I made one of these today

One of the books I read to the boys today is "A Pioneer Christmas: Celebrating in the Backwoods in 1841". After reading about pomaders in the book I decided to make one. I modified the instruction a little and came up with this.

You'll need:
-sheet of newspaper
-a jar of whole cloves
-an apple
-a tablespoon of ground cinnamon (1 tsp in original instructions)
-a tablespoon of ground ginger (1 tsp in original instructions)
-a Tablespoon of ground nutmeg (not in original instructions)
-a small paper bag (I used a zip lock bag)
-2 24inch (60cm) lengths of red ribbon

1. Spread newspaper out on table (This made clean up very easy), push stem of one clove into apple. Pushi in a scond clove right next to the first one. Continue adding cloves until apple is completely covered. (Your thumb will get sore.)

2. Put Cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger into bag. Put one clove covered apple into bag and shake it until it is coated with the spices. Remove apple from bag and shake to remove excess spice.

3. Make the hanger as follows: Set 1 ribbon before you on the table. Set the apple in the middle of the apple. Wrap both end of the ribbon up and over the apple. Tie a tight not, leaving two long tales. Stop here and move one to making the bow.

4. Set apple on 2nd ribon so that the second ribbon is at a right angle to the first. Tie a bow on top the the knot inthe first ribbon.

5. Complete hanger by tying the two ends of the first ribbon together.

6. Hang it up to dry.

Saturday Soundtrack: I go chic-chickie-boom-chic-chickie-boom-

When I was a kid I thought nightclubs would be like Ciro's in "Hollywood Steps Out", or like the Coconut Grove at the Ambassador Hotel, or like the Copacabana in Manhattan (Actually, the Copacabana still exists, but it is nothing like it used to be. Now its just another loud bar.) But more than anything my understanding of nightclubs was based on what I saw on "I Love Lucy". Perhaps you remember that Desi worked at a nightclub. Well, in a few episodes of the show we got to see inside that nightclub.

I can not tell you how disappointed I was the first time I was in Manhattan (I was 17) and went to a nightclub. It was nothing like what I was expecting. There were no tuxedos anywhere in sight, no showgirls, no conga drums, no live music, no floor show. I was looking for Artie Shaw, Gene Krupa, Desi Arnaz, Cab Calloway, Les Brown, and Billy Eckstine performing live with their orchestras. Well, not really them, but their heirs.

There was an attempt to revive that kind of night club. In San Francisco, in the mid 90s a place called the Coconut Club opened. Unfortunately, it was tied to closely to the swing fad of those years. When the fad went away so did the Coconut Club. In Sunnyvale, there was club open about the same time. It was called the Palace. Men were required to be in ties and jacket. Blue jeans were verboten. I only went once (It was very expensive), but it was almost like being at Desi's nightclub, but much bigger; not as big as the old Coconut Grove in L.A., though. They had live music. (I danced the Cha Cha Cha, but not this good.) But Silicon Valley is not a good place for nightclubs, and they closed their doors. Sometimes, Bimbo's in San Francisco has events that seem like they were brought forward in time from the 1930s, 1940s, or 1950s. But not often.

My brother and I talked about opening nightclub once. But he got married and that was the end of of that. It probably wouldn't have worked out. He is more of a Margaritaville and Cabo Wabo guy.

Anyway, here is the clip of the song. I suppose most people today associate the song with Jim Cary's movie "The Mask", but Desi was first. Sometimes, when walking down the sidewalk this song pops in to my head and I have to add a little Latin motion to my walk.

May I draw your attentionto this article?

The Wall Street Journal (in my opinion, the best American news paper) has published a story about the students at Newcomers High School in Queens, New York, where all of the students are recent immigrants.

Newcomers High School also has students who, like the Pilgrims, came to the U.S. seeking freedom of worship. A boy who says he's from Tibet notes that his family "couldn't practice the religion of the Dalai Lama" in China. An Indonesian girl, who is Christian, tells of being persecuted by Muslims in her neighborhood and fearing for her safety. An Egyptian, also a Christian, says she feared being kidnapped and forced to convert to Islam. "We wanted to close all the bad pages of memory . . . and start a new page." (Read the whole story here.)

