Random Thoughts

I don't know why on earth I keep writing, but there are many things that need be said, and sometimes it can be a lot when the inspiration hits and you have to find an outlet to express it.  I have done year-end perspectives already, philosophized until Descartes was almost resurrected, and have been on this continued piecing-together of my story which has gone on now for a number of years.  So, what is left?

Today is the eve of Christmas Eve, and as I am writing here I can say it has been intense this past week.  In addition to Christmas preparations, there was the Archbishop's visit at church, a Metaphysics exam, and I was interviewed by Chelsen Vicari at the Institute on Religion and Democracy in Washington, DC, about the prevalent liberalism which has emerged in the Religion Department of my alma mater.  This latter issue has caused somewhat of a buzz, and I have drawn some fire from people who take issue with what I said - that comes with the territory, and exposing error at a large institution will get you attention to be sure.  And, although I have managed to handle the feedback for the most part, it has also been exhausting - you find out quickly when you write on-line or your name has public exposure that not everyone is going to like what you have to say (go figure, right?).  At the same time, there is this conviction from deep within that tells you "this is right!" and it encourages you to stay the course.  It may mean sacrificing friends (I lost a few over it), but if they were true friends they may have tried to understand your position.  Some other friends feel more action is needed, and may be encouraging you to take some bigger steps that may be beyond what you can handle - one of my friends of many years, a pastor and practicing attorney out on the West Coast, suggested for instance that the faculty of said university should be reported to the district office of the church denomination which operates the university, and although I would agree that some accountability is necessary, there are some things to consider with doing something like that.  For one, if a pastor of a church or a professor in a denominational college is teaching outright heresy, there has to be documented proof of it in order to proceed with a measure like that.   Second, although I know for a fact that some things at that university are being taught that shouldn't be, and have heard it with my own ears, there are others who sat in those classes (many of whom, in my estimation, have not been properly taught the essential beliefs of their own religious tradition) who think that what the professor is saying is gospel truth, and they would easily start hurling stones at me instead - that is a big battle to step into by yourself.   Third, it is also factual that I am not a member (nor have I ever been) of that particular church denomination, and their officials would probably be less likely to take that as seriously.   At this point, the best policy would be to sit tight and let this one play itself out - those who are teaching incorrect agendas will eventually get theirs anyway, so there is no need for me to even fire the proverbial shot on that one.  The thing about something when it is wrong is that the person (or persons in this case) who is responsible for it will eventually snare themselves, so it is a matter of timing - so, I just smile, go on about my business, and take a "wait and see" approach on it.

As mentioned when I did my year-end perspective a couple of weeks back, I have had three books published this year - two bound copies and an e-book.  I am not planning on doing as much writing in the next few years save the occasional articles due to the fact that I am probably going to be very busy with graduate work and that has a lot of time invested in itself.   It doesn't mean I will be stopping all writing for good, as I will on occasion write some articles and such.  However, bigger writing projects - such as new books - will have to wait.  At this point, we are also planning a move in the near future, as I will be doing my Ph.D. work in Naples, FL, and we are anticipating that within the next couple of years as it will only take about 16 months to complete the MA I am working on now.  Suffice to say,  I have a busy few years ahead!

I just wanted to drop a note, and as I wrap it up I only want to say that I hope each of you reading this has a blessed Christmas season, and also keep in mind why we are celebrating it - it is not about Santa Claus, but is about a small child born in a smelly barn two millenia ago who changed many people's lives - and, not just any child, but God Himself come in the flesh to institute a purpose that would allow us to be reconciled to Him.  For those of you who may be Christians, these final couple of days of the Advent season are also a time to reflect on your own story of Christ's work in your lives - don't ever be ashamed of your testimony, because every story of God's working in a person's life is a precious thing, and it is one of your most valued gifts God has given you.  So, God bless, and will probably see you all again in 2015.

Stravinsky, Chord Organs, and Metaphysics

As I was sitting here the past couple of nights writing some journal entries, a lot of thoughts flowed into my head about so many things.  It has been a pretty intense couple of weeks for me actually as I write this - I have been getting ready for a Metaphysics final exam (which I took yesterday - fingers crossed I passed it!), I have caught some flak over an interview that I had regarding some of the theological liberalism going on at my former university, and the holiday rush has also been quite evident in our household - all the decorating, baking, candy-making, etc. So, I just had to take a step back, smell the proverbial roses, and recollect myself a little.  That being said, I want to share some insights that I organized out of my past few journal entries for your edification, although I had not planned on writing anymore this year.

First, let's talk a little Metaphysics.  One thing about studying Theology at a Catholic institution is how much Philosophy you are expected to learn, and so far I have had to do two prerequisite classes this year for my major - one was Philosophy of the Human Person, and the second was Metaphysics.  I finished the Human Person course a while ago, even getting a pretty decent grade in the course, but this Metaphysics course has royally been kicking my butt!   Surprisingly though, it is not the content that is a problem - it is actually quite good.  The actual issue is the professor of the class almost expects you to have the equivalent of a Ph.D. dissertation by the time you finish the course - it is just a prerequisite!  But, despite challenges, I learned a lot, and in the near future I am going to synthesize a lot of that into a separate writing those of you who subscribe to my Sacramental Present Truths site will see.  Summarily to say however, I now understand why we need those Philosophy prerequisites - they aid in a great way in making people more well-rounded in their faith, and that is a good thing.   That being said, I want to preface the rest of this discussion with a little something from that course.

The primary text for the second half of the course was a book by Fr. Norris Clarke entitled The One and the Many, which is a primer on contemporary Thomistic metaphysics.  Written in 2001, this book essentially takes the question of the "one and the many" and it breaks it down in such a way that it is more digestible.  And, being Fr. Clarke is a Roman Catholic Jesuit priest who taught Philosophy at Fordham University for many years before his repose a couple of years back (as well as guest-lecturing a lot at Franciscan, where his good friend and my former Philosophy of the Human Person professor, Dr. John Crosby, serves as program chair - Dr, Crosby is a fine scholar in his own right, by the way).  However, it is weird that Clarke taught at the same university as another less-savory individual, Merrold Westphal, whose book Whose Community, Which Interpretation was used as a text in a Hermeneutics class at my former university - Westphal is a postmodernist who essentially believes that Nietzsche and Marx are "prophetic voices of Christendom" (read it on page 140 of his book) and in thought he is as far removed from Clarke as Texas is from Alaska.  Any rate, the one thing that stood out in Clarke's text and will provide the focus of some of my discussion today is found page 7 - Clarke on that page talks about distinguishing Metaphysics from religion and Theology, but in doing so he notes that many early theologians (notably his predeceased influence, St. Thomas Aquinas) were simultaneously philosophers, and he notes that their guiding principle was the fact that God has spoken to us in two great books.  The first he called the Book of  Nature, which is where natural reasoning comes into play and nature bears witness of God directly.  The second is the Book of Revelation, which would essentially be Holy Scripture (although he elaborates that it also is deeper than even Holy Scripture).   Clarke contends that both "books" have the same author, but Revelation perfects nature - if I were to put that into theological language, it is this - the Book of Nature would be equivalent to God's rhema word, while the Book of Nature would be more of a Logos.  Again, I will elaborate more on that when I get to the writing on Sacramental Present Truths later, but I mention it here to provide a groundwork for the discussion.  To take all this to a more personal level, each of us has our very own Book of Nature that is being written on practically every day of our lives, and when you read these articles I have posted here, you are actually reading some excerpts from my own Book of Nature.  Of course, the perfecting part comes from our conversion and acceptance of our free gift of salvation in Christ, who in his person is the ultimate Book of Revelation, according to John 1.  Again though, that is getting into theological writing for another time.  Today, I want to now focus on this whole Book of Nature from my own perspective, and what I have come to understand about it, and then I want to talk about some specifics.

