Friday, September 23, 2011

The "Forbidden" Books

2 Ezra, Tobit, Macabees, Wisdom of Solomon, Wisdom of Sirach, Epistle of Jeremiah, Bel and the Serpent.

These are books in the Bible that were somehow overlooked, by-passed, or judged "non-biblical" by Protestant scholars hundreds of years ago. Today, most people in America don't even know they were ever part of the canon of Scripture. Does this strike anyone else as odd... or disturbing? History can disappear.

I don't even know what most of these books are about. Except Tobit. Raphael House got its name from the angel in that book, and we talked about this quite often in our little chapel. But what are all these other books about, and is it bad that there is more Bible than what the Protestants believe?

Yet another complicating factor of the Orthodox Church: the Bible's different.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Back from the void

I know it's been forever. This blog will only be read by "followers" who check their RSS feeds regularly.

To all three of you, hello from my long hiatus.

I have only a few things of note to say:

1) Since we've last spoken, I've listened through half the Bible. During my awesome 4-month run of steady work at the SF Opera shop, I picked up the habit of listening to audio books. In the twenty minute commute to and from work, it's surprising how much material it's possible to absorb. The Bible Experience is an amazing, theatrical reading by almost 400 African American actors, including people like Denzel Washington and Samuel L. Jackson. I highly recommend it.

2) Since we've last spoken, I read through The Eastern Orthodox Church by Ernst Benz. The coolest bit for me in this was finally understanding the direct, unbroken line of Orthodox churches: Jesus to Greece&Rome to Constantinople to Russia to today. He also had some wonderful things to say about icons. (Icons are one of those things desperately missing from our Protestant brother-churches; I'm beginning to feel like I need to become an expert on the ecumenical council in which icons were officially blessed. More on this later.)

3) I've been working with St. Athanasius Orthodox Church in Goleta to develop a program/curriculum for their Jr. Highers. I can't publicly call the youth ministry by name yet (cuz it's super top secret) but it's pretty awesome. The program will get kicked off by an AMAZING weekend retreat in the wilds of Arrowhead. I'm totally stoked. Love this church.

4) My brain's buzzing with ideas for where my life needs to go post-grad school: St. Athanasius, maybe. Launching a new company, maybe. We'll see. USF's sucking money from me in exchange for meager inspiration, but I tell myself that having a Masters degree is a notable and necessary next step for any employment search in a cause-related org.

More later. Don't want to overwhelm you with a "I'M BACK BLOGGING!"