REFLECTIONS

A dear, old friend texted me. She had questions about Orthodoxy. She was raised Catholic and has been Protestant over 45 years. We have known each other the same amount of time so she knows my journey and my joining the Orthodox church eight years ago after first attending a liturgy eleven years ago.

On November 21st we celebrate the Feast of the Presentation of the Theotokos in the Temple. The story of Mary's early life is not found in the Bible but rather the Book of James (also called the Protevangelion). According to tradition, Mary was just three years old when her parents, Joachim and Anna, fulfilled their promise to offer her to the Lord. She ran joyfully into the arms of the priest Zacharias, even danced, and remained in the temple for nine years until she was rea

We've enjoyed the fall colors, and now the crisp air fills our surroundings. Thanksgiving and Christmas are around the corner. For many, it is a time to reflect on blessings and to celebrate life's gifts with warmth and joy of the holiday season. Yet, for others, Thanksgiving can be a hurtful reminder of absence, loss, or unmet expectations. Cultivating a grateful heart in these circumstances requires intentionality, perspective, and compassion, for oneself and for others.

Sometimes, I forget to appreciate all that God has given to us. It's easy to get caught up in the minutiae of daily living and forget that He is at work all the time. We may not recognize God's visible and invisible work due to the worldly concerns and activities that press in on us. All things, living and inanimate, are here on earth by His design. God's abundant and everlasting love for each one of us on earth encompasses everything.

Jesus talks to us about the seed. The seed is so powerful. When you look at it from the outside, it seems like nothing—just a little thing. But if you really knew the holiness of a seed! An entire forest exists within a seed. If you put an acorn in the ground with the right conditions, it will eventually give you not just a tree, but a whole oak grove. A tiny apple seed has the power to grow an entire orchard. One seed! This is what yielding a hundredfold looks like.

Next time you are at Liturgy, consider the idea that there are three flames. The first flame burns before the throne of God always. The second flame is passed down to a candle at the altar in the Liturgy. The third flame is passed on to you, like a little candle that you light when you take communion. Imagine trying to keep that little candle lit as you leave the church and keep that little flame burning throughout the week. Of course, you might point out that there aren't re

In one of our recent Gospel readings, Jesus tells us: "If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me." (Mark 8:34). This is a radical statement! When we hear this, we sometimes think about the cross Jesus carried up that hill. We think about fasting, giving things up, enduring difficulties. And yes, this is part of taking up the cross, but the Church Fathers talk about a different kind of cross. Not just the external cross, but the dee

As we begin another year of Bible study, we're diving into the Gospel of John. Fr. Tom invited us to sit with the opening verse from the Gospel of John. Instantly, the word that came to mind for me was connection. We would not exist without Him. Through the Word, all things were made. We are in Him and He is in us. We are connected to Christ. But life moves fast. Many can relate to days filled with meetings, emails, logistics, and multitasking...

In the wake of this tragic assassination of Charlie Kirk and last week's shooting in Minneapolis at the Annunciation Catholic School, it is natural to search for answers and accountability. Yet as we watch politicians and others rush to blame one another, to claim moral superiority, or to assign guilt to certain groups, we fall into a familiar trap described by Fr. Meletios Webber: the mind's compulsive need to be right.

I just started reading The Journals of Father Alexander Schmemann, 1973-1983. They are transcribed just as he wrote them prior to his passing over 40 years ago in 1983 at the age of 63. Honest thoughts from a respected priest, professor, and preacher. His son, Serge, says in the foreword that it is unclear if Fr. Alexander intended them for publication. If so, perhaps not in the exact wording as written in his journals. So far, I have found it an interesting read.

Plans are underway to remodel our beautiful church. This reminds me of a verse from Psalms that says, "Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain" (Psalm 127:1). The house in this verse can refer to multiple things. It can refer to you in your own soul, to your community, or to a specific work or task you are undertaking. It can also refer to the church building that we are remodeling. We can always be asking, what kind of house are we building?

I've always loved fall, not just because the heat of summer fades, but because it feels more like a new beginning than New Year's ever did. The church begins the new ecclesiastical year quietly and tenderly. The first major feast day we celebrate is the Feast of the Nativity of our beautiful Theotokos. Wrap our heads around that—we celebrate the new year not with fireworks or resolutions, but with birth. With the arrival of the one who said "yes." The one who changed the cour