A Prayer

O Lord, accept me in penitence.
O Lord, leave me not.
O Lord, lead me not into temptation.
O Lord, grant me good thoughts.
O Lord, grant me tears and remembrance of death and compunction.
O Lord, grant me the thought of confessing my sins.
O Lord, grant me humility, chastity and obedience. O Lord, grant me patience, courage and meekness. O Lord, plant in me the root of all blessings, the fear of Thee in my heart.
O Lord, grant me to love Thee with all my mind and soul, and always to do Thy will.
O Lord, protect me from certain people, and demons, and passions, and from every other harmful thing.
O Lord, Thou knowest that Thou actest as Thou wilt; may Thy will be also in me, a sinner, for blessed art Thou for ever.
Amen.

Church in the News!

Church comes home
Altar, gleaming icons mean temple is ready for anointing
BY CHELSEA KELLNER -ckellner@newsobserver.com RALEIGH

As Laurie Hooten walked through the temple doors, she jumped up and down and clapped her hands. "Oh, it's beautiful!" she exclaimed.

Photos by Chuck Liddy - CLiddy@newsboserver.com

Ahead, a team of men was carefully gluing a tall golden icon of the Virgin Mary to the ornate wooden wall surrounding the sanctuary. Two more icons already gleamed to its right, paintings copied from antiquity of Jesus and the icon of All Saints.
 
"There really is a God, there really is Jesus, there really are all those people in heaven, and now we can walk in and see reminders of that," Hooten said.

After years of waiting, All Saints Antiochian Orthodox Church finally has a permanent home. Last Wednesday, workers rushed to finish the altar and iconostasis in time for the building's consecration Nov. 9.

"It's a coming-of-age," Father Nicholas Sorensen said. "The church will finally be consecrated, a holy, permanent structure for people to worship. We've got that sense of completion."

On Nov. 9, a bishop will anoint the building with oil and holy water in a long service, marking the building as a temple, not to be used for any other purpose from that day forward.

Photos by Chuck Liddy - CLiddy@newsboserver.com

A consecration is rare, a once-in-a-lifetime event for most priests and parishioners. Then again, this is a temple more than a decade in the making.

Before its location on Buck Jones Road, All Saints was a "port-a-church," says founding member Tony Brancaccio.

Founded in 1992 with about 30 members, the parish rented the Page-Walker Arts and History Center in Cary for services, or the Boys Club in Raleigh, or reserved a park community center.

After buying their current property, parishioners attended services in a building intended to become the parish hall. Attendance ballooned to about 400 members and that space got crowded, with standing room only at some services. The altar was a table covered by cloths, and the icons were small printed reproductions.

All Saints tried twice before to begin its main building, but found it unaffordable. The new structure cost about $1.6 million, saved during the decades by a careful congregation. It has high ceilings and gold domes and plenty of room to grow.

"We think of it as home and as an extension of our home," parishioner John Cook said. "Nothing makes it better than to have room for a bigger family and more people to love."

Services have been held in the new building for the past year. But to be consecrated, the altar needed to be permanent and the iconostasis - the wall of icons leading to the sanctuary where the altar stands - had to be complete.

Icons are an important part of Orthodox worship, Sorensen said. Each is a portrait of Jesus, Mary, an apostle or a saint painstakingly reproduced by hand with careful adherence to the ancient originals. Sorensen stresses that the icons themselves are not worshipped, but that they serve as a representation and reminder of those revered by the parish.

Very little has changed about the Orthodox service or the church structure itself since the first century, Sorensen said. The idea is for the church to provide stability in rapidly changing times. That means that particular icons are required for the new sanctuary, with a particular placement. An icon of Jesus stands to the right of the doors to the hand-made wooden altar, the Virgin Mary to the left. They are flanked by John the Baptist, the All Saints icon and two angels. The other positions are up to the individual parish. Here, parishioners chose to place St. Nicholas in one of those spots, in honor of Sorensen.

Last Wednesday, the iconostasis was complete. Parishioners rushed to finish the altar.

"If you go 20 years back, we could only dream of this," Brancaccio said. "For me, this is living a dream."

In another 20 years, the scent of the incense will have worked its way into the ductwork. Jesus and Mary will still hold their arms out to the world from the wall behind the sanctuary.

And, parishioners hope, the temple will continue to be an oasis of stability in a volatile world.

"I leave the world behind when I come in here," Brancaccio said. "The world stays outside, and I'm at peace."

Kellner: 919-829-4802

Minor correction, the Consecration service will be 6 November not 9 November. LOL!

