Orthodixie

Down in Louisiana, there’s Mardis Gras; in other places, there’s Fat Tuesday with Pancakes; here at St George Orthodox Church, just before we give up meat for Lent, there’s the annual Country Western BBQ & Dance!

That’s DJ Lisa warming up the crowd for …

This guy and his band.

Can your priest do this?

The stunned crowd struggles to keep up with Fr John’s hand jive.

It was a rousing performance, which just tuckered some fellers out:

But the young and young at heart got their boots scootin’ …

Dummy.

“Hey! Who you callin’ dummy?”

“Y’all have a happy Meatfare Sunday and Cheese Week, ya hear?!”

Nice looking pics – thanks to Greg Quartaro; pics that look like they were taken by a priest who forgot his camera (but had his phone) … by me.

The annual Country Western BBQ & Dance is an event hosted by the Fellowship of St John the Divine.

Click here for part one; here for past retreat notes — and remember, these notes are filtered through a slow moving hand and noggin:

If we are worshiping a loving God, we need a sensation of this life in our deep heart.

The reason Christ did not answer Pilate: “What is truth?” — Had he asked “Who is truth?,” he would have received the answer Christ gave to his disciples at the Supper: “I am the Truth and the Life …”

Man was created by the Divine Energies as a pure potential — or as Elder Sophrony says: “a tabula rasa”.

We are created in the image of God’s Energies.

The Holy Spirit forms Christ in the heart of man.

That all be saved — that is where hypostatic prayer begins; the hope that all men be saved.

The “goal” of every priest … to be a vessel of incorruptible consolation, without sins or passions, to the faithful.

First the person, then the Rule.

St Silouan: “By God’s grace, I am.”

More later …

A personal note & request: Of your charity, I beg your prayers for my father-in-law, Rodney Byard, who passed away yesterday — his wife, Nancy; his daughters Becky, Jenny, and Amy Elizabeth (my wife) & their families. Thank you — and may God grant you and yours long life.

The Diocese of Wichita and Mid-America was blessed to have Archimandrite Zacharias of St John the Baptist Monastery, Essex – England, as our clergy retreat speaker again this year.

This year’s topic: “Fulfillment of Personhood according to Elder Sophrony of Essex”

Here’s some quotes — at least as I heard them (there was so much info it was hard to make the pen keep track; forgive me):

We have to be strong in our relationship with God in order to be strong in all our relationships.

Every person is created in a unique way and has his own unrepeatable path to salvation.

One should not look at what a person is, but what he can become by God’s grace.

In the Liturgy, we exchange our small life for God’s great life.

In the Liturgy, we are given a taste of personhood.

We must come to the Liturgy with some contribution from our heart.

By bringing our small gift we enter the communion of the gifts of the others of the Church — the stronger members — both on heaven and on earth.

More later …

This week’s episode of the Orthodixie Podcast is an interview with John Maddex of Ancient Faith Radio concerning my new book We Came, We Saw, We Converted.

Click here to listen.

UPDATE … The following note is from a WC,WS,WC reader …

I scanned the book and I am reading it as a devotional, a chapter or two a day. You should advertise it as a “devotional with humor”. You have the knack for conveying wisdom with wit.

It has ever been so. We all get our chance — some more than others — and it’s what we do with our time that matters.

I’ve been thinking lately: You make time, it is not found.

Time is made, not found.

The question is often asked, Where do you find the time?

Rather, answer this: When are you going to make the time?

Time, though a mystery, is a creature.

But it can be harnessed.

It is this harnessing of time that drives creative output.