Deb on the run

Jul. 30, 2006

Hurray for Karamazov!

Finally finished the book. I beat my fall prediction. Can't say I "got it". I was most puzzled by the women in the book. So full of venom and hatred one minute and love, forgiveness, and kisses the next. Very puzzling.

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Jul. 25, 2006

On the Incarnation

Posted in What I am Reading

Bare with me as a ramble. I'm trying to gather in what I'm reading in St. Athanasius' "On the Incarnation". The best way for me to do this is to write out my thoughts....

"The law of death, which followed from the Transgression, prevailed upon us, and from it there was no escape.... It was unworthy of the goodness of God that creatures made by Him should be brought to nothing through the deceit wrought upon man by the devil; and it was supremely unfitting that the work of God in mankind should disappear... what then, was God, being Good, to do?"

"As we have already noted, it was unthinkable that God, the Father of Truth, should go back upon His word regarding death in order to ensure our continued exsistence.... Was He to demand repentance from men for their transgression? You might say that that was worthy of God, and argue further that, as though the Transgression they became subject to corruption, so through repentance they might return to incorruption again. But repentance would not guard the Divine consistency, for, if death did not hold donimion over men, God would still remain untrue. Nor does death recall men from what is according to their nature; all that it does is to make them cease from sinning.... No repentance would not meet the case. What - orWho was it that was needed for such grace and such recall as we required?"

"The Word perceived that corruption could not be got rid of otherwise than through death; yet He Himself, as the Word, being immortal and the Father's Son, was such as could not die. For this reason, therefore, He assumed a body capable of death, in order that it, through belonging to the Word Who is above all, might become in dying a sufficient exchange for all, and, itself remaining incorruptible through His indwelling, might thereafter put and end to corruption fo all others as well, by the grace of the resurrection."

This all fits in so well with a video my son's godfather gave me last Sunday. Fr. Thomas Hopko's Lenten lecture on the Cross. A subject that he tackles so well. The message of the cross, as Fr. Thomas says, God's great love for us. He cannot abandon us to our own death (as St. Athanasius says), so His love for His beloved creation is the driving force, the reason for His incarnation. God cannot die, so how was the exchange to occur? Through the Incarnation of the Word. He who was the vector for creation becomes the vector for redemption as well.

"Trampling down death by death" as the hymn says. Just as we get rid of polio in our children by giving them - polio. God gets rid of corruption (death) by taking it on Himself.

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Jul. 13, 2006

Good Stuff in the Introduction

Posted in What I am Reading

I normally do not read the Introduction of a book. To me the introduction is like the beginning credits to a movie: nice to have but not necessary to the experience.

But, when the author of the Introduction is C.S. Lewis I thought this would be an Introduction worth peeking at.

"It has always therefore been one of my main endeavours as a teacher to persuade the young that first-hand knowledge is not only more worth aquiring than second-hand knowledge, but is usually much easier and more delightful to acquire."

From the Introduction to On the Incarnation by St. Athanasius

This reminded me of a conversation I had with a family member about 15-20 years ago. I was repeating to him something my pastor had said about a Lutheran doctrine. My BIL (a Lutheran pastor) chuckled and said, "Your pastor must be reading about Luther and not Luther himself." This is because, whatever it was my pastor had said, he had gotten it quite wrong. I took this little lesson to heart and have tried to read from the source rather than someone's opinion of it.

At least I like to say that is a good idea, its not always so easy (or possible) in practice.

To entice us further, Lewis concludes his Introduction with:

"I do not think the reader will find here any sawdusty renderings from the ancient languages. That is as much as the English reader will notice; those who compare the version with the orginal will be able to estimate how much wit and talent is presupposed in such a choice, for examples, as "these wiseacres" on the very first page."

Wiseacres? Hmmm, I feel a bit like Calvin when his mom tempts him to eat dinner by telling him she's making "monkey brains".

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Jul. 5, 2006

Good words from Susan MacCaulay

Posted in What I am Reading

"You can do a really good thing for your neighbors if your house isn't totally well... absolutely clean. Its an act of charity really. Americans look at magazines and think that a happy home means a totally spotless home.... And when your friends come to see you and see that you haven't done the ironing (hmmm - no problems there).... or whatever it is that you haven't done they think, "Boy, I do better than that!". And see, thats a very kind deed. You're spreading around this good cheer."

Wow! I've been spreading a TON of cheer over the years.

But seriously, she had two very good points on the second tape. One is; meeting each child's individual needs. Some may need to be in a school, some may thrive in a homeschooling setting. And, within each setting, finding what they love and running with it. I think this is the hardest part. Some kids are more elusive in their interests and, even if you know what their passionate about, finding an outlet requires a lot of effort and creativitiy on the parent's part. I fear I have not done the best on this as I could.

The other point was taking time for ourselves. She mentioned she takes one month a year away from the family. Wow! That would be more than I would feel comfortable with, but then again, I still have young children. I think when she gave this lecture she had 2 grown and 2 still at home (probably mid-elementary or a bit older). But the basic idea is sound. We all need time to re-group and then come back together. I know the few times I've had a chance to get away its been quite refreshing. However, a week is the outside limit for me. After a few days, I really start missing my kids way too much and its no longer relaxing - I just want to get back home.

So far this summer is turning out to be quite relaxing and rejuvinating for me. Besides the morning carpool to swim practice, our calendar has been, for the most part, empty. I've found loads of time to read, study, and relax.