One thing I asked of the Lord,
   that will I seek after:
to live in the house of the Lord
   all the days of my life,
to behold the beauty of the Lord,
   and to inquire in his temple. Psalm 27:4

Lord have mercy on me, a sinner!

Relevant Reading
All Saints Orthodox Church Consecration Service & Event Information

Hope

"Believing in even the possibility of a happy ending is a very powerful thing."

~ Mary Margaret Blanchard, Once Upon a Time

Lord have mercy on me, a sinner.

Counsels of Elder Paisios of the Holy Mountain

Elder Paisios of the Holy Mountain

The person that is struggling to the best of his abilities, who has no desire to live a disorderly life, but who, in the course of the struggle for faith and life, falls and rises again and again, God will never abandon. And if he has the slightest will not to grieve God, he will go to Paradise with his shoes on. 

 We mustn't despair when we struggle and continuously see nothing but the slightest progress. We all do nearly nothing, some a little more, some a little less. When Christ sees our little effort He gives us an analogous token and so our nearly nothing becomes valuable and we can see a little progress. For this reason we mustn't despair, but hope in God. 

What a wonderful thing it will be when we know ourselves! Then humility will be for us a state of being, and God will position us well with His divine gifts. Then the spiritual laws will cease working, and the one who rises the highest will humble himself, for we will all walk low, we won't fall and we will continually receive the grace of God which is given to the humble.  

The goal of the Christian is to rise to God without machines. 

In the hour of prayer, when our mind wanders to thoughts of bad things, or if these thoughts come without our wanting them, we shouldn't wage an offensive war against the enemy, because, even if all the lawyers in the world joined together, they wouldn't make any headway with a little demon. Only through ignoring them can one chase these thoughts away. The same is true for blasphemous thoughts.

If you want to grab God's attention so He'll hear you during prayer, turn the dial to humility, for God always works in this frequency; then humbly ask for His mercy.

My brother, don't ask for anything in prayer except for repentance. Repentance will bring you humility, humility will bring you the grace of God, and God will uphold you in His grace and will give you whatever you need for your own salvation as well as whatever is needed, should the case arise, for you to help another soul in need. 

Conscience is the first law of God, which He carved deeply into the hearts of the first-created. In turn we each make a photocopy from our parents when we're born.

Children contract their first spiritual colds from the open windows of their parents' senses. The mother passes on her cold especially when she is not modestly dressed and scandalizes her children with her behavior.

The holy life of parents instructs the souls of their children and so they naturally obey them and grow up with piety and without psychological problems, and the children are pleased with their parents. The parents are gladdened by their children in this life and in life eternal, where they will once again glory in them.

When one realizes one's sinfulness and the great mercy of God, the heart cracks, as hard as it may be, and real tears fall of themselves and then man prays and weeps without effort.

Let us struggle with all our powers to gain Paradise. The gate is very narrow, and don't listen to those who say that everyone will be saved. This is a trap of satan so that we won't struggle.

Christ is wholly love, goodness and consolation, and never suffocates. He has an abundance of spiritual oxygen.

Live in constant glorification of and thanksgiving towards God, for the greatest sin is ingratitude and the worst sinner is the ungrateful person. 

Those who are in the world must not despair when they are overcome by many passions, and when their nature is unruly and races passionately downwards. Rather, they must trust in the almighty power of God and turn the steering wheel of their powerful engine back onto the road toward God, upwards. 

Counsels of Elder Paisios of the Holy Mountain

I Love My Friends!

"Preserve, then, my sons, that friendship ye have begun with your brethren, for nothing in the world is more beautiful than that. It is indeed a comfort in this life to have one to whom thou canst open thy heart, with whom thou canst share confidences, and to whom thou canst entrust the secrets of thy heart. It is a comfort to have a trusty friend by thy side, who will rejoice with thee in prosperity, sympathize in troubles, encourage in persecution. What good friends those Hebrew children were whom the flames of the fiery furnace did not separate from their love of each other!"

St. Ambrose of Milan.

Thank you all for your support and prayers! ~hugs~

Lord have mercy on me, a sinner!

Relevant Reading
Daniel 3
Something's Comin'

Just Received the Following Email

Date: Wed, Oct 12, 2011 at 5:23 PM
Subject: Congratulations!
Mailed-by: XXXXXXX

To: XXXXXXX

All Graduands:

Congratulations to all of you on your success! You have been cleared for the December 2011 Graduation contingent upon successful completion of the courses that you are currently enrolled in or the removal of any deficiencies. I have included the Graduation Readiness Checklist-Fall 2011 for your review.If I may be of further assistance, do not hesitate to contact me.

