A journal of byzantine digressionS
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The Holy Family
The assignment was a 7 minute homily on a specific feast in the Advent/Christmas cycle. My assigned day is Holy Family Sunday (which is actually a Friday this year). Be available to be someone’s chosen family. WHAT IS THE MOST INTIMATE thing you can do with someone in public? Any guesses? It’s eating together. Sharing
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This is Not a Paid Advert
YOUR HOST JUST FINISHED his first semester studying Hebrew with Citizen Cafe Tel Aviv. I wanted to take a moment (ie, a Blog Post) to endorse, recommend, and otherwise invite. Citizen Cafe promises to get you to fluency in local, spoken Hebrew. They do not focus on reading or writing (at least in the early
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No Longer Strangers
THIS READING CAME UP a week or so ago on the Feast of St Simon and his buddy. It’s been a bit of a wrestling match since then. Getting along with Christians who disagree with us is part of this (that’s where our preacher took it last Friday). But it’s the relationship between our elder
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In the Beginning
THIS PAST SABBATH (that is, Sat 22 Oct) marked the beginning of the annual reading of the Torah, the 1st Five Books of the Hebrew Scriptures. The Jewish tradition is to cycle through the whole Torah in a year in very predictable ways. Last Saturday was Shabbat Bereshit. This Saturday, the 29th, is Shabbat Noach.
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An Offer You Can’t Refuse
The Readings for the 29th Friday, Tempus per Annum (C2) One God and Father of All, who is over all, through all, and in all. Ephesians 4:6 P AUL CONTINUES HIS Meditation on the Fatherhood of God. It’s important to note that Paul is speaking to Pagans (and some Jews) who are now followers of
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Pro Patria
The Readings for the 29th Thursday, Tempus per Annum (C2) From whom every family on earth is named. Ephesians 3:15 THERE IS A WORDPLAY here: the Greek word for Family is the same as the word for Father. Patria. In Latin Patria does double-duty as Father and Country (as in Fatherland) although some countries are
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Srugim Theme Song
OK, I knew I liked the song, but I wasn’t picking out many words except the bit about this world and the world to come. I had a general idea that it was sorta religious… but wow. I pursue Your laws, on the one handOn the other, my passion pursues me.Ashamed and embarrassed, I will
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Not the Right Monks (repost)
Another repost from 2004 LiveJournal. I DON’T KNOW WHERE I picked up the line “these are not the right monks”. I know it’s either patristic, or Merton (Sign of Jonas), or Lewis (Screwtape) or Schmemann. Hell, it may be me. It refers to the idea that all that I’m doing to work out my salvation
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Gen X @ 40 (Reposted 18 years later)
An essay from my Live Journal Days, dated 29 Aug 2004, my 40th Birthday. I called it the beginning of midlife. I’m kinda past that now a few years away from Officially Old. So, reposting. Hmmmmmm. Lessee… Let Midlife BEGIN! Ten years ago I was trapped on Fire Island. T was sitting in a hot
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Same Problems
Certain it is that the critical issues, the thorny problems that wait upon man’s solution, have remained the same for almost twenty centuries. And why? Because the whole of history and of life hinges on the person of Jesus Christ. Either men anchor themselves on Him and His Church, and thus enjoy the blessings of
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About Those Nine
The Readings for the 28th Sunday, Tempus Per Annum (c2) In all circumstances, give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus. I Thessalonians 5:18 (Alleluia Verse) ARE THE OTHER NINE Bad or ungrateful? There’s a clue in Jesus’ command, “Go show yourselves to the priests…” Lepers were completely ostracised.
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Weekend Update
Just a few photos, really.
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Jesus does go on, doesn’t he?
This is an assignment for my Homiletics class. Randomly picks out of a hat, as it were, it’s a coincidence that these are the readings for last Sunday. Yes, these homily assignments are extremely on-brand for me. The Readings for the 27th Sunday, Tempus per Annum (C2) Is he grateful to that servant because he
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Crocheted
FINALLY CATCHING THE Binge Bug this late in Covidtide. I’ve been Rapidly Consuming the Israeli TV Drama Srugim – סרוגים (the word means knitted or crocheted as a plural adjective) from 2008-2011. If you’ve been watching Shtisel on Netflix, this was Israeli TV’s Shtisel-before-Shtisel. Many of the ways Netflix show is said to break ground
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Whose Wedding?
The assignment was a five-minute homily on the stated passage. We began with the exegetical work in an earlier post. Scripture: John 2:1-11 Today, Jesus, the Bridegroom of the Church, is calling us to our wedding feast. A CHALLENGE has come to me three times: in two podcasts and a book. The podcasts are Every
Orthoparadoxy 