Today we celebrate the destruction of mortality by holding high the vehicle if our Lord’s execution. We do this to make an open spectacle of His total victory over humanity’s enemies Forever! We do this also to completely BANISH the FALSE notion that our lives can be compartmentalized into the physical and the spiritual. Jesus saves us as whole persons. Our Orthodox faith is very physical to teach us that our very…
Tonight we launch Faith Encouraged Live on AncientFaith.com. Tune in at 8 PM Eastern/ 5PM Pacific for our first 90 minute call in show. It will be live and I’m looking forward to hearing from you! Tonight, we will discuss the power of the spiritual discipline of Hospitality to make you more like Jesus Christ. Go to ancientfaith.com and participate in Faith Encouraged!
Dear Devotional Reader,
I am grateful for your regular visits and your kind words in reaction to our daily attempt to lift our minds and hearts to the real purpose of our human existence - true communion with our Loving God.
It is not the purpose of our work to be political or to delve into the minutia of this or that political movement. But, we Orthodox Christians ARE in society. We are by nature persons in communion and communion presupposes an active involvement in our society.
What if, no matter how hard you tried, even your best ideas and best efforts worked against you? Imagine the frustration when even your most well thought out plans ended up helping the very one you were trying to defeat! And this doesn't just happen sometimes, it happens all the time, and the best you can hope for is to con some of the people around you into believing that you are really winning, knowing the whole time you're wrong, and the only tool that has ever worked for you is your ability to deceive.
In the mid 70's the late Robin Williams did a whole comedy routine entitled "Reality, What A Concept." The show was about the funny side of actually dealing with life like it really is, AND how hilariously ridiculous the lengths humans will go to AVOID reality.
Turns out these funny observations aren't new at all. The great philosopher Soren Kierkegaard once said "Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced."
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…
