Greek Festival

For those of you who live in the Greensboro, NC area, the Greek Festival at the Dormition of the Theotokos Greek Orthodox Church will be Friday September 14th through Sunday September 16th. For specific times, see the church website here. It’s a great time of becoming acquainted with various aspects of Greek culture – food, music, dancing, art, and worship. As one who believes that American culture is fairly vacuous in comparison to older traditional cultures like that of the Greeks, I have often found the beauty of Greek culture to create a measure of jealousy in me, such that I understand why a Protestant might jump ship and head to the Orthodox Church. (Yet the truth of Scripture has kept me from making such a leap.) So check it out, and be sure to take the tour of the church while you’re there.

In honor of the festival, let me share one of my favourite prayers from A Manual of Eastern Orthodox Prayers. It is entitled “Prayer for the Acceptance of God’s Will”, and is attributed to Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow:

O LORD, I know not what to ask of thee. Thou alone knowest what are my true needs. Thou lovest me more than I myself know how to love. Help me to see my real needs which are concealed from me. I dare not ask either a cross or consolation. I can only wait on thee. My heart is open to thee. Visit and help me, for thy great mercy’s sake. Strike me and heal me, cast me down and raise me up. I worship in silence thy holy will and thine inscrutable ways. I offer myself as a sacrifice to thee. I put all my trust in thee. I have no other desire than to fulfil thy will. Teach me how to pray. Pray thou thyself in me. Amen.

Politically Incorrect Guides

I’ve talked to a handful of people recently who have been reading some of the books from the Politically Incorrect Guide series. While I haven’t looked at any of them myself, the reviews I’ve heard have been more than favourable. So I was quite glad when last night on Book TV on C-Span 2 I discovered presentations from two of the authors from that series. The first was from Elizabeth Kantor, the author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to English and American Literature, and the second was from Carrie Lukas, the author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Women, Sex and Feminism. Both talks were sponsored by The Eagle Forum, a conservative pro-family group I had not heard of before. And both talks were very interesting and informative, not to mention being a nice contrast from the liberal indoctrination and otherwise unintelligent babble found on TV. Ms. Kantor’s talk is free for the viewing on Book TV’s website, so I highly encourage any and all to watch it. It doesn’t appear that Ms. Lukas’s talk is up yet, but it may be added in the future, so keep your eyes open for it. Those of you who take a special interest in women’s issues will find Ms. Kantor’s talk as informative on these matters as Ms. Lukas’s, as Ms. Kantor briefly addressed the view of women in Western thought as it has been historically expressed in Western Literature.

There was also a presentation this evening by Christopher Horner, author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming and Environmentalism. I haven’t watched that one yet, but here’s the page for those interested.