Beholding the Beauty

Well, it's been quite some time since I posted...a little over a month, in fact. In the mean while, I've turned 26, and also gotten a chance to visit some relatives I didn't even know (until recently) that I had, in West Virginia. I had a wonderful time with my Dad, visiting my uncle Tom, my aunt Sharon and her husband Jack, and my Great Aunt Norma! One of the neatest things about the whole experience was hanging out with Aunt Norma, who is about to turn 91 next month. She's got stories to tell, lemme tell ya! And fascinating ones, at that. She took us to a couple of unmarked family graveyards from back in the day. (The graves are marked, but the actual graveyards aren't. You have to know where they are, since they are back in the forest off the beaten paths -- you have to hike a bit.) She told stories about each of the people buried in these graveyards, some of whom she knew from when she was little, and some of whom had even fought in the Civil War! ...

A friend of mine sent me a link to this article , about a group of Jewish scholars who are trying to recreate the "authentic Scripture" using all the methods of textual criticism. She asked me what I thought about it. Here is my response .

In response to my previous post about the ever-virginity of Mary , a fellow on one of the forums I frequent asked: I'm wondering why Mary would choose to get married if she took that vow of virginity. Here is my response, the historical bits of which I drew from On Orthodox Veneration of Mary , by St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco. I also include my own speculation about the motivations of the priests, and several other things, based on the facts of the historical bits. ----------------------------- /begin forum post answer This is a very good question, and one that is not answered in the Scriptures. It is, however, answered by the teaching of the Church. Here is the answer, as best as I understand it: According to the Tradition, Mary's parents, Joachim and Anna, were aged and barren. They asked God for a child, and an angel informed them that they would bring forth a daughter. Overjoyed, they promised to consecrate their child to God, as Samuel was consecrated...

DISCLAIMER: When I ran this by my priest/pastor/spiritual father for review, he said that nothing immediately jumped out at him as incorrect. However, he did say that it reads like it is my own speculation, made without reference to the teaching of the Church. In this, he is correct. So take it for what it's worth, which is to say -- it's my so-far-uninformed opinion on the matter. :) I do look forward to delving into the teaching of the Fathers (old and new) on the Liturgy, but I haven't done so yet. ------------------------------------------ Ok, this is going to wander a bit, but bear with me. I find it interesting that in the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, prior to the invocation of the Holy Spirit upon the gifts, the offering is referred to as "this reasonable and unbloody service"; whereas after the invocation, they are referred to as "this reasonable service." Why the difference? Because the invocation itself calls upon the Holy Spirit...

There are some (I used to be among them) who say that Mary did not remain a virgin after the birth of our Lord, but rather consummated her marriage with Joseph and had several other children by him. The tradition of the Church is that she was raised as a virgin in the Temple, in accordance with the Law, and was betrothed to Joseph as a protector who was much older (and had several children by a previous wife who had died), and that she preserved her virginity according to her vows even after their marriage. I converted to the Church's viewpoint on this based on the fact that I thought the Scriptures were ambiguous about it (they do have explanations for those passages that might seem to indicate that she did not remain a virgin), and it did seem to be the majority (actually, the only) viewpoint until the Reformation — there was no reason to dis believe it. But I didn't hold it dogmatically; just as a "Ok, whatever you say, as long as it's not actually contradicted...

I just read this essay by Fr. John Romanides, examining the political realities that lead to the Great Schism of 1094: http://www.greekorthodoxchurch.org/romanorthodox.html I find this fascinating, since it explains very well how so many doctrinal issues crop(ped) up, many of which are being battled over today on various forums.

Today over at the Stuff Fundies Like blog, Pastor Jack Trieber received quite a bit of criticism for a point he made at the end of a sermon . I responded, in his defense, on the discussion board for that post. In the course of the discussion, it was asserted that Ps. 23 does not describe the job of a pastor. I disagreed, and promised to produce this blog post as proof of my counter-assertion: that each promise is made into a pastoral responsibility in the New Testament. However, I now realize that if I do this as one post, it's going to be a long one! So I'm going to break it down into it's constituent parts, as a blog series. I'll update each post with a "Table of Contents" at the top as I go. I'll also notify the forum of each one. May the Lord grant me wisdom and knowledge in the Holy Spirit as I study, and humility in my presentation. Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on us!