Nearly Orthodox
under pressure...
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The pressure is the weight of my hands pressing down on my shoulders. At first it was a reminder to keep my shoulders from hiking up around my ears, stress-making, hunching, not at all open as postures go. Now, it’s a binding of sorts. I find I’m hugging myself tight, trying hard not to unravel and that seems all kinds of wrong to me. There’s always been some talk in our house…
Nearly Orthodox
falling...
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Converting to Orthodoxy has been kicking my ass lately. My response has been less than holy. I’ve been kicking back and swearing a lot, clearly. There are a number of people in my life, people who know me well who may tell me now that I’m making far too much of this and perhaps I am. Drama queen much? Probably. Is this what “taming the passions” means for me? To choose to…
Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
The Voice and the Silence
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Behold Elizabeth as she speaketh with the Virgin Mary: Wherefore art thou, the Mother of my Lord, come unto me? Thou carriest the King, and I the soldier; thou the Giver of the Law, and I the expounder of the Law; thou the Word, and I the Voice that shall proclaim the Kingdom of the Heavens. (Theotokion of the Aposticha, Nativity of the Forerunner…
Nearly Orthodox
Theodora...
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I’ve been writing a lot lately on my other blog about being the river, being the mountain, being the forest. As Mrs Metaphor I guess it comes naturally to me to see myself not as being outside of nature but as being fully engaged in it, being a part of everything that breathes and so it seems right that I stumbled upon a story today about Theodora of Vasta. It is said…
Nearly Orthodox
no room...
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There is no room in my life for Orthodoxy. My life is simply not organized in such a way as to really allow me to engage this practice- to make time to pray, to find a community, to commit to new people…even to attend Liturgy. I just don’t have the room for it. I don’t have the space for it. And this is the reality of my situation. It’s distressing. I’m distressed.…
Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Consumption, the Ascension and the Dignity of Man
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The following sermon was preached on the Sunday after Theophany 2009. As we continue in the economic mess that was so fresh in that January of a little over two years ago, I think this still very much applies, especially as the referenced epistle reading makes mention of the Ascension of Christ, which is celebrated today. Our fundamental economic problem is still fundamentally a…
Nearly Orthodox
wrestling...
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For a long time now I’ve been wrestling…with my will, with my hubris…with my motivation and all this time I’ve been mistaken, gravely mistaken about the nature of my struggle. It’s not ironic but rather, comic, really, that all this struggle I’ve been thinking I’m trying to pin God, all “Jacob and the Angel” like but the reality is that I’ve been wrestling only myself. I see myself in this struggle, clearly…
Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Is the Rapture today?
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From suggestions that we should all release blow-up dolls filled with helium at exactly noon today, to an invitation on Facebook for post-Rapture looting (after all, many cars will be “unmanned,” you know), it seems that the world has taken notice of the latest prediction of the Rapture. Even atheist Stephen Hawking has grabbed a headline or two recently with his characterization of Heaven…
Nearly Orthodox
anchoring...
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It seems as though everything is moving all the time like the sea is moving even when the wind has stopped, everything is in motion. I confess I’m one of those people who wakes up and checks her smart phone. I’d love to say I wake up and I pray first or I work out or I go for a walk but I don’t, I check my phone. This is the part…
Nearly Orthodox
bride-zilla...
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It’s a little like getting married. I mean the ceremony, the life changing, the name stuff, the new way of looking at things, it is a little like getting married. This may be why I feel like I want to talk about it with my friends, bring it up in conversation, find ways to connect it to the rest of my real life. I am beginning to suspect my friends are losing…
Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy available for purchase!
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Some news from Conciliar Press: Good news! The [Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy] books arrived in our Illinois warehouse yesterday! For those of you who write book reviews for print media and/or who have blogs discussing such things, contact our marketing manager, Matthew Dorning (email hidden; JavaScript is required) to request a review copy, and let him know which publication / blog you represent. Ready to…
Nearly Orthodox
cell...
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Every so often I get the urge to move to a monastery and take up residence in a monk’s cell. An empty cell, not one with a monk in it still. That’s wrong on a number of levels. Several years ago I visited The Abbey at Gethsemane in Kentucky for a silent retreat and it was wonderful, well except for the food. The food was not great. I can say that with…
Nearly Orthodox
under the water...
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There was a time in my life after I wandered away from Catholicism and stumbled into the non-denominational, grass roots emergent church plant during which I had a great desire to be baptized again. Being a cradle Catholic I was baptized as an infant. I usually tell people that I was baptized as an infant and that it “took” because I’ve never known a moment in my life that didn’t feel somehow…
Nearly Orthodox
the body of Christ...
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It took a while to decide where I was going. I had two choices for the Pascha Liturgy and up until the very last minute I debated which church I would attend. It was nearly midnight and both churches were an equal distance from my house. Riley had agreed to come with me, she might have even been a little bit looking forward to it but then around 10pm she succumbed to…
Nearly Orthodox
pascha...
