The Joshua Victor Theory

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. If you have young children, or if you watch how parents with new babies behave—you’ll notice that there’s often a delightful dreaming that goes on. Wondering what their child will be like, guessing at how their little budding personality will flower, dreaming about their future achievements in sports or art or music or learning, or things like these. There’s a sense of hopefulness for their child and the recognition that a child is the birth of something good into this world. Trusting God, we release the fears that cloud our horizons to His care and keeping, and His victory over fear and evil. The naming of a child can be as simple as choosing a family name, as the relatives of Zechariah and Elizabeth wanted to do, for their newborn son John. It’s an honorable and traditional way to give names. Another traditional practice is choosing a name by its special meaning. All around the w...

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. For church-goers, today marks the beginning of a new year, as we begin the season of Advent, in preparation for Christmas. As we enter this new year, we consider what Paul says in Romans 13: “You know the time…” Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Do you know the time? What time is it? In the reading, St. Paul tells us that “you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep.” Hopefully now that you’re at church, and you’re listening to me, you’re not still asleep, right? So can you tell me what the time is and what hour Paul is talking about? It’s helpful to know that there are two different ways that the New Testament writers speak of time. There’s the ordinary kind of time, called chronos in Greek. As in “chronological.” Chronos is the kind of time you’d be talking about if you asked someone on the street what time it was, and th...