Author Archives: edithmhumphrey

Romans 13:11-14:4; Matthew 6:14-21 Isaiah 58:1-11; Sirach 28:1-7 “Give me tears, O God, as once Thou gavest them to the woman that had sinned, and count me worthy to wash Thy feet that have delivered me from the way of error. As sweet-smelling ointment let me offer Thee a pure life, created in me byContinue reading “Forgiveness and Fasting: Cheesefare and Forgiveness Vespers”

How is it possible that the good creation which God entrusted to us has become for many a means of enslavement? How is it possible that the creation, which God called “good,” and which he meant as a lovely nexus of signposts towards him, we have turned into ends in themselves, idols that can neverContinue reading ““Hastening to that Fatherly Refuge:” The Sunday of the Prodigal Son”

Matthew 15:21-28; 2 Cor. 6:16-7:1; Dan. 7 Today’s gospel reading, at first blush, is a scandal. How is it possible that Jesus could even seem to have refused anyone who came to him for help? Yet, working from the rules that I learned in grad school of contemporary Biblical scholarship, this passage, above all others,Continue reading “Going to the Dogs? The Seventeenth Sunday of Matthew”

Readings: 1 Timothy 4:8-15; Luke 19:1-10 Daniel 7:12-14; 17-18; 1 Chronicles 16:7-14 What makes a BIG human being? What does it really entail to “man up,” to use a politically incorrect, but graphic “exclusivist” expression? Our readings for Divine Liturgy this Sunday, the Sunday of Zacchaeus, tell the story of a man who was smallContinue reading “Sons of Abraham, the Son of Man, and a Wee Little Man: Sunday of Zacchaeus”

Hebrews 13:17-21; Luke 17:12-19; 2 Kings (4 Kingdoms) 5; selections from Isaiah This Sunday, as we remember our great Father Anthony who deliberately went into the desert in order to become closer to God, we also hear the story of one who made an outcast by his condition, and how he was healed by ourContinue reading “Loving Lepers, Foreigners and Israel: Twelfth Sunday of Luke and St. Anthony the Great”

Titus 2:11-14; 3:4-7; Matthew 3:13-17; Mark 1:1-8 Isaiah 9:1-2; 27:1; 40:1-10. I remember when I first encountered the Orthodox Church, I was surprised at the “spin” that they put on the feast of Theophany, celebrated at the same time as the Western Epiphany. I was not used to contemplating the Holy Trinity at this timeContinue reading “On Dragons, Water, Light, and the Holy Trinity: Theophany and its Forefeast”

Hebrews 11:9-10, 32-40; Matthew 1; Joshua 2, 6:23-25 For someone not brought up in the Orthodox tradition, this Sunday’s reading from the gospel may seem strange: why read a genealogy in Church? That may be interesting for the historian or the Biblical scholar, but what does the ordinary person do with all those “begats”? Indeed,Continue reading “Rahab? One of these names is not like the others! (Sunday before the Nativity)”

Readings: Hebrews 13:17-21; Luke 13:10-17 (Fast); Ezekiel 34; Wisdom of Solomon. (4:7-15) Though most of us inhabit twenty-first century cities, Christians (and especially Orthodox) have a high comfort level with the ideas of shepherds and shepherding. The prominence of actual shepherds throughout holy Scriptures, from the wandering patriarchs through to those who were in theContinue reading “By Hook or by Crook: On Shepherds, St. Nicholas and the Great Shepherd of the Sheep (December 06, 2015)”

Readings: Ephesians 4:1-7; Luke 12:16-21; Deuteronomy 15:11-15; 16:11-12; 24:14-22 When I describe my formation in the Salvation Army as a youngster (I was the fourth generation of two families that were saved from degradation by this para-church group!), I like to say, using a Newfoundland expression, “It’s a good place to be from!” Membership inContinue reading ““Remember that you were a slave!” On Riches and Status (Ninth Sunday of Luke)”

A short “Addendum” to my blog on angels: I noticed today that the OCA gospel reading for this Sunday of the synaxis was Luke 10:16-21, rather than the story of Jesus raising Jairus’ daughter, the reading for the Antiochians. Certainly this is an interesting reading to put alongside Hebrews 2, and on a day whenContinue reading “More on Angels: OCA reading Luke 10”