Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. – Ephesians 4:31 – 32 Forgiveness is such a fundamental requirement of our Christian faith and one of the most difficult things we are charged with. It is absolutely clear in scripture and in Jesus’ teaching that forgiveness…
“Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.” – Ephesians 4:29 Over the past year I have run across these words, on a few separate occasions, as suggested guidance for how we think about what we are going to say before we say it. When you look them up there are all sorts of variations on…
My mother grew up speaking Russian. Although she moved here at age 7 and speaks flawless English she still says some of her prayers in Russian. As with many other languages, Russian uses the diminutive a lot – an ending that makes the word “little” in an affectionate way. She has often shared how she grew up using the diminutive of God – Bozhenka (little God) – when addressing God in prayer.…
This is the name of a very simple game that my daughter made up and loves to play. She just turned 4. It’s really an amazingly simple concept, but given that she asks to play it almost every day, and that my soon-to-be 6 year old enjoy it tremendously as well, there is clearly a power to it that is beyond my comprehension. Rather than try and explain it I’ll just give…
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. +…
Christ is Ascended! I hope you and your family were able to celebrate the feast of the ascension together. We certainly enjoyed some new traditions – this mixed berry pavlova was one, along with a ceremonial taking down our paschal decorations ready to enter into the new season. We also have been trying to sing (to the Paschal melody) “Christ is ascended from the earth, up to heaven He went. Now He…
In my last post I discussed that we can take this time of less outward distraction (i.e. social distancing and quarantine) to really pay full attention to the rhythm of the Church year and celebrate and anticipate the Great Feasts just as we might have been anticipating the end of the school year or a big community event. My daughter keeps asking me “It is still Easter?!” and I keep smiling and…
Christ is Risen! I was reflecting last Sunday as we were “in church” how much more difficult it is to engage our children in church without all of the ritual and sensory experience that our physical church provides. I remember when I became a mother how it felt like going to church with children was so hard. Don’t get me wrong it has lots of challenges! Not only in trying to help…
I mentioned in an earlier blog post that any moment with children can be used as a moment to invite God into the conversation. I also notice that children take the same opportunity. You may notice in your homes that your children do “Church celebrations” or “do Church” as in they want to imitate, in their pretend play, the joyous prayer and celebration that they are witness to through the life of…
Christ is risen!! Not sure how you all are doing, but I am seriously missing the rhythm of Great Lent and Holy Week. I really miss the excuse to watch services everyday and the anticipation leading up to Pascha. On Bright Tuesday I found myself rewatching Bright Mondays service. But that just didn’t seem authentic. And then I fell right off the bandwagon and aside from a boisterous singing of “Christ is…