Sunday sermon on Matthew 9:1-9 In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen.
Last Sunday we heard about Christ healing two demon-possessed men in the land of Gergesenes, which was on the shore opposite of the town where Jesus resided. After He healed the two men, and cast the demons into the pigs, who swiftly rushed off the cliff and drowned in the sea, the people of the land came, in fear and astonishment, and asked the Lord … to get out. Today’s Gospel lesson is the continuation of last week’s reading. After being asked to leave, Christ got into a boat and came to His town. As the book of Wisdom says, “Christ will not enter a deceitful soul, nor dwell in a body enslaved to sin” (Wisdom 1:4). Sermon on the Third Sunday of Pascha on the Gospel lesson from Mark 15:43-16:8 In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen.
Christ is risen! “There you will see Him, just as He told you!” Every year we read today’s Gospel lesson from Mark, I chuckle a little. The angel told the stunned and scared myrrh-bearing women that Jesus of Nazareth, Whom they were seeking in a tomb, is risen and is waiting for His disciples in Galilee, just as He told them. Sermon on the meaning of the Last Judgment for Christians who care. "Most of us, maybe even all of us, would not be able to talk someone into believing. But our actions can bring witness to the life in Christ, to the life that leads to salvation."
Sunday sermon on the Epistle to Timothy (1 Timothy 4:9-15) In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen.
“We have placed our hope in the living God, Who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.” Christians can be a little exclusivist. We believe that our God is only our God, and no one else’s. He belongs to us, He listens to us, He grants us our wishes, He punishes the bad people that annoy us. Yet, Saint Paul says that God is the Savior of all people. Does he mean all all, or all Christians? Is God the Creator and Ruler over all creation, or just us Christians? Sermon delivered on the Sunday before the Nativity of Jesus Christ on the genealogy of the Lord found in Matthew 1:1-25. In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen.
Around this time of year, on such channels like the History Channel or the Discovery Channel or what not, we might catch so-called “documentaries” about the “real” Jesus. Some of these documentaries try to prove that Jesus never existed, that He was simply an invention of Christians, by which they mean white European men. And they try to take down Christianity as a system of oppression and patriarchy. Sunday's sermon on one particular incident from Saint Nicholas' life. We looked at how Saint Nicholas' ministry is a continuation of Christ' ministry, and how our life is also part of this continuation of Christ's ministry.
Sunday sermon on the most frequent Sunday Gospel lesson Luke 8:26-39 In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen.
If you’ve paid attention throughout our liturgical year, there is one Sunday Gospel lesson that is read more than any other – that’s the Gospel we heard today; the Gospel about a demon-possessed man who lived in the tombs and about the pigs that drowned in the lake. We hear this story on up to three Sundays a year (depending on how early or how late is the Pascha). So, out of 52 Sundays in a year, we get three Sundays dedicated to this story. There are memes made (as the kids on the internets say these days) every time this reading comes up. People joke about the “deviled ham” or all the bacon that Jesus is willing to sacrifice for us. Sunday sermon on the Gospel lesson from Luke 16:19-31 In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, One God. Amen.
Looking at the rich man from today’s parable, we could say that he’s really got it. He had the best clothes, he had the best food, he had the best banquets, he probably even had some friends who really enjoyed the things he was providing for them. By many different standards, especially by the standards of our time, he was living the life. By our standards, he was a really progressive and progressing man. Deep down in our hearts, there isn’t one person here today who wouldn’t want the kind of life the rich man had. Sunday sermon on the letter of Saint Paul to the Galatians 1:11-19 In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen.
The spiritual journey of each of us is a unique path, designed specifically for us, based on our abilities. It’s like going to a dietologist and getting specific diet that no one else might have. Some can handle more, some should handle more, some can’t or should not. But the end of our journeys is one and the same. In the ancient Rome they used to say, “All roads lead to Rome.” We now know that all roads, in fact, lead to Jesus Christ. The end of our journey is Christ. Sunday sermon Luke 6:31-36 and 2 Corinthians 9:6-11 In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen.
One of my seminary professors, who was also a priest, said that every time his teenage sons were getting ready to go out, he would tell them, “Remember whose sons you are.” As a priest, he was known in his town, and people knew his sons. So if they got, say, drunk and boisterous, it would have poorly reflected on the father. Going out, the sons represented their family, they were their father’s image. Sunday sermon on the Gospel lesson from Matthew 19:16-26 In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen.
There was this famous Teacher in town, there were a lot of rumors circulating about Him. Were any of them true? Was He really clairvoyant as some were saying? Was He the Messiah, as others claimed? The young man had a desire to meet this Teacher because he had a burning question to ask Him. The young man had diligently tried to keep all the commandments. In his mind he was doing good. He was rich, he had many possessions – a clear sign of God’s favor toward him. Yet, something kept nagging him; he felt like something was missing. There have been a lot of words spent trying to analyze what is going on with our society today. According to some, we have reached a point of no return - our society is on the brink of a major collapse, akin to the collapse of the empires of old, and it will only get a lot worse before we see the sun again. And the blame for this collapse lies on the [insert the political party to which you do not belong].
