Animals

Ever since I sparred with Victoria about animal rights a few months ago, I've been trying to figure out what I think. There are several things I've been mulling over:

1. The loyalty of a dachsund.
2. Balaam's ass protected him him from a sure death. (Numbers 22)
3. I have tasted the best meat ever.
4. Most Americans are fat.
5. I saw this. This is no way for a cattle to live. Cattle belong on pasture, not in crates.
6. I tasted the best milk ever.
7. I saw the Meatrix.
8. God gave people permisison to eat meat only after the flood. (cp. Gen 1:29 with Gen. 9 )
9. "A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast" (Proverbs 12:10)
10. There are horses in heaven. (Rev. 6:2)
11. God cares about sparrows. (Luke 12:6)
12. The happiness, even joy, with which a pack of feral dogs greeted me when I was a boy. My parents had a cabin in the Sierra Nevada mountains above Sonora. Everytime we drove up there the dogs would hear the car and come running running to greet me. They often fought among themselves (sometimes visciously) but they always treated me like their special guest.
13. Animals are not people and people have been given the authority to use and eat animals.
14. I am truly a glutton. How is creation groaning under my sin?
15. I am a conservative and think that farms (and all of society) should stick with tradition. What I mean by that is that animal husbandry should resmble Farmer Hogget's farm and not an automobile assembly line.
16. The fact that I utterly despise, hate, and pray for the destruction of PETA. (No matter what they say animals and people are not equivalent.)
17. I liked my uncle Fred's little farm and saw how he took care of the cattle, the goats, the turkeys, and the chickens. None of them were kept in tiny pins or cages. I used to feed oranges to the cattle. I think they liked me.
18. I am a hunter. I shoot animals from a distance. I don't use a scope. I kill them and eat them. (According to the U.S. Army I am an expert rifleman. I only missed 4 shots out of the thousands I fired when I was a soldier. Thank you, Drill Sergeant McCain.)
19. I read an essay about factory farms by Matthew Scully.
20. Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow has condemned bull fighting.
21. A sign of a person's holiness is that animals trust that person. (See St. Kevin and St. Seraphim)
22. I saw these pictures.
23. Even though we are made in God's image and likeness, we are more like animals than we can ever hope to be like God. For God is the Creator while we and the animals will always be creatures.
24. Animals praise God. (See Palsm 150:6)
26. The Orthodox church teaches: "Today all creatures shall be filled with joy, for Christ hath been born of the Virgin." (Matins for the Feast of the Nativity of Christ.)
27. I feed a little squirrel everyday. I love the squirrel. I make the sign of the cross over it while it is eating and pray for it. (It is a new mother.)
28. Jesus raised the animals to heights of amazing dignity by being born in a stable.
29. The vast majority of Americans are protein overnourished, that is we (myself included) eat too much milk and meat.

So, what does all of this mean? I think it means I am going to be eating a lot less meat and dairy food.
Why? Because my money is really God's money, and do I want to have to explain to Him why I used His money to reward people who mistreated His animals? And, I don't have the time to hunt, or the money to buy only free-range organic meat and milk.

How Seinfeld Made Me a Better Dad

The other day my wife and my little boy and I all went out to dinner. The little boy, it seemed, had forgotten everything he had read in the "Behavior in Public" memo.

So, I was faced with a choice let him be all taliban on the staff and other patrons or take direct action. I chose direct action. But what action. I don't know where it came from but suddenly out of my mouth came these words: "That's it! No soup for you!"

Immediately, his lip began to quiver, his eyes teared up, and he said in a quiet and trembling voice "No soup? No soup for me? I'll be good, Daddy". And from that point on he was good.

Thank you Seinfeld. Thank you Soup Nazi. You helped me restore civilization at our table and kept me from having to beat my son in public, which would have embarrassed my wife.

I have a couple of vacancies

One of the thing I like about my job is writing the ads that publicize my apartments.
This is the one I wrote today.

Bodacious and spacious
Luscious and plushis
This is the place to roll on the floors
This is place where you want to live
By the cool pool waters of the concrete pond
Camphor and rosemary and palm tree frond
This is the place to relax in the sun
This is the place where you want to live
No hoary frost walls, no bleached bone ceiling hues
Colors and pigments you get to choose
This is the place you make your own
This is the place where you want to live
Night lights dancing in the rippling pool
Balmy night breezes keeping you cool
This is the place where slumberings fine
This is the place you want to live
Walk to the bookstore, stroll to buy food
Santana Row beckons, Vally Fair is so good
This is the place where you get what you want
This is the place where you want to live
Freeways for zooming
Expressways for zipping
This is the place where roads come to meet
This is the place where you want to live
Fantasy Island was no more than that
But here “Mr. Rourke” answers to “Matt”
The is the place with staff to take care
This is the place where you want to live
Upstairs or downstairs Pool-side or corner
This is the place with options for you
This is the place where you want to live
In the mirrored closet doors take a quick looky-loo
With cieilng fans cooling your sun-kissed skin, too
This is the place with little smart touches
This is the place where you want to live
Get on your phone and call me today
This place could be gone if you delay
This is the place you could call home
This is the place where you want to live
Fair housing is offered to all who apply
By applicable laws we do abide
This is the place where management’s fair
This is the place where you want to live
Four and a zero followed by eight
Two-four and seven precede the four-six
But don’t get confused you will see it again
For the last to digits are are four-six again.

A survey: I need your help

I have to conduct a survey. You can help. If you are between the ages of 20 and 70, please, answer these questions. (you can use the comments area for your answers.) Thank you.


1) Circle the following that applies to you:

a) Male Female

b) Age 20-30 Age 31-50 Age 51-70

1) Do you think people should be condemned for their political views? Yes or No

2) Was the Hollywood 10 First Amendment rights violated? Yes or No

3) Writers in the blacklist were Humanitarian Idealists. True or False

4) The house of Unamerican Activities Committee were right to launch an investigation.

True or False

5) Which person was not a part of the Hollywood 10? _____
a) Herbert J. Biberman
b) Albert Maltry
c) Lester Cole
d) Charlie Chaplin

6) Who were the Hollywood 10? _____
a) Writers
b) Producers
c) Directors
d) None of the above

7) Based on a scale from 1-5, was the sentencing of 6-12 months of prison fair punishment for not testifying?

(1=Do Not Agree 5=Strongly Agree)

1 2 3 4 5

8) Based on a scale from 1-5, did the Hollywood 10 effected all Americans in a negative way?

1 2 3 4 5

9) Open ended question

What are your thoughts on Communism? Explain.

Free in Christ

A friend sent me an email, asking me a question about being 'free in Christ". This was my answer:

The phrase "Free in Christ" does not occur in Holy Scripture. Nevertheless, free is something we Orthodox Christians are. St. Paul wrote in Romans 8, "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." If we are not free we are not Orthodox Christians. But often (and here I talk from my own sad experience), people who talk about being free in Christ do so as a justification for their wicked lives.

St. Paul said to the Church in Rome that we are set free from sin so that we may be the slaves of Christ. Didn't Jesus say that no man serves two masters? We had to be set free from sin in order to become slaves of Jesus.

Also we are not set free from sin so that we can be our own masters, there is no such thing as a man or woman who is his own master. In the words of Bob Dylan (and really he was just paraphrasing St. Paul'swords in Rom. 6:18-22): "You're gonna have to serve somebody, well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord, but you're gonna have to serve somebody."

But when Bob Dylan wrote those lyrics in 1979 he was just the latest person who was grappling with this issue. Even when the Apostles were traveling around the world spreading the Good News and writing their letters to us this was an issue about which people were getting confused. St. Peter had to warn us (2 Peter 3:15-17) not to get tangled up in misunderstandings about what St. Paul wrote. He said that some of the stuff in St. Paul's letters is hard to understand and that unlearned men destroy themsleves by taking St. Paul's words and trying to understand them apart from the rest of the Holy Scriptures. (Again, I know this from sad experience.) And St. Paul defended himself from the slanderers who misconstrued his teaching and accused him of saying things he did not say.

To set matters straight, St. Paul wrote in Romans 6: "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace."

And we should also look at the Icon of the Theophany. Have you ever noticed the ax leaning against the tree in that Icon? If we are repentant, we must lay the ax to the root of our former sins and bear new fruit that is worthy of the lives to which we have been called. Meditate on the Gospel for the Feast of the Teophany.

But what of legalism? You don't say as much in your email, but it sounds to me that the person with whom you had this conversation about freedom in Christ thinks the Orthodox Church is legalistic. Maybe, we can look to St. Spyridon, one of the Fathers of First Ecumenical Council for some guidance...

My favorite story about St. Spyridon has to do with his hospitality during fasts. During Great Lent one year a stranger appeared at his door asking for food and a place to sleep. St. Spyridon invited him in and asked his daughter to make someting to eat. She didn't have any fasting foods to cook since it was Lent and they were doing some severe fasting, only eating vegetables or nothing at all. She told her father that there was no bread or even flour to make bread. Then St. Spyridon, apologizing to his guest, sent his daughter to get a cured ham from their larder. After seating the stranger at table, he began to eat, urging his guest to do the same. When the stranger refused, saying he was a Christian, St. Spyridon said "It is not proper to refuse this, for the Word of God proclaims, "Unto the pure all things are pure" (Tit. 1:15)

And, of course, there is Jesus' teaching in Matthew 15:11. Nothing we eat can defile us. Rather, we are defiled by our words. It is not the food we eat that is unclean, it is our lips that need to be cleansed. (Isaiah 6:5) That is the teaching of Jesus. That is the teaching of the Orthodox Church.

