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December 2020

December 21, 2020

We are the virtual champions! (On a Kind of Virtual Good)

This year we should enjoy whatever is good, even when it isn't much. Here is...

December 20, 2020

Herod versus Mary at Christmas

Christmas has villains: Caesar and Herod. Far off in Rome, Augustus Caesar was a colonial...

December 19, 2020

Earthly and Heavenly Venus: Donne’s Triumphant Vindication of Harmony

Love (true love) and desire should go together, but sometimes do not. That Hideous Strength, the...

December 18, 2020

One Truth, Different Icons, One Family History

An adult child that will remain nameless found our new creche arrangement highly inappropriate. *...

December 16, 2020

And Mary said. . .

“And Mary said. . .” I have been stuck on these words that come just...

December 15, 2020

Bet on the Fairy Tale: the Enduring Queen Outlasts Augustus

Bet on the fairy tale. Not the Hallmark version, but the hard Grimm truths that...

December 14, 2020

And Mary Said (The Politics of Christmas?)

The politics of Christmas are the incarnation of jollification: the righteous losers end up winning,...

December 13, 2020

The Light is Magnificent! (And Mary said. . . )

Every year comes the day when light is less and darkness is greater. Will the...

December 12, 2020

Choose Mary (Beware the Zealots and the Sadducees)

There were Zealots in Palestine. They rallied and wrote that God was on their side....

December 11, 2020

Christmas: Humility, Meekness, Tenderness

Humility. Meekness. Tenderness. There is glory, angelic might, omnipotent God, and three magi, but there...

December 10, 2020

Different Icons, Roads to One Truth

My first Christmas creche from infancy is in my home office, our children's first creche...

December 07, 2020

Saying: “Pray for me!”

If I am very sad, I call Dad and Mom and ask them to pray...

December 06, 2020

Jolly Old Saint Nicholas and No Other Gods

All the jollification was there when we celebrated the advocate of children and orthodoxy: jolly...

December 04, 2020

Class with Tea

Make beauty where you can, spending if you must, but be warned of those who...

December 03, 2020

The Nativity is Coming (Guest Voice: Bishop Thomas)

Bishop Thomas, a friend of our School and College, sends greetings as we approach the...

December 02, 2020

In Miniature

The very smallness is what is fascinating. Miniature London is well underway in our house....

December 01, 2020

Let Go, See the Goodness of the New that is Coming

When I was a baby, on my first Christmas, my family had a very simple...

November 2020

November 30, 2020

Red Letter Day at the Bailey Building and Loan

If I have a bad day, I call my dad and say: “It is another...

November 29, 2020

Jollification, First Year, Thirty-Fifth Year

We got out our first Christmas ornament last night from thirty-five years ago as we...

November 28, 2020

A Christmas Tree with Masks

Many of our Christmas pictures this COVID year will have masks over beloved faces. Our...

November 27, 2020

Advent Rigor: Joy Against the World

Christmas is coming, but Advent is here. The College and the School at Saint Constantine...

November 26, 2020

Rest with Nessie this Thanksgiving Day

The wonder puppy-almost-a-dog Nessie rests when she is tired. As she spends much of the...

November 24, 2020

Looking at Lemons with Nessie

Small wonders fill us with thanksgiving: this is the lesson of young Nessie. We are...

November 23, 2020

Peace and Humility are the Defaults: No Hate (The Theotokos Weighs In)

Christians must always give peace a chance. We side with the poor, the broken, the...

November 22, 2020

A Movie for Just Now: Day of the Siege

I started a film program, but I am not a professional critic. However, as a...

November 21, 2020

That is a basket of summer fruit. . .

Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me: and behold a basket of summer fruit....

November 19, 2020

The Myth Must Hold

We need a story that will save us, because logic and facts apart from a narrative...

November 18, 2020

Next Christmas in Constantinople? No. This Christmas in Constantinople.

Do not be afraid. History is not ending. Victory is sure: in the sign of...

November 18, 2020

The Very Air is Thick at Thanksgiving

The world is so good, because nothing good is lost. When I walk into work,...

November 15, 2020

The Genius of Charlton Griffin: Audiobook Teacher

The voice of Charlton Griffin is the voice of Sherlock Holmes. If you wish to...