Happy Birthday Carrie!!

To my wonderful wife of nearly 10 years, mother of our children, and my best friend.....Happy 32nd birthday!!

I Love You!

Life in Every Breath

When you find there’s nothing special,
about that big hole in your heart.
Cause everybody’s got one;
With precious little time to talk about it


Bill Mallonee – excerpt from Nothing like a Train

Every time I hear this song I can relate to this verse. Every time I hear this song I hate the fact that I can relate to this verse.

I’ve been reading C.S. Lewis’s, The Abolition of Man, these last couple weeks, and listening to some talks by Father Thomas Hopko dealing with the book and post-modern culture.

Lewis talks about the Tao in Man. Hopko calls this the “Image of God in Man”.

Both deal with the loss of that “something” that is core to our very being.

The ultimate end….Lewis says we become “Men without Chests”…..Hopko says, “we become nothing more than a calculator and a copulator.”

We become less than human. We deny the very image in ourselves, albeit slowly over time, through reductions, compromises, and agreements.

I've noticed as I moved beyond the honeymoon years of young adulthood that the chasm between the idealism and hope of youth get washed away in a series of calculations, investments, computations, scheduling, strategizing, positioning, retirement planning, healthcare planning, etc.

I at times accept this as "normal", which perhaps is the agreement.....this is "merely" this stage of life, and this is "merely" normal....

The "putting down roots" stage of life, as is perceived from culture, seems far from Paul's call of learning to be content in all situations and stages of life, RATHER an "acceptance" of this world's plan of salvation!

Invest wisely, plan for your future, get what you deserve - privilege, power, possessions, guarantee consumption power in your golden years.....guarantee copulation power in your golden years (thanks viagra).....guarantee health, promise freedom from pain, and live as long as you possibly can with the best medication and healthcare facilities in the world..............for what?

We reduce to being "merely" human, and in so doing deny the very essence of who we are.....

Perhaps this is the battle….to become TRULY human.

Culture calls to calculate, consume, copulate…..castrate...

I am struggling to know life in every breath….to find time to “talk about it”....to become human...Lord, Have Mercy!

My daughter stills knows life in every breath!!

"The Son of God became man, that we might become god."

- St. Athanasius

Baptism and Chrismations

I am too close to this weekend still to talk about it, and honestly a little exhausted from the weekend festivities, but what a wonderful weekend. For those of you close to us in this journey, you know this has been a long time coming, and yet came at precisely the right time....more to say in the future, but pictures often tell the story better than words anyway.

Thanks to my good friend Joshua Coolman, we have some great pictures of the weekend. You can see those pictures HERE...Enjoy!

Vespers

Orthodox Vespers Service
Saturday, September 9th, at 5pm
at
St. Paul’s Free Methodist Church
with the community of
St. John the Forerunner Orthodox Church

EVERYONE WELCOME TO ATTEND

Please join us for prayer, fellowship, and a time of discussion.
Following the liturgy will be a potluck meal, and
Father Joseph Gibson—Rector of St. John’s Church— will be giving a talk on
Iconography. Time will also be available for general questions.
If you have questions or would like to help with food preparation or singing in the choir,please contact:

Eric Jewett: 618-322-8762 / ericjewett@yahoo.com
Rick McPeak: 618-567-7620 / rick.mcpeak@greenville.edu
John Massena: 618-580-6612 / john.massena@greenville.edu

Emmy Joy Jewett

Saturday morning at 3:47 am, we were blessed with the safe arrival of a little girl, Emmy Joy Jewett. She weighed in at 7lbs 5oz, 21 inches long, and had a full head of black hair. She is wonderful, and the kids are loving being big brother and big sister. Here are some sneak peaks.....Glory to Jesus Christ!

The Cowboy in Me!

I read an article today that I had to share....1) because I love the West, and would love to be a Rancher someday, and 2) despite my own love of technology, I have my own "luddite" tendencies, and this article spoke to this side of me....enjoy.

If You Own A Calf Table, Break Out A Cutting Torch

I've been known to rant against four-wheelers, though I admit I own one. Now, I'm commencing to take a shot at calf tables, which I also admit to owning.