Others claim that we ain't doing that bad. In fact, we are improving, look at all the new green technology saving our precious earth. Only if [insert the political party to which you do not belong] weren't so damn pessimistic all the time, we wouldn't feel so down as a society. So, where's the truth? Who's right? It may be one of the sides; maybe even both sides; or the truth may be somewhere in the middle; or there may be no truth. In a way, who cares? For us, Christians, as long as we remain faithful to God (as opposed faithful to satan; and sorry, there is no middle ground in faithfulness, it's either God or satan), whatever comes or doesn't come will not matter in terms of how we behave towards ourselves, each other, or the society in general. We are here to repent, to take up our cross, to follow Christ, and spread His Gospel. There is, however, one troubling trend right now - the relationship between men and Christ. To put it simply, men are, for the most part, missing in churches. There are some men, and glory to God for them, but where are the others? There can be made a case for the present culture making the men weaker, less masculine (and no, masculinity does not equal toxic masculinity. Only toxic masculinity equals toxic masculinity. Masculinity is a gift from God and it has a purpose in our world. Just like femininity). Weaker men are incapable of maturing into husbands and fathers. Weaker men are incapable of building and supporting their families. Weaker men are scared of commitments and responsibilities. Weaker men are ashamed of facing God. Below are two facebook posts from two men (one priest and one layman), who have done some background work and assessed the situation with today's men and tried to come up with their own propositions. Sunday sermon on the Gospel lesson from Matthew 17:14-23 In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen.
Today’s Gospel lesson is preceded by the story of Christ going up to the mount Tabor with His three disciples, Peter, James, and John, where He was transfigured before them, where He revealed to them His divine nature. While they were on Tabor, a man approached the other disciples, who waited at the bottom, and asked them to help his son, who was sick. He was possessed; he had seizures. In fact, the literal translation of his disease is lunacy. We don't know what the disciples did or tried to do, but they could not help the poor boy. Sunday sermon on the feeding of a crowd of thousands of people from Matthew 14:14-22 In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen.
Every year we read today’s Gospel lesson about the feeding of the crowd of more than five thousand people, I am always struck by the magnitude of Christ’s request of His disciples. Jesus had spent the whole day with the crowd, having compassion on them and healing their sick. And as the evening came, His disciples said to Jesus, “Hey, listen, we are kind of in a wilderness here, in a deserted place; let these people go into the neighboring villages to get something to eat.” Sunday sermon on the Epistle reading from Romans 15:1-7 In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen.
Today’s Epistle reading from the letter of Saint Paul to the Christian community in Rome comes from a section of about 2-3 chapters where Paul talks about living together in a mixed community. In the first century, the Roman Christian community consisted of Jews and pagans. As such, they had very different views on life in terms of morality and proper worship of God. As Christians, however, their views had to be transformed, had to be enlightened, and in some cases had to be changed. Sunday sermon on the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Romans 12:6-14 In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen.
The what? The why? And the how? These are the questions we will consider today. They are not really questions, more like question words. Nevertheless, the what? the why? and the how? is what we will answer today. In other words, today is your luckiest day. First, because you are here. You made an intentional decision to spend this Sunday morning worshipping God on purpose. And second, because all of your questions will be answered today… Sunday sermon on the Gospel lesson from Matthew 8:28-9:1 In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen.
As Christ healed the two demon-possessed men, the people who saw it, ran to the city and told everyone, “Come all! You have to see this. This Man has just healed the two possessed, and caused all of our pigs to run off the bank into the sea!” As the people were gathering, they were asking each other: “What do they mean, healed? Those two couldn't be contained by chains and someone was crazy enough to approach them? And what is this about our pigs running off the cliff? How are we to support ourselves, if it’s true?” Sunday sermon on the Epistle reading from Romans 6:18-23 on our choice of the wages of sin and the free gift of God In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen.
Those of us who are old enough to work for money, know the feeling of getting paid for the work we put in. When a person is hired, there is a sort of agreement between the employer and the employee – the employee agrees to do the necessary work, and the employer agrees to compensate the employee accordingly. After you work those 40 hours a week and come to your boss for the check, you do not break down in tears thanking him for paying what you are supposed to be paid (unless you have a really crappy boss). In fact, if you do not get paid, you are likely to sue the boss. After a full week of work, we are entitled to the appropriate paycheck. Father's Day sermon In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen.
There has been a trend in popular media, especially movies, a rather troubling trend. In superhero movies, male superheroes are replaced with basically the same but female characters. And not only that, whenever a strong female character is introduced, the male characters around her are almost always portrayed as wimps. Whether it’s an intentional attack on masculinity, or attempts to spread some sort of ideologies, or lack of talent in today’s screen writers, the point is clear – our society, for some reason, does not want us to have strong men and strong women. It has to be either one or the other. Fifth Sunday of Pascha Sermon on the Gospel lesson from John 4:5-42 In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen.
Christ is risen! We are worshipping creatures. We never worship nothing; we always worship Someone or something. If we do not worship the One True God, then we will worship anything. Third Sunday of Pascha Sermon on the Myrrh-bearing Women, Mother's Day, womanhood, and motherhood in the Church In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen.
Christ is risen! Every so often today’s feast of the myrrh-bearing women and Mother’s Day coincide. Today happens to be that day. And so, I would like to talk today about our women. "Looking at Saint Thomas, we can make one simple conclusion – if we never have doubts, then we have never believed."
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