Hobbit-Sense at OneFreeGarden.com

I’ve seen, as have I’m sure many other Christians, a dissatisfaction with the vast difference many people perceive between the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament.  And, since it’s extremely early and I can’t sleep and Lent has just begun, what better time to take a look at it, yes?

Glad you agree.

Here’s the basic problem:  God in the OT seems mean– we’ve got plagues, floods wiping out earth, destruction, wandering in deserts, wars, etc., and of course, the biggie, the expulsion from Eden.  And then in the NT, in walks Jesus, who’s all about love and kindness and challenging other people’s lifestyles, and who, in many an idyllic view, never seemed to raise his voice or what have you.  The people who see these as highly incompatible have a good point– these don’t really fit.  But they then face the logical problem of this:  if God is truly God as we describe him, his nature ought to be constant.  That is, we say God is Love, God is Truth, etc., and these things don’t change.  Why, then, does God?

And if he does change, why is he worth our worship?  Can’t we pick the one we like better?

I think at the heart of this, though, is a misunderstanding of our predicament as sinners.  I’m like most people, I think, in that I think of most people as basically good people.  I like to think of myself as basically a good person.  And I think (and hope!) there are merits in these opinions.  But we have to understand divine-human relations as, well, a relationship– with the same principle behind it as any relationship:  namely, that it can be broken.

At my university, as at several, and particularly at military colleges, there is an honor code or honor system as you prefer.  Some schools with an honor system have varying punishments, but the strongest honor system schools only have one:  you’re out.  Why?  Because they understand that at the heart of every relationship is trust, and to break trust is to break the relationship.  All that remains is to sever formal ties;  it’s merely a formality.

This is where we stand as human beings.  We’ve broken the relationship between us and God– thousands of times, each of us.  And God is Love, Truth, and Life– so when we leave him, we get Death, Lies, and Destruction.  That’s not a vengeful God of the OT;  that’s justice, as painful as it is to admit it.  Those punishments are what we all deserve.

So why the “difference” between OT and NT?  Well, Jesus.  Because throughout human history, the one God of testaments Old and New had a plan to restore us to him, to bridge the chasm our sin creates between us, with a bloodied cross as our passage.  It’s not that God’s supposed vengence goes away;  it’s that Christ takes upon himself a punishment that is, justly, ours.  As Paul says, the “wages of sin is death.”  That means that the eternal separation and death we deserve gets redirected at Christ, the innocent but willing victim.

The “problem” between OT and NT exists only as a problem of perspective.  Mostly, we like to think of ourselves as the good guys– I know I’d like to idealise myself as right there with John and Mary at the foot of the cross.  But the problem is, we’re really like the thieves hanging right beside Christ.  For those of us who know it, we know we are there justly, not at the whim of a cruel god, but nailed there by our own sins.  The only “difference” between the New Testament and the Old Testament God is that from the Crucifixion onward, there is the opportunity to be like the Good Thief.  That is, to know that our punishment is just, and yet claim Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf:

Remember me, when you come into your kingdom.

–Rosy

I have to say, aside from a very sweet candy packet sent to me in high school (at a time when I was completely unable to “get it” and hence completely missed the fact that a guy liked me… oops), I’ve never gotten a real Valentine’s Day gift, so, no, this isn’t a “V-Day” post…

Rather, this is about one of “my” beggars.  Remember back in October, when I posted somewhat regularly (sorry!), and talked about my decision to give to beggars?  Well, I can gladly say I’ve kept up with it, and changed the rules around a bit.  I have some “regulars” that I give to, those who I see frequently enough that we recognise each other.  A couple of these people beg at my church.  One of them often begs at my metro stop.

In the beginning, because I saw her so frequently, I tried to give to the lady at the metro stop once or twice a week, figuring I couldn’t give more.  But around Christmas, I gave everybody extra, and I started giving the lady at my metro stop something every time.  My “limits” were only small hurdles I’d built for myself.

She’s always in the same coat.  She has a worn-looking crutch, and a worn-looking face, but it’s always made up a little bit, giving her a look oddly cheery despite her usual implacable sad face.  For over a month, I gave to her every time I saw her, and she smiled at me, and, like many beggars, thanked me profusely and, I think, asked God to bless me.  Then, a couple weeks ago, she actually told me to stop giving to her- I couldn’t understand it exactly, but I think she was saying something like, “I’m fine, you don’t have to give all the time.”

When you’ve seem somebody with a bandaged foot begging on the barely sheltered stairway of your metro station at midnight, well, it stays with you.  So I left off for about a week, before giving her another small bill and saying, “Sometimes it’s possible.”

I was going up the stairs after work and saw her tonight, and I was debating whether I should give tonight or not when she stopped me.  Tonight, she’s selling some roses, too, 100 roubles for 5 (they don’t do dozens here).  She told me to take some, so I picked up a pack of red ones, and she told me to take some white ones, too.  For 200 rubles to help someone who in some sense is nearly a friend, well, it’s not much.

