Christ is Ascended!
There was an article recently in the Wall Street Journal talking about the noticeable increase in the amount of Americans converting to Orthodoxy. And one of the more amazing discoveries is that these converts are embracing the Orthodox Faith in spite of having no cultural connection to traditional Orthodox cultures. And, a…
Fr. Barnabas Powell
Christ is risen! (On this Leave-Taking of the Feast of Pascha!)
One of my very first jobs was at the fast-food restaurant Burger King! Man, that was a hoot. I loved the fact that I could work there after school and on weekends and get a free hamburger too! Yeah, that wasn't a very healthy choice.…
Christ is risen!
In the heady days of the Enlightenment in Europe, the elites and the educated were convinced humanity had turned a corner away from the silly superstitions of religion and towards the "mature" and "enlightened" attitudes of the materialistic world. Science would lead to a "Golden Age" of human reason, and all this…
Sad woman swinging on a surreal swing.
Christ is risen!
The old apocryphal Chinese curse seems innocuous at first, but when you really think about it, it is truly a curse: "May you live in interesting times."
To wish for someone to live in times of turmoil and upheaval really is an ironic wish. But most…
Christ is risen!
It's so easy to be "one-sided!" You know what I mean - "That idea is so wrong and everyone who thinks that way and acts that way is misguided." And you may be right about that, BUT, there is also a danger on the other side as well. You can become just as…
Christ is risen!
It seems we are a society of fads. To say that our modern culture is captured by the immediate and temporary seems to be a bit of an understatement! Just look around at what passes for actual conversation and see the effects of this faddish and tribal mentality at work. There is…
On this Sunday of the Samaritan Woman, we are confronted with the message that we must never neglect the marginalized in society AND the confrontation that all of us must be changed. Both parts of the Message of the Gospel MUST be our work and our calling. The purpose of the Faith is to CHANGE…
Christ is risen!
I have some acquaintances that are academic lay theologians and they never cease to amaze me with their regular "insights" that "Well, we know this has been believed a long time, but did you know about these exceptions that really mean that what we've always believed is not quite right." It's almost…
Christ is risen!
Let's face it, ideas matter. Words matter. The current fad of "lived experience" as a way to insist that truth is relative is a linguistic trap filled with all kinds of dangers to our society.
But it has always been the desire of the evil one to corrupt the straight path of…
Christ is risen!
American author and humorist Patsy Clairmont famously said "Normal is just a setting on your dryer." She was hoping to communicate that many times our idea of what is "normal" is unreachable and a source of shame in our lives. This insight is very much correct. Because we don't actually scrutinize our…