A journal of byzantine digressionS
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A Blessed Feast!
Per the Wiki: “For All the Saints” was written as a processional hymn by the Anglican Bishop of Wakefield, William Walsham How. The hymn was first printed in Hymns for Saints’ Days, and Other Hymns, by Earl Nelson, 1864. NB: No one sings verses 3, 5, and 6 any more. 1. For all the saints, who…
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12b or Not 12b?
Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14I John 3:1-3Matthew 5:1-12a For so they persecuted the prophets that were before you.Matthew 5:12b The Eastern Rite (both Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic) sings this Gospel passage – the Beatitudes – every week at Liturgy (at least in the Slavic traditions). That singing does not include the second part of verse 12. That…
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They maintain the fabric of the world
The wisdom of the scribe depends on the opportunity of leisure; only the one who has little business can become wise. How can one become wise who handles the plough, and who glories in the shaft of a goad, who drives oxen and is occupied with their work, and whose talk is about bulls? He…
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Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.
Philippians 2:1-4Luke 14:12-14When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends nor thy brethren nor thy kinsmen nor thy neighbours who are rich; lest perhaps they also invite thee again, and a recompense be made to thee. But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame and the…
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Yaya knows… she knows…
Wisdom 11:22-12:2II Thessalonians 1:11-2:2Luke 19:1-10 And therefore thou chastisest them that err, by little and little: and admonishest them, and speakest to them, concerning the things wherein they offend: that leaving their wickedness, they may believe in thee, O Lord.Wisdom 12:1-2 Yayas see everything. Everything. One of the things I was taught in Orthodoxy was…
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Propped Up and Breathing
Philippians 1:18-26 Luke 14:1, 7-11 …to live is Christ: and to die is gain… Philippians 1:21b A few years ago I had a sleep-study done. I can snore enough to wake the dead, see. And it was bothering my housemates and, in fact, it was bothering the people upstairs. So… I had a sleep study.…
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You Ain’t from Round Here, is You?
Ephesians 2:19-22Luke 6:12-16 So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners…Ephesians 2:19a I move a lot. At fifty-plus, I’ve still never been in the same place for more than 4 Christmases. It’s not like I don’t try: but life in the lower-middle class (or upper lower-class, whatever) is lived from paycheck to paycheck. My…
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Needed Armor in the Year of Mercy
Ephesians 6:10-20Luke 13:31-35 For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.Ephesians 6:12 The readings from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians this week have seemed to confirm a lot of…
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Self Will is Wrong Will
Ephesians 6:1-9Luke 13:22-30 Slaves, be obedient to those who are your earthly masters, with fear and trembling, in singleness of heart, as to Christ.Ephesians 6:5 This is one of those hard places in the Church’s tradition. In fact this whole chapter from Ephesians is – yesterday I totally ignored the obvious “Wives submit yourselves to…
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How to Make it all Rise.
Ephesians 5:21-33Luke 13:18-21 The Kingdom of God is like leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.Luke 13:21 I heard a preacher once get this horribly wrong. I knew he wasn’t a baker as a result of hearing his take on this. He pointed out that…
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Peppercorn Rent
Ephesians 4:32- 5:8Luke 13:10-17 Let there be no filthiness, nor silly talk, nor levity, which are not fitting; but instead let there be thanksgiving.Ephesians 5:4 This is so very hard for me. Moving away from the secular world into the Christian one, one realizes how much of modern, secular culture is predicated on sexual content.…
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Who has the better parties?
Ecclesiasticus 35:12-14, 16-18II Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18Luke 18:9-14 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself…Luke 18:11 We live in an age of self-disclosure and self-description or so we tell ourselves. The Pharisee was only describing himself. It would have been valid, don’t you think, if he had left off only the part deprecating the poor…
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Freedom of Choice.
Ecclesiasticus 15:9-20Revelation 10:1-11Luke 11:1-13 If you will, you can keep the commandments, and to act faithfully is a matter of your own choice. He has placed before you fire and water: stretch out your hand for whichever you wish.Ecclesiasticus 15:15-16 There is this debate between the Church and most Protestants (Wesleyans excluded) about this idea…
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But this time it’s different.
Ecclesiasticus 11:2-20Revelation 9:13-21Luke 10:38-42 There is a man who works, and toils, and presses on, but is so much the more in want. There is another who is slow and needs help, who lacks strength and abounds in poverty; but the eyes of the Lord look upon him for his good; he lifts him out…
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I got that one DOWN, Lord.
Ecclesiaticus 10:1-18Revelation 9:1-12Luke 10:25-37 And who is my neighbor?Luke 10:29b This parable is so rich, so densely packed with content that I think we should be unpacking it until the Three Woes (Rev 9:12) are all passed and we are praising God in glory. The young lawyer is there to test Jesus, and – seeking…
Orthoparadoxy 