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December 28th, 2006
12:22 am - Been a while!
 o I havent posted anything here in a while, ive been busily ignoring SEVERAL online blogging sites simultaniously, but you may find more up to date stuff here http://blog.myspace.com/salvadoredalillamainstead.
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January 20th, 2006
01:17 am - please dont [insert qualm here] it is distracting
 am a slave to my sense of duty. And yet I am also a slave to righteousness. What crisis’s arise when these two seemingly unrelated spheres collide? On the one hand I am bound to obey those who are in spiritual authority over me, and I know that they have been placed in their position by the Lord to Shepard those few souls who shelter under them. But yet, at what point shall I say “enough” when criticism and suggestion (no matter how well meant) begin persuading me to change some fundamental aspect of who I am in favor of what I may yet become? It is through being true to myself that my desire to serve God comes, and by presenting a counterfeit image (no matter how wholesome and pleasant that image may be) my faith and I myself become spurious.
”This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man. (Hamlet 1.3.69)”
 y appearance and my music are the two biggest stumbling blocks in nearly every important relationship I have had (with the close third being that fact that I’m a complete jerk but that’s a different journal entry). Addressing these in order, I have always changed my appearance because I want to know who I really am, and because I want to know who you really are. If this facade is as far as you’re willing to explore then it’s a clear and immediate indication that you’re not the sort of person I want to know anyway. I know how powerful the perception of this outer shell can be, and I know the pain of striving to mould myself to the ideal image of perfection. But all this is foolish vanity, none of it lasts, in the end hair is fleeting, complexion blackens, colour becomes pallor, flesh melts away like wax, living breathing man becomes corpse. Man is content to be fascinated by the exterior, but God looks on the inside.
usic, if it is to be authentic (and my understanding is that as art it always should be so) must be a genuine expression of the performer’s feelings, of his interior if you will. When the soul is light, when life and love are at their zenith, when the musicians fancy is set free to fly on exultant winds of gossamer wings, then of course music will be beautiful. But this is not always the case. When my soul is downcast, shall I pretend and make merry lithesome melodies? When I feel alone and disconnected from all of humanity, in my private isolation do I contrive to perform for the comfort and celebration of community? If my mind is stricken with weird dread and ghosts of regret make my conscience their barrow shall I execute a comfortable tune to delight the audience? Not if I am to be true to myself. It is more important for music to be true than pleasant. What most people want is a figurehead, a mannequin to dress up in stylish clothes and stand up in the front of the church to make them feel pleased with their little presentation of “worship” to God. I cannot do this. If the Lord is a spirit, and He is to be worshipped in spirit and in truth, then I must be true to my feelings when I am laying them before Him. I cannot, in good conscience, make light of my adoration of our creator by putting my inner essence on hold whilst I put on a show of piety for an audience. I will be who I am, and as He has begun a good work in me, I have confidence that He will carry it out until the time of my completion. Even if I’m a little distracting.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/ford/sydnicons/Surprised.gif) anxious
Current Music: Miles Davis
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January 18th, 2006
11:45 pm
 m I a bohemian or a bum? Or is there even a difference? If I wanna sit around all day drinking coffee and reading a completely worthless book, no one to stop me but myself (and I don’t). Am I forced to accomplish anything if I don’t want to even get out of bed today? No. Historically, men of leisure earned roles as immortals by completely changing societies views (Marx, Darwin, Richard Simmons) with time on their hands and a desire to excel. I consider it a well-spent day if bananas foster somehow enters into the schedule. Sometimes I feel like a complete failure, no phone, no career, no degree, no deadlines, no boss, hey wait a minute this is the American dream. Idle hands ARE the devils playground, I have photographic proof. When I possess so much spare time that growing dreadlocks seems like a reasonable endeavor, and getting up the enthusiasm to throw on some clothes to actually go outside becomes a major decision, then perhaps I have reached some sort of secret nirvana known only to the extremely wise. What’s the difference between lounging in my apartment for a week in my underwear versus fasting on some Himalayan peak for enlightenment? I’ll never know, cause if I ever go to Tibet I’ll be too busy stuffing my face in the marketplace to isolate myself on some lonely (and cuisine free) mountaintop. So, perhaps I’m some sort of slacker bodhisattva, astute enough to know the wisdom in being content with what I possess, yet so prudent that I avoid passing into paradise so I can guide my contemporaries out of their career induced fantasies. No, wait a moment; I am a bum after all.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/ford/sydnicons/Sydney0.gif) complacent
Current Music: www.pandora.com
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December 24th, 2005
06:00 am - What kind of hero are you?
 he first time I took this quiz I came out as Batman. It's not that I have any problems with the nocturnal "dark knight", but I don't really think he and I share a lot except the "I prefer working at night" and "people frequently find me highly irrational" parts of his personality. Sometimes its fun to jerry-rig the quizzes several different ways until you either end up with something which better represents who you are or else portrays you to be the exact oposite of how people usually percieve you to be.  | You scored as William Wallace. The great Scottish warrior William Wallace led his people against their English oppressors in a campaign that won independence for Scotland and immortalized him in the hearts of his countrymen. With his warrior's heart, tactician's mind, and poet's soul, Wallace was a brilliant leader. He just wanted to live a simple life on his farm, but he gave it up to help his country in its time of need.
