I will always remember the summer of 1967. I was only 14 years old and blessed to reside in what was then one of the great cities of the world, Montréal, Canada. The city was experiencing a revival and huge building boom, including what was then the most modern subway in the world, the Metro. …
The Connected Life
Every once in a while I have the urge to talk about my favorite conductor, Wilhelm Furtwängler. I love what Daniel Barenboim said about him: “He understood that music is not about statements or about being. It’s about becoming. It’s not the statement of a phrase that is really important, but how you get there and …
True Images
The book of Exodus describes the escape of the Jews from slavery in Egypt under the leadership of Moses, the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea, and the long journey through the wilderness. The people were quickly frustrated by their escape from Egypt and they turned against Moses and his god, lamenting that perhaps they …
Who is this Son of Man?
Today's Gospel reading (John 17:1-13) takes us back to the upper room, where Jesus had his last supper with the disciples before his arrest. On this Sunday After Ascension, one week before Pentecost, we hear Jesus speak of returning to where he was, with God his father, from all eternity. This is what Ascension is …
Different Kinds of Blindness
Who is really blind in today’s gospel reading (John 9)? The man, the people around him, his parents, the Pharisees? My quick answer: all of them! The man was blind - but he had become invisible to everyone who saw him day after day. Their blindness was one of ignoring him. They passed him …
Spirit and Truth
It seems I'm not the only one who read carefully the article about millennials and the church in the Washington Post. It obviously created significant buzz in some circles. A friend of mine sent me an article by David French in a certain magazine, without endorsing its content. It was a rather hateful attack on the same Post …
Church Without Gimmicks
Sermon of 3 May, 2015, Audio file: John is called the Theologian in the Orthodox Church, for good reason. There is much theology in today's reading of John 5:1-15; but there is theology in all the miracle stories in the Gospels, as I always try to point out. At the heart of today's miracle story is a …
The Answer to How is Yes
Three weeks ago a New York Times article reported on renewed speculations and debate that the bones of Jesus may have been discovered in Jerusalem. I doubt that anyone will ever be able to prove that these bones are those of Jesus. But it does raise the question: What is most important about Jesus? Theology …
Two Anniversaries
April 24th marks two very different anniversaries: the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Holocaust and Genocide and the 25th anniversary of the launch of the Hubble Telescope. The first anniversary represents the darkest side of human nature, while the second represents humanity at its most inspiring. The killing of Armenians by the Ottoman Turks began …
Arise Earth, Arise with Christ!
The whole world has risen in Christ … if God is “all in all,” then everything is in fact paradise, because it is filled with the glory and presence of God, and nothing is any more separated from God. THOMAS MERTON Thomas F. Torrance (1913-2007) was one of the most important Christians of the twentieth century. …
Ancient Answers 