the hitchhiker’s guide: the journey forward to the ancient roots of our faith

Tonight we celebrated the lamentation service of our Lord, where throughout a beautiful and ornately decorated setting, we expressed our lament of Christ’s death through spoken words, through sung lamentations, and in the candlelit sanctuary processed under an icon of Christ’s body representing our passing into death as did Christ — an expression of sharing in His sufferings and His death.

It was one of the most beautiful services that I have been to in a long time — the sanctuary was dimly lit, candles lighting up various areas of the alter, and an ornately decorated arc-like structure covered in roses, washed over in candlelight, and containing the cross of Christ, symbolizing his burial into the tomb.

The service was nearly two and a half hours, and with just twelve hours before I become christened into the Orthodox Church, I honestly felt like I have not sufficiently prepared myself for this moment.

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Written and posted by Michael on April 26, 2008, 12:05 am.
Filed under: Catechumen, Orthodoxy, The Journey, Transformation

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This morning I was ceremonially welcomed and prayed for as a catechumen into the Orthodox karten spieletexas holdem regelnonline games kostenlos pokeronline poker anbieterpoker jetzt spielenabsolut poker bonuspoker regeln downloadpoker online gratuitopoker game onlinepoker on line gratuitopoker online legalegiocare poker onlinepoker tour gameworld poker tournamentpoker online flashstreep poker gratisgiochi online pokergiochi poker da scaricarestreap pokerpoker pc gratispoker room on lineguida poker onlinegiochi di carte pokerpoker tour ps2probabilità pokergioco poker on line gratissuper poker comforum poker on lineforum poker onlinegioco da pokeromaha poker gratispoker online gamesplay omaha pokercasino poker gratisnoble pokerpoker texanofive card studgame pokertexas holdem romagiochi on linesoftware cartegiochi poker per pcplay poker onlinesexy poker onlineworld pokereuropean poker tourregole gioco pokergiochi 7 card studtexas holdem flashgiochi gratis video poker faith; and with tears welling up in my eyes I finally felt like I was nearer and nearer to finding and coming home to where I feel God has been drawing me. And what is even more exciting to me, I am finding a few answers to questions that I have had going into this journey from the very beginning.

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Written and posted by Michael on March 9, 2008, 1:24 pm.
Filed under: Catechumen, Culture, Orthodoxy, Transformation

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It seems that every time I walk out of St. George Antioch Orthodox Church — whether on a Sunday morning or at my catechumen class — I come home with more and more books to read. And anyone who knows me well, I don’t exactly finish books in a timely fashion (let alone at all). How I will manage to keep up is but a mystery… fitting as I am pursuing Orthodoxy and they’re all about mystery.

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Written and posted by Michael on February 14, 2008, 4:47 pm.
Filed under: Catechumen, Daily Walk, Orthodoxy, The Journey, Transformation

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My first Sunday as a catechumen was most certainly a different feeling for me than before when I was attending and admiring from afar. Instead, now I am an active participant in the liturgy with the rest of the church and my mindset has changed a bit, too — I go because I am there to worship the living God as was prescribed by the apostles. And it is in this context of worship that I pour my heart out to God in quiet prayer and contemplation, I take in every word of the liturgy as sustenance, and I ask for the help of the Holy Spirit to make me more in the image of God [theosis would be the term the Orthodox use] and to follow Him with all my mind, soul, strength and heart †.

But what particularly intrigued me was a conversation that I had with a new friend (and potential Godfather) over the coffee hour that followed. We talked extensively about many things — the Virgin Mary, conversion from a protestant life, feast days, family, and to some extent the comparison between protestantism and Orthodoxy as being cups of different sizes and degrees of completion.

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Written and posted by Michael on February 4, 2008, 2:07 pm.
Filed under: Catechumen, Looking Back, Orthodoxy, The Journey

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As they say, “today is the first day of the rest of my life.” It’s a bit melodramatic, sure, but going to my first catechumen class today was a huge step for me — it’s saying, “yes, I want to be a learner of the Orthodox faith, that I might align myself to you and be in communion with you.”

Our first class was really more of an informative session, where Father Tom shared about the meaning and symbolism of all the imagery within the sanctuary. It was quite impressive to hear of all the deep meaning behind what things were placed where and why they appeared where they did. As he said, nothing is where it is just because it looks nice — there is meaning for everything here.

Of course there is no way that I could have hoped to remember everything he said — I’m getting older and brain capacity isn’t what it used to be, so it’s harder to retain all the information he shared. But that said, there were a few things I pulled from it that I was hoping to understand, and now have walked away knowing more.

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Written and posted by Michael on February 2, 2008, 1:27 pm.
Filed under: Catechumen, Orthodoxy, The Journey

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