Faith Encouraged

It Takes a Miracle

The Feast of Pentecost.

This IS Eternal Life

On the Sunday of the Fathers of the 1st Ecumnical Council at Nicea, the Church calls us to consider the powerful prayer of our Lord Jesus in John 17. It turns out eternal life isn't a situation as much as it is a relationship! Being connected to life gives us life. Are you connected?

If I Would Have Known Then!

The Sunday of the Samaritan Woman sees the Lord gently confront a dear lady who didn't realize Who she was speaking to, and this blindness to just Who Jesus is means she is missing the real point of her life!

In The Spirit Of Elias

In a society where the noise factor of our lives threatens to drown out the loving Voice of God, learning to listen for that "still, small voice" that tells us who we really are is even more important.

Reduced To Rule-keeping!

When Jesus heals a woman on the Sabbath Day, His act of love and mercy reveals the deep spiritual poverty of others whose hearts are gripped by mere rule keeping. This revelation is an invitation to you and me to examine our own attitudes towards our faith!

The Fickled Crowd

On Palm Sunday a crowd shouted out their praise for Christ. This popularity at the beginning of Holy Week won't last. So, why are we humans so fickle?

X Marks the Spot

On the Sunday of the Cross during Great Lent, the Church gives us the miracle of suffering as the medicine that will carry us to the joys of Pascha. Halfway through Lent we look to the Cross for strength and joy THROUGH suffering, not escape from suffering!

Body AND Soul

On the Sunday of St. Gregory of Palamas we celebrate the wisdom of the Orthodox Faith to marry the physical and the spiritual and escape the false dichotomy of the created and the Uncreated. In other words, no more cubbyholing our lives into the sacred and the secular!

To See Yourself

On this Sunday of the Triumph of Orthodoxy, we are confronted with a theology that invites us to know ourselves by seeing what God looks like in flesh!

Awake to Reality

Sunday of the Prodigal Son.

Awake to Life

Sunday of the Publican and Pharisee.

Wasted Days and Wasted Nights

St. Paul warns the Corinthians not to receive the grace of God in vain.

Demographics Determine Destiny!

When Jesus heals 10 lepers, He opens the door for us to learn a valuable insight into a consistent life in Christ. The two lessons learned from a grateful leper who was also a foreigner is meant for us all.

How's Your Prayer

The monks on Mt. Athos use to greet one another, not with "How are you?" or "How are you doing?" but with "How is your prayer?" St. Paul tells the faithful at the Ephesian Church that the gifts God has given to His Church were meant to bring each of us to the unity of the faith, to maturity, to the full stature of Jesus Christ. So, is that what is happening in your life? If not, why not?

Allow the Fire to Reveal WHO You Are

St. John the Baptist declared he was unworthy to untie the sandals of the Lord. He also promised that, while he baptized with water, the Lord Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit! And this is both Good News AND terrifying News! Especially because Fire does more than illuminate!

You Fool!

The only place in the Bible where God Himself calls a man a fool! And it was because this man was so blinded by his possessions, he thought nothing of his mortality! How foolish! Are you living a foolish life?

Come and See

Father's homily today deals with the invitation to "Come and See." This is a dynamic and involved participation in the living out of the Faith. This is a purposeful Orthodoxy that demands not mere observance but actual practice of our faith. Tow men answer two different questions with "Come and See" and today we are invited to find out why!

We're Not Kidding - The First AND Second Coming Of Jesus

When Jesus shares the parable of the man who invited his friends to a banquet and they all made excuses as to why they couldn't come, the Lord put's these words in the man's mouth: "None of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet." When God invites you to be at His Banquet, will you make an excuse?

Escaping the Inertia of Mediocrity

The Good News of Jesus Christ invites us to such a radical departure from the fallen vision of our true purpose that confronting this message invariably challenges us. This challenge will be received differently by each person based on the true nature of their heart.

How You Remember Matters!

Your memory is filled with all kinds of thoughts, some good and some bad. How do you choose to remember your life? Do you only focus on the bad things, stew about revenge, or do you ignore all the bad things and live in the delusion that "everything is fine." Well, the Faith invites us to deal with life in a realistic manner, always informed by the Good News of Jesus Christ.

A Normal Orthodox Christmas

The celebration of the Enfleshing of God at Christmas is nothing less than a Divine Invasion of Creation by the Creator for the purpose of rescuing all of Humanity.

Our Purpose: Fullness in Christ

The Apostle Paul reveals the central purpose of our Christian life together as Church when he tells the Ephesians that all the ministries of the Faith are meant to "attain the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ."

Do You Know Who I Am?

The central truth of the Orthodox Christian faith is Gratitude. If we can learn to live a grateful life, we will truly be shaped into the character of Christ and will reflect the life of Christ i.n our lives as well. But this life of gratitude is difficult in a world where we so easily dismiss our faith or reduce our faith to smaller ideas. How do we escape this all too easy temptation? By observing what is our initial reaction to being blessed with God's grace! What is our initial reaction to G...

The Publican and Pharisee

Every year before Great Lent we hear the parable of the Publican and the Pharisee. But each year we should. All because it is so easy to allow the Power, Purpose, and Perspective of Great Lent to be lost in either a mere religious habit or, worse yet, total disregard. And that's because we humans are so very vulnerable to hiding from the truth that we need God and His transformative Presence to continually make us like Him.

A Warning, Some Wisdom, and the Way

On this Forgiveness Sunday, the Church draws our attention to a passage in Matthew's Gospel that offers us a Warning, some Wisdom, and the Way! Entering Great Lent without these insights will hamper your ability to truly celebrate the Resurrection. Suffice it to say it has everything to do with being forgiven and extending forgiveness!

Believing is Seeing

Why Does This Man Speak This Way?

On the second Sunday of Great Lent the Church focuses our thoughts on the paralyzed man whose four friends tore a hole in the roof of the house where Jesus was and let their friend down before the Lord so that he could be healed. Everyone, including the paralyzed man, was surprised when Jesus said his sins were forgiven when they expected the Lord to heal his physical paralysis. It turns out the Lord wanted to heal both his spiritual AND physical illnesses. And the Lord wants to do the same for ...

Mission Impossible

The word "impossible" is thrown around a lot, but the technological advances in our lifetimes would look like magic to previous generations. I wonder what will be commonplace tomorrow that we call "impossible" today? Both our Epistle Lesson and our Gospel lesson use words like "possible" and "impossible" on this Sunday of St. John Climacus. And the whole point is to drive home the truth that it IS NOT impossible for you to become like Christ, especially when you have His Grace and Power assistin...

When The Unexpected Happens

Let's face it, the unexpected happens in life. And when it does, the danger is always being knocked off one's feet in the process. So, since the unexpected always happens, it seems silly not to prepare for it! The unexpected certainly took the disciples by surprise when the Lord raised Lazarus from the dead. They didn't expect the Lord to be declared the "King of Israel" at the Triumphal Entry, and they didn't expect the crowd that hailed the Lord as the Son of David at the first of the week to ...

Courage in the Face of the Impossible

The Sunday of the Myrrhbearers shows us some courageous women who, even when faced with an impossible task (who will roll the stone away) nevertheless kept on going to minister to the Lord. But even when they were confronted with the empty tomb and the news of the Lord's resurrection, they left the place afraid! Our world is facing some impossible tasks as well and we traditional believers are confronted with the societal earthquake of a changin moral climate. When faced with these realities, wh...