As I shared in a post last year, my best friend from childhood, Luke, was the son of a Greek Orthodox priest. As both of our dads were clergy, and as we both spent lots of time therefore at church, we also had a lot to talk about when it came to the faith. I remember very clearly learning for the first time – I must have been seven or eight – that Luke’s family celebrated Easter at a different time from when we did. Not always, but usually, and it made me really curious. As it turns out, and as I learned with the help of Luke’s parents, Orthodox Christians – including Greek and Russian and other members of the Orthodox faith –...

Boston.com shared a number of moving photos from today’s remembrance of those who died a year ago in the bombing of the Boston Marathon. Here are a couple that made a deep impression on me. And it wasn’t only a memorial. It was also a celebration of the spirit of the folks who survived and their city as well as a sign of solidarity with those who continue to struggle to recover. I caught only bits and pieces of the day’s events on the news but was impressed by and grateful for their attention to the people involved rather than to the crime committed. By all accounts, it was a good day, but also a hard day. Tragedy often...