St. Nicholas Uganda Children's Fund

I often get asked by very well-meaning people if I can recommend a charity wherein the money donated actually goes to those for whom it's intended (if you're not aware by now, much of the charity money given in good faith is actually corrupted long before it helps anyone in need). I am very, very happy to make this recommendation that has an Orthodox foundation. The St. Nicholas Uganda Children's Fund was set-up by two pious Christians who have spent 8 years of their life traveling back and forth to Uganda to serve in many capacities. This is just one of them.

What I can tell you is that 100% of the money you donate goes to the care of the child. Additionally, the founders of this program go to great lengths to ensure the integrity of the program by interviewing all potential children to be funded (and thereby weeding out a lot of fraud) and by ensuring that the children are going to good schools where they are treated well. (One day, one of the founders discovered that the orphans attending one school were being mistreated by the teaching staff -- picked on for being poor and motherless -- and they were immediately withdrawn and placed in another school).

If you want to know more please click on the link and check it out for yourself, or simply drop me a line (the email link is on the right, just below the icon).

"Haves" and "Haves Nots"

I've been struggling through these thoughts for two years. I'm sure I'll struggle through them for more to come.

Yesterday I had a conversation with a colleague wherein we were talking about whether or not the support staff (janitors, housekeepers, etc) resented working with people who made so much more money than they did, or were they simply grateful to have a job (isn't it funny how it's merely the contrast that would seemingly create resentment -- if they were working for an equally poor employer 'resentment' wouldn't come up, it seems). This, of course, made me wonder about the contrast between me and those who have so much more money than me. For example, I worked for very wealthy families in Memphis, but I never resented them for having what I couldn't afford. Does Madonna's hair dresser hate Madonna because Madonna lives in a mansion and she doesn't? Do we create resentment by using language to ascribe "you are oppressed" to the 'have nots?' What if we never spoke in terms of oppression -- would people here feel oppressed wherein they are 99.9% of the population? Or do they merely act out the prescription of being oppressed because someone told them they should -- and isn't that just another form of oppression? What then strikes me beyond all that, as I read "The Life of Antony" and he says, "Let none among us have even the yearning to possess. For what benefit is there in possessing these things that we do not take with us? Why not rather own those things we are able to take with us -- such things as prudence, justice, temperance, courage, understanding, love, concern for the poor, faith in Christ, freedom from anger, hospitality?" I then begin to wonder why we seek to give to the poor our lust for stuff. We wish to "save Africa" but we're just giving them stuff. To be honest with you, here I live among the impoverished daily and I walk to work and I pass shanties verily standing and yet I still ask myself, "Who are the poor?" I see that they have clothes and food and family and friends. Will I be able to be at peace if I give them a TV or a wok? Can I sigh in relief at last if I give them a decorative pillow from Pottery Barn? Or maybe they will no longer be "the poor" if a wealthy CEO buys them a Rolex watch that I couldn't afford either. Diamond earrings might go well with their khangas! It seems to me that because we've lost our way, and we, too, don't know how to want what is profitable and good and eternal that we don't really know to take care of the poor. We want for them to have a washing machine. Is this their salvation? Once again I come to the place where I begin to wonder if the division between us/them isn't between me and Ugandans passing me as they carry water in a jerry can on their heads for making the evening meal, but rather the separation between us/them is between me and the Saints... among whom some of those walking with jerry cans on their heads might be numbered. In this regard it seems that I am among the 'have nots.' Certainly I understand that I am afforded a wealth that doesn't belong to those around me, but it is merely passing wealth, and relative at that. There is a responsibility in that, just as there is with any talent we are given. What if, instead of engaging in a language of "we are here to save you and have the means to do so" we instead entered into a language that encouraged all of us 'have nots' to share what we have in order to move toward what is lasting? How would our perspective on Africa and "the poor" change? How would we change if we realized we were on the wrong side of the dividing line?

Points of View

Orthodox Worship: Not for Lightweights

If you haven't read this already, it's well worth your time. It's even worth my oh-good-grief-internet-in-Uganda-is-too-slow-for-this time. :) Enjoy.


Get to Know the Original

A nice reference point for your non-Orthodox friends. :)

Some years ago...