  

Best,

Virginia Purefoy Jones, M.L.S.

University Librarian and Assistant to the Dean

School of Library and Information Sciences

North Carolina Central University

Durham, North Carolina  27707

 
Lord have mercy on me, a sinner!

Proud Member of the Late Bloomers' Club!

Late Bloomers....Get it?

Before I got married, I was a spoiled brat and I know it. I let stuff happen and relied on mom and dad to take care of it if it went kablooie. After I married in 1994, I pretty much just transferred it to him. After all, everyone around me told me that was how a "good Christian wife" should be and if played into my greatest strength: Being Irresponsible.

Fast forward thirteen years or so to June 2007 when Mt. St. Helens blew up in my living room. All of a sudden I was face with having to do it ALL BY MYSELF. To be honest, I didn't actually start taking care of myself until January 2008. It still took me almost a year to figure out how to pay my bills (on time!!) without hyperventilating. I cried A LOT. I hid under my blanket A LOT. I found a reliable and trustworthy support system in my friends, IRL and online, and I called them A LOT. I prayed A LOT. I cried A LOT more.

It's 2011. I still hide sometimes but at least the bills are paid and even if the remaining balance is just this side of $0.00, I did it and I know I did it and if it didn't get done right, I know how to fix it (or at least who to call for help).

It's a process. It hurts like a toothache sometimes but...I am more sure than anything else that it was worth it. I am far more content and complete than I ever was before. Four years ago I didn't think I would ever say that. Now I can't imagine living like the person I was back then. 

In a couple of months, I will graduate with my Masters degree in Library Science. I may or may not go on to get a PhD or JD, but all the options are open for me. The world has never looked so bright to me before, even after I received my B.A in 1991. Why? Because this time I chose. I didn't let things happen to me. I didn't allow someone else to make a decision for me and I didn't lay down and die when things went kablooie. I made a plan. I stuck to it. When a little something called LIFE happened to the original plan, I had Plan B in my pocket. And Plan B knocked it out of the park!

This is not to say I haven't had some curve balls thrown my way, but it is amazing what you can withstand when you pray, and are willing to keep moving even through the rain. And when you keep moving, people help you along. They walk with you because they are going places, too, and they also need help standing up and moving on. So you link arms, virtually and literally, and soon you aren't just two or three. You have an army standing with you, cheering with you, and you are standing with them and cheering with them, and so on and so forth, and round and round. It's a wonderful thing!

How very good and pleasant it is
   when kindred live together in unity!
It is like the precious oil on the head,
   running down upon the beard,
on the beard of Aaron,
   running down over the collar of his robes.
It is like the dew of Hermon,
   which falls on the mountains of Zion.
For there the Lord ordained his blessing,
   life for evermore.
Psalm 133

Hang on baby! December is coming! God be praised!

Lord have mercy on me, a sinner!

Relevant Reading
Psalm 133
Ephesians 4:1-5
And Still I Rise
Stand in the Rain
Looking for Something Good
King of Anything (cover by Sam Tsui)

Steve Jobs 1955 - 2011

"No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it... It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true. Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life.
Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything - all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

~ Steve Jobs, from his 2005 Stanford Commencement Address.

"In all you do, remember the end of your life, and then you will never sin."
~ Wisdom of Sirach 7:36

In his advise to his friend Philagrios: "...live instead of [in] the present, [in] the future and to make this life a meditation and practice of death...Our cares and our attention are concentrated on one thing only our departure from this world. And for this departure we prepare ourselves and gather our baggage as prudent travelers would do."
~ St Gregory the Theologian

"Recall your exodus every hour; keep death before your eyes on a daily basis. Remember before whom you must appear."
~ St Athanasios

"Let the memory of death sleep and awake with you."
~ St John of Sinai

Relevant Reading
The Wisdom of Sirach
The Memory of Death
Writings of the Early Church

A Poem

your life is your life
don’t let it be clubbed into dank submission.
be on the watch.
there are ways out.
there is a light somewhere.
it may not be much light but
it beats the darkness.
be on the watch.
the gods will offer you chances.
know them.
take them.
you can’t beat death but
you can beat death in life, sometimes.
and the more often you learn to do it,
the more light there will be.
your life is your life.
know it while you have it.
you are marvelous
the gods wait to delight
in you.
~ Charles Bukowski

Lord have mercy on me, a sinner.

Enough

Sometimes God just wants me to remember that.

Lord have mercy on me, a sinner.