Glory to God for All Things

That was a misleading title to this post. But I found myself driving through town yesterday and caught sight of a bumpersticker (how can you not – that’s what they’re there for) – which said, “I am a Goddess.” Of course the first thought that comes to mind is, “Which one?” But I know that’s a silly question and I think I understand what the driver meant by her bumpersticker and I…

Last Sunday (which was truly busy), I had the joy of five Baptisms to begin the day. Orthodox Baptism not only has a lot of prayer, but it seems, that with each additional candidate another level of chaos is reached. It is simply a joyful action and practicalities involved in immersion (and the changing of clothes, etc.) invariably slow things down and ratchet up the chaos – but a joyful chaos. I…

I’m sitting in the Jacksonville airport with a couple of hours of free-time, and a kind airport that actually has free wi-fi. Some airports, such as Detroit (as I learned last week) charge you to use wi-fi. Ouch! I’ve been thinking some as drove around northern Florida today (definitely not Detroit or Tennessee) on the general topic of “what is wrong with us?” I was using as my starting point the death…

I tend to think of myself as doing Orthodox mission work in the world of Appalachia. Geographically that is true, though much of the work I do with people are with folks who comes from somewhere other than the Appalachian region. My own roots are fairly shallow in Appalachia, though they are on the at least the fringes. There is also the Southern aspect to mission. A culture that is steeped in…

Again, I offer many thanks to the readers of “Glory to God for all Things.” We continue to average nearly 1,000 views per day, and the quality of comment is an inspiration to me. Part of the software available to those who manage blogs gives them much information about what is going on “behind the scenes.” This blog is hosted by WordPress which is home to over 600,000 blogsites. Rarely does a…

C.S. Lewis spoke of “men without chests” in his famous little book, The Abolition of Man. Without going into all he meant by that, I will suffice it to say that he saw many modern men who no longer felt about themselves and their world as men had generally felt through the ages. And here I should note, that would certainly be true for women as well. One of the great missions…

Today I have had the pleasure of being in Jacksonville, Fl, for the Diocese of the South’s annual clergy retreat. Our speaker is Fr. Michael Oleska who teaches in Alaska, and is probably the foremost authority of the history of Orthodox missions to America, as well as Orthodox missions in general. Our lecture this afternoon was excellent, particularly connecting the fairly well-known work of early missions in Alaska, with the larger history…

This is a small excerpt from St. Silouan the Athonite by Archimandrite Sophrony. Throughout my time with Blessed Staretz Silouan I never for an instant doubted that his words were the ‘words of life eternal’ received from on high, and that it was not some sophistry that had taught him the truth which his whole life bore witness to. A great many people talk lightly about love of Christ but their actions…