Some years ago I preached a sermon at a Pan-Orthodox gathering right after San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom decided to disregard California law and begin allowing same sex weddings. I spoke of how his actions were prophetic in that they were a foretaste of what would come. My point was that the disintegration of morals and the culture were, in part, because Orthodox Christians were absent from the real world and I reminded them the world is the way it is in part because we are not who we are called to be.

Now news is coming from California about protests following the passing of Proposition 8 in California, a constitutional amendment that returned California law to its historic understanding of marriage and family. Religious buildings have been defaced, people have been verbally and physically attacked, and marchers have threatened both people and institutions they believe supported the proposition.

Amazing, isn't it, how some of the proponents of "tolerance" and "inclusivity" get angry and violent when they don't get their way. If you think that the movement towards same sex marriage is completely benign and simply about "equal rights" do a Google search on this and take a look at the faces of the people in these protests. Take a look, as well, at what some "activists" have done, in countries where same sex marriage is the law of the land, to harass and intimidate those they cannot indoctrinate. Witness, again, the wholesale purge of traditional clergy and parishes currently underway by the very people who have come to power in the Episcopal Church by seeking "dialogue" and "openness" in the areas of sexuality and the church. The information can be startling.

Because of our Faith we cannot respond in kind or act out of fear but we do need to be wise. Underneath the gentle hand of "tolerance" and "inclusivity" there can be hard balled up fist aimed right at your face if, as a traditional Christian, Muslim, Jew, Hindu, or Buddhist for that matter, you dare to oppose the new regime. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst, seek in love to reach out and be a channel of grace, and always be ready to pray for even those who would, if they had the chance, silence you.

C.S Lewis: On Culture, Education, and War

Learning in War-Time
A sermon preached by C.S. Lewis (1898-1963) at Oxford in 1939 at the commencement of World War II

(Lewis offers his thoughts on the pursuit of education and culture in times of warfare and national crisis from a profoundly Christian perspective.)

". . . I think it important to try to see the present calamity in a true perspective. The [terrorism] creates no absolutely new situation: it simply aggravates the permanent human situation so that we can no longer ignore it. Human life has always been lived on the edge of a precipice. Human culture has always had to exist under the shadow of something infinitely more important than itself. If [people] had postponed the search for knowledge and beauty until they were secure, the search would never have begun. We are mistaken when we compare war with "normal life." Life has never been normal. Even those periods which we think most tranquil, like the nineteenth century, turn out, on closer inspection, to be full of crises, alarms, difficulties, emergencies. Plausible reasons have never been lacking for putting off all merely cultural activities until some imminent danger has been averted or some crying injustice put right. But humanity long ago chose to neglect those plausible reasons. They wanted knowledge and beauty now, and would not wait for the suitable moment that never comes. Periclean Athens leaves us not only the Parthenon but, significantly, the Funeral Oration. The insects have "chosen" a different line: they have sought first the material welfare and security of the hive, and presumably they have their reward. [People] are different. They propound mathematical theorems in beleaguered cities, conduct metaphysical arguments in condemned cells, make jokes on scaffolds, discuss the last new poem while advancing to the walls of Quebec, and comb their hair at Thermopylae. This is not panache: it is our nature. . . .

[Terrorism] makes death real to us: and that would have been regarded as one of its blessings by most of the great Christians of the past. They thought it good for us to be always aware of our mortality. I am inclined to think they were right. All the animal
life in us, all schemes of happiness that centered in this world, were always doomed to a final frustration. In ordinary times only a wise [person] can realize it. Now the stupidest of us knows. We see unmistakably the sort of universe in which we have all along been living, and must come to terms with it. If we had foolish un-Christian hopes about human culture, they are now shattered. If we thought we were building up a heaven on earth, if we looked for something that would turn the present world from a place of pilgrimage into a permanent city satisfying the soul . . . we are disillusioned, and not a moment too soon. But if we thought that for some souls, and at some times, the life of learning, humbly offered to God, was, in its own small way, one of the appointed approaches to the Divine reality and the Divine beauty which we hope to enjoy hereafter, we can think so still."

taken from here

An article worth reading...

A sample...

The death of religion, of the true Christian religion, occurs when the God who became flesh and dwelt among us, is seen as the God who has removed Himself (having accomplished His work here) and is found only in the distance of theological thought. It is little wonder that in the sterility of Christian atheism the vacuum of a true spiritual life should be filled with the vacuity of the political life.

