After last week’s focus on the coming and work of the Holy Spirit, my thoughts this week naturally went to the people whose lives radiated with the Spirit’s energy, gifts, and fruit. This is a natural progression and, historically — in the East to this day and in the West until about the 8th century … Continue reading Communion of Saints
For the second week in a row, my sacred practice for the week took me by surprise. As I wrote last week, I’ve been feeling a little out of sorts lately and found some solace in the awkward place we’ve been in the liturgical calendar, the ten days of waiting between Ascension and Pentecost. What … Continue reading Invoking the Spirit
Today is the great and holy feast of Pentecost, one of the most important feasts of the Christian year. Sadly it’s a feast whose significance is often undermined. In many churches, it will likely be reduced to a yearly reminder that Christians believe the Holy Spirit to be One of the Three Persons of the … Continue reading All Flame
I’m in one of those seasons of life right now that I think we all go through from time to time. It’s a season when by all appearances not much seems to be happening. After an intense Fall, a Winter full of endings and beginnings, and an early Spring of relief and rest, I’m now … Continue reading Now what?
Between the arrival of Spring and this season of Easter we’re about to enter, it’s no surprise that my mind of late has been occupied with thoughts of resurrection and new life. Both images are fertile ground as metaphors for our lives. But, whereas the metaphor of Spring suggests a slow and barely perceptible shift … Continue reading Mourning into Joy: Reflections on the Resurrection
Matthew Root 