Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Art is revealing

Stepdaughter 1 had to have an emergency appendectomy the night before last, and the hospital nearest where she lives turns out to be St. Elizabeth's in Brighton. Upon walking in, we faced a large crucifix, and a priest was chatting with someone near the reception desk. I am appreciative of the unabashed reference to their faith, and wonder why there are no Orthodox hospitals. I grew up near a Catholic hospital, and used to sit by a little outdoor grotto shine they had near a stream, when I was cutting classes (it was across the street from my junior high). I didn't quite know what to make of the Virgin Mary then, but it was peaceful, and I was sad that it was no longer there, after an expansion. Yes, they did pave paradise and build a parking lot. 

I used to feel some attraction to RC depictions, and have a crucifix picked up in Tijuana, affixed to the birdbath. When I began my conversion to orthodoxy, I thought I'd miss the lack of statues we could put in our yards, but now I realize my perception has changed.

I didn't feel any connection when I looked at those statues in the hospital: they seemed remote, dead. The question I asked when I was 18 and just starting to believe in Jesus--but what does that man up there have to do with me?--was evoked. Orthodox icons seem so much more alive: they answer that question: I am here with you.


Sunday, August 28, 2016

Questions and answers on orthodox fasting for someone who has tried it for three, count 'em three, weeks!


This post was actually composed quite some time ago: before my Chrismation, but I see I never published it. I decided to do so now.

Oh, and someone on the Glory2God blog mentioned The Communion of Love by Matthew the Poor and I discovered that someone has posted the PDF here: http://orthokairos.weebly.com/uploads/5/7/3/1/57311059/the_communion_of_love.pdf.  I plan to read the chapter on fasting! 

Post from probably last fall. 

Having read that "prayer and fasting" is a big part of the Orthodox life, Doc Bubbles always figured that made the whole deal a no-go for her. She may have once done Yom Kippur and been truly and  duly miserable. But it turns out that by fasting they don't actually mean going completely without food. They mean you don't eat certain foods. It's also called "Abstinence. (Gr. Nisteia). A penitential practice consisting of voluntary deprivation of certain foods for religious reasons. In the Orthodox Church, days of abstinence are observed on Wednesdays and Fridays, or during other specific periods, such as the Great Lent (see fasting)" http://www.goarch.org/ourfaith/ourfaith8049.  The "certain foods" are primarily all animal foods, so it's basically being vegan two days a week. Lots of people are vegan around here! So Doc Bubbles has started to try it.


Even though Mr. Crackles is happily chomping on leftover chicken, he is appalled: "I get it: it keeps you going through withdrawal." Hmmm. Actually, Doc Bubbles is surprised that she is not finding the practice all that hard.  Unlike Mr. Crackles, applying the recovery model, she did not lose 50 pounds by making a complete turnaround with her diet. She's always aimed at moderation. Dr. Furhman's "nutritarian" diet, which she had read about and thought made sense, though it seemed impossible. But two days a week: possible. Fasting for health isn't really wrong, since the Orthodox view of salvation seems to be deeply connected to the idea of healing: soul, mostly, but body too.  But the main reason for fasting, according to the OCA is not only to avoid certain foods, but also to avoid the control we allow food to have over us. If we can’t discipline ourselves in terms of what goes into our mouths, we will hardly be in a position to discipline ourselves with regard to what comes out of our mouths." Ah, yes, breaking addiction the old fashioned way… .

Another surprising aspect of this discipline is making Doc Bubbles feel connected to the Church, even when she is alone in her house, with her meat eating cat and husband ("you're going to get sick: not enough protein!"--he's eating twice as much to compensate!). But that will be another post: the Communion of the Saints….

I don't like pain

My stomach was in an uproar last Sunday, during Divine Liturgy. I had been taking various painkillers to try to deal with a problem that was originating in my shoulder and causing numbness in my thumb. (I'm now wearing a neck brace when I type!) I had taken an aspirin for a headache on Saturday night and, even though my stomach had not been empty at the time, the emptiness in the morning (okay, I confess, along with a caffeine pill) was causing searing pain throughout the service. I thought that once I ate I would be fine, but I wasn't. The pain continued throughout the week and I consulted WebMD and Mayo Clinic and realized I had an ulcer. I had some famotidine tables in my medicine cabinet, which happened to be what the sites said could bring healing to an ulcer. (So it should not be such a surprise to me, with my previous experiences with GERD, that I would get an ulcer.) All of this is probably TMI and not really the point. My reason for blogging about this is my realization that so much of my sense of joy in worship is connected to my feeling good in my body. This is why I have such a hard time understanding the saints who mistreat themselves so much: how did they manage? When I feel unwell, I don't feel much like praising. I will admit also I was afraid. What if it was cancer? This shows me how much more I need to pray to strengthen myself for the time that is sure to come when I am tested and I am not granted the great blessings I experience now, in my sense of God's presence.

But I am not giving up fasting! I am giving up painkillers. And taking up  drinking licorice tea with honey. That, along with the medicine, is helping, but I was too weak (and Mr. Crackles was too busy monitoring me) for me to try fasting this morning, so it was the first time since my Chrismation that I have been to the Divine Liturgy and not partaken of communion. I did feel a bit distanced... But fortunately, I was able to enjoy our end of summer picnic and we were blessed with lovely weather!