William Wallace | | 92% | Maximus | | 75% | Captain Jack Sparrow | | 67% | El Zorro | | 63% | Neo, the "One" | | 63% | Indiana Jones | | 54% | Batman, the Dark Knight | | 50% | The Terminator | | 38% | Lara Croft | | 33% | James Bond, Agent 007 | | 33% | The Amazing Spider-Man | | 29% | </td>
Which Action Hero Would You Be? v. 2.0
created with QuizFarm.com |
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December 4th, 2005
06:57 pm
  here do I begin to describe the dismal details of the last few weeks dreary events? How do I disgorge the fetid contents of a weak and malcontent heart upon an unsuspecting reader? My mettle is broken, and as I sit here attempting to asses those dark proceedings, which taxed my very emotional fibre to the limits, I find that even my words (usually a reassuring quiverfull of razor-sharp and sure fletched shafts) fall woefully short of the target. At my brothers sudden and unexpected death I am left both emotionally destitute and yet at the same time floating on a cloud vacant of feelings, still reeling in shock at his expeditious exodus from my life. Following the news that he was gone, a blessed flurry of endeavor stirred me to action and took up the time I would have spent thinking and examining the dark craggy face of my emotions and soul. A coffin was to be purchased, a plot of hungry land to devour it, and arrangements for his body to be shipped from Corpus Christi to Houston for a funeral were my only concerns for several days. There is no consolation for a moment like this, no solace found in the kindly words of friends or comfort gained in the company of the weeping. However well intended they are all empty as a yawning sepulcher waiting to receive the departed. I just smile bleakly, respond ‘thank you’, and restrain the torrent of anguish till I am alone. Even Job’s friends were content to merely sit with him wordless for days, the mere presence of the living being a quiet balm to soothe away the agony of the dead, but I would grieve alone. I think I would prefer that to the company of others, experience a freedom in not having to explain my tears and howls, or balance sorrow and dignity in the presence of my fellow mourners.
y brother was instrumental in leading me to knowing Christ personally. The Holy Spirit flowed through him powerfully to change the hearts and lives of many people, and through his example scores of men and women now live out a deeper more authentic form of Christianity. If a tree can be known by its fruit, then the obvious fruit he produced was for the glory of God. But like is common to man, his fire for the Lord waxed hot and cold, sometimes dieing down to mere embers only to spring up to an impossibly bright flame later. Always struggling with the truth, always loving life, always producing excellent music and stirring those around him to further excellence of their own craft, my brother was an impossibly difficult and irresistibly pleasant man to be spend time with.
 s I spend time in his absence no doubt the pain will cease to throb as painfully as it does now, and I am comforted at the surety of his presence with the Lord. My pangs of loss maintain equilibrium with my thanksgiving at the enduring impact that his life made on others and myself. Without him having existed at all I would not be the musician that I am, would not know my wife, and most importantly would certainly not share the intimacy that I now have with my creator, redeemer, and king Jesus Christ
Psalms 126 “When the LORD turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The LORD hath done great things for them. The LORD hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad. Turn again our captivity, O LORD, as the streams in the south. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.”
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September 7th, 2005
11:41 am - Sorrow in the sea
hat an irony, that the entry for today the 7th of September in C.H. Spurgeon's devotional reads as follows....
There is sorrow on the sea; it cannot be quiet."