For years now, I have been working at writing down so much about my own life story - it has been a journey of self-discovery.  This started somewhat back in 1996, when going through a rough patch I decided to keep a journal.  In October of 1996, I recall, just before writing in my journal that night Mom had come over to visit, and for some reason we were talking about our old dog Jill from years ago, and it sparked in me something that initiated a project - writing down my memories as detailed and specific as I could remember them.  That resulted in a series of journal entries that spanned about a year and a half - it took me all the way up to April 1998 or thereabouts - and later in 2006 I began to rewrite those stories into their own volumes - they are sitting here as I write now in about 5 full spiral-bound notebooks.   Out of that comes a lot of the articles you have been reading here for the past five years or so.  There are still gaps I am filling in with much of this stuff, and it is supplemented by a host of pictures, genealogy paperwork, and other things.  As all of this gets into my head, it comprises what I call my "master book" which one day I want to just type, print, and bind for my own edification after I get through all my schooling and begin to come to a place where I can devote time  to doing so.  I would not call this "Master Book" of my own life necessarily my personal Book of Nature, but it does comprise a significant part of it.  Much of what you have read in recent years - my recipes, my memories of specific individuals, etc. - come out of that "master book" though in some aspect or another.  This is something now though that I can definitely begin to give form too thanks in part to Fr. Clarke's insights, and that is why I wanted to mention it.  Many stimuli go into evoking the memories that make up my "master book," and those can include a musical piece, a book I have read in the past, some people I have met and gotten to know over the years, or other things.  And, that sets my stage today for talking about a couple of things I have thought about the past week or so.

First, a question - do any of you fellow old geezers over 40 like myself remember a small musical instrument called a chord organ?  It was a small, portable keyboard instrument invented by the same company that created the Hammond back in the 1950's, and at one time they were pretty popular due to their portability and ease of learning.   It was simpler than most organs though in that it only had a single keyboard and a set of chord buttons to supply melody .  At one time in my early teens I had 3 of them, as they were relatively easy to find at most junk stores and yard sales (you could pick up one for about $5 actually).  In sound, they more resembled an accordion or a harmonica, but they were good to learn how to play basic tunes and you could actually learn to play piano from one.   

An electric chord organ similar to the ones I had back in the day.

I used to pick around on it then, and as I became more serious later on about its potential, I actually learned to play a tune or two on one.  I kind of miss having one of these around, and perhaps I should do some looking.   According to this article I read on Wikipedia, the chord organ is used by some new musical school called "minimalists," which originated with Danish composer Hennig Christenson in the 1970's and utilizes simpler instruments like harmonicas, xaphoons (a bamboo saxophone-type instrument), recorders and such.  I am not really up on that stuff or really into it, but I think that something like a chord organ has potential and would not mind having another one.  

The second point of today's musings has to do with a composer whose works I really appreciate, Igor Stravinsky.  For some reason this past week I got this overwhelming urge to pull out my copy of Stravinsky's work Petrushka and listen to it - Stravinsky composed this around 1909 or so, and it is essentially based on a Russian folktale similar to "Pinnochio" about a puppet that comes to life.  It is a wintery composition, and has been one of my personal favorites since I was 17 years of age.  Stravinsky is a composer I also got to appreciate at around that point in my late teens, as I recall wanting to find out more about his 1913 ballet le Sacre du Printemps (or, The Rite of Spring). When this ballet first debuted in 1913, it was so controversial that it caused riots, but it is actually a beautiful musical score although somewhat melancholy and dark.  A large part of the early hoopla of this piece centered behind the story that inspired Stravinsky to compose it.  In the late 1800's, a movement swept Russia called Pan-Slavism, and it was a sort of cultural renaissance in the Slavic roots of Russian culture.  Stravinsky I believe was influenced greatly by that, and as he researched historical data, an ancient pre-Christian pagan Slavic fertility rite that actually involved a human sacrifice got his attention (I want to say this was associated with the ancient Slavic idol Perun, a storm deity, but could be wrong) and he composed a ballet based on that.   Some wags over the years - including some over-zealous fundamentalists such as Texe Marrs (my warning -stay away from this character, as he is racist and bases much of his own theology on weird conspiracy theories!) - have misinterpreted Stravinsky's writing of this to mean that Stravinsky was somehow encouraging paganism and he has even been accused by less-informed people of being "pagan/anarchist" himself, which is a frank absurdity.  The reality though, as Dr. Alvin Schmidt writes in his book Under the Influence - How Christianity Transformed Civilization (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001) on page 332, was that Stravinsky was devoutly Christian, having undergone a heart-felt conversion at age 26, and his two core convictions can be summed up in two points:

1.  "The more one separates himself from canons of the Christian Church, the further one distances hinself from the truth."
2.   In order to compose religious music, one cannot be merely a believer in "symbolic figures" but must believe in the real person of Jesus Christ, the fact a real Satan exists, and what he called "the Miracle of the Church." 

I don't know about you, but it sounds like Stravinsky had a vibrant faith to me!  Sure, he was not perfect - he did love his vodka, like any good Russian - but at the same time his ideas on sacred music are something that many in the so-called "Contemporary Christian Music" industry should pay attention to!   The mystery in all of this, however, is this - why would a devoutly Christian composer like Igor Stravinsky write a ballet about a pre-Christian Slavic sacrificial ritual?   I believe there are two explanations for this.  First, let us look at the chronology - Le Sacre du Printemps debuted around 1913 or so, when Stravinsky was about 31 years old.  He would have been relatively young in his faith then.  That being said, he also noted in a 1920 interview that the music dictated the story, and as he was writing the score this vision of a solemn pre-Christian pagan ritual came to him.  Composers are inspired by both good and bad things, and a composer writes based on that information and it has no bearing necessarily on the composer's own convictions, strange as that sounds.  Also, it is worth noting that the avante-garde (for the time anyway) character of Stravinsky's work, not its story, is what set off the uproar when it first debuted.  For most people reading this, all of this has little bearing, but I do have some more conservative voices that read these articles, and the point was that Stravinsky was telling a story, not preaching paganism - there is a huge difference.  And, when I hear le Sacre, I don't really envision any pagan ritual at all - it is a beautiful and moving piece of music that evokes for me instead the folktales of my youth, as well as feeling the winter morph into spring, and I can even see some of the drama of the Orthodox liturgy or the coronation of a czar in the music.  There is a distinctly Russian character to the music that actually touches my own soul, being a descendent of St. Vladimir, Prince of Novgorod, myself.    And, that is probably why I like it so much.

When I first got into Stravinsky in my junior year of high school, le Sacre was one of the first works of his that I was able to get to know in its entirety, although thanks to my senior-year English teacher, Mrs. McConnell, I also was exposed to his other works, in particular The Firebird and the aforementioned Petrushka.  The thing I remember though about it was the summers at home those years - we took care of an old lady named Myrtle out on a farm on Salt Lick Road south of Terra Alta, WV, and I spent many days foraging woods for stuff like wild garlic, which I would then experiment with recipes - my main thing in those days was a rather spicy concoction I made out of stew beef that only I could eat, and although now I see it needed some work (I have come a long way in my cooking since then!) it was a relaxing hobby I did when I wasn't involved with church activities or my itinerary with the high school marching band.  It was at the same time that I became interested in Eastern Christianity, and the beginnings of my involvement with the dear Assyrian people can be traced back to around that time too.  It was an exciting point in my life when I was younger, more idealistic, and I had great ambitions for what I planned to do.  There are many days I miss that early enthusiasm of my youth, as it is an important part of my own Book of Nature, but that is why I am writing all this in the first place.  Also, my recent studies at Franciscan are starting to call me back to some of my own early Christian roots, and I am realizing that as a Christian (even when I was a very young one) I have had my greatest intellectual development.  The more vibrant my faith, as a matter of fact, the more hungry for expanding my own intellect gets.   And, that is what all this is about - "studying to show myself approved."  

