By the Way it Was Raining

There are 4 icons that contain Saint Peter in the Orthodox Christian Church of the Annunciation in Brick, N.J. that I have been attending . Since the first service that I attended back on April 14th of this year I have been carefully observing the icons throughout the church. The 4 icons that I make mention of show the following in regards to Saint Peter. The first is that of Saint Peter and Saint Paul holding between them a church building. The message contain is rather obvious, however in this icon, Saint Peter is shown with his right arm passing through his robe. Part of the material of his robe is draped around his neck and hangs down to about the height of his stomach with his arm passing through, giving the appearance somewhat of his arm "in a sling." Hmm... unusual ? Don't know. But wait there is more.
The second icon is of the Ascension of Our Lord, and there is Saint Peter again, with his arm in the same position, passing through his robe in the aforementioned "sling" manner. The 3rd icon that contains Saint Peter, is a Pentecost Icon, Saint Peter again arm through the robe, and he is shown the same way in the 4th icon which is of the Lord's Supper. The icon pictured above is in appearance close (if not the same) to the Pentecost Icon in the church that I mentioned, a close examination shows Saint Peter (top left center) as I have mentioned.

Does anyone know the significance of his arm in this position?

Nothing like starting a blog with a question now is there!

What a week, last week was!

My week started off with attending Vesper's on Saturday night 5/19 (that is when the Orthodox week starts, is it not?) Followed by attending Divine Liturgy on Sunday. I also attended the Agape Coffee Hour and got to meet some of the church family. A great time of fellowship and sharing. On Tuesday my lovely and talented wife Judy treated me to dinner in celebration of my Birthday (58th, but I don't look a day past 55!) at a Colombian and Mexican Restaurant that is a favorite of ours. Wednesday brought about Vespers with Litya ( a first for me, Feast of the Ascension ). Thursday Divine Liturgy (Feast of the Ascension) again followed by an Agape Coffee Hour, my buddy Jim V. attended the Divine Liturgy, but could not stay for the Coffee Hour, you can read his story about the day here at : http://orthodoxyorbust.blogspot.com/
Plus you can see a pic of my much mentioned motorcycle, that alone is worth a look at his blog! LOL!!
Friday I spent the afternoon working on my friend Bob's motorcycle, putting it back together, and making some upgrades. Bob had a bad accident which caused some front end damage, he was unhurt, which is the important thing. A motorcycle is only a thing. (Can't believe I just said that, my how I have grown!)
Saturday, Vespers again followed by Divine Liturgy and Agape Coffee hour on Sunday.

I have been blessed to have been engaged at church in several conversation with Reader John along with his wife the legendary Tammy. (she hates when I call her that, perhaps someday I'll stop.) Reader John showed me his copy of " The Bible and the Holy Fathers for Orthodox ".  The following summary about the book I copied from a web site: " Based on the sequence of daily scriptural readings (NKJV) from the liturgical calendar of the Orthodox Christian Church, The Bible and the Holy Fathers for Orthodox: Daily Scripture Readings and Commentary for Orthodox Christians includes comments from the church fathers on each Epistle and Gospel passage. There also are many sections of the Old Testament to support the church lectionary for major feast days, Great Lent, and Holy Week. Additionally, writings from contemporary Orthodox theologians and scholars are included."  I have added to this to my list and expect to purchase it soon. I was really impressed by it.
Reader John also asked me if I ever listened to the podcasts "Postcards from Greece" by Fr. Peter Alban Heers on Ancient Faith Radio : ( http://ancientfaith.com/podcasts/postcards ) I told him that, though I have been listening to AFR for a while now, I have not listened to "Postcards from Greece".  He suggested that  I listen to the podcast titled : "Sunday of the Healing of the Blind Man". I  listened to it and I am so glad I did, what a wonderful message! ( I am now a fan of Postcards from Greece!) By the way Ancient Faith Radio on the web is at the top of my daily "Things to Do List ", just absolutely wonderful messages and devotions and has helped me quite a bit to understand Orthodoxy.

" Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.  " - John 14: 27 

Hey! I almost forgot! I met the "Harley Lady's" husband this Sunday! He yelled across the parking lot as I pulled in on the bike, " Is that your Harley? " I replied, " It better be or I am in trouble!"
We talked a bit, he liked the bike and since I was wearing a Harley Rain Suit, Harley boots, Harley helmet and Harley gloves, I guess he was glad he still owned stock in Harley Davidson!

I got a chance to talk to him at the end of the Coffee Hour also, it was then that I noticed he was wearing a necktie that had a "Boston Red Sox" logo on it (the infamous letter "B"). As a Christian (and a NY Yankees fan), I took it as a test of my spiritual walk : Matthew 5: 43 - 48 ( by the way it was raining!)