But when I reached for my wallet, she told me not to pay.  I thanked her a lot, and as I started to leave she asked me my name and I asked hers.  Please remember Masha in your prayers.

There are many things I could say, but it comes down to the love of God touching us through each other.  She’s given more than I have, I who have plenty, and I can never repay her.  Ten roses sit in a jar on my dresser because the seed of generosity God planted in me grew in both our hearts.  I couldn’t keep my hard face on for the walk home– that face I use because everyone here seems to wear one.  I simply cradled the flowers and smiled to myself.

The idea of a garden flows throughout literature and popular metaphor for a reason.  It seems to me that God is ever looking to plant a new Eden in our hearts.  I am usually a poor gardener, but in this one small corner of it, I can see the true Gardener’s work, and it is good.

So… it’s been a strange week and I’m feeling a bit lazy today…  it’s been an interesting week this time round… delaying a nearly complete post, but allowing me to post these once again in this moment of laziness.  Please do check out Jen F’s host page on Quick Takes and all the other participants’ page.

1.  So, just to catch up a bit… my grandmother actually came out and visited during the school vacation.  We saw quite a lot of things.. one really random one was the beauty that they decorated for New Years with here (New Years precedes and is bigger than Christmas in Russia).  It’s going to seem a bit silly, but…. here’s a pic from an underground mall– stunning.

They decorated one of the giant interchanges where you can see all 2 or 3 levels beautifully.

2.  We saw waaay too many things to post everything of, but we also hopped up to St. Petersburg and, having a nicer camera now than then, I did snap some more photos of the Church on Spilled Blood (Spas na Krovi) – the one you always see in photos of St.P.  It’s beautiful on the outside, but the inside was completely restored over a period of decades (wow) so that visitors can now see the beautiful mosaics– every surface is simply covered with mosaic icons.  Wow.

It's called the Church on Spilled Blood (or in Russian Savior on Blood) because it's the site of the assassination of Tsar Aleksandr II-- the tsar who abolished serfdom in 1861.

You can look everywhere and recognise saints and scenes telling the life of Christ.  I saw and bought a Gospel of Matthew with photos of the mosaics for illustration.

3.  So, about the crazy week.  We’ve had a leak from the washer for a while.  We got the school’s repairman out to look at it, he looked, got a new part, fixed it, and demonstrated to me it was all fine by turning it on.  All is well… so the next evening I threw in a load of clothes and came back to find Lake Erie on my bathroom floor– the old leak was fine, the new leak was significantly worse.  It took me an hour to mop it up.  The neighbors didn’t come up to yell though so I thought I might’ve squeaked by.  That’s until somebody started ringing my doorbell incessantly at ten to one in the morning (he came back Monday- must’ve been a random drunk…)  Long story short, the guy came back, it’s all fine with the neighbors, and my washing machine is in pieces in the bathroom.

4.  I showed up at a central school (30-40 mins from home) for an 8:30 AM class and my students didn’t… I work til 9 or 9:15 every night so I wish they’d called me… on the bright side, I read up on some news and planned my lessons for the day.

5.  My roommate and I were without power for about a day… luckily we came home last night to it being back on.  It was just us, which meant the building’s heat was fine, my gas stove was fine, and actually my internet was fine because it seriously comes in on an ethernet cable through a hole in my ceiling.  Sometimes there are benefits to it being tightly controlled (although it being wacky right when I had scheduled a catch-up call to the States was not cool- they fixed it though).   I am definitely grateful the repair guy got it going again.  My roommate and I were told to look at the fusebox, but all the apartments on our floor’s fuses were grouped together, no numbers, so we just tried all of them and nothing happened…. we put them all back though, too.

6.  The evening without power was nice– my roommate and I chatted by candlelight in the kitchen and it was cozy.  I was, however, glad not to be washing my clothes by hand by candlelight last night.

7.  The cool thing was though a friend and I went out to a small town about 130km from Moscow by train and wandered around their kremlin (many old cities/towns have them– the word means something like fortress, maybe watchtower?).  There wasn’t much there but it was nice to be out of the city.  The kremlin had a small museum focused on the region’s history in general.  Apparently it took quite a hit in the War– like every other area of the USSR and central Europe within Nazi reach.  Here’s a pic of the Volokolamsk Kreml:

Anyway, okay, photos and stories as my pay-off… er, thank you for sticking with the blog even though I’ve been terrible about updating it.  :)  Hopefully I can fix that.

Thanks,

-theRosyGardener

Logically, I think it’s fairly easy to come to the conclusion that that annoying person you don’t really know (or perhaps do know) who’s currently driving you nuts may have something on their plate– and that it may be a lot bigger than whatever is really bothering you, even though it doesn’t seem that way.  It’s really hard to swallow it, though, when you’re driving, or are counting on something, or are inconvenienced in a noticeable way.