I hope you don't mind my ramblings today, as they have been verbose, but I needed to share.  May you all have a blessed Christmas season, and may God grant you all a blessed 2015 that lies just ahead of us.  

The Year in Review

The year 2014 was quite a busy one for us, and there is a lot to talk about.   There are many milestones to document, as well as a lot of other things.  And, it has been a year filled with ups and downs, new opportunities and a few setbacks, and mostly, it has been busy.  This also marks the end of our 5^th year doing the blog thing, and who would have thought that the combined content of Sacramental Present Truths, David’s Mountain Memories, and David’s Culinary Page would at this time end up being about a thousand pages!  I have managed to take that whole content and publish them into an e-book that is available at www.lulu.com.  In 5 years, I may do it again – we’ll see.  And, I will be talking about where we are going with that shortly too.

Personal Year in Review

As I have said, this year has had its share of both challenges and blessings, and I want to do a summary of those now as it relates to our lives personally.

To begin, I am unfortunately not having as much luck with work this year, being that I am essentially only getting temporary/contract positions as I have the past couple of years, and those can be quite sporadic.  Although we are OK financially, the bottom line is some extra income would not hurt us any at this point, and hopefully in 2015 things will change for the better.  I would say that if my total work time is summed up this year, it would be about 3 months actual.  However, having some extra time to work with has helped me accomplish some other stuff, which is a plus.

2014 was also my second year of grad school too, which is still progressing well as I have transferred to Franciscan University of Steubenville and it is so much better – I have regained a passion for learning, and although my coursework is all distance education, it is rich with a lot of new insight.  I will be talking more about that later.  In addition, this is the year I have published 3 books and an article in a theological journal, and that too is quite an accomplishment on my part. 

Onto other developments, we have had a collapsed ceiling in my home office this past spring, and the landlady also had to replace the a/c unit during the heat of the summer months – the week in August we were without air was the closest thing to hell I hope I ever have to experience, as summers in Florida are extremely humid.  Additionally, this year in September my mother had to give up her place, and as 2014 draws to a close she has been living with us.  With her health issues and this, I am a little concerned for her, but fortunately she is being taken care of by the Veteran’s Administration, whom we anticipate will be assisting her with several things soon.  All-in-all, Mom’s stay with us has not been bad, but at the same time she’d be better off in her own place, and I think that is what she wants too as she is fairly independent-minded.

Now that I have given you the gist of the year, let me now get into the specifics.

Graduate School

My work toward my Master’s degree is progressing well, as now I feel somewhat liberated after transferring to Franciscan University of Steubenville at the beginning of the year last January. Southeastern University, where I had initially taken some coursework, has totally gone a negative direction and I just didn’t feel comfortable going there anymore.  To put it this way, the difference between the two universities is like night and day, as now I feel like I am really getting an education instead of being forcibly indoctrinated with liberal agendas.  Of course, it has been somewhat challenging, in particular the various Philosophy pre-credits I had to take, but it is actually good stuff – I learned another dimension of my own faith, and that Philosophy and Theology are not in conflict, but rather complement each other – the only real difference is that Philosophy has to do with what one thinks, while Theology has to do with what one believes.  And, I have had a whole new area of theological and philosophical discipline opened to me, of sound scholars like Henri de Lubac, Hans Urs von Balthazar, Romano Guardini, and novelist Flannery O’Connor.   Learning some new things and incorporating them into my own belief system has been enriching, and I feel now as if I can authoritatively write theology in a way that I never could before.  And, that has me looking eagerly forward to the next coursework!

Also, I now have a clear-cut plan for my Ph.D. work too – it turns out that I may be able to enroll at another good Roman Catholic institution in a couple of years, Ave Maria University in Naples, and will be in good hands to finish up my education once and for all in about 5 years.  The scary part of this however, is that I will be 52 years old before I do that – oy!!  However, the best thing to do is enjoy the ride and learn all I can, because it is rich material and a stellar educational experience.

Writing Projects

I mentioned that I have had some books published, and this year has been a busy one for that as well.   Back in February, I was able to finally get my first book – a study on Ephesians – to the publisher after finishing the draft on it last year.  The book is entitled Unity in the Body and Sacramental Devotion, and although the first edition was not overly impressive – I had to scan the hard copy as a pdf document to submit it to the publishers, so it’s got mixed fonts, no page numbers, and a lot of grammatical errors.  I am planning a revision of the text next year in order to make it look more professional, as soon as a figure out how to convert my original draft to edit it!  I anticipate though that it will be a good resource to teach others.

My first book, published in February of this year (2014)

My second book was another project that involves close to 25 years of research, as there are denominations and fellowships I wanted to publish a church history book about that many “mainstream” scholars have chosen to ignore.  When I published it in July though, there were a few things I was unable to add at the time as I was still waiting on some other material, but most of that has gotten here now and I plan a revision of that next year as well.  The title of that one is Where Two or Three are Gathered – The Small Fellowships of the Highways and Hedges, and it definitely looks more professional than my first book, as I did this one right.  It has nice footnotes, uniform font, and it just looks really good – once the final information is added in my revision, it is going to be even better.   I anticipate this one to have a little more exposure than my first volume, as it deals with more historical information.

My second book, published in July of this year (2014)

My other publishing venture was somewhat smaller, but was my first this year.  A friend of mine who is a traditionalist Byzantine Catholic priest, Fr. Jack Ashcraft, attempted to publish a theological journal but for some reason it didn’t go.  The publication was titled Watchman Theological Journal, and it only had one issue in the winter of this year (2014).  However, I had an article on Transhumanism published in it, which is my first serious theological publishing venture.   The article I submitted was originally a class project for a graduate-level Theology of Ethics course I had taken back at the end of 2012, and it garnered so much interest that I decided to publish it for a wider audience.   Thankfully Fr. Jack gave me the platform to make that happen, and for the first time I have an actual published article in a serious academic context!  I hope to do more of this type of writing in the future, as another old friend, Dr. Robert Paulissian of the Assyrian Academic Society, is encouraging me to write more and submit some material to him as well.  We’ll see what happens next year.

The issue of Watchman Theological Journal my article was published in (2014).

Summarily speaking, it has been a busy year of writing, and I forgot to mention the “blog book!”  That one is only going to be available to a limited audience as an e-book, being it is over 1000 pages, but hopefully I can get it published as a hard-copy volume for my own use.  It is entitled Five Years of Ramblings, Musings, and Other Masterpieces – The Blog Collection Vol. I, and it is big!  I wanted to put all of my smaller articles together in one volume, and this was my way to do just that.  Additionally, I have also included some photos of my artwork and other stuff I have done over the years, so it acts almost like a portfolio of my entire creations.  If I get that one bound, it will be limited as to who can get it, etc., as it will serve as a sort of blueprint for other projects I have in coming years.

Although 2014 was a busy year for writing for me, I don’t anticipate doing much more large-scale writing projects until I get my graduate school and doctoral studies completed.   Mainly, I am confining myself to blog articles and revisions of work I have already done, as school and other commitments may hinder any plans for writing anything else.  However, I am anticipating a book in the near future that would pretty much embody my theology and political perspectives, but we’ll see where we go with that later.

