“Everybody”? Do They Think They’re “Larger Than Life?”

Music used to be the primary listening genre on in the car as I’m driving around and I do a lot of driving picking up my Mom taking her to appointments and errands, doing the grocery shopping, heading to the gym most days and going to help out or visit grandchildren. A couple months ago, I came across an Orthodox priest, whom I have referenced before, Father Josiah Trenham from Riverside, California, of St. Andrew’s Orthodox Church. Father Josiah and his team have

created an amazing app called Patristic Nectar, A wealth of information, lecture and sermons from the Orthodox Church and St. Andrew’s. I have listened to several of these over the last couple of months while in the car or getting things done around the house (There is also a Patristic Nectar podcast available on Spotify and Apple that includes some of these). Last week, I start a started a series on “The New Saints.” When we think of Saints, we think of the Orthodox Church or the Catholic Church and we think of these being individuals who are responsible for delivering Christianity through the ages.  Without these brave men and women, many of whom lost their life because they would not renounce their faith, Christianity might not have survived. Some people don’t understand that the Saints and Mary the mother of Jesus are not in the same realm of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ but rather they are people we honor and recognize because of what they did to spread the message of Jesus and carry on Christianity. Back to the modern Saints and Father Josiah‘s series on “New Saints and Elders: “The Miracles of Modern Holiness.” This was a series he did for individuals in his church who are becoming Orthodox Christians. It is required that they take a six week class (most denominations require some for of catechism or class before becoming a member) and it’s not necessarily a class on becoming orthodox. What I’ve surmised through these lectures is that they are very pertinent and interesting lecture topics in these series for catechism, about different aspects of Orthodoxy, and through these stories, these future parishioners get an idea of what joining the faith and church is really about. If you don’t know what the Orthodox Church is about it was the original church that Jesus and the Apostles set up. It wasn’t until the East-West Schism or Great Schism, both names describe the same event of 1054, when the communion between the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox split, but both are rooted in those original Apostles of Jesus. The divide occurred due to Ecclesiastical differences. The major issues were the disputes over the Pope’s authority the controversy over the nature of the trinity and a growing language and cultural divide Erwin the Latin speaking West and the Greek speaking East.

     As I listened to these seven lectures, one gets a really good understanding of how dedicated to the faith these Saints were, these men and women. They went through hardship. Life was not easy for them, and they all felt that the hardships that they endured were just part of the journey. They all strived to live a humble lives in reverence to their Lord and Savior. Most of these individuals were born in the late 1800s or early 1900s so there are people who had the modern conveniences and temptations of the time. Back to the traditional Saints we have a picture in our mind of biblical times or the decades and early centuries following the death of Christ. These modern saints had many of the same physical temptations we experience today, like the music, media and worldly possessions available to us, yet they resisted.  Like all of us, they may have come short here and there, but their dedication to confession, repentance and waking up the next day to go forward in the name of their Faith, led them and gave them success in their journey to do the work of God.  And, like those modern saints, we too can do our best when we get off track to confess, repent and make a conscience effort to ‘walk the walk’ and “do unto others, not only as we would have them do unto us,” The Golden Rule ( Matthew 7:12 or also found in a similar context in Luke 6:31).   It may not be our path to be a nun, a monk, a priest, pastor or deacon, but we can be a ‘lay person’ living our faith. We see so many people out in the world who have this attitude making our world a better place, each in their own way and you probably do it too.  We see these people in our neighborhoods in our families in the workplace, at the places we work, out in the places we go to school and beyond our own communities, making a difference in their own way with their own style. Again, these people are not perfect either, but they’re on a path of goodness with good intent.  Each one of us has this opportunity every single day to be these people helping others and being an example…

     However, it’s interesting to see those people in our own circles and communities and in the news who think they are, “larger than life” and although sometimes it seems like it’s ”Everybody,” it really isn’t.  Here a few who caught my eye this week…

