How often we experience a real struggle in offering heartfelt prayers to God. How often we say words as we attempt to pray and wonder if they even ascend above the very roof of our home. Though we offer our prayers with good intention, we may not always leave feeling as though we’ve connected with God. We wonder if maybe we’re not doing something right. What we are experiencing is a dissension between the spirit, which is willing, and the flesh, which is either more interested in staying ... [Read more]
Pastoral Messages
The Holy Cross
Doctors wear “scrubs.” Police officers wear uniforms. Christians wear Crosses. The most universal sign of a person’s allegiance to Christ is the wearing of a Cross. By the Cross we Christians are known. And as Orthodox Christians, we not only wear a Cross–which is given to us at our Baptism–we also make the sign of the Cross with our hands in times of need or during worship, and we venerate the Cross with our lips whenever we encounter it. (I once saw a young child walking down the aisles of ... [Read more]
Did Mary Sing Lullabies to Jesus?
Dear beloved parishioners, Some of you will remember Dn. Stephen Muse who came to our parish two years ago to conduct a marriage retreat for our community. As we enter the summer months, we can already set our eyes on the next great feast day of the Orthodox Church, the Dormition of the Theotokos. In light of that, I asked for Dn. Stephen’s permission to repurpose for this combined summer newsletter a beautiful article he recently wrote. Enjoy! ~Fr. Timothy Pavlatos Did Mary Sing ... [Read more]
To Everything There Is a Season (Ecclesiastes 3:1)
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Christ is risen! As I write these words, I am distinctly aware that the season of Pascha is coming to a close. By the time of publishing, it will already be past Holy Ascension, and that joyous greeting – “Christ is risen!” – will be exchanged for “Christ is in our midst” until the evening of Great and Holy Pascha next year. A week from now the Paschal cycle will come to a close with Pentecost, and a new season will begin. On Pentecost Sunday ... [Read more]
Memory Lane
It seems surreal for me to write my last newsletter article for St. John the Baptist after nearly twenty years. I have almost always written theological articles to help us grow in our faith, but I think this last article should be different. I thought it might be meaningful to take everyone on a stroll down memory lane, from my perspective. Twenty years ago, I remember sitting at a C.O.M.E. meeting, where we were discussing the need for a new parish in either Seattle or Portland. I was ... [Read more]
Fast and Pray In Love
On the Sunday of the Prodigal Son, Fr. Theodore spoke about Orthodox Praxis in his homily. Drawing the distinction between Theoria (theory) and Praxis (practice) is important. Theoria is tied to Theology, the teachings of the Church. Praxis, on the one hand, is associated with worship, and on the other hand, is connected with “living rightly,” day to day as an Orthodox Christian. In the New Testament, we read of the teachings of the Lord. We also see in the N.T examples given by our Lord ... [Read more]
Get Ready! Lent Is Almost Here!
As I sit down to write this article, it’s hard to believe that Great Lent is just around the corner. It seems like only yesterday, we were in the midst of the Forty Liturgies of the Nativity Fast. Despite this feeling, when we hear certain Gospel readings in church on Sunday, we know that Lent is drawing near. This is because our Church does not let great feasts or important seasons sneak up on us. I thank God for the Sunday readings that come just before the beginning of the Triodion, such as ... [Read more]
Blessings to Begin the New Year
At the beginning of each calendar year, the Orthodox Church observes an historical event that impacted all of creation for all time, the Baptism of Jesus Christ in the Jordan River. After thirty years of life, and just prior to His public ministry, Jesus descended into the Jordan river to sanctify it, and, by extension, all of creation. Unlike all of humanity, which needed to be born from above through the waters of baptism, Jesus had no need to be cleansed and sanctified. He is life and ... [Read more]
Remembrance
An essential spiritual discipline we must cultivate in our lives is the remembrance of God and our relationship to Him. According to St. John of Damascus, the most serious passions are forgetfulness, laziness and ignorance. These three passions darken the nous, the spiritual control center of the human person. The soul then becomes more easily dominated by all the other passions. Because forgetfulness has such a negative effect on our soul, remembrance becomes the chief weapon against sin and ... [Read more]
A Call to Step Up and Reach Out
What a blessing it was for our community, for the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, and for Orthodoxy as a whole in the United States to host the first ever Mission & Evangelism Conference, “Bringing Orthodoxy to America”! As one person said, “It’s about time.”, and what a powerful gathering it was. Some of the top Mission and Evangelism personalities were invited to speak on the most essential topics of Church planting and Church growth. For those of you who were not able to attend, I invite you ... [Read more]
- « Previous Page
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- …
- 9
- Next Page »
