Many people criticize our church for being stuck in the dark ages and lacking reform. I am one of those people, when it comes to practical aspects of our faith; things like allowing cremation or encouraging lay and particularly female leadership in the sacramental life of the church. However, in the essential tenets of our…
Today’s reading describes the Wedding at Cana; the first of Jesus’ seven miracles in the Gospel of John, where Jesus turns water into wine. We correctly use the term miracle, but it is one of those words that has been clouded by many false associations. I prefer the old Armenian word, Nshank, which simply means…
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…