     Did you hear about the handful of Republican senators who slipped into the bill to re-open the government, an award/settlement of $500,000 to themselves for having their phone records tapped on January 6, 2021, just prior to the inauguration of Joe Biden?  Was it wrong for the government to tap their phones.  ABSOLUTELY!  The whole January 6 circumstance is a debacle and the more that is uncovered, the worse it seems. In fact, just this week, the BBC was issued a law suit on behalf of Donald Trump for splicing and dicing of recordings of President Trump’s speeches that day, proving that he did say “go to the capitol to PEACEFULLY protest.” The BBC, along with some American news agencies, spliced the tapes to post, to make Trump look unfavorable, possibly in hopes of preventing him from running for President again, even imprisoning him. Back to the select group of Republican senators to receive the settlement of $500,000. Yes, it is wrong for their phones to have been tapped and records to have been asked access without their knowledge or permission, but it is wrong to take the additional $500,000 of tax payers money, in my mind. I’ve read several articles about this in the last day and although I don’t know everything about the circumstance, I do think the knowledge in messaging of this does not look good to the American people and does not put them in a favorable light, even though they were wronged.  A couple of these do not surprise me, but most of them do in this group. I’m hoping, for them that there will be a logical reason for this, but it does not look good…

      When the United States Representative for Texas’s 30th district Jasmine Crockett first came onto the scene, she was an intriguing person to watch. On one hand, she’s very boisterous with interesting attire, speaking in colorful, sometimes with inappropriate grammar however, not knowing her background I gave her credit for receiving the education she did graduating from law school, passing the bar doing public defender work, creating her own law firm, and getting elected to the State, then United States Congress and here’s why. To listen to her talk I was a little puzzled because obviously she’s very educated and accomplished. However, her language and choice of words did not correspond with her education and work record. A coup months ago I read that she grew up in a St. Louis Christian family with her father being a pastor.  She attended a private grammar schools and graduated from an all girls Catholic high school. Her childhood education prepared her for entry into Rhodes College, a private school in Memphis, TN.  From there Jasmine earned entry into the Thurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas Southern University and then graduated from the University of Houston Law Center. Crockett passed the bar and went on to be a public defender before setting up her own private practice handling car accidents and doing ‘pro bono‘ work for Black Lives Matter. Jasmine is a very educated and quite accomplished young woman before her run (and win) as a Texas House Representative.  From there, she went on to be elected as the United States Representative of Texas’s 30th district, a majority, minority district of Dallas, so most likely most of her constituents have not had the education or opportunities she has had in life. Is Representative  Crockett speaking the way she does to appeal to her constituents? She was questioned by a reporter about her background and she did not want to answer any of these questions. The way she presents herself appears to be an act. It would seem that her education taught her how to speak properly using correct grammar.  It’s too bad that she has been able to “Buffalo” her constituents.  Sad that she isn’t being true to herself.  If she is genuine in her concern for those in her district, they would probably vote for her.  Is she not confident enough to run on her record and be herself. Is it possible that she felt that by dressing, acting and speaking in the way she does, constituents of the area that elected her are more able to identify with her? That’s not fair to her constituents She’s not correctly representing them, is what it is appears like…

     Elizabeth Warren, Senator Elizabeth, Warren of the state of Massachusetts. Some know her as “Pocahontas,” as she has been called so because she stated when she was on the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard as a law professor back in the 1980s and 90s that she identified as Native American.  After a DNA test she was challenged to obtain, it appeared that her Native American ancestry went back numerous generations. Elizabeth Warren now is a Democratic senator and she likes to bash people who make a lot of money. What’s interesting though is that she can really identify with people who make a lot of money who might fly in a private jet, as she herself was spotted in a private jet just this week. (Incidentally, Warren has become much more wealthy since becoming a senator, a story for another day). While deplaning a private jet this week she confidentially walked towards the terminal, until she saw a cameraman and press, at which time, she started walking behind an aid, which seemed as if, she did not want to be seen.  This is not the first time we have seen politicians attack successful people who have worked hard to make their money taking private jets when they themselves fly private. We saw that with Bernie Sanders and Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez who flew private to get to political rallies in the lead up to last fall’s election.  Really, probably this is what they should have done, since it allowed them to cover more ground than waiting for commercial flights and the chance of a delay.  However, for them to mock others and to do it themselves is comical. More of the “rules for thee and not for me”…