So, are you finding time for yourselves this summer? What is everyone else up too.

Deb

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Jun. 23, 2006

Lost and Found

Posted in What I am Reading

A few months ago I was expressing my frustrating in my search for a lecture-on-tape given by Susan Schaeffer-MacCaulay. I had given up hope in ever finding them. Yesterday, while hunting around for an old video and in the process realizing I needed to do some MAJOR weeding out, I found ....

Imagine my delight. I truely thought it was gone forever and I tried, unsuccessfully, to find it online.

I've already listened to a bit and am being blessed. This is the perfect summer listen as I am in serious need of renewal. Every year, by the end of May, I am ready to retire from homeschooling (I've been doing it long enough!). I just might do it someday. But , whether I continue or not, I need to be reminded that what is important is the whole child and meeting their needs WHERE THEY ARE. I need this now because I have teenagers. Life is great, but life is busy and things do fall through the cracks as a result. Teenagers need to be heard probably more than young kids.

During this morning's listening time, MacCaulay stated that "we need fallow time." AHhh, just hearing that was like a sweet scented breeze. Of course, we all know that in our head, but its just so easy to get caught up and very busy and it isn't reflected in our lifestyles. We can't really listen and watch our children if we're too busy to think clearly (at least I can't).

So, this is what I'll be listening to for the next couple of weeks. I'm sure I'll listen to it more than once. I already finished "The Lord's Prayer" for a second time and I learned so much. I plan to go back to it later in the summer.

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May. 6, 2006

Reading lists

Posted in What I am Reading

Its been a while since I've talked about what I'm reading. Here's what I am either currently reading or listening to:

Brothers Karamazov: I was inspired to read this from two lectures I had listened to. In both, Bishop Kallistos had quoted or used examples from BK to make his point. This intrigued me. It had been about 2 years since I've read a "classic" and I was looking for another challenge - so here I am plowing through. I'm 200 pages into the book with about 700 left to go. Maybe I'll be giving a wrap up on this book sometime in the fall.

Celebration of Faith: Sermons Vol 3, The Virgin Mary: by Alexander Schmemann A delightful, short book. Fr. gave it to dh to read, but he hasn't picked it up, so I decided to give it a look-see.

Daughter of Time: by Josephine Tey. I'm listening to the book-on-tape version with the excellent Derek Jacobi reading. That alone is quite a treat. The book is an entertaining look back at Richard III. Was he as evil as the Bard makes him out to be or is it just another case of "the winners get to write History".

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Mar. 30, 2006

Back Home

Posted in What I am Reading

I'm back home and feeling quite relaxed. It was good to be away even though I missed my kids. They did remarkably well - maybe too well. Timothy asked me every day when I was going to be home. Even though it was nice having a break, it is even better to be home and I'm ready get back into the routine.

Yesterday's reading from First Fruits of Prayer was thought provoking and I thought I'd share it with everyone:

From the Canon of St. Andrew of Crete:

Rise up and make war against the passions of the flesh, as Joshua against Amalek, ever gaining the victory over the Gibeonites, thy deceitful thoughts.

From the author:

"The trick of the Gibeonites is a clever one. St. Andrew says that we play such tricks on ourselves, when we persuade ourselves that the things our passions urge us toward are not really sinful.

Western culture places highest trust in the capability of the logical mind. We assume that "reason" leads us to truth. But our ability to reason is infected with passions and misperceptions. A thread of logical argument may make impeccable sense, but it might be undermined by a missing bit of information (as was the case of the Gibeonites), or even self-deception. There is a reason that the word "rational" is related to the word "rationalize". Which sins are you most likely to rationalize away, deceiving yourself as the Gibeonites deceived Joshua?"

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Mar. 2, 2006

Posted in What I am Reading

For many Western Christians Lent has begun. In the East, however, we have a few more days before we begin our journey to Pascha.

My husband and I are still reading Great Lent: A Journey to Pascha together. Its been a slow plow, because we read little sections at a time. Here is one that especially spoke to me a few nights ago and I have re-read it today in preparation for the beginning of Lent next week:

Fr. Alexander begins with a hymn from the Triodion:

"While fasting physically, brothers,
let us also fast spiritually;
Let us loose every knot of iniquity,
Let us tear up every unrighteous bond,
Let us distribute bread to the hungry and welcome
to our homes those who have no roof over their heads,
So that we may receive great mercy from Christ our God.

Come, O faithful,
Let us perform the works of God in the light;
Let us walk honestly as in the day.
Let us rid ourselves of unjust accusations against our neighbors
so that we place no stumbling block in their way,
Let us give bread to those in need,
Let us draw near in repentance to Christ and say:
O, our God! Have mercy on us...

"As we listen to that, how far we are from the petty and Pharisaic understanding of Lent which prevails today and which views it exclusively in negative terms, as a kind of 'inconvienence' which, if we voluntarily accept it and 'suffer' through it, will automatically credit us with 'merits' and acheive our 'good standing' with God. How many people have accepted the idea that Lent is the time when something which may be good in itself if forgidden, as if Good were taking pleasure in torturing us. For the authors of lenten hymns, however, Lent is exactly the oposite; it is a return to the 'normal' life, to that 'fasting' which Adam and Eve broke, thus introducing suffering and death into the world (emphasis mine). Lent is greeted therefore, as a spiritual spring and time of joy and light:"

'The Lenten spring has come!'"

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Feb. 1, 2006