The Orthodox priest Fr. Alexander Schmemann calls the Sacrament of Confirmation “the personal Pentecost of every man,” the effect of which is to consecrate him as a temple of the Holy Spirit to inaugurate his new life as a kind of living liturgy. In the next few posts, I would like to explore what is this new liturgical life we have received through Baptism and Confirmation, and what it means for us, each and all together, to be the living Temple of God.
Read MoreConfirmation is one of the seven sacraments of the ancient faith. Sometimes called ‘chrismation,’ owing to the long-standing practice of using blessed oil (or chrism) as part of the rite, Confirmation bestows a unique grace to the baptized Christian, by which the nascent gifts of the Holy Spirit are stirred up in them and by which the Christian is sealed as belonging to Christ. The stirring up from within and sealing from without bestow strength upon the Christian, so that they may carry out their vocation as a member of the congregation of the faithful.
Read MoreWith this week featuring both the Autumnal Ember Days and the Feast of St. Matthew (September 21st), our recaps of 1 Kings as featured in our Old Testament lessons from Morning Prayer will cover only Chapters 6–9, as our lectionary skips over Chapter 7 entirely. As a reminder, the Ember Days are days of prayer and penance which occur at the four seasons (“Ember Days at the Four Seasons” sounds like the name of a fancy restaurant), where we also pray for development of vocations for clergy. At St. Matthew’s, we’ve also taken to praying for the development of all vocations in the Church, including those of the laity.
Read MoreWe continue our recaps of the Old Testament readings for Morning Prayer with the start of 1 Kings.
Read MoreIt is a gift to be able to create. As human beings, we have been given the ability to imitate our Creator by exercising and developing our creativity. God creates from the beginning, bringing out of what is formless and void, giving it design, structure, function, and purpose. We create out of what God has made and entrusted to us, ordering our little worlds after the order, or logos, by which He made the heavens and the earth.
Read MoreThe recap of our Old Testament Lessons from Morning Prayer continues with the final chapters of 2 Samuel. But don’t worry, David’s story will continue next week in 1 Kings.
Read MoreWe continue our recap of our Morning Prayer lessons from 2 Samuel. This week features the sad tale of Tamar, the tragic response of Absalom, and the fecklessness of David.
Read MoreAh, here it comes, David’s Babyface to Heel turn. This is always a sad week for my wife, because it represents a turning point in David’s story as well as indicating that we are moving headlong towards the end of Trinity Season and rushing towards Advent and the end of the year. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you our recap of 2 Samuel chapters 9-12.
Read MoreOur look at 1 and 2 Samuel continues this week with the end of one and the start of the other. That’s right, you get two weeks of recaps for the price of one! You may notice that recaps of chapters get shorter and shorter as it goes on. I assure you, dear reader, that this is merely a technique of good storytelling, allowing our narrative to build momentum and urgency, driving us to the end (and is not in any way an indication that I wrote this in a couple of hours).
Read MoreWhen I was eighteen, my home life and family of origin underwent a sudden change from which it never really recovered. I still remember the lurch of what I thought was permanent and untouchable suddenly shifting under my feet. Like Lewis, I felt afraid. I felt cut off, even when surrounded by people. I felt deaf to the words they were trying to say to make me feel better, and even when their words got through, part of me still wanted their kind words to just go away. Yet I was terrified of being alone. Starting to sound familiar?
Read MoreWe continue our recap of our reading of 1 Samuel from Morning Prayer this week. In this installment, David is in his wilderness years. As Bela Lugosi says in ‘Ed Wood’, “Home? I have no home. Hunted. Despised. Living like an animal!”
Read MoreWe continue our recap of 1 Samuel, which we’ve been reading during Morning Prayer. This week we are introduced to a hick from the sticks, David, son of Jesse. Slayer of lions, slinger of stones, shredder of lyres, and apparently not a chore to look at.
Read MorePreviously in 1 Samuel, chapters 1-9, we were introduced to Samuel, last of the Judges. The people began carping about having a king like all the grown up nations surrounding them, kind of like when I was a wee lad and everyone showed up after Christmas break with a brand new, diecast metal General Lee from ‘The Dukes of Hazard,’ so I started whining to my parents for one. Anyway, this week we continue our exploration of 1 Samuel with chapters 10-15, where we are introduced to Samuel’s pick for the crown, Saul.
Read MoreAh, summer… a time of barbeques, sandals, and mosquito bites. For those of us living into the church Kalendar (the ‘K’ makes it extra churchy), it is also the time when we renew our relationship with 1st and 2nd Samuel during the Daily Office of Morning Prayer. Here’s a brief recap of what happened this week.
Read MoreLast weekend, we celebrated the feast day of St. Peter, the disciple to whom Jesus said, in Matthew 16:18-9, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah … you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.” Before these prophetic words came true, though, St. Peter had to face Gethsemane.
Read MoreWe have considered what it means to make our artistic vocations, as Evelyn Underhill puts it, “an oblation from the first.” As we consider how to do this in our own lives, I want to put the example of a specific artist before you.
Read MoreWe’ve considered the necessity of self-death through Christ in the life of the Christian artist. What’s next? What is the point of this self-death? Where does it go? Does my story, my particular identity, matter at all in my artistic practice?
Read MoreToday, I wish to consider the self-death necessary to the vocation of the artist. This is an essential topic for creative people to consider. I suspect an unhealthy self-preoccupation haunts current dialogue around the question of what it means, and why it matters, to be an artist. Many contemporary creatives seem frequently, if not constantly, concerned with using their art to create or define themselves, and often get lauded for this work.
Read MoreIn our first morning prayer reading with Deuteronomy 34, we mark the end of the life of Moses. As we do every year in the Daily Office, this is a story that began in Lent 12 weeks ago, with Baby Moses, a basket and the Bulrushes in Exodus 2. Except for two breaks, we have followed the story of Moses and the Exodus through the Easter and Trinity seasons. To mark this ending, this morning I offer a eulogy for the great prophet Moses—one as I imagine Joshua might have given upon the death of his mentor and teacher.
Read MoreIn the first verses of Isaiah 40, God declares, “Comfort, yes, comfort My people! … Speak comfort to Jerusalem.” These first verses frame the chapter to follow as an extended meditation on comfort as God understands and offers it to his people.
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