When the Homily is about Immunology

Saint Arthur?

**DISCLAIMER** Look people, I'm a parent, not a theologian. So if a periodic post centering around PBS cartoon characters (and the like) is a little too silly or "childish" I suggest you try some seminarian's blog today.

Anyone else's kids sometimes watch the cartoon "Arthur"? Interesting enough they recently had an episode in which "Buster" (Arthur's rabbit friend) was visiting a new (live action, real honest to goodness human) friend in Brooklyn, NY. It was a sort of curious live action/cartoon mix episode.

"Postcards from Buster"

Anyway, Buster's friend - James - is Arab, but much to Buster's surprise he is not Muslim but Christian. Turns out James goes to an Antiochian Orthodox Church and in this episode we get to watch James do his altar boy duties during part of the Divine Liturgy (we see the Great Entrance). After the litrugy we get to have a little conversation with James' priest.

It was very nice, and we all had a good time talking to our kids about things we recognized and how neat it was to see something so dear to our hearts (Orthodoxy, not Arab food) being shown (in a good light) on popular TV.

Of course, the makers of "Arthur" might be surprised to visit our Antiochian Orthodox Parish, where precious few of us grew up eating humus and kibbeh and none of our altar "boys" would admit to accurately representing angels.

:)