Fr. Christian Mathis | March 31, 2009
This past weekend an interesting thing happened at one of our liturgies. A woman came up to me at the end of communion and told me that our pastor had given her permission to speak to the church. This didn’t sound like something our pastor would allow, but I had enough doubt to allow it. [...]
Fr. Christian Mathis | March 28, 2009
One of my favorite podcasts these days is called Steve the Builder. Steve is a new friend and usually pretty challenging. This is certainly the case in his newest episode, In the Company of Sinners, where he reminds us that living the Gospel has a high cost. You can listen to it here.
Fr. Christian Mathis | March 26, 2009
One truth that will stick with me from my time away from active ministry is that that poverty is alive and well in the United States. A large portion of my time on leave was spent living in the mountains of Western North Carolina. It was there that I worked first with “at risk” youth [...]
Fr. Christian Mathis | March 24, 2009
Blogposts have been appearing at a slower pace recently at Blessed Is The Kingdom. Bishop Stika’s ordination and recent house guests have not allowed for my normal pace of writing. Last night’s penance service at St. Thomas reminded me of the many ways we are tempted and prompts me to share these words from Maximus the [...]
Fr. Christian Mathis | March 20, 2009
The ordination of Bishop Stika gave our diocese the opportunity to show forth the best qualities of the church in East Tennessee. Liturgies of 5,000 are not frequent in this part of the world, so I loved seeing this snapshot of our local church. It was a great blessing and honor to have been asked [...]
Fr. Christian Mathis | March 17, 2009
I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through the belief in the threeness,
Through the confession of the oneness
Of the Creator of Creation.
I arise today
Through the strength of Christ’s birth with his baptism,
Through the strength of his crucifixion with his burial,
Through the strength of his resurrection with his ascension,
Through the strength of his [...]
Fr. Christian Mathis | March 15, 2009
This weekend has been one of amazing speed in iconography, at least compared to the last two months. This morning I finished gilding St. John the Baptist’s halo with gold leaf. It has been a rigorous but enjoyable process. The obstacle so far with this icon is the absence, so to speak, of a safety [...]
Here is the Music Player. You need to installl flash player to show this cool thing!