We do not fast because food is sinful. We eat or don't eat ONLY because we are slaves to Jesus. This is not legalism. This is not trying to be earn salvation by eating or not eating. It is obedience to Christ. St. Spyridon knew that the law of love trumped the Church's fasting rules. Therfore, as a good slave he obeyed his Master and offered meat to his guest.

I guess, if I had to give you advice, which I do since you asked for it, I would tell you this: Follow the Saints. Were they set free from sin? Yes. And so were you. Were they slaves to Christ? Yes. And so are you. Follow the Saints in the way they go and you will not be mislead, for they follow Christ. (Philippians 3:13-17) And talk to your priest about this. Indeed, take all of the emails you receive from those of us you asked for help, and show them to your priest. If we make mistakes God will have him correct us.

Pray for me.

What I learned while making supper tonight

When you are making extra-thick center-cut pork cops in a marsala wine reduction, and notice (after it is too late to run to the store. ARRRGHHH!!!!) that the marsala wine bottle is empty this is what you do: In a bowl mix 1/2 cup sweet vermouth, 1/4 cup brandy, 2 tsp dark brown sugar, 1 tsp balsamic vinegar. It works.

Hmmmmm. As long as we are on the subject of vermouth I want to plug my personal fave: Gallo. Believe it or not, Gallo is the best vermouth (sweet or extra dry) on the market. For both drinking and cooking it is better than Lejon, Noilly Prat, Martini & Rossi, and Cinzano. And vermoth is not just for cooking and mixing. It is a stand alone beverage. Try Gallo Extra Dry Vermouth on the rocks. Yummy!

Bay To Breakers

As we were going to church yesterday we encounted an unexpected difficulty: The Bay to Breakers run. One would think that a minor 7 mile foot race would not be a huge obstacle to getting to church. And one would be wrong. The route bisects the city and forms an insurmountable barrier between the freeway off-ramp (9th Street exit off of 101) and Holy Trinity Cathedral. So we made a bunch of ilegal turns (to avoid colsed roads) and made our way to the Mission of the Synaxis of the Holy Theotokos (in the Duboce Triangle neighborhood) for Divine Liturgy. It was neat. I got to hear the Apostol reading in the toungue of the Eriteans. Very cool.

Islam is Evil

There is in Iran a brigade of women trained to be suicide bombers. They are sworn to kill Israelis and Americans. This is the child of one of those women. The picture was taken on May 12 at the at the Behesht-e-Zahra cemetery, near the city Tehran. This is the real culture war. The argument between the collectivist liberals and the individualist conservatives in America is nothing compared to Islam vs. the world.

In order to avoid a replay Muslim of world conquest (And it is happening today by immigration as much by advancing armies. In the 17th century Islam's armies were stopped at Vienna but today just visit Marsellies, France to see for yourself the Muslim invasion.) there are, as far as I can tell only four options:

Extermination: It will be long and bloody and will probably create monsters our great grandchildren will have to live with. Remember that boy in the picture above? Do we want our children to have to live on the same planet with him after we have killed his parents?

Absorption: We can try but it is not likely to work. The self-identity of muslims as muslims is too strong. I was talking with an Swedish woman who immigrated from Iran when she was 3 years old (Her parents fled the revolution). Except for those three years she had lived her entire life in Sweden and France (for boarding school). Yet she, while attending Santa Clara University no less, let escape from her lips these statements:"I hate George Bush." "I hate American culture." "Muslims should be in charge of Education in America" "Islamic governments are better than democracies." This from a woman who's family fled the Islamic revolution in Iran! And again, I say visit Marsellies, or the suburbs around Amsterdam. Muslims do not assimilate.

Expulsion and containment: Expel muslim from non-muslim majority countries and pray they don't come back.

Convert them to Christianity: Not likely. Islam is, essentially, a Christian heresy. It contains enough truth to resist conversion. Perhaps, another great Saint such as Prince Vladimir could do it. But is there some secret Christian in the Hashimite dynasty? Is there any Saudi prince who is secretly worshiping the Holy Trinity, and waiting in the wings to take over the Kingdom? No. I don't think so. But that kind of conversion, though it worked for St. Constantine and St. Vladimir is not the norm. In fact, St. John Chrysostom frowned on it. How deep can a conversion be when one is tempted to convert to keep the government happy?

Besides, we are already well-placed for evangelizing the muslim world. We have six churches there already and the speak the language:

A. Jordan and Palestine/Israel are served by Patriarch Eiranaios.
B. Part of Turkey is served by Patriarch Bartholomew.
C. Syria, part of Turkey, Lebanon, Iraq, and the countries of the Arabian peninsula are served by Patriarch Ignatius.
D. Albania (Yes, it is a Muslim country and it is in Europe) is served by Archbishop Anastasios. (My money is on him to be recognized as a saint before I die.)
E. Egypt and all of the Muslim countries of Africa are served by Patriarch Theodoros.
F. Kazakstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgistan, Azerbaijan and Tajikistan are served by Patriarch Alexy.

Is this a pipe-dream? All of these churches have been in these Muslim countries for centuries. In fact, most of these churches existed long before there was something called Islam. I suppose that the problem was that the churches identified too closely with the states they lived in, and when those states were defeated by the muslims the conqerors saw Christianity as part of a defeated state, and saw Jesus as a God who can't protect his people. But here is an idea. Now that the Church looks weak, has lost it's close relationship with the state, might it not be able to better reflect the glory of the Lord who came in extreme humility?

Three things on being human

Item 1: A letter I sent to Senators Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Boxer (D-Calif.)

Dear Senator, This morning I read an AP report about human-animal hybrids. I am not much of a media consumer so it might be the case that this is old news, that everyone already knows about this and Congress has dealt with it, but it is news to me. And it is appalling news.

Perhaps you remember the H.G. Wells book, The Island of Doctor Moreau. I remember when I first read the book I asked my father if it was possible to blend people with beasts. He assured me that it was not possible. But now I learn that he was wrong. For it seems that scientists, indeed, one may say “mad scientists” are amalgamating humans and animals in ways very similar to those foreseen by Mssr. Wells.

Perhaps, you have read the Book of Deuteronomy by Moses. In that book is a condemnation of people who have sex with animals, and an insistence that both the human and the animal involved in the act be put to death. To us moderns, that seems like such a harsh penalty. But there is a principle at stake: The principle that human beings are different from animals, that we are higher, more noble, and closer to God than mere beasts; that anything that causes confusion regarding that order is evil.

I am persuaded by reason that this modern scientific mixing of human and animal parts is as wicked as those acts forbidden by Moses; that those creatures so constructed, from this part of man and that part of beast, are the very epitome of confusion. When a man is a beast and a beast is a man can it be long before all are slaves? Who will be able to say, I have ‘inalienable rights’ without someone replying, ‘No, you are an animal get back in your cage’.

Please, Senator, do what you can to end this evil.


Respectfully and Gratefully,

Matt



Item 2: The Mercy of the Wicked is Cruel

Barbara Waller, the Schindler's lawyer said "As she entered her second week without the tube that sustained her life for 15 years, dehydration took its toll on the 41-year-old woman. Her tongue and eyes were bleeding and her skin was flaking off."

I ask you, is there any better argument for having judges face the electorate every two years?



Item 3: A paper on human organ transplants that I wrote for Dr. Forsythe at De Anza College

Today it is possible to cut the liver out of a recently living though now dead human being, and graft that organ into a completely different person, a person who would almost certainly die but for the grafted organ. It seems like a marvelous thing. And it is. However, to turn a true-ism on its head, every silver lining has a cloud. The cloud in this instance is the spectre of an organ shortage.

The government of the United States has determined that commerce in human organs should be disallowed - that the normal way for any demand to be met, the usual way to encourage the production of any scarce commodity- namely, free market capitalism should not apply to human organs for transplant. The practice of organ transplantation and the government’s role in the process raise many issues but I am going to constrain myself and address only one issue: Whether or not it is appropriate for the government of the United States to forbid the buying and selling of human organs for transplant.

I will get right to the crux of the matter and then, after telling you plainly what the only right conclusion is, show you how we must necessarily arrive at this conclusion: It is not appropriate for the government of the United States to forbid the buying and selling of human organs for transplant. It is not appropriate because it is inconsistent with the ideals of the American Revolution and of the Natural Law. It is not appropriate because it violates the laws of economics. It is not appropriate because it condemns many to die. It is not appropriate because ii defies the plain reading of the Constitution, oppresses the poor, creates scarcity where there could by man’s natural inclination to profit be plenty, condemns some to years of waiting on lists or even to death, and erodes those republican virtues that are necessary for a nation of free men.

Now, having built the steeple of this little argument, it seems only reasonable that I erect a foundation and walls and buttresses and pillars and gables and a roof to support it. It would not be fair of me, or wise to throw down before you so many high-sounding conclusions without offering some defense of those conclusions, some roadmap that shows how I arrived at those points. So then, I shall take them one by one, and perhaps, if you walk with me you will reach the same conclusion I have reached, that the government’s intrusion into this matter is an unmitigated evil.

