Category Archives: Sunday Sermons

A few years ago, the Wall Street Journal ran a story about a growing financial trend known as FIRE, Financial Independence Retire Early, represented in the story by 38-year-old Seattle lawyer Sylvia Hall who wants to retire at age 40. To do that she is trying to amass $2 million in assets by saving about 70% ofContinue reading “Work Is Salvation”

Today we commemorate St John the Merciful, who was born in the year 555 AD on the island of Cyprus to pious Christian parents. His father was the governor of the island and saw to it that his son received the best possible education. John married and had children, but his family perished while heContinue reading “Who IS My Neighbor?”

At age 19, James Goodson was positive that America would eventually jump into the battle against Nazism, yet he decided not to wait. He packed his bag and set sail for England. While transiting the Atlantic, Goodson’s ship was torpedoed and sunk, and he arrived in England with just the clothes he was wearing. HereContinue reading “Take Up Your Cross, and the Battle.”

The stories of the Gospels are historical, they recount actual events in the lives of Jesus and his disciples. But in all of these events is a lesson to be learned, each having a significant, spiritually instructive aspect. It is easy to see the spiritual lessons in the healing of a lame man (who hasn’tContinue reading “Don’t Have a Fit”

In the 1950s, a Harvard psychobiologist named Curt Richter conducted studies with rats, exploring how the responses to stress differ between the populations of wild rats versus domesticated rats. The study involved cutting off the rats’ whiskers and making them swim until they died, and, to the surprise of the researchers, the wild rats—expected toContinue reading “Do You Believe?”

Χριστός Ανέστη! Christ is risen! Today the Holy Fathers of the Church have us read about Thomas the Apostle. We do this for a couple of reasons. Primarily because it is historically accurate, it actually happened. Jesus appeared to His disciples on the day of his Resurrection. Last Sunday. Thomas wasn’t there then, but heContinue reading “Sunday Sermon, 23 April”

The first time I tried driving off-road solo, I got stuck. The Dodge I still drive has its oil filter at the bottom of the engine in front of the oil pan in a rather exposed way, so I had to be careful about straddling rock formations. However, I had already done some rather technicalContinue reading “Sunday Sermon, 2 April”

This Sunday, the fourth of Great Lent, we remember St. John Climacus, known principally for his book The Ladder of Divine Ascent. One of the most beloved works of Orthodox Christian spirituality, it describes the 30 steps by which, according to St. John, we climb from earth to heaven.  On the rungs we move fromContinue reading “Sunday Sermon, 26 March 2023”

In an episode of the television show House a sick woman who is ill-treated by her boss plans to return to work for the same boss until she is confronted with her impending death. She then resolved she would do things differently in her remaining time and accept a leadership position at a non-profit foundation.Continue reading “Sunday Sermon, 19 March”