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We all harbor the desire that the Church—meaning the church we actually live with day to day, with real people, challenges and temptations—would be perfectly good, peaceful, loving, joyful, simple and uncomplicated. Something like the early Jerusalem community. “And day by day, attending…
“All this Jesus said to the crowds in parables…This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet: ‘I will open my mouth in parables…’” (Matt 13:34).
The gospels do not hide the fact that the disciples were repeatedly frustrated by their inability to understand what Jesus was…
“God has so composed the body…that the members may have the same care for one another.” (1 Cor 12:25)
Up to this point in the “Chancellor’s Diary” I’ve always separated scriptural reflections from reporting on events, but today I’ll combine them. Metropolitan…
Paul is eminently personal and practical in dealing with community problems. Reading the list of names in Romans 16 it is clear how connected he was with men, women, married couples, leaders serving and caring for the church and who had moved to Rome (years before he would get there himself). Many of…
Yesterday was Independence Day and thanks to the New York Times I re-read the Declaration of Independence and an op-ed piece on how individualistic we’ve become as Americans. “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” may be unalienable rights, but they also…
“The Lord is my light and my Savior, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life, of whom, shall I be afraid?” (Psalm 27:1)
Baptism is also called “Holy Illumination.” When the priest prays over the water before baptism he asks “that no evil spirit which instills…
Blessed feast of Saints Peter and Paul! The most common icon of the two saints shows them embracing. I find this especially comforting because in life they had some dramatic differences over whether, or how openly, to bring Gentiles into the fold of what had…
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)
This inscription, or part of it,…
“I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” (Romans 11:4; 1 Kings 19:18)
One of the paradoxes of the spiritual life is that the intimate, personal connection we feel with God from time to time also belongs to others, who have also have an utterly…
“He brought me forth into a broad place” (Psalm 18:19).
In today’s gospel we sense Jesus’ frustration (yes, he was often frustrated). No matter how God demonstrates his presence, or through whom, people will find fault and start name-calling. John the Baptist was too ascetic, so “he has…
St Paul takes up again the theme of Abraham’s faith. Personal faith—not tribal membership—is what counts with God. “For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his descendants” (Rom 9:7). Or, as Met Kallistos…
The Christian life is full of paradoxes. One of the signs of the Spirit dwelling within us is joy and energy in God, a fulfillment of Psalm 51, “restore to me the joy of thy salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit” (Ps 51:12). At the same time the Spirit groans within us with sighs “too…
Ann Zinzel, longtime secretary at St Vladimir’s Seminary, once recounted to me that she had been admonishing students about administrative requirements, seminary rules, assignments and deadlines. The late Fr Alexander Schmemann overheard her and said, “Anya, we can’t be too hard on them,…
The epistle readings for this week started yesterday with Romans 7:1-13 and continue today with Paul’s teaching on the turmoil of inner conflict between sin and goodness. His experience, so often confirmed that he can call it a law, is that there is a perpetual internal war, a curse from which…
Today is Metropolitan Jonah’s Name Day (the life of St Jonah, Metropolitan of Moscow, can be read here.)
“How can we who died to sin still live in it?” (Rom 6:2). Today’s epistle reading ends with this verse that leads us into St Paul’s beautiful and profound reflection read at…
“For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life” (Rom 5:10). St Paul never knew the pre-resurrected Jesus. And in his writings he makes almost no reference to Jesus’ earthly life, ministry and…
Saint Paul continues to speak about faith. This is not mainly about believing certain tenets. It’s about trusting God’s promises as Abraham did. Despite appearances, “no distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God,…
St Paul is making an elaborate argument here for the priority of faith, because he’s trying to find a way that the Gentiles (the “uncircumcised”) can be included among God’s chosen people, the Jews (“the circumcised”). We can see that it’s not an easy argument to make, because Jewish…
Today we have Scripture passages that challenge two basic assumptions: tribalism (Romans 2:14-29) and retaliation (Matthew 5:33-41). The radical Christian way that is “not of this world” rejects both of these.
Assumption 1 is that my tribe (or ethnic group, religion, church) is better…
As a candidate for President of the US, Jimmy Carter once gave an interview that later appeared in Playboy magazine. Since his Christian faith was very public, this passage from Matthew concerning lust and adultery was brought up and he was asked, “Have you ever committed adultery in…