The Republican party is dead. The Democratic party is dead. Neither of them can give you life. They belong to a world that is passing away. What remains is what has been established by God and still sails before the winds and on the tide that obey His voice.

There is a Kingdom of God, found in communion with the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit. It is not removed from us but has come among us. It breaks forth in human lives and burns with spiritual fire in the sacraments of the Church. It heals the sick, raises the dead, casts out demons and gives freely what it has freely received. It knows no economy other than the fullness of God who causes the barren woman to be the joyful mother of children, who brings forth water in the desert and changes water into wine.

Religion is not dead - only the false pretense of religion begotten in the delusion of the modern world.

The rest is here...

St. RAPHAEL

On November 1st, St. Elias Parish calls to mind the life and work of Bishop, now Saint RAPHAEL, the first Orthodox bishop consecrated in America, who served the Russian Orthodox Church and this country by gathering the communities of Middle Eastern immigrants into parishes.

St. RAPHAEL founded my parish, St. Elias Church, LaCrosse, Wisconsin, in 1912.

Holy St. RAPHAEL pray for us!

Fatherly Thoughts

Greetings to everyone from Uganda. The following is a letter sent out by my parish priest in Memphis. I think that it's obviously timely in light of the upcoming elections, but it's also just wonderful fatherly wisdom.

*****

October 30, 2008
Martyrs Zenobius and Zenobia



Dear brothers and sisters in our Lord,

The following are thoughts I have been pondering for several weeks. I love you all, and simply felt a need to try to speak as a father to his children. Forgive me!

I love my father! Many of you have heard me say that the way my father expressed his love for me gave me total confidence in God our Father’s love for me. It has never occurred to me to question that Truth. As I grew older, less and less often did my father give me specifics on what to do and how to behave, but he relied more and more on my using the teaching and training that he and my mother had given to me and my brother as children. Without talking about it specifically, they taught Tim and me to love and respect each other immensely. Until I was married, when asked, I would always say my best friend was my brother. My father was always ready to respond to my questions and help me, however I needed help. With each passing year, I realize how blessed I have been to have a father like mine. I hope that I have reflected some of what he taught me to my own children.

We find ourselves in a very tumultuous time. I sense that I need to impart some thoughts as a father to his children – in this case, the pastor to his flock. Just as my father refrained from telling me what to do in specifics, I simply want to call to our collective memory things we have learned as children in the Kingdom of God. Economic events have shocked us all, and for some it is not just shock – jobs have been lost and people’s futures are up in the air. Concurrently, we are in the middle of a national election with a measure of serious consequences depending upon who is elected, both nationally and locally. We are very tempted to point fingers and say that the current financial crisis has one cause, maybe two. We are further tempted, in the middle of an election to pin those causes on one candidate or another, on one party or another, and to see one candidate or another as capable of solving our problems. In all cases, we should not fall victim to these temptations.

Regarding the financial morass we are in, a successful entrepreneur recently observed: “. . . when looking at the causes of our current mess, there is blood on the hands of almost everyone involved: people that took out mortgages they couldn't afford; people fraudulently applying for mortgages; dishonest mortgage brokers and mortgage bankers; greedy investment bankers; politicians lobbied by the financial services industry; misguided, if not stupid, politicians who made bad decisions and bad legislation. We didn't get into the current mess without lots and lots of people, companies, governmental bodies, etc. of every political persuasion working together to set the stage for the crisis. It may be comforting to point the finger at one party or another, one industry or another, one type of financial product or another, but it’s not accurate to say that it’s their fault. In fact, it’s all our fault. Culturally we have encouraged living beyond our means as individuals and as a country for too long. Now the bill has come due.”

While I am an expert in nothing, having spent years in the business world and now years in the priesthood, I find these observations very accurate. While much of the world still lives in abject poverty, many, many live far differently – not just most Americans, but also those from western European, Russia, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and others. We live in a world of plenty, and many are driven by comfort and pleasure. We as Orthodox Christians are not immune to this passion. Many times we, like most others, have taken on unnecessary debt which has been fueled by unhealthy desires for things and experiences.

Our task as Orthodox is to return to moderation, financially speaking. Saving is good. Excessive debt is bad. Some would even say any debt is bad. Sharing is good. Planning is good. Living within our means is good. Buying discretionary items on credit is probably bad. Indulging unhealthy desires is always bad. If a deal is too good to be true, it probably has dangerous strings attached. Tithing is good. Alms-giving is good. Greed is bad. If we live prudently and moderately, our way of living can mitigate the effects from consequential effects of other’s misbehavior. However, we can never fully protect ourselves from them. As always, our only true and lasting protection is the Great Mercy of God, which is always and ever abundant.