- Jeremiah 49:23
"Little know we what sorrow may be upon the sea at this moment. We are safe in our quiet chamber, but far away on the salt sea the hurricane may be cruelly seeking for the lives of men. Hear how the death fiends howl among the cordage; how every timber starts as the waves beat like battering rams upon the vessel! God help you, poor drenched and wearied ones! My prayer goes up to the great Lord of sea and land, that he will make the storm a calm, and bring you to your desired haven! Nor ought I to offer prayer alone, I should try to benefit those hardy men who risk their lives so constantly. Have I ever done anything for them? What can I do? How often does the boisterous sea swallow up the mariner! Thousands of corpses lie where pearls lie deep. There is death-sorrow on the sea, which is echoed in the long wail of widows and orphans. The salt of the sea is in many eyes of mothers and wives. Remorseless billows, ye have devoured the love of women, and the stay of households. What a resurrection shall there be from the caverns of the deep when the sea gives up her dead! Till then there will be sorrow on the sea. As if in sympathy with the woes of earth, the sea is for ever fretting along a thousand shores, wailing with a sorrowful cry like her own birds, booming with a hollow crash of unrest, raving with uproarious discontent, chafing with hoarse wrath, or jangling with the voices of ten thousand murmuring pebbles. The roar of the sea may be joyous to a rejoicing spirit, but to the son of sorrow the wide, wide ocean is even more forlorn than the wide, wide world. This is not our rest, and the restless billows tell us so. There is a land where there is no more sea-our faces are steadfastly set towards it; we are going to the place of which the Lord hath spoken. Till then, we cast our sorrows on the Lord who trod the sea of old, and who maketh a way for his people through the depths thereof. "
Current Music: silence
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August 14th, 2005
03:02 am
hat am I doing up at 2 AM Sunday morning, knowing that the alarm will sound ever so soon and roust me from my bed? When I’ve had all the baths one can usefully have in one evening, and my prayers have been forced, fitful, and disorganized. I dunno, just can't sleep again.
Two versus stuck out of Proverbs 13 at me, firstly
22 "A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children: and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just."
Now the first parts just smacks of something the prosperity gospel would use to convince you that "God has a wonderful financially abundant plan for your life" but the second part is what is really interesting to me. I just wriggle with excitement whenever I hear of the treasures of the wicked going to further the work of the Kingdom of Heaven! Maybe it was all the Robin Hood I soaked up as a youth that makes me delight in the evil rich being robbed to provide for the righteous poor. But every time I read Job 27:11-23 (but especially 16-17 talking about the wicked man... "16 Though he heap up silver as the dust, and prepare raiment as the clay; 17 He may prepare it, but the just shall put it on, and the innocent shall divide the silver. " Or remembering the Israelites sacking Egypt as they fled as slaves bent double under the loads of Egyptian gold and riches in Exodus 12:36. And when their forty-year journey was done, where did they kick the dust out of their sandals? In a beautiful city full of vineyards and fertile farmland built by the hand of the Canaanites recently (and quickly) departed from the land (I imagine a scene where Joshua not unlike Goldilocks' three bears, walks into a recently vacated palace and sits down to enjoy a meal he finds casually left with wine goblets barely sipped from and the quail is still warm.)
The second verse that jumped out at me was "24 He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes." which is frequently misquoted as "spare the rod, spoil the child". I am reminded of how we are perceived by the world at large, there’s a book (can't remember the title) put out by focus on the family which resided in our "Christian parenting" section at the bookstore (an overflowing superabundant section which would grow to dwarf the parenting section if left un-pruned, but that’s a diatribe for another time) and one of the ladies who ran the parenting area opened it to me and showed me the chapter on discipline. Right there at the end of the chapter, was the advice to put moderate amounts of chili powder in your child’s mouth when he's said naughty things or lied to give his tongue a spanking. The lady bookseller (who was not a believer, but I continue to pray for fervently) was appalled that in our enlightened times anyone would resort to such "backwards inquisitorial methods" to punish their child. She then asked me if this was how Christian parents are supposed to treat their children’s misconduct, and exhorted that she would NEVER send her children to a Christian daycare yadda yadda yadda. I don't have any kids, so I’m not an expert, but I say "Spank 'em hard", put some chili powder in their eyes if they've been staying up late watching showtime inappropriately. Or better yet, when a kid curses lets go back to Leviticus 24:14 "Bring forth him that hath cursed without the camp; and let all that heard him lay their hands upon his head, and let all the congregation stone him." Ok, most of that was said in jest, but physical punishment is good for kids, remembering the pain from the last smackin you got will (hopefully) remind you not to be so whiney in public again when your mom has warned you to please shut up. Getting hit lets you know that your parents love you, and are concerned about correcting your behavior, and in this God is the same way. I'm pleased each time I get whacked over the head by the Lord, because I know that His rebuke is well founded and that He's only doing it out of love (and if I wasn’t so stubborn and hard headed then He could probably resort to lesser disciplines). Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/ford/sydnicons/Sad.gif) crappy
