27th Sunday after Pentecost — December 22, 2019 / December 9, 2019
The healing of the ten lepers. Complete healing depends on us!
Ephesians 6:10-17 Luke 17:12-19
The Incarnation is about healing. Like leprosy, sin is a slow death operating in us. Healing is a process, which happens when we react to God’s grace. Becoming a Christian requires that we change the way we live. ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SZG1oLoQ2g
On the leave-taking of the Ascension, the gospel text is from the high Priestly prayer of Jesus where He prays: “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us.” We were made in order to be one with God, but we cannot be one with Him unless we also become one with ourselves: not scattered, but integrated, complete, sufficient, consistent. This is our destiny and we talk about it and then we mention a lamentable event week ago when a hierarch who should be rebuked preached in a discordant way which has nothing to do with union with God or within ourselves. If such preaching disappeared from Orthodox churches and was replaced with a call to repentance and a call to always know and struggle to fulfill our purpose, can we imagine how beautiful and powerful our lives would be? (John 17:18-26)
YouTube:https://youtu.be/Cbk-mdpQ8dQ
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cbk-mdpQ8dQ
Why do we celebrate the Divine liturgy? For the *same* reason we are building a Mission in Hardeman County, TX.
VIDEO: https://youtu.be/sMihDK-PFsM
Text: http://www.orthodox.net/articles/misc_2024-01-13+why-do-we-celebrate-divine-liturgy+hardeman-county.docx
Text and Video differ *slightly*
One can give many reasons with theological and dogmatic precision, but perhaps the most powerful reason is that the human heart desires communion. We were made to commune with God, and in communing with God, we commune with all those who commune with Him, whether they are alive in the flesh or not…
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMihDK-PFsM
Priest Seraphim talks about the beautiful and tiny children St. Barnabas Orthodox orphanage and school, and about playing with them, and how easily they respond to love and attention.
https://youtu.be/QgZzu21VuVQ
He also talks about a critical next step for the welfare of these children: the building of the dormitory that will house 180 orphans, and keep them safe from hunger and abuse and exploitation, and also a community in which they will learn how to live, and be taught the Orthodox Christian faith, and have friends that share their burdens, and teachers that care for them.
This dormitory, God willing will be built when there are those who share in this vision with almsgiving and prayer. Father Methodius, the Rector of this orphanage and school, and Priest Seraphim, who is pastor of St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in McKinney Texas and who corresponds with Father Methodius often, and plans many visits to Kenya, will promise to every donor that they will be commemorated perpetually St. Barnabas and St. Nicholas. We will create a permanent dyptich – a list of names that will be commemorated in every Divine liturgy.
Go to www.orthodoxmissionkenya.org for more about this mission, with full details about the building of the dormitory to be forthcoming. You may make a donation there. Please note that it is for the dormitory. We estimate that it will cost $45,000 (American dollars – a moderate sum in America, and a ransom in Kenya) to build the dormitory, and average of $250/child. You may also save the cost of money transfer fees by sending checks to St. Nicholas Orthodox Church, PO 37, McKinney, TX 75070. Note on the check that it is for the dormitory, and all funds will be transferred to the mission in a way that saves all transfer fees.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgZzu21VuVQ
Length 6:06 This scripture applies to our day, with its rampant fear and anxiety, and our own hearts, which are inundated with scattered thoughts. The solution is simple, although not easy until we begin in earnest. Commentary on part of Proverbs, read on the 6th Monday of Great Lent: “There are many thoughts in a man's heart; but the counsel of the Lord abides for ever. 22. Mercy is a fruit to a man: and a poor man is better than a rich liar. 23. The fear of the Lord is life to a man: and he shall lodge without fear in places where knowledge is not seen.” (Prov 19:21-23)
YouTube:https://youtu.be/2SyfGx0KwTY
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SyfGx0KwTY
A Christian should live circumspectly, rightly discerning the signs of the times. A frank talk on the pandemic and its aftereffects — where we are now, and things to come.
Readings: Hebrews 6:13–20, Mark 9:17–31 and Ephesians 5:9–19, Matthew 4:25–5:12
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmyPeDEL8UM
Many people who praised Jesus when He entered Jerusalem a few days later condemned him, as a hymn from the service teaches: "First they sang in praise of Christ our God with branches, but then the ungrateful Jews seized Him and crucified Him on the cross. But with faith unchanging let us ever honor Him as Benefactor, crying always unto Him: Blessed art Thou that comest to call back Adam." How can we be different than them? It does not just happen by magic, or if we are passive. The epistle today tells us two necessities - inner prayer with rejoicing, and Christian morality. Philippians 4:4-9 2019-04-22
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bj3Yv138Xd0
2023-12-16 A little contemplation on the mysterious passage: “There is this evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one event to all: yea, the heart of the sons of men is filled with evil, and madness is in their heart during their life, and after that they go to the dead. 4 for who is he that has fellowship with all the living? there is hope of him: for a living dog is better than a dead lion.” Ecclesiastes 9:3-4
Video: https://youtu.be/yDJJuEH6O1g
Text: http://www.orthodox.net/articles/a-living-dog-is-better-than-a-dead-lion.docx
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDJJuEH6O1g