Church Work

2014 has also been a busy year for church work, as I am entering soon my fourth year as a licensed Lay Reader with the Anglican Catholic Church, as well as serving a second year as delegate to Diocesan Synod and now in 2015 I have also been nominated by the diocese to go to Provincial Synod, which fortunately will be in Athens, GA, in October.  However, the big news was that this year at Synod I was elected by pretty much a unanimous vote to be our diocesan Deputy Speaker of the House of Laity.  I am still not sure what all that entails, but as I understand it, if the Speaker (who is Jack Kylander from Chapel Hill, NC) cannot make it for some reason, I am next in line to preside over the House of Laity assembly at the next Synod – oy!!  I only pray Jackie stays in good health!  However, that aside, I have been really blessed with being part of the ACC Diocesan Synods representing our parish the past couple of years, and it is good getting to know the extended ACC family, as they are truly a great group of people – both our clergy and laity are some of the best, and Archbishop Haverland is a phenomenal blessing as the spiritual shepherd not only of the Diocese, but of the whole First Province of the ACC, which pretty much covers the entire globe except India, which is the Second Province.  My church work is also tied pretty closely to my studies at Franciscan University too, as I hope to serve the ACC better in future years as a lay theologian or catechist.  I had originally thought about ordination, but maybe that is not what I am supposed to do.  Of course, things could change, so we’ll see.

My Record Collection

I would not have a complete report this year if I didn’t deal with my musical library and its growth.  Unlike in past years, I have not focused as much on acquiring new material, although I did get some this year (including the entire “Molly B” polka Christmas specials she broadcasts on RFD-TV).  I did manage to buy a few vinyl items (mostly gospel) but for the most part it hasn’t been a very active year.  As we come to year’s end, my collection now stands at 1190 CD’s, 903 LP’s, and 96 DVD’s.  However, I have a new development that I wanted to talk about, because that has increased the collection a little too.

There is a lot of good music online, both through Youtube and another service called Soundcloud, but the problem all these years has been trying to find a way to capture it.  In the past few months, I have discovered that I can download Youtube videos, convert them to audio MP3’s, and save them on audio CD discs.  I have managed to rack up several recordings of those, which I don’t include in the statistics I listed earlier, and that too is a great little accomplishment.  In addition to saving a lot of this on discs, I also have discovered the miracle of the flash drive, and have reserve copies of the various “playlists” I have created on those too.  It is a great way to get quality music without a lot of investment.  Of course, there is work involved in doing this, as I want to create suitable album covers for my newly-created discs, but finances have restricted my printing capabilities although I can create the covers easily.   I will eventually have a lot of work printing and cutting out covers for all those discs, which number about 30 now, and that may be a task for next year once I have ink to do the job.

I am not anticipating a lot more buying up of recordings for the collection, as for the first time in a long time I feel like I finally have that vintage big band collection I have always wanted, and have even dreamed about since I got into this stuff at the age of 10.  I will no doubt get some new CD’s, and maybe even a few vinyl items, but not near the scale I have in the past.   It is now time to just enjoy this great collection and maybe even find a way to utilize it to work for me – education maybe?   That is definitely something to consider that is for sure.

Where Do I Go From Here?

It is now at year’s end, and I am both optimistic and frustrated a little as I am writing this.  A lot of things have challenged me this year, from some former co-workers looking down my nose because I don’t travel as much to badly-misinformed in-laws falsely judging my graduate school endeavors.  I am ready for a major shift to occur – in the positive – for me to forge ahead with what I am supposed to be doing, but making that happen is often not the easiest thing when you have limited resources to work with.  So, I wanted to talk about a few things that have been on my mind recently.

To begin, this new education at Franciscan University has opened up for me a whole new dimension of things – I now appreciate philosophy better, and I am being enriched as far as theology is concerned.  I am chomping at the bit to get all this new stuff digested, and then be able to formulate some new material in my writing that will hopefully benefit others.  As is the case though, it is a lot to absorb, and my head literally swims with a lot of stuff that I need to channel and organize, and I am praying for help to do that in the coming year.  I also need a source of revenue to fund things, as I want to begin to include field research in my studies and make the material I produce even more accessible to others.  This is especially true as I begin to incorporate some of the better things I am learning from both personalist philosophy and metaphysics, and as I read these great thinkers like Norris Clarke and Romano Guardini, I want to utilize the things they have to offer and incorporate them into my worldview, but how do I do that?   This is perhaps the greatest struggle I have in the year to come, and perhaps I would be best served if I reached out to some individuals who can help me channel all this stuff in such a way that it becomes productive for me.  Mostly, though, I need open doors – my prayer for the coming year is that those will become accessible to me.

A large part of my own writing thus far has been an expression of my own collective experience – I often envision a “master book” of my story from which I can write and apply to so much, and my goal is to make that “master book” a tangible reality one day.  I have in the past few years done more contemplation about who I am, where I came from, and have also sought to incorporate various components of my own past in such a way that I can present a fuller picture of myself.  Mom has unwittingly been a great blessing in that regard, as we sit often during the mornings talking about certain things over coffee, and it provides some fill-ins of gaps I may have in my own recollections.   Good friends, relatives, and former classmates from years ago that I have recently reconnected with on social media have also been a great asset in that regard too, and these people do not know what a tremendous blessing they have been.  In the past year, I have not indulged in as much family history or anything as I have previous, but I have begun to get many of my own materials better organized for the eventual bigger project when the time comes to get it on paper.  I only hope that everything will come together with almost a symphonic harmony so that I can leave a legacy for future generations to follow.

Conclusion

Well, there you have it – 2014 in review for me!   There are probably other things I could have included but didn’t.  However, you may see some missing material in future blog articles if you keep track.  May all reading this have a blessed 2015 as it dawns, and will be seeing you around the cyberspace arena!

On The Recent Elections and Other Issues

Well, it has been one week down since the rather memorable midterm elections, and the Democrats sure took a whuppin!  The fact is though that so much over the past few years has failed - the economy hasn't gotten any better, and Obama is bucking for the distinction of being the absolute worst President in American history.  I am neither Republican nor Democrat, but to be honest if either is to be in office, I would much rather it be Republicans for the most part.  However, my own politics are somewhat more radical than many, and I want to talk a little about my own political history.

Over the years, I have come to the conclusion that neither the Democrats nor the Republicans represent me personally - the Democrats are often too much for big government and special interests, while the Republicans are often for large corporations.  Other than Mitt Romney in 2012 (which was more of a protest vote than anything) I have never voted for a Republican Presidential candidate at all.  And, other than Dukakis in 1988 (the first year I ever voted, and it was a mistake on my part!) I have also never voted for a Democrat for the President.  Most of the people I have voted for in the Presidential races have been independents, beginning with Bo Gritz in 1992, Pat Buchanan in 2000, my own party candidate Kurt Weber-Heller in 2004, and Alan Keyes in 2008 (I didn't even vote in 1996, because that was one of the most boring elections I had ever witnessed - Bill Clinton vs. Bob Dole - and I don't even remember the independents who ran then).   Independents seem to speak more of my own language, and conservative independents are my voting preference.  This conviction was one I carried over to the gubernatorial race this year in Florida, as I refused to vote for either Scott or Crist (reasons I will discuss momentarily), and instead voted for the Libertarian candidate Adrian Wyllie, whom a good friend in Virginia made me aware of.  I didn't agree with everything Wyllie stood for obviously, but of the three vying for the mansion in Tallahassee, he was the best choice to me, plus he was honest.  Sometimes one has to concede some things on a candidate's platform in order to have a viable voice at the polls, and so it was with Wyllie.  Also, even if there is not 100% agreement with a candidate on certain issues, these things tend to work out when one votes for other things on the ballot.  A good example of that this year was Amendment 2, which was proposing the legalization of marijuana in the state of Florida.  I personally opposed it, but Wyllie supported it.  Another is the whole "gay marriage" issue - I oppose any effort of course to recognize same-sex unions, whether they call them a marriage or not, due to having a strong Judeo-Christian conviction which upholds the traditional definition of marriage as being between one man and one woman.  However, Wyllie was open to the idea.  It goes to reason therefore that sometimes even the best candidate for public office will not always see eye-to-eye with you on some issues, but the bigger picture is the fact that the guy you are supporting may be the best choice to represent you in government, and therefore the other things can be worked on later.   And, as mentioned, there may be other issues to vote on in the election that will balance the vote too.

