Not Too Old to Learn

One of my favorite sayings is, “I grow old always being taught.” For that to be true, that would mean I must try to discover something new every day. I’m not always successful, but today was a good day. I learned something new today. Today is the Feast of Saint Katherine the Great Martyr. Her…

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Be Blameless When Society Is Wicked

Sometimes we like to think is was ‘easier’ to be a Christian in the past. We read the stories about Church growth and mass baptisms. We then think of today. We can’t imagine the same stories taking place today. It is so much harder to be Christian today than ‘back then.’ Brethren, as you have…

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Cultural Faith

You have read many times in this blog, and you have heard me say even more times in Bible Studies and sermons, that Orthodox Christianity is a lived experience. It is much more than just a system of beliefs. Orthodox Christianity is a life lived according to those beliefs, like today. For Greeks throughout the…

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Two Faced Christians

For years I have witnessed with frustration Christians welcome visitors, even invite visitors, only to reject visitors who may want to join the Church. Its one thing to visit. Its another thing to join. So long as visitors keep a safe distance, we’re happy to welcome them. Just keep a distance. Brethren, when Peter came…

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Excel in Love

We often wonder what genuine love is, how we show it, or how we feel it. We say it all the time. “I love you.” Just because we say it doesn’t mean it is genuine. Most of the time the love we express and the love we feel is not genuine, but worldly and shallow.…

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Know Your Family

For many of us the very name we use is a testament to our family history. I was named after my grandfather and my son is named after my father. Our last names tell the world what family we belong to when we meet strangers. Everything we do, our family is a part of it,…

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Common Life

In every Divine Liturgy we proclaim our common life in Christ when we pray, “Let us commend ourselves and one another and our whole life to Christ our God.” We do not commend our unison lives to Christ. We commend our life, singular, to Christ. That should mean something. Brethren, let any one who thinks…

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Gift for the Future

For most Christians, at least for most Christians living in America, dwelling on the past is considered closed minded. We are taught to look to the future. Sayings such as “The youth are the future of the church,” draw our attention to the future but we cannot have a future without a past. Brethren, all…

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Division is the Devil’s Work

There is no doubt that our society has become extremely fragmented in recent years. This is nothing new in the life of the Church. That doesn’t mean we should be ‘ok’ with division. The only one who celebrates division is the devil. Anyone who creates division does the devil’s work. Brethren, I appeal to you…

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Time to Come Back

There is a concept in American Christianity referred to as ‘Christian Nomadism’. A nomad is one who moves from place to place, never ‘putting down roots’ for long. For Christians, this takes the form of ‘church hopping’ never being satisfied with one particular church. It’s time for a change. Brethren, I am speaking to you…

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