Katerina Katsarka Whitley
Katerina Whitley, a native of Thessaloniki, Greece is a long-term writer for these pages. She worked as diocesan editor in the Diocese of East Carolina and as the PR & Communication associate for the then Presiding Bishop’s Fund for World Relief during Bishop Edmond Browning’s tenure. She is the author of seven books in circulation and an active public speaker and performer. She lives in Boone, N.C. where she teaches at Appalachian State University.
Sermons and Bible Studies
The Realm of Light, Feast of Epiphany – 2007
In this season of Epiphany we enter the realm of light. In fact the Greek church, in the language of the people, has called this season, Ta Phota: âthe lights.â In the Eastern church, this season of light is celebrated as fully as the season of Christmas. This liturgical season resides also in symbolism, something […]
I Have Seen the Lord!, Easter Day (B) – 2006
The Light has burst through the darkness. The long night is over. The poet John Masefield cries with us, Oh glory of the lighted mind. How dead Iâd been, how dumb, how blind! We have walked in sorrow since Thursday night. We were lost. Now light breaks forth and joy visits our minds. We are […]
Keep Watching: I Feel the Coming Glory of the Light, Great Vigil of Easter (B) – 2006
Last night we became intensely aware of darkness, surrounded by the night of grief that is almost insulted by light. As Edwin Arlington Robinson writes in âCredoâ from his book of poems, Children of the Night: No, there is not a glimmer, nor a call, For one that welcomes, welcomes when he fears, The black […]
Entering the Darkness, Good Friday – 2006
And now the sorrowful fellowship of Thursday evening turns into terror with the arrest of their beloved teacher; it is the longest night of their lives. But when Friday dawns, instead of light dispelling darkness, as is the nature of things, it is darkness that falls on them all. Everything that was good seems to […]
Remembering a Night of Sorrow and of Change. Maundy Thursday – 2006
Together with the sense of the Holy, the experience of Maundy Thursday affords us the most profound awareness of the role of change in our lives as well as the meaning of remembrance. Both are interwoven with the events of the saddest day of the church year. The arrest, stealthy court proceedings and torture of […]
Time and Talents, Proper 28 (A) – 2005
Among the biggest mysteries of daily life is the passage of time. What happens to it? Why are we so bound by it? Why does time pass so slowly when we are young and so rapidly when we are old? It seems that the opposite should be true. And above allâwhen loved ones leave us, […]
The Wounded Heart of the Creator, Proper 22 (A) – 2005
What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it? When I expected it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes? . . . he expected justice but saw bloodshed; righteousness, but heard a cry! Isaiah 5:4 and 7b âFinally he sent his son to them, saying, […]
Those Who Turn the World Upside Down, Easter 5 (A) – 2005
The dramatic, fast-moving pace set by St. Paul once he made the decision to respond to Godâs summons to enter Macedonia continues with this visit to Thessalonica (Thessaloniki in Greek). Someone must have told Paul the story of the city: how it used to be called Therma, and how Cassandros, a general in Alexanderâs army, […]
Still Waiting for Peace, Christmas Day (I) – 2004
His authority shall grow continually and there shall be endless peace.(Isaiah) Glory to God in the highest heaven And on earth, peace.(Luke) On this wondrous day, when our Advent anticipation culminates in the awaited birth of Jesus, we find ourselves still waiting for the fulfillment of the promises of Christmas, we are still waiting for […]
He Emptied Himself, Christmas Eve – 2004
It is Christmas Eve once again. We welcome the sweetness of this night and all the memories that give meaning to it and make it unique among anniversaries. And, we dread it. For those among us whose youth is past, this evening is bittersweetâanother year has gone by, another season of Advent has ended, and […]
His Name Is Righteousness, Christ the King (C) – 2004
His name is righteousness. Blessed is he who comes in the Name of the Lord! There are few places in the Eucharist more moving than these words from the Sanctus that we sing Sunday after Sunday. As we intone them we echo Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John who, centuries before them, echoed the Psalmist and […]
Gratitude as the Source of Much That Is Good, Proper 23 (C) – 2004
Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. Let us look again at the scene described in the Gospel story, for it is riveting. This encounter with Jesus has a unique quality that must be examined closely. Jesus was a great walker. He covered […]
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