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Eastern Christian Insights
Now Is The Time to Prepare to Become "A New Creation" at Christmas: Homily for the 22nd Sunday After Pentecost and the 9th Sunday of Luke in the Orthodox Church
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Galatians 6:11-18; Luke 12:16-21 Barns and temples are very different places. Usually when we think of barns, we think simply of structures to house farm animals or to store crops, not of places with much spiritual significance. The rich man in today’s gospel lesson thought of his barns only in terms of his earthly possessions, of which he had such an abundance that he looked forward simply…
The Morning Offering
Bashing Heads
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Troublesome passages of the Old Testament It is important when reading the Old Testament, to remember that it was written as an account of a peoples journey to God. As the Israelites journey continued, they came to know God, little by little, through God’s self-revelation to their prophets, and their understanding of God expanded. Christ, as the Logos (the Word…
The Morning Offering
Witnessing the Faith
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Abbot Tryphon talks about witnessing the faith, in another YouTube video.
Father Bill's Blog
151.1 The Preparation: An Addendum - The Priest's Vesting Prayers
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For Post 151 on the Preparation for Liturgy, I decided that including the Priest’s Vesting Prayers would make the article too long. However “Mama V” wrote asking that we include them. So… I copied the following from the website * of Saint Luke the Evangelist Orthodox Church (OCA) in Palos Hills, Illinois – for which I’m very grateful, and for which I hope we needed no permission. *which contains an extraordinary amount…
Glory to God for All Things
The Morality of Christmas
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You might be thinking that it’s too early to hear about Christmas – Thanksgiving is yet a couple of weeks away. However, for the Orthodox, the Nativity Fast began on November 15. It is already time to give our thoughts to Christmas – our Winter Pascha. This article (a reprint) reflects on a theme that has been present in my thoughts for several years. I pray it will be of use as…
The Morning Offering
Self-Reliance
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Self-reliance and interdependency Since the foundation of this monastic community some thirty-three years ago, our holy brotherhood has been working towards becoming as self-reliant as is possible, given the age we live in. Recognizing that most of humankind, since the beginning, had no choice but to depend on personal gardens for vegetables, raising cows for milk and cheese, and chickens…
The Morning Offering
Divine Oxygen
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Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
The Reintegration of the Christian
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Father Bill's Blog
153. The Poor Rich Farmer
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Money! Money! Money! I know some church members take offense when the Priest talks about money. Maybe this is because they think dirty old money is too unworthy a topic to mention in church. Or maybe because… well, let’s no go there. In either case they would certainly have been offended by their Lord Jesus Christ, who talked about money and possessions a lot. On the other hand, if all people hear…
Faith Encouraged
A Violent Salvation
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Our modern world seems to run on violence. And it seems that every day the news is of more violence there and more violence here. From college campuses arguing over speech and “safe zones” and “trigger warnings” to the very real violence of terrorism all meant to disrupt and destroy. And can we even talk about what seems to be “perpetual war” in hotspots around the world where our soldiers are sent…
The Morning Offering
Doctrine
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Just whose recipe is it anyway? One of the most powerful reasons for embracing Orthodoxy is to be found in the Church’s insistence that she holds to the evangelical and apostolic doctrine of the Ancient Church. In an age when everything is up for change, there is a certain security and stability when one institution (the Church) stands firm in…
A Light So Lovely
How to Build a World in Both History and Fiction
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It’s been a month since I’ve posted anything. Goodness. Life sometimes sneaks up on you and then drops a piano on your head. It’s ok, it’s good for the humility. And there may be something in all there about a certain someone being a workaholic incapable of putting limits on himself. But I digress. I’ve been thinking, lately, about the question of worldbuilding. For those who don’t know, it’s a technical term…
No Other Foundation
The Authority of the Fathers
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We Orthodox are fond of referring to the Church Fathers as authorities within the Church. When faced with a new or controversial issue, an Evangelical Protestant will ask, “What does the Bible say?” A classic Roman Catholic will ask, “What has Rome said?” An Orthodox will respond, “What do the Fathers say?” By this one can correctly conclude that the Fathers function as authorities in the Orthodox Church. That said, we must…
Faith Encouraged
Are You a Hater?