Therefore, let me ask, what were those ideals of that revolution that birthed our nation? Can you imagine the men who threw tea into Boston Harbor countenancing government interference in their most intimate decisions? I ask you this knowing already the answer. Of course, you will answer in the negative. For you know, as every schoolboy knows, or ought to know that near the fore of the ideas under-girding the Revolution was the idea taken from John Locke’s Two Treatises on Government, that every man owns his own body, and his body is his to sell, in labor, or in part, or in the whole. So, I say again, it is not appropriate, no, not merely inappropriate. It is wrong, it is hideously and incomprehensibly wrong for the government of the United States to forbid the buying and selling of human organs for transplant. Our betrayel of our Founding Fathers it is like a child stabbing his mother in the stomach with a broken bottle. It is a slap across the face of our Founding Fathers who fought and died for our right to be free. It is the negation of the gift of our ancestors’ suffering and sacrifice.

But let us continue. For I know that today many people remember little, and care less about our ancestors. They see white-wigged men in velvet knee-britches and think they are so far removed from our modern lives that their opinions bear no weight in the decisions we must make. So, since their wisdom is neglected I will move on to more scientific arguments. I will move on and I will ask you, when do we see an abundance of goods produced? Oh, surely you already know the answer to this question and think me the vainglorious pedant for dragging this out; but I must for I am writing an essay, the form of which has been prescribed; and this is the prescription: Proof must be offered and no assertion of truth, even if it is an assertion of universally observed truth, may be made in the absence of evidence. Therefore, the answer to the question is: We see an abundance of a commodity when there is enough of an inducement to the potential producers of that commodity to cause them to decide to produce the commodity. That is, more simply: You get what you pay for. For instance, right now there is large demand for the Chrysler 300. People are willing to pay huge amounts of money for that model of car. How is the Daimler-Chrysler Corporation responding to this willingness of people to be separated from their money? It is building as many 300s as it possibly can. Conversely, large numbers of people are not willing to pay huge amounts of money for the Chrysler Crossfire. How is the Daimler-Chrysler Corporation responding to this lack of demand? It is producing fewer of that model. And we see in oil what we see in cars. We see in soybeans what we see in oil. We see in light bulbs what we see in soybeans. Indeed, when the market is allowed to operate there are no shortages. But we see in North Korea, and in Cuba, and in every place on the globe where commerce in some commodity is banned, that a shortage of that commodity is reported. In the United States where commerce in human organs is banned we see a shortage. Why? It is simple: We get what we pay for. Or in this case, organs rot in the ground, because no one is getting paid for them.

So, having discussed the ideals of the American Revolution, and Natural Law a la John Locke, and the laws of economics, let me now move on to death. The purpose of transplants is to preserve human life. As we know, we have shortage of organs. This shortage is caused, in part, by the ban on commerce in human organs. This shortage means that many sick people do not get the organs they need to live. That is, they die while waiting for an organ to be donated.

You might be thinking, “very well, you’ve proven your point in these four areas, but you are wrong about the oppression of the poor. The banning of commerce in human organs is specifically designed to protect the poor.”

Really? Is that so? Thomas Sowell in his essay “Organ Donations, Egalitarian Envy, and the High Cost of Busybodies ” tells of a poor woman living on welfare who has nothing going for her. Except, she has three kidneys. She could sell her extra kidney for many thousands of dollars, possibly lifting herself out of poverty. But the United States and its heinous National Organ Donation Act of 1984 press her down. They take from her the liberty to use her body, to use God’s special gift of a third kidney to raise herself out of penury. How, you ask, how can selling an organ relieve her destition? Because there is a man named Alonzo Mourning who is paid $23,000,000 per year to play basketball. He needs a new kidney in order to keep playing basketball. A new Kidney is worth at least $23,000,000 to him. But he is not allowed to buy one. So, a poor woman lives on welfare, eating the bread of other peoples’ sweat, when she could be self-supporting, if only the Congress would let Mr. Mourning buy her extra kidney.

Ahh, but you say, “but won’t the buying and selling of organs lead to even greater shortages as the rich buy all the available organs?” Hardly, as every economist knows, whenever authorities force lower-than-market prices upon a good or service, shortages and long lines develop. Look at bread in the U.S.S.R, heart surgery in Canada, or rental properties in San Francisco. What other proof do you need? And besides, the vast majority of human beings like to have sex. The more sex, the more people. The more people, the more organ donors. There will never be a shortage of organs.

I said at the beginning of this essay that this wicked practice of banning commerce in human organs for transplant is un-Constitutional. Let me explain how this is.
Article 1 of the United States Constitution gives Congress the power to make laws for the regulation of commerce, but only commerce between the States, between the United States and foreign lands, and between the United States and Indian Tribes. Within the borders of any particular state, the Congress is powerless to regulate commerce. One might argue that the framers meant to include this power, that it must have been an oversight but one who makes that argument would be wrong. The final words of the Bill or Rights are these: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.” What does this mean? It means that if a man in Anaheim wants to sell his corneas to a woman in Eureka the Congress of the United States has no power to interfere. It is that simple.

I have now explained all of the reasons for my conclusion but one. You will remember that I said the ban on commerce in organs erodes the republican virtues free people must have in order to remain free. This might be the most complicated argument because it is not necessarily the ban that erodes virtue, rather it is the rationing system that erodes virtue. The undergirding of a free republic is that individuals take care of their private needs, and that associations of individuals look after the needs of various groups, and that the whole mass of individuals, formed into the body politic looks after the needs of the state. In each case it is the strength of individuals who provide for their own needs. Or, voluntarily, to the needs of the weak. (Here I have in mind parents wo take care of children, and children who take care of elderly parents, any any who take care of the sick.) But the rationing program that accompanies the ban on organ transplants turns this on its head. It turns every person on the waiting lists into a beggar, a person unable to care for himself. It drives every person on the wating list into moral poverty. It teaches this lesson: “There is nothing you can do for yourself you have to wait for some big institution to help you.” What is that but the spreading of the putrid collectivist disease? A free republic can not live for long when the citizens of the state begin to believe that lie.

In conclusion, and I ask your forbearance for I have already given you my conclusions at the beginning and indeed, throughout the body of this essay: It is not appropriate for the government of the United States to forbid the buying and selling of human organs for transplant.

An orthodox among protestants.

On Monday I went to a meeting of the Whitfield Fraternal (Named after George Whitfield.), a group of Calvinist (From what I could tell, they were mostly Baptists and Presbyterians.) pastors who get together for fellowship and continuuing education. My friend Bernard Bell invited me to this meeting to hear Prof. Dale Liid from Fuller. Liid is a fairly recent convert from Protestantism to Holy Orthodoxy.

About his presentation all I can say is that he was gentle and encouoraging and humble. And Wow! Did he ever give an amazing explanation of Confession? Other than talking abot Confession and our need for it, he didn't say much about his own conversion. Mainly, he gave this group of very well educated Protestant pastors a general introduction to the Orthodox Church. He had to answer all the standard questions:
"What is up with worshiping Icons?" To this question he merely described the tabernacle with its images and how when he was a missionary in Africa he saw how tribal chiefs were greeted with bows. He was clear in saying that we do not believe that the person being honored resides in the Icon. But, oddly, he didn't go into St. John Damascene's incarnational theology during his answer. He did direct his audience to St. John's books, though.
"What is the role of the priest in the Orthodox Church?" This is the question that got him started on sin and Confession. I don't know about anyone else in the room, but I was in tears.
"How does your understanding of the procession of the Holy Spirit effect your life?" I won't go into his whole explanation (I don't remember the whole thing) but he seemed to have two main points: The Orthodox read the Bible differently than other Christians, we see the Holy Spirit all over the text; and Orthodox Christians are very quick to accept the Holy Spirit's working of miracles without feeling like we have to explain everything. (This prompted several minutes of conversation on the danger of trying to define doctrine too tightly.)

Now this is the part that I was amazed by. He didn't say, "You should all be Orthodox". (Which is what I would have done. ) Instead, he said "You don't have to abandon everything you are doing. But you can still recover the practices of the early church". And he went on to tell about one of his former students who grew up pentecostal but when he graduated from seminary he was hired by a conservative Methodist church. This young pastor realized that he had to do a communion service so he called professor Liid and expalined that he didn't know how to do a liturgical (Some methodists are still liturgical) communion service. So Dale Liid explained how in the orthodox church the priest takes the bread and before the service even starts begins praying for people, cutting the bread into small pieces with a spear-shaped knife. And how this time of prayer can last for a couple of hours. Well, this new pastor was so excited about it that he told his church board about it and they adopted that part of Orthodoxy as their own practice. And here is what Prof. Liid said, "It doesn't make them Orthodox but they have recovered a little part of the practice of the ancient church." Wow! That was so much better than anything I would have said in that situation. Dale Liid might make his living as a Hebrew teacher, but he is a natural Evangelist.

Paging Dr. Howard! Dr. Fine! Dr. Howard!

Well, I got a referal to a doctor. Now I just have to make sure he is on my insurance plan.

His name is Dr. Kosher. I love it. It sounds like the name of some kind of Ashkenazi super crime fighter. "Eating tall corned beef sandwiches in a single bite! Curing gout and gallstones faster than his mother can fix him up with a blind date! Look! In the minyan! Is it a bird? Is it a goy? No! It's Dr. Kosher! (His brother is lawyer.)" So, I am going to a doctor. Thank you, all, for your encouragement. I got the message.

