Words, in English

I came to a rather disconcerting and disappointing realization this evening.  We were driving home and my nine year old son asked my wife why she cut her hair.  She replied that she didn't, but instead had the lady at the parlor cut it.
She misunderstood his question. 
It then occurred to me.  One sentence can be spoken, with an emphasis put upon different words, and the question contained therein can have multiple different meanings. 
One can say,  "Why did you cut your hair?" with an emphasis upon "you", asking why YOU did it. Or with an emphasis upon "cut", asking why you "cut" it. Or with an emphasis upon "did", asking for the motivation behind cutting it.
This realization really bothers me, for it reveals a serious inadequacy in the English language.  Our vocabulary and grammar are far too flexible in allowing this sort of ambiguity.  We cannot simply rely on words to communicate.  We must rely on inflection and tone to sufficiently pass our meaning.
Either that or we must genuinely master our vocabulary and grammar, perfectly choosing just the right words.
Unfortunately, our culture is going in exactly the wrong direction.  We are moving away from literary articulation, actually reverting back to an image based culture, like Egypt and hieroglyphs. If you disagree, stop and look at your computer desktop.  It contains a high majority of little pictures, called icons. Unfortunately not the religious kind.
I've been working toward verbal articulation, for years now.  And just now I've figured out a justification for doing so.

The approaching fast

For those of you who are Orthodox, you know what the title of this post means.  For all others, I am speaking of the forty days that lead up to the celebration of Easter.  We who are Orthodox, call it Pascha.
For the next six or seven weeks, the Eastern Orthodox church lives out the most strict fast of the calendar.  Many misunderstand what this of all about. This is not about following a bunch of man made rules,  for we no longer live under law.  This is not about taking on a special diet, for our focus is on eternity, not grasping after perpetual youth. This is about balance.
This long, challenging and sanctifying fast of about forcing our flesh to live the life of faith.  This concept has really been on my mind lately.  In this fast, we choose not to eat meat, dairy, oil or wine until Pascha morning.  Food had become such a powerful force in our modern day lives that we no longer see food rightly. Food has become the driving force in our lives.
Do you think that it has not? Try going a week, eating only vegetables and drinking water.  Your desire for something tasty will fight back. Your flesh will rebel.  Your stomach will tell you otherwise.  These are the questions and statements that torment me.  My wife is a really good cook and baker.  She feeds me well. When I think of how easy it is to enjoy really good food, I see how weak I actually am.
The goal of the fast is like the training of a marathon runner. You do not run for the sake of running. You run so as to be prepared for the big race. Fight the flesh, fight the passions, fight the easy life.
Your soul and your eternity depend on it.

But WE'RE right!

Especially in the theological circles, in which I formerly ran, the idea of being doctrinally correct and criticizing those outside of our circle, was paramount.  Though I am no longer a Calvinist (or even Protestant for that matter), I do still believe that theological precision and accuracy is important.  But in a way vastly different than my former days.
In my former days, digging into the original languages, learning the most thorough and precise hermeneutical tools and speaking with precision was the way to godliness.  (Except it wasn't.)  The Orthodox church, of which I am now part, still holds definite theological positions and posits as true specific and definitive dogmas, these are merely tools for interacting with ones culture.  Drawing close to God and putting aside worldly things are achieved by the the sacraments, confession, repentance and love. 
But what is the place of theological accuracy?
It is our belief that all men are created by God and sustained, simply in order to give the time and the opportunity to turn, repent and learn to love God and neighbor.  Because all men are created in the image of God, are part of the "world" of whom Jesus died for, and while living, are still "men", all men and any men, have a grasp of varying degrees, on aspects of truth.  In other words, all men, regardless of religious persuasion, believe some truth.
It then naturally follows that while the Orthodox church is "the" church and the repository of the historical faith, any of us can learn nuggets of truth from anyone, anywhere.  The Buddhist, the Hindu, the Native religions, even the Wiccans, have embraced something of truth.  And, as all men have strengths and weaknesses, we should learn from those stronger than us and help those weaker. 
One very important point amongst all of this is that of framework and foundation. While those of these varying faiths may have aspects of truth, all truth must be understood within the framework of the historic Christian faith and upon the foundation of Jesus Christ. Other faiths may hold truths that are exactly contrary to their own framework and foundation, but this should come as no surprise, no one is perfectly consistent.
And finally, all of our lives should be filtered and controlled by humility.  Embracing that which is true is good and right, but it is worthless if it is not done in love and humility.

Fruit

We read in Galatians 5:22-23, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."
For many years, I understood this passage to mean that we were supposed to do these things.  But not too long ago, the  meaning  of the words really jumped out at me.  These things are the "fruit" of the Spirit. In other words, when we see living a life, directed and controlled but the Spirit, we will see this fruit.
An analog works really well here. Do the apples that grow on the tree make the tree an apple tree, or do they reveal that it is an apple tree? I think it's pretty clear that it's the latter.
So too with our lives.  Living a life that manifests love, joy, peace patience, kindness, etc does not make us a Christian, it reveals that we are part of the body of Christ.
The next question then is, what is being said when we do not see these things in our life?

Thoughts on vocation

Obviously, the necessity and goodness of work beyond question.  My thoughts on vocation are more about the "what" of vocation. It seems that the thought process for most in America travels along the lines of "what job can I do that will make me the most money, doing something I will enjoy?"  Not that there is anything wrong with doing a job that you enjoy and doing it in order to earn enough to support oneself, but my question is "but what job."