Regarding our upcoming elections, it would be a mistake to think any candidate, national or local, will fix all our problems or destroy the republic. At least in our presidential race, we have two candidates that have many talents and strengths as well as nearly fatal flaws. At the end of each debate, the “truth checkers” point out how each distorted facts – neither escapes failure. And sometimes the truth checkers themselves overlook distortions, maybe purposely, maybe not. My comments do not mean that I think it doesn’t matter whom we vote for – I do think it matters. However, in the end, I believe every successful candidate once in office runs into a wall of obstacles that prevent the fulfillment of many if not most of the promises made. Further, as Christians, we have what might be called dual citizenship – both in the place we live AND in the Kingdom of Heaven. As Orthodox Christians, we understand that we already experience a foretaste of the Kingdom. As Orthodox Christians, our highest citizenship is the one in the Kingdom. And it is that citizenship that should inform and guide our citizenship in the place we live.

It is not my place to tell you for whom you should vote. I think it is part of my role as father to help you know how to make your decision. As with all of life, our decisions should be made with the mind of the Holy Fathers, who themselves knew the Triune God better than all. Some decisions, and votes, are simple. Others are not so. What have the lives of the Martyrs, the Holy ones, the saints revealed to us? What do the hymns of the Church encourage us to value? How has the beauty of the Church placed before us virtuous ones to emulate in our decisions? Certainly godly people can disagree, and do. But let us not be persuaded by modern cultural practices or expediency to satisfy our own selfish desires. Let us rather be shaped by our Faith, and by the One Who saves us.

For some, this year’s presidential decision is simple. For others, it is not. As you consider the candidates in every race and the various referenda proposed, I have two requests. First, seriously consider the full framework of your Faith in making your decision, and try to let that be your guide. Second, whatever your decision, respect the decision of others, particularly in the Church. In the end, our first allegiance should be to one another, for we are all citizens of heaven first. We share the very Body and Blood of the Incarnate One. As citizens of heaven, we are to be good citizens of the place where we live. That begins in the household of God.

Fr. John

Hang in there...

Hang in there with me. I've been very busy and while there are a lot of things to write they've all been blocked up by time, fatigue, other issues. The dam will burst, soon.

Perceptions...

...I know it's been forever since anybody has posted on here ("forever," in blog terms, being three months), but something has been on my mind as of late...

My mother has invited us to enroll our three year-old in a program I was in when I was a child -- some of you may have heard of AWANA -- and my wife and I, after having looked at some of the literature for the youngest group which our three year-old would attend, had some reservations.

While, at this point, it would, by and large, be simple recitation of basic Bible verses and knowledge of Bible stories, the idea of Christ's satisfactionary atonement -- that is, paying the price for our sin to avoid everlasting punishment -- is at odds with our Orthodox belief in a soul's experience of heaven or hell based on his reaction to the presence of Christ as consuming fire and as Judge. Even my mother, who is not one for complexities in doctrine, admitted that that's a very real difference.

What's got me thinking as of late, though, is this: when I stated the ramifications of satisfactionary atonement -- namely, that we are basically being saved by Christ from the Father's wrathful actions against us because of something that doesn't have to do with our actual righteousness -- she stated that that's not what she believes. And I think that's rather common among Evangelicals. And I'm not at all sure why. Indeed, though it is what is declared in many statements of faith in many Evangelical churches (and in statements of organizations like AWANA), many believers in the pews still see God as a loving Creator who they desire to live in communion with rather than a legalistic despot more concerned with fulfilling cosmic debit and credit legers and eternally torturing people than actually sanctifying and purifying people's hearts.

In contrast, though the Orthodox view of God as all-consuming Love is most definitely preached from pulpits in our churches, it seems to me that our God is often perceived by folks in the nave as Someone who is more concerned with sacramental requirements and external conformity than in a real, ontological change of nous and heartfelt, life-long, grateful metanoia.

Of course, I still see the differences as quite stark, but my question remains: why do you think Evangelical Protestants often have a religious culture that fosters gratitude instead of obligation and fear, while it seems that Orthodox often have the opposite?