The Struggle of True and Pure Citizenship

With the national election now (mostly) in the rearview mirror but yet not so distant, we are again in a time of reflection on national service and what it means to be a citizen, most especially on our duties to our fellow citizens. Unfortunately, most of the reflection is of a rather cynical and externalized sort, trying to figure out why this candidate won…

Our Mission is to Serve a Higher Order

Feast of St. John Chrysostom / Eighth Sunday of Luke, November 13, 2016 Hebrews 7:26-8:2; Luke 10:25-37 Very Rev. Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen. Today is the feast of the greatest preacher among all the saints of Christian history—John Chrysostom, archbishop of Constantinople, whose Divine Liturgy we…

Unfriend Me If You Voted for Trump!

Are you unfriending people who voted for Trump (or Clinton or someone else)? Ending friendships (online or otherwise) over political preference doesn’t make any sense to me. (And I’m speaking of friendships here, not following public figures.) At the very least, it is highly likely that all the horrible things that made you vote against your friend’s candidate are not the reasons why he…

Can a Historic Christian Be a Nationalist?

Lately I’ve been seeing nationalistic / racialistic rhetoric from some who identify as Christian. Some say that this is just their politics and has nothing to do with their religion. That is, of course, a distinctly secular idea, that one can practice some part of life in a way that is separate from religion. While we don’t have to pursue theocracy, dominionism, etc., to…

On What is Happening in the Middle East

My bishop recently asked me to assist him in putting together a statement on the killing of Christians in the Middle East by takfirist groups such as ISIS. Here’s an excerpt: In recent months, images and stories of Christians being killed for their faith in the Middle East have flooded our news sources and dominated our social media. We see beheadings and shootings, sometimes…

Ten (Possibly) Surprising Facts about Fred Phelps

Besides being a heretical hate-monger who pushed the envelope of the definition of constitutionally protected speech, Fred Phelps, the late leader of the Westboro Baptist Church, had a number of perhaps surprising facets to his life. Here are ten of them, all culled from the Wikipedia article dedicated to him. 1. In the ’60s and ’70s, Phelps was a notable civil rights lawyer in…