A Thanksgiving Prayer

"Life-giving and merciful Trinity, receive my thanksgiving for all Your goodness. Make us worthy of Your blessings, so that, we may enter into the joy of our Lord, forever exulting in the shout of victory: Haleluja!" - Ode 13, Akathist to the Lord Jesus Christ

Thanksgiving

The following words (I copied them from www.Schmeman.org) were read every year during the Thanksgiving liturgy at Holy Trinity Cathedral by the late Archpriest Victor Sokolov.
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Father Alexander Schmemann celebrated the divine liturgy for the last time on Thanksgiving Day. This was particularly appropriate since Father Alexander had devoted his whole life to teaching, writing and preaching about the Eucharist; for the word eucharist in Greek means thanksgiving. At the conclusion of the liturgy, Father Alexander took from his pocket a short written sermon, in the form of a prayer, which he proceeded to read. This was a strange occurrence since Father never wrote his liturgical homilies, but delivered them extemporaneously. These were his words, which proved to be the last ever spoken by him from the ambo in Church.

"Everyone capable of thanksgiving is capable of salvation and eternal joy.

Thank You, O Lord, for having accepted this Eucharist, which we offered to the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and which filled our hearts with the joy, peace and righteousness of the Holy Spirit.

Thank You, O Lord, for having revealed Yourself unto us and given us the foretaste of Your Kingdom.

Thank You, O Lord, for having united us to one another in serving You and Your Holy Church.

Thank You, O Lord, for having helped us to overcome all difficulties, tensions, passions, temptations and restored peace, mutual love and joy in sharing the communion of the Holy Spirit.

Thank You, O Lord, for the sufferings You bestowed upon us, for they are purifying us from selfishness and reminding us of the "one thing needed;" Your eternal Kingdom.

Thank You, O Lord, for having given us this country where we are free to Worship You.

Thank You, O Lord, for this school, where the name of God is proclaimed.

Thank You, O Lord, for our families: husbands, wives and, especially, children who teach us how to celebrate Your holy Name in joy, movement and holy noise.

Thank You, O Lord, for everyone and everything.

Great are You, O Lord, and marvelous are Your deeds, and no word is sufficient to celebrate Your miracles.

Lord, it is good to be here! Amen."

(The Orthodox Church, Vol. 20, No. 2, February 1984, p. 1:1)

Uh Oh

I think Athanasia just realized that our name is on the Prop 8 donor list. She asked for a key to the shotgun.

Things I Thought were True

This morning I had the displeasure of finding out that we no longer hang pirates. This is important because just a few days ago I explained to Anselm Samuel that we did hang pirates. I also explained that he is not allowed to play that he is a pirate, but that he could play the brave naval captain fighting against pirates. (All of this was brought about by watching the classic Oscar winning swashbuckler movie, The Black Swan, in which some pirates turn their lives around and, under the flag of the king, work for law and order on the high seas.)

This has caused me to reflect that over the last 10 years many of the things I thought were true hadn't been true for a century or more. For example, it used to be that an employee protecting the body or property of his employer was almost completely immune from prosecution for inflicting damage on an attacker. (Recently, in California, a gardener was sent to prison for breaking the jaw of a burglar who was stealing from the gardener's employer.) But today this is not the case. This morphing of the law is very bothersome to me. Now laws are more complicated. And in being more complicated, less predictable, and thus more dangerous.

I do not think everything in the 19th Century was good. But at least pirates knew they faced death for their crimes.

Letter to St. Nicholas

Anselm Samuel Wrote a letter to St. Nicholas today.

Dear St. Nicholas,

I live in California. Please pray for me and my brother Basil. Please bring Candy on Dec. 6. And I will be waiting for you.

Love Anselm.

As he was addressing the letter (San Nicola, Basilica di San Nicola, Piazza di San Nicola, Bari, Vecchia, Italia) he said, "St. Nicholas' body is dead. Will he understand when the monks read it to him?" I answered, "He knew what you wrote as soon as you wrote it." Anselm laughed and said, "Oh Yeah. He's a saint!"

Pop Culture

"Pop culture’s assault on beauty is too wide-ranging to elucidate here. “Pop” may be “popular” abbreviated, but it also calls to mind brands like Coke and Pepsi—producers of something fizzy, sweet, briefly stimulating, and rotten in the long-term. Pop culture is junk culture. Its invitation is not to “savor life” but rather to exploit it for the sake of instant gratification. It is designed, manufactured and marketed to be consumed and thrown away."

The whole essay is fabulous, and much deeper than this quote. I just like the way the author links junk food to pop-culture. You can read the whole thing here.

Before you click on that link, here ia another quote from the article and an observation.

"When I attend evening mass on Sunday, the music is often a watered-down version of folk rock. It’s John Denver 1ite, which wouldn’t seem possible but there it is. Pastors and youth ministers, understandably eager to entice teenagers to church, pander to what they perceive as the “taste” of the younger generation....The folksy liturgy is supposed to appeal to the younger generation. It’s supposed to make the mass “more accessible.” This is condescending to kids who know better. Recall that the only people who stopped to listen to Joshua Bell play classical music [in the subway during rush hour] were under the age of ten, and then ask yourself who has the more sophisticated taste. Going to church must offer us something that we do not get from the wider culture or else what’s the point? It’s the sacred liturgy. Treating it as a diluted rock concert is silly, for the simple reason that somewhere else in town (or even at home on a pair of headphones) any kid can experience a better rock concert."