Had my math midterm tonight. It was all about Fibonacci Numbers and modal mathematics. I think I did well enough to pass.

Illness, Alge, and Rain

I became very ill last night. I wasn't able to breathe. I couldn't seem to breathe in enough air. I almost couldn't make it up the stairs. I could barely move my feet - it took so much effort that it seemed as though weights were tied to them. That was at 9 o'clock last night. I slept until 10 o'clock this morning. I feel better now. My head still hurts. My neck is very stiff. But I do feel better. No breathing problems. Not tired.

The water in swimming pool was cloudy when I looked at it this morning. I don't know why but the alge population has exploded. As I write this I can see the pool. It is dark green now. Of couse I closed the pool and posted biohazard signs. The pool man will be here tomorrow to fix the problem.

Three more days of rain are predicted. This is very unusual. Normally the pacific storms start tapering off in february and we get no rain after March 15. But this spring has been very wet. It is hurting the farmers in Santa Cruz County. They are having trouble getting their tractors out into their fields. We might have a very poor vegetable harvest if the rains don't quit soon. We are not Kansas. We do not grow wheat. We do not need rain in the summer.

Kingdom of Heaven

So Ridley Scott is making a new movie about the Crusades. Apparantly the gist of it is that everyone was getting along fine in the middle east until the Roman Catholics arrived and starting killing everyone. Hmmm. Being an Orthodox Christian I have no fond memories of the crusades, what with the sackiing of Canstantinople by the Roman Catholic soldiers, and their desecration of the Hagia Sophia during the 4th Crusade. However, portyaing the muslims as peace loving kum-bay-yah types is freaking nuts.

Here is a question: Why don't we Orthodox Christians capitalize on our co-victimhood during the Crusades and use that as a bridge to evangelize the Muslims? It's not like the Roman Catholics were invading the middle east to rescue us. We were subjected to the Roman Catholics just like the Muslims were.

Oh, in case you are wondering after reading this, Islam is evil.

Vigilance Committee

So far 5 men said they want to do it. I'm very pleased. But I'd be much more happy if I could get at leat 8. That way everyone doesn't have to do it every night.
I got the gun out of the box. It needs a little work. Talked to a gunsmith. He can fix the problem prety quickly. Years ago when I was buying a gun I should have bought one with a more simple design. (Axiom: The fewer moving parts a machine has, the less often it breaks down.)

My wife is in a baking whirlwind. She is helping to hostess a fundraising lunch for Raphael House tomorrow. The kitchen is full of rhubarb, strawberries, & blueberries.

Break-In

I used to live in the mission neighborhood in San Francisco. A lot of people in the south bay think of the mission as a bad neigborhood. But no one ever smashed my window to steal my Tumi bag (full of my 4 weeks worth of homework that I have to turn in next tuesday!) when I lived in the mission.

That is what happened last night, here in suburban San Jose. I've never liked San Jose. Now I am beginning to hate living here. Since I have been managing these apartments these last few months one motorcycle has been stolen, 6 cars have had their windows smashed, and one car had its wheels stolen.

I've talked to the owner of the property about security gates but to no avail. Now it is time to take the pistol out of the box and put it back together. I'll talk to the tenants about forming a vigilance comittee.

Pascha and Bright Monday

Christ is risen!!!

Well, Pascha was excellent. We got there in time to hear the last half of the book of Acts chanted before the Matins service. Then the procession around the church. This was my first non-windy Pascha. It was really nice not to have my candle go out three or four times beore making it around the building. (Someday, if God wills it, I will see the Holy Fire in the Tomb of the Holy Seplechre.) Then the Paschal Liturgy began.

The clergy and people of the Mission of the Synaxsis of the Theotokos joined us for all of the Holy Week services, and of course they were there for Pascha, too. I always get a kick out of the Eriteans who visit our parish. First of all, they wear clothes that can best be described as big sheets of gauze and secondly, they have big huge Crosses tatooed on their foreheads. I don't know the reason for the guaze but I have been told that the reason for the big Cross tatoos is so they can not deny Christ during persections.

Our lord BENJAMIN the Bishop of Berkely (Auxillary to our lord TIKHON the Bishop of San Francisco) presided over the Paschal Liturgy. He was assisted by the Archpriest Victor, the Priest Thomas, and the Priest David. There were also several subdeacons, readers, and acolytes (the youngest nodded off on his feet. It was funny.) helping out. The choir was was very good. There is a new soprano. I think she sings with the San Francisco Light Opera. She adds a lot to the choir.

This was my first time to actually witness the blessing of the eggs. (Note to my non-Orthodox readers: The reason there eggs are associated with the Resurection of Jesus has nothing to do with Babylonian fertility myths you might have heard about. The reason eggs are associated with the Ressurection celebration is because there was a time when all Christians did without them during Lent and only received a blessing to eat them again at Pascha.) I've always cut out right after Communion to help get the feast ready. But this year I stayed for the conclusion of the service. It was pretty neat.

Staying in the hotel wasn't as neat of an idea as I thought it would be. I couldn't get comfortable. It wasn't MY room. It wasn't MY bed. So, even though I got to bed at 4:45 Sunday morning, I woke up at 8:30 and couldn't get back to sleep. So, we all got up about 10:00, ate our Pascha basket goodies for breakfast, got dressed, checked out, and went for a walk down Union Street.

We stopped at Starbucks and had cofffe and read the paper. Then we walked up to the park on Gough Street; the little park next to the Octagon House. The big boy played with a couple of dogs. He had a lot of fun. Then at the appointed time we walked up Green Street to Holy Trinity for Agape Vespers.

I think Agape Vespers might be my favorite service of the whole year. After the hard work of Lent, the build-up of Holy Week, the excitement and exhaustion of Pascha, we come to Agape Vespers and just get to rest in the Love of Jesus. And wow, what a Gospel reading - I know a lot of people are concentrating on the fact that Thomas wanted proof before he would believe, but I was struck by the normal-ness of the events in that reading. It sounds like the stuff we have to face every day. I don't see Jesus, but I am confronted with a lot of people, rather not even the people but books by or about those people who claim to have seen him.

After Vespers we were confronted with something else. Something that has troubled me and my wife since. It was an evil confusion and we are praying about it. In a way, Agape Vespers was the perfect segue into being faced with that wickedness. God's love sustains, even in the middle of circumstances we can not understand. Agape Vespers strengthened us to withstand the horror. The Gospel of the risen Christ enabled us to love in hate-filled situation. Still, there is a troubledness, a confusion, and a sadness because of what we saw. I ask your prayers.

But thankfully, the night passed, Bright Monday is here. And with it the prayers we sing instead of the usual morning and evening prayers we say during the rest of the year. What joy!

So my dear readers, do you wonder what bright week is like? It is like a vacation. No fasting is allowed, not even for monks. No kneeling is allowed, not even during Confession. No prostrataions are allowed, not even when the Holy Spirit transforms the gifts into the Body and Blood of Jesus. No reading from the Old Testament is allowed, not even a Psalm. (Why would you read the invitation to the party while at the party?) All of our prayers during this week are sung, which is difficult if this is only your 4th Pascha and you don't know all of the tunes.

We went to a movie tonight. (You might think this is funny, but going to the movies is one of the ways my family celbrates the major feasts.) We saw Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It was a fun movie. Obviously, it was quite a bit different from the books I read when I was a teenager. And different from the BBC television series I saw part of before I read the books. But it was fun in a weird, funky, British-ish kind of way. It was by little boy's first movie. He had a good time.

We made the paska

We have 5 terra cotta pots chilling in the fridge. We were going to make it last night but were too tired. So we made it this morning.

The recipe we use:

1/3 cup brandy
1 cup loosely packed golden raisins (5 oz)
2 lb farmer cheese
2 hard-boiled large egg yolks (reserve whites for another use if desired)
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup sour cream
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup chilled heavy cream

Special equipment: a wooden paska cheese mold (They are expensive.) or a clean 2-quart terra-cotta flowerpot with a drainage hole and a plate slightly smaller than top of pot; cheesecloth; 2 lb of weights such as large soup or vegetable cans.

Heat brandy with raisins in a small saucepan over low heat until warm, then remove from heat and let steep until raisins are softened, about 15 minutes.

Force cheese and yolks through a potato ricer or a medium-mesh sieve into a bowl.

Beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add cheese mixture, sour cream, vanilla, and salt and beat until just combined. Beat cream in a bowl with cleaned beaters until it holds soft peaks. Fold whipped cream and raisins with any remaining brandy into cheese mixture gently but thoroughly.

Line mold (or flowerpot) with a single layer of cheesecloth, leaving a 2- to 3-inch overhang on all sides. Spoon cheese mixture into mold, then fold ends of cheesecloth over top. Put lid on cheesecloth, then put weights on lid (or on foil and small plate if using flowerpot). Chill mold on a large plate (to catch drips) at least 24 hours.

Remove lid from mold and open cheesecloth. Invert a serving plate over top of mold and invert mold onto plate. Unlock hinges and open mold, removing cheesecloth. Loosely cover cheese with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature 30 minutes.

