One of my favorite Thanksgiving hymns, though the Eastern Orthodox do not sing it, is “We gather together.” I think it is a hymn that mixes together both the aspect of Thanksgiving and the idea that God does work with us to guide us and to chasten us (for our sins) as necessary. It is […]
Thanksgiving is for confession and giving thanks
Father, are you getting a little radical on us? What do you mean including confession with Thanksgiving? That day is a day to give thanks for God’s bounty. It is not a penitential day. Then I have a surprise for you because it was a surprise for me as well. Did you know that up […]
Bonds
Sarah Josepha Hale is considered to be partially responsible for our celebration of Thanksgiving. She wrote series of six letters to President Abraham Lincoln in support of such a national holiday. She was a strong Christian and a writer. Below is one of her poems. Though she supported abolition, she points out that freedom and […]
Why did I vote for Obama?
A person wrote in and asked a very honest question about why I voted for President-elect Obama. His concern was about voting for someone who supports abortion. The person who wrote me is pro-life in the widest of ways, since he is also against the death penalty in general. He gently asked me about my […]
St. Luke and the Prophet Joel
Every so often the liturgical calendar has a happy confluence. This weekend is such a one. Earlier today I concelebrated Orthros and Divine Liturgy for St. Luke the Evangelist. Tomorrow is the day of the Prophet Joel. And, the two are intimately linked. You see, the Prophet Joel prophesized the coming of the Holy Spirit. […]
Hellenists and Converts, oh my, part 03
There was a little girl who had a little curl right in the middle of her forehead; when she was good, she was very, very good, and when she was bad she was horrid. — Mother Goose The Orthodox Church in the United States is somewhat like that apocryphal little girl of Mother Goose fame. […]
Hellenists and Converts, oh my, part 02
Two men behaving badly have clearly exposed some of the arguments going on within the Orthodox Church in the USA, as I mentioned in part 01 of this post. At the same time, both of them have shown, almost crudely, the bad thinking and misunderstandings going on behind the arguments. So, let’s look at them […]
Hellenists and Converts, oh my, part 01
I have seldom seen the Bible come to life as much as I have in the last month as I have read two articles, one by a priest and one by a layman, that exemplify the great disputes going on within Orthodoxy in the USA. The first article, “The Orthodox Church of Tomorrow†was published […]
Christians behaving goodly
Today the New York Times has a story on the Roman Catholic school system in France providing sanctuary to Muslim students. You can read it here. The schools are still overtly Roman Catholic, with crucifixes in every room. But, they also allow respect the Islam of the students, and, as the article points out, they […]
A modern version of the Scopes trial
Recently the John Templeton Foundation published a booklet titled, “Does science make belief in God obsolete?” The full booklet can also be read online here. It features opinions by 13 well known people from the fields of science, philosophy, and religion. The answers are quite a mixture. Many show the gray areas in the debate. […]
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