You might think I have a vendetta against iron, but I don't. So when I preach dismantling your calf table, it's not about the equipment but what it symbolizes.

I was delivering bulls earlier this year and stopped at one of those truly great ranches, arriving just as the day wrapped up. Several of us sat down by the saddle barn under a big shade tree and swapped stories for a while.

The rancher and a couple of neighbors had just returned from another neighbor's branding and were planning to brand the rancher's calves the next morning. In our musings, the ranch owner scornfully mentioned another rancher who'd purchased a calf table. After a little reflection, I think I agree with him.

Let me give you some background. The rancher said 26 family members -- kids, spouses and grandchildren -- were going to be at his branding. It was to be a grand family get-together, with even the kids who'd left the ranch returning to take part in the annual ritual.

Where I grew up in Wyoming, these were the brandings I knew. The whole community came to help, with great food and stories. Then everyone would go to the next guy's branding. It was a system that made it a whole lot easier on everyone.

There was an unofficial code governing the conduct and duties at these brandings. The owner did the branding, and maybe one or two of his closest friends if there were enough cattle. The older/mature friends who couldn't rope were given a crash course on vaccination techniques, a syringe and a bottle. And a good hand or two was put in charge of cutting bull calves, while the younger generation served as the flanking crew.

As a kid, it was a great honor to be asked to rope a few calves at the end of the day -- a signal to the world you were growing up. There were usually a few older ranchers around who essentially had retired from branding-crew duty and taken on supervisory roles. If you were under 20, you waited for directions; if under 30, it was ok to take initiative; if you were over 40, you commanded respect as a wise veteran; and anyone more than 60 years old was just plain revered.

Brandings were as much about community, friends and family as working calves. I learned a lot at those brandings and now realize it wasn't so much about riding or working cattle as helping neighbors and enjoying a good time together. In fact, a lot of the things you learn at these gatherings you don't even realize you were learning until years later.

Today, because of devices like calf tables and other equipment we use, we can get along without as much help, but it doesn't mean we should. I once read a line in an article about the modern world we live in. It said communities, and even families, have become collections of intimate strangers.

I guess that's why I detest the calf cradle. It's a whole lot more fun to be on horseback than tipping a cradle all day. I think the world would be a whole lot better if every calf table had a cutting torch taken to it.
-- Troy Marshall

Nativity of the Holy Glorious Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist

Troparion - Tone 4

Prophet and Forerunner of the coming of Christ,
although we cannot praise you worthily,
we honor you in love at your nativity,
for by it you ended your father's silence and your mother's barrenness,
proclaiming to the world the incarnation of the Son of God!

Kontakion - Tone 3

Today the formerly barren woman gives birth to Christ¹s Forerunner,
who is the fulfillment of every prophecy;
for in the Jordan,
when he laid his hand on the One foretold by the prophets,
he was revealed as Prophet, Herald, and Forerunner of God the Word.

All Saints Day

I can remember several years ago at a Jewett Family Reunion, listening to my Uncle Russ Carlson speak about this "Great Cloud of Witness" mentioned in Hebrews 12. Certainly I had heard it before, for I was in College, but never had I experienced it like I did that day. He spoke as one who was giving account...testifying to what was and is, in words and with conviction that spoke to me on a level beyond the words he was saying. The Kingdom of Heaven was breaking through...in that moment, and I remember catching a glimpse of a reality beyond the senses or intellect..... "since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses...."

Today is a victorious day! A day of remembering and paying tribute to those upon whose shoulders we know stand. A day of gratitude and celebration, because these who have gone before are not dead, but are Alive, and surround us know as we still fight in the flesh...running this race with perserverance.....keeping our eyes fixed upon Jesus.....who for the joy set before him endured the cross....consider Him.....so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."

Here is today's Scripture Lesson:

Hebrews 11:33-12:2 (Epistle)

33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. 35 Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. 36 Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. 37 They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated-- 38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. 39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. 40 God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory Forever!

Children and Church

One of the big transitions as parents coming into the Orthodox Church was the fact that our kids come to church too!