It may be that my thoughts are completely off base here, but I cannot help but think that the work that we do, accounting for about 1/4 of our lives, should be something of substance, that actually is good.  One thing that I have seen in the Protestant world is that of the grounds for our actions.  The question seems to be, "Is it sinful?  If not, then it is okay to do."  But is that really the case?  In Eastern Orthodoxy, the question is, "Is this helpful for my sanctification?" Something may be not sinful, but at the same time, it may be a deterrent or detrimental to our spiritual growth.  This is really something that needs to be considered.

What then about our vocation?  If at all possible, why not choose a job that will actually help others or ourselves, or even better, both?  We can get a job building widgets or we could get a job building bombs or a job building reusable water purification systems for third world countries.  

We could get a job building software for the computer gaming field or we could get a job building software for the improvement of farming practices.  I know that for some, if we are already entrenched in a particular vocation and it is not feasible to change, is one thing.  But for those who are just starting out, find a way that you can use your skills, talents and time for the actual good of others.  You know, love your neighbor.

Emotions

Somewhere along the line, someone started the thread that I don't have any emotions or feelings. But, to get right to the point,  I do.
I have spent the last 35 years of my life seeking understanding.  And one thing, among many, that I have learned, it's that emotions/feelings are a tool. Imagine a carpenter that used his hammer in every situation.  He would be a poor carpenter and many things would be damaged.  He needs to use that tool properly.  Just because he doesn't use it in every situation does not mean he doesn't have a hammer.
Emotions are a tool.  They should not be the driving force in our lives. They should not be the controlling factor.  Often times they interfere and cloud judgment.  People under the sway of anger often times do foolish things.  People under the sway of lust often act foolishly.  People controlled by sadness will sometimes act irreversibly foolish.
But then there is love. Love is not an emotion, it is not something that sweeps you off your feet.  It should be the controlling factor in our lives.  In all things we do, if we are motivated by love, we cannot go wrong.  This cannot be said about emotions.
My belief: emotions are a tool, to be used at appropriate times, but should never control us, we are to control them.
Surely, I am not perfect in this execution, but I believe I an on the right track, in a world controlled by emotions.

Typology, the butterfly effect and the hermeneutics of history

This is a really big picture concept. As you may have picked up from my various writings, the use of typology as a hermeneutical foundation is a regular practice for me.  The really encouraging part about this is (as I found out fairly recently), typology is the regular interpretive methodology of the early church fathers.  This is good news, as it is a tool that I have been steeped in for quite some time.  I must give a big thank you to Dr. Peter Leithart and Rev. James Jordan, for their methodological guidance.

Over the past while, the concept of the butterfly effect has come up, in a variety of situations and conversations.  If you are not familiar with the idea, it goes like this.  Any singular event in history may, without our realizing or understanding it, have a considerable impact on future events.  For example, as the name suggests, the beating of the wings of a butterfly, on the other side of the world, may directly impact the temperatures in Phoenix, Arizona.  

I have been thinking about this in theological/philosophical/hermeneutical ways.  If we consider that everything that is said or done, will, to some degree, affect everything else, the way we approach life should be radically different.  Of course, the ramifications of such a philosophy are overwhelming.  There is an entire spiritual realm, that some claim to be aware of, but that 99.9% of men really know next to nothing about.  The church teaches that the sins that one of us does, has a direct impact on those around us.  In spiritual terms, it very well could be that when we sin, we open ourselves and those in communion with us, up to further demonic influence.  In allowing sin a measure of influence upon us, we may be exposing or making vulnerable some aspect of our spiritual life.  The strands between us and all of those in our lives may very well be tied to one another in a way that our spiritual actions directly influence all others.

And even just in a simple physical manner, sin has ramifications.  If we allow sin into our lives and it begins to form our thinking in a particular way, that sin will begin to direct how we think, speak and act.  This, of course, will have an obvious impact on others.  

Now, if we take this concept and extend it over the entire course of human history, the possibilities are truly frightening.  It very well could be that the sins that we allow into our lives, become part of our makeup, which then is passed down as a weakness to our descendants.  Have you ever wondered why some races of people often appear to tend to be a certain way?  Like having a short temper, or externally vain, or inclined to alcoholism?  I might suggest that these supposed tendencies are actually long lived, deeply rooted, very ancient sins.  Sins that have literally become part of our genetic makeup.  

In terms of typology, the picture becomes even more amazing.  The use of typology is really an acknowledgement that God, not chance, is the author of history.  When we begin to obtain a grasp of all the inner weavings of typology all throughout the Old and New Testaments, the picture is truly stunning.  Since God did all of that, through the first 10,000 years (give or take) of history, why would we think that it is still not taking place?  Why would think that God suddenly becomes like the watchmaker, who only starts the machine and then steps back to let it run?

Of course, this picture is much, much too large to even begin to wrap our understanding around.  But the concept is intriguing.  Imagine that everything that happens, every event that we freely involve ourselves in or choose to ignore, are actually part of a very large story that is intricately intertwined with everything else.  

For me, this is exciting.  To try to learn as much as I can, to find the pieces, try to fit them together and gain understanding about how things are, why things are and how I fit in, to make it all really good.  We should never approach life in a fatalistic manner.  Instead we must approach life like a grand symphony of which we can be a part.  Some are the first chair violins, some are the guy on the triangle, that has three notes in the whole movement, but those three notes are important to a beautiful whole.  And the amazing thing is that we will never know exactly how wide or deep or long lasting our part may be.  What we choose to do tomorrow may change the life of someone else forever, in a really amazing way.

Since we serve a God of love, we cannot even begin to imagine just how beautiful and amazing this work of art actually is.  But we can know that we are a part.

Play your part well.