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.

Be The Bee

· Fr. Barnabas Powell
This ministry of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese Youth department is wonderful! I subscribe to this ministry tool and I hope you will too! Ā 

The Way

· Fr. Barnabas Powell
A short thought today on our Gospel Lesson in John 14:1-11: Our Lord Jesus says “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also; henceforth you know him and have seen him.” We always miss out on the real power of being a Christian when we fall into the temptationā€¦

We Have A Man in Heaven!

· Fr. Barnabas Powell 2 Leave a Comment on %s
Today is the Feast of the Ascension, and this Feast begs the question: What is this whole ascending from the Mount of olives all about? Why didn’t Jesus just “POOF” disappear and go to the Father’s side? Why all this theatrics? It is almost axiomatic that any truth or tradition sufficiently removed from its Source or Cause tends toward superstition and nostalgia. And given enough time and thoughtlessness, it can even becomeā€¦

Standing At the Threshold

· Fr. Barnabas Powell
Christ is risen! (The last time we will say this until next Pascha. Today is the Apodosis (the Leavetaking) of the Feast of Pascha!) Have you ever thought about thresholds? Yeah, thresholds. They are important architectural structures. They let you know when you’re passing from the kitchen to the diningroom or from the hallway to the bedroom. Thresholds give all kinds of information to you! Your life has thresholds as well. Timesā€¦

The Hour Has Come

· Fr. Barnabas Powell
Christ is risen! (only a few more days for that Paschal Greeting! The Feast of the Ascension arrives Thursday!) The old saying is “timing is everything.” How true! There have been moments in my own life when the timing has been off, very frustrating. This is especially true when you have a dream or even an expectation where the timing just isn’t right. As the scripture declares “hope deferred makes the heartā€¦

Even His Enemies Praise Him

· Fr. Barnabas Powell
Christ is risen! There is a principle that God, in His love, reveals to those who love Him that even the Lord’s sworn enemies end up doing things and making decisions that ultimately serve the Lord’s intended purpose for His world. It must be terribly frustrating to the enemy of God to watch as his best work against God ends up furthering God’s purpose and plan! But you’ve experienced this truth inā€¦

But I Want to KNOW for Sure!

· Fr. Barnabas Powell
Christ is risen! (only 5 more days for that greeting. The Feast of the Ascension is next week!) Wow, we humans are an insecure lot! The pharmaceutical companies have exploded with growth providing Americans with “medicine” to help us overcome all kinds of diseases of the psyche. But, instead of eternally medicating symptoms, what if we could do the harder work of getting to the root of the problem in our souls?ā€¦

Sneaking In

· Fr. Barnabas Powell
Christ is risen! I was a nervous wreck! A 15 year old teenager with his best buddies were sneaking into a movie theater without paying! I can hear the voice of my mother in my head “Young man, you carry your family name. That should make you think twice about doing things you know you shouldn’t!” We didn’t get caught. We loved the movie. We laughed, and we congratulated ourselves for ourā€¦

I AM

· Fr. Barnabas Powell
Christ is risen! Outrageous! Did you hear what he just said? Unbelievable! Completely out of bounds, provocative, and meant to offend. There is simply no justification for such rhetoric! Unless, of course, it’s true. They say that truth is always a defense against the charge of slander! Where is all this coming from? Well, our Lord Jesus makes a pretty inflammatory comment in today’s Gospel Lesson. In fact, His statement is soā€¦