Christ is risen!
"Step right up Ladies and Gentlemen, see the most amazing sights you could ever imagine!" You've heard these words before. Carnival barkers trying to get you to spend the money to see the "amazing snake boy, half boy, half snake!" Or the "amazing Elephant Man." Curiosity, entertainment, something "different," something "tantalizing."
And it works.…
Fr. Barnabas Powell
Christ is risen!
I come from a generation that was suspicious of tattoos! And the generation before me, forget about it! My grandfather, a lifelong police officer, always said that tattoos were degrading to a man. Wow, some pretty strong words, especially in light of today's generation that consider "body art" a form of expression and…
Christ is risen!
T.S. Eliot, one of the 20th century's major poets, said: "And they write innumerable books; being too vain and distracted for silence: seeking every one after his own elevation, and dodging his emptiness."
It strikes me as significant that an author would write something like that. And, in my heart of hearts,…
Christ is risen!
When I was a police officer, we were trained on how to spot counterfeit money. But the interesting thing is we weren't trained to spot bad bills by studying the fake money. We were trained to spot the fake bills by being obsessively familiar with the real money! We knew each nook and…
Christ is risen!
"Take a vacation" he said. Sure, I'll take a vacation, but how? I'm busy. There are things that have to get done. People are depending on me. People expect me to be available to them. I HAVE TO work!
Sound familiar? Yea, I know, we Type A personalities tend to have a…
Christ is Risen!
I have never found obedience particularly easy. In fact, being a head strong and prideful person, obedience has always made me uncomfortable and even fearful that I was "giving myself away."
So, why is the notion of obedience so prominent in Orthodox Christian teachings and the wisdom of the fathers who have come before…
Christ is Risen!
It's always a quandary for me: do I give anything to the guy holding the sign at the side of the road or will I just be supporting his bad choices? I guess it comes from my days as a police officer. There were too many times we'd question these folks holding…
Christ is Risen!
"You must be born again." Hey, where I'm from, that scripture is as well worn as John 3:16. In the '70's fad of the "Jesus Movement" (anybody who was paying attention at all to the culture of the early '70's knows this) being "born again" was all the rage. Billy Graham wrote a…
Christ is Risen!
I remember watching him during the service. It had been a while since he'd been in Church and it was obvious. You see, this man wasn't just a friend, but a former clergyman. And his life had come off the rails and he found himself away from the Faith and living a…
Christ is risen!
"Now I recognize you!" He was an old friend from High School, and, for the life of me, I couldn't remember the face UNTIL he made that facial expression he use to make at lunchtime that made us fall on the floor laughing!
I love moments like that when the "AHA" moment comes and…