Current Music: Ms. Marshall's Class
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August 12th, 2005
02:35 am - Solomon's folly
 ecently my friend Frank has compelled a few of us to read through the book of proverbs with him, daily covering a chapter together by email correspondence. Today, the twelfth chapter on the twelfth night of August seems to once again be contrasting the wicked and the upright, a common enough theme in Solomon's book of wisdom. Out of the thousands of proverbs and songs attributed to the pen of this man 1 kings 4:32-33such a pitiful few seem to survive in the accepted cannon of scripture (though apocrypha abounds with things attributed to this sage) and these three books seem to fall into roughly the three important phases of his life. The Song of Solomon shows our king as a young lover "ruddy, and altogether handsome", whilst Proverbs deals with the wisdom of a powerful and insightful leader. Would that these former two could have had some lasting impact on what was to come, for in the final work Ecclesiastes we see a world weary preacher recanting the other "phases" of his life and confessing "Vanity, vanity, all is vanity". It has always seemed strange to me that the man who single-handedly spearheaded the building of the temple, the greatest architectural glory of the Hebrew people dedicated to the service of our Heavenly Father, should also have caused priests and prophets to grieve over rival temples to Molech, Chemosh, Ashtaroth and forms of ritual not only idolatrous, but cruel, dark, and utterly impure. This evil came as the penalty of another. 1 Kings 11:1-8 He gave himself to "strange women." He found himself involved in a fascination that led to the worship of strange gods. Yet this man, renown for the sheer multitude of his wives and concubines, was extremely perceptive of the subtleties of intimate relationship between husband and wife. In Proverbs 12:4 he says "An excellent wife is the crown of her husband, But she who shames him is like rottenness in his bones." How well poor Solomon knew that "rottenness" in the core of his being, and yet, this same man constantly praises the "virtuous woman", how many of these precious "crowns" did this emperor possess? I am constantly thankful for my own wife, I deserve someone full of contention and anger to cause me strife all of my days, and yet our Lord blessed me with the sweetest blossom a man could behold. In Alicia I see all of my own aspirations come to fruition, a capable guitarist and songwriter par excellence, a delightful helpmeet never thinking of herself-never complaining for her own aches and wants, a woman burning with compassion for the hurting of others and the sanctification of the lost. I am constantly reminded by our poor mr. Solomon to appreciate the rare beauty that comes from her fear of the Lord, and treasure her more than any jewel or exquisite treasure I could posses.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/ford/sydnicons/Awake.gif) awake
Current Music: Renewal
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March 17th, 2005
11:57 pm - I'm dumb.
did something really stupid and irresponsible and fun today. My new electronic pocket PC day planner thingy informed me this morning that today was Alicia's birthday, but sweet Bisha (who's been really busy with school and preoccupied about us making it without our jobs, but that’s a different email) left this morning without so much as even mentioning her natal celebration. So I got all my chores done, and went to our Thursday night Bible study really super-early armed with banners and balloons and party hats and streamers and noise makers and presents galore and we all decorated the house and crouched in hiding waiting for my wife to arrive. Well about this time, as I’m hunched over like an eco-terrorist obfuscating behind an overstuffed paisley chesterfield sofa, I begin to reconcile the uncomfortable inkling that Alicia's birthday has never before occurred on St. Patrics day, that I can recall, and the horror growing in the recesses of my timid little brain that I have made some kind of colossal mistake and am about to look like a total idiot in front of all my friends looms ever larger. So I confessed, to my music minister, that I MAY have slightly miscalculated her exact day of her birth, and his wife helpful as a proverbs 31 woman should be, pulls the church directory off the coffee table and turns through to the page containing all the photographs and info on families whose surnames are prefixed by the thirteenth letter in the alphabet. Which is ours. And right there in black and white, right next to the picture of the cute little girl clinging to the morbidly obese mustachioed gentleman who looks like an exact cross between Rasputin and a maniac organ grinder's monkey's organ grinder are the words "Birthday: May 17 1979". Of course by this point, once you have committed so far to something, then one must, no matter how erroneous the presupposition or embarrassing the consequences, follow through to the matters conclusion. At this point, Alicia arrives and bounces through the front door, and after a brief moment of uncomfortable silence as she surveys the decor and balloons hanging from every conceivable surface, I leap from my concealment and begin to passionately belt out "Happy Un-Birthday to you". To my surprise and slight dismay, everyone else joins right in and claps their hands and carries on as if it was in some way a normal or reasonable activity to do so. My discomfort melted away against the onslaught of joy that spread across Alicia's face, I believe everyone else's uneasiness took refuge in the fact that it was somebody else who royally screwed up, and the absurdity of the entire situation somehow seemed only to add to the fun. I am a complete buffoon. From my darling wife's reaction however, I may just throw her suprise unbirthday parties with greater frequency in the future.
