Glory to God For All Things

December 18, 2020

Put the Dickens Back in Christmas

In the late 1600’s in colonial Boston, the celebration of Christmas was against the law. Indeed, anyone evidencing the “spirit of Christmas” could be fined five shillings. In the early 1800’s, Christmas was better known as a season for rioting in the streets and civil unrest. However, in the mid-1800’s some interesting things changed the […]
Read more: Put the Dickens Back in Christmas
Feasts, Modernity, Morality, Reflections, Secularism
December 14, 2020

The Walls of Paradise – and the Fire of God

I love walls. Perhaps the most charming aspect of medieval cities are their use of walls. Some surrounded the city and served as protection. Others surrounded smaller areas and prevented easy access and egress (perhaps understandable in a world with lots of animals present). There were other walls that signaled “higher” boundaries. In a medieval […]
Read more: The Walls of Paradise – and the Fire of God
Knowledge of God, Reflections
December 9, 2020

Echoes of a Fresh Start

Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise, Because of Your enemies, That You may silence the enemy and the avenger. (Psalm 8:2) There are many things about the “elder” years of my life that I prefer to my youth. Had I known then what I know now, perhaps the […]
Read more: Echoes of a Fresh Start
Reflections, Salvation, Tradition
December 4, 2020

Love and Freedom

The most difficult aspect of love is the freedom it inherently requires. Love, in its ultimate and proper form, only exists between equals. There can be a sort of benevolence and nobility towards another who is not equal, but never love. This makes it difficult to understand the God-who-is-love. It will quickly be said […]
Read more: Love and Freedom
Knowledge of God, Reflections
November 29, 2020

Thanksgiving Communion

Whom should I thank? The question is normally a matter of polite acknowledgement. A gift was given and received. Who gave it? Whom should I thank? It is inherently the nature of giving thanks that thanks must be given to someone. I cannot give thanks to nothing or no one. As such, the giving of […]
Read more: Thanksgiving Communion
Communion, Modernity, Reflections, Thankfulness
November 24, 2020

The Silent Song We Need To Hear

Music has its own “music.” There are the notes written on a page, and the notes played by an intstrument. It is a particular quality of instruments, however, that they not only play a certain note, but that “note” itself plays other “notes.” In general, these other notes are called, “overtones.” When ‘Middle C’ is […]
Read more: The Silent Song We Need To Hear
Communion, Knowledge of God, Music, Reflections
November 20, 2020

I Will Go Into the Altar of God

Most of my early Church memories center around Sunday School (I think that we did not “stay for preaching” very often). The small Baptist church that we attended was about a mile from our house and was conveniently connected by a railroad track, generally inactive on Sundays. My older brother and I often walked along […]
Read more: I Will Go Into the Altar of God
Reflections
November 16, 2020

Orthodoxy, Systematic Theology, and Music

I have heard it said, numerous times, that Orthodox Christianity “does not do” systematic theology. Having done my graduate studies in systematic theology, I occasionally bristle at the comment, particularly when those making it have never actually studied the subject. It is true that Orthodoxy does not do “systematic” theology, as such, but the statement […]
Read more: Orthodoxy, Systematic Theology, and Music
Atonement, Beauty, Music, Mystical Theology, Reflections
November 9, 2020

Museums, Churches, and My Back Yard

A great cry went up from Orthodox throats across the globe earlier this year when the Turkish government repurposed Hagia Sophia from museum to mosque. The cry was an echo of May 29, 1453, when the city of Constantinople fell to the forces of Sultan Mehmed II. That day, and its pain, have remained an […]
Read more: Museums, Churches, and My Back Yard
Beauty, Communion, Icons, Reflections
November 5, 2020

The Gospel of Progress – and the New Jerusalem

American fans of Monty Python will be familiar with the opening lines of William Blake’s poem, “Jerusalem” (and I apologize to my British readers for such an introduction). The poem was set to music in 1916 and became deeply popular in post-war Britain. The Labour Party adopted it as a theme for the election of […]
Read more: The Gospel of Progress – and the New Jerusalem
Modernity, Reflections, Secularism, The Journey of Faith

Thanks again Michael!

Thanks for this Father. Recently I was reading in Luke, the parables all given together of the Lost Sheep, Lost…

Matthew, if you want to delve more into Nietzsche, I recommend Walter Kaufman and Nikos Kanzantakis in addition to a…

Matthew, much more to be said, but my dear wife is cautioning me. I am glad I was understood.

Thanks so much Michael!