Nearly Orthodox
Day 12: The Spiritual Necessity of Tithing and Alms Giving
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I gave money to the man who appears every day on the expressway off-ramp at Armitage and I-90east. I see him there walking slowly, shuffling really. He smiles a weak and nearly toothless smile, his face brown and rugged like the sign he carries, “Need help. Please.” Generally I don’t give money to homeless people directly. I was broken of that habit years ago by a man who had no legs but…
Nearly Orthodox
Day 11: Dogs
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After our move to the country we figured the next step was to get a dog. We did some research and tried to pick a breed that would do well with little kids around and room to run. We settled on a Golden Doodle and a local breeder. When Barney Fife arrived at our house he was smaller than our smallest kid. Miles loved him immediately, leaning on him, following him around,…
Nearly Orthodox
Day 10: Building a Fire
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And now a word from our sponsors… My husband and I make a business of building little fires with our work. We manage to cobble together a living with small projects and medium-sized projects and corporate gigs here and there. For the last three years while I’ve been working on my book, Nearly Orthodox, my husband Dave has been working on a book of his own. The Hunting Accident is a graphic…
Nearly Orthodox
Day 8: Blogger's Choice
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Nearly Orthodox
Day 7: Temple
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Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own. – 1 Cor. 6:19 About 18 years ago I was sitting on a beach in the late afternoon. My husband and I were in Long Beach, California for a video shoot. At that time we were just starting our film production business, we had the…
Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy
My Presbyterian Field Trip: A Fragmenting Tradition
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This last Thursday evening, I was supposed to be concelebrating at the festal services for a nearby Orthodox church, but over the days preceding I had so strained my back that I knew that if I followed through on my plans, even just standing during the services, I would likely not be able to stand the next morning. So I stayed home…
Nearly Orthodox
Day 6: Eden
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Oh Man’s first disobedience, and the fruit Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste Brought death into the world, and all our woe With loss of Eden.… (John Milton, Paradise Lost 1.1–4) The prompt for today being “Eden” led me to consider an essay I wrote not long ago for ArtHouse America – a kind of mash up of Regina Spektor and Milton’s Paradise Lost. This is a bit of it to chew…
Nearly Orthodox
Day 5: Bread
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Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days. Give a portion to seven, or even to eight, for you know not what disaster may happen on earth. If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves on the earth, and if a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it will lie. Ecclesiastes 11:1-3 When…
Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Why celebrate Christian holidays that aren't in the Bible?
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A quick perusal of the major feast days on Orthodox Church’s liturgical calendar will show that many of those great feasts are not mentioned in the Scriptures. The Nativity of the Theotokos (Sept. 8), the Entrance of the Theotokos (Nov. 21) and the Dormition of the Theotokos (Aug. 15) are all not based on events found in Scripture. Neither is the Elevation of the…
Nearly Orthodox
Day 4: Immortality
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“We were created to live on earth unlike animals who die and disappear with time, but with the high purpose to live with God not for a hundred years or so but for eternity”. – St. Innocent of Alaska, Indication of the Way into the Kingdom of Heaven: An Introduction to Christian Life I’m feeling particularly human, particularly mortal today. I’ve been suffering from this same virus for about 3 weeks. It…
Nearly Orthodox
Day 3: The Mighty Chicken
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My first thought when I read Fr Peck’s suggestion for today’s topic was to break from the pack and write something different. You know, ’cause I’m a rebel like that. Don’t fence me in, bro. Maybe, also because I was not sure I could find a path to Advent in it. I’ll just admit that here up front. And then a few things came to mind on the topic so I thought…
Nearly Orthodox
Day 2: Sunday Best
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Remember when I said I would not simply post excerpts from Nearly Orthodox for 30 (or 40) days for this challenge? Well, I meant it…even though there IS a chapter in the book entitled, “Sunday Best.” I’m beginning to think Fr John Peck is testing my resolve here, but that might be paranoid so I’ll just leave that thought alone in a closet somewhere until after the Nativity Fast is over. Sometimes…
Nearly Orthodox
Day 1: Rules
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It’s not cheating to post an excerpt of my book for this first post of the Advent blogging challenge. It’s not. That being said, I promise I won’t just post excerpts of the book every day for 30 (or 40) days. I will actually wring new words from my overworked brain for you, my lovely readers. 😉 This bit of Nearly Orthodox comes from a chapter called, “Just Add Water” and while…
Nearly Orthodox
Monk in the world...
