friend M___ posted this to a list and gave me permission to use it here.

- - - - -

Glory to God for all things!

Just thinking over the weekend about our son, and the incredible turns his life has taken: We would never have dreamed, back about 10 or 15 years ago, that his life could ever have turned out so successfully. Back in 1992, there wasn't a lot of sympathy for kids with Asperger's Syndrome, mostly because it hadn't yet been officially classified as a condition, so our son, who was then in middle school, put up with a *lot* of guff out of various teachers, and the indignity of being put into special-ed classes along with kids with a fraction of his intelligence - but ADD or ADHD was the only possible "code" available at the time, so we had to agree to special ed or have his teachers pick on him relentlessly. Back then, we just hoped he'd get out of high school without some kind of lasting stigma.



Back then, I actually, seriously, asked God why He had created our son, if his only lot in life was to suffer: Hard to explain to a 10- or 15-year-old that being a "Christ-bearer," which is what his name means, is a great honor, if it means following Christ even to the carrying of an exceptionally heavy cross. True, it was right around this time that his voice developed into one of the finest basses I have ever heard, what the Russians call an "octavist," meaning he can sing somewhere in the 9th sub-basement of the musical scale. And I realized that at least one purpose of his existence was to glorify God with that voice, so that was its own kind of answer. I just wished that the rest of his life could be as successful, so he would at least get some sense that his life is worth living - it sure didn't seem like it, at the time.

But very recently, with the positive changes that have occurred in his life - and with the miscarriage our daughter suffered a little over a year ago - praying for that small life that was snuffed out so soon, and for its uncle, who has known pretty much nothing but sorrow and grief - recently it occurred to me: God creates a person for Himself. It isn't that He doesn't expect us to lead useful and productive lives, and He certainly gives us the means to do so - in our son's case, parents who loved him and believed in him when no one else did - but little Sophia, who never had a chance to live this life - hey, her life is just as valuable to Him. Just because we never had a chance to know her, doesn't mean He doesn't know her and cherish her most intimately, rejoicing in her presence in His life. Just means we have to wait a bit longer to meet her.

What a mind-boggler. God creates each life for Himself, for the sheer joy of getting to know each one of us, for the sheer delight of listening to an octavist with the grimy hands of a worker, or the lightning intellect and golden tongue of a great orator of the Church, or the profound reverence and love for Him of a heart that can't carry a tune in a bucket. He doesn't care about our deficiencies - those are the deficiencies of the world. We are what we are, and when we remember that He holds an icon of us in His hands - the image of what He intended when He created us - when we just make the most of how He created us, then we become what He intended, and fulfill His purpose for our lives. Does it get any better than that?

- - - - -

Later, she added this:

Things like cerebral palsy and abuse, Parkinson's, children's cancers, all seem so
outrageously cruel, and we wonder why God allows them - but they're part and parcel of being in a fallen world, just like that tsunami a couple of years ago. Our priest gave a sermon about that in which he opined that God has not finished creating the world yet, and that's why tsunamis and earthquakes happen. Hmmm. Stands to reason, then, that He isn't finished perfecting *us,* either, and as I was just reading, when St. Paul asked for his affliction to be taken away from him - three times, yet - God's answer was, "My strength is made perfect in weakness." Oh-kay. But it's beginning to dawn on me (emphasis on "beginning") that the suffering, in whatever way, shape, or form, is part of conforming us to His image, and the scars are all part of our "icon" - maybe the physical or emotional scars wipe out or cover over the spiritual scars of our transgressions. It's not my place, or anyone's, really, to try to figure it out. But it sure helps me to realize that there's a purpose for my existence beyond this time and space, and that He made me because He *wanted* me.

Geeeeeeeeeeezzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...!!!

- - - - -

This helps me no end in thinking about my disabilities - God loves me "warts and all," and my RA and fibro, while they may make me less "able" to do things here on earth do not make me less "able" to Glorify Him in my heart and mind! They don't make me of less value in His sight! Glory for that!

Thank you, thank you, thank you, M___ for posting these!

Time for Coffee

I received this from a friend. It's one of "those" e-mails that circulate on the internet. For some reason, today it was very meaningful to me, so I wanted to share it out with any who read this blog!
= = = = =
A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got to talking at a reunion and decided to go visit their old university professor, now retired. During their visit conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in their work and lives.
Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the coffee.
When all the alumni had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said, "Notice that all the nice looking, expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones.
"While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. Be assured that the cup itself add's no quality to the coffee. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups... and then you began eyeing each other's cups.
"Now consider this: Life is the coffee; your job, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life. The type of cup one has does not define, nor change the quality of Life a person lives. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided us.
"The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything."

God brews the coffee, not the cups... enjoy your coffee! Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Spend time with God over your coffee.
= = = = =

I wish you very good coffee...

Saturday, February 03, 2007

Do You Know Your Bible?

This little quiz was pretty silly - I would have made it harder - but it was fun, nevertheless!

You know the Bible 100%!

Wow! You are awesome! You are a true Biblical scholar, not just a hearer but a personal reader! The books, the characters, the events, the verses - you know it all! You are fantastic!

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