As for my own political convictions, I can be defined as a paleoconservative, and by party affilliation I have been actively part of the Christian Falangist movement in the US, which dates back to the early 1980's.   As a paleoconservative, I have developed a pretty specific platform over the years of where I stand.  Essentially, I am for small government, but paradoxically I am also a monarchist.  I also support states' rights, small businesses, and would also advocate between a balance of supporting total self-sufficiency and good environmental stewardship - for instance, I have no issues with the proposed Keystone Pipeline being constructed, but have a bigger issue with too much condo development and such on Florida's wetlands.  I also would advocate for tax reform (the IRS needs to be put out of its misery, as does Obamacare and other big government abominations) as well as a lot of deregulation of things that are over-regulated.  I also would say that schools need to be turned back over to the private sector, and government should not have as much sway over what kids learn as it does.  As a very important issue too, I would strongly recommend term limits on Congress, as some of those geezers have been in there way too long and are becoming career politicians more interested in their own bank accounts rather than serving the people they are supposed to represent, and that is not acceptable.  The idea of mandating more traditional values - including complete religious freedom for all, as well as allowing public displays of one's faith without fear of reprisals - as well as doing way with a lot of bogus litigation and this whole "political correctness" nonsense - people should be able to speak their minds without fear of reprisal from someone whose feelings may get hurt.  If you are that big of a wuss that your feelings get hurt over the use of the term "Black," then maybe you need therapy!  It is just ridiculous as to how much of this politically-correct thought-patrolling has permeated society, and that needs to end.  Any rate, that is where I stand politically, although a complete manifesto would take up much more volume.

That rant being vented, let us now remember that today is November 11th, the traditional observance of Veteran's Day.  Both of my parents are Vietnam vets, and despite other issues in their lives, I can say with all sincerity that I am proud of both Mom and Dad for their military service, and this is their day.  Our vets need prayers, as unfortunately there is a new generation of hostile people coming up who seem to love to villify vets, and that needs to stop as well - if those idiots have an issue with someone serving their country, then they can find another country to live in and not let the door hit them on the butt as they leave here.  I am sick of the lack of patriotism among people today, and two instances in particular got my blood boiling in recent years.  In 2009, Barb finished up a certification program for her work at a local technical college in Clearwater, and at her commencement ceremony of course the Pledge and the National Anthem were said and sung respectively.  Traditionally, when the anthem is sung or the Pledge is said, you salute by putting your left hand over your heart,  Many of the brain-dead idiots sitting in that auditorium that night didn't even bother to get up, much less show respect, and that is a disgrace.  I know you unfortunately cannot punish stupidity, but if I had the opportunity I would have horsewhipped every person in there who didn't even have the good manners to stand for the National Anthem.  Is this what our nation is coming to?   A second incident I have talked about before, and that happened in a Hermeneutics class at my former university just two years ago.  Instead of teaching Biblical hermeneutics like his students were paying him for, he went off on a 20-minute rant about why it is wrong to have an American flag in a church!  Personally, I thought that whole discourse - from a man with a Ph.D. yet to boot! - was uncalled for, as the flag is in a church as a reminder to pray for that nation the church is located in.  These attitudes in recent years have just had me flabbergasted, as I come from a generation where the opening of the day in elementary school was reciting the Pledge of Allegiance and then singing as a class something like "My Country Tis of Thee."  Most of these kids today probably wouldn't even know how to do either honestly.  However, it is ironic that the same kids that are too stupid to know the words of the Pledge of Allegiance sure know how to carry revolvers to shoot their classmates with, and that warrants almost a whole other discussion in itself.  Again, though, I have ranted enough.

As we face a sort of new beginning in this country, with solid Republican leadership in the Congress as well as the fortunate possibility of getting rid of one of the most corrupt characters to hold the office of the President since the 1920's when Harding was in office, it gives me hope for the first time in a long time.  Soon, it may be possible to have gas prices under $2 again, and to have a better employment rate in this nation.   However, as the voting public, we have the responsibility of making sure that our duly elected officials don't just run their mouths, but rather get things done.  This election made a lot of statements, and one statement is that the career politicians had better get their butts moving or they will face a firing.  The time has come to reclaim a nation that rightfully belongs to us, and we each have a responsibility to make sure that happens.  God bless until next time, and again, thanks to all those vets who served their country, defending the rights of people like me to say things like this.

Thoughts As I Reach 45

It is really hard to believe I am going to be 45 this coming Sunday!  As I think about that, I wonder, "where on earth has the time gone??"  This last year has been one of many challenges, but also of many triumphs, but I wanted to reflect on some things today that I have been pondering and that have been on my mind recently.

To begin, today I got involved in this really intense discussion with a former co-worker from some years back, and one thing that really irritated me about that discussion is the level of arrogance people have sometimes.  This particular person is a naturalized American citizen - she is originally from Argentina - and although overall she is actually not a bad person, she is also so misguided.  For one thing, she is enamoured with the big city  - the bright lights of New York in particular dazzle her.  And, she is well-travelled as well.  Her serious shortcoming though is this - she thinks the "best" of America is found in the big city, and to her the travels (or experiences related to them) make her some sort of authority on life.  I want to address this bad misconception briefly, because I have some reflection of my own that this sort of triggered.

To begin with, experience is a good thing in itself - we all have experience as part of our personal stories, and the experiences we have give each of us a level of incommunicability that is unique to us personally.  Over the years, I have become fond of that passage in Romans 8:28 - "All things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to his purpose."  This entails our experiences as individuals - everything we face, good and bad, is meant for the purpose of bringing us to where God wants us to be.  The compendium of that experience is what is called our testimony, and it is a precious gift.  However, experience alone does not make us intelligent (although it helps make what we are educated in more practical) but it must be accompanied with study, feeding the intellect, and also learning how to incorporate those things we learn into our own lives.  My friend misses this whole idea by infinity when she basically says that people who don't travel like she does are somehow not as "enlightened" as she is, and that is where she fails as far as the test of using her experience responsibly goes.  One thing about an individual testimony - it is not something you lord over someone as better than them, nor is it something you use to be arrogant or stuck-up with.  If you do resort to those measures, then there is a deficiency in your own thinking.  To explain how experience and knowledge work together, let me tell it this way.  A baby who touches a hot stove experiences getting burnt - OK, the stove will hurt if I touch it, in other words.  But, it must also be understood that at some point, that baby has to learn why the stove is hot and what makes it hot, and that is knowledge.  The two together constitute something that seems to be lacking in much of today's society, and that is common sense.  So, while experience is good, and much can be learned from it, it is also imperative for us to nourish our intellects in other ways too, and then make it all work together.  If you can do that, you are truly a well-rounded individual.  Also, this common sense helps in adaptation to a situation - the more you learn about what you both experience and study, the more useful it comes when situations may arise which call for putting those things learned into practice.  And, that is the lesson my dear Argentine friend and former co-worker needs to learn.  It has taken me a lot of years to come to that conclusion, as like her I was once young and cocky and thought I had answers to everything - I found out really quick that I didn't!  Now, at 45, I have learned to distill that common sense into something else - wisdom.  And, I still have a long way to go, I know - we all do.

