All of Orthodoxy Celebrates

New on the OCN website!

United Yet Not of This World

We are called to live holy lives, in the world but not worldly.  This Lenten season has been a strong reminder.   There were several times we have had to decline invitations or rearrange our schedules to allow the lenten activities to make a mark in our lives.   Extra services, changes in eating habits, and opportunities to show charity by sharing our cash, time, and talents have been our focus.

I am not accustomed to living on the Old Calendar and this year, with a very late Easter, this sense of separateness really struck home.  It almost seemed as if the world went on without us, and we were left behind.  We were picking up seasonal leftovers off the grocery shelves.  Ads that used to feature bunnies and pastels are now covered with Mother’s Day sales and summer grilling promotions.

Which explains why I was so thrilled to see a friend’s Facebook post showing a local grocery ad wishing everyone a “Happy Orthodox Easter!”   We haven’t been forgotten!

All of Orthodoxy is celebrating this weekend!  It’s not just the Greeks, the Russians, the Africans, nor the Romanians…  Everyone throughout the world who is a member of the body of Christ in the Holy Orthodox faith will be celebrating that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead!... for full article click here...

Replace, Repair, Restore

I have a new post on OCN, The Cobbler’s Repairs and Lent.   It's about repairing a great pair of boots.  And it's about Lent. Actually, it's about restoration.   Here's a snippet:

"I received a pair of gray and black patent leather cowboy boots for my fortieth birthday. They were a gift from my mother-in-law. She thought cowboy boots would serve as a reminder of what American grit can accomplish and that I once lived in Colorado. I loved wearing them—that is until the heel broke. For the past few months they waited, slouched over with a detached heel, near the door to my garage waiting to catch a ride to the cobbler to be repaired."

"We need more cobblers and fewer retailers. We need more seamstresses and fewer catalogs. We need more repairing and less replacing. I imagine fewer people are experiencing Lent with prayer, fasting and almsgiving because they don’t know what it means to repair anything. Everything broken is replaced with new. We’ve lost the art of restoration, and this spills into our spiritual life."

"... if we aren’t used to repairing what is broken, if we just replace things when they are no longer a use for us, how will we make that association when we are spiritually broken? Most of us, when we are spiritually broken, just live with it. We forgive ourselves. We cry out 'No regrets!' or 'God must have had a plan.' But we are not repaired.  We are not restored."

Click here to read the full article.

Third Sunday of Lent

Here we are!   Third week down and we are half way there.   How is it going?