There is no secret…

~ Fr. John Chagnon ~ Leave a comment

if Christian people really wish to change the world the first step is to surrender themselves and all that they are to Christ. One of the dangers in Orthodoxy is that we often think of this in terms of being a cleric or monastic and largely this is simply not true. There is a need for clerics and monastics but there is even a greater need for Orthodox people in every walk of life to simply say “I am here and by God’s grace I will live out my holiness in whatever place and occupation I am found.”

Imagine a world in which Orthodox business owners committed not only themselves but their companies to theosis. Imagine a world where Orthodox Christians both great and humble live every day and practice the Faith not just  in their interior but their exterior lives.  What would an authentic Orthodox Christian grocery store look like? A restaurant? A trading firm? A car dealership? A household? When Orthodox start asking questions like this with the intention of action the world will change.

Waiting on word…

~ Fr. John Chagnon ~ Leave a comment

from the Holy Synod in Antioch. The joy in belonging to a global community of churches like the Antiochian Orthodox Church is sharing a bond of kinship and continuity that transcends even nationality. The struggle is that decisions, even ones that can directly affect your life, can be made in far away places and by people who may not have even visited your hemisphere.The potential for game playing and mischief is always there.

What to do? People and their ideas come and go but the presence of the Holy Spirit in the Church remains and the great Tradition of the Church, which to some can seem like an anchor, is also a powerful rudder holding us on course even if sometimes we ourselves steer hard one way or another and claim the hand of God. This is why we pray for our Bishops and pray for ourselves as well, that we may all ever be open to the authentic presence of the Holy Spirit and be ready, if needed, to stand on the ramparts in prayer ready to defend the Faith.

The last hours of my 40's…

~ Fr. John Chagnon ~ Leave a comment

are ticking away and its been a great ride. Every decade after my teens has just gotten better and better and although I miss the hair and waistline of my high school years I’m much happier here. Youth, as my father would say, is wasted on the young.

When the clocks moves past midnight tonight I’ll be on the grand journey of the 50’s and if the 40’s are any indication it should be a great run as well. The next few months will be a sabbatical and I hope to relax, learn,  and become better at what I’m called to do in the Church as I  develop what I do on stage.

I want to write more, travel more, get that doctorate. It’s good to be a grown up but I still want the kid inside to have a place to play. I feel more human now then I ever have and the moments are more precious and therefore more alive. Whatever old is I don’t feel it and the shallowness of youth has, for the most part,  passed away.

Yes, I realize there are more years behind than ahead. I see that everyday in the flecks of gray in my hair and the lines emerging on my face. Yet I plan on staying alive for however much time lies ahead and slide into home head first and safe when its all done.

Regrets? Sure. There are people from the late teens and early twenties that I wish I could apologize to for being so needy, so weird, and so hungry for a human touch that I went through their lives like a loose chainsaw. Until that time comes I often pray for them, asking God in His mercy to bless them beyond whatever damage I have done.

Joys? Absolutely! I won the marriage lottery and I’ve been blessed with family, friends, and so many good things over the years.  I’m rich in everything except money but occasionally I still buy a lottery ticket just in case. My life and my career have been spent in caring for others and it gets tiring sometimes but never gets old.  If today was my day to leave I’d be sad for things yet to do, the horizons left to explore, but I’m certainly not ashamed of living a life trying in some small way to make people’s lives better.

So tick away clock, you’d do it even if I asked you to stop, and speed me on my way.  I’ll try to make each second count and finish the race well. When my time comes I want death to catch me, wide awake, fully alive, and ready as I can be to stand before my Maker. But until then…

The President and the Mosque…

~ Fr. John Chagnon ~ Leave a comment

While there are many who will get up in arms about the implications of building a mosque so close to Ground Zero in New York City, and believe me I think it is, at a minimum, poor taste, the President is right about the principle.

The freedom to believe and practice a religion is an important value regardless of the religion involved, even ones who seem to be trying to make a statement that touches a raw nerve in the public. Westboro Baptist Church, the infamous hive of protesters with the “God hates fags” signs at funerals still has a right to exist even though I find their beliefs and practices repugnant. A mosque in Manhattan has a right to exist even if its presence is offensive as well.

Of course the politicians out to prove their politically correct bonafides by slobbering all over this soon to be built mosque bother me as well. For them this may not be so much about lofty principles of constitutional law as it is being trendy at cocktail parties and their insensitivity to the feelings of people is a sign of the times. But that’s politics. Did you expect better?

That being said I think we as Christians should be careful about asking the government to be too involved in who can worship and where they can worship. Freedom works both ways and inviting the government to curb one religious group’s functions can set a principle that could one day be used against us.

Of course if you’re really upset about the way things are in the world you could always get to church, learn and share your faith, and live a holy life in the world. That’s takes more work than simply complaining but what good is a big mosque, or bar, or strip club, or Planned Parenthood clinic if the customers are gone, saved by the grace of God?

Aloha…

~ Fr. John Chagnon ~ Leave a comment

Our 25th anniversary trip to Hawaii is being booked even as I write.  Lord willing, my dream date and I will be off in January 2011 for seven days to celebrate our quarter century together.  A week long break from the cold, my wife and I alone on a ship (imagine a vacation that’s not a church conference), and time on our hands to wander the islands.

I may get to liking this sabbatical thing.

Coming soon to a bassist near you…

~ Fr. John Chagnon ~ Leave a comment

The Ampeg Micro Stack.  Easily the most natural sounding amp I’ve ever tried for my upright bass and very easy on the back.  Now I just gotta find the money. Plasma donation time?

And yes, it does look like Rosie the Robot on the “Jetson’s”.