Faith Encouraged
NO Distinction!
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Christ is risen! “They have to keep the rules, just like us!” Yeah, that’s true. We should all be held to the same standard. But wait a tick, have you kept the “rules” you expect others to keep? I know it’s hard to get your mind to shift from “what should be” to “what is,” but that’s what our lesson requires today. And there’s the rub, dear ones. But what if the…
The Morning Offering
A Peaceful Heart
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Counteracting paralysis of the soul Each day brings on new challenges regarding the health of your soul. Those moments when a family member or coworker makes a remark that are meant to anger you, are those times you need to guard your heart. When those around you are gossiping about someone, that is an opportunity for you to keep silent.…
Faith Encouraged
Talk About An Understatement!
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Christ is risen! It seems we are a society of fads. To say that our modern culture is captured by the immediate and temporary seems to be a bit of an understatement! But what about a genuine swell of reaction? I have seen in my own life the power of the tipping point when a message becomes so attractive that even those who you would never suspect of buying into a message,…
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…
Growing the Church
What is the Nature of the Evangelistic Task? (Part 2)
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The Informal Lay Witness of the Church For too long we have neglected this as an aspect of our lives in Christ and as a result few new believers are being brought into the Church. Sometimes we do manage to organize something formally evangelistic like an “open evening,” a lecture, or a concert to which we invite non-believers. But we rarely see anything like the parish-wide, spontaneous urge to witness that characterized…
Glory to God for All Things
How to Find the Answers
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And behold, an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a minister of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of all her treasure, had come to Jerusalem to worshipand was returning; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah.And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go up and join this chariot.” So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And…
Faith Encouraged
We Don't Vote on Truth
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Christ is risen! I love the word “exhort.” We don’t use it much or hear it much today, especially when the very idea of having firm beliefs and settled wisdom is in such disfavor. 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…
The Morning Offering
The Old Self
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We must put off the old self As we struggle to make spiritual progress we do battle with the old self. We work against old habits that have kept us stuck and prevented the change we so desire in our quest for communion with God. Our sins and passions have become familiar to us, almost like old friends, and laziness…
Roads from Emmaus
Those Who Quit Church: Why Do We Talk About Converts More?
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Recently, someone wrote to ask why the Orthodox blogosphere and media seem to talk far more about converts to Orthodoxy than people who have been Orthodox and have left off coming to church. This is a hard subject, and it’s one I don’t recall seeing talked about much online. This (with some edits and additions) was my response: I will relate why I think…
Faith Encouraged
Ideas Matter!
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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
Imparting Wisdom
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Imparting wisdom to the next generation We are living in an age that has witnessed changes on a massive scale as never before. The way we communicate has changed with the coming of the internet, with information available that would have required a library and advanced degrees to access in the past. Ideas and information are available that leave our…
No Other Foundation
What Good is the Holy Fire?
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The so-called “Holy Fire” is the name given to the fire that appears on ends of the candles of the Patriarch of Jerusalem and others every Holy Saturday. The Patriarch, accompanied by a church crammed filled with others, awaits for the annual miracle every Holy Saturday. On that day the Patriarch strips himself of his holy robes and enters the Tomb of Christ with a bundle of unlit tapers, says certain prayers,…
Faith Encouraged
We Struggle To Believe
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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
Orthodox Worship
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The seamless stream of worship with the Ancient Church Those of you who have been reading my postings are aware that we get a lot of Evangelical Christians visiting our monastery. Many are seeking that which they sense is older and more stable than the present day expression of Evangelical Christian denominations. Some are finding the “entertainment” approach to worship…
Eastern Christian Insights
The Courage to Face the Truth: Homily for the Sunday of the Samaritan Woman in the Orthodox Church
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John 4:5-42 Christ is Risen! It is strangely appealing to define ourselves by our failures, especially when others know that we have stumbled and treat us poorly as a result. As well, our own pride often causes us to lose perspective such that we obsess about how we do not measure up to whatever illusion of perfection we have accepted. People are often their own harshest critics in ways that are not…
