Faith Encouraged
Bright Tuesday - Satan Falls Like a Star
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Christ is risen! The young man was very frustrated. His dad had just gotten him a new hunting dog and this was the first time the young man had to train the dog himself. The process was a lot tougher than the boy realized and he was out of answers. You see every time the boy would point to a place the dog was supposed to go, the dog came up and…
The Word of the Day
Nothing is the Same After the Wonders That Have Taken Place (Tues. April 26)
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Christ is Risen! The word of the day is “wonders.” Considering all that is going on in our world these days, we know what it means to say, “The world is turned upside down!” But the upset of our world during these days is nothing compared to what happened when the Lord Jesus Christ died and rose again. But now in our reading of Acts 2:14-21, Peter speaks of even more wonders, the signs of God’s power that accompanied the descent of the Holy Spirit. He quotes from the Prophet Joel, “I will pour out my Spirit in those days and they shall prophesy. I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath, blood and fire…
Faith Encouraged
Bright Monday - He Is Made Known!
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Christ Is Risen! What joy! What happiness! What a celebration! Words fail. Songs sung over and over again still cry out for more! Death is conquered by the Unconquered Son. O what news! The whole earth basks in the glow of the Victory of Christ over death! No more fear! No more night! The Son has dawned and there is no dead left in the grave! It all sounds like so much…
The Word of the Day
Facing and Uncertain Future By Continuing in Prayer and Reflection (Mon. April 25)
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Christ is Risen! The word of the day is “continued.” What next? Generally, when a momentous occasion has happened, there is a letdown. The participants realize that nothing can surpass what has already occurred. We would expect that the followers of Jesus would have experienced such deflation. In today’s reading of Acts 1:12-17 and 21-26, the writer of Acts reports that this did not happen. He reports that the company of believers return from Christ’s Ascension and continued to meet in the “upper room” (vs. 12-13). He writes, “These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers” (NKJR vs. 14). Moreover, under the leadership of Peter,…
Faith Encouraged
Great and Holy Pascha - Christ is Risen!
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Chris IS Risen! Christ is risen from the dead, by death, trampling down upon death, and to those in the tombs, He has granted life. On this Holy Pascha, I’d rather share the words of St. John Chrysostom and his glorious Paschal Homily: “If any man be devout and love God, let him enjoy this fair and radiant triumphal feast. If any man be a wise servant, let him rejoicing enter into…
The Word of the Day
Joy No One Can Suppress (Sun. April 24)
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The word of the day is “alive.” Well, today we will have a festive Pascha dinner, and we will share the Paschal Greeting, “Christ is Risen.” In keeping with this joyful theme, the word of the day is “alive.” Our journey to the Cross is complete, so we think. We can now resume our lives with the memory of the glorious hymns of Pascha to uplift us. But now, let us suppress any suggestion that we can enjoy a time of spiritual relaxation. We now enter the forty days of the appearances of the Risen Christ. This is the time when Luke says in today’s reading of Acts 1:1-8 that Christ “presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible…
No Other Foundation
Pascha: What’s in a Name?
