Jacob Gorny Studios
908 SW Gaines St
Portland, OR 97239
About Jacob
Privacy Policy
Terms of Use
30
2008
An apology - "What God wants is tied to what I give, and not to what I want."
I suppose that it is in the midst of brutal pummeling and pain that we are shocked out of our slumber – we wake up to why we are being beaten.
This weekend I think that my soul has been hit more than just about any other time in my life, and perhaps it’s because the same place is getting hit over and over – it’s like laying down on train tracks and being run over… after the first few you just start counting the cars.
10
2007
The Anti-Christ: Make yourself at home
As people start seeing lots of war and strife and difficult national and international issues, a lot of folks begin asking questions about the end times. Are they here? Are they around the corner?
I have already written a brief article on this topic, but I never really got to the root of the anti-Christ issue and I think it is a valuable topic to discuss in light of the fact that a lot of people are going to become ‘targets’ for fundamentalist groups of all sorts – some with a cultic persuasion will rally behind someone who they believe is going to rise to power and become the ultimate force in the known world. Others who are paranoid will lash out against any sort of person or situation that seems to mimic (intentionally or not) the progression of events played out in Revelation or their respective characters.
28
2006
Denial Is Not Just a River in Egypt
Over the past – well, let’s say 10 years or so – I have been exposed to a lot of transitional circumstances and situations. A lot of places where nothing was ever designed to be permanent, and yet at every moment in time, every single person who has been there has wanted things to stay just the way they were – forever.
The party – and the show – must go on.
28
2006
About last night...
It is probably one of the most unusual and awkward moments – the moment when you realize that in a room full of friends you are a stranger. This was a common moment of disorientation in college return trips back home – not so much because any one person had changed, but because there was this barrier of uncertainty. We had lost touch and had not had time to catch up.
I felt this way when I went to a recent meeting with a number of the young people from our church. I am still not exactly sure why I went – mostly to hear where folks were at. What I heard at the start was silence.
27
2006
Break a coin this Christmas
It’s funny. Every year I have gotten these gold chocolate coins. I remember tearing through the bag growing up – it was chocolate and baby oranges.
Well I was sitting here at my desk and I have always hated eating these things because they are so hard to get out of the foil! I mean you sit there and you look at it and you start peeling around the edges and you finally get one half of the foil off. Then you sit there trying to dig your nails around the foil embedded in the side and it takes like 3 minutes just to get the foil off…
13
2006
Conclusion, Future Hopes
A parish community can suffer the same fate, albeit on a grander and more complex scale. My hope, and the reason I maintain faith in the possibilities of the future, is that through responsible presentation and honest accountability to the gospel, those who are from these rich liturgical and cultural traditions will learn the futility and danger of pursuing pleasure. They will learn that pleasure is, as Solomon says, ‘vanity of vanities’ and that the fear of the Lord and following His lead should be our highest pursuit.
This is the earliest apostolic tradition, and it was one that the church fathers were adamant to defend and support. One should remember that before all of these beautiful things appeared in our churches, we were the ones who went into the cities and fed the poor, who built hospitals, who gave people alphabets and languages, but most importantly, we shared the life given to us through our faith in Christ and our dedication to bring the peace and love of the grace of the Father to all of creation.
