There’s a story I think of often that comes from a former priest of mine. At the start of his ministry, he had an opportunity to go to Greece and visit with a respected monastic elder on Mount Athos. After describing to the elder all that he had done and hoped and planned to do, … Continue reading The Gift of New Beginnings: A Reflection for Christmas Day 2022
The Christian faith is full of paradox and irony, and the Christmas story captures this better than any other. God becomes a human, the virgin becomes a mother, the King is born surrounded by livestock and attended to by shepherds, the Prince of Peace is hunted down by the authorities. But the irony that strikes … Continue reading From Darkness to Light: A Reflection for Christmas Eve 2022
On the Second Sunday of Christmas, the lectionary directs us to the wonderful prologue of the Gospel according to John, a beautiful and profound hymn to the Mystery of God and the incarnation. Last year, I wrote about how the full and perfect theophany that is Jesus reveals to us not only who God is, … Continue reading Divine Vulnerability: A Reflection on John 1.1-18
[Below are the words I had planned on giving at my family's Zoom Christmas Eve service this year. As the pandemic took a significant turn for the worse in the days leading up to Christmas, I felt the need to offer a gentler reflection at that service. But, I thought I'd share these words here … Continue reading The Work of Christmas: A Reflection for Christmas 2021
[This is the text of a short homily I gave at a family Zoom Christmas Eve service on December 24, 2021.] -- Picture it: Jerusalem, sometime in the 730s BCE. The world as you know it is being shaken by the rise of an empire in the far northeast, the likes of which no one … Continue reading A Word of Hope: A Reflection for Christmas Eve 2021
Matthew Root 