Watch the Birdie and Smile

Sometimes it is just down right difficult to deal with.. Its annoying, frustrating and always causes me to shut my eyes, shake my head and wonder why? Then when I am over it, I begin to try and analyze it, I think why does this happen?  But, then I realize that the act of analyzing it is nothing more that just another form of it, and it causes more head shaking,  along with me twisting my foot on the floor, much in the same manner as trying to put out a cigarette (Praise to the Lord, I don't smoke) and deep sighing, a lot of deep sighing.

Let me explain.

For years and years I have been dealing with an issue about myself, or more accurately " within myself  ."
The issue is simple, the issue is:  "Myself."  Now, I would like to explain this explaining about me trying to handle this issue.
First of all, I don't believe that this is an issue of things like, "me first", or being "selfish", or "not willing to help  out others," "being stingy," or "not caring about others" and things along this line. But, then again who knows?  What I am concerned about here, is the "DISTRACTION"  that takes place during my prayer time. Yes! During my time talking to God, I have this tendency to let my brain wander off into thoughts about myself.  Here I am in the act of prayer and I begin to think about;  well you name it. It could be about breakfast, fishing, friends, music just about anything, and it is frustrating. There have even been times that I have gone on one of these "brain safaris'" during worship! ( Deep sigh ).

When it happens, whether I am in prayer or attending worship, I try to stop cold in my tracks, make my best effort to shut out all that is around me, I then begin to change my prayer to asking the Holy Spirit to help me, to FOCUS on what is right and proper at this moment, to lead me into a holy time of prayer. It works! I always come out of  it, but, I am bothered by the time of duration it sometimes takes and just the fact that it does happen!  I try real hard to "take myself out of the picture, and not look at the birdie and smile," I don't need to see a picture of me. This needs to stop !!!!!
When am I going to get a handle on this distraction to prayer and worship?

Well,  guess what?
No, I insist, take a guess. C'mon.

I have gotten over it,  Yeah, I'm not kidding. Oh, I know there are still "battles to be fought" with this issue. But, the "ticket office" for the "brain safaris" has closed up shop!

In fact it closed up about 2 or 3 weeks ago in regards to worship and it closed up Saturday night in regards to being distracted during prayer.

How?
The prayer answer: a prayer rope.
The  worship answer:  Icons

Icons first :
I have noticed that since I started attending this Orthodox church, I can draw strength from the presence of the Holy Icons about me. Now to some of you who don't attend an Orthodox church, you might find this strange, sorry, but I don't have an explanation, nor, am I seeking one. It just takes place.
I first noticed it during the Sunday of the Myrrh-bearing Women, when the Gospel account of these women was read in the Liturgy, I noticed that the church had an icon of this event on one of the side walls. My eyes went immediately right over to it, and I felt an experience, a true heavenly comfort, as my insides rejoiced, it was, as if, I was hearing about this for the first time ever. How beautiful. How powerful. How thankful I am.
Since that time I have been able to worship in church at a level I never knew before. The icons help me.
No longer do I see a "picture of me" rather I am led to Christ through the icons. Alleluia!

Prayer:
At Vespers on Saturday night, Fr Ken was in the narthex greeting people. I went over to him  and mentioned how I have missed seeing him for the last 2 weeks at Vespers. He explained about how he is busy at his parish now, but that he will try to be here when possible. Fr. Ken then said he had something for me. He handed me a prayer rope. "I gave one to the other Jim, and I want to give you one to help you on your journey." he said. I felt truly blessed, and was almost at a loss for words ( a rarity ) by this beautiful gift. I thanked him, but I don't think he realized how much he blessed me. I didn't want to get real mushy right then, so I placed the prayer rope into my shirt pocket. Father Ken, thank you again, bless you. I remember Jim V. posting about Fr. Ken giving him a prayer and as soon as I got home, I sought out all the info I could find about prayer ropes, how to use them, prayers, history of the ropes, etc.
That night I read the evening prayers that are in the back of my Orthodox Study Bible, I prayed about the things going on in my life and in intercession for others, then I took hold of the prayer rope and prayed the Jesus Prayer at every knot on the rope. Whoa! I was consumed! No distractions, clear purpose of thought.
The prayer rope is now fulfilling its purpose and design in my prayer time. What a true gift!!
It has helped me to stay focused on and in my prayers even when I am not using it to count prayers. I just hold it in my left hand and pray, whether the prayers are from a prayer book or not.

I am aware that there might come a time down the road, when all these "new things" will become commonplace and I might lose some of the impact that they are now making on me. I will try to stay on guard against.

Someday, perhaps?

But not today!

How to Live Orthodox?