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It’s only about 12 hours before the service for Pascha. I’m hoping to stay awake long enough to find my way to St John’s for the midnight service. I’m also hoping that I can drag my 13 year old daughter with me. It feels like some kind of protection to have someone with me, someone who defines my role for me. I don’t have to figure out where I fit when I…
Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
The Road to Emmaus, Pennsylvania (The Transfiguration of Place, Part VI)
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The following is Part VI (the conclusion) of a talk I gave on April 2nd at the St. Emmelia Orthodox Homeschooling Conference at the Antiochian Village. The full talk is entitled “The Transfiguration of Place: An Orthodox Christian Vision of Localism.” Read Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV and Part V. There are six parts in all. I live in a place…
Nearly Orthodox
momentum...
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This is precisely the reason I wanted to take some time before becoming Orthodox. Momentum….or rather…the piece that comes right before the momentum, the impulsivity. Impulse is me throwing myself off the cliff…momentum is the speed I pick up on the way down…and regret is the moment I realize how many rocks and how little water reside below me. I don’t trust my leanings into impulsivity. Those leanings tend to get me…
Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Deepwater Horizon, revisit
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Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Paying Attention (The Transfiguration of Place, Part V)
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The following is Part V of a talk I gave on April 2nd at the St. Emmelia Orthodox Homeschooling Conference at the Antiochian Village. The full talk is entitled “The Transfiguration of Place: An Orthodox Christian Vision of Localism.” Read Part I, Part II, Part III and Part IV. There are six parts in all. This question therefore brings us to the practical side…
Nearly Orthodox
belonging...
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I belong to a gym but I don’t go very often. I like working out, it’s odd, once I’m there I’m very glad to be there. I like being there and in fact, I don’t mind being alone there. If I make the space for it then it’s an enriching and life giving time of quiet and focus. I can do whatever I want once I’m there. It feeds me. I can…
Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Thin Places (The Transfiguration of Place, Part IV)
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The following is Part IV of a talk I gave on April 2nd at the St. Emmelia Orthodox Homeschooling Conference at the Antiochian Village. The full talk is entitled “The Transfiguration of Place: An Orthodox Christian Vision of Localism.” Read Part I, Part II and Part III. There are six parts in all. In the British Isles, the ancient Celtic Christians spoke curiously of…
Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
My Bishop's Paschal Greeting
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GREAT AND HOLY PASCHA 2011 Beloved brother Hierarchs, Reverend Clergy, God-fearing Monastics, and all my Brothers and Sisters in Jesus Christ our True God: Christ is risen! Indeed, He is risen! We are again drawn to contemplate and stand in awe at the holy Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the God-man and our Savior. This year, I pray that we will not mark Pascha as…
Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Globalization: An Impediment to Salvation (The Transfiguration of Place, Part III)
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The following is Part III of a talk I gave on April 2nd at the St. Emmelia Orthodox Homeschooling Conference at the Antiochian Village. The full talk is entitled “The Transfiguration of Place: An Orthodox Christian Vision of Localism.” Read Part I and Part II. There are six parts in all. We use the word community to mean a lot of different things these…
Nearly Orthodox
of caves and cliffs...
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I’m not at Liturgy today…and I’m also not at the Presbyterian church. This is what might be the 10th week in a row I’m absent any kind of church experience on a Sunday morning. Some of it is that we’re back and forth to the retreat house on Sunday mornings, getting it ready for new renters to check in after the previous renters have been there on the weekend. Some it is…
Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
The Locus and Economy of Community (The Transfiguration of Place, Part II)
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The following is Part II of a talk I gave on April 2nd at the St. Emmelia Orthodox Homeschooling Conference at the Antiochian Village. The full talk is entitled “The Transfiguration of Place: An Orthodox Christian Vision of Localism.” Read Part I. There are six parts in all. Let’s think about this effect for a moment: What if transportation became so expensive that you…
Nearly Orthodox
sacrifice:pain
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It’s possible I’m unwilling to give up my pain, just so you know. It’s entirely possible I really dig my pain and the showing of it. I’m not a screamer, with my pain. I’m a brooder, a pseudo-martyr. I’m not proud of this, I promise you. I don’t like it and I confess it’s possible I’m unwilling to give it up. And yet, this is what dangles before me. Like the kid…
Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
The Politics of Hobbits (The Transfiguration of Place, Part I)
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The following is the introductory section of a talk I gave last week at the St. Emmelia Orthodox Homeschooling Conference at the Antiochian Village. The full talk is entitled “The Transfiguration of Place: An Orthodox Christian Vision of Localism.” There are six parts in all. There is a mythical place where many of us, including myself, have often fantasized about moving to. In it,…
