Homily: Eating Pig Pods – and loving it

Homily on the Prodigal SonSt. Luke 15:11-321 Corinthians 6:12-20 A Metaphor on Food One of the best ways to understand sin is as those things that damage our health [explain].   We were made so with feedback loops so that we could diagnose the things we had been eating that were causing us harm [explain]. […]

Homily – Publican and Pharisee

All of creation is pregnant with potential – less full of lifeless atoms or particles than of seeds just waiting to be brought forth into fruition.  And here I speak not just of literal seeds (although it is almost time to start working with those and getting them ready for transfer into the garden come […]

20120206 A Pregnant Creation, Mail Call, and Islam

Podcast Notes Homily on Zacchaeus et al. (due to the delay in recording, this was bumped by a Homily on the Publican and the Pharisee) Mail Bag What should I do if there are no regular Orthodox services in my area? What are the most healthy expressions of sexuality?  (note on recent decision to ban […]

Homily – Zachaeus Sunday

Run the Experiment in Your Life! (they did – and look at them!) Zacchaeus Sunday, the Commemoration of St. Peter’s Chains, and the Eve of St. Anthony the Great. Gospel: St. Luke 19:1-10 Epistle: Acts 12:1-11 What if we lived as if we believed all this was true? What if we stopped hedging our bets and gave […]

Homily – Repent… and change the world

The Sunday before Theophany; 2 Timothy 4:5-8, St. Mark 1:1-8 This is the Sunday before Theophany, when we remember St. John and his ministry, and how he prepared the world for the God-man Jesus Christ through his ministry of repentance. History of Saint John. Saint John the Baptist was the son of Zachariah and Elizabeth […]

Homily for the Sunday after Nativity – the child Christ in the world (and in our hearts)

Gospel (Sunday after Nativity): St. Matthew 2:13-23Epistle: Colossians 3:12-16Epistle (Sunday after Nativity): Galatians 1:11-19Summary of today’s Gospel:God humbles Himself to save mankind, leaving His rightful inheritance as God and becoming man; being born as a baby in Bethlehem.  And how does the world He has come to save greet Him?  Is He born in a […]

Homily: New Year’s Resolution – Sunday before the Nativity

Sunday before the NativityHebrews 11:9-10,17-23,32-40St. Matthew 1:1-25 On this first day of the year, we look backwards and forwards; taking stock of what has gone before and and deciding what to do in the year to come.  It is the same with today’s Epistle and Gospel readings. Looking backwardsThe first thing we notice when reading […]

Homily: Preferring Religion to God

“Get out of the way and let God do His work!”St. Luke 13:10-17 In today’s Gospel, we have an instructive encounter between Christ and the religious authorities.  Christ was teaching in the synagogue and in the midst of the usual activities or scripture reading, psalmody, lecturing, and discussion, something unexpected happened: Christ healed a woman […]

Homily for the Entrance of the Theotokos: a witness on offering our best to the Lord

Homily Notes for the Feast [Tell the story of the feast]: Joachim and Anna had always wanted and worked for a child, but without success. One day, the priest at the temple refused Joachim’s offering because he had no children. He and his wife turned to the Lord in prayer, promising to offer any child […]

Homily – 2 Corinthians 4:6-15

Apostle: 2 Corinthians 4: 6-15 Gospel: St. Matthew 22: 35-46 2 Corinthians 4: 6-15;  St. Matthew 22: 35-46 Glory to Jesus Christ!  Glory forever! Today, St. Paul teaches that; “…it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of […]