We always keep one for breakfst on Pascha, just before Agape Vespers. One is always to share with the parish after the Liturgy. We give the others away.

We won't make the kulich until Friday morning. I'd like to make it on Saturday so it would be super fresh, but who has that much time on Holy Saturday?

We are also making smoked trout dip. We'll put it on little pieces (1" x 2") of toast and serve it along with champagne to everyone as they are waiting in line for the food after the liturgy. If Huw was here I'm sure he'd do the same with his little meat-cookies.

In the basket this year is going the "traditional" salami, eggs, brie, Bogle, figs-pread, and chocolate.

Well, this really will be my last blog entry until after Agape Vespers.

Have a great Pascha.

Los Alamos Lab

This blog claims to be telling what really happened. You decide.

Found time to blog

Went to Bridegroom Matins at St. Nicholas in Saratoga last night. The big boy was so good. He just wandered around kissing icons through most of the service. I hope he always enjoys church.

Skipped Math and English tonight. But was able to turn in an assignment for a computer class. Today at the complex I had landscapers, plumbers, handymen, roofers, and janitors. It was nuts. I also rented one of my vacant units. (Thank you, God!)

I was up late late late last night combating snails. I think I lost one of my grape vines. New motto: The only good snail is a dead snail. To that end, sodium bicarbonate (aka baking soda) is an excellent anti-snail weapon. When employed against helix aspersa the agent physically disables them and provides a long lasting deterrent. It also has outstanding anti-morale capability. Unfortuntely, it can render the soil incapable of supporting plant life. Tomorrow I will set out beer-baited traps and put copper-foil around the base of the vines. I'll also look into getting some toads. What I really wish is that I had a family of racoons on the property. That would solve the snail problem once and for all.

Palm Sunday was totally excellent. Also the Vigil the night before (Where I got to go to confession) was beautiful beyond description. Bishop of Berkeley was the celebrant. Newly ordained deacon (ordained Saturday morning) was doing a good job. I felt sorry for him. His first liturgy was a major feast day and a hierarchical liturgy. Poor guy!

Right after the liturgy, Fr. David blessed our new car. It was fun to stand on the corner of Van Ness and Green with a priest and a reader in wind-blown vestmets, praying ancient prayers that were first said for chariots. I enjoyed the looks on the faces of people driving by.

Being Palm Sunday salmon was served for the feast afterward. (Do all orthodox parishes have Salmon on Palm Sunday, or is it just a west coast thing?) Its kind of funny, Great Lent is over but still no meat, cheese, fish, wine or oil until Pascha. Do other churches do this or is it only us Orthodox who seem to make Lent last one more week?

Well, I have a lot of work I have to do before I can go to bed. Good night.

Sparse posting this week

"He who wraps himself in light as a garment, stands naked for judgement, and accepts a blow on the cheek by the hands of those he fashioned; while the lawless people nailed to the Cross the Lord of glory. Then the veil of the Temple was rent; the sun grew dark, unable to endure seeing God, before whom all things tremble being outraged. Him let us worship."

"All creation was changed by fear when it saw you hanging on the Cross, O Christ; the sun was darkened and the foundations of the earth were shaken; all things were suffering with you, the Creator of them all. You endured willingly for us. Lord, glory to you!"

"Today the blameless Virgin, when she saw you hanging on the Cross, with a mother’s love she lamented, bitterly wounded in her heart, groaning in lamentation from the depth of her soul, she struck her cheeks and tore her hair; and so, beating her breast, she cried out with grief, ‘Woe is me, my divine child! Woe is me, light of the world! Why have you left my sight, Lamb of God?’ Therefore the armies of the Bodiless Powers were seized with terror as they said, ‘Lord, beyond understanding, glory to you!"

"A dread and marvellous mystery is seen to come to pass today. The Invisible is grasped, the One who loosed Adam from the curse is bound, the One who tries hearts and reins is tried; the One who shut the abyss is shut up in prison. He, before whom the Powers of heaven stand in fear, stands before Pilate; the Fashioner is struck by hand of the thing he fashioned; he who judges the living and the dead, is condemned to a Tree; the destroyer of Hell is shut up in a tomb. You bear all things with compassion, and save all from the curse, long-suffering Lord, glory to you!"

"When she who bore you saw you hanging on the Cross, O Christ, she cried out, ‘What is this strange mystery that I see now, my Son? How are you dying on a tree, nailed in the flesh, O Giver of Life?"

"On the Cross, Lord, you tore up our record, and numbered among the dead you bound the tyrant there, delivering all from the bonds of death by your Resurrection, through which we have been enlightened, O Lord who love humankind, and we cry to you, ‘Remember us also, Saviour, in your kingdom’."



With services morning and night, homework, classes, and all the work here at the apartment complex I will be making very few if any posts until after Pascha. For my readers celebrating Holy Week and Pascha: I hope it is a life altering experience for you, that you become more like Jesus.
For my non-Orthodox readers, find an Orthodox parish near you and go there on Thursday night. I hope it is life-changing for you, as you will see Jesus there.

Dalla Morning News Article

The Dallas Morning News is having some issues with its cirulation numbers. Nevertheless, they have some good religion reporters. I read them often. Here is a little article about evangelical protestants converting to Holy Orthodoxy.

"The Eastern Orthodox Church, as far removed from a nondenominational or evangelical congregation as you can get, is nevertheless attracting a growing number of converts who are drawn by the tug of an ancient faith. Converts are trading in their PowerPoint sermons and praise bands for the ancient rhythms of a liturgy that hasn't changed in thousands of years – a pendulum swing from the casual, seeker-friendly services that have dominated contemporary evangelicalism."

The article is much longer but is copyrighted. So if you want to read the whole thing you will have to click here and register (its free) with the Dallas Morning News.

What about the new Pope?

I'm pretty happy about the Roman Catholics getting Ratzinger for their new pope. I have no illusions about the new Pope bringing Rome back to the Orthodox Faith, but I do think he will be able to keep them from drifting deeper into heterodoxy.

Fr. John Whitford is a bit more polemical than I am regarding the new Bishop of Rome. You can click here to see what he says. Oh, when I say he is more polemical I am not saying that I think he is wrong.

Rounding third

Oh boy oh boy oh boy! Here we go. Lent is over. We went to the Great Compline service for the resurection of Lazarus at St. Stephen's. Had champagne and caviar at my house house afterward. Athanasia and I had no idea how to serve caviar, since neither of us had had it before. Well, now that I've written that, I remember two times I have had caviar: Once as a garnish on a slab of salmon I had at the Brooklyn resaurant in Seattle, and once I had it right out of a jar with saltines. But today is not a salmon day, just a caviar day, and we didn't want to eat it out of jars. But thankfully, the boy's godmother was here and told us what to do. So, anyway, Lazarus Saturday is here. (Because the day starts in the evening according to Genesis.) That means that Palm Sunday is nigh and then Boom! Pascha will be here! Oh, pray for my friend Doug and his wife. They made their life confessions at St. Stephen's tonight and are being received into the church in the morning.

So.... Let me help you get ready for Pascha, WHICH IS JUST A WEEK AWAY!!!!!!

I don't know about your parish, but our priest expects us to know these in 5 or 6 languages. So, you have one week. Get to practicing.

English: Christ Is Risen -- Truly He Is Risen
Aleut: Khristus Anahgrecum -- Alhecum Anahgrecum
Anglo-Saxon: Crist aras -- Crist sodhlice aras
Arabic: Al Messieh Qam -- Huhquhn Qam
Armenian: Christos harjav i merelotz -- Orhniale harutjun Christosi
Chinese: Helisituosi fuhuole -- Queshi fuhuole
Coptic (Egypt): Pchristos Aftooun -- Alethos Aftooun
Czech: Kristus Vstal A Mrtvych -- Opravdi Vstoupil
Estonian: Kristus on surnust Ulasteeusnud -- Teasti on Ulasteeusnud
Finnish: Kristus nousi kuolleista -- Totisesti nousi
French: Christ est Resurrecte -- Vraiment, Resurrecte
Gaelic (Celt): Taw Creest Ereen -- Taw Shay Ereen Guhdyne
Georgian: Kriste aghsdga -- Cheshmaritad aghsdga
German: Christus ist Auferstanden -- Wahrhaft auferstanden
Hebrew: Ha-Mashiah qom -- Be-emet qom
Hellenic (Greek): Khristos Anesti -- Alithos Anesti
Japanese: Harisutosu Fukkatsu -- Jitsu Ni Fukkatsu
Korean: Kristo Gesso -- Buhar ha sho Nay
Latin: Christus resurrexit -- Vere resurrexit
Norwegian: Christus er Oppstanden -- Sandelig Han er Oppstanden
Sanskrit: Kristo'pastitaha -- Satvam Upastitaha
Serbian (modern) Hristos Vaskrse -- Vaistinu Vaskrse
Slavonic: Khristos Voskresie -- Voistsinu Voskresie
Spanish: Cristo esta resucitado -- Verdad, resucitado
Swahili: Khristos amafafouka -- Kwaeli amafafouka
Swedish: Kristi ar uppstanden -- Sannorligen ar
Syriac: Meshiha qam -- Bashrira qam
Tosk (Albanian): Krishti Ungjall -- Vertete Ungjall
Vlakh (Romanian): Hristos A Inviat -- Adivarat A Inviat
Welsh: Atgyfododd Crist -- Atgyfododd in wir
Zulu: Ukristu Uvukile -- Uvukile Kuphela

Ugggh. It always happens.