Prior to Orthodoxy we came to church, dropped off our kids within a couple minutes of entering the building, and then picked them up a couple of minutes before leaving......it was beautiful! I have no idea what they were doing during these 2 -3 hours at the church, but I didn't care....I was able to worship!

At first it was no big deal as we were making the transition. Wyatt was just a baby and pretty content, but as the kids grew older this became more difficult. I remember being angry that I had to hold my kids for the 2 hours of Divine Liturgy on Sundays, and loathing the priest when he came to the part, "let us complete our prayer unto the Lord", because I knew we were still looking at 30-40 minutes of "completing our prayers", and I had already taken the kids out for spankings 3 times.

Don't get me wrong, I still get upset with my kids during service when they act like kids, and often I wish "completing our prayers" was a little quicker, but I am realizing more and more, that it is not so much that my kids need to change, or for that matter that the Orthodox church needs to change, but that I Need to Change!

The other day I had put Sophia down to bed and 5 minutes later still heard her talking/singing in her bedroom. She was singing the "Our Father" prayer....which.....I must confess....was the prayer I had told her we didn't have time for a few minutes earlier, after we had prayed half the trisagion, and their desire to pray was cutting into my desire to finish my projects. She is 2!

Lord, have mercy on me a sinner.

Last year at Pascha, I had to take my then 3 year old boy with me to Prothesis, the service of preparation for the eucharist prior to Divine Liturgy. Regardless, I was nervous because I was afraid Wyatt was going to act up during this sacred preparation and I really wanted to participate and observe this time. I was overcome by how "reverent" my 3 year old was during this time. I am certain he was aware of the fact, organically, that this was a Holy moment, and he just observed in utter silence and awe. He still astounds me at how he just "gets" certain things at a level I can only hope to!

Lord, have mercy on me a sinner.

Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemman, was a key influence in our journey to Orthodoxy, and this writing of His has challenged my thinking once again.

I offer this as wisdom that I struggle to disagree with, and wisdom that will force me to change my life.

Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann

Children and Church

As a general rule, children like attending Church, and this instinctive attraction to and interest in Church services is the foundation on which we must build our religious education. When parents worry that children will get tired because services are long and are sorry for them, they usually subconsciously express their concern not for their children but for themselves. Children penetrate more easily than do adults into the world of ritual, of liturgical symbolism. They feel and appreciate the atmosphere of our Church services. The experience of Holiness, the sense of encounter with Someone Who is beyond daily life, that mysterium tremendum that is at the root of all religion and is the core of our services is more accessible to our children than it is to us. "Except ye become as little children," these words apply to the receptivity, the open-mindedness, the naturalness, which we lose when we grow out of childhood. How many men have devoted their lives to the service of God and consecrated themselves to the Church because from childhood they have kept their love for the house of worship and the joy of liturgical experience! Therefore, the first duty of parents and educators is to "suffer little children and forbid them not" (Matt. 19:14) to attend Church. It is in Church before every place else that children must hear the word of God. In a classroom the word is difficult to understand, it remains abstract, but in church it is in its own element. In childhood we have the capacity to understand, not intellectually, but with our whole being, that there is no greater joy on earth than to be in Church, to participate in Church services, to breathe the fragrance of the Kingdom of Heaven, which is "the joy and peace of the Holy Spirit."

Church attendance should be complemented from the earliest days of childhood by the home atmosphere, which precedes and prolongs the mood of the Church. Let us take Sunday morning. How can a child sense the holiness of that morning and of that which he will see in Church if the home is full of the blare of radio and TV, the parents are smoking and reading the papers, and there reigns a generally profane atmosphere? Church attendance should be preceded by a sense of being gathered in, a quiet, a certain solemnity. The lighting of vigil lights before the icons, the reading of the Scripture lessons, clean and fresh clothes, the festively tidied-up rooms – so frequently parents do not realize how all these things shape the religious consciousness of the child, make an imprint which no later tribulations will ever efface. On the eve and on the day of Sundays and Church feasts, during Lent, on the days when we prepare ourselves for Confession and Communion, the home must reflect the Church, must be illuminated by the light that we bring back from worship.

