Reminder: Wednesday is the feast of the Entry of the Theotokos into the Temple. Our parish is having a Divine Liturgy at 10:00. If you desire to go to DL twice in a week, this week would give you a perfect opportunity if your parish offers it. I too miss DL by the next day. It wears off so easily, and I miss the feeling of peace.

Hi everyone! I miss our group! Even though I'm trying to spend less time online, I'm still peeking in here and there, and now it seems very difficult to do that. I hope I can get used to the new setup, so I don't invest too much time online. BTW - Praying with Icons seems like a book for me! The physical aspects of Orthodox Christianity are most helpful in my healing. Before I found out about Orthodoxy and the daily prayers, I used to primarily pray silently "in my head." Now that I have the daily prayers to say out loud, my prayer life is more abundant than before. The icons add a layer of appreciation and connection AND teaching! One time while my hubby said the prayers I just gazed at this icon of St. George we have in our prayer room. I noticed that the spear in the icon was so thin it looked like it could snap with the slightest use. I wondered about that, and couldn't figure out why that was. So, I asked my nephew who was visiting us for a month, and he said something like, "well, it's not really the spear that has the power, it's God." I was like, "Ah! Of course!" This same things has happened a few other times where the icons were teaching me as I gazed at them during prayer time. Hugs everyone!

I would have a meeting/talk to find out what is important to her and ask her how she thinks you might contribute to her education and her personhood, etc. Find out her strengths and weaknesses and any holes in her education. Does she have goals, dreams for her future? Stuff like that. In WA state we can't homeschool someone else's child unless the parent is doing 30 hrs and you are just supplementing.

Hugs and prayers

I would keep them home, no question. I have no problem with my kids missing extra curricular activities for the common good of the family. :D

I'm sorry. Hugs and love to you. :grouphug: Our 4th baby passed away at 14 weeks and we found out at 20 weeks. We asked for the baby to be delivered as naturally as possible, so we could see him. They admitted me to the hospital and administered medicines to put me into labor, since I didn't labor naturally (a story of all my pregnancies). The baby came out whole and we were able to see him, and his little face is still a permanent part of my memory of him and gives me a connection to him that I might not have otherwise. I still needed a D&C though to clean out the placenta, etc. I'm not sorry we did it this way. I think I would have rather buried our baby, now that I'm Orthodox, but we had him cremated. That's the only part I slightly regret. But, we did what we thought was right at the time.

:iagree: Amen. I hope this isn't a hijack, but I feel compelled to encourage the OP and anyone else who cares to listen to consider the Christianity of old and the children who have died for the faith during the time periods of Christian persecution. Also consider the serious responsibility we as Christians have in raising children to be able to endure persecution. What if Christian persecution is in our future? Would our children be able to accept hardship, torture, or even death for the sake of Christ? Do these children's programs contribute to a strong Christian faith that will enable them to endure hardship or even death for Christ's sake? Consider the Christians of persecuted times. There are longs lists of children who have died for the faith. Here is one. There were no programs in these children's lives to keep them occupied during the service. They attended the services, they participated as fully functional members of the church, and they lived and died for the faith. Here is an Orthodox website with a page dedicated to Orthodox Children Saints (see the links on the right side of the page for stories about children saints). Here is a copy/paste of a story from the above Orthodox website. It should encourage every Christian to read the story of these faithful Christian children. What faith they had! This story gives me much to soberly contemplate. WARNING! This story is not for the squeamish, so don't read on if you have difficulty with gruesome imagery. Child Saints Pistis, Elpis and Agape. (Faith, Hope and Love) and their Mother Sophia These holy Martyrs dwelt in Italy during the reign of Emperor Hadrian (117-138 AD). They came from a rich and devout family and their mother Sophia brought them up in the one true faith. Their father died when they were young leaving Sophia a widow. Word of their pious Christian life reached the Emperor who, hearing they were in Rome, sent soldiers to bring them before him. Considering their youth, he was amazed at how strong in the faith Sophia’s daughters were, and thinking it was only by supporting one another that they were able to hold their own against him, he decided to the question them separately. Faith, who was twelve years old, was brought in first The Emperor offered her the promise of great gifts and wild riches if she would just sacrifice to the pagan idols. He told her how beautiful she was and what a wonderful life he could make for her. She boldly dismissed the tyrant’s flatteries and scorned him. The Emperor was infuriated and had her stripped and mercilessly beaten. He had her br**sts cut off. However the 12 year old remained steadfast in her love for Christ. She endured many more tortures because of her courage and faith. When, at last, they came to cut off her head, Sophia encouraged her to accept with joy the death that would unite her to Christ and give her the crown of martyrdom. Hope, who was ten years old, was brought in next. Confessing Christ as courageously as her sister, she was beaten and cast into a raging furnace. After many other tortures, she too died by the sword, giving thanks to God. Love, the third of the sisters at 9 years old, was then summoned before the Emperor. His rage was great and his lust for blood even greater. She showed the same steadfast mind as her sisters. The Emperor thinking she was just a simple child tried in vain to convince her that she could save herself from the tortures of her sisters. Little did he know that she welcomed her martyrdom so she could be with Christ. She was hung on a gallows and chained so tightly that her limbs were broken by the bonds. She was then thrown into a furnace, and finally, beheaded. Sophia rejoiced in spirit to see her daughters so gloriously making their way to the ranks of the martyrs. She wept over their graves for three days and then she gave back her soul to God. Their memories are celebrated on September 17. _________________ I am extremely concerned about the state of Christianity in America, and whether or not we are equipped for serious hardship or persecution. I know I don't feel equipped for it. I know I have not equipped my children adequately for it. Lord forgive me, and have mercy on me, a sinner.