The Morning Offering
My Mom
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Grateful for the love of my mother The most important gift I received from my mother was the gift of love. She loved me, and demonstrated her love for me throughout my childhood. She also showed me how to love others, and that ability to be open to love, and to express love for others, eventually taught me to love…
Orthodox Reformed Bridge
Response to James White (1 of 4)
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As I listened to James White’s 13 April 2017 podcast “Can a Consistent Eastern Orthodox Christian Be the Bible Answer Man?,” I was struck by the numerous fallacies that so often mar Protestant critiques of Orthodoxy. The quotes below are organized topically, not chronologically. The intent here is to promote good reasoning and courteous interaction in Protestant-Orthodox dialogue. Please see my earlier posting: “How NOT to Do Anti-Orthodox Apologetics” for a…
Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy
Utah's Largest Newspaper Interviews Mormon to Orthodox Christian Convert
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Editor’s Note: A couple of weeks back, a reporter at the Salt Lake Tribune contacted us on the O&H Facebook page to get in touch with former Mormons (LDS) who had converted to Orthodoxy. One of those who responded to this inquiry was Cameron Davis. He was one of several interviewed for this piece (which is well worth reading). Like all newspaper…
Glory to God for All Things
The Loneliness of Shame
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…shame thoughts are quintessentially alone thoughts. They are produced by the felt impossibility of communion, and they produce realities that have no primary communion in them. Patricia DeYoung, Understanding and Treating Chronic Shame +++ What does it mean to be lonely? We could pool our collective experience and quickly generate our own Wikipedia entry on the topic. There is probably no one who is a complete stranger to loneliness. The definitions that…
The Morning Offering
Frontline Chaplains
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Ministering to people caught up in natural disasters Frontline, the International Orthodox Christian Charities disaster dispatch team, held its annual training seminary in Chicago. Orthodox priests and lay people who serve under the umbrella of Frontline minister to people whose lives have been turned upside down during major disasters. Putting the words of the gospels to work, Frontline Chaplains serve…
Father Bill's Blog
13. The Story of Saint Constantine the Great
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Let’s take another break from our travels and hear the story of events and people of the fourth century, mostly in Greek-speaking lands, which determined the future of Christianity and the world. All these are commemorations on the Orthodox calendar at this time of year, and all relate directly to the First Ecumenical Council. Today, we’ll hear about the Emperor Constantine, commemorated on May 21 along with his mother Helen. Then in…
Faith Encouraged
I Have Much to Say and Much to Judge
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Christ is risen! One of the best things I’ve ever done in my professional life is work with an executive coach. “What” you may ask “is a priest doing working with a professional coach?” And I’ll be happy to answer you: Communication and Leadership is hard work. It’s hard work because it requires a person to communicate deep and lasting truths to different kinds of people. Let me give you an example:…
The Morning Offering
Thank You!
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For your continued prayerful and financial support All-Merciful Saviour Monastery is a non-profit, 501 C3 organization, under IRS regulations.All donations are therefore tax deductible. We support ourselves through the sales of Monastery Blend Coffee, and a little gift shop. We grow as many of our fruits and vegetables as we can, raise bees, and have chickens and ducks for our…
Praying in the Rain
Shame and Forgiveness and God
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St. Theophan the Recluse has a wonderful commentary on Psalm 118 recently (2014) revised and published by St. John of Kronstadt Press. I’m being both inspired and stretched by it. I got to thinking about what the Church means when it talks about forgiveness by some of St. Theophan’s comments on verse 31 of Psalm 118. I have cleaved to Your testimonies, O Lord; put me not to shame. St. Theophan’s commentary touches…
Faith Encouraged
God Shows 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 and the sin of discrimination based on the color of a person’s skin. By the way, how is it possible that the pigmentation of someone’s skin could make them…
The Morning Offering
Avoiding Hypocrisy
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It is very easy to live our lives in hypocrisy if we are not mindful of the pitfalls of the spiritual life. We can become Pharisees without even noticing, if we let our Christianity be artificially lived. Living our lives as though we have been rehearsed by a stage director, we will have accomplished nothing, and will remain no more…
Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy
Philosophy According to Christ: Were the Fathers ‘Corrupted’ by Greek Philosophy?
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It is a recurring popular trope, especially in some Protestant circles, to dismiss the Church Fathers on the grounds that they were “seduced” or “corrupted” by Greek philosophy and that their understanding of the faith displays the cultural milieu of the day, rather than proper biblical exegesis. Even many scholars have claimed that attempting to read the Bible as the Fathers did…
