Orthodixie

Four years ago, the Huneycutts — freshly situated in the Republic of Texas — ventured to Guadalupe River State Park for our first, post North Carolina, camping trip. Last week, November 25-28, 2009 we were back in the same park (all of us, a whole lot of me … older).

Forgive the personal pics, but hoping you all had a happy Thanksgiving — enjoy!

See that? Sweet, innocent … WAIT! Compare the pic above, from four years ago, to the one at the top of this post. What happened?!

Aha! There’s the difference! Hammock Man, we’ll call him Ham for short, got behind the camera.

He took, or directed, many of these pics.

See?

“Mom! Mom! Can I borrow the camera and take it down to the river? There’s lots of fog — and it looks really creepy!”

“Mom! I swear! I was just trying to take a picture of a fish, when … !”

Knots on a log (or as one of the middle one’s teachers would say: “Don’t just sit there like bumps on a pickle!”)

1) I wonder what I’ll be when I grow up …
2) You better not post this on the Internet …
(Having celebrated our 22nd wedding anniversary on the trip, thanks God, she hasn’t killed me yet!)

Back then the caption read: “Seven reads to three. Life don’t get no better.”

Four years later, he’s 11 and she’s 7, the caption reads: “Please! Follow the directions! Just take four giant steps backwards …”

… or be eaten by this tree.

“Arrgh! This pic better not wind up on the Internet!” (Oh, wait.) Ham hits the magic elixir: instant hot chocolate with tiny marshmallows; Scruffy hits the water. And, yes, for the purists out there, this is the official priest’s ‘I’m camping with the family’ outfit.

Teen contemplates the water …

Mr Ham directs Miss Ham …

(I have no idea … I just liked the pic.)

From us to y’all …

Happy Thanksgiving!

In our last episode: a Roman Catholic Priest, two Orthodox clergymen, a Baptist boy and an Episcopalian gal, along with a Greek layman — unexpectedly — share a Thanksgiving campfire.

In the end, I asked: “What do you think happens?”

This week, an answer (provided almost entirely from AFR listeners).

The Orthodixie Podcast on Ancient Faith Radio.

Four things …

1) Read the Manhattan Declaration – HERE.

2) If so inclined, you may add your signature – HERE.

3) I have received some worthy script entries toward the second part of the Orthodixie Podcast “THANKSGIVING – The 8th Ecumenical Campfire”. Listen – HERE.

4) If so inclined, send me your script ideas – orthodixie at aol dot com

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It was said concerning Abba Agathon that some monks came to find him having heard tell of his great discernment.

Wanting to see if he would lose his temper they said to him, “Aren’t you that Agathon who is said to be a fornicator and a proud man?”

“Yes, it is very true,” he answered.

They resumed, “Aren’t you that Agathon who is always talking nonsense?”

“I am.”

Again they said, “Aren’t you Agathon the heretic?”

But at that he replied, “I am not a heretic.”

So they asked him, “Tell us why you accepted everything we cast at you, but repudiated this last insult?”

He replied, “The first accusations I take to myself, for that is good for my soul. But heresy is separation from God. Now I have no wish to be separated from God.”

At this saying they were astonished at his discernment and returned edified.

The Sayings of the Desert Fathers: The Alphabetic Collection, “Agathon,” # 5, Benedicta Ward (ed. tr.), pp. 20, 21.

Stolen from DYNAMIS.
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Most stories about the history of Thanksgiving concern the harvest celebration of the pilgrims and the Indians that took place way back in the autumn of 1621.

The one I’m about to relate is being told for the first time and concerns the Thanksgiving of 2012.

And … I’m gonna need your help to complete this one – listen for details at the end of this episode.

Anyway, this Thanksgiving story involves a Russian deacon, an Antiochian priest, a Greek layman, an Episcopalian laywoman, a Roman Catholic priest, and a Baptist.

I know what you’re thinking: How in the world did such a gathering come about?

Well, that’s the story I’m here to begin (and, with your help, end).

It all took place in the rolling hills of Southern Oklahoma just before Thanksgiving in the year 2012. The Catholic priest, Fr O’Malley, was traveling alone on his way north, to Norman, to see his mother for the holiday.

The Episcopalian woman was dating a nice looking Baptist fellow and was traveling to Stillwater to introduce him to the family. They were hoping to get married just before she entered seminary in 2013 to study toward the priesthood.

The Russian deacon had befriended the Antiochian priest and the Greek layman on Facebook, and they were traveling to a clandestine meeting of “traditional-minded Orthodox Christians” in Oklahoma City.

You never know who you might meet on the highway, especially in an early ice storm the day before Thanksgiving. That’s right, believe it or not, Interstate 35 was covered with ice. The highway patrol had put out a bulletin advising folks not to travel unless absolutely necessary. But, as you might imagine, the Episcopalian gal and her Baptist beau were on a mission – as were the Greek, Antiochian, and Russian churchmen!

Fr O’Malley? He’d not seen his mother in two years and her health was failing.

Needless to say, these people were heedless. They all, in one way or another, believed they were on a Mission from God.

Well, friends, at first glance it might seem that God had other plans. The roads were slick, the travel hazardous and …

The Orthodixie Podcast on Ancient Faith Radio.

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