For a brief time I was the leader of a small group at PBCC (Wow! That is is really hard to imagine.) and I took my group of people, all in their 20s to visit an enormous youth group (500 to 600 teenagers) in Santa Cruz one night. There was a band leading the congregation in the expected Christian rock songs. But hardly anyone was singing along, many talking with each other and flirting (For the record, I am in favor of teenagers flirting in church. It is the safest and best place for it.) Just before the preacher stood up they sang a 1200 year old Orthodox hymn. For that song - beautiful, slow and without instrumentation - everyone paid attention, and sang solemnly and thunderously.

Standing, Kneeling, Prostrating

Anselm Samuel asked me today why we kneel and prostrate when we pray at home but not on Church at Sundy. Isn't that a great question? I was able to exlpain the Canon 20 Nicea and Canon 90 Trullo and how we obey the Canons of the councils. I was able to talk about repentence and celebration, preparation and fulfilment, dieing to orselves and ber raised with Jesus. I've never read the Trullo Canons, but I remembered reading something about it a couple of years ago on the Antiochian's website. I found it again today.

How come on Sunday at the Divine Liturgy some people kneel in church and some don't? (Dec. ’02)

Let us look to the First Ecumenical Council in Nicea (325 AD). The 20th Canon which states that on the Lord’s day (Sunday) and from Easter through Pentecost all must pray standing and not kneeling. Canon 90 from the Council in Trullo (692 AD) reinforces Canon 20 from Nicea and specifies that the celebration of the Resurrection on Sunday begins with the entrance at Vespers on Saturday evening through the entrance at Vespers on Sunday evening. We don’t kneel because kneeling is a posture of repentance. On that day we are not repenting, but celebrating the Resurrection.

During the week it is appropriate to kneel as an act of repentance and faithfulness. Since many Orthodox Christians don’t attend liturgical services throughout the week, the practice developed in many parishes to kneel on Sunday at the Divine Liturgy during the Consecration of the Gifts. It has become an act of piety for some and an act of following the crowd for others.

Ideally, we would have the opportunity to participate in the daily cycle of church services, but very few of our parishes offer them. In our daily prayer life, when possible, we ought to assume a kneeling posture for prayer as a humbling gesture before God. Then on Sundays, we would feel the obligatory desire to kneel but would piously stand in reverence throughout the service.

Also, I might add that the normative postures for prayer in the Orthodox Church are standing or kneeling — not sitting. Seats were available for the elderly and infirm in our mother churches. It wasn’t until the Protestant influence in America, that Orthodox churches adopted the regular use of pews. The Protestants had the pews due to the lengthy sermons, which are the focal part of their services.

Saturday Soundtrack: Then He Smiled At Me

When I was a small boy I would listen to my mother's Christmas records all year long. My favorite was the one published by the Firestone tire company. (For my younger readers, there was a time when many big companies had an orchestra or choir. Those that didn't would, at least, sponsor some other musicians who would produce records with the sponsors logo prominently featured on the cover. Both Firestone and Goodyear used to realse albums of Christmas carols and songs.) This Firestone record was my favorite because it had "The Little Drummer Boy" on it. I would thrill every time I heard the words, "Then he smiled at me." Isn't that our goal? To hear "Well done, thou good and faithful servant"?

The clip below is from a "classic" televsion show. I think I saw it every year up until I was a teenager. I don't know if they still show it on television or not. I bought it on DVD so my kids can watch it on the computer.

Feast of the Entrance of the Theotokos

Consider how the Theotokos entered the Holy of Holies; not by suddenly appearing in that awsome room, but by ascending step by step, room by room. Thus is our ascent to holiness. As the prophet Isaiah said, "For precept [must be] upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, [and] there a little". We do not attain the true knowlede of God, which is holiness, in a flash but only by struggle, only by constant movement onward and upward.

Non, Possumus.

I was thinking about going hunting on the second weekend of January, and I thought Basil might enjoy seeing all the taxadermied animals, so we went to the gun store the other day.

I asked for a box of 00 buckshot and was told, "We sold out the day after the election. The largest load we have is #6 birdshot". I was kind of flabergasted. And the phenomenon, it seems, was not restricted to that one store. Every merchant in entire county is out of buckshot.

