I’ve been feeling particularly creative lately: I’ve been dusting off old writing projects that have been sitting in folders untouched for years, having ideas for things to write in this blog, and thinking of new poster designs and ways of displaying photographs in my apartment. It’s an exciting feeling, a wonderful embarrassment of riches that’s hard … Continue reading Creativity
The basic premise of this blog is that genuine faith produces good spiritual fruit. Almost eleven months ago now, I wrote of my desire to look at this fruit more closely, using the twenty-four character traits the VIA (“Values in Action”) Institute on Character have identified as universal characteristics of human wellbeing as my lens. … Continue reading (More) Good Fruit
“Glory to God, whose power working in us can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine...” This line from the post-Communion prayers — a paraphrase of Ephesians 3.20 — has always been one of my favorites. Its promises inspired me as a young child in Yukon, and it was still able to reach … Continue reading More than we Know (A Reflection on Mark 6.1-6)
The Gospel reading this morning is the story of Jesus healing a man so beset by demons that he can no longer speak with his own voice. The man has lost his identity and refers to himself as “Legion,” after the multitude of voices in his head. For years, it seems, the man has been … Continue reading Face to Face (A reflection on Mark 5.1-20)
The Gospel appointed for today is the Parable of the Sower as it’s recorded in the Gospel according to Mark. At the end of the parable, Jesus says, “He who has ears, let him hear.” I remember this line striking me when I first went on my Bible-reading binge when I was nineteen, and it’s … Continue reading Ears to Hear (A Reflection on Mark 4.1-20)
Matthew Root 