The Morning Offering
Marriage
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The essential element for a salvific union of two people The western world has seen a terrible downward trend in the number of couples choosing to get married. Of those couples who do, almost fifty percent of their marriages end in divorce. Those marriages that do last, see only a tiny fraction produce more than one or two children. Many…
Raising Saints
Rooted in Prayer -- Virtual Vacation Church Camp!
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As you likely know, I have been working with Kristina Wenger on a weekly podcast called Tending the Garden of Our Hearts, and through this time of sheltering and quarantine, we have been offering a complete Virtual Sunday School version with videos, printables and ideas. The Sunday School will finish up June 7, on Pentecost. As summer approaches, we’re mourning the fact that our in-person VCC programs will not likely happen, so…
Faith Encouraged
Truth Isn't Up To A Vote!
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Christ is risen! We live in the day and age where most people much prefer to see “gray” everywhere instead of “black and white.” In fact, the very notion that there could be anything that was that clear, that uncomplicated, that cut and dry is a terrifying thought to most. After all, if there are truths that are “black and white” or actual settled wisdom, then that may mean I have to…
The Morning Offering
Love and Mercy
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Through which the temporal and the eternal are connected Our liturgical rites and practices are not ends in themselves, but God-given vehicles by which we enter into a profound relationship with Him, Who is love. The very essence of our Christian faith is love because God Himself is love (1 John 4:8). Thus, our Christian morality, our ethics, and even…
Faith Encouraged
Is Your Life "Crooked" or Straight" Or BOTH?
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Christ is risen! Let’s face it, ideas matter. And the reason they matter is because ideas have consequences. Ideas flow from a mindset, a way of looking at the world and organizing the multitude of stimuli we receive through our senses every day. So, when you have an idea or an attitude or an opinion, it both comes from “someplace” and it is going to have consequences. This matters! It’s why, sometimes,…
The Morning Offering
Confronting Spousal Abuse
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Spousal abuse should never be accepted as normal There are times when distancing yourself from someone who is angry is necessary. There is absolutely no good reason for you to move towards another, when they are being abusive. For the wife of an abuser to remain in danger, in an attempt to transfer love, while receiving abuse, could easily be…
The Whole Counsel Blog
Jephthah's Daughter
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The book of Judges is often seen to be problematic as a whole. Certainly, many elements of it need to be deeply couched in euphemism or omitted entirely if its narratives are going to be discussed in an all-ages environment. While large death tolls are described throughout, the descriptions of this violence become increasingly graphic as the book progresses. By the final chapters, the book has descended headlong into the madness of rape, dismemberment, murder, and civil war. Most works of fiction in various media that contain these same elements would be subject to criticism from the perspective of Christian morality. Yet, the book of Judges is a part of the Holy Scriptures. Understanding the book of Judges as a…
No Other Foundation
Will You Remember Me?
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Lately I was listening to Jann Arden’s poignant song Will You Remember Me? and it occurred to me that in one hundred years from now, no one would. In this I am, of course, hardly unique: in one hundred years from now, no one will remember you either, nor will they remember anyone currently reading this blog. My children will remember me, and my grandchildren after them (though for them grandpa will…
Faith Encouraged
Fr. Barnabas is Speaking this Week in Boston
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Glory to God for All Things
It Is Good to Be Here
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A few days ago, after hearing a very distressing bit of social news, I found myself saying, “I don’t want to be here anymore.” It was a voice of despair and sadness. The occasion had been a public altercation in which a stranger spat at a woman. It was the sort of thing that belongs among the lowest of human actions. But it happened. My topic is my own reaction. I found…
Faith Encouraged
It's Unbelievable!
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Christ is risen! It was exasperating! I tried to get my buddy’s attention but he was too busy enjoying building a fire in the woods near our neighborhood where we were going to camp out for the night. Never mind that it was the dry part of summer. Never mind that there was a “burning ban” on. Of course, everybody paid attention when the two Sheriff’s officers walked up to our little…
The Morning Offering
Monasteries
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Centers for spiritual healing Monastics are an integral part of the Church and should not be seen as independent of the Church Universal. Monks are bound by the same Gospel as other Christians and need to avail themselves to the missionary and pastoral needs of the Church, as needed. Although a primary role of monasticism is to be found in…
Eastern Christian Insights
The Powerful Witness of the Great Martyr Photini: Homily for the Sunday of the Samaritan Woman and After-Feast of Mid-Pentecost in the Orthodox Church
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Acts 11:19-30; John 4:5-42 Christ is Risen! Today we continue to celebrate our Lord’s great victory over death by remembering the Great Martyr Photini, also known as the Samaritan woman at the well. At first glance, she would seem an unlikely saint and evangelist. The Jews had nothing to do with Samaritans, whom they considered heretics. She had had five husbands and was then with a man to whom she was not…
The Morning Offering
United Together
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The pandemic lockdown can not separate us from one another As we struggle during this pandemic, it is good to remember that we are all united as one. We find our place of silence, sequestered in our homes and apartments, but in our aloneness, we encounter God. Even in our separation from one another. Even in our isolation from one…
Father Bill's Blog
195: Fifth Sunday of Pascha: The Woman of Samaria
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Christ is risen! Truly He is risen! This is a contemporary Coptic Orthodox icon. The Samaritan Woman This is one of my favorite Gospel stories. It makes me smile. Because: 1 The dialog is written so beautifully. It makes me wonder if the Apostle John was a frustrated dramatist. 2 I can see a quiet gleam in the Lord’s eyes as He so cleverly, so carefully “works” this Woman, so to speak, leading…
Shepherding our Little Flock
10 Ideas for Making Our Little Churches Bigger
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Christ is Risen! I was reflecting last Sunday as we were “in church” how much more difficult it is to engage our children in church without all of the ritual and sensory experience that our physical church provides. I remember when I became a mother how it felt like going to church with children was so hard. Don’t get me wrong it has lots of challenges! Not only in trying to help…
The Morning Offering
What Does the Lord Require of Us?
