Dear Friends and Family, Below is a link to a video on contemplation and Advent. The speaker is Phileena Heuertz and she has a website on contemplation here. I only have two comments about this video I sadly cannot embed. First, she says early on that since contemplation is about allowing ourselves to be open and receptive of God and Advent is also about making space for God in our lives, Advent isn’t a different time of year for her. I... Read more
Along with my own brief post on St Nicholas, the poem provided by Colin here most certainly should be read. Read more
Dear Friends and Family, Today is officially the day that commemorates the life of St Nicholas, bishop of Myra (which is in modern day Turkey). Many stories surround St Nicholas. He is known for having left dowry money for some poor young women so they could get married. He is also known for having slapped or punched the heretic Arius at the Council of Nicaea. I admit, I find it very interesting that even early on, St Nicholas was associated... Read more
Dear Friends and Family, Today marks the beginning of Advent. This is a period in the western Church calendar where we wait. Like a child with our chocolate Advent calendars we wait, counting the days as they go by, for Christmas day. Hopefully we wait for more than presents. Instead we wait for the ultimate gift, for Christ. You see, from the time of Genesis 3 where Eve is promised that one her descendants will crush the serpent’s head, that... Read more
Dear Friends and Family, As you know, I’m working on a project of accomplishing 101 things in 1001 days. One of those things was to try out C. S. Lewis’s perfect day. In Surprised by Joy, Lewis looks back on his days at Great Bookham with his tutor Mr Kirkpatrick, also known as the Old Knock. Lewis’s Bookham days, he says, were some of the best and the model for his ideal day. The day would look something like this: 8:00... Read more
Dear Friends and Family, I still struggle, from time to time, with what the purpose of this blog should be and why/if I should continue writing for it. Nevertheless, today I have something I believe worth sharing, for those who find interesting the goings on of my life. So, to get to it. These Autumnal days are getting shorter,darker, and wetter. This morning, in fact, the world was shrouded in fog. That plus a headache led Lauren and I to... Read more
Dear Friends and Family, Over the last 1002 days I participated in a project from the Day Zero Project. In my attempt to live life more intentionally, I was drawn to their concept of a bucket list with an end date (a specific one that doesn’t end with me in a pine box). We make grand lists of things to do ‘before we die.’ At Day Zero, however, they want to help us actually accomplish these goals. Thus, I attempted... Read more
Dear Friends, I thought today, I’d write a short blog about the main thing I’m currently working on, namely, my doctoral thesis. Since I’ve only just finished my first year as a PhD student at the University of Nottingham, my thesis doesn’t have a proper title yet. My general topic, however, is deification, John Cassian, and the contemporary significance. Let me try to distill that briefly. Deification is a notion (doctrine might be too strong of a word) that part... Read more
Dear Friends, This is, as you may well notice, my first post on my new blog. For this, I simply want to introduce you to myself, ever so briefly, and what you can look forward to on this blog. I am a twenty-five year old, Christian, husband (and someday father), student who likes to pretend to be a poet, writer, and theologian. I’ve been married to my wife for four years, and have been a disciple of Jesus for twelve.... Read more
Letters from the Edge of Elfland
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