So, I bought a box of #6 birdshot and will see if I can't talk someone into going quailing with me. (Yes I know #7 1/2 is recommended for quail, but I might use these for turkey, too.)

Oh, yes. Basil did like the animals, especially the ibex. He did not like the lion, which was, he thought, scarry.

Peer Pressure

Last night at the Cub Scout Pack meeting, Anselm Samuel told me he wants to be a Roman Catholic. Really. That is what he said. What prompted this utterance is that Anselm saw me holding the Roman Catholic religious award work books (I'm the pack's religious activities coordinator), and has noticed that most of his fellows are Roman Catholic. (In the whole pack there are only 4 non-Roman Catholics.), and has not yet seen the Orthodox medal or book. (For Orthodox Christian Cub Scouts it is the St. George Award, pictured above.) I can't wait to get that book and the medal so Anselm can get to work on it.

If anyone knows any Orthodox Christian boys (age 6 to 10) in the Willow Glen area of San Jose let me know how to get in touch with them. I'd like to recruit them into the pack.

Simple and Good

One ting that is difficult for me during the fast, and I bet I'm not the only one, is making simple food. I am often tempted to make more complicated meals using various fast-friendly substitutes. But that detracts from the benefits of the fast. Two simple meals that take little time and are pretty good are as follows:

On oil days: spaghetti, garlic (or chopped green onions), salt, pepper, olive oil.

On non-oil days: Put a hunk of old hard bagguette in a bowl and pour hot vegetable stock over it. During the fasts always have a box or two of vegie stock in the cabinet.

On fish days: Well those are feast days so don't try to be simple and plain. Besides there are only a couple (Fish for St. Herman, right? No?)

Miraculous Icon to Visit San Francisco

I received an email from a priest at the Geary Street Cathedral about a miraculous Myrrh-Streaming Icon that will be visiting San Francisco.

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Christ is in our midst!

Dear brothers & sisters,

On Friday November 21st at 6:30 pm our Cathedral will be visited by the Hawaii Iveron Myrrh-Streaming Icon of the Holy Theotokos!

Everyone is welcome to come!

Our address: 2005 15th Street, San Francisco CA 94114.

To learn more about the icon go to http://orthodoxhawa ii.org/icons. html
and http://en.wikipedia .org/wiki/ Theotokos_ Iverskaya

Schedule
1. 6 30 pm - meeting of the Icon.
2. 6 40 pm - prayer of supplication and akathist.
3. Sermon.
4. Veneration of the Icon (please bring zip-lock snack bags that you'll be carrying the small copy of the Icon & Q-tip that you'll be annointed with. To be taken home.)
5. Cup of tea. Reader Nectarios will answer all questions about the Icon..
6. Leaving of the Icon.

Yours in Christ,
priest Andrey Kovalev.

So, the obvious question is, are we to be annointed by the myrrh that flows from the Icon? If so, WOW!!!!

The Church is Catholic

I looked around my parsih yesterday and saw something my Dad would have loved. He often preached (for new readers, my Dad was a pentecostal preacher for more than 50 years.) against peer-group churches. He didn't like churches that only had young people. He didn't like churches that only had people from the same economic strata. Why would he have loved what I saw in my parish yesterday? Because there were very rich people, very poor people, new converts, old (I mean thousand year old) Orthodox families, three Kenyan women, lots of old people, many many children under 10. Then there are those who serve in the Altar: Our priest is Japanese, three of our acolytes are Eritrean, two are the children of European immigrants, one id my son, one subdeacon is from Nigeria, one reader is tall, blond, broadshouldered, and youthful; the sterotypical californian. The other reader is old, crooked, and fled war in the Horn of Africa. One subdeacon is a psychologist, another is a cop, another is a painter. Our deacon is an engineer. Bankers and laborers, those with education and those without, hale and infirm, young and old, from four continents. But one Gospel. One Chalice. Ond Cross. One King.

In case you've been wondering, yes, today is the feast my heavenly patron, the Holy Apostle and Evangelist Matthew

The Epistle for St. Matthew's Day:

For I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last, as men condemned to death; for we have been made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are distinguished, but we are dishonored! To the present hour we both hunger and thirst, and we are poorly clothed, and beaten, and homeless. And we labor, working with our own hands. Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure; being defamed, we entreat. We have been made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things until now. I do not write these things to shame you, but as my beloved children I warn you. For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. Therefore I urge you, imitate me. (1 Corinthians 4:9-16)

The Gospel for St. Matthew's Day:

As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, "Follow Me." So he arose and followed Him. Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, "Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" When Jesus heard that, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice.' For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance. (Matthew 9:9-13)

Troparion (In Tone 3):

With zeal, you followed Christ the Master,
who in His goodness, appeared on earth to mankind.
Summoning you from the custom house,
He revealed you as a chosen apostle:
the proclaimer of the the Gospel to the whole world!
Therefore, divinely eloquent Matthew,
we honor your precious memory!
Entreat merciful God that He may grant our souls remission of transgressions.

