REFLECTIONS

I have been thinking a lot about communication, so this Nativity season, I've been considering how God changed His communication with us through Christmas. In the Old Testament, God revealed Himself to individuals, and He primarily communicated to His people through the prophets. The first great prophet was Moses, and way back in Exodus 33, Moses meets with God on Mt. Sinai. Moses asks to see God's glory, and God says that He will reveal His goodness and His name to Moses.

We are blessed to live in a Christian church that is so full and rich with tradition. Christ initiated and taught us how to live, walk, pray, and worship Him through His words which are visible in the written word of the Bible and His directives to His close followers. The Apostles continued Christ's teachings through speaking and writing to those in their travels. The teachings grew from the original followers to other people around the world throughout the centuries.

I am humbled that our Holy Orthodox Church clearly proclaims that God's great gift was not a philosophy, a code of ethics, or a new age way to look at life, but His gift was God Himself, Jesus Christ! One of the pearls in the book Daily Meditations and Prayers for the Christmas Advent Fast and Epiphany by Harakas and Coniaris is the following: Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea. But where is Bethlehem? Did the Son of God come to be born in a tiny hamlet in far-away Palesti

On the Sunday before the Nativity of Christ, we read the Gospel of St. Matthew 1:1-25, which traces the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. It's always a powerful thing when our Church reminds us that we come from a lineage that goes all the way back to Adam and Eve. As we celebrate Christmas, we need to be reminded where our roots are, where we're from, and who we are. The world is telling you so many things about who you need to be. We hear, "j

Every person wants to be loved and feel special, and many of the ways people try to be special are so that they can be loved.  Just look...

This time of the year is blessed with music of the season. My favorites are the hymns of Christmas that refer to Christ. (And, Mele...

A View from the Moon I remember reading about the space shuttle Columbia where astronaut James Irwin walked on the moon in 1971. He said,...

If you open your Bible to the Christmas story, you’ll find an interesting pattern.  The angel Gabriel appears to Zacharias and says, “Do...

We are about a quarter of the way into the Nativity Fast leading up to the celebration of Christ’s birth.  We have this time of year to...