13
2006
Pleasure Seekers, Life Givers (1 Cor 6:9-10)
In fact, St. Paul often lists the types of people who will not inherit (or receive) the kingdom of God, and yet one has cause to wonder – did he mean they would not be allowed, or that they would not be interested? A brief look at this list (1 Cor 6:9-10) of seemingly arbitrary sins can be more easily understood and interpreted when they are distilled to their single common denominator – pursuit of pleasure:
- Fornicators – those who pursue pleasure without a sense of obligation
- Idolaters – those who pursue pleasure in material objects
- Adulterers – those who pursue pleasure in defiance of their benefactors
- Homosexuals/Sodomites – those who pursue pleasure in possession of the idealistic forms of the human body (note that this applies to all orientations in the present day)
- Thieves – those who pursue pleasure without paying their share
- Covetous – those whose desire for pleasure incites unhealthy pursuits
- Drunkards – those who pursue pleasure at the expense of a balanced mind
- Revilers – those who pursue pleasure at the downfall of others
- Extortionists – those who pursue pleasure at the expense of the ignorant or powerless
While St. Paul could easily have legalisticaly quoted each of the passages in the Torah stating the laws against such behaviors – addressing their physical manifestation, he takes things a step further and draws the psychological roots of these sins together as being against the culture of the Kingdom. This connection is designed to point the faithful in a direction that is in accord with the rules of the established kingdom – the following opposite roles are therefore acceptable and will inherit the Kingdom:
13
2006
Creating Beauty, Consuming Beauty
The challenge is always that in surrounding ourselves with more and more beautiful and pleasurable things, we will find ourselves drawn into their pursuit more and more. This pursuit drives us further and further away from encountering God, receiving His grace and love and turning around and giving it where it is needed. In these cases, the ‘beauty of the house’ detracts from the preparation of the banquet and the process of extending the banquet to the streets.
One might say that a person who lives according to the gospel and communes in a full relationship with Christ takes what they receive and CREATES BEAUTY. A person who lives according to the flesh, seeking out what is pleasurable and noble to their own sensibilities is CONSUMING BEAUTY.
13
2006
My Own Device Dependency
When I was in college – before entering seminary, I used to have a lot of icons in my room. I would look for them on the internet and print them out – I’d go to the wax machines in the journalism office and wax them so I could put them up on my wall and I had a whole iconostasis there – like a little church almost. I used to burn incense a lot as well, and listen to some chant tapes. I had a lot of things there to remind me of my faith and make me feel comfortable at Whitman, which was not known for being sympathetic to conservative students.
During that time I hit some really low points and found that in many ways, the symbols of the faith were not helping me – they would create a sort of unusual attachment to hope – almost leading to a mechanical expectancy that because I had all of the implements of the faith in my possession, I would be kept safe from harm and would be assured success. Jesus was with me, right? He’s right there on the wall to remind me. And the theotokos, she was protecting me. She’s up there too… and the angels, and the fathers… everyone was with me, how could I fail?
13
2006
Christian Hedonism and Orthodoxy
This is not a force easily reckoned with, in the early church or today. The danger that we face in the midst of such a rich set of liturgical and cultural traditions is that the pursuit of pleasure too often eclipse the donation of life – to the point that the gospel itself is embraced on the basis of the joy and peace that it maintains. The life received is then absorbed by the believer, not put to use through good works.
In the west, this issue of Christian Hedonism has come under heavy fire – primarily because it transforms the Church into something designed to please the congregation, rather than something which gives praise to God.
13
2006
The Challenge Hedone poses to 21st Century Orthodoxy
When I was at seminary, there were many people who questioned how I could possibly have such a strong aversion to certain elements of Greek culture while also claiming to maintain an Orthodox Christian viewpoint and desiring to one day become a priest in the GOA. “The two are inseparable,” I have often been told. “Whether you like it or not, you are a Greek and you are one of us – the church is inseparable from the culture that gave birth to it.”
My response to their objections have always begun simply, “The scriptures represent a culture all their own – the culture of the prospective Kingdom of God. In the face of all earthly wisdom, it establishes a universal monarchy of God-like generosity – an endless process of supplication and distribution of the love and grace of God throughout all of creation. There are aspects of Greek culture – in fact, every national culture – that are not compatible with the Kingdom of God. Were this not the case, the nation who followed the model would quickly become recognized as heaven on earth.”
02
2006
Brief Revelation - the 4T Rule
After having survived my ten year college reunion – which was quite marvelous at the end of the day – I was driving back and found that four words kept echoing in my mind with regard to change and transformation of anything involving human quirks and character.
I dubbed it the 4T rule and it is something that takes a lot of personal pressure off of me when I feel like the quality of things around me (or things I am trying to accomplish) do not live up to the image I have of what they should be.