This intense little debate with my Argentine friend did get me thinking about something though - it is that time of year when I reflect on what my life is, where it has been, and where it is going.   The older I get, the more specific that reflection becomes.  Let's have a recap of my own experience - here I am, from a small West Virginia town first off.  I have a diverse heritage, as I am simultaneously a descendant of Charlemagne, German Anabaptists, Conversos, American Indians, and French Huguenots, among other things.  Despite having a rich bloodline,  I also grew up with a single mother, and I grew up very poor.  Unlike many other Gen-Xers, I also went to a 3-room elementary school, and in high school I was taught Latin, German, and was reading things like Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, Alexander Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo, and the philosophical writings of Reinhold Niebuhr (some of these kids today are lucky if they learn to read a comic book properly in today's schools, much less classic books like those!).  After accepting Christ as my Savior at the age of 16, within one year I was teaching Sunday School in my local church and was deeply involved in denominational affairs of my church at 18.  Unlike a lot of kids my age, who preferred KISS or Michael Jackson, I listened to Guy Lombardo, and began collecting vintage big band records at the age of 10 - by the time I was in my teens, I had refined my tastes even further to incorporate Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps, Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring, Jean Sibelius' Finlandia Suite, and Ravel's Rhapsodie Espagnole into my musical preferences.  I also grew up a part of my childhood having to use an outhouse (my grandmother's house didn't have plumbing in those days), acquiring a taste for groundhog, poke greens, deer and squirrel, and at one point when I was really young my mother and I were so poor that we slept in the living room and used the oven for drying clothes, cooking, and heating the house simultaneously.  Also, I have spent many a childhood night being warmed by a wood stove, taking a bath in a metal tub filled with water heated on that woodstove, and I had to split a lot of firewood and kindling.  At another low point in our lives, I was able to make sure my mother and I survived by raiding the neighbor's gardens - we ate a lot of fried cabbage, corn on the cob, boiled potatoes, and fried zucchini and cucumbers that year!  I learned from an early age too about what roots and herbs could be found in the woods for food or medicine, and I still to this day have a lot of uses for wild onions I used to dig up in the back yard!  In short, growing up was hard, and by all the statistics I should not even be where I am today - I have a bachelor's degree, am working on a master's, have three published books, and so much more!  But, by God's grace here I am!  Yet, I made a conviction many years ago to never forget the fact I grew up a poor, small-town West Virginia boy, and I came as far as I did because God ordered my steps.  But, there is more.

Over the years, I have had the privelege of meeting political activists, bishops of churches, famous authors, and even a famous Grammy-winning polka artist, and many of these people I still keep in touch with today.  I have also gotten to know a lot of fascinating people over the past 45 years of my life - I know Assyrians, Gypsies, Armenians, Lebanese, South Indians, Copts, Greeks, Macedonians, Slovenes, Serbs, as well as the stories of many of my own teachers and venerable old ministers, not to mention a few corporate executives (not overly impressed with some of them!) and the owners of many small mom-and-pop establishments.  I have memorized maps, encyclopedias, and cookbooks, taught myself how to cook like a gourmet chef, and I now know at least 4 languages that I work with on a regular basis.  I have accomplished much in that regard!  And, for my Argentine friend, I too have traveled - I have been to at least 25 of the 50 states, and lived in 5 of them, and I know my history well.  All of this is me over the past 45 years - I am (or have been) a minister, an educator, a paralegal, a culinary professional, a genealogist, a historian, and a budding theologian.  And, for those who may have doubts about what I say, I have a shelf of binders over to my left as I am writing this which chronicle everything, as I have saved every paper, church bulletin, everything - not to mention about 20 years of journals and 25 years of calendars.  So, I am also an archivist in my own right too.

This small-town West Virginia boy has proven many wrong before, and I will continue to prove them wrong for years to come, as my best years may be yet ahead.  I don't claim perfection, but I do know who I am.  My Argentine friend lacks this knowledge of herself - she betrayed that in her objectives - she wants to "liberate" herself from her past, and she wants to pursue dollars, and her affinity for the big city and the establishment has colored her perception.  It is really sad when someone like that goes that direction, because there is so much they miss out on.  Also, she shows a lack of desire for the real America, instead idealizing her version of the "American Dream" in the bright lights and big city life - what a rich tapestry she is denying herself, getting to know the small towns, the highways and by-ways, and the fact that diversity of the American landscape rather than the cookie-cutter conformity of the big city is what made this nation great.  Which leads me to some other things I am proud of too.

I am thankful for my humble beginnings, although they were a challenge - they gave me character.  I am also thankful for having two parents who are both Vietnam veterans who served their nation.  I have a good marriage, going on 23 years, to a great and godly woman.  And, I have legacy - a rich family tree, a meaningful story of my own, and the appreciation for my roots that continues to unfold the more I find.  But, through it all, I am also thankful that I have not been sidetracked by dollar signs to the point I forget who I am and where I came from, unlike so many.  Today, it is as if this culture wants to be severed from anything about its history, and too many kids are growing up dumber today as a result, not to mention being spoiled rotten by parents who failed to instill that into them - it is a scandal!  That is why I grow more thankful as I get older that I was able to document and preserve so much of my own roots, and I feel I am a better person for it.

I am also amazed too at how some people don't harmonize their thinking with factual information - this Argentine friend today was culpable in that regard.  We got into a discussion about the origin of the American Indian, and I brought up Dr. Dennis Stanford's Solutrian Theory (which states that the ancestors of the American Indians may have come from different places, including a part of France where they migrated to America over or adjacent to an ice shelf) and she essentially told me that due to her experience meeting Indians in Peru or somewhere, and externals, they are all the same to her.  It is interesting how people come up with this stuff, despite DNA research and other things by capable genetic scientists which cause us to rethink history every day.  This mentality limits people, and it is sad.  I only hope she does have common sense enough to examine the evidence for herself, although she thinks her experience is superior to reading the works of capable authorities who have researched this stuff - again, experience is good, but is not an end in itself,  I am starting to get into soapboxing, so I will digress from that at this point.

I have reflected enough tonight, as the hour is late and I am tired, so at this point I leave you.  As I turn 45 in a couple of days, I am anticipating another interesting year ahead as I continue a course I know God has laid out for me.  I only hope and pray the best for others as they follow their predestined course too.

My Old Elementary School

Although I am a Gen-Xer, most people would find it hard to believe that I went to an actual 3-room schoolhouse in West Virginia at my age.   However, I actually did, and it was a rich part of my personal legacy.  I wanted to spend some time talking about that now, as it has been a major impact on my own life and I wanted to share it with others.

In 1980, I finished up my fourth-grade school year on a very good note, and at that time Mom and I were staying with my grandmother in Augusta, WV.  However, Mom was anxious to get her own place, and a couple of years earlier a co-worker had introduced her to a wealthy lady by the name of Nellie Cox in the nearby community of Kirby, and after contacting her, Mom was able to rent a 2-bedroom single-wide mobile home in Kirby itself.  It was quite a transition for us, but it was also the beginning of a 5-year part of my own life in which I would forge much of the identity I have today.

