Hearing (Also about Mom)

Last updated on: May 10, 2021 at 8:06 am By John Mark N. Reynolds

I try listening when I cannot see. “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. . .Jesus Himself, the Divine Word of God.” said our pastor.* His point was that while sometimes seeing leads to believing (as it did for Saint Thomas), normally hearing proceeds a hopeful change.* God is a spirit and God’s normal method of communication with us is speaking. We can see the True Light, but this generally happens after our listening, our reflection, our hope gains substance through... Read more

The Everlasting Self (Or Walking Nessie in Rain and Thinking about It)

Last updated on: May 9, 2021 at 1:57 pm By John Mark N. Reynolds

The Everlasting Self Comes in from a downpour Shaking water in every direction- A collaborative condition: Gathered, shed, spread, then Forgotten, reabsorbed. Like love From a lifetime ago, and mud A dog has tracked across the floor.* Some events are everlasting. Jesus conquers death, some are shaken off like water off Nessie when she comes in from the rain. Nessie has to go out, even if the weather is what Houston weather often is. She will fetch a ball... Read more

Real Armor: a Problem with too much Virtual Reality

Last updated on: May 10, 2021 at 7:59 am By John Mark N. Reynolds

“Is that armor. . .real?” This is a question asked of my son Ian, a most excellent teacher, who was involved in a project a brilliant teacher is developing at our philhellene school: Olympic Day. Over the years, birthdays and Christmas, he has collected battle ready chainmail, helmets, swords, and other accoutrements. As a son of this house, Ian has a disproportionate amount of stuff from the period of Alexander the Great. This began with plastic swords and has moved... Read more

Beware the Iconoclast: Icons are not Competency Tests

Last updated on: May 19, 2021 at 11:23 pm By John Mark N. Reynolds

Hating ancient icons, deep truths, ends in ugly idols. Jingoism is the idol that mocks patriotism. The uxorious defaces chivalry. The one who swears by jingo and focuses only on his family has missed the greater good, the deeper meaning of homeland and family circle. All lesser goods point to the good God. When we make more of the lesser, we miss God and ruin all. This mistake makes the icons into idols and idols are always destroyed. Every earthly... Read more

K-16: an idea whose time has come?

Last updated on: May 5, 2021 at 11:07 pm By John Mark N. Reynolds

It has been done: on May 5 brave pastors and donors made K-16 happen. What if there was debt free college and a classical, philhellene, Orthodox Christian fully integrated preschool through college program? What if you could graduate with an accredited college degree without debt? What if there were one-on-one Oxford tutorials from faculty with over one hundred years of cumulative great books experience? Today is the sixth birthday of The Saint Constantine School that aspires to offer a full... Read more

Trying to Understand the Curlytops as They Go Touring Around and Wondering if They Matter as Much as Gatsby

Last updated on: May 4, 2021 at 9:15 pm By John Mark N. Reynolds

Could the Curlytops reveal as much to us about the 1920’s as Gatsby? Probably not, but the books people bought and read must matter a bit. Why shouldn’t the 1920’s be the measured by the Curly Tops, the Bobbsey Twins, or Tom Swift? Why think you can “capture an era” with a book people decades later thought summed up the Twenties that the people then did not buy or read in large numbers? Understanding an era means at least taking... Read more

The Absolute Necessity of Jollification Today: Party Better

Last updated on: May 2, 2021 at 11:13 pm By John Mark N. Reynolds

The good God commands jollification. The world, the flesh, and devils resist a genuine good time, given that a good time is good! A legalist invents rules that prevent a good time and a libertine ruins the fun with a hangover. We need training in joyful living. The Faithful have finished Lent, gone to Church for more than a few hours, seen the True Light. Secular society would have us head back to the wheel and start running as rats... Read more

The Sure and Present Hope (Pascha: The Son Rises in the East!)

Last updated on: May 2, 2021 at 11:19 pm By John Mark N. Reynolds

Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast. . . God grant us hope, an anchor for our souls, sure and steadfast, whatever the times. My mother reminded me that Pascha this year falls on the day her sister, my dear Auntie Karen, died. She was more like an older sister to me. Once she organized a treasure hunt for us (my brother and cousin) full of clues. She and Uncle Roddy would set up... Read more

Share Less (Midnight to Pascha!)

Last updated on: May 1, 2021 at 1:23 pm By John Mark N. Reynolds

I still have the Bible that Mom and Dad got me one Easter. That this Bible, a RSV, has a dark green cover, my favorite color, was one good fruit of the seventies. Nobody was going to make the parents raised in the Age of Aquarius stick to basic black on the leatherette covers. There are notes from Dad’s sermons, Sunday school, and a few attempts at poetry. The many scrawling notes confirm two things: I never could spell. The... Read more

Humility of Holy Friday (Pascha is Near, Feels Far Away)

Last updated on: May 1, 2021 at 8:05 am By John Mark N. Reynolds

Today He who hung the earth upon the waters is hung upon the Cross. He who is King of the angels is arrayed in a crown of thorns. He who wraps the heavens in clouds is wrapped in the purple of mockery. He who in Jordan set Adam free receives blows upon His face. The Bridegroom of the Church is transfixed with nails. The Son of the Virgin is pierced with a spear. We venerate Thy Passion, O Christ. Show... Read more