Glory to God for All Things
Behold the Bridegroom Comes
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Behold, the Bridegroom comes at midnight, And blessed is that servant whom He shall find watching, And again, unworthy is the servant whom He shall find heedless. Beware, therefore, O my soul, do not be weighed down with sleep, Lest you be given up to death, and lest you be shut out of the Kingdom. But rouse yourself crying: Holy, Holy, Holy, art Thou, O our God, Through the Theotokos have mercy…
Glory to God for All Things
And Now the Journey Begins
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I write in brief today. The liturgical journey of the Church through Holy Week and into Pascha begins tonight (with Vespers). In my parish it began this morning, since I begin the hours and reading of the Gospels on this Friday, rather than waiting to Monday. Thus, this morning we heard the whole of St. Matthew’s Gospel. A truly sobering experience. In a side note, I followed that service by traveling over…
Glory to God for All Things
Is Hell Real?
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On one of the roads leading into my small city a billboard has recently appeared. It is part of a larger campaign by a nationally known evangelist who is to have a revival in Knoxville. The sign is simple. In very large bright yellow letters (all caps), the sign says: HELL IS REAL. In small letters beneath it, in white, that can be read as your car nears the sign is the…
Glory to God for All Things
Icons and the Heart
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The following comment was posted in response to my recent thoughts on icons: I’m interested in learning to experience more of what you describe in your experience with icons. I’ve started praying with them, but not sure “how to,” if there is a “how”. I have an icon of Christ the Pantocrator and one of Christ at a young age — not sure what to make of that one at all, but…
Glory to God for All Things
Civilizations and the Kingdom
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I give thanks to God that priests are forbidden to hold political office – not that I would ever be elected – but that I would never want to stand in the place where my Christian faith was so torn – between what I might think good for the state and what would seem obedient to God. Anyone who sits in such a position needs prayer – whether they are Christian or…
Glory to God for All Things
The Texture of the Kingdom
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I posted yesterday on the “texture of life,” noting that there is a richness to our lives that cannot be reduced and which seems to have an inherent tendency to reach towards wholeness – for life itself. I concluded with the observation that this texture is an echo of Pascha sounding its way through all creation. I want to turn the same observations towards the Kingdom of God – which Christ taught…
Glory to God for All Things
The Texture of Life
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A parishioner told me the other evening, “Our bodies have an incredible desire to live. If we give them a chance it is amazing what healing can take place.” At least, that is the paraphrase of what I remember. My mind immediately flashed to my years as a hospice chaplain. Each day brought a round of visits with dying patients – patients who had accepted the option of hopice, which means only…
Glory to God for All Things
The Problem with History
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One of the first times I noticed a problem with history, as generally conceived, occurred during an Orthodox Liturgy (of all places). I been used to serving in an Anglican context (largely modernized liturgy) where the nature of a service is what I describe as “linear.” First one thing happened, then another, almost never two things at once. The bulletin was therefore very useful, for, just as it indicated, first one thing…
Glory to God for All Things
Drawing Near to Pascha
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I can feel the pace of Lent quickening (it begins to reveal itself in my schedule). I also feel the march of time towards the Day of all Days, the Pascha of our Lord. In my experience, Lent brings not only the discipline of the fast and additional services, but seems to carry with it as well a series of events in my life and in the parish. Rough edges appear. Crises…
Glory to God for All Things
Kalomiros on Creation Posted
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Glory to God for All Things
Christ - the End of All Things
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I have written on this subject in other contexts, but wanted to bring it front and center: Jesus Christ is described in Scripture as the “Alpha” and “Omega,” the “Beginning and the End.” This is not simply a statement of who Christ is at the beginning of things, or who He is at the end of all things – but who He is always, everywhere and at all times. To speak with…
Glory to God for All Things
Faith and Fasting
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In our world of Christian variation, it is easy for some to think of things like fasting as though they were “works” and somehow opposed to grace (if you had a radical protestant understanding of these matters). The truth, however, is quite different. Actions such as fasting are grouped under the general heading of “asceticism” in Orthodoxy, from a Greek word which means to “wrestle.” Quite interestingly, Fr. Dumitru Staniloae, working from…
Glory to God for All Things
Scripture, Icons, and the World We Know
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I ask for grace in writing this, lest I go beyond my ability. It seems to me well worth saying as discussions of the relationship between Scripture, dogma and science have surfaced. I offer this as food for thought as well as a ground of discussion. First, I will note an American Protestant tradition (somewhat thin these days but still present in plenty of places within our culture). What I have in…
Glory to God for All Things
A Request for Prayers and Patience
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I ask my readers for your prayers – I’m having trouble with an old injury in my back. I hope to be back to my relatively normal state, but have not been able to keep up with my full schedule for the past week or so. If it seems I’m writing a little less, pray for me. If I seem to respond less to comments, pray for me. It is a busy…
Glory to God for All Things
Where Was God?