Current Mood: amused
Current Music: music of the spheres windchimes
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September 26th, 2004
10:39 am - dress rehearsal weekend
 k, so finally this silly haircut is paying off, I’ve been wandering through my normal life with a cap pulled don smug over my freshly shaven tonsure to avoid possibly distressing encounters with the real world. Sweaty hat-head, however, is the least of my troubles when every few hours a new spiky growth of velvety hair bursts through my scalp begging to be shorn off as expediently as possible, I’m beginning to envy all those bald guys I see with the perfectly smooth pates seemingly waxed and shining in the dull glare of phosphorescent lighting. What’s the world coming to? Dress rehearsal was a subtle mixture of rude awakening and blessed relief. On the one hand, I perceive clearly how underprepared and sloppy the Suffering Brothers Of Saint Swyvin's olde testament in twenty minutes can be, with each of us constantly forgetting lines and trampling madly over each others intricately UN-formatted blocking. I also have absolutely no idea what these clowns are actually going do to those poor patrons as we wander the narrow streets of New Market Village (really a towne, I think given the average 30k population on weekends in Autumn), I realize it may have something to do with accosting potential sinners and offering our own suffering in their place as part of their penitence, however apart from a few extremely vague gags and visual comedy bits we've prepared it's going to be improvised in almost the entirety. This one fact, I think, will be the redeeming feature of our ill fitting and spastic vignettes on heraldic monasticism. Although we are almost totally unprepared, wanting in talent, witless, mumbling, fumbling buffoons, there is something in our desperate rantings and comic mischief which, if by the grace of God is timed and executed in exactly the right place at the right time, will result in a performance of truly manic and frantic excellence, a show which (Lord willing) will be devoid of much of the open ribaldry found elsewhere throughout fair, and entertain in much the same way as a Buster Keaton pratfall. Whatever happens, I’m extremely thankful for this opportunity to perform here, and to a witness (however poor and clumsy) of Christ's forgiveness.
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February 12th, 2004
12:56 am - 12 totally ordinary men
 n recent day's i've been reading from the John MacArthur book Twelve Ordinary Men, a study of the dozen souls who followed Christ, their triumphs, their flaws, their persecutions and ultimate deaths at the hands of accusers worldover (save John the apostle whom Jesus loved who alone died of old age after being exiled to the tiny isle of Patmos) What set them apart was, fundamentaly, their almost universal averageness and dull witted temprament. Jesus had the cream of the world to choose from, yet from the thousands of great scientists, artists, physicians, politicians, warriors, philosophers, and even devout members of the religious elite any one of whome He could have called into dicipleship with Him he chose nary a man. Instead He chose the foolish things of the world to confound the wise a handfull of illiterate fishermen, an outcast revenue agent, and a failed political terrorist to intrust the evangelism of the whole world. In 18 short months of unconventional training (no powerpoint presentations, no study guides or textbooks, not a single dayplanner among them) this rag-tag crew of misfits were guided through four major steps of dicipleship.
CONVERSION-the initial decision to follow Jesus.
MINISTRY-being set apart from your life and living fully dependant upon the will of Christ.
APOSTLESHIP-diciplship and training of yourself and others, healing the sick, raising the dead, casting out demons, curing lepers etc.
MARTYRDOM-persecution, personal destruction, and ultimatly death
 e chose twelve to be a symbolic number to the jews, as representing the twelve tribes and thereby supplanting the religious establishment of His time. Jesus was sending a clear message to the scribes, pharasees, saducees, and anyone who understood the Old Testament that these men have all of His authority to act in His place, and that He had thereby relieved the corrupt temple beurocracy of its duties and supplanted the high priest as arbiter of God's grace. Of course with great power came many temptations to these tweleve ignorant men of humble origins, and ultimatly one of the, Judas Iscariot, paid the ultimate price by betraying the very source of life and grace and turning over his own master to the religious and secular authorities. Perhaps these pressures were becoming too much for them, and after a particularly telling pridefull episode of two diciples arguing over which was to be greater in the kingdom of heaven, our Lord taught His final lesson to them. By humbly assuming the role of a common slave and washing the feet of his astonished retinue, he set permanantly in place the pattern of how we should treat our fellow yokemates as brothers (and sisters) in Christ.
nd so it is with the greatist respect and humility that I hold you, beloved, in my prayers. That our Lord would profit you, and set you apart as an example of His blessings and grace, extending each to you in His bountiful and ever loving fashion. That you and I would grow together closer to the One who created and ultimatly redeemed us from the great body of our sins against Him, and that we would allways be ready to give an answer for the joy that is within our hearts. AMEN
Current Mood: peaceful
Current Music: By The Rivers Of Babylon
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February 11th, 2004
06:38 pm - On the Daily Office
  rom the earliest days of the Church, there have existed two main forms of liturgical Christian worship: the Holy Eucharist, and the daily round of prayer known as the the Divine Office, the Liturgy of the Hours, or the Daily Office. |
 egular daily prayer appears to have both been inherited from the Jewish Church and an outgrowth of the extended apostolic Eucharist. In accordance with Psalm 119:164 -- "Seven times a day do I praise Thee" -- devout Jews would offer prayers and psalms periodically throughout the day, and such services were a feature of synagogue worship in the days of the Apostles. |
 riting in the early second century, St. Justin Martyr records a celebration of the Eucharist with the same Liturgy of the Word, followed by Liturgy of the Gifts, which Christians observe today:
. . . On the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things. Then we all rise together and pray, and, as we before said, when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, and the people assent, saying Amen; and there is a distribution to each, and a participation of that over which thanks have been given, and to those who are absent a portion is sent by the deacons.