I had it all worked out. I was going to make it to two of the morning services uring Holy Week and all the evening serviecs except for Tuesday. But something happend. Every time I think I have my schedule cleared for the big events at church I get broadsided. It has happened again. My boss told me today that we are doing a major "due dilligence" of the building for a new owner, AND beginning a major replumbing of the whole complex. That is in addition to the ordinary stuff: I have three empty apartments when last month I had zero AND the conduit to the pool light is compromised so I have to get an electrician to run a new one UNDER GROUND AND AROUND A GIANT TREE! AND I have to get a garage door fixed AND I have to get new gates put in AND it looks like the grapes I just finished planting today might have to get ripped up to get to some pipes. Guess when it starts. In about 8 hours. Will I be able to leave the property in time to go to any of the Holy Week services? Probably not. I'm not even sure I can make it to church this week to say my confession. I'm planning on going to Compline at St. Stephen's on Friday. I can make it there in just 10 minutes. Much closer than the 1 to 1.5 hours it takes to get to Holy Trinity. I hope the priest there is hearing confessions. If not, I won't be able to go to communion on Pascha.

But, Glory to God for all things. This job gives me a place to live and I get to spend all day every day with my youngest son. It is a very good life. Also, we have reserved a room in a hotel around the block from Holy Trinity. (Because the bishop stays there so often everyone associated with the Church gets a pretty good discount. ) So, we can check in on Holy Saturday afternoon. Walk the 2 minute walk to church, and then drag ourselves back to the hotel at 5 a.m. sleep till 11 a.m. check out of the hotel, walk up the block to the park, eat breakfast (from our Pascha Basket) then go to Vespers.

Last year I made Cuba Libres for everyone after the Paschal Liturgy. It was in Honor of the new Orthodox Parish that opened in Cuba just a few weeks before Pascha. I don't know what I'll do this year.

Oh, my recipe for the Cuba Libre is as follows: Into a high-ball glass half full of ice cubes, squeeze the juice of 1/2 lime. Do not use bottled lime juice. It is too sweet. We can't get Cuban rum in the United States, so add 1.5 ounces of Bacardi Reserva rum. If you don't have that on hand you can use Bacardi Gold. Do not use Jamaican rum unless you have too. Do not use white rum at all. Fill the glass all the way up with club soda or seltzer water. Garnish with a slice of lime. Now I know a lot of people, perhaps most, use Coca-Cola instead of fizzy water. That's fine, if you are into that. But to me, Coca-Cola in a Cuba Libre tastes like a kids drink. Besides, the recipe that I use is older than the Coca-Cola recipe. Nevertheless, since both the fizzy water recipe and the Coca-Cola recipe are both called by the name Cuba Libre a lot of people just order "rum and coke" or "bacardi highball" and avoid the question from the bartender. But let me ask you this , would you do that with a Martini? Would you say, "Could you make me a gin and vermouth"? or would you say, "Charlie, shake me up another one of those Stoli and Cinzanos"? No, you would not. You would say, "I'll have a Martini." Then, if the bartender is not civilized and most of them are not these days, he will ask "vodka or gin?" Of course, as we know, in a better time, vodka would not have been mentioned in a conversation about a Martini. But that is really beside the point. The point is, ask for a "Cuba Libre" and expect the bartender to ask "Cola or soda?" Be firm in your answer.

And Besides all of that, Islam is Evil and Turkey should not be in N.A.T.O. or the EU.

Pigs and Octopuses

Today, in the big boys ceramics class, we made a dish shaped like a pig. We attempted to do it in the shape of a cow but a pig's head is easier to sculpt.

After ceramics we went shopping. Got a great deal on mussels ($2.70 per lb.) and baby octopus ($3.89 per lb.). We came home and cooked them up in a marinara sauce. Served it with De Cecco penne. It was good. It might be the best penne I've ever had. I'm going to make the same dish but with Barilla penne. Barilla is supposed to be the number one selling pasta in Italy. I want to se if it is better that the excellent penne I had today.

Anyway, the little boy helped me chop up the octopus and scrub the mussels. Usually he goes nuts for mussels and eats a ton of them. But for some reason he only had a couple of them today. But he really like the octopus. He ate quite a bit of it. When we were at the store he wanted me to by some squid, too, but it was kind of expensive at $4.95 per lb. Maybe next time. I wonder why squid costs so much more than octopus. Montery bay is full of squid. They should be pretty cheap.

I think the pool might finally be finished. I've had the city's inspector out 3 times and have had to call the contractor to keep getting little things fixed. But this time I think it is all good. Inspector should be here tomorrow and then I should be able to open the pool for the season.

Millions, Chocolate Cokes, Pregnancy

Athanasia and I saw Millions today. Except for about 10 seconds of not-the-greatest editing near the end of the film it was one of the 10 best movies I think I've ever seen. I do not usually cry in movies - it's pretend, right?- but this is a tear jerker. Even for me.

I'm sure that some people will be offended at St. Peter's description of the feeding of the 5,000, and I'm sure some people will be offended at some pre-marital sex, and I'm sure some people will be offended at a depiction of an under-age boy attempting to solicit one of his female classmates. That said, it is a wonderful movie. It has St. Nicholas (Cool vestments, by the way. Hmmm... Maybe a nameday present for Bishop Tikhon?) being charitable to Mormons. It has a boy who wants to feed the poor. It has a brother who knows all the angles. It has a great juxtoposition of St. Nicholas and some Christmas-themed adverts. It has a little boy trying to follow saints as they follow Christ.

Well, look. I don't want to ruin this movie for you. I want you to go see it. So, GO! GO NOW! DO NOT DELAY!!!! FLY! Fly like the wind and the Devil take the hindmost!

Oh, what were the other movies that made me cry? Only two. Jungle Book (when Bagheera the panther eulogizes Baloo the bear), and Saving Private Ryan (when Mrs. Ryan receives the death notices of her sons).

Yesterday the big boy and I had to do a few things. First we went to the post office and mailed a birthday present to his oldest brother. (He works on a ranch so I figured a Leatherman tool would be useful.) Then we had to go to downtown San Jose to make a deposit at the bank. While we were there we visted the San Jose Museum of Art (Its FREE!!!) and took a look at thier Blobject show. The big boy touched a car that was on display and had a heard of curators come running into the room shouting "No No don't touch don't touch". And the whole time I'm thinking, "This isn't exactly art. It was built on an assembly line."

Then we went to the Fountain Restaurant at the Fairmont Hotel. You would never know it from looking at their website, but the Fountain has a fabulous old fashioned soda fountain. At the Fountain I bought the boy his first ever chocolate Coke (e.g. Chocolate syrup stirred into Coca-Cola) .

Athanasia is pretty worn out from this pregnancy. She wants to sleep all the time. And she is sick quite often. We had to leave Church early tonight.

Very happy news. We were only barely able to afford the new PT Cruiser we bought earlier this week. Well, something pretty neat happend: Athanasia just got an enormous increase in her salary. I mean H-U-G-E!!! God is very kind to us.

Clothes

I have to go by a new navy blazer today. I wore my old one so long that a hole appeard in the elbow. I like good looking clothes, I just hate buying new clothes. I guess if I bought more than a couple of jackets I wouldn't have to buy new ones every couple of years.

I read an article about the tailor every president since Johnson has used. He said a man should only wear a suit once every two weeks. I remember reading when I was a kid (in the now defuct "M" magazine, the best mens magazine ever published) that the minimum a man's closet should contain is ...

1 dark brown suit
1 light brown window pane suit
1 gray flannel suit, with 2 trousers
1 navy suit
1 black suit
1 glen plaid suit (black or brown)
1 navy blazer
1 camel hair blazer
1 tweed jacket
2 kakhi trousers
1 tuxedo

If that is the goal, I have not reached it.

Hector and Melissa

According to the Church calendar, today is a "wine day". I just had 2 glasses of a La Crema Winery's 2003 Sonoma Coast Chardonnay. I usually say "I don't like white wine." But this is good. I mean it. It is really really good. Melissa says it has hints of citrus. I disagree. I don't taste it. She also mentions bit of hazelnut and caramel. I totally agree with that. When I first tasted it I thought "oooooh. This is like butterscotch and pears" but haveing read Melissa's comment I agreee: Caramel it is.
Hector and Melissa have done a very good job. (Also, they are graduates of UC Davis. I don't think I've mentioned it but, Athanasia and I are thinking about moving to Davis in the Summer of 2006 so I can pursue a history degree there.) Well, you know what you have to do. Happy drinking.

I've added a new blog to the things I read every day

She is a musicologist living back east. But it was this post, having nothing to do with music, that made me a fan.

It moves. O, Baby! It moves!

You might have heard about this already, especially if you follow aerospace developments. If you havent seen it, well, let me just say this: It is probably the best thing to ever come out of the United States Air Force Academy. I've seen a lot of fast movers but this has more moves in more directions than I thought possible. Here it is. Thanks to my friend Mateo Grande for making sure I was in the loop for this.

Help Wanted

My wife manages about a dosen small rental properties. One of them needs a residential manager. She has not found an acceptable candidate. Let me describe the job, and, maybe, you'll know someone who might be a good match.