It gets a lot easier to remember when you become “that person” for someone else.  I could just tell that another teacher at my school was really really frustrated on Wednesday, and probably felt he’d been slighted in favor of me.  We all get asked to do placement tests- and honestly, I get asked to do plenty, and even have been in the five-minute break in a 2 1/4 hour class.  And most of the time I do them, because I don’t mind and want to be helpful.  But  Wednesday was a bit disasterous for me.  So this teacher walked in, learned that he could in fact have come earlier as he would have wanted to, saw me at the computer, and was asked to do a placement test by the local manager.

I could feel his upset radiating, and it felt like it was atleast partly in my direction.  And I think I probably would’ve been a bit pissed, too, when someone who had gotten there early and apparently could be gallivanting around the internet wasn’t being asked or had been given first refusal at the least.  And he also was upset that apparently he could have come at three, found everything unlocked, and had plenty of time to do all his photocopying, etc.

And these are completely justified reasons.  And I’ve been that same person whining about the bad drivers, the annoying coworkers, the grating personalities- and I’ve had good reasons.  What I haven’t always had is compassion for those other people.

If he hadn’t felt slighted and harried– two feelings he was more than entitled to– he might have thought of a few things.

One is that we have a new local manager, and I wonder if it doesn’t have something to do with the fact that the old one didn’t get there till 3:15, even with classes beginning at 3:45.  The new one’s been there at 3 every time I’ve been there early, my classroom’s nearly always unlocked, and that day, there was a student doing a written placement test before the oral one.  He simply hadn’t realised what a ‘regime change’ would mean.

As for my part– well, my Wednesday sucked.  I woke up with a nasty cold I hadn’t had the night before.  I put together all these Halloween materials on my computer, uploaded them online, went off to a seminar, then went to a central school location to print out the materials I’d put together and do some photocopying.

I got ONE page out of 6 for my teenaged advanced class to print, and it was the one I was the least certain I would use.  I had to re-download all sorts of other activities I’d found and put in one location because only one computer had firefox (which I needed for my online storage) and yet that computer stopped printing after that first fateful page.  The photocopier went spastic and wouldn’t copy.  And did I mention my nasty cold?

I didn’t have time to go to another location to try to print- so I figured I’d ask if I could use the computer at the satellite school I work at on Wednesdays.  I explained to the local manager, who was there before 3, which is when I got there, and she helped.  The computer was slow and annoying, it didn’t have firefox, and apparently on my school’s computers downloads from emails are banned, so the precautionary self-email I’d done didn’t work either.  I ended up scouring the internet for anything I could use to replace it.  It was a less than successful search.  I had a few minutes to photocopy for classes whose plans had effectively been savaged, except for the one class taking a test (my hand-drawn pumpkin did the trick for them).

The young kids taking a test were pure torture.  My teens got a pretty crappy lesson.  My adults luckily are a cheery group but the lesson was flat.  Basically, it was a miserable failure of a day as a teacher.

I know that probably sounds self-pitying, and since I still have this nasty cold it may well be.  But I think overall, I probably got quite a lot out of that awful day (and Thursday was pretty good, actually, so don’t think it’s all doom and gloom).  What did I learn?

Well, to logically know that those annoying people have their own problems is one thing.  To see how you can be that person for others, and actually have bigger problems than they do (it’s not that difficult to do a placement test)– it’s a different story.

I wish I could say I won’t kvetch about the slow driver or rude person, or whomever, in the future, but I probably will.  I hope, though, I remember in short order just how crappy it can be to be that person.

~theRosyGardener

I’d saved up some quick takes and then I didn’t even get them up last week!  But oh well, better late than never, right?  They include photos as well.

1.  I did try the bacon-flavored chips, and they weren’t really my thing.  Not terrible, but definitely not on my top ten list.  I have, however, discovered a non-dairy potato chip besides bacon, crab and caviar– the green onion potato chip.  If onions and potatoes aren’t a match made in heaven I don’t know what is.

2.  I have actually been trying to get a photo that truly captures how purple the soup I’ve been making is.  The sad fact is, no photo can truly capture it because of lighting, etc., but it’s really purple.  My roommate was explaining to me about a hierarchy in the cabbage family from brussel sprouts to plain green cabbage and said red cabbage was a higher grade.  It just so happened that the store had a half-head available in red cabbage and not in green cabbage… so I bought that and didn’t even think about the possible ramifications.  I should be clear- purple soup is totally fine… it was adding bits of chicken in that afterwards turned purple that got a little weird… but it was still tasty.

3.  I know I shouldn’t get it, and luckily I’m practical or I would just go and buy it, but another teacher bought this incredible kitchen gadget that I want– one motor can power a whisk-mixer, a blender, and a food-processor sort of thing.  I think this is the one he got.  What is it with me and kitchen gadgets and office supplies?