We recently converted to Orthodox Christianity so we could partake in the body and blood of Christ, and not for any programs or social benefits. In fact we had to leave all the programs and many of our friendships and all of our previous evangelical activities behind. It was so hard on all of us, especially the kids, but we are pretty much adjusted now and I wouldn't give up the communion and the other sacraments for the children's activities/children's church. It's no comparison. The children are in the service with us (and I'm often without my DH) and it's sometimes hard when they are wiggly or in a bad mood, but I see the long term benefits of the richness in the liturgy working more fruit in the children than in our previous evangelical setting where the children went downstairs for half the service.

May God bless your journey.

For anyone who is interested, here is a video presentation of the Gospel from a legal understanding and from a restorative understanding. The restorative is the more ancient, patristic understanding. http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=Wnj52gaauBs&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DWnj52gaauBs

:hurray:

We are having a big election party! Woop!

Or this site provides a shorter version, but more detail than that other article. I'm working on reading this one now: http://www.stpaulsirvine.org/html/lutheran.htm Btw, I'm not trying to convince you of anything one way or the other, but I just find this church history thing fascinating, and I read about it constantly. If its not that interesting to you, or if it doesn't contribute to your journey, please disregard.

Loved, or anyone who might be interested, I just ordered this book: Augsburg and Constantinople: The Correspondence between the Tubingen Theologians and Patriarch Jeremiah II of Constantinople on the Augsburg Confession from Amazon. It used to be out of print, but now it's only $16 in paperback. It might be an interesting history study to read about the exchange between the Lutherans and Constantinople - it also goes into the differences/similarities of the two confessions.

My friend writes an Orthodox blog. He just happened to write about Luther yesterday. I thought it kind of went along with this thread. I found these quotes by Luther to give a little more insight as to what he thought of the Greek (Orthodox) church. I wonder if he wrote them before that exchange with Constantinople or after? Below is a cut/paste of my friend's blog posting from yesterday. “The Greeks [Orthodox] . . . are not heretics or schismatics but the most Christian people and the best followers of the Gospel on earth.†“Yet he [the Pope] lifts his shameless, blasphemous mouth to heaven and slanders the Greek [Orthodox] church, claiming that it is schismatic and apostate. It is he himself who is the chief cause and sole author of all schisms and divisions. This is plain as day and all historical records show it.†“Second, they revile, slander, and anathematize the Greeks [Orthodox], and all others who do not submit to the pope, as though these were not Christians.†“Again, in this same passage, Christ speaks of this rock and of his church and says, “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it†[Matt. 16:18]. Here Christ says clearly that against his rock and building and church the very devils shall not prevail. If, then, the rock is papal power and the building represents submission to this authority, how does it happen that this building and authority have in fact collapsed and the gates of hell have prevailed against it? For all Christendom has fallen away from the pope; for example, the Greeks [Orthodox], the Bohemians, Africa, and the whole orient! Or to be more accurate, they never were built upon this rock. Now, if Christ, who cannot lie, promises that the gates of hell shall not prevail against his building, and no one can deny that the Orient has fallen away, it follows that Christ speaks the truth and the pope lies, and the building is not obedience to his power but something else, which the gates of hell have not been able to break down. And it cannot be said that these people are no longer Christians because they do not obey the pope and are not built on him, since the pope himself and all his followers wish to be considered Christians, though they do not obey God in a single letter, and live, for the most part, without faith. So far they have been successful with their lies in maintaining that those who do not agree with them on this point are heretics and they themselves good Christians, though they do not take their stand with God and Christ on any point. Thus they make monkeys and fools of all the world, and define the terms “Christian†and “heretic†to suit themselves.†Martin Luther (Luther, Martin (1999). Vol. 32: Luther’s Works, vol. 32: Career of the Reformer II (J. J. Pelikan, H. C. Oswald & H. T. Lehmann, Ed.) (59). Philadelphia: Fortress Press.)â€

