Month: June 2019

Music Monday: With You

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Today’s song is “With You” by Elevation Worship:

Beneath the surface
Of my anxious imagination
Beckons a calmness
That is found in You alone

It washes over
Every doubt, every imperfection
Jesus, Your presence
Is the comfort of my soul

There’s nowhere I’d rather be
When You’re singing over me
I just wanna be here with You
I’m lost in Your mystery
I’m found in Your love for me
I just wanna be here with You

Here in the waiting
I won’t worry about tomorrow
No need to focus
On the things I can’t control

All my attention
On the wonder of this moment
Jesus, your presence
Is the comfort of my soul

So let all that I am
Be consumed with who You are
All the glory of Your presence
What more could I ask for?

So let all that I am
Be consumed with who You are
All the glory of Your presence
What more could I ask for?

A Sunday Movie: Ostrov

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Are you looking for something to watch this afternoon over a nice cup of tea? You might enjoy “Ostrov”, a movie about a fictional 20th century Eastern Orthodox monk, Father Anatoly. It’s a beautiful picture into Orthodox spirituality and was even praised by The Patriarch of Moscow, Alexei II.

Who is Raguel?

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If you ever come and visit my parish, you may notice the following icon on the iconostasis:

When people visit my church and notice this icon, they often ask me who this is. Raguel is an angel which is not named in the canonical writings of the Bible. He is, however, spoken of in the non-canonical work, the Book of Enoch.

“And these are the names of the Holy Angels who keep watch. Uriel, one of the Holy Angels; namely the Holy Angel of the Spirits of Men. Raguel, one of the Holy Angels; who takes vengeance on the world, and on the lights. Michael, one of the Holy Angels, namely the one put in charge of the best part of humankind, in charge of the nation. Saraqael, one of the Holy Angels; who is in charge of the spirits of men who cause the spirits to sin. Gabriel, one of the Holy Angels, who is in charge of the Serpents, and the Garden, and the Cherubim.

Book of Enoch, Chapter 23

His name means “Friend of God” and is often referred to as the archangel of justice, fairness, harmony, vengeance and redemption.

It might seem strange to some that we render an icon of a character in a non-canonical book, but if the Epistle of Jude can refer to that non-canonical work and still remain Scripture, why not?

PWJ: S2E22 – AA – Louis Markos

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Today I speak to Dr. Louis Markos, Professor in English at Houston Baptist University and author of the book Heaven and Hell: Visions of the Afterlife in the Western Poetic Tradition. In this work, Professor Markos devotes a chapter to The Great Divorce, as well as the book to which Lewis was responding, Blake’s The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.

Dr. Markos is a fount of knowledge and I learned so much in this interview. In the episode, Dr. Markos explains to us why the Pagan classics are important, how the Romantics reinterpreted earlier works to re-imagine good, evil, Heaven and Hell…

S2E22: “After Hours” with Louis Markos (Download)

If you enjoy this episode, you can subscribe manually, or any place where good podcasts can be found (iTunes, Google Play, Podbean, Stitcher, TuneIn and Overcast).

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