In 7th grade, my friend Andy and I were looking down from the top of the football stadium seats as the 8th and 9th grade cheerleaders with their pompoms and clean white shirts were passing below. A split second before they disappeared into the stadium, I poured out part of the Coca-Cola in my hand and rushed back to sit down in the bleachers, … [Read more...]
What Will You Give Me If I Betray Him?
Everybody has their price. Everybody. Some forty years ago Bruce Metzger, my New Testament Seminary professor, quietly made a profound statement in class one day, the kind that finds a permanent resting place in the mind because it sheds light on an unfathomable mystery that remains obscure, yet keeps on tugging at the heart’s hidden longing. “No … [Read more...]
For the Love of Tuna II
On the Greek island of Kefalonia in the Church of Markopoulo, every year on August 6th, the Feast of the Transfiguration, the “snakes of the Panaghia,” as they are called, make an appearance. They move freely throughout the church especially favoring the icon of the Panaghia, remaining until the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy on the feast of the … [Read more...]
For the Love of Tuna!
We tempted and led a raccoon into captivity briefly, relocating it this afternoon to a faraway country. The face of this shy little creature sitting in the cage, kept returning to me during the Divine Liturgy, along with the echoing refrain, “for the love of tuna.” Several varieties of grapes grow in our yard. Scuppernongs cover the fence along … [Read more...]
