It's a bit of a paradox, but the truth is Faith and Joy are gifts that can only be possessed by giving them away! Strange, isn't it? But think about it. joy and faith are always the casualties of inattentiveness. When I stop prioritizing Faith and Joy, they diminish their presence in my life. When…
Fr. Barnabas Powell
Folks, there's just one use for a cross. No ambiguity. No "shades of meaning." The only use for a cross is to kill someone. Sorry for the stark language right off the bat, but there's just no way to dress this up to make it more palatable. Crucifixion means somebody is going to die!
No wonder…
The preacher was telling the story of the plight of those in biblical times who suffered from leprosy. They were social outcasts and had to live in leper colonies and if they ventured out, they had to call before them to warn all around the "Unclean! Unclean!" You see leprosy was highly contagious, even to…
Sometimes, I hate Facebook! OK, what I really hate is being misunderstood and then I have to scramble to be understood and end up making things worse! Ugh!
It seems the harder I try the worse it gets. Do you know what I mean? Have you ever, with the best of intentions, tried to make…
Recently I was blessed to be able to attend the 2nd Annual Ancient Faith Writing and Podcasting conference at Antiochian Village in Bolivar, PA. As I reflect on these few days with some old friends and many new friends, I'm reminded of a saying: "To be inspired is great, but to be an inspiration is…
OK, I'm a bit of an Eagles fan, and when they released their first CD after years of being apart, I jumped at it! The CD was called "Hell Freezes over" and was named that because one of the guys said that would be the time the Eagles all got back together again to do…
We were talking in Bible study recently about "First Principles." It seems this is something we so rarely consider, but if we miss fundamental truths, we always end up in places we never intended to go.
For instance, if you don't build your life on the fundamental truth that when you say "God" you mean the…
"Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your many blessings, see what God has done." All through my life I've heard that we should "count" our blessings. If we would do this, we would be protected against falling into the "pit of despair" and we would be encouraged at how much we have…
"Petulant child!" That's what I thought as an obviously frantic mother was trying to placate a toddler throwing a fit. Nothing seemed to work. He didn't want the toy, then he did want the toy. The treat mom tried to give the boy was accepted then thrown down and the screaming commenced again. She tried…
Paul Tillich once said "Doubt is not the opposite of faith; it is one element of faith." Interesting!
As a priest, I have folks regularly come to me struggling with doubt. Some are in great distress, thinking their momentary doubt has "offended" God, or undone all their spiritual efforts. Everyone of them are a bit shocked…