Posts Tagged ‘Hebrews’
True Forgiveness Begins with Coexistence
As you can imagine I meet many who struggle in the art of forgiveness. Many say they can’t seem to forgive no matter how much they try. We’ve been wronged! We can’t get over what they did to us. I’m still angry. I know I should forgive them, but I just can’t. These are all…
Read MoreDon’t Be Led Astray
It is tempting to trust everything someone in authority says. We know intuitively that not everyone will speak the truth. In fact, many will speak lies to further their own agenda. This is true not only in politics, but also in the Church. For centuries the Church has been fighting against such realities, always remaining…
Read MoreGod Doesn’t Expect More from Us Than from Himself
I hear it all the time, or something like it. “I can’t do that. I’m not perfect like God.” It is so easy to turn our attention away from the life God desires for us. It isn’t that we don’t want to follow God. Our soul is most definitely called by God, and deep down…
Read MoreA Sunday Only Experience
I often say that Orthodox Christianity is a 24-hour life. There is never a time when we are not Orthodox Christian. Our faith is not limited to Sunday morning and Feast Days. Our faith is lived daily for Christ. Unfortunately, the Church in America has become in too many cases a ‘Sunday only’ experience. There…
Read MoreAngels and Men
I often hear the phrase, “Now we have our own angel,” when people describe loved ones who have died. While this is not accurate, since human never become angels, it comes from a longing for a heavenly advocate. Life is tough ‘down here’ and knowing someone ‘up there’ is looking out for us brings us…
Read MoreAltar of Gold
Our host parish in Tarpon Springs is a tourist stop for the city. People arrive every from other cities and states, even other countries, to see the historical Saint Nicholas Cathedral. From the Czechoslovakian crystal chandeliers to the marble iconostasis from the 1939 World’s Fair to the stunning stained-glass windows, tourists and pilgrims stand open-mouthed…
Read MoreWorth the Suffering
It is human nature to look on someone who is suffering for a cause and think, “WOW! That person really believes in something. That person is even willing to die for it.” We’ve all witnessed such belief. We’ve seen people chained to trees, laying down in front of bulldozers, and even imprisoned for the sake…
Read MorePower to Do Good
There seems to be a typical human response to power. If there is power to be had, then people will fight to have it for themselves. It happens in the workplace. It happens in the home. It even happens in the Church, much as I would like to wish that it did not. What do…
Read MoreHolding God
Can you imagine holding Christ in your arms? Can you imagine the blessing of hearing from the Holy Spirit that you would not die before you saw Christ? Well, today both are true, and both are possible. Today the Church commemorates the memory of Saint Symeon the God-Receiver. He was the one to whom God…
Read More