4.  This happened a while ago but it was funny so I have to share.  Twice a week I work at this one school, and on the way there I always pass something that reads KURI-GRILL (transliterated).  I had been forgetting lunch (a bad idea- stomach growls in front of tweens is not so smart) so I thought I’d stop there.  It must be some cool random Indian place- “kuri” meaning “curry.”  For 190 rubles, I figured it was a decent price for something different, so I ordered one kuri-grill and some lavash.  What I got was this:

Yes, that’s a whole rotisserie chicken covered in lavash.  Once he handed it to me it all made sense…  but of course I didn’t have time to actually eat it then.  So I got to the school and stuffed a small chicken in my backpack!  It smelled so good I was worried it would give itself away.  My roommie explained to me that night- curry is transliterated as “kari” in Russian– “kuri” is just a shortened form of “kuritsa”–chicken.

The thing is, perhaps if I’d just thought about why there were huge numbers of chickens on rotisserie and no smell of curry, I might’ve figured that out, lol.

5.  It’s been an interesting experience being a teacher, especially with some very demanding students (and parents).  I usually take to things pretty quickly, but I have definitely had some challenges– and I think it’s probably good for the soul to not be instantly wonderful;  one more onion-layer of ego pulled away from the real stuff.

6.  This week I had one pretty crappy day and then the next day was actually quite nice (and will stay that way as long as the grandma I heard say, “Bozhe moi!” (“My God!”) when she saw I’d handed out candy to the kids post-test and for Halloween doesn’t complain– luckily the child did quickly respond- “Amerikanskaya traditsia”- “American tradition,” – so I’m hoping that will be fine).  Bribery seems like a good thing for teaching…

7.  Got another cold!  I seem to bounce between not really minding/noticing and feeling pretty miserable, but lucky for me the able-to-ignore stages are larger (the me=blech stages revolve around certain necessities and nasty coughing spells), and I have a pretty good attitude about it- being around other people is a lot of good.  I haven’t gotten sick repeatedly like this since I was a kid I think.  I’m thinking… taking the metro every day and working with kids every day and walking home in cold nasty spitting rain nearly every night must be the culprit.  I have, however, found the perfect medicines:  tea with honey, grandma’s egg drop-esque soup, random Russian medications, and….

I’ve also figured out the Russian word for flu- “grip” (pronounced “greep(b)”)…. It sounds like it, doesn’t it?

Well random assortment… and I think it’s time for a brief nap before planning for my lesson tonight.  Next week there’s a holiday and a few of my classes are cancelled… here’s hoping I don’t get too many sub classes and can just enjoy the time off.

This post is part of Support a Catholic Speaker Month hosted by FallibleBlogma.  Welcome to all guests!  Father Stan Fortuna is a priest and member of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal who is a musician and speaker.

I first heard of Father Stan Fortuna when my parents were looking for an alternative to rap for my brother, whose classmates had gotten heavily into the generally seedier mainstream rap. My brother actually went to a Fr. Stan concert and came home with a couple of CDs.  Naturally, without even thinking about it, I put them in my iTunes- hey, a musical priest was inherently awesome.

And then one day, I actually listened to them.

They were fantastic.  The beats are strong, the interesting lyrical interludes give it a lot of depth, and mostly the lyrics are powerful beyond belief.  Fr. Stan addresses doctrines, faith, virtue and the challenges of Christian living, hypocrisy, and even difficult moral issues.  And while a song may not seem like a place to treat them with depth, the lyrics are packed- they are like poems in their onion-layers.  Here is the chorus from one of my favorites, a song called “Unborn Victims of Violence”:

Thou shall not kill
But not on capital hill
Ya let us do it with the doctor
Or we do it with the pill
Mommies ain’t safe in the streets
But if a thug comes and beats
Mommy over the head
And leaves the baby for dead
Ya say it’s fine but it’s tragic
We can’t stop it with magic
It’s politically bleak
It’s cause we’re spiritually weak
Y’all try to cover up the scam
With illegitimate silence
Check it “I’m here to defend
Unborn victims of violence”

The amount of truth packed into those short lines is incredible.

But it’d be a mistake to pigeonhole Fr. Fortuna as a priest who’s ministry consists of Christianising elements of popular culture.  He lives in the South Bronx and works with poor and needy members of society there.  His production company, Francesco Productions, supports his work with the poor and has a mission of cultural transformation.  Fr. Stan has released 3 CDs of rap and popular music, but has also recorded traditional hymns.  Francesco Productions has even founded an international charitable group serving the underserved abroad.

Perhaps most important is Fr. Stan Fortuna’s dedication to core doctrines of the faith.  Rather than watering down the faith in an attempt to make it palatable, he’s instead focused on using modern means to communicate the timeless truth of our faith.  So those who encounter him are getting the full message, not Hansel and Gretl breadcrumb trails to lead them somewhere else, but a big meaty meal that shows them how God’s there for them.

Father Stan has spoken and performed at countless churches internationally and is a favorite speaker at youth and campus ministry events, including multiple World Youth Day appearances.

