In our culture, waiting has come to feel like missing out like weakness.  And yet today’s reading for Advent and Christmas we are reminded of the opposite-that waiting is strength. ‘But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength,’ says the Prophet Isaiah, ‘they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall…

A wise man said, ‘Wisdom is founded on memory; happiness on forgetfulness.’ We tend to think of remembering and forgetting as opposites, and remembering as the better, but really we need them both and they are complimentary.  Today’s scriptures and our church tradition seems to double down on the importance of both remembering and forgetting,…

The difference between good and bad pride is in its object, what it points to.  Pride is so dangerous and so often bad because-irresistibly the object of pride is ourselves, our ego.  It’s like the story of the young school boy who was so meek and modest, that he was awarded the ‘most humble badge.’…

God planted us and he hopes that we will choose to grow in his garden in a certain way.  The prophet Isaiah perfectly captures how we are to grow in words right after our assigned OT, “Take root downward, bear fruit upward.”

Every Sunday in church we say thank you in literally one hundred different ways, in ritual, chants and prayers, it’s not too much of a stretch to say all we do is practice saying thank you in church. A wise monk said, ‘If the only prayer we ever say in our entire lives is thank…

We all have this tendency to make ourselves greater than we are, and make others smaller, and the consequences are division and destruction.  Jesus knows this sinful tendency, and knows we are blind to it, so he puts up a mirror for us to see.  As the disciples fight, he takes a small child and…

In our Armenian Orthodox tradition, we understand sacraments as visible signs of God’s invisible grace. And what is music, if not a sacramental echo of heaven? Strings, keys, and voices—physical things—become effective signs of divine movement. When we sing we don’t just say things-we experience them-emotionally and physically in our heart. So if the words…

Taken on its face, Jesus’s words today seem to be a rejection of the deepest held value we have on earth, the family. Yes as so often the case with Our Lord, what at first glance seems to be a rejection, is really just a redirection allowing us to honor our earthly families and see…

Galatians tells us: “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.”  So I am not just being poetic and symbolic when I say we wear costumes and uniforms, it’s in the first reading you heard, the first time you entered church at your baptism. This means, me, name, name—everyone…

Jesus wants us to pay close attention to what we are building in our lives, because it matters more than anything.  Most all of us work very hard to build a career, which helps us build a home and family, and secure our way in the world. This is necessary, and not at all easy,…