There is probably no figure so countercultural today as the monk. Having retreated from the world he gives himself wholly to pray for it. Actor Jonathan Jackson brought some unexpected attention to these misunderstood intercessors as he received his fifth Emmy award. Watch: Who are the monks of Mount Athos? TV news magazine 60 Minutes wondered the same question and wangled an invitation for their crew to go and find out more. It’s a good start for understanding why Christians... Read more
A friend of mine lost her mother over the weekend. When I hear of the passing of someone close my mind wanders to a handful of passages I find comforting and reassuring. Though any effort is bound to be feeble and unworthy in the face of such a loss, I’ve gathered some of those passages here for whatever balm they offer. When someone dies in the Orthodox tradition, the body rests in the nave of the church before the funeral.... Read more
Welcome to another episode of Role Reversal Television, in which outspoken atheist Penn Jillette explains to Catholic pundit Piers Morgan why Catholic tradition doesn’t change with the times. Orthodox Christians don’t understand hierarchical power in this way, and evangelicals would object to even more here. But the spirit of the thing is one Catholics, Orthodox, and evangelicals can appreciate: The faith once delivered is not the faith that is edited and updated with the times. It reminds me of an... Read more
I used to want a tattoo. That was more than twenty years ago, back in high school when only the brave and cool and rebellious people got tattoos. Back then a neck tat meant you were hardcore. Today it means you’re a 19-year-old sorority girl. I never did get the tattoo. I couldn’t make up my mind what I wanted to permanently etch on my epidermal canvas. Or what part of the canvas I would use. Something public? Or something... Read more
If you’re looking for a gauge to measure how un-Christlike you are, try raising kids. At least that works pretty well for me. In The Four Loves C.S. Lewis speaks of “the bad manners of parents to children.” Ahem. Guilty. The other day I spoke harshly to my son. An hour later he was rude, and Megan corrected him. “In our home we honor each other with our words,” she told him. And I had to interrupt and apologize right... Read more
The apostle Paul compares our life in Christ to a footrace. Like any race this is one that only the diligent will win. Go back to your childhood story time. Though he had every advantage, Aesop’s hare lost to the tortoise because he dawdled and frittered. We face the same temptations, but Paul exhorts us to run with intensity: Run like you want to win. Says the apostle, “Do you not know that those who run in a race all... Read more
Our assumptions about God affect our experience of him. My mind returned to this thought several times while recently reflecting on the parable of the talents. The story, which Jesus tells in Matthew 25, is familiar to most of us. Before a man of means departs on a lengthy journey, he deposits some of his wealth into the hands of his three servants: five talents to the first, two to the second, and one to the third. As soon as... Read more
Eastern and Western Christians celebrate Easter on different dates, and that means that our lenten schedules don’t mesh either. Orthodox Christians are just now wading into the season, and today is the second of several pre-lenten commemorations, the Sunday of the Prodigal Son. The church points us to Jesus’ parable to remind us that we are all on a journey back to the father. Here’s the story retold in the 1977 feature, Jesus of Nazareth: That same year, 1977, Christian... Read more
King David is one of the most interesting figures in all of Scripture. My friend David Teems recently summed up the fascination by focusing on the paradoxes of his namesake. “Anointed as a boy, it would be years before David actually ruled anything, including himself,” he writes. “If he is messy, and he is, he is also glorious. If he is a man of blood, he is also a poet of the first order. If he is untamed, if he... Read more
I spent some time this weekend gardening. Megan and I recently purchased a new house — actually, a very old one — and it was evident that the yard work had slipped. So after mustering up the resolve, we sallied forth with clippers and rakes in hand. And what did we have to show for our efforts besides seven bags of leaves and clippings and one rather large pile of branches and scrub? As I trimmed and pruned and cut... Read more
Joel J. Miller
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