Glory to God for All Things
Literally Wrong
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I have written on a number of occasions about the interpretation of the Scriptures and particularly about the problems of Biblical literalism. I have also, on occasion, made a link between Biblical literalism and a sort of “literalism” about the world and the universe about us. I believe that both are deeply connected and share a world-view which is, ultimately, grounded in ideas of the modern world (rather than historic, traditional ideas…
Glory to God for All Things
The Kingdom of God Is Not A Choice We Make
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Glory to God for All Things
Christos Voskrese! (Christ is Risen)
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This delightful youtube video was shared in comments yesterday. I thought it worth posting up front. Our reader Dejan has offered a translation in the comments. The words are from a poem by St. Nikolai Velimirovich who served for a time as the Rector of St. Tikhon’s Seminary – truly one of the great Serbian saints of the modern era. Please ignore the “automatically generated” stuff, I don’t know enough about it’s…
Glory to God for All Things
Christ is Risen!
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Glory to God for All Things
God's Great Sabbath
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One of the most immediately puzzling passages in Genesis is in the creation story where we are told that God “rested on the Seventh (Sabbath) day.” It obviously cannot be taken in the literal sense that God needed rest. There is a deeper mystery. In the interpretation of the Christian Fathers and in the life of the Orthodox faith, God’s Sabbath is fulfilled in Christ, who rests on the Sabbath (Saturday) in…
Glory to God for All Things
The Cross of Christ
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Today, is suspended upon the Cross, He Who suspended the Earth upon the waters. A crown of thorns crowns Him, Who is the King of the angels. He, Who wrapped the Heavens in clouds, is clothed with the purple of mockery. He, Who freed Adam in the Jordan, received buffetings. He was transfixed with nails, Who is the Bridegroom of the Church. He was pierced with a lance, Who is the Son…
Glory to God for All Things
Holy Week and Envy
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As noted in my earlier post, envy plays a large role in the events of Holy Week. Strangely, it is a passion which is rarely mentioned in our culture, even though the Fathers (at least some) thought of it as the root of all sin. We frequently think of pride as the root of all sin, but some of the Father’s note that pride, unlike envy, can be completely private, whereas envy…
Glory to God for All Things
Scarcity, Abundance and the Kingdom of God - Thoughts for Holy Week
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In the Praises for Matins of Holy Wednesday, we read: Oh, the wretchedness of Judas! He saw the harlot kiss the footsteps of Christ, but deceitfully he contemplated the kiss of betrayal. She loosed her hair while he bound himself with wrath. He offered the stench of wickedness instead of myrrh, for envy cannot distinguish value. Oh, the wretchedness of Judas! Deliver our souls from this, O God. We are also told…
Glory to God for All Things
How Deep Does the Journey Go?
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The journey to Pascha, which is made during Holy Week, is a liturgical action that marks the path to the greatest depths of our heart and to the heart’s true home. The deeply moving image of the Bridegroom, whom we address in the words of the hymn, manifest to us in His icon of humility, as well as the the open doors of the altar, inviting us with the words, “Thy Bridal…
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…