Perhaps I'm getting too far ahead of myself, then again maybe I'm not. I believe that in my heart and in my mind I am ready to become a member of the Eastern Orthodox Church.  In regards to Doctrines, Liturgical worship, Authority of the Church, and the whole kit and kaboodle (that I am aware of), in these matters I feel very at ease and find myself in total agreement. The experiences I have been having at church during Divine Liturgy and Vespers, remind me of my early "born again" days, those days when all of  a sudden, the sky seemed blue-er and the birdies sang sweeter. So now I am at the point where my focus is turning to: "Living as an Orthodox Christian."  Yes, I am aware that I am not a member of the Orthodox Church, YET.

But before I continue, I must share a "Orthodox Church - Motorcycle Story"

The setting is this past Sunday ( 5/13), I pull into the church parking lot, the time is about 9:30 a.m., the Liturgy starts at 10 a.m. (by my standards I am late, lol!). I always try to park my bike facing forward, because it takes the problem of pushing the 900 lb. cycle in reverse away from my stubby legs. So I swing across two spots and  steer the machine into the center of a parking spot. Hit the kill switch, kick the kick stand down, turn the bars to the left and turn the locking switch to lock. Hop off, place helmet, sunglasses and jacket in the tour pack compartment, close the latch. Take a quick look in the right side mirror to make sure I don't have any bugs in my teeth or stuck to my face, straighten my shirt and tie and proceed to walk towards the entrance of the church when........

"Hey! is that a harley?"   A voice shouts out!

"Uh, yes,  yes it is "  I reply in a somewhat surprised voice.

"WHOOOOO-WHEEEEEEEE!"  "I like Harleys!" says the voice in an even louder than before shout.

"I have stock in Harley", the shouter informs me.  "Really? that's awesome" I acknowledge.

The voice continues, "That one you have there is a beauty, too!"   " Well, thank you, that's very nice to say!" I reply, as I reach for the door handle to the front door of the church, hoping against hope, that the next words to come from the recipient of a Harley Davidson dividend check, do not include the words : "How about a ride?"  I really do not like riding 2 up. But, no other words are shouted as I open the church door.

The "Shouter" by the way is a woman, that I would guess is somewhere on the "other-side of 75 years old, but not quite a hundred " She has a smile and a glow about her that would melt the heart of Ebeneezer Scrooge 2 days prior to his famous night-time excursion on Christmas. A blessed saint and wonderful sight to see on Mother's Day or any other day. I going to make it point to get to know her, she's my kind of girl.

The front door closes behind me.
I feel a big smile spread across my face.    
Glad I checked for bugs before.

Alright, back to living Orthodox. My disciplines are as follows:
Prayer, reading the daily Scriptures that are listed in the Lectionary contained in the Orthodox Study Bible for the present day. Reading and meditating on my own personal Bible study and continuing in my general study about the Church Fathers, Saints and overall church history as well as listening to various podcasts on Ancient Faith Radio and  reading Orthodox Church articles on the web and elsewhere. Attending Saturday Vespers and Divine Liturgy on Sunday. I also plan to attend any "mid-week" services as they appear. I attended Vespers for Midfeast of Pentecost, and the Divine Liturgy for Midfeast of Pentecost. My other plan of action is to create a "Prayer Corner" in my den at home,  as I feel a strong need for such and plan to ask Father Gary to "bless the icons" that I will have in the corner.

So, I would like to ask, "Is there anything else, that I may want to do?"

Also, does anyone have a "menu" for fasting on Weds. and Friday. What foods do you like on such days?

Please, keep in mind that I am aware that this is not all about "reading and being educated through books, podcasts etc.", I am also going to make it a point to meet and get to know my church family. I have been blessed already with meeting about a dozen or so and everyone of them have been absolutely gracious and friendly (especially my Harley girl!)  I feel that I am allowing the Holy Spirit to guide me and counsel me. But, since I have this blog, I thought I might as well ask. I have also spoke with Fr. Gary and I will be meeting with him in the coming days to discuss like matters.

Oh yeah, I'm excited.  God Bless.

Holy Sunshine On My Soul, My 1st Divine Liturgy

Gray skies in the natural, heavenly blue skies in the spiritual. That is how my day began yesterday Sunday May 6th. The skies at the New Jersey shore were advertising rain with its' thick gray cover, but I don't believe that any "perfect storm" would have been able to keep me away from attending my first Orthodox Divine Liturgy.

There were a couple of elements at play here.