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  t is supposed that the watch of prayer which preceded the post-apostolic Eucharist was eventually organized into four parts, one of which remained as the preparatory part of the Eucharist (the Proanaphora or Mass of the Catechumens); but the other three became respectively, Vespers for the later afternoon, Matins for midnight, and Lauds for the early morning. This group, nocturnal in origin, constitute the Greater Hours, and the other five, which are named below, the Lesser Hours. (Matins might be called the parent-Office, and Vespers and Lauds the twins since they are identical in structure.)
Later the diurnal group of Terce, Sext and None was instituted for the sanctification of the middle of the day. Being shorter than the other five, they are known as the Little Hours. (They might be called Triplets, for they too are identical in structure.) |
  ater still the bedside group of Compline and Prime were instituted, to serve as night and morning prayers in the dormitory. (They still retain more of domestic flavour than the other Hours, and might be called sister and brother, for they are similar but not identical in structure.)"
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 he chief end of the Divine Office is the sanctification and marking of time. "Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch." (St. Mark 13:35-37). As a result, the various Hours of the Office are distributed throughout the day. Originally, the Hours corresponded to the following times:
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Matins -- Midnight
Lauds -- 3 a.m.
Prime -- 6 a.m.
Terce -- 9 a.m.
Sext -- Noon
Vespers -- 6 p.m.
Compline -- 9 p.m.
However, for hundreds of years the Office has been recited thus by the vast majority of religious communities and orders that observe it:
Matins and Lauds -- 2-3 a.m.
Prime -- upon rising
Terce -- 9 a.m.
Sext -- Noon
None -- 3 p.m.
Vespers -- at sunset
Compline -- before bed
  et, to the end that more persons may find themselves both moved and able to recite the Office, it is entirely permissible to move the periods of recitation to conform to the realities of modern life. In such case, Matins and Lauds may be said in the morning, with the Lesser Hours conveniently distributed throughout the day. In addition, Hours may be "aggregated" within reason; Matins, Lauds and Prime may be recited together before work; Terce, Sext and None at lunch-time; and Vespers and Compline just before bed. Laity should feel free to recite those Hours that modern life permits, without scrupling over being unable to recite the "full" Office. Prime said upon rising, Sext during the lunch hour, and Compline before bed is eminently possible and quite laudable.
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 n addition, the Breviary may profitably be used as an adjunct to the Book of Common Prayer. Elements of the Breviary Office may be extracted and used to supplement and embellish the Prayer Book's Morning and Evening Prayer.
For instance, the prayers before and after the office may be used. The daily invitatory verse at Matins may be used with the Prayer Book's Psalm 95 at Morning Prayer. The Legend, or exposition on the life and death of the Saint of the Day, may be read in place of or along with one of the Prayer Book scriptural lessons.
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In addition, the Matins homilies and readings from the Church Fathers may be used at Morning or Evening Prayer, or provide the subject for private meditation.
The complexity of the Breviary should be a source of devotion, not of discouragement. Whatever the Christian's use of the Breviary, the rule in such matters should always be that a little said regularly benefits more than much said hastily, or stressfully. |
Current Mood: complacent
Current Music: 'A Love Supreme'
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January 24th, 2004
08:21 pm
have noticed a trend to quiz taking to determine personality type, what flavour of kool-aide you are (and how that affects your behavior, or what Pokeman character most represents you. I have taken them all (yes i'm charmander for your information) but today I took the BELIEF-O-MATIC to once and for all answer all those pesky little questions surrounding my exact denominational leadings. the results were surprising...
1. Seventh Day Adventist (100%)
2. Orthodox Quaker (92%)
3. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (92%)
4. Eastern Orthodox (80%)
5. Roman Catholic (80%)
6. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (62%)
7. Orthodox Judaism (53%)
8. Hinduism (51%)
9. Islam (51%)
10. Liberal Quakers (45%)
11. Bahá'í Faith (44%)
12. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (39%)
13. Jainism (37%)
14. Jehovah's Witness (36%)
15. Unitarian Universalism (34%)
16. Sikhism (33%)
17. Reform Judaism (30%)
18. Theravada Buddhism (28%)
19. Mahayana Buddhism (26%)
20. Nontheist (23%)
21. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (21%)
22. Taoism (18%)
23. New Age (17%)
24. Neo-Pagan (16%)
25. New Thought (16%)
26. Scientology (16%)
27. Secular Humanism (13%)
maybe that explains my affinity for Quaker oates....
