Choose a Team

When we are young, we cringe at the idea of ‘choosing teams’ in gym class. The ‘time tested’ method of choosing who you wanted to compete with brought stress both to the captain and to those remaining unchosen. Choose incorrectly and you lose. Brethren, you who were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your…

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A Confusing Lectionary

If you are in the habit of reading the Holy Scriptures everyday using ‘The Readings of the Day’ you may have been a bit confused today. You may be wondering ‘which’ reading for today is the correct reading. You may be wondering how the Church chooses the readings it chooses. As Orthodox Christians, reading the…

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Know Your Family

For many of us the very name we use is a testament to our family history. I was named after my grandfather and my son is named after my father. Our last names tell the world what family we belong to when we meet strangers. Everything we do, our family is a part of it,…

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Episode 433 –  Today is the Day!

People along with the priest worshiping in the church

Christ went to the Synagogue and read from Isaiah and said, “Today this is fulfilled in your hearing.” Christ speaks to us today, not just in the past. Every year on the Ecclesiastical New Year, we are reminded that Christ came to heal us, to cure us, and to save us. Let’s make this the…

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Some Things Can Wait

One of my favorite lessons to learn during Great Lent has to do with feast days. As you know, during Great Lent the Church does not encourage large celebrations. In fact, even the Divine Liturgy is limited during Great Lent because it is ‘too festive’ for the normal character of Lent. Today is the Feast…

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Calendar Celebration

The Orthodox Calendar is much more than a tool to determine the date for Pascha. It is May 5th this year, by the way. The Calendar is a way for the Church to remember our history and faith. It is a way for us to tell future generations what was important to us and our…

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Time Marches On

There are so many wonderful aspects of the Orthodox Faith, not the least of which is how the Church reminds that time marches on. Yesterday we celebrated the Nativity in the Flesh of our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ. Today, the Church reminds us that it was not a one-day event. Our society very…

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Pro Life Church

The Orthodox Church was pro life before there was such a term. Long before Roe v Wade, and long before so-called reproductive rights, the Church honored the conception of children as a blessing from God. There are references to conception in the Scriptures and even the daily calendar honors conception as a thing to be celebrated, not destroyed.

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News Cycle

The week after the feast of the Holy Cross, the Church begins a new cycle. We began yesterday reading from the Gospel of Luke, and we will continue throughout the Fall. I bring that to you attention because if your discipline includes reading the ‘daily readings’ of the Church, you might be tempted to skip…

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Celebrate Properly

The entire Orthodox World (those on the New Calendar) celebrated yesterday. If you went to celebrate the end of the fast, you celebrated the wrong thing. We say we celebrated the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos, which we did. Today is a fast day since it is Wednesday. If you awoke this morning…

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