DH & I are Captain and Commander from Star Trek Oldest DH is a Hunger Games Capitol City Girl Two middle kids are black & pink ninjas Youngest is Ben 10

:thumbup:

He's unperturbed by the Denial of purgatory. Orthodox don't teach purgatory.

Totally amen!

:iagree:

Wow, I can really relate to page 16. I read the 28 pages, and it seems like it's a call back to Sola Scriptura. Would that be an accurate 1 sentence summary? Before I became an Orthodox Christian, I belonged to a church that based everything they did on the Bible only. I went from "Spirit led" to "Word of God only" and after 10 years in that tradition I was still on page 16 of his book. The problem I had in that tradition is that The Word includes things, participatory things that make me go, "what's that?" and "why did he say that?" and "I want that!" The Word is and was a light to my path, but there was still things that made me go "huh?" "Taste and see that the Lord is good." It's more than reading and thinking and knowing. The Word itself bears witness to that. On page 20 he says, "There is one attack the devil uses to destroy the Church of Jesus Christ - remove Jesus." He explains this as the devil removing Jesus' words and therefore Jesus. Then on the next page he says he will teach us how the devil uses the good things God gave us to trust in *yourself.* How do you not trust in *yourself* when it's just you and The Word? You are reading the Word, so you must decide what the Word means. It seems to me that someone in this position must rely on himself very much without any other teachers, traditions, or examples to interpret the Word. He had me at page 16, but by page 21 he lost me in that he wants to teach us how to avoid being deceived by the devil by avoiding trusting in ourselves, and the only tool to do this is The Bible. It seems like that is what he's saying. I'm guessing that he'll use a bunch of Bible verses in his book, then he will proceed to interpret them for us. This has broken his #1 goal for the book, which is to only trust in The Word, but if we listen to him we are placing our trust in the Word as interpreted by the author. This is a contradiction. On page 22 he says, "In the pure Word of God, we will find true purpose for our lives built on a foundation infinitely more solid than the shifting sands of "me." Does he address how to accomplish this? I agree that the "shifting sands of me" are a problem. It seems like just to follow his rules we have to rely on "me." For example, rule #1 is to avoid mysticism. How does one recognize it but to rely on one's self. I've heard Orthodox Christianity described in derogatory ways and compared to mysticism. I would say that is a "shifting sands of me" opinion. My opinion obviously differs and I consider Orthodox Christianity authentic and solidly historic and apostolic Christianity. Is that a "shifting sands of me" opinion? The author of the book might make that conclusion because of some of our practices, which appear on the surface to be mystical. We even use the word "mystical" in our liturgy. :glare: Alright, I'm rambling. I'll stop now. Lovedtodeath, if you care to continue the conversation by enlightening me as to what he means by not trusting in ourselves and how he actually accomplishes that, I'd be curious to know. I can't see how that's possible without The Church with all the tools woven together that make up a beautiful tapestry of what it means and is to practice Christianity.

:D

:thumbup:

This is especially good in the fall/winter months. It's so warming and comforting. You can substitute for any kind of pasta, size curly, or I'm trying small shell pasta tonight. :D http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/spaghetti-bolognese-recipe-00100000074122/index.html

Lord have mercy for Plain Jane.