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January 17th, 2004
04:23 pm
 raise the Lord! Generally speaking, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays are the busiest time of the week for me. However, the past month, I've had Fridays off, no gig, and no teaching on Saturday which gives me lots of time to rest. In fact, in the past 2 days ive probably slept about 20 hours. Somethimes the most spiritual thing you can do is get a good nights sleep.
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January 13th, 2004
12:14 am - Metanoeo
an, I really hate myself sometimes. I'll be walking along with the Lord just fine, spending time with Him in prayer, reading His word, and suddenly I just turn over and do something really horrible that I know is totally not in His will and completely break the fellowship that we've shared. I know I’m forgiven, I know in my head that through confessing my sins that Christ has already paid the price for each and every transgression I will ever make, and that His atonement is sufficient to justifyme before God's presence. I just wish that when I became a believer that the process of sanctification would be completed in a heartbeat, that I would be incapable of sinning. 2nd Corinthians 5:7 states that "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.", I can claim that promise, along with Galations 6:15 "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation. " meaning that no physical circumstances can alter that which He has freely given, that nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. In my heart of hearts I desire, above everything else, to serve Him faithfully, to give Him my obedience which he values above any sacrifice I could give. But despite what is in my spirit, my body (my flesh) is constantly at odds with my desires, and I always seem to end up doing what I don't want to do! I get really discouraged when I seem to be slipping up more frequently than when I first confessed Christ as my lord, like He had put some mantle or covering over me to protect me from myself, and that now He is slowly removing whatever protection I was afforded in my formative stages in the faith and leaving me to the not so tender mercies of my own fleshy desires.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/ford/sydnicons/Angry.gif) aggravated
Current Music: Steel Pulse: Earth Crisis
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January 9th, 2004
02:33 am - Proseuche
hat exactly is prayer? Fridays I traditionally set apart as a day of fasting and prayer for leaders of our earth’s diverse governments, for Godly wisdom for them, and for peace. I used to be pretty strict in my fasting, no food until midnight, but through my experiences with the Muslims of north India and a brief touch of practicality, I now spend sun-up till dusk without food which enables me to actually accomplish other things with my evenings. To me, denying the body food for a prescribed period of time, is a purely physical way of affecting my spiritual existence. Not that by causing my flesh discomfort I can somehow overcome it's mortal hold on my substance, or through mortification I somehow punish my body for my own sins, but rather when I feel hungry I remember "oh yeah, I’m fasting for something today, duh, time to pray." Although this purely pavlovian response is probably an affront to the multitudes of saints and fellow yoke-slaves who have suffered and spent weeks starving themselves to provide food to the poor, for me in my twenty-first century easygoing instant-gratification lifestyle it's just the ticket. But today it failed.
Today, I was off of work, and pretty much just spent my day lounging around the house, tinkering on the computer, and practicing my sorely disused violin. Although I didn't eat, it was more because I wasn't particularly hungry than from some compulsion to circumvent my physical urges to provide greater good for humanity, and I’m sure my unsteady scratching was much more of a mortification to my neighbors than my fasting was to me. I certainly didn't spend the day on my knees, meditating on and memorizing scriptures, and communing with my creator. Oh sure I intoned a few brief thank you's, and asked for protection for my wife who was a bit later returning home than I had expected, and bequeathed His ever vigilant mercy for my sins and guidance in preventing me from sinning, really I instant messaged our Lord in between other activities when I know what he wants from us is something much more intimate.
When Christ himself set out the model prayer for us to use, He certainly never intended for us to simply translate his Aramaic into English and repeat as nessicary until achieving the desired effect! However, I find that using the Lords Prayer as a guideline or the modern A.C.T.S. model of Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication to be a fairly effective way of including everything that needs to transpire between Creator and created. He knows what we are going to say before we say it, however, and so the point may be labored "why pray at all?" He did form every thought that will ever grace the passages of my frequently vacant mind, and He is after all in control of everything anyway. Knowing that the Lord is unmovable and that prayers, no matter how fervent, won't change the mind of the almighty (Moses?) then the only thing that can possibly change through prayer is me. By admitting my sins with my own mouth, by thanking the source of my every blessing and admitting His providence in all things, by putting the desires of my heart in the hands of the one who gave those desires in the first place, it is my mind which (ever so slowly) conforms to the mind of Christ.
