Servant Leadership

Jesus’s harsh criticism of the religious leaders of his day is a wakeup call for us! They thought that religion was there to serve them. They used their power to get what they wanted and to puff themselves up. In

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Jumping Thru Hoops

One of the secrets to understanding scripture is to realize that it’s not a weapon. It’s not meant for us to use against others: “Oh, look at how evil *those* people are!” Instead, it’s a tool for us to use

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Mary, the Ever-Virgin?

Recently, a friend e-mailed me and asked if Orthodox Christians believe that Mary was “perpetually a virgin.” The short answer is, yes! The long answer is a bit more complex. I’ve pasted my response below, which I hope you can

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Gazing Upon the Snake

Sunday Before the Feast of the Holy Cross In today’s gospel reading, Jesus references an event that occurred after the Exodus (Numbers 21:5-8). The Hebrews, having been freed from Egypt, now wander in the desert on their way to the

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Christ is Risen!

Great and Holy Pascha The scriptural readings on Pascha (Easter) present us with the mystery of Christ’s resurrection. During Matins, the resurrection is announced by means of an empty tomb, and when the women are told to go and announce

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The Son Returns and the Father Goes Crazy! What Will Happen?

Has something ever happened to you that you thought was totally unfair? Have you ever gotten a traffic ticket or punished as a child and thought, “I didn’t deserve this”? Was someone else rewarded and praised for work that you

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Psychology, Scripture, and Narrative Understandings

I came across a fascinating article on Psychology Today with the title of “How Therapy Works: What it Means to ‘Process an Issue’.”

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Hope in the Darkness

There are times when you feel like there’s no hope for society–we’ve gone down a path of no return.

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What Does Wrath Have to Do with It?

One of the most common questions people ask about God and religion is: why do bad things happen to good people? Is God up there in heaven boiling with wrath to punish us for our sins? That’s a great question.

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Shrek and the Myrrhbearing Women

As I thought about the theme of one of the Easter Sundays, the Myrrhbearing Women, I wondered: what’s the deeper symbolic meaning that the first witnesses of the resurrection were female? Then, the answer came to me through the movie Shrek.

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