For more information the following websites may be helpful, and were consulted in the compilation of this post (all links open in new windows):

Francesco Productions Official Website

Last.fm’s Radio Station and Info Page on Fr. Stan Fortuna

Wikipedia Bio

Fr. Stan Fortuna, CFR, “Traditional Catholic Hymns”

Fr. Stan Fortuna “Faith and Family” 3-Day Mission in Toronto

I really highly recommend Fr. Stan’s music as powerful and faith-strengthening as well as challenging.

~theRosyGardener

Dawn noted on my last post that I’d basically upped the ante for God- and I think that’s an accurate way to put it.  But I guess it’s good to keep in mind that in a poker game, you keep betting until everyone’s even.  Ironically enough, I even found mention of a “poker priest” who’ll be on a televised competition, trying to win money for his parish.

I have to say, I really enjoy watching Texas Hold’em, which is a rare game where it’s definitely more about the betting– much more about the betting than the cards.  You don’t play the cards in Hold’em:  you play the people.  So I’ve watched and gotten all the catch phrases down- “Pocket deuces” and “he flopped trips!”  and calling Kings “cowboys” and such.  And in case you haven’t watched Celebrity Poker Showdown (the one you actually learn the most from) or the World Series of Poker, here’s a quick primer on how it goes.

There are some obligatory bets in Hold’em – a bigger one and a smaller one (half the bigger one)- called “blinds.”  Then those who haven’t put in the largest amount in have three options: “fold” and be out of the round, spending nothing;  ”call” and put in enough to match the big blind;  ”raise” by putting in more money.  The trick of the raise is that after that, everyone has to put in enough to match it or else fold.  And players can “re-raise.”

And that’s exactly what I think has been happening with me, Ten Prayers, and God.

Today I dawdled and delayed a bit by reading more in Orthodoxy (GKC) and Ten Prayers (DeStefano) before realising that, yes, I did actually have to shower and get dressed (I was in fact in my pajamas quite late- I like them and had nowhere to go yet) and go to Mass.  I hit chapter 8 today, well started it- at 1:40 I finally came to my senses (English Mass is at 3- well there’s one at 9 but I’d have to leave at about 8:10 to get there and that’s not going to happen right now).

I had to pull myself out of Ten Prayers in Chapter 8:  ”Sometimes Being Smart Just Isn’t Enough; God, Give Me Wisdom.”  DeStefano was just telling me about asking God to help with decisions.  This is an area in which I can use a lot of encouragement.

I think it comes down to being afraid of what God will say.  What if he wants me to be a “holy beggar” or something?  What if he wants me to do something completely different from what I thought?  What if he tells me and I don’t know how to listen?  Actually, the last one is a biggie for me, because the thing I miss most from my childhood is the closeness I felt with him, where I was sure I heard his voice.  I don’t regret growing up, but I do regret growing foolish and unable to hear him.  How will I know what he wants?  And will I be able to give it?  I know logically and through faith God won’t give more than I can handle, but that hasn’t stopped the fear.  I guess that’s why any time he has a big announcement, it starts with, “Don’t be afraid.”  In one sense, I trust God quite a lot– because of my closeness as a child, I have been blessed with certainty of his existence.  In the senses that matter more in everyday life… I’m a real skeptic.

But I’ve been smart enough, I think, to be skeptical about my own plans as well.  I just don’t know that they’re what he wants, so I don’t have complete peace with them.  So I figured I ought to pray that prayer.  I almost “dashed it off” quickly as I read and then hopped in the shower.  I figured I’d already gone in on the whole charitable giving thing, and that if I really missed that closeness, prayer was the only way to get it back.  So I said it.

And God saw my bet, and re-raised me.

As I mentioned in a Quick Take a couple weeks back, I was asked to lector at Mass the second Sunday I attended, after which I also said, I’ll be here til July, so you’ll see me around.  Well, every Sunday I’ve been since then I’ve been asked to lector.  Not only have I been asked to lector, but I’ve been given the biggest portion- first reading plus the psalm response.  Today I only got there with about 5-8 minutes to spare, and figured they’d have already gotten someone.  But I guess they were hoping I’d show because I sat down and immediately was handed the lectionary.  The fellow who is basically the acolyte and does things like assign readings and get Communion counts told me they love it when I read.  I’m one of the few English speakers there from a country where it’s the sole dominant language so it’s easier for me to be expressive I think, plus I figured if I’m reading it I should read it with expression.  As long as no one else is getting shafted, I’m happy to help, even though a bit nervous when I step up there.

Given that I’m eight hours ahead of EST, it’s entirely possible that some folks haven’t gone to Mass or service if you’re in a Protestant church that follows the calendar of readings, so here’s a little liturgical “spoiler alert.”

I looked down at the book, and I almost had tears running down my cheeks– my eyes were suffused with them, and are again now even thinking about it.  Here is the first reading:

I prayed, and prudence was given me,

I pleaded, and the spirit of wisdom came to me.

I preferred her to scepter and throne,

and deemed riches nothing in comparison with her,

nor did I liken any precious gem to her;

because all gold, in view of her, is a little sand,

and before her, silver is to be accounted mire.