I pray that He who began a good work in me would carry it out until the day of completion, and for supernatural wisdom for the leaders in the world whose power was administered by the Most High, and for peace: the peace that surpasses all understanding, the peace which can only come at the return of our graceful redeemer, our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen</i>
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/ford/sydnicons/Nerdy.gif) contemplative
Current Music: Hymnus Intende Qui Regis Israel
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January 8th, 2004
06:26 pm - Vespers
r. Judson W. Van de Venter (1855-1939) was an art teacher and later a supervisor of art in the public schools of Sharon, Pennsylvania. He was a Christian, and served at his local fellowship, but in his heart he sought to become known as a famous artist. As an active layman in his church he was especially involved in evangelistic meetings, and his acquaintances noticed a unique fervor which personified a special talent the Lord had hidden away in Judson's heart, a gift for reaching the lost and presenting the gospel in a compelling manor which set him apart. His friends urged him to give up teaching and become a full-time evangelist, but for 5 years he vacillated between his desire to Surrender All to Christ and to fulfill his passion to become a recognized artist. I struggle daily with a similar dichotomy. On the one hand I want to make enough money to take care of my wife, amuse myself tinkering on the computer, and advance my skills as a musician to the very physical limits which my flesh and mind have imposed upon me. And yet, my soul desires (more than anything else) to take up my cross and follow Him (Mark 10:21). The rich young ruler our Lord confronted no doubt felt a similar pull, for he had kept all the commandments since his youth (something I have strayed FAR from accomplishing even in my most pious moments) and yet when face to face Jesus offered the loving admonishment to sell everything he had and give it to the poor (die to himself daily) the youth was sad and went away because he had many wonderful things. Now I too have many wonderful possessions, such a diversity of musical instruments graces the walls of my humble cell that I could conceivably charge admission to my personal museum of treasures. My flesh shrinks at the concept of losing even one of them, and yet I know that in reality it is they which possess me. In the end, our mr. Van de Venter failed as an artist, despite his putting his heart and soul into his work, and it was this failure which allowed him to fully possess the fullness for which Christ had prepared him. Taking a full measure of his disappointment with himself, and blending it with the overflowing cup of grace our Lord extends to each of us, Van de Venter poured himself out like a drink offering into the words of a song.
All to Jesus I surrender; all to him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust him, in his presence daily live.
I surrender all, I surrender all, all to thee,
my blessed Savior, I surrender all.
All to Jesus I surrender; humbly at his feet I bow,
worldly pleasures all forsaken; take me, Jesus, take me now.
(Refrain)
All to Jesus I surrender; make me, Savior, wholly thine;
fill me with thy love and power; truly know that thou art mine.
(Refrain)
All to Jesus I surrender; Lord, I give myself to thee;
fill me with thy love and power; let thy blessing fall on me.
(Refrain)
All to Jesus I surrender; now I feel the sacred flame.
O the joy of full salvation! Glory, glory, to his name!
(Refrain)
The composer of the music for this hymn text, Winfield S. Weeden, was a long-time associate with Mr. Van de Venter in evangelistic work. On his tombstone is inscribed the title of this hymn, " I Surrender All".
Current Mood: optimistic
Current Music: I SUrrender All
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January 7th, 2004
01:11 am - Archomai
3 John 1:13 I had many things to write to you, but I am not willing to write them to you with pen and ink
'm certain that John the Elder never imagined that one day our words would be written without use of pen and ink, be distributed free in electronic format online, nor be read without aid of candle illuminating paper; but here we are. Early in life, a teacher of mine postulated that every one who ever became famous or amounted to anything in history kept a journal, not that the keeping of notes on ones life creates some spectacular effect whereby extraordinary things begin happening, but that leaving behind some memory of the day to day events provide a map of existence which is (at the very least) entertaining to read. HAPPY CHRISTMAS! Today, is the 7th of January, which to Orthodoxy is the day on which Orthodox Christmas is celebrated. Also, the day after Epiphany, which marks the traditional day that the magi visited Jesus and his family. To me, the 6th of January is a very special day, not only for the celebrations throughout Christendom, but also because my wife and I were wed on this day in 2001 in a double ceremony (along with her twin sister and husband) and my brother's birthday falls on the same day. This year we celebrated on the weekend before by staying at thePelican House Bed & Breakfast in Kemah, not 5 miles east of our apartment. First a brief dinner at the Aquarium Restaurant (where we surprised Cynthia and Kevin, Alicia's Twin) then a delightful evening sipping champagne in the foyer of the 90 year old chateaux relishing in conversation and the sounds of the bay gently singing harmony with the crickets. Now I’m not much of a writer, and my discipline is lax at best, but I intend to use this blog to chronicle my journey through this New Year. Before we were married, Alicia and I communicated with each other as much through email letters as face to face or by phone. Our hectic schedules prevented anything but the most furtive, however delightful, conversations-generally late at night. Hopefully this will be an open letter, not to one specific person, but to whomever may decide to read, and also a prayer to our Lord Jesus Christ. Even now it is my prayer that I would grow in my faith and relationship with Him who created me and my place in the world, and that in the telling you would share in my communion with and devotion to the very God who formed us all in secret in our mother's womb. As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever, AMEN.
Current Mood: quixotic
Current Music: Kyrie Sanctorum Lumen - Gloria
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