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Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Redeeming the Time by Nurturing Community
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St. Nektarios the Wonder-worker / Seventh Sunday of Luke, November 9, 2014 Rev. Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen. An experienced senior priest once said to me, “Make the place you are into Paradise.” This saying occurred to me again this week when I read the phrase from…
Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy
Georges Florovsky's Model of Orthodox Ecclesiology
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By Dr. Lewis Shaw From Window Quarterly 2, 3 (1991); ACRAG c. 1991. (Source) Editors’ note [from Window Quarterly]: George Florovsky (1892-1979) is one of the most eminent Russian theologians of this century. The son of a Russian priest, he graduated in arts at Odessa University (1916), subsequently lecturing there in philosophy (1919-20). Leaving Russia in 1920, he went first to Sofia…
Nearly Orthodox
30 (or 40) days of blogging...again
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So, last year I threw in with some other Orthodox writer types and wrote every day for 30 (or 40) days during what we call the Nativity Fast in the Orthodox tradition. It was fun, so fun, I’m doing it again this year. Last year I was scattered and wigged out. This year…well, okay this year I’m scattered and wigged out too. Let’s just admit that “scattered and wigged out” is my…
Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Jennifer Aniston Goes Makeup-Free. Liberation Ensues.
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I read this morning that actress Jennifer Aniston (whose family name is Anastasakis and whose godfather is Telly Savalas) had declared that going makeup-free in her new film Cake was “dreamy and empowering and liberating.” I don’t normally bother with celebrity news, but of course when using social media, it’s hard to escape it. This caught my eye, though, because it struck me as…
Nearly Orthodox
In other news...
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Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Justification and the Works of the Law
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Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost / Fifth Sunday of Luke, November 2, 2014 Rev. Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen. Many people who are introduced to the Orthodox Church for the first time, especially if they come from a Protestant background, often have a few matters that strike them…
Nearly Orthodox
Season's change
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It’s snowing in Chicago today. Okay, so “snowing” is a little bit of an exaggeration, considering it’s Chicago and all but still, flurries and 30 degrees on October 31st? Come on, Winter. Wait yer turn. I’m not complaining, much, at least not yet. I anticipate I’ll get to the complaints pretty soon. It’s part of the cycle of things. For now, there’s work to be done- sweep up the dried and dropped leaves…
Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
The Soldier, the Athlete and the Farmer
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St. Demetrios the Myrrh-streaming / Sixth Sunday of Luke, October 26, 2014 Rev. Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen. In today’s epistle reading from Second Timothy, which is designated for the feast today of St. Demetrios, St. Paul gives us three images of what it means to live…
Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy
Orthodoxy and the Problem of Choice: Converting Out of Postmodern Pluralism
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C. S. Lewis once famously remarked that “mere” Christianity, as he conceived of it, …is… like a hall out of which doors open into several rooms…[and] it is in the rooms, not in the hall, that there are fires and chairs and meals. The hall is a place to wait in, a place from which to try the various doors, not a…
Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
On Ecstasy and Laundry: Spiritual Experience in the Orthodox Church
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Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost / Third Sunday of Luke, October 19, 2014 Rev. Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen. Fourteen years ago, an American convert to Buddhism named Dr. Jack Kornfield published a book entitled After the Ecstasy, the Laundry. Although a Buddhist himself, in the work he…
Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Is the Age of the Earth Important? A Footnote and a Response
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On page 20 of An Introduction to God appears this footnote: Orthodoxy makes no definitive statement about exactly how God created the universe or in what amount of time. The important point is that He did create it ex nihilo, out of nothing. The footnote is connected with this text: “In the beginning, God created the universe, including mankind, whom He placed at the…
Nearly Orthodox
Nashville or bust...
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Aw, hey there friendly Nashville folks! I’ve got to say that I’m excited to be doing my first bookstore reading in my old stomping ground of Nashville, TN. The amazing Parnassus Books has kindly allowed me to come and read there on Thursday October 16th at 6:30pm. If you’re local and hanging loose come on by! I’ll be reading and answering questions and signing books til they kick me out. 🙂 Check…
Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Suicide as "Death with Dignity": The Power in Suffering at the End of Life
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I recently came across this article, which tells the story of a 29-year-old young woman who has decided to end her life by her own hand rather than letting an aggressive brain tumor (the same kind that took my mother’s life) do its work. It’s suicide, but a lot of people in the Facebook comment thread where I encountered the article did not seem…
