Christos Anesti! I’m quite fond of "Greek Easter," as Mr. Panos called it fifteen years ago. Even though we’ve never been part of the local Greek parish, over the years, we’ve come to call Pascha “Greek Easter” (in contrast to “American Easter”) in our household in honor of Mr. Panos. There is a sense in …
Lamb, Lobster, and the Deacon
We like lamb in our household. It’s expensive so we limit it to special occasions. We always have lamb and artichoke stew on Christmas. We typically have roast lamb or lamb curry during Bright Week (the week following Pascha) and we’ll usually do kabobs on the grill at least once in the summer. We have …
Tulip?
We have a tulip in our yard. That’s weird since we’ve never grown tulips in the decade and a half we’ve lived here. We had a week of severe weather (tornadoes to the north of us and monster hail to the south—all we got was the 40 mph winds with much stronger gusts and an …
Unquenchable Fire
Last Thursday was one of those high wind, low humidity, fire watch days that are not uncommon in Spring. Unfortunately, a barn in our neighborhood caught on fire, which spread to the adjoining field. It was big enough that the fire departments from the three closest towns were called in, so it was a day …
Ecclesiastical DDT
Ten years ago, in late March, one of the superstar megachurch pastors of this era, Mark Driscoll, was forced to take a leave of absence from the Mars Hill church, which at the time had over a dozen campuses scattered across the country, all connected by video feed so everyone attending everywhere could lap up …
St Barsanuphius of Gaza on Repentance
I heard an interview with Marvin Olasky this week in which he mentioned his religious transition from the Communist Party to the Conservative Baptist Church. His description of the first couple of Sundays, ending with the long and insistent altar call, and all the old folks turning around and looking at him because he was …
The Annunciation
Today (Mar 25) is the Feast of the Annunciation (exactly 9 months before the Nativity Feast on Dec 25). The story, found in Luke 1:26-38, is that the angel Gabriel visits and tells Mary she is going to have a baby. “You will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call …
The Problematic Idea of Actual Sins
With Good Friday only ten days away on the Western calendar, I thought a brief mental exercise focusing on the cross might be of interest. The Christian East and West emphasize different aspects of the death of Christ, and I find the root cause of the difference fascinating. Hopefully, you will too. In the East, …
Lutherans Being Lutheran
I developed an abiding interest in myth ever since reading Neumann’s, The Origins and History of Consciousness, about a decade ago. The contemporary mythical god named YouTube Algorithm (YTA) knows of this interest and because YTA wants to please me, it suggested a video entitled Anatomy of an Implosion, which is part one of a …
The Trouble with Priests Is Their Parishes (or Monks, Their Buddharams)?
There is something of a cult following of Jonathan Pageau that he steadfastly tries to stamp out, but it continues to crop up despite his strenuous efforts. On his regular Q&As for his Patreon supporters, which he occasionally posts to his free channel, where I see them, people reveal their struggles and ask Jonathan his …
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