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I am reliably told that in some parts of the Protestant world the feast we Orthodox are now celebrating is called “Resurrection Sunday”. Though it used to be universally known there as “Easter”, apparently some people in the Evangelical Protestant world are reluctant to use the term “Easter” because they believe the word has pagan connotations and a pagan past. The actual history of the word is somewhat obscure. The Venerable Bede,…
Remembering Sion
Keeping the Sabbath
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Today is perhaps not the most auspicious day to publish any words. Having just served the Vesperal Divine Liturgy for Holy Saturday, wherein is sung the somber yet supremely beautiful hymn “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence,” I find myself in danger of falling under my own condemnation. So I will at least try to keep my words brief. In the center of the church the Lord, the life of all, lies…
Glory to God for All Things
The Last Pascha - A Reverie
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(Written in 2015) I had a reverie around the time of Pascha. My life has had many chapters. I have loved friends and lost friends. My memory is filled with much that is bittersweet – not my favorite flavor. But my reverie was a dream of Pascha – the Last Pascha. I wrote this in a Facebook post and have looked it up numerous times for balm for my tired soul. Today,…
Faith Encouraged
Holy Saturday - Don't Hide From Death
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We are a death-denying culture. In the US, the Funeral business is a $20 Billion industry employing over 13,000 people nationwide! And, in 2016 we crossed that line where over half of the American’s who passed away choose cremation over a burial. If we don’t choose cremation, we apply technics to the body to make it look less like a corpse. While all of this may seem to be honoring, and to…
The Word of the Day
Your Personal Pascha (Sat. April 23)
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Christ is risen! The word of the day is “baptized.” If we have any doubt that the glorious events of our salvation apply to us, we should reread today’s reading of Romans 6:3-11. If we observe the events of these holy days as a spectator, then, of course, they do not happen to us. But the Lord calls us to participate in His sufferings and death so that we might also share in His resurrected life. This is Paul’s proclamation when he writes, “Therefore, we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so, we also should walk in newness of life (NKJV Romans…
Living Water
Thoughts Before Pascha
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In my last post, I talked about how I wanted to focus more on prayer and charity for Lent. Did I ever get my wish. This Lent has been a particularly roller coaster time. Sorrows Lent began this year with the news that one of my cousins had successfully made a harrowing escape from Ukraine where he had been teaching English, and was safe, for the moment, in Poland. The whole family breathed a collective sigh of relief and offered various prayers of thanksgiving. Only a few days later, his mother died, and we were taken from the highs of…
Glory to God for All Things
Good Friday and Unbelief
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Christmas and Easter are often difficult days for those who do not believe in God. Christians are more public about their faith than at other times of the year and this brings with it an annoyance. Christmas bespeaks the birth of God as a human being. Easter bespeaks a resurrection from the dead. For those who do not believe, such miracles, spoken of so glowingly and with such assurance by Christians,…
Faith Encouraged
Holy and Great Friday - Destroying Death BY Death
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On this Holy Friday: Let us pray to the Lord, O God and Father: How can the light of the sun pierce the terrible darkness of this day and its events? Your only Son, the true light, in the darkness of his ordeal, was pleased to embrace in his humanity the sufferings he could not endure in his divinity. And to what purpose, if not to prove that he considered us worthy…
The Word of the Day
The Cross: The World’s Shame, God’s Glory (Friday, April 22)
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The word d of the day is “glory.” The Cross. A symbol of the world’s hatred, yet the sign of God’s infinite love; an image of defeat, yet an emblem of victory. A sight of shame, yet a vision of glory. Today in our reading of 1 Corinthians 1:18-2:2, Paul writes, “But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty” (NKJV vs. 27). By this pronouncement, the apostle notes that the Cross contradicts everything that this world stands for. The Cross judges all the values and aspirations of worldliness–its power, its pleasures, its riches,…
Faith Encouraged
Holy Thursday - Betrayed By A Friend
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On this Holy Thursday: Let us pray to the Lord, O you whose love for us is eternal and unchanging: Today, as your Son reclined at the table with his chosen friends, he gave them the mysteries of his life-giving love for us, to be present forever on the altars of his holy churches throughout the world. Now, as we celebrate the institution of these mysteries, we entreat you to dispel all…
The Word of the Day
On Hearing the Twelve Gospels This Evening (Thurs. April 21)
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The word of the day is “open.” Among our readings today is Isaiah 50:4-11. The prophet writes, “The Lord God has opened My ear, and I was not rebellious, nor did I turn away” (NKJV Isaiah vs. 5). This statement is especially appropriate for tonight’s reading of the Twelve Gospels of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ. These passages are both meaningful and challenging. Throughout the service, our natural human nature makes it difficult for us to stand and concentrate on the readings. Thus, we might ask with what spirit will we hear and pay attention to them? With what Spirit Will We Listen? With what spirit will we hear the story of our salvation? Will our reading and…
Glory to God for All Things
The Eternal Cross - How Is the Lamb Slain from the Foundation of the World?
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Among the many striking images in the book of Revelation, there is one that stands out in particular. In Chapter 13, vs 8, we read: “All who dwell on the earth will worship him [the beast], whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” The passage is not unlike that in 1 Peter: “knowing that you were not redeemed…
Faith Encouraged
Holy Wednesday - Anointed With Oil!
