My girls love when I do this. Well, not really, but they do laugh. Sometimes, when we are all in the car, just driving down the road, everybody minding their own business. Conversation has lagged and the music on the radio is boring, when no one expects, I'll holler real loud and scare everyone in the car! Infantile, I know, but boy does it get the juices flowing and after the initial shock everyone dissolves into laughter, and then the little voice from my three year old invariably says: "Do it again, daddy!"
Did you get the chance to listen to our Faith Encouraged LIVE program on the Rapture? What did you think?
If you missed it, you can hear it in our show archives here - Faith Encouraged LIVE Rapturemania!
You can also order the booklet "Rejecting Rapturemania" by clicking here!
Thanks for listening and calling! I'd love to hear what you thought of the show!
Our next program is Sunday night October 12th at 8 PM Eastern/5 PM Pacific and we will talk about the absolute necessity of icons for our own spiritual maturity! Don't miss it!
At a recent clergy retreat we priests were confronted by our retreat leader with a stunning article from the January 2013 issue of Boston Magazine. It was entitled "Losing Our Religion" and the article begins by telling the story of a mother and her 9 year old son watching a procession of the faithful from the Greek Orthodox church across the street from their home on our Great and Holy Friday. It's worth reading the whole thing, but I wanted to show you this part of the conversation between this 9 year old boy and his mother:
“What are they doing?” my son asked.
“It’s some kind of ritual,” I said, dimly realizing it must be their Good Friday.
“Why don’t we do that?”
“Because we’re not Greek Orthodox.”
“What are we?”
I thought of the candy and plastic trinkets I buy for him and his two sisters for Easter every year, of the baskets I place in their rooms as they sleep—and I realized that these things, along with my strained attempts at an indoor Easter-egg hunt in the afternoon (we don’t have a yard), are all that my children know about what is arguably the most sacred holiday in all of Christianity, the religion in which I was raised.
Outside our window, the priest read a long passage aloud, and the crowd sang something in response. After a few more prayers, the congregation made its way down the block and into the church.
Turning from the window, my son repeated his question: “So, what are we?”
I looked at him and felt my face flush.
“We’re nothing.”
What does the Church teach about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ? Is there going to be a "Secret Rapture" of Christians before the Great Tribulation? These questions and YOUR calls will be joyously answered tonight on Faith Encouraged LIVE. Listen tonight at 8 PM Eastern! Go to AncientFaith.com/LIVE!
Today Peter witnesses Christ's power and care and tells the Lord "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man!"All too often we are revealed as broken and wounded people in the bright light of God's love and care for us, and we react with fear and a desire to hide! How sad that being that close to so much love and care stirs up fear in our hearts.Perhaps it's time to move passed our fear and shame to embrace the light of God's love for us!P.S. Tonight's the night! Listen tonight at 8 PM Eastern to Faith Encouraged LIVE with Fr. Barnabas at ancientfaith.com/live as we talk about "Rejecting Rapturemania: What the Church teaches about the Second Coming" I hope you listen!
Go to ancientfaith.com/live and listen THIS Sunday at 8 PM Eastern/7 PM Central! And CALL with your comments and questions at 855-237-2346! And SHARE this with your family and friends!
The older I get the more I'm convinced I'm not going to live long enough to learn all I want or even need to learn. There just seems to always be more! And that can be a daunting realization for a man who (foolishly) believes he has some sense about him! Frustrating as well, especially since his arrogance insists he know everything!
But we humans have to come to the end of ourselves to ever really know ourselves, and I am convinced, my dearest, that this is precisely the root cause of much of our hiding from ourselves, others, and even the foolish notion that I can hide from God (just look how well that turned out for Adam and Eve!). This sober realization of our own limits can also, if unprepared for this revelation, cause us to fall into despair, or anger, or even a loss of faith.
So, what wisdom do we need to embrace to steel our souls for this inevitable confrontation? It's found behind our Gospel Lesson this morning! Shall we take a look?
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You know the saying "Do you remember where you were when president Kennedy was shot?" I don't. I was just three years old. But my earliest memories do include sitting in front of our black and white TV at home watching with my mom, the coverage of Dr. King's funeral here in Atlanta. And all I remember is a scene from the coverage of a drawing of a coffin being bore into the sky by angels. That image is stuck in my head, mainly because of the tears of my mother over the tragic murder of this American leader. Of course this generation has their own "Do you remember where you were when..." That question is finished "the Twin Towers fell?"
The ancient Chinese proverb meant as a curse is "May you live in interesting times!" It is something to be so awake to the events surrounding you that you recognize the power of moments to shape history. But why is it so easy for the vast majority of the population to be oblivious to these pivotal events that share the world?
You can order the New Booklet "Rejecting Rapturemania" and download it to your reading device at Amazon.com. This is a great resource to prepare for this Sunday's program about the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus! Click and Share!
Order "Rejecting Rapturemania" at Amazon.com
Breaking bad patterns of behavior will only work when you replace a bad pattern with a GOOD Pattern. And there is no better pattern than the one the Lord reveals in last Sunday's Gospel Lesson. Here's the homily!
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnoQFkmRfq0?list=UUexfCDc6_Cu6Scuq2Y-9HWQ]
