Posts Tagged ‘prayer’
2026 Daily Lenten Journey Day 9 – Humans Killing Humans
It is as old as humanity itself. Jealousy and the desire for power spoil the human heart. Hate wells up overtaking peace and joy. The ugliness of war is an ancient burden for humanity. It has been on my mind for the past few days. As Prophet Isaiah says, the Lord “looked for justice, but…
Read More2026 Daily Lenten Journey Day 8 – The Best is for God
Here we are in the second week of Great Lent and already we are challenged to offer something to God. We’ve been offering our time through. We’ve been offering our bodies through fasting. We’ve been offering our resources through charity. Was it our best? In today’s readings we hear Cain and Abel make offerings to…
Read More2026 Daily Lenten Journey Day 6
Our First Rest Stop Today is the first Saturday of Great Lent, and the first day of ‘rest’ from the fast. That’s right. The fast is ‘eased’ today and tomorrow. Depending upon the strictness of your fasting, Saturday and Sunday are ‘days off’ or at least easier days of fasting. I love road trips and…
Read MoreRewards
From childhood we are taught to expect a reward for our ‘good’ behavior. We clean our room, eat our dinner, and finish our homework, and we get rewarded. Do all those things without complaining and our reward is greater. Sound familiar? Brethren, recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard…
Read MoreA 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 MoreIn my Prayers
I blog about prayer often. It is, after all, a central part of our Orthodox life. It is also one of the most underutilized spiritual tools in our Orthodox tool kit. Even when we pray, we rarely give our prayers the attention they deserve. Worse, we rarely give others the attention of our prayers. One…
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 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 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…
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