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 after her release from the hospital until she is confronted with a fatal prognosis. Facing her impending death, she resolves to do things differently in her remaining time andContinue reading “Death Changes Everything”
Category Archives: Sunday Sermons
No, Luke, Don’t Trust Your Feelings
If you’ve never been around a pig farm, say a prayer of thanks. Pigs stink. A lot. So, when the protagonist of Jesus’ parable finds himself in their midst ready to eat out of their trough, he faces a certain set of awful circumstances. His reaction to those circumstances, however, is not as certain. ItContinue reading “No, Luke, Don’t Trust Your Feelings”
Open Your Eyes
This past Tuesday, 28 November, the Church commemorated St. Stephen the New, and his story stuck with me throughout the week as I prepared for this Sunday’s sermon. He was born in 715 AD to pious Christian parents, and was named Stephen after the newly elected Patriarch of Constantinople asked God to bless him “throughContinue reading “Open Your Eyes”
Work Is Salvation
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”
Who IS My Neighbor?
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?”
Take Up Your Cross, and the Battle.
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.”
Don’t Have a Fit
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”
Do You Believe?
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?”
Sunday Sermon, 23 April
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”
Sunday Sermon, 2 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”
An Orthodox Priest Abroad 