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In the Belly of the Whale
Read more: In the Belly of the WhaleThe marvelous book of Jonah, read in its entirety on Holy Saturday, includes a very rich prayer which is obviously intended to be spoken from within the depths of Hades itself – thus its inclusion on Holy Saturday, the day on which Christ is proclaiming liberty to those “in prison.” Like the phrase from Psalm […]
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Palm Sunday and Hearing the Word of God
Read more: Palm Sunday and Hearing the Word of GodI am convinced after years of preaching and listening to preaching that the bulk of Scripture has become lost to our ears. We hear it, but fail to “hear” it. And I do not mean this merely in the moral sense (doubtless we fail to be “doers” of the word). Rather, I am aware of […]
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Lazarus Saturday
Read more: Lazarus SaturdayLargely ignored by much of Christendom, the Orthodox mark the day before Palm Sunday as “Lazarus Saturday” in something of a prequel to the following weekend’s Pascha. It is, indeed a little Pascha just before the greater one. And this, of course, was arranged by Christ Himself, who raised His friend Lazarus from the dead […]
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The Annunciation – The Cause of All Things
Read more: The Annunciation – The Cause of All ThingsI treasure the small volume of George Gabriel, Mary the Untrodden Portal of God. Gabriel occasionally strikes hard at the West and the book would perhaps be strengthened with a less combative approach to the differences of East and West in the faith (my own opinion), but I liked the book and found Gabriel addressing many […]
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The Weakness of Man
Read more: The Weakness of ManIt is counter-intuitive that God saves man through His own weakness. The irony of the Divine Reversal has provided endless material for the hymnographers of the Church through the centuries. The Strong becomes weak, the Sinless takes on our sin, the Rich becomes poor, God becomes man – the whole of the gospel seems to […]
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Favorite Thoughts and Thanksgiving
Read more: Favorite Thoughts and ThanksgivingI awoke this morning from two days in bed battling a nasty little virus. My fever had broken and my appetite returned. There are no words for my gratitude. I offer this short piece on favorite thoughts and pray God’s blessing on us all. Any reader of this blog will very quickly notice certain ideas […]
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Hitchens on Hitchens – Belief on Unbelief
Read more: Hitchens on Hitchens – Belief on UnbeliefFor those of you who follow contemporary discourse – particularly that by contemporary atheists on contemporary Christianity – you will find of great interest this article by the brother of Christopher Hitchens. (Christopher Hitchens has made himself famous as one of the current proponents of the “new atheism.”) Peter Hitchens does an admirable job of speaking […]
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The Nature of Things and Our Salvation
Read more: The Nature of Things and Our SalvationReflecting on yesterday’s post, I thought it worthwhile to share these thoughts again on the nature of our salvation. It offers a short summary of the difference between a moral and an existential understanding of the Christian faith and why the difference matters. Indeed, as I look through my writings I know this is a […]
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Just Showing Up and the Work of Grace
Read more: Just Showing Up and the Work of GraceThere has been a tendency in much teaching about the notion of salvation by grace to ground the image in a legal or forensic metaphor. Thus, we are saved by grace in the sense that someone else’s goodwill and kindness (God’s) has now freed us from the consequences of our actions. Thus we speak of […]
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The Grace of Repentance
Read more: The Grace of RepentanceFrom Archimandrite Sophrony’s On Prayer There, on the Holy Mountain, my life found its right track. Almost every day after the Liturgy I knew a feeling of Easter joy.And strange as it may seem, my constant prayer like some volcanic eruption proceeded from the profound despair that ahd taken over my heart. Two seemingly totally incompatible […]
@Dana Ames, thank you so much for that link. (I also turned the music off.) While watching, I was overwhelmed…