I'm writing this from memory so I might be off on a few details. It is a 16 unit complex in Campell, CA. There is a swimming pool. The apartments are nice, I've seen them. It is a part time job. This is a small complex and probably won't require more than 5 hours work per week. Compensation: the person who lives there will get a $900 apartment for less than $500 per month.

If you know anyone who can spare 5 or 6 hours per week, and is friendly (being nice to people is the most important part of the job) please have them leave a message for me in the comments. Oh, one more thing. If the person who gets the job is not already CCRM qualified the company will send him (or her) to school and pay the cost of taking the exam.

PT Cruiser

We bought a new car today. The 1994 Acura Integra with almost 180,000 miles just isn't reliable anymore. The clutch is starting to go, it has a bad oil leak (about 1 quart a month), it needs new shocks and brakes. The air compressor needs to be replaced. When I thought about how much money it was going to take to make this car relaiable again, I began to shudder. So, I called my friend Jeff who in addition to being a newly-commissioned pastor is also a banker. He knows lots of car dealers. Some of them owe him favors. So, we got a great discount on a PT Cruiser. And through Costco we are getting a totally unbelievable deal on insurance. I'm not wild about owing more money, but its that or lose transportation. Oh, the prision that are suburbs - forcing us to drive when God gave us feet. Nevertheless, I am thankful for our new car. We'll have it blessed on Wednesday.

Commissioning

My friend Jeff was "commissioned" at his church today. (The best I can tell, commissioning is the low-calorie version of ordination.) We left our house at nine-thirty to get there by eleven. I had looked up the church the night before so I would know how to get there. So we got there. And we got there half an hour early. So Athanasia and I and the little boy and I kicked around a soccer ball for a little while in the parking lot. But we saw a lot of people going in and we heard singing so we figured it was starting.

As we were walking in we saw a sign that said the service starts at 10:30. "Hmmmm", I thought to myself, "Jeff said the service started at 11. That's strange." So all three of us walked down the center aisle to the front pew (Protestant churches have benches called pews, the one in the front is usually the last to fill up.) and sat down.

The guy behind us leaned forward and asked it the little boy would like to go to sunday school. We thanked him but said no thanks. Then I asked, "is this Bay Hills Evangelical Free Church?" That was met by an odd look on the man's face. "No, this is Bay Hills Community Church". Athanasia asked, "Is Jeff Miller being ordained today?" "No, I don't think so"
I looked at my wife and said, "Uh oh! We're in the wrong church!"

So we stood up and walked right up the center aisle, past 3oo people, and out the door. Wow! That was embarrassing.

Now before I write anything else, I want to make a couple of comments on the service we were in, even though it was for less than 5 minutes.
1) Pastors, please, please, please, don't wear Hawaiian shirts on the platform. It does not make you look cool, hip, real, relaxed, or with-it. It makes you look like someone who read a book about church growth. So, please be a grown up and wear a tie. Or follow your spiritual ancestor, Martin Luther's example and wear an academic robe. But please, knock off the Hawaiian shirts. If you are not sipping a pina colada and wearing sandles you should not be wearing a Hawaiian shirt.
2) 3 guitars is 2 guitars too many.
3) The band and the back up singers should not be so loud that the congregation's voice can not be heard.
4) Please, kill the PowerPoint projector. I know this will be hard for you; all the cool Protestant churches use PowerPoint now. But trust me, it's hokey. A church service is not supposed to be like a shareholders meeting or like a briefing for an Army general. The church has survived a few thousand years without PowerPoint. I'm pretty sure the Levites weren't using to project Psalms on the Temple wall. And I know for a fact that when Jesus preached he didn't use it. All he did was talk to people and tell them stories about grain, and sheep, and stuff like that. You should do that too. More talking, less PowerPointing.
5) The woman drummer was cool, though. Don't see enough chicks banging the hi-hats.

Now back to the story.

We jumped in the car, grabbed a cell phone, called 411 and got the address of the correct BayHills church. Zoomed up the freeway, woops! all of a sudden the freeway (I-880 north) dissapeard. It forked into I-80 and I-580. At the last possible moment, not really knowing which was the right one to take, I took the wrong one and very quickly found my self driving in the absolutely wrong direction. In fact, we were driving across the Bay Bridge. ARRRRGGGHHHHH!!!!!

After a quick turn around on Yerba Buena Island, we zoomed back to the East Bay, sped onto I-580 and drove north to Hercules. We got lost on Appian Way (The numbers reverse their order. I hate it when that happens.) but we eventually made it to the right BayHills church.

We heard the last 10 minutes of a sermon about money. Or maybe it was about investing. Yeah, that was it. It was about how to have financial security. Hmmmmm. I'm sitting there thinking, "yeah, on the terrible Day of the LORD, I want to make sure to tell Jesus all about how I got a 12 % annual return on my savings. That will really impress him. Surely, he didn't really mean it when he said the worm and rust would eat up my stock certificates. And that James, such a radical, I know he must have been wrong." Now to be fair, I did only hear the last 10 minutes of the sermon, and the preacher was right when he talked about debt and how it keeps a person from doing with their money what God wants them to do with it. Nevertheless, when I think of great saints who lived in poverty, such as St. Xenia, St. Paul, St. Anthony, St. Mary of Egypt, and even our God, Jesus himself who said "foxes have holes, birds have nests, but the Son of Man doesn't have a place to put his head" - whenthink of them I have trouble getting excited about a sermon that seems to be more about the blessings of compound interest than about feeding the hungry. But again, I don't want to sound too harsh. The pastor was right about not wasting money and about not going into debt. After all, if you are wasting money or paying off debt, you can't do the good things with your money that God wants you to do with it.

Oh, the commissioning itself was pretty standard. The pastor called Jeff up to the front, he explained the Biblical authority for laying hands on Jeff, then he and several other people laid hands on Jeff and prayed for him. (They have three services each Sunday so they actually did this three times.)

An interesting personal story: It was seeing deacons ordained at PBCC that really drove home to me that I was no longer a Protestant. I had just finished reading the works of the second century bishop St. Iraneus of Lyons (in present day France). And as I was watcing the ordination I remembered something St. Iranaeus said about some heretics of his day: "Who laid hands on them?" (okay, yes, that is a very rough translation.) And then I thought, "I wonder who laid hands on these guys ordaining the deacons?"

One cool thing happened today. As we were doing all of this driving, the little boy was sitting in the back seat reading the new book his mother bought him. And just as I said to my wife (We were on the Bay bridge at the time), "God is doing this to us because he does not want us visiting any heretic churches!! "(I was near to angry.) I heard my little boy singing the Trisagion Hymn. It made me very happy. I'd like to say that was enough church for me, but for the Orthodox, as long as there is the possibility of more there is never enough. To quote Bishop Benjamin of Berkeley, "If one 'Lord, have mercy' is good, why not three? I three why not 12. If 12 why not 40? If 40, why not 144... FOUR TIMES!!!" I guess what I am saying, is that yes, I'm happy for my friend Jeff. He has worked hard for this. But I wish I had been at Holy Trinity today. But even that would not have satisfied. Someday, in Heaven, it will all be all Liturgy all the time. But instead of men carrying the incense to the altar there will be angels doing that job. Instead of Bishop Tikhon (Many Years!) presiding over the liturgy, Christ our High Priest and the Lamb will be presiding. Instead of mystery there will be revelation. All the doors will be open. We will see face to face. Every day, every second will be Pascha.

Fr. Victor

Well, if you click on the title of this post you will learn how he is doing. From my own limited observation, he seems steadier on his feet. In public his spirits seem good. I think he was pleased with the Lenten Retreat we just had.

Lenten Retreat - The first session

Tonight was the first session of my parish's lenten retreat. Archpriest Paul Tarazi is teaching on the book of Psalms. What follow are some of the things I learned, my thoughts, and some observations.

- Kings are kings because God makes them kings ("Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion." 2:6, not because they are the sons of kings. This is reflected even on british coins with their "Dei Gratia Regina" (or "D G REG F D" on modern Bristish coinage: The letters standing for the Latin words Dei Gratia Regina Fidei Defensor, which means 'By the Grace of God, Queen, Defender of the Faith'). Every King receives his authority directly from God, not from his physical father. ("I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou [art] my Son; this day have I begotten thee." Ps. 2:7)

- In semitic languages the word for city is feminine. The Gate is viewed as the vagina. the word for invading a city is the same word for rape. He said something about battering rams and acted like he was holding a telephone pole. At this all of the teenagers blushed. My mind flashed to an image of the Kanamara Matsuri (aka Japanese Penis Festival), with a bunch of drunken Salarymen carying giant wooden penises through the streets. Anyway, a kings major job is to keep his city from being invaded.

- Even in the Psalms that talk about how great the king is, his greatness is always predicated on his ability to rule justly. If he doesn't rule justly, he loses God's favor (non gratia), then he loses his throne.

- He talked alot about water, how water is a symbol of God's enemy. At creation, God subdued water, God parted the Red Sea, God divided the waters of the Jordan. Why is this important? Because, with the exception of Denver, all major cites are located next to water. Water kills people, but God says to the water "this far but no closer". He does not destroy the water, yet He controls the water. I wonder why Fr. Paul didn't mention the sea of Glass in the Apocalypse? If there were ever a scene of God controling the water and being King that is it.

