Iconographer Aidan Hart. . .




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

From which the clergy come. . .

Image
The future of the Church does and has always depended more upon the faithfulness of those in the pews than most ever realize.  For just as the faithful who come to the Divine Service each week, pray for the work of the Kingdom and those who lead that work, offer tithes and offerings through which this work is supported, and act as agents of the Lord in home, neighborhood, workplace, and nation, so does this faith fostered in families provide the rich soil that grows future pastors. When the parish suffers and families are broken, it is reflected in the numbers of men and women who hear the call and are encouraged in their vocation to full-time church work.  This could very well be one of the reasons why vocations to the ministry have fallen and the numbers of second career men has risen.  I say this not at all to disparage those who come to the ministry later in life but remind the families who are right now bringing their children to church that those same children, rais...
Read more

Not the same. . .

Image
Being good at preaching and being a good preacher are not the same.  There are many who are exemplary orators and speakers in the pulpit.  I can think of many folks who have the ability to turn a phrase and to deliver a line well.  Nadia Bolz-Weber is certainly good at preaching if that is all preaching is.  She keeps your attention, that is true (partially by being shocking).  She tells a good story; I'll give her that.  But being a good preacher is less about the art than about the content.  Now to be sure, I am NOT suggesting that preachers should be lazy in the pulpit or fail in their pursuit of excellence in the craft.  I am not saying that at all.  But success in the pulpit is less about the art of keeping people's attention, keeping them awake, or leaving them with a catch phrase than it is imparting to them the Word of life, being faithful voices of the Christ who speaks through the pastor by the power of the Holy Spirit. The truth is...
Read more

Not what you must believe but what you must not. . .

Image
Over and over again the most profound challenges to orthodox Christianity have come not from the imposition of what must be believed but what must not be believed, or at least what cannot be tolerated.  We have witnessed the narrowing of the right of religious freedom to the freedom to worship and we have seen the court of public opinion, sometimes governmental agency, and occasionally the judicial system place limits upon this freedom, especially when it impinges upon the freedom of others.  Hence the cases involving florists and bakers and the tension between their own religious freedom and the right of the public to purchase their services. Canada seems to be leading the way in this method of proscribing religious liberty.  In a recent decision that has been hailed as a great triumph by gender-identity activists, the Supreme Court of Canada decided that certain religious beliefs are too onerous to be allowed, especially for the situation of a law school within a unive...
Read more