My first introduction to Grassy Lick came in September 1980, when I began school there.  The school itself was only a 5-minute walk from our house, and it was nothing to get there of a morning.  However, it also became a huge challenge, because I was about to have my first male teacher, Guy Dispanet Jr.   Mr. Dispanet was a BIG man with a flattop crewcut who resembled that mean Marine drill seargeant that some vets remember from their boot camp days.  And, he was about as strict as he looked - recess was not playing for our class, but rather about physical education.  A typical recess with this man entailed an initial lap or two around the large field in back of the school, and then everyone in the class was required to play ball - softball in the early fall and spring, football and basketball in the late fall, and during the winter months it was indoor gymnastic-like activities.  Oh, how I hated that then too!  Also, the huge transition of us moving to Kirby, and our own abject poverty at the time, made my fifth-grade school year one of the roughest I have had to date, and as a result I had to repeat the fifth grade the following year.  It was then that things began to get better, as Dispanet, despite his strictness, really knew how to bring out the best in students he believed in, and he took that sort of interest in me.

This was my 1981-1982 class picture - I am third from the right on the top row, and Mr. Dispanet, our teacher, is on the top far-left.  The other lady was Miss Loretta Snyder, the teacher-aide. 

(photo courtesy of Mary Haines Orndorf, a former classmate who is second from left on the top row)

The three years I spent under Dispanet's tutelage really made me discover a lot about my own potential, and he really did have a heart for the students he taught despite the strictness.  However, he was also very quick to discipline if necessary, as was evident by a long pointed stick he kept up on an atlas podium he stood at when teaching - if you were within reach of him and were slacking off, he would crack you with that stick too!  In time however, if you really worked in class and proved yourself, you would also gain Dispanet's respect, and if you got that, it was a high honor (at least to us as pre-teen fifth and sixth graders!).

Let me tell you a little that I have learned about the history of Grassy Lick School.  The building we were in at the time was the third version of it, having been constructed in 1951.  Two earlier schools, one going back to the early 1900's, existed as well.  The building we knew had three classrooms, along with a connecting hallway in front, a kitchen, and restrooms, and it was staffed at the time by six people - three teachers (Mrs. Hott, who also served as principal, taught the first and second grades, Mrs. Iser taught third and fourth grades, and Mr. Dispanet taught fifth and six), a cook (Treva Haines), a janitor (Junior Timbrook), and a teacher's aide (Mrs. Snyder).  There were no gym teachers (Mr. Dispanet compensated for a lot of that!) and an itinerant music teacher visited once a week (Mr. Likens was the original in 1980, later followed by Mrs. Mezzatesta later).  Two small buses served the school - one traveled up Grassy Lick Road toward Romney and was driven by Edgel Souder, and the other went back toward Augusta and was driven by Junior Pyles.  Many of us kids in town though just walked to school, as we lived so close.  Looking back on it, the experience was actually quite enriching honestly, and I loved it. 

The older Grassy Lick School, located I believe further up Grassy Lick Road - this one was around since the 1920's at least.

(Photo courtesy of Cindy Racey Twigg, another former classmate and a professional photographer)

An older black-and-white picture of the current Grassy Lick School I went to, taken sometime after its construction in the early 1950's

Grassy Lick School (now Grassy Lick Kirby Community Center) as it appears today.

(Photo courtesy of Tara Jane Racey Riggleman)

As I mentioned, my years at Grassy Lick got off to a rough start, but they ended up being a very good time in my life as I transitioned from childhood to adolescence.  I have fond memories now of the school, and thanks to social media such as Facebook I am now also in touch with many of my old classmates, and we share stories of those days.  Grassy Lick alumni are relatively few in number (an average class back then was at max 25 students, with maybe 50 at any given time in the whole school), but that limited number of us makes us all closer in our experience.  Unfortunately though, much change has come, and I want to conclude by talking a little about the change.

Economic ups and downs are a stark reality in small-town West Virginia, and in the late 1990's many counties started to feel the pinch, forcing them to re-evaluate their educational structures.  Many schools ended up closing and consolidating with other nearby communities, and Grassy Lick School fell casuality to that around the year 2000 or so.  Also, in 1993 we lost Mr. Dispanet, as a debilitating illness claimed his life, and that too was a tremendous loss.  I was fortunate to be able to talk to him by phone a few months before his passing, and it was a nice trip down memory lane as we talked about his memories of many of us in the class, and about the school in general.  He confided in me that teaching in that school was not one of his first choices of career, but that he would not trade the rich memories he gained for anything.  In the past few years, much of Kirby has closed up too - Cox's Store for one - and the school was turned into a local community center where a number of local activities are held throughout the years.  This reclamation of the old school is actually a good preservation move, as it keeps alive the legacy of what was one of the last small schools of its kind up until the dawn of the 21st century.  And, it was my pleasure to share this memory with you as you read this, and hopefully it will help many of you appreciate your own elementary school days better too. 

Dr. Haleblian, Pastor and Friend

(Right) Dr. Krikor G. Haleblian (1943-2007) and his wife

For well over 30 years, one of the major things I have been involved in is working with both Armenian and Assyrian Christians.   Back in my early college years, as a young preacher, I felt a stronger calling to do something more hands-on with these, "my people," and that led in 1995 to a trip to California where I was able to preach in two of their churches, one being an Assyrian Pentecostal Church in the city of Turlock, and the other was St. Nareg Armenian Church in Montebello, pastored by a dear friend of mine I also consider a mentor.  Dr. Krikor Haleblian was indeed a spiritual giant, but was also a capable scholar, which is why I want to talk about him now.

My first contact with Dr. Haleblian came in the late 1980's, at which time he was pioneering an Armenian Studies program at Fuller Seminary in Pasadena.  At that time, I was a young, very enthusiastic Pentecostal kid who was just starting out in Bible college, and the denomination I was part of then, the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, was located in California, with their college being fairly close to where Dr. Haleblian's church was located.  At that time, I was attending a small Baptist college in the panhandle of Florida, but was increasingly feeling the desire to go out west where I could accomplish a two-fold purpose - first, to be more at the center of Foursquare activity, and secondly, to minister more closely to the people I felt I was called to.  Dr. Haleblian was more than happy to offer assistance, so in 1991 we began to talk, and it was decided I would be possibly working with his church once I arrived on the West Coast.  And, now that is what I want to briefly talk about.

My own youthful zeal at the time, coupled with pastor from the pastor of the church I was part of in Dothan, AL, to be educated at a specifically Foursquare college, prompted me to begin making preparations to go to Los Angeles starting in the Spring 1992 term.   However, my zeal was greater than my wisdom, and a series of situations made me go out there ill-prepared and my stay was very short (only in January) before circumstances placed me back on a Greyhound bus heading back east.  However, despite the bad timing of the trip, I did have one great moment, and that was meeting Dr. Haleblian in person.  We had corresponded regularly for several months prior, and I have to this day copies of some journal articles he wanted to gauge my opinion on at the time.  It was a great blessing to meet him, although I would not formally preach in his church until about 3 years later when we had a shorter and better-planned trip out there.  

That being said, let me tell you a little about Dr. Haleblian.  He was born in Syria on September 15, 1943, and after coming to the US at an early age, he completed his theological education and later founded the St. Nareg Church, which then was affilliated with the Armenian Evangelical Union of America as well as initially with the Church of the Nazarene and later with an independent Pentecostal fellowship.  It was in the late 1980's that Dr. Haleblian became a professor at Fuller, and he instituted a program of Armenian Theological Studies there which as of this time may or may not have continued.  He was a busy man, with teaching, pastoring, as well as being a prolific writer.  For a number of years he published a really good small journal called The St. Nareg Quarterly, and while in school in Graceville I had received a few of those on occasion.  At a later date, in 1996, he published a series of those articles dealing with Armenian Missiology and Theology into a very good reference work entitled The Armenian Church in Context.  This book, which essentially was a pioneering attempt at what is now commonly referred to as "Contexualization," was to be a text for people ministering to Armenians which would educate them in how to utilize what was already a Christian-based culture (the Armenians have been a Christian people for over 2000 years now) as an evangelistic tool for reaching the Armenian community in the US in particular.  Although in recent years "Contextualization" has become way too radical for my tastes (as well as incorporating much material that is unscriptural), I believe Dr. Haleblian did have a fantastic model that was perfect for contextualizing Armenian missionary work - use what is there to reach those who are familiar with it.  Although the point of this article is not to argue for missionary practices or theology, I have to say that I am in agreement with much of Dr. Haleblian's premise, as it also intersects well with my own ideas.  So, even today, his book (which he gave me as a gift, autographed and all!) is still a valuable resource in my own library.

