Posts Tagged ‘Fasting’
A Different Kingdom
Many non-believers accuse the Church of wanting to control our lives. They believe our ‘rules and traditions’ are designed to keep us down in the world. It would be much easier if we just gave in to the world and ‘blended in’ more to those around us. Then we would succeed. This logic is lacking…
Read MoreThe Twelfth Day of Christmas We Fast
Forget about calling birds, French hens and goose eggs! Today is the Twelfth Day of Christmas, but instead of partying we are fasting. Today is a strict fast in preparation for the Feast of Holy Theophany, also known as Epiphany. For nearly two weeks the Church feasted. If you didn’t fast before Christmas, the past…
Read MoreFinal Checklist for Christmas
ONLY THREE DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS and right about now you are beginning to panic you may not finish all the things you have to accomplish before Christmas. There are only 24 hours in a day, so I decided to help you narrow down your final checklist for Christmas. Prayer, fasting, charity, and worship are the…
Read MoreNo Shame about Christmas
When everyone around you seems to have forgotten why Christmas is important, it can be awkward keeping focus. We are fasting. ‘They’ are feasting. We are praying. They are shopping. We are serving others. They are demanding special treatment at the checkout lane. Being a Christian is hard enough in modern America. Being an Orthodox…
Read MoreIgnorance Can Be Bliss
These words are something you probably never thought you would read in this blog. Since our first blog entry, Be Transfigured Ministries has been about removing the ignorance of our traditions. Since when do we consider ignorance a good thing? It is….and it isn’t. Brethren, comfort one another with these words. But as to the…
Read MoreNever Rest on Your Laurels
We all have goals in life ranging from our career to our family. From the time we gain our ‘wits’ we understand that a life without goals is a life not lived. The problem isn’t having goals. The problem more often than not is what to do when our goals have been achieved. Brethren, we…
Read MoreCommon Good
We work hard to provide for our family. We save and invest for the future. We struggle to maintain the balance between work and family, sometimes forgetting the purpose of the blessings from God. Everything we have from God isn’t for us. It is for the common good. The prayers of the Church are filled…
Read MoreEpisode 464 – The Bittersweet Pill of the Gospel
When we enter the doctor’s office, sometimes we need to be willing to swallow a bit of bitter medicine, but the pill will heal us when we swallow it. The same is true about the Gospel. When we hear the Gospel, we hear our own mistakes and our own sinfulness. The only way the Gospel…
Read MoreFamily Betrayal
In more than thirty years of ministry I have rarely witnessed pain greater than the pain of betrayal. We are often betrayed at work or friends. We can even feel betrayed by total strangers after we had reached out to help them. Nothing is worse than family betrayal. Brethren, you become imitators of the churches…
Read MoreThe Fruit of Repentance
The Church is always talking about bearing fruit, so today I thought I would write about the fruit of repentance. Fruit always starts with a seed which is planted, nurtured, and eventually harvested. Where is your seed of repentance? At that time, there were some present who told Jesus of the Galileans whose blood Pilate…
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