On Good Friday every year, we read the entirety of one of the Passion narratives, which means that today we get two whole, long chapters from the Gospel according to John. So, there are a lot of things one can touch on in a reflection or sermon on a day like today. A lot happens! … Continue reading At the Foot of the Cross: A Reflection for Good Friday 2025
As a kid, the Maundy Thursday service was always one of my favourites of the year. I was fascinated by the symbolism of the foot washing ceremony and always deeply moved by the stripping of the altar (and entire worship space) at the end of the service. But now that I’m in a season of … Continue reading A New Commandment (Just like the Old): A Reflection for Maundy Thursday 2025
Today is Palm Sunday, the day when we transition from Lent into Holy Week. Symbolically speaking, after forty days in the wilderness, we have arrived at Jerusalem and ready ourselves to accompany Jesus on the last days of his earthly life. The day also has apocalyptic signification, since, as we remember Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into … Continue reading Rolling Out the Red Carpet: A Reflection for Palm Sunday 2025
It's been another wild week in the world, so it's time to see what’s been been lighting me up and lighting my way. The biggest highlight for me this week was wrapping up the writing for my Lenten series, Ways of the Saints. In particular, I got to spend a lot of time with Mother … Continue reading What’s Lighting Me Up (April 12, 2025)
Today this series on the Ways of the Saints comes to an end. Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen how holiness expressed itself in a wide variety of people: men and women, Eastern and Western, monks and laity, from the first through twentieth centuries, and from Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas. They’ve also … Continue reading St. Maria Skobtsova and the Way of Breaking the Conventions but Keeping the Commandments
Matthew Root 