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We must become full of justice, kindness, love, and mercy As we examine how we live our lives as Christians, we look to those who leave an impression of goodness, kindness, and humility, as examples of the person we would like to become. That saintly person, by their every example, exudes the humility of the Lord, and love seems palpable…
A Lamp for Today
The Diaspora: Disaster or Divine Dispensation?
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(Acts 11:19-30; 2 Esdras 10:21-23; Psalm 43 LXX/44 MT; Genesis 22:15-18) For you see that our sanctuary has been laid waste, our altar thrown down, our temple destroyed; our harp has been laid low, our song has been silenced, and our rejoicing has been ended; the light of our lampstand has been put out, the ark of our covenant has been plundered, our holy things have been polluted, and the name by…
Faith Encouraged
Yep, They Are Welcome, Too!
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Christ is risen! There’s a great Country song from 1994 performed by Tim McGraw called “Don’t Take the Girl” and it tells the story of how a young man’s attitude toward the “fairer” sex changes as you get older. But the first part of the song as a young boy begging his dad not to take the neighborhood girl along with them on their fishing trip! When little Johnny hears his dad…
The Morning Offering
Godly Friendships
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We need godly friendships on our spiritual journey It is easy to feel trapped by our bad habits. We don’t like certain behavioral patterns that have become habitual, and we feel helpless in our attempt to change. Growing as Christians is often fraught with failure, and we find ourselves stuck. Our spiritual progress feels more like a treadmill, only seemingly…
Praying in the Rain
Hope In God's Mercy
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Experiences of God’s mercy increase our hope. However in the midst of difficult times, we don’t remember these experiences. We don’t remember the times in the past when God saved us out of difficult circumstances. Or worse yet, we have come to remember past deliverance from difficult or dangerous circumstances as luck, as accidental coincidence. Or worst of all, we have come to remember past deliverance as examples of our own prudence,…
Faith Encouraged
No Partiality
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Christ is risen! I grew up in the volatile 1960’s when the Civil Rights movement was really getting traction. I watched as a boy as marches and riots occurred around the country and our nation struggled with throwing off the scourge of racism. By the way, how is it possible that the pigmentation of someone’s skin could make them less a human than someone else? It was a troubled time. And, as…
The Morning Offering
The Salt of the Earth
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The Gospels must leaven our relationships with others The lifeless things of this world offer no spiritual satisfaction, yet we often sell ourselves off to things or people by giving them power over our hearts. It is easy to feel abandoned or hurt by those to whom we’ve given power. If we need affirmation from others we take the chance…
Faith Encouraged
"The gods Have Come Down to Us!"
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Christ is risen! She started crying as I shook her hand. She was trembling and crying, and I was both confused and troubled. Her husband stepped in to save the day by explaining “Father, she is very excited to meet you. We were going through a very difficult time when our family found your videos on YouTube. We watched your videos and then started getting the daily devotionals, and it touched us…
The Morning Offering
Noetic Faculty
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The energy of the mind inside the heart In the patristic tradition the heart is the center of our self-awareness. This self-awareness is the energy of the mind inside the heart, something the holy fathers referred to as our “noetic faculty”. There is an important distinction that must be noted concerning the difference between the Western and Eastern understanding of…
Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
The Glory of God in the Raising of Tabitha of Joppa
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Glory to God for All Things
The Quiet Centrality of Healthy Shame
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“For there is a shame that brings sin; and there is a shame which is glory and grace.” (Sirach 4:21) I have written previously about shame (and will continue) and its importance in our life. Despite the crippling effects of shame in its toxic form, shame also has an important healthy aspect that is necessary for our lives. The toxic form tends to overwhelm us and to dominate the popular understanding. Healthy…
