The Morning Offering
Loneliness
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Ending isolation and loneliness In an age when families no longer eat dinner together, children watch TV, play computer games, and text message their friends from their bedrooms. When adults can be seen walking in our cities talking on cell phones. At a time in our history when people can be sitting in a cafe with friends, all the while…
Glory to God for All Things
Weak, Sick, Poor, Tired: A Story for Losers
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Nobody wants to be sick. The dependence it fosters, the way it changes and shapes a life are a form of powerlessness that holds no attraction. Poverty (however it is measured) is a massive struggle against forces that steal human dignity. Most homes in poverty include children and are headed by women. Their daily efforts to pay the rent, work a job (or two or three), tend to childhood needs and face…
Faith Encouraged
Storm Outside; Asleep Inside
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What struck me was his strong, silent presence even in the face of chaos and tragedy. Here we were, dealing with the human tragedy and destruction of the aftermath of a hurricane. We were there as clergy to help people. We were moving through the American Red Cross “tent city” and it was set up to hold hundreds of displaced people and we were there as IOCC Frontliners, the First Responders ministry…
The Morning Offering
The Cure
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Forgiveness is the cure for judgment, anger, and resentment Our Lord Jesus Christ told us: “Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you shall be forgiven (Luke 6:37).” In the Our Father, the very prayer given to His disciples after Christ was asked to teach them to pray, we…
Faith Encouraged
Familiarity Breeds Contempt
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“Hey, I know that boy. I’ve known him my whole life. Who does he think he is?” I confess, it hurt a bit. You see, I was preaching one of my first “sermons” and some “friend” of the family who had, actually, known me and my parents since I was a baby, was a bit put out at my sermon topic. I don’t even remember what it was now, but I do…
The Morning Offering
Depression
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Battling the demon of dejection Depression is one of the plagues of the modern age, overtaking many with it’s insidious poison, and ravaging many a life. The pain and suffering that comes with deep depression can infect those who surround the sufferer, for the depression of one person can spread like mold on stale bread. Psychiatrists are kept busy writing…
Glory to God for All Things
The Work that Saves
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“Do not be careless. Pray as much as you can – more frequently and more fervently. Prod yourself – force yourself to do so, for the Kingdom of God is taken by force. You will never attain it without forcing yourself.” ~ Saint Innocent of Alaska Do we cooperate in our salvation? Do our efforts make a difference? These questions lie at the heart of a centuries-old religious debate in Christianity. Classically,…
Roads from Emmaus
Can We Do What the Saints Did?
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Sunday of All Saints, June 11, 2017 Hebrews 11:33-12:2; Matthew 10:32-33, 37-8; 19:27-30 Very Rev. Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen. Today we hear this from Hebrews chapter 11: All the saints through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power…
Faith Encouraged
Fruit Inspector
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Marketing experts expect U.S. companies to spend over 200 BILLION dollars on advertising and marketing this year. While TV advertising is still number one in marketing dollars, online ads are gaining ground, with the mobile ads starting to appear on the phone screens of Americans gaining the most ground. And do you know why American companies will spend this much money on advertising? Because it works! In fact, something horrible happens when you…
The Morning Offering
The Orthodox Temple
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The Link between the Temples of the Old and New Testaments Orthodox temples have kept to the same form and function since ancient times. Using the Old Testament Temple model, Orthodox churches are divided into several courts or spaces peculiar to their function. The Holy Table, upon which is celebrated the Eucharist, is situated at the east end of the…
Faith Encouraged
Learning to Say "No"
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Several days ago quite a few news outlets reported on a scientific study done to test the effects of fasting on our immune system. The discoveries were presented in a paper that suggested that fasting reboots the immune system and encourages the creation of stem cells. Isn’t it fascinating when science catches up with timeless wisdom? If one were to take the fasting disciplines of the Orthodox Christian faith seriously, a purposeful…
The Morning Offering
Ministry of Mercy
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Priests as therapists imparting God’s mercy The answer to ALL passions of the flesh can be found within the walls of the Church. Just as Her founder, the Church is the fountain of compassion and mercy. It is not Christ’s Church that fails people, but sometimes the very therapists (clergy) who can get caught up in the letter of the…
Faith Encouraged
An All New Faith Encouraged LIVE on the Protestant Reformation
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Dear Faith Encouraged Family, On tonight’s show, my special guest, Fr. Panayiotis Papageorgiou, talked about his recent paper presented in Germany on the early contacts between the Protestant Reformers and the Orthodox Church. Here is a copy of his paper that you can read for yourself: The Protestant Reformation and the Christian East: The Protestant Reformation and the Christian East Thank you, Fr. Panayiotis, for opening our eyes to so much vital information.…
Raising Saints
Graduating Seniors - how to send them off (for parents and Sunday School teachers)
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I’m reposting this from last year, because every year produces a new crop of graduating seniors who need to be connected up to the OCF at their new school! This year, my oldest graduates, and as much as I’m excited about this new chapter of life she’s entering, I’m also well aware that I should do what I can to encourage and enable her to stay connected to the Church. It’s…
No Other Foundation
Book Review: The Departure of the Soul
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Lately a new book has become available, The Departure of the Soul, published by St. Anthony’s Greek Orthodox Monastery in Arizona. Its full title is, The Departure of the Soul According to the Teaching of the Orthodox Church; a Patristric anthology, and this about sums it up. It deals with the Scriptural material as interpreted by the Fathers, and goes on to examine the teaching as found in the liturgical services of…
The Morning Offering
Salvation
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More than acquittal and justification Salvation can not be explained in legalistic terms of acquittal and justification, for salvation is much more than simply being forgiven and getting into heaven. The close tie between faith and works, when it comes to the Orthodox view of salvation, is not about being “saved” by our works, for this is impossible. Works do…
The Morning Offering
Persecution of Christians
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The persecution of Christians in the Middle East It’s a pity there is virtually no meaningful or informative conversation taking place in the United States about the widespread persecution of Christians throughout the Middle East. Muslims in America scream and howl at the slightest provocations, yet in the face of the tragic genocide against Christians throughout the Islamic world and…
Glory to God for All Things
Saving My Neighbor - Just How Connected Are We?
