Take up your cross.... is not an invitation to passivity. It is not about quietly and submissively accepting whatever hardship falls on you. Jesus was never passive. He did not just react to what was thrown at him. He lived a life of active initiative. He courted trouble! He is not telling us to accept …
Spiritual Reflection – Stars, Kingfishers, Dragonflies and the Personal Touch…
(I have permission to reproduce the following blog post by my friend Michael in England. The original is found on his blog site; or on his Facebook page.) He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name.from Psalm 147 I am not a scientist but …
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Words of a Thirsty Soul
Give me a drink of you. My mouth wide open, I breathe in.What you say to me (to us) is: breath and life.I receive the mission to be a wellspring: it's You in me, leaping up into eternal Life.A mission to breathe. These words were written in 1994 in his journal, by Christophe Lebreton, the …
The Bible in the Marketplace
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…and God saw that it was good. (Genesis 1:1-13) The Orthodox Church reads these opening words of the Bible on the first day of Lent. But the Church also reads Isaiah 1:1-20. “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord has spoken…” The …
Take Lent “lentement”
In 2nd Peter chapter 3 we read: But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow about his promise as some count slowness, but is forbearing toward you, not wishing that any should …
When God’s Name Changed
A group of men visited a remote monastery. They were given time to visit with a venerable holy monk, who answered all their questions. Finally one of the visitors spoke to the monk: “Father, could you tell us something about yourself?” He leaned back. “Myself?” he mused. There was a long pause. “My name used …
Iconostasis of Life
Father Alexander Schmemann wrote the following in his book, For the Life of the World: “…And if I make this new life mine, mine this hunger and thirst of the Kingdom, mine this expectation of Christ, mine the certitude that Christ is Life, my very death will be an act of communion with Life.” True …
Women of Freedom
I love the Gospel stories of the women who went to the tomb of Christ, especially the version in Mark's Gospel (16:1-8). There is something almost comic about the women walking to the tomb, to anoint the body of Christ, and wondering who would roll the stone away from the tomb. Clearly they won’t be able …
Be Generous
One of my regular readers was inspired by my last sermon to post this on his blog. He is a very creative blogger. I recommend his very fine website.
Be generous
As the sun and the rain
As the seeds
And as the creatures
As time
And as eternity
Always
Be generous.
Inspired by https://ancientanswers.org/2018/09/30/the-blessing-of-abundance/
The Cross is not a political slogan
Living in Montreal and two other Canadian cities in the 1970s I became aware of the politics that ruled the Greek Orthodox churches in Canada. As a matter of fact, it came to the point, at least in Montreal, that the Hellenic Community administration that governed all the Greek churches of Montreal was split along …
