Going Through The Motions'

Many people attend church for reasons completely unrelated to prayer or worship. Some attend simply because they are forced by their parents or because they are looking to mingle or network. There are many secular reasons why people  choose to go to church but that doesn't mean that they can be changed despite their spiritual blindness. 

Perhaps you may have thought Church and its Traditions overly structured, kind of artificially 'put on', even tedious. Then as you practiced participating by attending services with some regularity or with renewed intent to be totally present during the services, that trying to pray turned to praying.  What once seemed contrived was now a sacred zone, reliable and true. Attending Church or reading Scriptures is a spiritual experience even when done so in a mindless way.

Prayerful running is quite literally 'going through the motions'.  With practice and effort this behavior will shape the moments where you make the shift from 'acting as if' to actually living the prayer. You will know or rather notice the shift. As you become practiced you will recognize the experience and learn to anticipate it. If you tag the experiences and use the descriptive language you will be able to give rise to this state at others times.  You will be able to tap into this proficiency.  Because our Lord has wired us for prayer for devotion for love He can utilize even the most mundane to reach us. Our Lord is not confined to Sunday mornings.

Lord of The Dance

By stepping into the run, this activity of children will change you.   If you set out to run prayerfully you will be suprised at what unfolds. The invitation to "Come and See" is open. "Seek and you will find" is promised to us. As you set your course in search of this spiritual experience there will be times when if feels like a guessing game.

I am reminded of the last week of my first pregnancy when I thought every cramp was the onset of labor. I was told, as are all first time mothers, "You will know" (and I did). You will know when the synergy of the run overtakes the tedious preoccupation with running.  Being fixated on the running, to the point of distraction is transitional you will move past it. It is merely part of starting, of beginning and you will move through this like you will move beyond other distractions. Use running to find time alone with God  begins simply by lacing up and putting one foot in front of the other repeatedly.

Your intention sets you apart from your sedandary friends and from others runners. Remember not to obsess about trying too hard; you are not actually practicing the run but being mindful of your objective to pray. The run is the vehicle which has a host of secondary gains to be sure, but they are secondary. Your committment to consistently set time aside to run out to meet God will take you there. You will find yourself praying often times without words but with awareness.  With each step you set out to meet The Lord of The Dance: "'Dance there whereever you may be I am The Lord of The Dance' said He and 'I'll lead you all wherever you may be. And I'll lead you all in The Dance' said He". 

Spend Some Time in Saddle

I recently read a wonderful blog about the dangers of prayer. That's right the danger which comes from inexperience with prayerful states in marriages and in the lives of individuals. Often times couples and individuals don't actually pray and they only pray when looking for direction and consolation. It sometimes resembles a superstitious experience where they await a feeling or sign much like messing with a Ouigi board.

Time for structured prayers which are balanced and time tested are the best course of action. Await the change in  yourself and not some lightening bolt, dream or rainbow. The only way to distinguished between some sentimental suggestive altered state is to spend time in the saddle. You must practice with all the safety equipment. Study the prayer and the way. Read traditional prayers and do it daily repeatedly over time you will learn to discern the difference between the feeling and the experience. Talking spontaneously and venting is not synonymous with prayer. Often times one could substitute Jesus with their own it would be of little consequence to their experience.

Create New Access Points

We must create news ways of relating to God and to ourselves. We need to set new ground rules for what is acceptable what is respectable. Lacking respect for ourselves we are unable to give that which we lack to others. We can't presume to give what we don't have. Depression and despondency have their root in disappointment and anger. Anger with God disappointment in ourselves.

Create new access points, innovative ways of relating to God, to your body to your very history. Reassign your body a new task one not narrowly defined. We have trapped our bodies into an unwinnable circumstance one which denies its potential and limits it to a vain unattainable ideal. Even for the few truly blessed with that beauty and symmetry of form and function it often times will undermine the inner person if seen as an end unto itself.

Abstain from hateful thoughts, speech and deeds. Even ones aimed at oneself. Establish challenging but attainable goals which employ  Biblical Principles and Orthodox Ideals which results in a life enhanced and a more authentic existence. Define your value as a person not as the world does but as God's elect should.

Remember we will be made anew: body, soul and spirit.  We are reunited with our bodies in the Life to Come so we must repent with the body also. We will be weighed and measured on Christian ideals not worldly processions or attachments. Put down your chains, hold yourself apart from what is worldly and be creative, be traditional, keep to a higher standard and remember be lenient.

We talk a lot about tolerance in the United States. Tolerance as a virtue I think not or an ultimate ideal. This is a distraction from our intended path. We are called to do far more then tolerate our fellow man we are called to love one another.

I Am Greek Orthodox

--I'm Greek Orthodox (that's still Christian). Imagine my relief.

