Antipascha: St Thomas Sunday 2016 Doubt is a prominent feature of our society. We like to delude ourselves by promulgating the notion that we follow the evidence wherever it leads, which means that if there is an abundance of evidence—evidence that is comfortable for us to accept, mind—or a compelling argument then we are justified … [Read more…]
Zacchaeus Sunday, 2016. Luke 19:1-10 There are preparatory Sundays before the beginning of Great Lent, and those begin next week with the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee. The next preparatory Sunday will be the Sunday of the Prodigal Son. Then comes the Sunday of Meatfare, which is also the Sunday of the Last … [Read more…]
Matthew 25:14-30 I’d like us to consider today’s Gospel reading as it regards the grace of God. Let us remember that the grace of God is the uncreated energies of God. His grace is His active presence, power, and activity in the world, and this deifying grace is given to all according to our ability … [Read more…]
Luke 12:16-21 Given to us today is the lesson of the rich fool. Like so many other things in the Gospel, this one seems to slip beneath our notice until the Church calls us to read it, and it smacks us right in the face. No one among us should be comfortable hearing the words … [Read more…]
Today, in the Gospel lesson, Christ tells Peter, “Do not be afraid; henceforth you will be catching men.” What does this mean? Are we, as the Church, still to be fishers of men? And if so, what does this look like in a world that is increasingly intolerant of the Christian faith? Well, first we … [Read more…]
Homily given September 19th, 2015 The first and only question of theology is asked today by Christ: Who do people say that I am? It is a question that the world asks us today. Who is Jesus? Is He a socio-political figure? Is He a teacher? A philosopher? A revolutionary? A savior? A prophet? A … [Read more…]
I know it must come as a terrible shock to all of you that when we were considering going to seminary I was a bit of an insufferable know-it-all. It probably can’t even be said, completely truthfully, that what we did was “consider.” I am fairly certain I didn’t stop to consider anything. I know … [Read more…]
In Springhill Nova Scotia in 1958, there was a bump under the earth in the Cumberland County Mine. A “bump” is an underground earthquake. The shafts of this particular coal mine went down over 2 miles, and when the bump happened vast sections of this massive labyrinth came crashing down, trapping 175 miners. As one … [Read more…]
Homily delivered on August 9th, 2015. It all begins and ends with a Tree, and the fruit thereof. This may seem to us at first to have very little to do with the Gospel, but let me take us somewhere for just a few moments. The image, or icon if-you-will, of the tree occurs in … [Read more…]
Good people, today we celebrate the becoming of a new human person. We do not simply celebrate a ritual, a public profession of faith, but rather the regeneration of a life. It is an existential event which can be described as a new mode of existence. Through the voluntary death, and burial in the life-giving … [Read more…]