January 8 - Today Larry and Debbie Christianson are flying to Saipan to have an open home for the work of the Gospel there. They plan to stay on the island until April 20th. Larry just started a Blog where we can follow along, UsOnSaipan.blogspot.com, and the E-mail address where they can be reached is 1dejaceo@gmail.com.
It is the dead of winter here. It is supposed to get down to freezing tonight and tomorrow night. The wind barrels across the Aegean, having nothing to stop it, and then slams into the hillside where the little town of Vathi sits. Our house creaks, and the wooden shutters bang and clatter. The 30 MPH gales toss the chairs around on the rooftop like toys. We look across the bay and see an unfamiliar white line near the top of Mount Ampelos.
Tuesday, the 6th, was the Greek Orthodox Feast of the Epiphany. It pre-dates Christmas, which was invented by the Roman church in the middle of the fourth century. The Epiphany is an annual remembrance of the baptism of Christ, and each parish engages in a little ritual called "The Blessing of the Waters." There was to be one here at Vathi at 11:00, and Denita and I got to the harbor's edge promptly at 12:00, camera in hand. Rats! Anyway, Erica told us the presiding bishop casts a cross into the sea, and some of the locals swim out to retrieve it. The one who finds it gets a blessing.
It is amazing to me how much stock people put in Christmas and Epiphany. We never read anywhere in the Gospels where Jesus asked his followers to commemorate his birth or his baptism. Nor did the apostles consider memorializing these events. Rather, as we gather on the Lord's Day, we are asked to remember his life in the bread and the new covenant he sealed by blood in the wine. "This do ye, as often as ye drink it, in remembrance of me."
Samos in the dead of winter from our hallway window
The Birthday Girl says Poli Creo!!!! (Very Cold)
Mmmmmmmm, fresh octopus!
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