And now let us speak of the school. It seems self-evident to me that to organize so-called "Sunday School" lessons during Divine Liturgy is in deep contradiction with the spirit of Orthodoxy. The Sunday Liturgy is a joyful gathering of the Church community, and the child must know and experience this long before he is able to understand the deep meaning of this gathering. It seems to me that the choice of Sunday for church school is not a very good one. Sunday is primarily a liturgical day; therefore, it should be Church-centered and Liturgy-centered. It would be far better to have church school on Saturdays before the Vigil or Vespers service. The argument that parents cannot and will not bring children to church twice a week is merely admitting indolence and sinful negligence of what is important to our children. Saturday evening is the beginning of Sunday and should be liturgically sanctified just as much as Sunday morning. Why, in all Orthodox churches the world over Vespers or the Vigil is served on the eve of Feasts and Sundays. There is no reason why we too cannot arrange our church life according to principle: School—Vespers—Liturgy, where School would be for children the essential preparation and introduction to the Day of the Lord, His resurrection.

Jack David Jewett

This weekend our family has taken on some new titles...Uncle, Aunt, and Cousins! My brother and sister-in-law, gave birth to their firstborn son at 12:48am on Saturday morning. Jack was 7lbs 1oz, and 19 inches long, and has strawberry blonde hair. God Grant You Many Years little Jack!'

30 Years

This post is a little late in coming, but here are some pictures of the 30th birthday celebration my wife through for me last weekend. Enjoy!

Welcome to Miami

Just getting back in the groove following the annual sales and awards seminar in Miami, Florida, and the first Training seminar for the software business our company began a few years ago. We stayed at the historic Foutainbleau (?) resort on Miami Beach, where I found out that the movie "Goldfinger" with Sean Connery as James Bond, was filmed years ago. I will have to rent that movie.

It was mostly work while we were there, but managed an hour on Sunday to jump in the ocean for a little bit, and spent a couple late evenings after the conclusions of the days events relaxing at a quiet oceanside pub. It was nice to be sitting outside in January at 11pm in short sleeves.

We drove down due to all the equipment we needed for the seminar we hosted on Wednesday, and drove back that night, through the night, getting back to Illinois mid afternoon on Thursday. We did however get to relax for a nice dinner before we rushed out of Miami.

The Rusty Pelican on Key Biscayne just off Miami, looking back at the city, was the Restaurant we dined at that night. It is historic in my life, because this Restaurant was one of the backdrops to Carrie and my dating days. The first trip to Miami we were dating and falling hopelessly in love, and the second time down, I proposed to her....and she said YES!! On both occassions we stopped at The Rusty Pelican for a romantic dinner, and to this date if you mention that restaurant to one of us a flood of emotions and memories come back.

Of course it wasn't quite the same with 4 guys....sorry fellas....but it was just like I remembered it 10 years ago, and the food was just as good!

Here are some pictures from The Rusty Pelican, and looking over the bay at downtown Miami!

Extreme Devotion

At work today I had a salesman stop in with the St. Louis Post Dispatch. He was trying to sell me advertising spots in there newspaper, and I was doing my best to politely get rid of him. After convincing him that what he was proposing was not meeting my market needs, we began to discuss the Friday Buisness review which seemed to fit more closely with our demographic in the commercial/industrial market. It was during this part of the conversation that he made a statement that has stuck with me all day. He said, the average business executive reads 4 newspapers a day, and that is normally done between 4 and 5:30 am in the morning, so that by 7:00 am when they are sitting in there office(he referred, "like yourself"), they are up to speed with the world today. Wow...are you serious? Of course I played along like the statistic was probably true for us...."executives"...., but....you've got to be kidding me!

What Ascetism! What Devotion! I mean, I 've read stories of this stuff, but it is usually by Monastics! As a generalization I would say the paths take you in extremely differing directions, however the Passion is compelling.

Here is something I was reading tonight in The Orthodox Way, by Bishop Kallistos Ware. In light of this we were talking at coffee this morning about being "enlightened" to something new, be it a word, or circumstance, or thing, and then all of sudden you hear about it everywhere. I guess I had this experience in light of the spiritual journey in regards to my conversation with the newspaper salesman.

