[I'm on vacation this week, so I thought I'd repost some of my favourite older posts for Pentecost. Enjoy this post from 2019.] The great promise of Christianity is that a fundamental change has come into the world. The “normal” ways of the world, whether conceived of as sin or fate or the writing of … Continue reading A Spirit of Freedom (A Reflection for Pentecost 2019) [Repost]
Yesterday was the great feast of Epiphany, which is celebrated on the thirteenth day after Christmas. It’s a feast with a strange and murky history, but I think it’s instructive for this whole midwinter season. It seems that Epiphany, which means ‘shining forth’, was originally a general midwinter feast that, at the darkest time of … Continue reading God’s Shining Forth: A Reflection on Epiphany and Genesis 1.1-5
Today is the great and holy feast of the Transfiguration of our Lord. It is one of my very favorite celebrations of the Christian year. Last year I wrote about how and why the Transfiguration is at the centre of Eastern Christian spirituality. And when the story came up again in the lectionary at the … Continue reading Fear and Trembling: A Reflection on the Feast of the Transfiguration
Today is the feast of the Annunciation, when Christians celebrate Mary's humble acceptance of her big part in God's Big Plan, becoming the mother of Jesus and thereby the Mother of God. But what caught my attention today was one of the assigned readings from the Hebrew Bible, the prophecy of Immanuel: "Therefore the Lord … Continue reading God is with us: A reflection on the Annunciation
We've had a rather apocalyptic beginning to 2020, with vast wildfires sweeping through the fertile parts of Australia. Our screens have been filled with images of men and women standing amidst the remains of their homes, images that are becoming all too common across the world (California, Oregon, BC, Alberta, northern Ontario, Greece, Spain, Australia, … Continue reading From Under the Rubble
Matthew Root 