Army vs Navy

Sitting here on the couch, doing schoolwork--the Army/Navy game is on. Just noticed the back of the Army jerseys say: Duty. Honor. Country. Say that out loud with minimal pauses at the periods--I wonder who the brainiac was that came up with that!

Misc.

Thanksgiving--have the day off, plan to do more schoolwork.

Kids have been playing Guitar Hero--Symeon (3) sings: "I love rock and roll / Put another ??? in the Juicebox, Baby. . .

Spent a few days going behind a repairperson from Handyman Connection to fix his or her screw-ups. Never, ever, hire this person for anything. Among other incredibly non-handy accomplishments, he or she installed a roof vent boot ON TOP OF THE SHINGLES! Might as well install a funnel with a sign saying: Here, Water, this is the quickest way to the bathroom ceiling.

Spiritually struggling; over-busy. (I've yet to learn the fine art of saying "No, sorry, I do not have time.")

Another stack of books awaiting my free time--next summer, perhaps.

Gregory, the new one, is now pulling up on everything, grabbing everything, sticking everything in his mouth, etc.

Ah, I did manage to read this last night from Wendell (while secluded in my private study, if you know what I mean):

Best of any song
is bird song
in the quiet, but first
you must have the quiet.

Amen, brother.

And I almost forgot--NO ONE has more to be thankful for than I do. End of story.

We live by mercy

I'm far behind in my schoolwork, but I decided to take a little break for some Wendell Berry. I like this stanza from his "Amish Economy"--

We live by mercy if we live.
To that we have no fit reply
But working well and giving thanks,
Loving God, loving one another,
To keep Creation's neighborhood.

In A Timbered Choir. Wendell is the man. Can I get an Amen?

It is we who have suffered

I've been thinking about these words for a few days:

God is searchlessly great. We hear and read of His greatness but it is quite another matter to live it, this greatness. No one and nothing can in any way diminish His eternal Sovereignty but He, even God, made Himself lowly to a degree that we cannot understand: in our frail flesh He attained absoluteness. Now I know from my own experience: He hungers for our perfection. In sanctioning our grievous struggle against the enemy and against our own selves in our fallen state, He would have us victorious. If we do not abandon Him in the worst moments of our humiliation by the enemy, He will most certainly come to us. He is the conqueror, not we. But He will attribute the victory to us, because it is we who have suffered. (Fr. Sophrony, We Shall See Him as He Is, p. 84)

Short revisit of Clouser and the Cappadocians

I really don't have time for this right now, since I have final papers due this weekend and I'm running a little behind, but I felt I should mention what I have found out concerning Clouser's view of the attributes/energies of God. (Perhaps more will follow later, but I wouldn't count on it!)

As I have read further in his book The Myth of Religious Neutrality, I am frankly confused about his position on whether God's energies are created or uncreated. He makes a distinction between three different definitions of the word "created," and I find it is possible on the basis of this distinction to read him as agreeing (mostly) with the Cappadocian/Orthodox view on this. Clouser doesn't come right out and says that God's attributes, though distinct from his nature, are fully divine, and I see this as a weakness (and perhaps a serious flaw) in his thinking. But I was hasty in my previous post on this topic, and I thought honesty demanded I admit that. (The first section of my previous post stands as written, however.) Sure makes my paper that much harder to write!!

Even after 8 kids

Proud Daddy

A huge slimy slug, he crosses the floor
leaving slobber trails for the unsuspecting
barefoot traveler, constantly grinning
as if he already knows the joy of
a well-planned practical joke. How can this
wriggling bundle of spit and skin provoke
such profound love in me, bringing me
out of myself? He can't even say my name,
yet I know him and he knows me, and the
bond of our souls is beyond speech. As I
lean close to his dimpled face all heaven
breaks loose; like the chorus of a thousand
angels his smile drowns out all chaos, and every
gloomy thought vanishes is the radiance
of breathtaking innocence and beauty.

Now here's something interesting

I wrote a paper for a literature class this session on Hawthorne's short story "The Minister's Black Veil." That turned out OK, but my professor gave us the additional assignment of putting together a PowerPoint presentation to go along with our paper. I was having a problem finding a picture of a minister with a black veil--yeah, I know, you'd think with all the crap on the Internet someone would have a picture like this, but nothing doing. So, with the help of my son (the photographer), my black leather hat, a black overcoat, and a couple of well-placed tissues--The Reverend Mr. Hooper comes to life!