     Speaking of AOC, who leads people to believe that she is “Sandy from the Bronx” from the low income part of the Bronx, with her congressional district being the poorest of all 435 congressional districts.  Alexandra was born in the Bronx, however, when she was age 5 her family moved to Westchester County, which ranks second in the state on New York after New York County-Manhattan- for median income per person and 47th in the U.S. overall. After graduation from Yorktown High School in Westchcester County, “AOC” went on the prestigious and private, Boston University.  BU comes with a high price tag.  As of the 2023-24 school year, room and board hovers around $90,000.  It’s not to say that a person who grows up in a wealthy suburb and attends a private school is unable to identify with their constituents, they can if they were raised to work hard, to be wise with money and to respect all people regardless of where they come from or who they are. Maybe Alexandra is able to do that, I have not met her.  However, at times, it appears that she is more concerned with her political future and her social media following than her current constituents.  Her appearance at the MET Gala during the Covid shutdown was sickening.  She wore a designer ball gown worth tens of thousands and seemed to relish in the celebrity of the event. In fact she violated House Rules by not initially paying the fair market rate to borrow the dress that had painted on the back in red, “Tax The Rich.” Initially, AOC was paid to wear the dress, shoes, purse & jewelry.  In fact, she was also gifted hair and makeup services. Upon the knowledge of her actions, the House Rules Committee (a bipartisan committee), reviewed Alexandra‘s case and she eventually paid for the services and attire. Like California Governor Gavin Newsom cavorting at the famed French Laundry in wine country when all other California residents were forced to stay at home during the Covid shutdown and Nancy Pelosi going to her hair dresser when no one else in her state was allowed to go, Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez likes to hob knob with the rich and famous, who she wants to “Tax” and appears to be a voice for the low income she represents.  It just seems to be more of the “Rules for thee and not for me”…

     Let me tell you who WAS refreshing to hear this week, Democritic Senator, from Pennsylvania, John Fetterman.   I listened to a recent interview with him and he sounds very common sense.  The quote from him that stood out, when asked about his position about feeling that the government needed to be opened up, he stated that he feels that he should vote for what is best for the country and not what is best for his party.  YES!!!!  When most of his democratic colleagues were continually voting to keep the government closed to”prove a point” while many of their constituents desperately needed their paychecks or services opened, Senator Fetterman sounded like the Democratic Party that seems to be slipping away for a more progressive and socialist version.  The Senate and the entire country could benefit from more people with a common sense philosophy. Wishing him well on the fall he took yesterday while on a walk and in the future…

     Each one of us has a choice everyday as to how we will behave, what we will speak and what our actions will be.  We can be authentic and true to ourselves or we can be a ‘phoney baloney.“ We can have a good work ethic or we can be lazy.  We can be a good steward of our time or we can be wasteful with the time we are given.  We can use the talents God gave us for good or we can waste them (remember the story from Matthew 25 14-30 about investing). We can be generous with the gifts we have or we can store them up in barns like the passage from Luke: 12 16-21 about the man who had a big harvest, tore down his barn to build a bigger barn to store surplus grain. God called him a fool for focusing on worldly goods...

It’s up to us. “Everybody” doesn’t think they are “Larger than Life”.  Those who go about their lives doing what they feel is right and good, make all of our lives better.  I think of those old country villages and hamlets where doors were never locked and people looked out for their neighbor.  In my Dad’s village it was said that a Boufchani (a person from my Dad’s village of Bouf, Macedonia) would give you the shirt off their back.  My Dad the recipient of this saying and it was true.  He and his brother were sort of orphaned when his mother died when they were boys and his father had come to the U.S. to make a life for his family to bring them over.  It was the kindness and generosity of people in the village who themselves had hard times, little food and limited resources, who took my Dad and Uncle in.  I am still in contact with people who did that for them. The Orthodox priest in the village was called the “Popo” (that’s where the slang for the police comes from “the Popo”), and he sort of acted like the village constable who was called when two brother had a fight or neighbors couldn’t get along.  The church was the center of the village, both physically and spiritually.  People went to confession regularly and they heard the word of God.  The same could be said for the small towns and cities in the United States and other places around the world. Churches were physically in the center of the community  and sometimes built on the best ground/property because they were the pillar of a community.  When people have an understanding of right and wrong, good and evil, communities are safe.  Churches have outreach program that strengthen communities offering service and program to help families spiritually, financially and physically.  Many people through history have considered, the family the cornerstone of society, where love and values are doled out, where a work ethic is instilled.  It’s the parents who communicate these lessons and the family that encourages virtue and integrity. Our society is a better place when virtue and integrity are valued and practiced…Leading to Great Days ❤️