Beyond health and comeliness I loved her,

and I chose to have her rather than the light,

because the splendor of her never yields to sleep.

Yet all good things together came to me in her company,

and countless riches at her hands.

– Wisdom (!) 7:7-11

Okay, okay, I get it.  That’s a dose of wisdom, a “trust me” and an implied “be not afraid” all in one, right when I asked for wisdom.  I don’t get amazed by “coincidences” — I am constantly amazed by how detailed God is, and how, if you’re looking, he’s really hitting you over the head (lovingly, of course) all the time– he just knows everything so well that he stands behind you encouraging you, and is the ground beneath you so you have a good path, and is the star before you to follow, and when you finally do listen, he’s already in the place he’s been leading you to, ready to welcome you in.  It’s mind blowing, because it’s so incredible- and so incredibly loving.

I’ve been shuffling my way along on this wisdom thing for a long time.  I think God even helped the priest out with the homily today just for me, the one about the rich man who doesn’t want to give up all his stuff.  He said something like, ‘It’s not enough to stay out of trouble;  you have to go beyond that.’  Giving God something to outdo, and now asking him for wisdom– and it seems like that line is just for me.

You know what I didn’t mention about betting in poker?  At any point in the game, any player who’s still got his hand can go “all in” — and anyone who wants to remain in the game has to go all in, too.  I think the reason I was folding so many hands was because I’ve been afraid of going all in.  I hope that the prayers I’ve been praying, “God, outdo me in generosity,” “God, give me courage,” “God, give me wisdom,” and “Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner,” will prepare me to go all in.

I sure hope so– because I’m finally starting to want it again.

-theRosyGardener

Updated only to add categories and correct a typo in which I accidentally claimed I’d been asked to lecture at church– thankfully for both my pride and the very lives of anyone potentially subjected to a lecture by me, I was asked to lector.  And all my family will commence laughing now….

Hurray for me- I’m being smart this time and actually starting a draft for this earlier so I can be on time.  The graphic to the right is a link so be sure to visit the other Quick Takes participants’ pages through the link list at Jen’s Conversion Diary host page.

I feel sooooooo prepared… I guess I might feel more prepared, however, were I writing lessons, lol, but I’ll do that next.

And this time, there are pictures.

1.

Okay, I know different places have different palates.  But never in my life did I imagine I’d see a US brand adapt so… enthusiastically.  I found this in my local grocery store Saturday night when I stopped by for some munchies on my way home:

For those of you who can neither recognise the picture nor read the Russian, Lays has red caviar flavored chips.  Yes, it does.

Then I looked around a little more.  They had a lot of versions with sour cream (no surprise to anyone who’s ever had Russian/Slavic food- we do love our sour cream).  However, they also had this flavor:

Yes, this one is a bit easier to decipher, especially since the Russian letters look pretty close to the English ones. Lays Crab Chips. Wow.  I wonder what the guys from Deadliest Catch would think of that.  Props to Lays for inculturation I guess? They weren’t actually pricey either, compared to other options, although that is in the more expensive grocery store (the one around the corner from me is cheaper… but then it doesn’t have gems like these, either).

2.

I think I may have alarmed the grocery store, however, when I took those photos.  Russian grocery stores take shoplifting very seriously.  I can only imagine that they must have a high instance of it, because at any grocery store there are always obvious precautions.  At the local places, they have lockers with keys in them for you to leave any large bags in.  At the bigger ones, they have guard guys at the entrance and exit and sometimes a person at a desk with large plastic backs in which they are happy to seal your large bag.  It is also very clear where one enters and where one exits- no way to mix it up without being caught by a guard.  Some also have cameras- obvious ones daring you to defy them (well I imagine they are).  I am a bit oblivious about these things, coming from such a small college with an honor system, and I also think of things I want or need in store, so I go traipsing about with an armful rather than a basket- or carriageful of the things I want to buy.  I think that putting down the three things I was actually buying and my umbrella to arrange two bags of chips and take my camera out of my purse, take a picture, put my camera back, and pick up everything BUT the chips must’ve caught somebody’s eye, because there was definitely a guard standing close to the checkout line when I did check out.  Thankfully, I must’ve looked hapless enough (I certainly was a bit brainless about change at 11 or so at night) that he didn’t ask me anything.. Whew.

3.

I know I’m bad and didn’t post pics of my umbrella but I will this week, because it’s still relevant.  See, I bought that umbrella, it got very cold and quite overcast, and the weather reports have been calling for rain, so I’ve been carrying it around with me.. and for three days I have had no need of it.  I have potential need when I leave, and unrealised need when I return.  But that’s okay– cold is enough without being cold and wet.  But it IS the cutest umbrella I’ve had.. and possible the cutest EVER.  See?

Folded up neatly:

And open:

4.

I just noticed I can schedule this to post on its own at a certain time!  Oh my goodness… I feel spiffy.

