My youngest is now in Kindergarten. This morning, as she sat at table finishing her breakfast, she said: “I’ve got a secret … I’ve got a secret and I can’t tell you!”
Her mother said: “You’ve got a secret? Is this something happening at school?”
The 5-year old daughter said, “Yes, everybody’s doing it. But they told us not to tell!”
I asked: “Is it smoking Crack?”
She laughed and said, “Dad! No! It’s way more fun than that!”
🙂
The new “Liturgical Service,” as they call it, has become the most popular service even among young people. After the “standard” evangelical service at 9:30 a.m., workers decorate the platform with candles, non-specific iconography and other religious-looking items. Fitzgerald wears generic vestments and adopts a more somber manner. He reads from a liturgical book and the congregation responds by reading words on the screens.
“I like the reverence and the mood,” says one girl, 16. “It feels more spiritual.”
“I like the candles,” her friend chimes in.
The effort seems to be working to keep church members from straying elsewhere. In St. Paul, Minn., Family Life Center recently created a liturgical service and says some families have opted to stay rather than try out other churches. Jessica Onstead, 38, was dissatisfied enough last year with the “fluffiness” of evangelical church services that she visited an Orthodox service and liked parts of it. But she was uncomfortable with the “kissing of strangers, genuflecting and standing for an hour during the sermon.”
She ended up back at her non-denominational church which had by then added an Orthodox-style service. She now attends …
Thanks to FWD from tmatt.
St Elizabeth was from the lineage of Aaron and was the sister of St Anna, the mother of the Most Holy Theotokos. She and her husband Zachariah, walking in all the commandments of the Lord (Luke 1:6), suffered barrenness, which in those times was considered a punishment from God.
When Elizabeth gave birth to a son, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit she announced that his name would be John, although no one in their family had this name. They asked Zachariah, who had been rendered mute because of his disbelief when an angel (traditionally the Archangel Gabriel) informed him that his wife would soon bear a child, what the child’s name was, and he wrote the name John down on a tablet. Immediately the gift of speech returned to him, and inspired by the Holy Spirit, he began to prophesy about his son as the Forerunner of the Lord.
When King Herod heard from the Magi about the birth of the Messiah, he decided to kill all the infants up to two years old at Bethlehem and the surrounding area, hoping that the newborn Messiah would be among them. The king knew about John’s unusual birth and wanted to kill him, fearing that John was the foretold King of the Jews. But Elizabeth hid herself and the infant in the hills. The murderers searched everywhere for John. Elizabeth, when she saw her pursuers, began to implore God for their safety, and immediately the hill opened up and concealed her and the infant from their pursuers.
In these tragic days St Zachariah was taking his turn at the services in the Temple. Soldiers sent by Herod tried in vain to learn from Zachariah the whereabouts of his son. Then, by command of Herod, they murdered this holy prophet Zachariah, having stabbed him between the temple and the altar (Matthew 23: 35). Elizabeth died forty days after her husband, and St John, preserved by the Lord, dwelt in the wilderness until the day of his appearance to the nation of Israel.
Stolen from Orthodox Wiki.
The University of Michigan Wolverines learned a valuable lesson on September 1, 2007: “No matter your future expectations, today ya gotta play the game.”
As an Appalachian Alum, I am obviously biased. Actually that should read: “As an App Alum, I am naturally optimistic.” Look. There ain’t many spoilt rich kids at ASU. And those that think they are, compared to places like UM, just think they are.
Appalachian State University is a special place, first and foremost — hideous promo video aside — because of its location in the breathtaking Blue Ridge Mountains. But, more than that, it is home to the sons and daughters of predominantly working class folks from the Foothills and Piedmont of North Carolina. Oh heck, let me just come out and say it: That’s Ya Hoo without a Dot Com. But when you mix Hayseeds with Mustard Seeds, or sump’m like at, you can move mountains all the way to Michigan.
My wife and I, both ASU Grads (’83 & ’87), caught Saturday’s game on the computer — a station broadcasting from Michigan I’d googled online. We were doing yard work outside on a surprisingly pleasant fall-like Houston day. As ASU led for most of the game, it was even more to our liking. We were not greatly surprised … Hey. App Alums will believe anything about their Alma Mater.
Then, when things turned sour with 4 minutes left to play, the Missuz pouted and went back to using the leaf blower. Man that I am, I remained glued to the computer. Then, chugga-chugga-choo-choo!, Chugga-Chugga-Choo-Choo! — when the Little Engine That Could started doin’ its thang, I whined … “Come on in Hun, they’re gettin’ ready to kick a field goal to go ahead.” Long story short, they did: And how.
When you’re 46, whether you’re a Mountaineer or not, jumping up and down and screaming at the top of your lungs — high-fivin’ and acting a fool takes a toll. But, hey. Ya gotta do whatchya gotta do. They did; we did. Yahoo!
Un. Be. Lievable.
I say that not because, as a Mountaineer, we didn’t believe. I say it because of the reaction of the nation to the Big Game. It’s been fun to follow. Then again, for Michigan fans, not so much. It’s a bitter (capital B with an Echo) pill to swallow for a cocky powerhouse with hopes of a National Title and a Heisman candidate. But for ASU, it was Game Day … away. And all they had to lose was their 15-game winning streak. ‘Sawright. Good experience and great exposure for the Mountaineers.
ASU’s head coach, Jerry Moore, undoubtedly like many of his players, is a faithful Christian — a Baptist. He’s in his 19th season in Boone, North Carolina. (University of Texas head, Mack Brown, only lasted a year at ASU.) Moore reads Psalms and Proverbs each morning and has taught his players a wonderful lesson over the years: “Let the first moments of the day when the heart is fresh be given to God. Never see the face of man till you have seen the King.” Source
True, in cases such as this, Faith is paramount. But also …
[T]he Mountaineers kept telling themselves that while Michigan might be the winningest program in major college history, the Wolverines were just college kids like them. The past is the past. This was about the future.
“Their players are like us,” running back Kevin Richardson told the Detroit News before the game. “They have feet, put on shoes and strap on the pads just like we do.” Source
Besides, in the end, even Wolverine fans (if they dig deep enough) gotta admit: Though that big ol’ Philistine could have should have beaten that little shepherd boy …
That story just won’t preach.