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On this Holy Wednesday: Let us pray to the Lord, O Lord who, in Your mercies and bounties, heals the disorders of our souls and bodies, do, the same Master, sanctify this Oil, that it may be effectual for those who shall be anointed therewith, unto healing, and unto relief from every passion, every malady of the flesh and of the spirit, and every ill; and that therein may be glorified Your…
The Word of the Day
What Kind of Deliverer Do We Seek? (Wed. April 20)
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The word of the day is “deliverer.” Today in our reading of Exodus 2:11-22, we find that Moses has grown up. Leaving the palace, he tried to join himself to his own people. The Orthodox Study Bible comments that “He went out among His brethren because he refused to be the son of Pharaoh’s daughter (Hebrews 11:24-26) (OSB fn. 2:11). The Orthodox Study Bible adds that “Moses was forty years old at the time, and he knew he was Israel’s deliverer. Thus. He defended an Israelite and killed the Egyptian.” He supposed that the Israelites would understand his calling from God, but they did not” (OSB fn. 2:11). Moses: as Deliverer Now, if Moses believed he was the Hebrew’s deliverer,…
The Word of the Day
Behold the Bridegroom Comes (Tues. April 19)
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The word of the day is “compassion.” Today’s reading of Exodus 2:5-10 tells the story of how the deliverance of the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt began. It started with compassion. An Egyptian princess discovers a basket made of bulrushes floating on the Nile. She opens the ark. Her heart goes out to the baby crying inside. She knows that the infant is a Hebrew boy who should have been killed at birth. But she saves the child and intends to raise him in the palace. The baby’s sister is standing by and runs to fetch the child’s mother. The princess will pay her to nurse the child. In this way, by compassion, Moses is delivered from death to be…
Faith Encouraged
Happy Birthday Fr. Barnabas
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Dear Faithful Partners of Faith Encouraged Ministries, Every year we reach out to you to help us celebrate Fr. Barnabas’ birthday during the month of April. This year he turns 62 on April 20 – Holy Wednesday Recently he told me these years approaching “retirement age” fill him with both hope and dread. Hope in the sense that the central desire of sharing this Orthodox Faith with as many people as possible…
Faith Encouraged
Holy Tuesday - What Don't You Know?
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On this Holy Tuesday: Let us pray to the Lord. O you who observe all things with your eye that never sleeps, who afford us such saving lessons in your desire to grant mercy to all who seek it: We give thanks to you for raising us from bed and sleep to enjoy the light of another day. Receive this morning worship we offer you as we continue to follow the passion…
No Other Foundation
Thinking about the Atonement: the New Testament
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In my last blog piece I discussed the Old Testament view of the atonement. Here I would examine the New Testament understanding of the atonement. As with the Old Testament, there is in the New Testament no clear and detailed elaboration of how the atonement “works”, which of course accounts for the current debate about it. But all Christians agree that it centers upon the life, death, and resurrection of Christ: because…
The Word of the Day
On Bearing the Fruits of Repentance (Mon. April 18)
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The word of the day is “fruit.” Today in Matthew 21:18-43, we read of another astonishing act of the Lord. We think of the Lord as merciful and longsuffering, and He is. Yet as He returns from Bethany to the Holy City, He stops to pick figs from a tree on the side of the road. But the tree was bearing only leaves. In response, Jesus says, “Let no fruit grow on you ever again” (OSB vs. 18). Immediately the tree withers. The Gospel of Mark makes this seemingly spiteful action is even more puzzling. Mark says that figs were not in season at that time (Mark 11:13). Why then should Jesus expect to find fruit on it? And why…
Every Thought Captive
Scrutinize Every Provocation: Digital Minimalism and Nepsis Continued
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Last year, I began a series on nepsis and the practice of so-called “Digital minimalism” for Orthodox Christians. Though this series had an auspicious beginning, I was rapidly taken off-track from completing it at that time for a multitude of reasons. With Lent coming to a close, I will continue that series now. We are approaching the very same Bridegroom Matins services and hymnography I referenced in my last piece. Let us keep those reminders of our spiritual life with us after Pascha! How easy it is to get through the Great Fast, through Holy Week,…
Faith Encouraged
A Crowd Is Dangerous - Palm Sunday Homily
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