"Tight lines" is a blessing fishermen offer each other, a wish for lines taut with the weight of good fish. May God grant that the lines written here be taut with His blessings.
Friday, 13 March 2009 | |||
|
Fools for Christ | |||
|
O.K., here it is, Friday before I wrote the first blog entry
on this week's text
I Corinthians 1:18-25, and here I am writing another, just because I
can't resist saying a bit about the Russian Orthodox institution of the
"Fool for Christ." My own personal foolishness. In Russian Orthodoxy there's a long tradition of saints who occupied a very specific sort of role identified as a "Fool for Christ." These were Christian ascetics, who often went about partially unclothed, engaged in somewhat bizarre behavior, and seemed to have social license to speak direct and uncomfortable spiritual truths, even to the Tsar. They often appeared to be insane, some probably truly so, others feigning madness for the sake of their "ministry" as holy fools. So, anyway, today I came across one of these characters whose title I had not heard before. Blessed John the Hairy (more often known as the Merciful) was remarked for bearing a copious head of hair. He had no permanent home, suffered great deprivations, and exhibited humility, patience, and a life of unceasing prayer. Here's a Russion "kontakion" (a hymn) in John the Hairy's memory: By distributing your wealth to
the poor, O John most wise, Seems like one could do worse
than go down in memory as a hairy, generous, merciful, fool for Jesus. God help
me, I think I probably only rate the first title (and not because of my head)
and I'm certainly a fool.
You gained the wealth of heaven and were called the merciful one: Therefore we honor you and celebrate your holy memory! | |||
|
Profile |
I am the pastor of Valley Covenant Church in Eugene, Oregon. I love to flyfish and hike along the beautiful rivers in our area. I welcome your comments as I share sermon work in progress and occasional other thoughts.
Thank you for visiting this blog. I invite you also to visit my web page.
|
Blog Posts |
Archives |
|
|
SurgeMail - Blog Server Software |
Windows Mail Server Software |
UseNet News Server Software