Update: Apparently it didn’t work.  But I don’t know if I did it wrong or it just doesn’t work the way I thought it would.  ”Ohhhh, Wordpress…..”  I can still feel proud though that I actually put the link into this to Jen’s main page before she wrote it and had it just based off patterns from prior ones… okay, it’s easy to predict but still, nerd-victory.

5.

I admit it- I got some McDonald’s…  I really intended to go to the mall above my metro just for some free wifi for my iTouch… and then my stomach growling during my 5-7:15 class with the teens (I wonder if that’s what had them giggling… it’s hard to tell how loud your stomach sounds to other people, you know?.. but it did it more than once so that’s probably it… weird since that day I actually had lunch).  The funny thing is I was a victim of pronunciation differences… I wanted a chicken nugget meal, but I didn’t pronounce “kombinobanniy” or whatever it was for “combo-meal” very well or loudly enough- and then the strong Russian association between G and K (they are phonemically related- voiced and unvoiced) resulted in my getting a Gamburger (hamburger) along with my Chiken MakNaggets rather than a meal.. and the girl was going too fast and had already rung me up before I could try again.  If I eat a MickyD’s again (hopefully not, esp. with a blini place right there) I think I’ll just say “kombo” and be done with it… sometimes the American thing is more effective in Russia, lol.

On the bright side, I did get the wifi too and I downloaded that Ten Prayers book Jen recommended from Kindle.

6.

Apparently you can’t start with the principle of tea + honey + whisky + flannel pajamas to sweat out a cold and the not find honey and get vodka because it’s cheaper (the cheapest whisky was 5 times as pricey) and have flannel pajamas but not get to sleep and reasonably expect to sweat out a cold.  Too bad.  I even asked at the store– and I, a normally friendly person, become shier than shy when it comes to asking for information.  Me: Excuse me, where’s the honey?  Grocery store worker: Honey?  I don’t know. — this, after I wandered around the aisles 10 or a gazillion times feeling like an idiot.. at that point I was done.

Updated for Thursday: I do have honey now, and the local organiser at one of my schools gave essentially the same remedy, so I’m on attempt 2 and I definitely feel a lot hotter now.. I just need a scarf to keep my upper chest/neck warm!

Morning update: mixed results- my ears are better, my throat is worse, and I better get a scarf before it moves any lower.

7.

And finally… show up to a small English-language Mass in one of the few Catholic churches in Moscow more than once, and you become a lector.  Show up and sit near the singing alcove and actually sing… and you get on the music mailing list.  Gotta love it.

-Rosy (actually done on time! woo-hoo!)

(Before I get into anything, I’d just like to say, Catholic alphabetically precedes Orthodox in English, hence the order.  When there could be contention, refer to the alphabet is my rule.  Also, a heads up that all links open in a new window.)

Just a quick post because I just read Zenit (Catholic world news update email thingie) and it had what I consider astonishing news.

Christ wants us to be one.  Although every schism is heartbreaking, to me in some ways the most tragic one is the split between Catholic and Orthodox.  Why?  I know why it happened (and I appreciate the upset- I’m actually not a big fan of the filioque clause myself, though I do understand what the western Church was trying to do).  But I also know we BOTH have the fullness of the faith, and anything that separates us can only be evil.  It’s not the same as the Protestant churches, where they went into heresy along with schism (as many Protestants consider Catholics heretical or, even worse, not Christian at all, please know I mean no offense- it’s a factual statement from my perspective).  And we did have some unifying agreements in the what, 15th century?  They fell apart, yes, but we had that potential.

I have had the great joy of going to Eastern Rite Divine Liturgy (Ukrainian Catholic Church) a number of times, and I love it- in fact, I want to change Rites.  So to me this is an issue of particular tenderness.  I will not become Orthodox because I believe in the rock of Peter’s supremacy- and that no body is united without a head (not talking about Christ as the head of the Church entire here).  But while I am not as familiar with the Greek Orthodox Church, I have had many doubts about the Russian Orthodox Church actually wanting to be reunited.  It has a history of caesaro-papism of sorts, and Russia culturally and geographically and politically has been very distinct from, well, everyone else.  In the years since Communism fell, the Russian Orthodox Church has not been very pleased at Catholic efforts in Russia in general, considering our priests to be almost “stealing” those who would otherwise come under their aegis.  I’ve also noticed there can be a bit of competitiveness in other areas, regarding even such things as which tradition a saint “really” belongs to (I’m generally a fan of sharing, lol!)

While I deeply want Catholic-Orthodox unity, I’m quite skeptical in general, especially regarding news out of Russia.  Then I read this at Erin Manning’s blog And Sometimes Tea:

In an interview today in Italy’s Corriere della Sera newspaper, Archbishop Paolo Pezzi said the miracle of reunification “is possible, indeed it has never been so close.” The archbishop added that Catholic-Orthodox reunification, the end of the historic schism that has divided them for a millennium, and spiritual communion between the two churches “could happen soon, within a few months.” (from the National Catholic Register article)

I don’t comment on many blogs, but I do keep several in my RSS feed, including Erin’s, and I did actually reply the following (slightly truncated):

Until such statements come from the Orthodox Patriarch, I think the good archbishop is being overly optimistic. From the interactions between our Churches, I don’t see much evidence that our hopes for unity are shared.