Kontakion (In Tone 4):

Casting aside the bonds of the custom house for the yoke of justice,
you were revealed as an excellent merchant, rich in wisdom from on high.
You proclaimed the word of truth
and roused the souls of the slothful
by writing of the hour of Judgment.

Its On!!!

Much goodness and joy. After the kick off meal of crab, shrimp, brussels sprouts, San Pelegrino, and a 2006 Parducci sauvignon blanc(my fave non-bubbly white wine at the moment) we gathered around the icons, sang O Heavenly King" and read Genesis 3:1-15. And then we talked about what it meant.

I asked Anslem Samuel some questions about the facts of the story, a story he has heard hundreds of times, and he answered them. Then I began to explain what it meant. When I asked him what Gen. 3:15 meant he said he didn't know so Iexplained it to him. This prompted his mother to say "Every day I feel like we are getting closer and closer to having to talk about the birds and bees, and I'm not ready for that." I thought that was very funny.

One thing I noticed tonight, and I am a little suprised I hadn't noticed it before now, is that the very day Adam and Eve sinned he showed up to help them and give them the promise of a redeemer. Isn't that just like God?

Anyway, it is very important to me that the boys not grow up thinking that we do all the stuff we do just because we are Orthodox and that is what Orthodox do. I want them to know why we hold our hands the way we do when we make the sign of the Cross, why that bottom cross bar is tilted, why only clergy touch the altar, why the eggs are dyed red, and why we fast before the feast of the Nativity. So tonight I said this...

"For thousands and thousands and thousands of years we waited in darkness for that Seed, Jesus to be born. And we fast every year before Christmas to remind oursleves of that waiting. It is our way of reliving that long wait. Just as the Feast of the Nativity is our way of remembering that Jesus was born, the Nativity Fast is our way of remembering that long wait."

After that it was a zip up to San Francisco (traffic was horrible!) to receive the Holy Mystery of Confession and then home. (Anselm Samuel is sick so Athanasia stayed at home with the boys.)

While driving home I was tinking about Gen.3:15 and how in those years between that day and the birth of Jesus, and how God, like a horticulturist breeding the perfect plant, had tended the bloodlines that produced Mary, the one who would be His own Mother. And I wrote a poem. Forgive me, it isn't very good, and seems a little limricky. Maybe, when I'm done with school I'll take the idea and try to shape it into better meter and rhyme.

Wild plants, vines without stakes
Fiberous, crooked, and tough
A gardner chose hard labor
He pruned and croseed and watched
And after many years
The gardener crossed two plants
From that pair a flower grew
From that flower, alone, The Seed.

Such a Strange Song: Saturday Saoundtrack

In the years before cable television spread to every corner of the suburbs, KBHK Channel 44, broadcating from Sutro Tower high above Twin Peaks, was every San Francisco Bay area kid's best friend. Every weekday afternoon they broadcast several hours of cartoons followed by reruns of Leave it to Beaver, the Brady Bunch, and Batman. On Saturday mornings KBHK broadcast a local professional wrestling show called BigTime Wrestling. It was alwways broacast "live from the Cow Palace", and followed by "The Monster Mash", which was what they called their weekly horror movie. But this was in the days before the slasher movies of the 1980s, so they weren't very horrifying. The Blob, Santa Calus Conquers the Martians, and Creature from the Black Lagoon were about as frightening as the movies got. And following that was usually an Abbot & Costello, Shirley Temple, or Bowery Boys movie. As I am sure you have figured out, if you have a compilation alum of forty of the strangest songs ever to appear on the pop charts, you are going to want to get Wolfman Jack to pitch it for you on KBHK.

In 1977 I begged my mother to buy me that 3 LP set called "40 Funky Hits",and, believe it or not, she did. Now, every once in a while I have this song by the Trashmen pop into my head. And once, at a nightclub in San Francico at least 30 years after this song was a hit, the band on stage, all to young to have been alive when it was on the radio, started playing the song. Astoundingly, and I kid you not, every single person in the place started dancing the pony, the twist, the swim AND SINGING ALONG!!! They all must have begged their moms for the album, too!

The song has ben covered by the Ramones and the Cramps, and even appeard in Stanley Kubrik's Full Metal Jacket. Without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, may I present the most perfect high energy dance song ever recorded: "The Bird is the Word" by the Trashmen!