Pastoral Reflections

Having just celebrated the entrance of God into the world at Christmas, can we return back to our normal routine of life and our typical schedule? If we have sincerely experienced Christ’s birth, and invited Him to be born anew in our hearts and lives, no one can enter the new year the same! We should be changed people! Or at least be people who are in the process of change! Encountering Jesus, and allowing Him to be born anew in our lives should transform our motives, our values, our attitudes, and our entire worldview! Listen »

Christmas day – how will you celebrate? Will you gather with family and friends, eating a great feast, listening to music, and enjoying one another’s company? Think of the happiest moments of your life and reflect on the type of celebrations you had. One thing we can say about all humanity, the world over, and that is we all love to celebrate. Listen »

There is a beautiful story about one of the greatest world leaders, Abraham Lincoln.  One day an elderly woman made an appointment to see the president.  When she entered his office, he welcomed her and asked, “How may I help you?” The woman responded in a quiet voice, “Mr. President, I know that you must be very busy.  I didn’t come to ask anything of you. I simply came because I heard that you liked certain cookies, and I decided to bake some for you.” Listen »

Today we hear about a man terrorized and paralyzed with a legion of demons, and yet Jesus simply casts them aside and offers new life to a pathetic, broken man! Listen »

Every day has 1440 minutes. If we sleep eight hours a day, that leaves us awake 960 minutes a day. What do we do with those minutes? How do we pass the precious time that God gives us each day of our lives? Listen »

How many of us are deeply disturbed and greatly saddened by the political circus we continually watch in the news. No matter what political side one defends, I think many Americans are dismayed and depressed about the anger, bitterness, callousness and even hatred that people feel for others who disagree with their own opinion or political view. Is anyone actually listening to those who are politically opposite themselves, and trying not only to understand the other perspective, but to see and feel what the other side is experiencing. The vitriol comments thrown at people from the other side, and at those who disagree with our own opinion, is extremely disturbing. Listen »

What does Jesus expect from us? Do you ever think about that? What does our Lord want us to do in our lives, and what does He expect us to offer back to Him? Listen »

“Learning How to Exert Self-Control.” I read this interesting article by Pamela Druckerman, in which she talks about Dr. Walter Mischel, a professor at Columbia, who is known as the “Marshmallow Man” for a test he did 50 years ago with pre-school kids. He tested how long 5 year old kids could sit at a table with cookies on it. If these children could resist eating the sweets for 15 minutes, they would get double the sweets; otherwise they would just get one. Future studies followed these children and showed that those who waited longest for the sweets went on to have higher SAT scores, and later in life were healthier, earned more advanced degrees, and coped better with stress. In some ways, one could say they ended up more successful. Listen »

God doesn’t want to condemn us, He wants to love us! Think about that statement. God doesn’t want to condemn us. He’s not looking to punish us. He’s not sick and tired of us, wanting to reject us. NO! We need to understand God for who He is and what He really wants from us. And that is, He wants to love us! Listen »

Imagine this setting. Jesus has lived in Nazareth for 30 years. Of course he’s well known in the village. Everyone knows one another in Nazareth. People like Jesus because he’s lived a quiet, humble, and pious Jewish life. Everyone thinks of him as the son of Joseph the carpenter. They know Mary his mother as well. Some would surely remember the scandal of Mary’s pregnancy three decades earlier, and the strange stories that circulated about his birth, but 30 years have passed since all those events, and now everything seemed pretty normal. Of course for a Jew, it was a little unusual that Jesus was a grown man and still unmarried. Yet everyone overlooked that because they liked Jesus and his kind, gentle, loving demeanor. Whenever he was around, he encouraged people and lifted them up. Whenever he was around, his presence seemed to bless people. He was a hard worker, quiet, humble, and in the eyes of all a good Jewish man. Listen »

In 1924, the Englishman George Mallory and a group of men tried to be the first people to climb to the top of Mt. Everest, the tallest mountain in the world. After enduring unbelievable hardships, they reached the 25,000 feet mark. From this point Mallory and his partner set out for the summit, but their heroic attempt failed. They were buried in the snows of the Himalayan peak. When their colleagues returned to England to tell their story, one of them gave a report before a large audience in London. At the end of his talk, after describing the difficulties and tragedies of their expedition, he turned before a picture of Mt. Everest projected on a screen, and spoke to the mountain, “Everest, we tried to conquer you once, but you overpowered us. We tried to conquer you a second time, but again you were too great for us. But Everest, I want you to know that we are going to conquer you, for you can’t grow any bigger, but we can!” Listen »

What happens when an eagle, flying in the sky, meets a storm? Well, the eagle does not try to fly away from the storm. Instead, as the storm sweeps in, the eagle sets his wings at the proper angle so that the winds will lift him above the storm. While the storm is punishing the earth below, the eagle is soaring above it, using the very winds of the storm itself to propel it above the storm! Listen »

There is a story of a simple monk who one day was praying in his cell. As this humble man prayed, suddenly a bright light began shining in his room. He looked up and saw Christ in all his glory, surrounded by the angelic powers. The monk gazed at this vision filled with awe and exaltation. He felt himself richly blessed to see such a vision, and his heart was humbled with love and thanksgiving that the Lord should show such a revelation to a humble monk. Listen »

Why do we come to Church each week? What are we seeking from our Christian faith? Or maybe we need to ask, are we consciously and seriously seeking anything from our faith? Ultimately, what is our goal as Orthodox Christians in this brief life here on planet earth? Listen »

How many people have a past sin that still haunts them? How about some hidden secret that you want no one to know about? Is there anything from your past that you are not proud of, or which lays heavy on your heart? I know people who are broken and hurting, who have made past mistakes and poor choices, and who can’t get beyond them. In fact, I see how some people allow their past to actually paralyze their present and future. Listen »