Archives for 2015

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’ “Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that […]

As funny as the cartoon above is, it is also all too true. I am old enough to remember Flip Wilson, a comedian who had a character called Geraldine Jones whose classic line was “the devil made me do it.” It was quite a laugh-getter and became one of several trademark characters that he played. […]

  The number of law enforcement officers shot to death in the line of duty rose more than 50% last year, according to the Washington-based National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. – CNN article Two police officers have been killed have been in Wisconsin and in California. Men with evil intent in their hearts shot […]

I suspect that many of us have been part of accusing someone else of drawing conclusions simply because they are followers of or members of [fill in the blank]. There are times when it is legitimate to say such. But, if we are honest, most of the time this is not true, at least not […]

Notice that the date of this event is on Easter Sunday. When interviewed, the pastor of this congregation claims that this comes from the verse in Hebrews that says to “strip off” everything that entangles us and keeps us from getting closer to Christ. This stripping is what Easter means for him. He acknowledges that […]

“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He […]

  “Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.” — C.S. Lewis “A children’s story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children’s story in the slightest.” — C.S. Lewis In some quarters of Christianity (both Orthodox and non-Orthodox) there is a suspicion of anything that […]

This Lent, I have been using C.S. Lewis’ book Mere Christianity as a way of self-examination. Why C.S. Lewis? Why not an Orthodox classic, such as the The Philokalia of the Niptic Fathers or another one such as The Ladder of Divine Ascent? Well, for two reasons. One, in many ways, both texts are addressed […]

  Christianity thinks of human individuals not as mere members of a group or items in a list, but as organs in a body—different from one another and each contributing what no other could. When you find yourself wanting to turn your children, or pupils, or even your neighbours, into people exactly like yourself, remember […]