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.

Bring Every Thought Captive to Christ – Sunday’s Homily

· Fr. Barnabas Powell 1 Leave a Comment on %s
On this Sunday of St. Gregory Palamas, we are confronted with the mystery of God being BOTH Unknowable AND Knowable, and this mystery invites us to the awesome reality that we can be in true communion with the God Who loves us and comes among us. This spiritual discipline of taming our thoughts allows us to avoid the terrible tragedy of neglecting our Great Salvation. P.S. I know there are focus problems.…

Stolen Water, Secret Bread

· Fr. Barnabas Powell
Oscar Wilde said that “Experience is merely the name men gave to their mistakes.” And yet, we don’t seem to learn from our mistakes very often. Over and over again, we revisit some bad choice either until it kills us or we actually learn to stop doing that. I have a dear friend who grieves a loved one gripped by addiction to narcotics. He once confided in me he was steeling himself…

3 Ways to Embrace Wisdom

· Fr. Barnabas Powell
Whenever you see the term “social justice” you have to realize that this phrase is PACKED with underlying subtext. To ignore this is to be either ignorant or dishonest, neither of which commends itself to being a wise person. Recently there was the usual dust-up over a very public argument over this phrase and it boiled down to what it always boils down to Nature or Nurture. Of course, the wise answer…

4 Traits of True Wisdom

· Fr. Barnabas Powell
I love this quote from Confucius “A man who asks a question is a fool for a minute, the man who does not ask is a fool for life.” That’s good. You see, it isn’t wrong to not know something; it’s wrong to not care whether you know or not. A wise person is a person who has at least the curiosity to ask questions and learn from past discoveries. But a…

Here’s Your Sign

· Fr. Barnabas Powell 1 Leave a Comment on %s
When I was growing up in a small, Pentecostal church in Atlanta, I was amazed at the number of folks in American Christianity really preoccupied with the “signs of the times.” It seemed that each event in politics or world events “signaled” the “end times.” Fortunately, my pastor was one of the few Pentecostal ministers who simply refused to jump on this bandwagon. He taught us not to be preoccupied with this…

The Childish Fantasy of Fairness

· Fr. Barnabas Powell
I don’t believe in “fairness.” Really! I really don’t believe in it at all. Oh, I get the concept, don’t get me wrong, but I simply don’t believe humans are capable of it. At least not yet, anyway. In fact, the older I get the more I’m convinced that the constant screaming for fairness is a sure sign of both immaturity and bitter envy, neither of which makes for a strong person…

You Shall See Greater Things – Sunday’s Homily

· Fr. Barnabas Powell
On this Sunday of Orthodoxy where we celebrate the Triumph of Orthodoxy and the restoration of the Holy Icons, we are invited by Christ to see greater things because God becomes visible for our salvation. Our great Faith is meant to enchant the world with greater things, and we are meant to make the invisible visible through the great Normal Orthodoxy of the Incarnate God Who comes to recreate the world and…

Isaiah Preaches Fire and Brimstone!

· Fr. Barnabas Powell
In front of the Supreme Court is the statue of “Lady Justice.” This is an ancient symbol of the purpose of law-based society. Notice the “Lady” is blindfolded. In one hand she holds the scales and in the other a sword. The symbolism is clear. The application of the Law will be blind and won’t show favoritism AND the law will be enforced. No wonder St. Paul declares about the authorities “if…

Blinded By Prosperity

· Fr. Barnabas Powell
Lech Walesa was the Polish electrician who helped found the Solidarity Trade Union in 1983. This was the first independent trade union in the old Soviet Union and became the political movement that drove communism out of Poland. While visiting the United States after becoming the 2nd president of a free Poland he commented on the wealth of the US: “You have riches and freedom here but I feel no sense of…

The Painful Pruning of the Spiritual Disciplines

· Fr. Barnabas Powell
It wasn’t that I didn’t try. I did try. I read how to do it. I got some good advice. I bought the right fertilizer. I weeded. I hoed. And the garden still crashed and burned! Hey, I guess I’m not very good at gardening. Kind of like I am fishing. Oh well, some of us have talents in other places. But there was one gardening principle that caught my attention; pruning.…