-The King, who represents God (hopefully) does not do battle against the water, but against other enemies, enemies he is able to withstand - the "nations" or "heathen" of Psalm 2:6

- Something about the Hebrew word for "victory" and "salvation" being the same word, e.g. yeshua, that is Jesus. Hmmm. What does this say about works vs. grace? What does it say about being saved from sin and getting the victory over habitual sin?

- He talked a lot about Psalm 45. A major thing he noted was that even when the king is getting married he is still the king. He is never not the king. His bride is his subject, she is never not his subject. He gets married in war-fighting clothes. (here he mentioned the King of Jordan who at all of his weddings was married in a military uniform.) He also took verse 16 and tied it back into 2:7, saying that the king has no ancestors because his authority comes directly from God, he is always coronated - Elizabeth might die today but Charles doesn't become king until the Archbishop of Caterbury annoints him. He didn't go into it but I think that the 5th verse and the 16th verse might be talking about the same thing, based on Psalm 127:4 -5. And who are Gods arrows but His children? Hasn't He sent us out to speak with His enemies? By that I mean tell them the Good News?

Oh! I almost forgot - on the way home from San Francisco I turned on the radio to a crazy little college station and heard a vibrato and reverb laden raggae version of the Jackson Five's "I'll Be There". Nothing to strange about that but all of a suden, at the line that says "Reach o-o-o-o-o-u-u-u-u-t" there was a punctuation of a whacked out mariachi horn section that has to be heard to be believed. And the horns just kept on going and going in a Ring of Fire, Tijuana Brass, Cake kind of spine-tingling way. It was like Bob Marly's stepson crossed with the 3 of the Jackson Five crossed with a Catholic Mass in east L.A. But better.

Well, to bed to bed. But first I have to read a bunch of Psalms in preparation for tomorow mornings session.

I'm a baseball fan.

I'm a baseball fan. I used to pretty much hate all sports. But two things happened. I began reading the Wall Street Journal. I think I read it every day from 1992-1995, and I've read it regularly though not as often, since then. Why is reading a business newspaper important to my transformation into a basball fan? Because it contains the best sports writing of any publication in America. (It also has the best Christmas Eve editorial page of any newspaper ever. Among the always superb essays is the traditional In Hoc Anno Domini. And you can't go wrong spending your book-buying dollar by their book reviews, either.)

George Will writes for the Washington Post. But sometimes his work winds up in the Wall Street Journal. Usually he doesn't write about sports. Most often he writes about politics. But read this. And this. And this! That is great writing! And all of the sports writing in the Wall Street Journal is as good as that. So, thanks to good writing, I began to see sports as something more than a waste of time and money. I wasn't a fan, but the foundation of fan-hood had been laid.

What really made me a fan was following the Giants 2001 season. I had married a woman with season tickets and we went to every other home game together. Here are 9 things I learned:
1) Garlic fries are fabulous
2) The game of Baseball is not about one game. It is about the whole season.
3) There are no bad seats in what should be called Giants Ballpark.
4) It is fun to yell stuff at players and embarrass your wife.
5) Benny Santiago doesn't get a hit in the first 2 innings? Hey, there's always the 3rd.
6) Singing Take me Out to the Ball Game with thousands of other people during the 7th Inning Stretch is fun. (There is not enough public singing in America. I blame the record industry and radio for that.)
7) Its fun to get all judgemental on Barry Bonds, who after hitting the ball likes to watch and see if it is going to be a home run before he starts running to 1st.
8) Sometimes, the people in the stands around you are as entertaining as the players on the field. Like one time when a guy infront of me pulled out an electric razor and gave himself the most vigerous shave I have ever seen.
9) It takes about one inning to walk around the ballpark. And its a nice walk, too. Especially, out by right field where you can look at all of the boats in McCovey Cove.

Baseball season is well underway. Try to make it to a few games. Eat some garlic fries. Get a tan. Drink a cold beer. Watch grown men running around in funny clothes. Its better than almost anything else you could be doing.

Much relief! Much happiness!

I finally got in touch with one of my older children. Here is the news...

Devon the 15 year old: He is doing fine. Reading at college level. Wants to come visit this summer.

Billy the 16 year old: Working at a ranch, driving tractors, fixing fences, taking care of animals. Graduating from school early. (He was in reform school in his sophomore year and was so afraid of the other kids that all he did was school work. He managed to complete two years worth of work that year.)

I found out that they moved because they are buying a bigger house in the same neighborhood. Right now they are living in a rental waiting for the house to be finished.

Very importantly, he was able to give me his mom's cell phone number. I am much relieved.

Thank you, all who were praying.

Pictures

My mother, who has never seen this blog, says that because her sisters do read this blog I should put up more pictures of the big boy. Here are pictures my wife took on his 3rd birthday.

Time Change

I don't like the time change. I wish Congress would abolish it. Yes, I missed church this morning.

Last night just before the start of the vigil for the Adoration of the Cross, I talked to Ian. Now we have one godparent of each sex for the new baby. I talked to Anna on the Sunday of of St. Gregory Palamas. So, that is taken care of. But there are still many things to get firmed up.

Such as....

The 8th Day prayers and the namingof the child: Issue - Athanasia might not feel like driving to the cathedral in San Francisco. And Fr. Victor might still be sick, too. But if we do the prayers down here, the godparents will have to drive down, and one of them lives north of San Francisco in Marin County. Oh, what names are we considering? We are leaning toward these: Holy Martyr Zoe if a girl. But we'll use the Slavic pronunciation, Zoya. St. Basil of Moscow the Fool for Christ, if a boy.

And this...

The birth will be in San Jose. But our priests are in San Francisco. Will one of them be able to come down and say the prayer from the Book of Needs? All of these worries - I need to make an appoint ment to talk with Fr. Victor.

This day

Frustrating Thing: Spending 2 hours in heavy Friday afternoon traffic to get to church. Spending 1/2 hour looking for parking, but not finding it. Driving home without getting to go to church.

Fun Things: Got to go shopping for the property. Had to buy some plants. My gardener wanted me to pay him $65 for planting flowers in a little bit of dirt by the mail boxes. And not just any old flowers, either. He wanted to put flowers there that totally die during the winter and don't come back next spring. So I just went to the nursury and found some beutiful rosemary bushes (2 for $25.99) and some grape vines (Muscat of Alexandria and Cabernet). The rosemary is going in by the mail boxes. The grapes are going to replace some ugly rosebushes (I don't have enough money in the budget to pay the gardener to husband them as they need to be husbanded. And I don't have the knowledge.) by one of the driveways. Grapes are easy. Just tie them to a stake, prune them once a year, and all is good. Unfortunately, they will only get sun for 1/2 the day so they won't be producing useable fruit.

Thankful Things: Athanasia and the big boy drove to the San Jouaquin Valley town of Madera today. They were visiting her grandmother. I couldn't go. I had a move-in I had to be here for. I also had two contractors scheduled for today but they were no-shows. (It's Friday, you know.) Anyway, my wife and son got there and back safely. I am thankful for that. It is a long drive. But on the way there, they stopped at Casa de Fruta, a well known cultural institution in the hills between the Santa Clara Valley (aka Silicon Valley, aka Valley of Heart's Delight) and the San Jouquin Valley. The little boy fed the goats.

RANT: (Before you read this, click on the Valley of Heart's Delight link, above.) A few weeks ago, at the boy's birthday party (held early because of Lent), I said something about how I think all developed land should either be high density cities (such as San Francisco, Manhattan) or farm land, and that I think tracts of single family houses are poor stewardship of the land and contribute to the erosion of society. One young woman at the party said, "You don't like houses?"
"Just single-family detatched houses."
"Why?"
"A lot of reasons, but one is that they require huge amounts of roads and parking lots, and once you pave earth and destroy the topsoil you can never grow anything on it again."
Then she said something to me that showed me how bad the situation is. She said, "But what about back yards?"
I couldn't believe it. I had just talked about the destruction of productive land and she was thinking about back yards. I should have mentioned that suburbs make people fat.
My personal problem is that I am a classical liberal in the tradition of John Locke, and think that in general, people should be free to do what they want with what they own. But it just makes me sick to see beautiful orchards and vinyards destroyed.

Amusing Thing: As I was getting into the shower, the phne rang. I ran to get it. (It was the work phone.) But I didn't get there in time. Whoever called hung up. A second time, as I was getting into the shower the phone rang. I ran to answer it. Again, the caller hung up before I could answer it. So, as I was walking back to the bathroom, I saw the face off an old chinese lady (one of my tenants) looking in the side window. And she saw A LOT more of me than my face. I belive the expression is: The Full Monty. I thought she was going to die. I know I nearly did. As it turns out, she is the one who had called twice and hung up. She is very impatient so came looking for me. I hope that teaches her to let the phone ring more than 3 times before she hangs up.

More worries

The sheriff called me. No good news. They have moved. I called the school they attend but it is spring break and there was no one there who could help me. The woman who answerd the phone said that the younger of the two is still enrolled. I asked about his attendance but she didn't know anything. So, now I am just waiting for Monday.

If any of my family is reading this: I just got an email from my sister saying that Aunt Nettie called her to say that our cousin Jaime (Aunt Joey's youngest daugter) had surgery today for bone cancer in her ribcage and is facing both chemo and radiation.