Light Streams In

Elissa announces a change for Light Streams In. Find her on substack and on elissabjeletichdavis.com

Happy Thanksgiving! Elissa is back with some thoughts on gratitude, and some recent blessings for which she’s thanking God this year.

What if having an independent mind is a real problem?

Thoughts on our memories, on Memory Eternal, and on the End of Days.

In which Elissa asks what it is that grace — the Holy Spirit — wants to do with us.

As we struggle through the Nativity fast, we think a bit about suffering and about the purpose of the Incarnation.

Back from a longer-than-intended hiatus, Elissa considers St. John of Kronstadt’s observation that “Hell is a democracy, but heaven is a kingdom.”

Christ is risen! I have finally made peace with our Lord’s Ascension, and as usual, it’s because everything is theanthropic. Glory to God.

I get that I’m imperfect, but that’s not what’s bothering me. It’s all those other people’s imperfections.

In this episode, we’ll contemplate demons and tollhouses, confession and guilt… what happens to the stuff we decide not to give to God?

As we struggle through Great Lent, let’s stop and take a moment to ask how we can become real, considering classics like The Velveteen Rabbit and The Great Divorce.

Contemplating forgiveness, and whether it’s maybe a little bigger than some of our contemporaries may be thinking.

Met. Saba of the Antiochian Archdiocese recently issued a statement, and it has Elissa thinking about Pharisees and the nature of uncleanness.

I once spoke to the Archbishop of Jerusalem about miracles, and he said that he finds that they’re problematic in several ways, and I had to agree. And yet… they’re so wonderful.

Elder Ephraim says that if you’re offended, that’s a good sign that your heart isn’t pure.

Meaning comes later, after the fact — and surely, that is a gift from God. Can we embrace the not knowing?

It’s just ALL incarnation. All the time.

As we approach the Nativity, Elissa considers something St. Augustine of Hippo said, and what it means that the Bread might hunger or the Fountain might thirst…

Maybe it’s better that two opposites can be true at the same time… maybe that’s more wonderful.

Glory to God! We have a new Saint, and she is such a great caretaker of women.

St. Paul says that God sends us comfort so that we will share it with others… and perhaps that’s the case with all of the blessings He sends.

Elissa considers the words of Mother Gavrilia, who is slated to be canonized in the near future.

Still on my quest for peace.

Well, then. I’m dismayed. Join me as I work on it.

Are you caging anyone? Are you sure?

So if I’m unworthy… why am I drawing near?

We can be so sure that we know what we want, what we need — but truly, we have no idea.

Is it time to go on a journey to find the Infinite Temple of the Living God? Yes. Yes, it is.

Elissa is joined by friend Lucas Postolos, as the two consider the idea that the heart must break so that God’s word can slip in.

On St. Helena, and pilgrimage and incarnation, on the material and the spiritual, and putting our feet in the grass.

Thinking about making peace with our personal histories, and finding God’s providence at work all the time.

Elissa contemplates language — and specifically, the language of Pascha — and the amazing truths that are just sometimes too big to comprehend.

We just had to bring you this little conversation with Lindsay Karant.

As we enter into the one Great and Holy Pascha (the same one every year!) we find that time gets a little goofy, and the most profound paradoxes abound.

As we celebrate the Sunday of St. Mary of Egypt, we slow down to consider how profoundly God wants to transform us, and how our relationships change when we become the people we were meant to be.

Where’d you get that cross?

In honor of St. Gregory Palamas, we consider how his teachings speak to us in our modern, lay context — and ask how we can try to meet God in the present moment.

As we work our way through Great Lent, let’s not devour our brothers.

On why keeping it simple and small may be the best way to do Lent.

What does it mean to be judged, and how do we prepare ourselves for it?

We love progress — but it does bring all sorts of unexpected and unintended consequences, even to our spiritual lives.

Like a child allowed to explore deeper waters, there’s a thrill in following Christ ever farther…

Sometimes your prayer rule comes from a spiritual father, and sometimes it comes from your friends.

Inspired by a conversation in Sunday School, Elissa muses about our attachment to money, and its relationship to the spiritual life.

America has a loneliness crisis — what does that mean, and what can we do to help?

As the new year dawns and we approach Theophany, Elissa considers the confluence of old and new, and what that can look like as a modern American approaching Orthodoxy.

Contemplating the “true meaning of Christmas” - er… Nativity.

Creation knows its Creator, and praises Him forever. Elissa reads through the Kontakion of the Nativity and a few Psalms, considering nature’s praises.

Elissa is joined by Katrina Bitar, Director of YES (Youth Equipped to Serve), who offers her reflections from the YES Series on Agreeing to Disagree.

Christ calls us to endless forgiveness, but how do we put this into action in our daily lives? And what if we don’t WANT to forgive?