Our church calendar teaches us how to let go and grow. Our services of the hours prepares us for daily rest. Our days of abstinence on Wednesday and Friday make space for weekly Sabbath. The great fasts of our church, Advent and Easter, remind us that we are not machines, to live most fully, we…
As we approach the Christmas birth and revelation of our Lord, our church sacred calendar is very densely populated by saints’ days. Some of these saints are well known; we celebrated James and John, Peter & Paul, Ephrem and Stephen this week. Many of these saints are less know, we celebrated Eustratius, Auxentius, Eugenius, Orestes…
[Jesus Christ] is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. (He 1:3) Author Hugh Halter opens his book Flesh: Bringing the Incarnation Down to Earth, with a surprising scene: he’s taking his teen daughter to get her first tattoo. While…
Our focus for reflection for all of Advent, in sync with our entire Diocese, has been ‘leaning into hope.’ In doing so, we are seeking to recover something very specific our church believes about hope, which is more than optimism and does not depend on if things are going well today or look good tomorrow.…
‘The soul grows not by addition but by subtraction,’ said German Theologian Meister Eckhart. This ancient eastern wisdom is such a welcome counter balance to our modern western culture which seems only to be interested in a life of addition; more, more and even more. Especially at this time of year; our shopping carts are…
“Seek first the kingdom of God, and these things will be yours as well.” Lk 12:31 It’s that busy time of year again, and I am feeling a bit anxious. All this year’s finances and contracts and campaigns need completing; and next year is filling up fast with events, meetings and deadlines. My google calendar…
On occasion in my sermons, I have alluded to medieval Armenian Churchman Mkhitar Gosh’s Fables, his collection of morality tales using animals and plants as his characters. In the manner of Gosh, I have a humorous fable for you today to lead us into the spirit of stewardship Sunday: A pig and a chicken were…