A Sobering Christmas Ghost Story

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leech-marleys-ghost-5Every year faithful Christians struggle with the rush and distraction of holiday preparations and long to take a moment to slow down and reflect on the real meaning of the season. It is an especially difficult struggle for Orthodox Christians as we are prescribed by Mother Church to fast in our preparation to meet the newborn King in his Nativity. The Lenten Fast by comparison is somewhat easier in the sense that the season is already more austere in the wider culture (everyone fasting in the springtime, if for no other religious reason, so that they can fit into summertime bathing suits). The weeks leading up to Christmas in America are anything but austere. Between Christmas parties at work, holiday concerts galore, and the extra latte at Starbucks to keep up our shopping stamina, few things in the broader culture give us pause to stop and reflect on our eternal destiny with one amazing exception, Charles Dicken’s classic Christmas ghost story, A Christmas Carol. Continue reading →

Little House and Little Women

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The following is a guest post from my oldest daughter. It represents a comparison contrast paper that I had her write as part of our Home School study of the literature of Laura Ingalls Wilder and Louisa May Alcott.

25522119Laura Ingalls and Jo March lived in different parts of America. Laura moved with her family to the big woods, the open prairie and the frontier towns. Jo March stayed in one town of New England most of her life. Both girls were troublemakers by getting into scrapes and starting fights. Continue reading →

What C.S. Lewis Did For My Love Life

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50th Anniversary of the Repose of C.S. Lewis
+ November 22, 1963 +

My first experience of the writing of C.S. Lewis was through his theological and cultural treatises. He made me a fan of theology when I was the ripe age of only 14. I still have yet to read any of his famous fictional work from start to finish. But the book which made the biggest difference in my life bridges those genres of fiction, culture, and theology. I picked up a copy of Lewis’ Four Loves when I was an undergraduate in college, and it changed my outlook on love and human relationships forever. Continue reading →

What a Prayer Book is For

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Reader’s Stand on Crete

I had the distinct privilege and honor to chant the vigil tonight at my home parish, and as I was singing the hymns of preparation for the weekly celebration of the resurrection on Sunday, I was reminded of a post that has been brewing for a while in my heart. Our eccelsiarch (head chanter who arranges the service schedule) recently redid one of our key service books which was in sore need of repair. He painstakingly removed the well-loved pages of a prayer book published in 1988 and inserted them, one by one, into sheet protectors and a three ring binder that now consolidates two service books into one. Seeing the highly used pages reinvigorated with new life reminded me of a time long ago when my opinionated self learned a lesson about the true purpose of a prayer book… Continue reading →

Saints Alive: Living Links to Ancient Truths

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October 26/ November 8- Holy and Glorious Great-martyr Demetrius the Myrrh-gusher of Thessalonica (306)

On this day when we remember the Great-martyr Demetrius of Thessaloniki, I offer this re-post of a reflection I composed the summer of 2011 when I was fortunate enough to visit the city of the saint and venerate his relics along with the rest of the senior class of Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology. A full copy of all of my reflections from that summer can be found here. Continue reading →

A Family Friendly Monastery

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IMG_2587Just returned from one of our favorite Greek Orthodox monasteries in Quebec, Canada, Panagia Parigoritissa. My wife and I will celebrate our tenth wedding anniversary this coming winter and it has been almost ten years since we self-published our first little travel guide entitled Friar’s Guide to Family Friendly Monasteries in North America. While much of the information in the original booklet is dated, the introduction is timeless, and I offer it here as an especial tribute to one of our most favorite of family vacation spots. Continue reading →

What I Gave Up to Become Orthodox

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In honor of the 20th anniversary of the priesthood of Fr. Antony Hughes at St. Mary Orthodox Church in Cambridge, the 20th anniversary of the Boston Byzantine Choir, and incidentally also the 20th year of my being an Orthodox Christian, I would like to present this memory of Fr. Antony from the very beginning of his ministry and the very beginning of my walk as an Orthodox Christian. We remembered so many of these tonight at a special banquet in his honor at St. Mary’s… Continue reading →

Pews Stink

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September 14/27, Feast of the Universal Exaltation of the Precious, Life-Giving Cross of the Lord

On this precious feast of the church, one of the few feasts in which we honor the day by fasting, I feel it is time to post something that has been percolating for some time in my mind and heart. It is the importance of sacrifice that the cross represents in our life as Christians and how antithetical that sacrifice is to us comfort-loving Americans.

The quite provocative title of this post may lead the reader to conclude that I have strayed too far into the dangerous waters of conservative fundamentalism, that view of the world that constrains truth and limits people to operate within the confines of an overly rigorous ideology. While I do believe that church pews encourage laziness and lack of rigor in our worship, I also believe, paradoxically, that they limit our freedom of worship, a belief that I have tested and found true on my own children.

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