How (and why!) do we transform our communities from being inward-focused to outward facing? In our keynote address, Fr. Barnabas Powell of Sts. Raphael, Nicholas, and Irene GOC of Cumming, GA (http://stsrni.org ) and Faith Encouraged Ministries (https://faithencouraged.org ) challenge the parish leadership of the communities within the Metropolis of Pittsburgh to look to the…
Fr. Barnabas Powell
On All Saints Sunday, we find ourselves in an increasingly "enchanted" world. If we are ever going recover the centrality of Christ in our lives, we are going to have to avoid the temptations to idolatry in worshiping false gods, it is going to be by loving God with all our hearts, souls, and minds.…
"As Your grace cannot be fathomed, so Your mercy cannot be measured..." With these words, I invited this very precious person to confess her sins. We were at confession and this was the very first time she had ever done this before. And even though she had grown up in the Orthodox Church her whole…
"Have you been saved?" The sincere lady was looking intently at me and waiting for my answer to her probing question. You see, she was "witnessing" to me in hopes I would be "saved." Most of us have either experienced this sort of question or know someone who has been asked this at one time…
The truth is you will never develop or mature beyond your idea of who and what God is. The old gods of the pagans were little more than really powerful humans, and it seemed the whole point of worshiping these gods was to get them to "like" you so they would either leave you alone…
"Well, I Suwannee!" I remember saying that when I was in seminary in Boston, and the reaction from folks not from the South was, let's just say, interesting. "What does THAT mean?" was the common question. I confess I took pleasure in pouring on the Southernisms in Boston to the point that one, sincere, young…
"That's the real McCoy!" I know, some of you younger readers will stare at the screen and say "What?" But believe it or not, that is a famous American idiom that has an interesting origin. In fact, there are several stories about how the phrase "The Real McCoy" came about. The top two origin stories…
It seems fashionable, especially among those who seem to preach a utopian ideology, to claim Jesus was a "radical" that would agree with "us." As someone whose lived a long life already, I can tell you I've witnessed radicals all claim Jesus was one of them. I watched as the socialists and the communists claimed…
On this Sunday of Pentecost, we hear the tale of two men, and the difference between these two men illustrates the desperate need for the "fire" of the Holy Spirit to vivify us to become the persons Christ meant us to be. What do you believe about your future? What do you think is coming…
Someone once said, "Anyone who says raising children is not the hardest job in the world isn't doing it right!" And that is so very true. But "difficult" doesn't mean "bad" or "broken," it just means the task is meant to focus you and make you more attentive!
And in today's society, the whole notion of…