Author: Fr. Barnabas Powell

Fr. Barnabas is the parish priest at Sts. Raphael, Nicholas, and Irene Greek Orthodox Church in Cumming, Georgia. He is also host of Faith Encouraged Live on Ancient Faith Radio and author of the Faith Encouraged podcast.

The “Radical” Jesus

· Fr. Barnabas Powell
It seems fashionable, especially among those who seem to preach a utopian ideology, to claim Jesus was a “radical” that would agree with “us.” As someone whose lived a long life already, I can tell you I’ve witnessed radicals all claim Jesus was one of them. I watched as the socialists and the communists claimed Jesus was a socialist and a communist. I watched as the “Moral Majority” insisted Jesus was a…

Choose Fire! Sunday’s Homily

· Fr. Barnabas Powell
On this Sunday of Pentecost, we hear the tale of two men, and the difference between these two men illustrates the desperate need for the “fire” of the Holy Spirit to vivify us to become the persons Christ meant us to be. What do you believe about your future? What do you think is coming in the future for you?

As Sheep Among Wolves

· Fr. Barnabas Powell
Someone once said, “Anyone who says raising children is not the hardest job in the world isn’t doing it right!” And that is so very true. But “difficult” doesn’t mean “bad” or “broken,” it just means the task is meant to focus you and make you more attentive! And in today’s society, the whole notion of what a “healthy childhood” is under attack by the madness of our current chaotic culture. Protecting…

Purposeful Communion Takes Hard Work

· Fr. Barnabas Powell
There seems to be a cottage industry that has developed in America surrounding the notion that modern life is lonely. It seems this sense of loneliness flows from the notion that we are to be “self-sufficient” and not “need” anybody to help us. We live in a society of radically autonomous people all insisting that their own immediate desire is the highest good and must be achieved! Of course, there is nothing…

The Healing Power of Beautiful Beatitudes

· Fr. Barnabas Powell
Recently, I was hearing one of my new convert’s confession, and she admitted that she was having trouble figuring out what to say. I sympathized with her and told her that was very common in the early days of participating in this spiritual discipline of regular confession. Hey, I’ve known folks who’ve been Orthodox their whole lives who struggle with the same thing! And do you know why? It isn’t because we…

Love Is Hard Work

· Fr. Barnabas Powell
I’ve heard this so many times: Why can’t I find love? What’s wrong with me? The expectations of some fairy tale notions wound us and wound our children. Add to that, the utter chaos in today’s society where love is reduced to mere feelings or, worse, just physical desire, and you have the perfect recipe for societal disaster! A perfect example of this warped understanding of love is the “Love is Love”…

“You Should Listen to Me”

· Fr. Barnabas Powell
“How come you were able to find this and not Ann?” With that question, my friend’s wife wondered at her husband’s ability to fix some tech problems more than the 12-year-old in the house! And his answer made me laugh out loud! He told his perplexed wife that he was 60 and their daughter was 12! Just goes to show you, experience really does help. The older I get, the more I…

The Dispute Is Always About Christ

· Fr. Barnabas Powell 1 Leave a Comment on %s
“It’s not a “what.” It’s a “Who.” And with that caveat, my initial lesson in becoming Orthodox began. You see, I always thought that the Christian Faith was about giving mental assent to certain doctrinal precepts and saying the “proper” words. I thought that I could argue and use “apologetics” to convince others that my version of Christianity, or even morality, was the “right” one. I was wrong. Oh, to be sure,…

The Power of a Peaceful & Sober Life

· Fr. Barnabas Powell
I remember the first time I heard the prayer “For our deliverance from all affliction, wrath, danger, and necessity, let us pray to the Lord.” I thought “What a curious prayer?” Why would the Church have us pray this at every litany? What is really being asked for here? It wasn’t long until some reading of the Fathers of the Church, listening to the hymns of the Church, and actually pressing out…

It’s A Marathon! Sunday Homily

· Fr. Barnabas Powell
The Christian life is a marathon, not a sprint. That means endurance is key. But how do we build endurance in the spiritual life? How do we stick with it to the end? This is such an important aspect to embrace so that we aren’t crushed when living the Faith gets hard or exhausting. Looking at our Gospel lesson we see Jesus praying the High Priestly Prayer of John 17 and in…