The Lenten Journey

Lent has begun for both Eastern and Western Christians. I found this video on Youtube that I thought was a beautiful prayer for the Lenten journey. May God bring us to greater depths of repentence and love during this season!

Lenten Prayer of St. Ephraim

O Lord and Master of my life,

Take from me the spirit of sloth,

faint-heartedness, lust of power, and idle talk.

But give rather the spirit of chastity, humility,

patience and love to thy servant.

Yes, O Lord and King,

Grant me to see my own sins

and not to judge my brother.

For Thou art Blessed unto ages of ages.

Amen.

my first visit with the Bishop

A Visit from Bishop JOSEPH

A couple of weeks ago, I had my first encounter with Bishop JOSEPH, Diocesan Bishop of Los Angeles and the West, in the Antiochian Archdiocese of the Orthodox Church. He came to visit the church that I attend, St. Barnabas. It was a unique and memorable experience. Bishop JOSEPH seemed to radiate with a love for Christ and genuine care for His Church. This made a deep impression upon me. In the liturgy that morning, I sensed the presence of God like I never have in my life. There was no doubt that Christ was in our midst! As I was in the liturgy, I began to reflect on how different my experience was of the Christian faith in that moment. There were no guitars, no drums, not even a variety of 'worship' expressions going fourth. There was no one who was shaking or having any physical manifestation of the 'holy spirit' as I had witnessed other places. Interestingly enough, however, the Holy Spirit was there. As I was there, I sensed a communion with the faithful saints that have gone before me. I sensed the spirit of the apostles in our midst. I felt the affirmation of God and the affirmation of the Holy Apostles that I was indeed right where I was supposed to be. There was nothing sensational about the moment but rather it was utterly divine. I began to weep and was overwhelmed with emotion--not because of any particular musical tone (though I'm not saying that is bad) but overwhelmed that God was there and there was such a safety in His arms.

I'm not sure if any of what I have said makes sense but I just didn't want to let this experience pass without making note of it on my blog.

class trip to the farm

The other day my class and I went on a field trip. We went to the Centennial Farms at the Costa Mesa fair grounds. If you ever have a chance, take your little ones there--it's free. Here's some pictures from our adventure.

my geetar

My geetar a.k.a. "guitar" but added the "gee" to emphasize the accent below. =). Today I decided to pull out my lovely Gibson and play her. She hasn't been played in awhile. It reminded how much I loved the sound of an acoustic guitar. It made me miss the many, many times I've played her as "unto the Lord" as I sang with my Christian brethren songs as prayers. It made me sad in some ways because I'm no longer in that time in my life. It made me doubt whether I should have given it up or given up such a place in Christendom. I have to remind myself today that my idea of church was never what was the idea of church for the first 1,000 years of Christianity. I have to remind myself that I'm small and a tiny piece of the big puzzle and that God honors humility. I pray He will give me new and creative ways to integrate my geetar into the stage of life that I am now in.

So for those who have never witnessed the beauty of her......here she is: Gibson Songwriter Deluxe.