First, there is personal history. Almost 21 years ago to the day, (in fact only a day short of) on May 7th, 1991 I attended a "Revival Service", at The Church of the Nazarene in Toms River, N.J., my first such, in fact up until a few days before that I had never even been to a service at a Protestant Church. That night I had what is called my "born again" experience. Well, now 21 years later, I have had my "Welcome Home" experience. In our American culture the law of the land says for the most part, that a person is not considered to be an adult in "all things" until they reach the age of 21.  Well, "Happy Birthday to me!"
So at the ripe old "spiritual age" (if you would allow me to use that parlance)  (come to think of it, "phrase" is probably the correct term, but I just never seem to get to use the word "parlance" enough, so I am going for it here) of 21, I have come home to where all of us (mankind) were intended to be, the Holy Orthodox Church. Amen!

As noted in my last post, I for the most part travel by motorcycle, however, there are times when the weather conditions can cause this method of travel to be, shall we say a bit "uncomfortable". Heavy rain being such.
Since my wife is not accompanying me (yet! :>) ) and is continuing to attend church where we "both used" to go, she needs the car, as she does not ride motorcycles. This makes weather watching something of an "Olympic Sport" in the Martin household. If I must go somewhere and the motorcycle is the only option, I make the best of it, and go, I ride all winter long. And, yes, its' cold and at times wet, so be it!

So a heavy gray sky, is actually, not scary enough to keep me away from stuff, especially my first Divine Liturgy.

I arrived early (no kidding!) at about 9: 40 a.m., and after the veneration of icons, I took a seat behind some folks that Fr. Gary was speaking to, I just assumed it was the Adult Class that I have seen listed on the church website and I listened quietly. There was some interaction and it seemed pretty good. Within a few moments Fr. Gary prayed and left us, and the service began some minutes later.

Taking a cue from Jim V. at  the Vespers Service the night before, I had earlier picked up a copy of the "Divine Liturgy Service" from the counter in the Narthex. It was a big help. The service was wonderful!
I felt I had entered into a state of holy worship that I just never really experienced before, even though there were times that I had to refer to the service book, I was never was "pulled" away from being involved in worship. There were times when hymns were being sung and the words were not in the book and they were unknown, still, that did not make a difference, I just closed my eyes at times and spoke to God silently, what a blessing! Everything that took place in the service in regards to what the clergy did I was able to understand and follow, again thanks to the service book. I found that I only had to glance occasionally at the book and never did I have to "bury" my head in it. I think my reading of the book "Let Us Attend, A Journey through the Orthodox Divine Liturgy" really paid off, so glad I read it. This week I am re-reading it and connecting what I felt, saw and heard at the service, to help increase my understanding.

Okay, so now here are some things I have questions on. There were 2 tables placed during the service up front on each side of the room. Upon these tables were placed communion trays that contained pieces of bread (I assume this is the Friendship bread?) and what I know as communion cups with what appeared to be wine in them. During the Reception of Holy Communion, some people after they have received would go over to these trays and eat some bread and take a drink from one of the cups. A woman came to me and offered me a piece of bread, since I of course did not go up to receive and stayed at my seat. I took it and thanked her. I had noticed that some others who did not go up to receive were also given bread by other people. These other folks ate their bread piece right away, so I did the same. NOW another woman came to me with another piece of bread and I was unsure if it was okay to "double up" on the bread so I said, that I had already had some and she smiled, I smiled back and off she went, I did not turn around to see if she was still smiling, as I was hoping that I did not offend her. Then, I noticed that a gentleman in front of me who been given bread previously (he was one of the folks who did not go up to receive) by someone also, accepted another piece of bread. Just, then an elderly gentleman offered me a piece (this would be my second) and seeing that the guy in front of me had 2, I accepted the second piece. So now, I held on to this piece and I decided to make it visible (without trying to make it look so ) in my hand to any other folks who come my way offering bread and thus keep me from doing something that my offend someone. I truly want to be blessed, as well as be, a blessing to this my new family (though I guess we are all already family, since God is our Father, are we not?) but I am afraid of doing the wrong thing at times. So, there I am, standing there, clutching onto my second piece of bread and watching people passing by the tray of bread and cups. Finally the last person goes past, does not pick up a piece of bread from the tray, taking that as my cue that all is clear, I eat the bread that I was holding on to.

Can someone explain all this?  My thoughts are that this is a sign of "hospitality" is this right? If I don't accept bread, am I offending the giver?

After I had left the church building and was putting my motorcycle helmet on in the parking lot, 2 women, approached me, and reminded me, that there was coffee in the building next to the church. I thanked them but said that I wanted to get going in case the weather got bad. They said, "Next week then!" I said, "Absolutely!"

In a way, I am glad that I did not stay, I just needed to go home and "process" this wonderful feeling that I felt inside of  me. No gray skies here , just a feeling of  "Holy Sunshine On My Soul", Thank you Lord.