kristinsdóttir

Have you heard about Artist’s Trading Cards? I’ve been making some, all (so far) with an Orthodox Christian theme. I have no idea with whom I’ll trade them, but I figure I’ll make some and a trade will materialize. If not, I’ll just line ‘em up and enjoy them myself.

A teacher at a juvenile correction facility had his class create ATCs and had this to say: “What a concept! Here was a project that enabled me to teach aspects of design, collage, and multi-media with virtually all scrap materials. An added bonus to that was the possibility of my students being able to trade their creations with other artists and art students from around their state, their country and the world. To the average art student in a secondary school, this would be a treat. To my students, who are all incarcerated in the prison system of the Indiana Department of Correction (DOC), it’s much more than a treat. It’s a way for them to be part of something positive…”

Marjorie Corbman is young, a freshman in college at the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts. She became Orthodox at the same time I did, Holy Week of 2005. Yet she’s just written a book, A Tiny Step Away From Deepest Faith, that got two rave reviews in my latest copy of The Handmaiden. I can’t wait to read it.

The purpose of the Jesus Prayer Project is to expose as many people as possible to this simple, powerful prayer. So far, over 20,000 Jesus Prayer bumper stickers have been distributed free of charge. The stickers look exactly like the one you see here.

If you would like a free sticker in order to participate in theJesus Prayer Project, send a stamped, self addressed envelope to:

T h e J e s u s P r a y e r P r o j e c t
P. O. B o x 1 8 1 3 5 4
D a l l a s T e x a s
7 5 2 1 8 - 1 3 5 4
U S A

A very thoughtful young man who visited the monastery in Goldendale last weekend had these insightful words to say about his sojourn:

“The women I saw there do not adorn their bodies with anything glorious. They possess nothing that is designed to get anyone’s attention, but instead are dressed in all black, loose-fitting clothing that work, practically. Rather, they adorn their hearts and souls in love and prayer, in grace and devotion to our Father. And from what I observed, our Father has, in turn, made these women beautiful to behold, at least in my eyes. Possibly the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen. But it’s not because they apply anything physical to themselves. It’s inward, and therefore it can’t help but end up eventually, naturally, organically, spiritually outward.”

Nicely said!

As anyone can see from a cursory look at my blog, unlike those nuns, I’m a worldly woman preoccupied with appearances, and trying, trying to remember how unimportant mere appearances are to God!

Yet I delight in beautiful things.

I would like to find more ways to use my ‘artistic’ eye to create things that will point people to God, rather than simply adorning myself and my surroundings…

I’ll pray I can.

(the illustration above? It’s the cover of a book created by calligrapher Timothy R. Botts, who uses his talent to brilliantly illumine the words of the Bible)

“If what you’re wearing today isn’t making you happy, why the hell not? Life’s too short for boring miserable stopgap clothing. Don’t wait until you lose weight, or until you get married, or until you get that next job. Do it now. Grab every opportunity for joy that life affords you. A dress like this would be a good place to start.”

Though the dress she likes wouldn’t be my choice, I agree with what Erin (A Dress a Day) says! Certainly what we wear can’t “make us happy” – but feeling good about what we wear seems reasonable.

The mission of Orthodox Christian Cassettes is to record, archive and make available audio cassettes and CDs on all aspects of the Christian faith in the Eastern Orthodox Tradition. They both loan and sell tapes, and they have 500+ messages by more than 50 speakers on over 50 subjects.

My first rental CD should arrive soon; I asked for “Presenting Christ to an Unbeliever.”

I was just having a chat with a nice fellow who’s a disaffected Episcopalian (if you’re reading this and I’ve mis-labeled you, let me know!) … the term “Holy Tradition” came up in our conversation.

What is Holy Tradition in the Orthodox Church? “Holy Tradition, of which Holy Scripture is a part, includes the writings, teachings, acts of the apostles, saints, martyrs, and fathers of the Church, and her liturgical and sacramental traditions throughout the ages, the oral tradition of the early Church and the decisions of the Ecumenical Councils. All of this collective wisdom and experience through the centuries are combined to form this second great source of sacred authority.”

This whole concept, or the weight we give it, anyway, is very difficult for your average 21st-century intellectual to accept.

Indeed, there are so many things about Orthodoxy that are completely antithetical to what many of us grew up believing!

If only the Orthodox mindset were more…I don’t know … contagious!

But I’m wishing for the impossible, aren’t I? “For many are called, but few are chosen.” In this or any age, people have just not beaten down the door to become Orthodox.

But this is the kind of unfocused rambling I can’t afford on my lunch hour! Back to work!

Once every month (on the third Thursday), I read a story to adults (handcrafters plus whomever else is interested) at the library where I work. This month, I’m considering reading a story by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, but I haven’t decided yet which one.

I was inspired to look up more about him, as I know very little.

Solzhenitsyn “penned this essay in 1974 and it circulated among Moscow’s intellectuals at the time. It is dated Feb. 12, the same day that secret police broke into his apartment and arrested him. The next day he was exiled to West Germany. The essay is a call to moral courage and serves as light to all who value truth.”

Solzhenitsyn’s own description of his life, written at the time he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature (1970), can be found at NobelPrize.org.

Blessed Hieromonk Seraphim Rose said Solzhenitsyn’s was a typical Soviet life, and outlines his message to us.

The ROCA site calls Solzhenitsyn “a prophet for today.”

The New York Times titled a review of a 1998 biography of Solzhenitsyn “In Exile Wherever He Goes…”

Andrea Valentini has created some very cool stuff, including this bracelet shaped like strands of DNA. Buy one from Uncommon Goods or more cheaply from Amazon.

Oh, dear. Help. I spend a couple of unsupervised hours on the Internet and this is what it comes to.

Quick! What’s the Saint of the Day?

Orthodoxy is a good place for me. If I can just quit wandering off into our nutty mad-consumer culture!

“You see, therefore, that one who loves only to spend time enjoying himself and does not think of self-denial and self-sacrifice, but continually wallows in every possible fleshly pleasure and delight is completely un-Orthodox, un-Christian…” Archbishop Averky of Syracuse and Holy Trinity Monastery

DNA testing to determine your ancestry seems so interesting, but I think I’m susceptible to its allure because I am functionally scientifically illiterate.

Sigh.

Better save my money.

It is cool, though, isn’t it?

Again with the double photos….sheesh. And the earrings? That’s a “classroom project in the shape of a DNA earring. To more effectively understand the structure of DNA, biology students create a sparkling double helix from glass beads and a piece of string…”