Commentary

I should have told her about my first time visiting a mosque, and how a group of women embraced this stranger, guided me through the service and fed me after. I should have told her about my Muslim friends here in Spokane who exemplify their faith through kindness and generosity.

This week, I will raise funds for refugee resettlement and call attention to refugees’ stories by participating in World Relief’s Sea-Tri-Kan bike ride.

I refer here, not to the immeasurable cups of coffee, undoubtably absorbed into the bloodstreams of superintendents, treasurers, budgeteers in District 81, but to the bubbling cauldron of calculation which would endorse science over the visual arts, and commercial viability over creativity.

Excommunication is not intended to be the end result for the member. After a member is excommunicated, local Church leaders continue to work with the individual if they are willing and desirous to do so. The ultimate goal is to eventually return to full fellowship.

That's an easy one (for me at least): yes, at least the Jesus part.

When converting to the Orthodox faith, one does not expect to go back and rewrite their past, but begin their journey from the point of commitment.