Well, I’m happy to say, I MAY HAVE BEEN WRONG– and I certainly hope so.  Russian Orthodox Archbishop Hilarion Alfeyev, visiting Rome has said the following in an address to members of the Community of Sant’Egidio:

“Therefore, the time has come to move from a failure to meet and competition, to solidarity, mutual respect and esteem; I would even say, without a doubt, that we must move to mutual love,” he stressed. “Our Christian preaching can have effect, can be convincing also in our contemporary world, if we are able to live this mutual love between us, Christians.” (see the Zenit article for the full, wonderful report)

I can only hope this signals the end of the great division between our Churchs, a division which is unlawful and offensive to God.  Perhaps when we, Andrew and Peter, are united, our younger brothers will return home.  I can only pray it will be so.

-theRosyGardener

So, I’m back… mostly? Kind of? Calling in from another place? If you see an update on this later, chances are I’m just adding in a link to Jen’s.. because even if she does it in the middle of the night, I’m still 9 hours ahead of her now… oh my… I wonder if that makes me the farthest quick-taker? Let’s compare… I’m in Moscow now…

1.  So I’m in Moscow and have been for about two weeks- I’ll be here till next July.  I can’t possibly go into everything that means in one point, so I’ll leave it at that.

2.  No matter whether it’s for a few weeks or months, the minute I go far enough from home is the minute I forget my umbrella and don’t bring a raincoat.  This is why I have an umbrella from Poland… gotten of course the last week of the trip after being rained on intermittently for about 3 weeks.  It’s a lovely umbrella, opens all the way with the push of a button.. Of course, the next day it stopped raining and didn’t rain for the rest of my trip.  On the bright side, the Uber-Brella has come in handy a lot.

3.  Did I remember that umbrella, that handy-dandy, little fold-up for Moscow?  No.  And it’s fall.. which meant that the light drops I encountered going into the metro station tonight after work had turned into rather large raindrops when I got out at my station… I walked out of the metro, I saw the rain, I considered: 1. I could postpone getting an umbrella, and just get wet;  I have gotten wet in heavier rain than that for longer times, to be sure, and payday is next week, but being here for so long, I will need an umbrella; 2. I could go back to that little kiosk in the metro station and pick out a cute umbrella, like the black and white checkered one with the ruffle.  So I bought the cute one.. maybe I’ll take a pic tomorrow.  Here’s how awesome this umbrella is, though: Push the button, and it opens all the way, and this one’s heavy-duty (the Polish one did suffer a bit in the winds).  Push the button again, and the umbrella collapses!

And I got it in RED (to match my winter coat and also because I am bold and cool like that…) AND it made me think of Irish step dancing.. why?  Because, as those of you who know the world of competitive Irish step dancing may be aware, sparkles and glitz are a must- and this has little plastic gems in the polka-dot pattern!  So this, you may say, is the SUPER-DUPER-UBER-BRELLA… I know, “uber” is just “super” in German- but it is Just That Awesome.  (If you have ever been soaked to the skin like I have, you will appreciate a good umbrella.)

4.  I’ve actually been reading again.. I mean, I had been more this last year, but it seemed like college robbed me of all my recreational reading.  Well, take away a TV (and even with internet!) and add in classics on an iPod Touch and a couple of books brought with me (courtesy a great friend and a great sister!) and I’m through 4 in a week and a half.  Plus Stanza assures me I’m about 88% done with Heretics by GKC and I have made excellent progress in the World Encyclopedia of Flags and Heraldry.. well, the heraldry part, which is why I bought the book (on sale for $10!).  And you know what?  At one point in Chesterton’s The Man Who Was Thursday (the shortest of the 4), he actually used blazonry to describe a shield and I knew what it was… I had a huge moment of geeky triumph.. it was awesome.

5.  Piece of advice: don’t argue with the metro.  Just don’t, esp. if you’re in Russia where trains are usually less than 3 minutes apart.  I don’t know what addled my brain to think that rushing onto the train last minute was a good idea, but I can assure you that if the doors close on you, they do automatically open again.. I’m still trying to figure out how I ended up with a bruise low on my leg in front, high on my calf on the right, and honestly the metro’s the only way I can explain the one on my derrierre… but they don’t really hurt, the just look bad.. Thank goodness for pants, lol.

6.  I miss making the Ukrainian eggs (pysanky).. and I did forget my kit after all…

7.  I am totally Narnia obsessed.  Like, I love it.  I want to write for the movies.  Over the summer, not only did I buy the whole series audiobook from iTunes, when I saw a good deal on the radio plays, I got those, too, and brought all 19 CDs here with me.  I have song lyrics I started inspired by The Silver Chair.  Why do I get into things like this?  Oh well… atleast I enjoy the ride!

thanks and hopefully be up more regularly…

-Rosy