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Prejudice is always the ugly counterfeit to true discernment and good judgment. But we humans all too often confuse these realities to our own detriment. As a man who has grown up in the American South, I can readily attest to the sickness of prejudice in society, in communities, and in my own heart. By God’s grace, in my own area of the South, I have witnessed the powerful changes that have…
Time Eternal
5 Ways to Redeem the Time during the Nativity Fast
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The Nativity Fast starts tomorrow (New Calendar)! I can almost smell the pine trees… and lentils. Speaking of beans, in our tradition, we are given a multitude of time-honored practices that invite us into the liturgical and sacramental significance of Christ’s entrance into this world–fasting rubrics, for example, or added emphasis on repentance, prayer, and almsgiving. It’s tempting…
The Morning Offering
Tending to Our Own Soul
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Correcting ourselves immediately heals a small part of the Church Whenever we hear of problems in the Church it is our natural inclination to want to read all about it and root out all the details. Yet if we really want to benefit our soul, we should take the advice of the Saint Paisios of Mt. Athos. His advice: “If…
Faith Encouraged
A Stranger They Will Not Follow
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I was a nervous wreck! A 15-year-old teenager with his best buddies was sneaking into a movie theater without paying! I can hear the voice of my mother in my head “Young man, you carry your family name. That should make you think twice about doing things you know you shouldn’t!” We didn’t get caught. We loved the movie. We laughed, and we congratulated ourselves for our stealth and our “courage.” And I…
The Morning Offering
The Holy Oblation
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The place where heaven and earth are united As a priest, I bear the awesome burden of offering the Holy Oblation before the Throne of God, on behalf of all the people whose names are submitted to the monastery, and who are Orthodox. I offer for my spiritual children, and even for the whole world. I commemorate my own beloved…
Behind the Scenes
Christ & Tolkien Conference: Visions of Paradise
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The Christ & Tolkien Conference is dedicated to the discussion and celebration of the works of author J. R. R. Tolkien from traditional Christian points of view—Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant, in an atmosphere of conviviality. Tolkien scholars and fans gather in faithfulness to their own traditions to engage with one another in integrity and to build relationships and networks. While at the Conference, you’ll be able to enjoy plenary lectures and other submitted…
Faith Encouraged
Watered Down Faith
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“It’s like trying to take an aspirin for cancer!” OK, that got my attention! The speaker was talking about the dangers of watering down the clear message needed for our group so that it wasn’t so discomforting. But his illustration really drove the point home that some problems need the fully potent dose of truth to be corrected. I admit it hit home with me, especially as I thought about how just…
The Morning Offering
Teaching Children to Love God
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Children learn love of God by the example of their parents Every Orthodox parent wants their children to grow up attending Sunday Liturgies and staying active in the life of the Church throughout their lives. Yet many parents don’t demonstrate the importance of having a personal relationship with God in front of their children. If you do not make God…
Glory to God for All Things
Is Everyone Transsexual?
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A recent case put before the Supreme Court (Harris Funeral Home v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) centers around the question of human sexuality, particularly as argued in the situation of those claiming to be transsexual. At issue is whether the Civil Rights Laws that protect against discrimination on the basis of sex should apply to individuals whose claims are made on the basis of a professed “gender,” regardless of their biological sex.…
Faith Encouraged
3 Invaluable Insights
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Our busy lives really do challenge us in keeping our priorities in the right order, don’t they? We moderns are a complicated mishmash of schedules, opportunities, affluence, and “freedom.” And that multiplication of events, desires, hopes, and advertisements don’t seem to be slowing down. It seems that each new day brings a new barrage of invitations, exhortations, and marketing all meant to fill up every available moment of our day with “You…
The Morning Offering
The Non-Orthodox
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What about people who are not Orthodox? It is always a pity when people who claim to be Orthodox make judgements against fellow Christians. In the tradition of Orthodoxy, wherever we find beauty and truth, it is of God, and it is our calling, as Orthodox Christians, to rejoice when we see others have at least some portion of the…
Eastern Christian Insights
The Danger of Justifying Ourselves by Narrowing Down our Neighbors: Homily for the 21st Sunday After Pentecost and the 8th Sunday of Luke in the Orthodox Church
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Galatians 2:16-20; Luke 10:25-37 It is sobering how easily we can corrupt any good thing, including faith in Jesus Christ. Some people fall into the delusion of thinking that they love God and neighbor, when in reality they serve only themselves. One symptom of doing so is to narrow down the kind of people who count as our neighbors such that we excuse ourselves from seeing and serving Christ in all…
The Morning Offering
Struggling with Prayer
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When prayer becomes a struggle When we find ourselves struggling with prayer, and feel that it has become dry and lifeless, we are sometimes tempted to stop praying. When our prayer has become a struggle, it is good to remember that God knows our needs, and even knows what we want to say when we don’t seem to know. This…
The Morning Offering
Happiness
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Transforming greed into gratitude We all know that money can’t buy happiness, yet many are not aware that practicing simple gratitude does bring about happiness. Being grateful for the people we have in our lives, and for the things that we have, brings about a happiness that can not come about by endlessly trying to acquire things. Researchers testing gratefulness…