"I am an Orthodox Christian and that means that I forsake all denominations as mere human inventions. Holy Orthodoxy was not manufactured by men but revealed by God, Himself, in the Incarnate Person of Jesus Christ and His truth was passed-on to His Holy Apostles, maintained intact and perfectly true by the Holy Spirit, even to us today. I am an Orthodox Christian, and I humbly receive this Faith not as something of my own liking or emotional or aesthetic preference or of my estimation to be befitting for my sentiments. I am an Orthodox Christian because God, Himself, wants all to come to the Church He started and to believe in the doctrine and Faith He revealed: "Father pray that they all be one as You and I are one". (John Chapter 17). -- Hiermonk Joshua

The foremost aspect to living an authentic existence is to have convictions about what is fundamentally human. The first and foremost right of a human is freedom of religion. By this I am defining religion as the human right endowed to us by our creator God to worship, praise and commune with Him. The manner in which you chose to do this is your prerogative. However, what is necessary is the conviction to find your path. Nothing is more unsavory then a cavalier approach to our Maker. Nothing creates more inner strife, more depression more psychosis then  either an unwillingness to seek out God or to search without a guide (the Church). Being a Christian is not doable when treating Him as an incidental in our lives. We can't treat God like a stray dog with a basic neglect; and expect to find peace solace or wisdom.

Likewise we are not following a Jesus who was showing us the Christ consciousness (sorry Oprah). Jesus was the God-man: the duality of Christ is non negotiable He was that  historic man who was infact God the Son, who too on flesh and became man.  The King of All born in a manger, hailed by the Heavens, He preached the Kingdom of God was ridiculed beaten, crucified,  died, resurrected and is the salvation of the world. We don't worship a vague unknowable God but the Triune God who works actively in our lives today. We don't believe that we find God in isolation but part of the body of the Christ the Church not any Church but the Orthodox Church.

Orthodox Christians should defend the right of all humans to worship God and establish no restrictions on  the expression of their belief. We are olbigued to stand for Truth for the Revelation of God. We need to have the conviction that Orthodoxy is not in the same league as a lesser faith or belief. Our Lord was commisioned to share the Truth about the Kingdom and He gave an accounting to His Father (John Chapter 17). He distinguished between the One True Faith and heresy. We must have courage and the fortitude to stand upright and proclaim this Revelation of God. We must be willing to share this with the rest of humanity. We can't become complacent or lukewarm.

Remain steadfast and continue on your journey all the while making a personal claim for the Faith. To recede into the background and take up the banner of schismatics and heretics is not the Orthodox way. We must first love God with all our hearts and all our minds and with all our effort. We must love our neighbor as ourselves and never settle for them, for that which is by nature inferior. We acknowledge that all which is knowable has been revealed through the Ecumenical Councils.

Our forefathers and mothers paved the way with their blood they didn't martyr for a vague understanding of some belief which could be this way or that but for the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church the Church established by Christ and His Apostles. It was this Church which gave the written Word The Bible which so many have fashioned an idol. Know who you are and what you believe and you will not falter. You will know your purpose and your feet will be firmly established on the ground. Find a spiritual guide a good sound counselor who can assist you. We all need the community of believes for encouragement. What is encouragement it is the place the manner in which we find our courage to continue.

Can Can Can Can't

Training for the next eight weeks or preparing yourself for a marathon or life long relationship in which you incorporate an aerobic activity into your life will have profound benefits to your physical health. A lowered blood pressure, lowered resting heart rate, improved concentration and  deeper sleep are just some. Your efficiency in will also improve and you will gain a  real sense of accomplishment.  Running is the model I will discuss as it is the one I am most familiar with but most activities in which you tax your cardio could apply.

You CAN improve: Oxygen Delivery- your heart can pump stronger more efficiently moving more blood volume. This accounts for a lowered heart resting rate sound familiar?

Oxygen Absorption- increase in vascular health improves your body's ability to access available oxygenated blood while removing waste bi-products.. Increase numbers of muscle fiber receptors and improve veins capacity to move blood through where it's needed.

Gait Economy- through training we gain greater strength and increase stamina which enables runners to expend less effort or energy to move through the run. The first aspect of the run to suffer when we are tired is our gait.

 Also simple modifications to gait can make running economy far more efficient and less taxing. Strength- stronger muscles contract far more efficiently pushing back the threshold of discomfort the point before pain is experienced.

Attitude- one's attitude toward circumstance is central to success or failure. A perceived internal locus of control an ability to effect a change in your ability to persevere is essential to any measure of authentic success or personal insight.

You CAN'T improve: Body mechanics- we are either endowed with the body time and gait best suited for elite running or we're not. All the training can't change genetics.