Author: dustin.lyon@gmail.com

I think most of you know that my presvytera was born in a suburb of Minneapolis and that she lived there for a number of years during her childhood. In addition, I spent my undergraduate years at the University of

Life isn’t fair. We all know it—we can see the unfairness around us. But, why is it that some people are born with a silver spoon in their mouth while others are born into abject poverty? And, why is it

Translations are good in that they help us read something we wouldn’t otherwise have access to. But, unfortunately, they can sometimes be misleading. Previously, we talked about how translators can impose their will on the text by what words they

Each week during Lent, as you know, I’ve been writing about the rich depth of our Orthodox spirituality. A few weeks ago, I talked about how fasting opens us up to others (click here), and, last week, I spoke about how

One of the tricks to hearing and understanding scripture is to be able to hear it as a unified whole. In other words, it helps to have a macro understanding of what’s going on.

 When we understand scripture in this

And, last week, I wrote at length about the true meaning of the fast. This week, I want to discuss what is probably the scariest part of Lent: confession! The first question a lot of people ask about confession is:

In her second Harry Potter Book—Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets—J.K. Rowling wrote, “It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” If I were to insert this quote into the 4th

As you know, Lent is time that’s set aside for us to prepare ourselves for Christ’s resurrection. It’s easy to ignore it and skip straight to Pascha—after all, Lent disrupts our lives and it seems like a lot of work!

When it comes to Paul and James, we often believe they are at odds with each other.  In one corner is Paul, who stresses salvation by faith and says that, “… all who rely on the works of the law

Commenting on the importance of teachers, Albert Einstein once said, “It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.” 

 And, Bill Gates once said, “Technology is just a tool. In terms of