Author: william

The usual word for "holiness" in the New Testament is hAGIOS ('HAH-gee-ohs"), and the usual explanation of it is 'set apart'. That is true enough, but there's a dimension to hAGIOS I'd like to explore. From the very beginnings of Christianity there has been a tension surrounding 'asceticism' — physically denying oneself by abstaining from…

Lately I've been writing about the Greek word METANOIA ("meh-TAH-nee-ah"), translated 'repentance' (as in "Be repenting, for the Kingdom of God is at hand!"), and how in the original language this is describing a fundamental change in mind-set, a change in outlook. Sometimes dramatic shifts can happen — for example, the alcoholic who wakes up…

"Be repenting, for the kingdom of God/heaven is at hand." (Matt 4:17, Mk 1:15) This verse is surely a perennial theme of Lent. Previously I’ve written about how there just isn’t a good English translation for the Greek word METANOIA (meh-TAH-nee-ah), generally translated ’repentence’. METANOIA means more along the lines of ’change of mind-set’, and I…

"Be repenting, for the kingdom of God/heaven is at hand." (Matt 4:17, Mk 1:15) This verse is surely a perennial theme of Lent. Previously I’ve written about how there just isn’t a good English translation for the Greek word METANOIA (meh-TAH-nee-ah), generally translated ’repentence’. METANOIA means more along the lines of ’change of mind-set’, and I…

The story of Nicodemus visiting Jesus in John 3 is loaded with 'Greek goodies', including plays on words that don't translate into English, and words that are ambiguous in interesting ways. Here are a few… The first is the Greek word GENNAŌ, translated 'born'. In Greek this word refers to the entire reproductive process, and…

Toccata in Dm ("Dorian")    J.S. Bach (1685-1750) Fugue (goes with the Toccata)     J.S.Bach Lent is a complex mix of themes, and a major one for me personally is ‘limitations’ — how limited and finite we really are. I’d like to begin by considering its opposite: ‘infinite’. We say that Space is infinite in…

Easily the most important word in the New Testament is ‘Love’. English has only the one word for Love, which causes no end of confusion, but Greek has several to keep things straight. Probably the best known is AGAPĒ (“ah-GAH-pay”). Sometimes this is referred to as “God’s Love”, but in John 3 we read “For…

I recently encountered the story of Rengetsu (1791-1875) — a Japanese Buddhist nun with an extraordinary story. She was the love child of a geisha and a high ranking samurai. At 10 days old she was adopted by new parents. As a teen she was called to serve as an attendant at Kameoka Castle, and…

In Nomine J. Taverner (1490-1575) [ORGAN] "All Who Love and Server Your City" Improvisation Last week our assigned Gospel text was the Beatitudes, but my zeal to share the story of Rengetsu the Japanese Buddhist nun preempted me from commenting on it. So I thought I’d share a few thoughts on the Beatitudes this week.…

The Texts about Jesus’ baptism, follow right on the heels of Jesus’ incarnation. With that in mind, there is a sense in which His incarnation itself is a brief plunge into the river of human life. A plunge down, down, down — as St. Paul puts it ‘he emptied himself’ (Phil. 2). And then He…