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I have made reference to an interview with David Bentley Hart, an Orthodox theologian, in an appendix to the article on “What makes the world go ’round.” The more I have read his response the more important I think it is for others to read. I have always held his writing in a bit of “awe” – he is perhaps the most careful of modern Orthodox writers (well-chosen words that make careful points…
Glory to God for All Things
"Learning" to Sin
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I wrote this more than a year ago. As I go through Great Lent, particularly as it is marked with successive Saturdays (“Soul Saturdays”) in which we pray for the departed, these thoughts become increasingly relevant. I repost them here for that reason. As strange as it sounds – human beings have to “learn to sin.” Not that we need any help doing the things that sinners do – all of that comes…
Glory to God for All Things
What Makes the World Go 'Round?
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It is a popular theme in music to suggest various possibilities for “what makes the world go ’round.” I know of two immediately: music and love. Both are wonderful sentiments but not very useful to me as answers. I have asked the question in this way to yet again bring our thoughts to the nature of the world in which we live. The simple Christian answer to the question is that “God…
Glory to God for All Things
New Zealand and Orthodoxy - A Question
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I know I have readers in all sorts of corners of the world. At the moment I have a young parishioner who is spending some months in New Zealand. He’ll be on the South Island during Pascha and is looking for a good parish to attend. Can any of you good readers recommend a parish friendly to a young Orthodox traveler on the South Island of New Zealand? His priest would be…
Glory to God for All Things
With A Secret Hand
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One of the joys of the newly published, Orthodox Study Bible (OSB), containing all the canonical Orthodox books of the Bible, is the fact that the Old Testament was carefully brought into agreement with the text of the Septuagint, long a standard and important liturgical translation for Orthodox Christians. The early Church generally used the Septuagint, a translation from the Hebrew made in Alexandria, Egypt, some 200 or more years before Christ.…
Glory to God for All Things
The Walking Wounded
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The more years I serve as a priest, the more aware I become of the “walking wounded.” I do not mean a special category of person by this, but simply a description of who we are as we walk through whatever journey we take. I reflect on this particularly because I can remember not always knowing this about myself or others around me. As a young priest fresh out of seminary I…
Glory to God for All Things
The Holy Cross of Christ
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In writing about our union with Christ I offered the following as the response some time ago to a question. It seemed to me, worth a posting of its own, though it be short. I have, however, added a few thoughts to it. This Sunday marks the Sunday of the Cross in the Orthodox journey of Lent. There are many ways of which to speak of Christ’s work on the Cross, all of…
Glory to God for All Things
The Truth About the End Times
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I live in the South – which means plenty of bumper stickers warning, “In case of rapture this car will be unmanned.” I grew up surrounded by preaching on the last days in a context that was decidedly Dispensationalist, Pre-Tribulation, etc. If you are a reader who does not know what all that means then you’ve missed a huge part of our American Culture. It means one believes that time is divided…
Glory to God for All Things
Going Up the Ladder
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From St. John Climacus’ The Ladder: A silly person feels hurt when accused or shouted at. He tries to answer back or else at once apologizes to his accuser, not for reasons of humility but to put a stop to his reproaches. In fact you should be silent when ridiculted. Accept patiently these spiritual cauterizations, or rather, purifying flames. And when the doctor has done his work, ask him to forgive you,…
Glory to God for All Things
It's Not Just You
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It’s not just you. St. Isaac the Syrian says: Whenever you wish to make a beginning in some good work, first prepare yourself for the temptations that will come upon you, and do not doubt the truth. For it is the enemy’s custom, whenever he sees a man beginning a good mode of life with fervent faith, to confront him with diverse and fearful temptations…. It is not that our adversary has…
Glory to God for All Things
Psalm 124:6-8 - Good News for the Day
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Blessed be the LORD, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth. Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped. Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth. May God keep us all this day without sin – may we not be devoured – may we forgive everyone and…
Glory to God for All Things
What Are You Eating? Or, Whose Food Are You?
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During the first week of Great Lent, in praying the Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete, I noticed the recurring phrase one night, that we not be possessed nor become the food of demons. That’s a very reasonable prayer, considering the fact that Scripture warns us that “your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking some one to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). The image stayed with me –…
Glory to God for All Things
At the Annunciation - The Cause of All Things
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I treasure the small volume of George Gabriel, Mary the Untrodden Portal of God. Gabriel occasionally strikes hard at the West and the book would perhaps be strengthened with a less combative approach to the differences of East and West in the faith (my own opinion), but I liked the book and found Gabriel addressing many things, well foot-noted, that are not found in many other places. I share an excerpt. From eternity,…