" The endurance required from one who climbs a mountain physically is required likewise from those who would ascend the mountain of God."

- Bishop Kallistos Ware

" God demands everything from a man--his mind, his reason, all his actions...Do you wish to be saved when you die? Go and exhaust yourself; go and labour; go, seek and you shall find; watch and knock, and it shall be opened to you."

- The Sayings of the Desert Fathers

All moments...

Particular quotes tend to resonate with me. I qouted Henri Nouwen a couple posts ago, but here are 2 more I am "chewing" on.....Lord Have Mercy!

"All moments are in this moment"
- C. S. Lewis

"Wherever you go, have God always before your eyes; in whatever you do or say, have an example from the Holy Scriptures; and whatever the place in which you dwell, do not be quick to move elsewhere. Keep these three things, and you will live"
- St. Antony of Eygpt

St. Macarius of Egypt

Today the Orthodox Church commemorates St. Macarius of Eygpt

I first learned of St. Macarius by accident, as a Free Methodist Youth Pastor, studying Wesleyan theology on a J-Term class. I was writing a paper on the Wesleyan understanding and doctrine of Entire Sanctification. I was looking for a “link” with Wesley from which he drew his understanding of Entire Sanctification. After searching the archives of the FM World Headquarters and driving all over Indianapolis to libraries in search of finding the sources of some documents, I discovered Wesley’s link with St. Macarius. He was an avid student of Macarius’s 50 spiritual Homilies, and much of his understanding of Sanctification came from Macarius teaching on Theosis.

John Wesley says of Macarius, “Whatever he insists upon is essential, is durable, is necessary. What he continually labors to cultivate in himself…is the real life of God in the heart and soul.”

I probably particularly resonate with Macarius partially because of this link that ties the heritage of my years as a Wesleyan to my journey into Orthodoxy, and largely because he was such a “champion” of the faith. What a spiritual giant, not because he never had any troubles to overcome, but because he fought all his life and always remained steadfast in his faith and love of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Over lunch yesterday I finished reading a book on the life and virtues of St. Macarius. I read about his final years of his life on earth, and then an exhortation from his “spiritual children” exhorting the reader to emulate Macarius as he “emulated” Christ.

It was said that the brethren when they came to Macarius would always go away encouraged. I re-call one story of Macarius in which a fellow monk had fallen into some sin, of which Macarius was aware. Macarius went to visit this man, and the man did not want to let him know about it. Macarius, rather than condemning, talked to the man of his own struggles with the same sin. The man finally felt comfortable to share his struggle, and Macarius helped restore this man. What a man of compassion, humility, and love. I guess I feel the same encouragement and strength that this man felt, and hopefully the ability to open myself more to God’s healing and forgiveness.

Holy Father Macarius, Pray for us Sinners!

Troparion - Tone 1

Dweller of the desert and angel in the body
you were shown to be a wonder-worker, our God-bearing Father Macarius.
You received heavenly gifts through fasting, vigil, and prayer:
healing the sick and the souls of those drawn to you by faith.
Glory to Him who gave you strength!
Glory to Him who granted you a crown!
Glory to Him who through you grants healing to all!

Kontakion - Tone 4

The Lord truly placed you in the house of abstinence,
as a star enlightening the ends of the earth,
Venerable Macarius, Father of Fathers.

St. John's Weekend in Greenville

Wow, what a weekend! That may be as deep as I am going to be able to get right away. It has been an intensive weekend of prayers, friends, catechism, ecumenical dialogue and worship with St. Paul’s Free Methodist Church and many students from Greenville College, Sunday morning prayers, more teachings, food, and lots of good fellowship.

"Active waiting implies being fully present to the moment with the conviction that something is happening where we are and that we want to be present to it. A waiting person is someone who is present to the moment, believing that this moment is the moment."

- Henri Nouwen

New Years Eve PIx

What a great New Year's! Friends, Kung Foo fighting, Diso dancing, Poker, lots of laughs, food....a lot of fun! Happy New Year!