Since St. Nareg never had its own building, it met in the chapel of this Methodist Church in the town of Montebello for a number of years.  As far as I can ascertain, they may still meet there today.

Any rate, going back to that first meeting with Dr. Haleblian back in January 1992, he made sure I was able to attend church that following Sunday at St. Nareg, and that was my first Armenian service of any kind I had ever attended.  Armenian Evangelicals will probably be somewhat alien to their American counterparts in that they have successfully incorporated much of the liturgy and tradition of the Armenian Apostolic Church that many of them had roots in, and it is a beautiful liturgical tradition.  The best way to describe the Armenian tradition is melancholy beauty - there is a joy of the sort one would expect of Eucharistic worship, but at the same time there is a sadness that reflects the pain of a persecuted people (the Armenians have been viciously persecuted for their faith over the centuries, in particular a nasty period of time just during and after World War I called the Armenian Genocide in which the Ottoman Turks slaughtered several million Armenian Christians just for simply being Armenian - after Hitler's evil Holocaust against the Jews in World War II, the Armenian Genocide is one of the most brutal and large-scale slaughters of a people group in modern times, and it is still commemorated on April 21st every year by most Armenian churches.  The Turks, unfortunately, still try to deny it happened) crying out in worship to their Lord to be there for them, and in that sadness is also a peace that God is with them.  The Armenian Liturgy (called the badarak) is to me one of the most precious liturgies of the Christian Church, and to this day it still brings tears to my eyes when I witness it being celebrated.  Dr. Haleblian, in his foresight, knew that the badarak and the sharagans (traditional Armenian hymnody) resonated deeply with his people, and given their thoroughly Christian root, he joyfully integrated them into the worship of his particular Evangelical congregation.  The beautiful thing is that it works, and still does - Dr. Haleblian's example is one reason for my own pilgrimage later into the Convergence movement, which I was briefly part of until I became formally Catholic myself later.  He presented a true model of Convergence based on the rich tradition of a people who carried this worship at the heart of their identity.  And, I got to see that first-hand in 1992, and it was a neat experience too.  Three years later, in 1995, I would revisit St. Nareg not as a spectator, but as a preacher.

It was after service also that Dr. Haleblian invited me for lunch over at his house, and I had my first taste of a delicious Armenian staple called lahmadzoon, which is similar to a pizza but consists of oregano, chopped lamb, and a tomato paste on a pita bread called lavash.  The meatless variety of this, called zaatar, is what I came to prefer later, but it was great to actually try real Armenian food for the first time, and it would by no means be the last.  He also gave me a little something to hold me over while I was at the Foursquare school in San Dimas out there, and it was much-welcomed, as my resources at the time were stretched thin.  However, as mentioned, it would be three years later before I would get to visit out there again, and this time I would be going to minister rather than observe.

The trip to California was a big disaster, and I basically found that out the hard way when I limped back to Dothan in a Greyhound bus and went through a rough readjustment.  In the next couple of years though, I would transfer to Southeastern University in Lakeland, and after getting married prior to that and also getting a culinary school certificate in AL before we left there, we would in time leave the Foursquare denomination for good as God was starting to move me into another direction at that point.  What began to happen was an old desire to minister to Armenians and Assyrians again, so in early 1995 I began to plan a trip for December of that year to go out there just to speak in churches, and Dr. Haleblian was more than happy to host us for a Sunday.  So, a week before Christmas, we headed out, and upon arriving in Baldwin Park that Saturday night, we prepared the next day to speak at St. Nareg, and that turned out to be a neat experience - Dr. Haleblian and his people were very gracious to us, and it was also the first time I got to speak with the aid of an interpreter (Dr. Haleblian himself).  It was also one of the first times I got to speak in clerics, as I had my collar and everything. And, I still recall the text, as I preached right out of the Book of Common Prayer.  It was a tremendous experience, and the whole California trip ended up being a tremendous success. 

This is me (on the right) preaching at St. Nareg Church in December of 1995 - Dr. Haleblian is translating on the left. 

After that California trip unfortunately, my enthusiasm for ministry began to wane, as my preparation for graduating that following spring, as well as a number of great personal challenges, began to take center stage.  As I completed college in April 1996 and began to figure out my own path, many obstacles began to take my eyes off of my original zeal and I began to grow somewhat complacent over the next several years.  Despite that, I kept in touch with Dr. Haleblian for many years up until his untimely passing in June of 2007, and at around the time he went onto his eternal reward, I was beginning to get my bearings spiritually again and although I would never have the zeal I once had regarding the Assyrians and Armenians, they are still people I hold near and dear to me and it turns out they were the ones who would eventually reach me, as I began to think more like them in my own Christianity.  Also, as I began a mission of re-discovering myself and what has made me tick over the years, I came to also revive a deep appreciation and love of these people that I once had, although now in a much different capacity.  That is what really led me to talk a little about my dear friend Dr. Haleblian at this point too.

Dr. Haleblian has long gone onto his eternal reward, but he was a tremendous man of God, brilliant in mind and humble in spirit, who wanted to serve his people in a way he believed God was leading him to do so.  Unlike so many today who want to eschew the past and try to re-write the teachings of the Church, Dr. Haleblian wisely chose to utilize them, build upon them, and by doing so he created a church (with God's leading of course) that was thoroughly Evangelical but also distinctly Armenian to its soul.  The idea of tradition is not to do away with it, but to use it as a foundation upon which to build - that is a very important lesson I believe Dr. Haleblian gave me personally.  To quote a good example of his philosophy on this, we turn to his book, where he says this: "Simply stated, the true Armenian Church is one that is faithful to the traditional Armenian culture while at the same time proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ clearly and effectively." (Haleblian, Krikor. The Armenian Church in Context. {Los Angeles, 1996} p. 95).  What he means by this is staying true to one's traditions while at the same time bringing them alive to the generation hearing them.  Many of our churches need this today, not just Armenians - there is too much of an iconoclasm against traditionally-held orthodoxy and orthopraxis, and it has been damaging to American Christianity in particular; the only time many churches adapt liturgical forms today is for some fad or social statement, and not for what they were truly intended (the "Emerging church" movement, which ironically has a bastion at the same institution Dr. Haleblian taught at, Fuller Seminary, is guilty in this regard) - it is "cool" for instance to many people to see candles and icons adorning Assemblies of God and Nazarene churches now, but often those liturgical forms are not used in the proper context, but are rather part of the fad and fashion of the times, which itself is a bad reason for church growth motivation.  Dr. Haleblian would not have advocated this, and it kind of goes against what he is saying.  However, the purpose of this is not to get into a theological discourse about the willful misuse of liturgical aids in Evangelical churches, but rather to commemorate Dr. Haleblian's legacy, but you get my point.  

That being said, I don't know the future now of St. Nareg since Dr. Haleblian's repose, but hopefully it will continue to carry on the rich legacy he gave them.   And, may he rest eternal, and may each of you reading this have God's blessing as well.