Author: Fr. Barnabas Powell

When I was a boy, my little brother and I would sometimes sneak around the house before our parents woke up on a Saturday morning. One Saturday, before the sun was up, my brother and I decided we could get our own breakfast, pour our own milk, and generally do what we wanted without any help. So, sneaking quietly out of bed, we went to the kitchen. We didn’t turn on any…

Christ is risen! I have never found obedience particularly easy. In fact, being a head strong and prideful person, obedience has always made me uncomfortable and even fearful that I was “giving myself away.” So, why is the notion of obedience so prominent in Orthodox Christian teachings and the wisdom of the fathers who have come before us? It has everything to do with just why obedience is so tough. It’s because…

Christ is risen! “What would Jesus do?” That phrase was popular a few years ago, and I confess to being amused by this fad of “easy religion.” One of the main reasons was that the life of Jesus is not easily categorized as the comfortable “Jesus” we moderns would prefer. You know the “Jesus” I’m talking about: The “meek” Jesus that pats everyone on the head and tells them they are “OK,…

Christ is risen! Ah, the beauties of Springtime! And the hay fever! For those of us susceptible to the reign of terror that is pollen season; the watery eyes, the stuffy nose, basically all the bad stuff on all the commercials we see for medicine to combat this scourge of this wonderful season; we love and hate this time of year! Especially when the wind is blowing around all that yellowish-green pollen…

Christ is risen! “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.” This startling quote from the great American poet Henry David Thoreau captures an insight into the challenge of our human lives. All too much of the time I find myself asleep to the true dignity and purpose of these years granted me by my Creator. And what’s worse, there are moments…

Christ is risen! “Now I recognize you!” He was an old friend from High School, and, for the life of me, I couldn’t remember the face UNTIL he made that facial expression he use to make at lunchtime that made us fall on the floor laughing! I love moments like that when the “AHA” moment comes and clarity arrives! It is such a reassuring feeling that maybe I haven’t really lost my…

Christ Is Risen! Let us sing: Though You went down into the tomb, You destroyed Hades’ power, and You rose the victor, Christ God, saying to the myrrh-bearing women, “Hail!” and granting peace to Your disciples, You who raise up the fallen. 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…

Grief has a way of blinding us to everything else around us. I remember a particularly dark time in my own life where a dear and wise man warned me of making important decisions during this time of grief in my life. He knew what I couldn’t in that sad and scary place; grief blinded me to perspective and a sober head. The pain was intoxicating and made my own ability to…

Rushing head long into a significant moment without proper preparation usually means you are going to miss the point! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve looked back on a significant moment in my own life and said “Boy if I knew then what I know now!” Yep, hindsight’s 20/20. On this Holy Thursday we will hear the Twelve Gospels. We will light candles and we will hear the whole story…

Kindness is contagious, but so is indifference and judgementalism! In fact, most indifference and judgmentalism is rooted in fear, the fear that “I may not be right” or the fear that “I might be wrong” or even the fear that if I don’t “defend this or that “truth” my whole world will come apart. But actions motivated by fear are so rarely helpful. Perhaps if a bus is coming toward you, then…