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If you are in the “helping professions,” confronting problems in people’s lives, it doesn’t take long to realize that no one is purely and simply an individual. The problems we suffer may occasionally appear to be “of our own making,” but that is the exception rather than the rule. Whether we are thinking of economic or genetic inheritance, or the psychological and social environment, almost all the issues in our lives are…
Faith Encouraged
God is Blasphemed Because of You
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Ouch! That hurt! It wouldn’t have hurt anymore if he’d actually hit me with his fists. He had confronted me with the reality that my words had so offended his friend that that friend didn’t want anything to do with God anymore. Oh No! I was young and foolish (of course now I’m old and foolish, but, oh well), and I had tried to explain why a certain tragedy had happened to…
The Morning Offering
The Image of Christ
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Becoming the Image of Christ to others If we be true to our calling as the children of God, we must live in imitation of Christ. We must imitate His meekness and humility. We must love others just as did He. We must be willing to be transformed, and made whole, that others might see in us, the Light of…
Faith Encouraged
By Grace You Have Been Saved
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“Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I’m found. Was blind, but now I see.” I can still hear my grandmother singing that song when I was just a little boy. It’s almost one of the earliest memories I have of her. She and my grandfather would take me to their little Baptist church and Pawpaw would lead the singing and…
The Morning Offering
The Survival of the Church
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The humble co-suffering Saviour must be seen in His Church For Orthodoxy to thrive into the next century, we must see a return to the very roots of our faith, where the Church proclaims the Good News of Christ in all its purity, and centers herself in the mystical and sacramental core of her very being. She must offer the…
Time Eternal
The Rapture: An Orthodox Understanding (Infographic)
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Fact #1: I grew up believing in the Rapture. Fact #2: I no longer believe in the Rapture. Really, I don’t. Fact #3: When I walk into a mysteriously empty room or a quiet home, my first (subconscious) instinct is still to check the floor for heaps of clothes and other telltale signs that people have been raptured.…
No Other Foundation
Commentary on the Divine Liturgy: the Trisagion
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In the Divine Liturgy, after the antiphons, comes the Trisagion Hymn, prefaced by a prayer in which the celebrant prays that the God who is hymned by the seraphim, the cherubim, and by every angelic power in heaven, may also deign to accept the hymn we now sing to Him on earth. In many churches this beautiful prayer is said silently, so that the faithful hear only the final clause of the…
Nearly Orthodox
Journal Entry: Thought Traffic
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There’s an awful lot happening in the world, and that makes my thought traffic terrible. I had to lay down last night and just watch an episode or two of “Chopped” to clear things out. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it. I think I mentioned not long ago that I’ve been working my way through this first volume of The Philokalia– slow but sure. And while reading, I’ve been putting…
Roads from Emmaus
The Descent of God as Fire: Pentecost and the Exodus
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Sunday of Pentecost, June 4, 2017 Acts 2:1-11; John 7:32-57, 8:12 Very Rev. Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen. In his commentary on the events of that first Pentecost, the Venerable Bede, who was an English saint and Biblical scholar and commentator in the early eighth century, makes…
Faith Encouraged
The Wrath of God (It Ain't What you Think!)
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American author Laird Barron once said “Mom was all about hellfire and brimstone. Her Old Testament God was a colossal, ancient brute, a maelstrom of blood and fire, of appetite and wrath.” Sounds familiar. Our society has been shaped by a narrative, both subtle and overt, about how we think of God. And, for many people (could we say the majority?), God is exactly like Barron’s mother described: A colossal and angry…
