St Peters Orthodox Church

Today we begin a new series on the Gospel of St. John. This Gospel is written using the most theological language of any of the Gospels primarily because it was written some 30 - 40 years after the other three Gospels were written. We see this even in the very first chapter of this Gospel. Today, we look at one of the most important theological revelations to man about God. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us; a statement that would cause false teachings to rise and, therefore, the Church to proclaim the truth of this incredible reality. In this session we look at this truth, how the Church teaches the Incarnation, and how it reveals to us the new creation of the Christian through Jesus Christ, the Second Adam.

January 13, 2019 - Today is the Octave Day of Epiphany and on this day the focus is on the revelation of God to man through the Baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ. In this reflection we use the Icon of the Baptism of our Lord to hear the Early Church teachings of what God did for us through Jesus Christ as He would be baptized in the Jordan River.

January 6, 2019 - Today is the Feast Day of the Epiphany of our Lord and the Church gives us the narrative of the Magi being lead directly to Christ as a child. There they would have God revealed to them in Christ and the result would be that they would fall down and worship Him offering Him the best of what they had. We are also given the words of St. Paul from Ephesians 3 telling us that grace has been given that now the manifold wisdom of God would be revealed through His Church. Epiphany means the manifestation or the revelation of God to man. In this reflection we look at how God manifested Himself to the Gentiles for the salvation of all. But we also look at how God has purposed to continue that revelation of Himself to all through all of us.

January 1, 2019 - Today we celebrate the Feast of the Circumcision of our Lord. Many ask the question as to why is this celebrated as a Feast Day in the Church. Today we look at the Circumcision of our Lord and we hear how this directly applies to our journey as disciples of Jesus Christ.

December 24, 2018 - On this night God has heard the longing of all creation and answered the cry of us all. He has come to be our help. He has come to deliver us, to step into the deepest of our suffering, and to give us grace and power to overcome the evil one. Tonight we look to the Icon of the Nativity to see just a few of the glorious truths of this blessed night. Our Lord and Savior has come and the Kingdom of God is at hand.

December 23, 2018 - On the last Sunday of Advent we pray this prayer: "O Lord, raise up, we pray Thee, Thy power, and come among us, and with great might succor us; that whereas, through our sins and wickedness, we are sore let and hindered in running the race that is set before us, Thy bountiful grace and mercy may speedily help and deliver us." As Advent closes and we await the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ at His birth, we lift up the lamenting cry of how desperately we need Him to come to us and deliver us. In this prayer we find the spiritual disposition and posture of all those in Christ. This prayer reveals the truth of how we are to live out the moments of our lives in and through our Savior.

Having brought an overview to the narrative of Job to a close, today we reflect on our journey thus far; for we have sought to learn the necessary language of lament that keeps us hanging on to God for dear life in times of suffering in order that He might reveal Himself to us and redeem the suffering and heal our wounds. In this session we summarize what we have learned from Job and his lament. We discover aspects of this language of lament applicable to all of our lives as Christians who are filled with the Divine by the Holy Spirit.

December 16, 2018 - The third Sunday of Advent always has a theme. That theme is telling us to rejoice! This world promotes happiness. Buy this and it will make you happy. Do this and it will bring happiness to you. But happiness ebbs and flows. What Christ offers us at all times whether we are in the peaks of blessing or the valleys of suffering is true joy. We rejoice because God became Incarnate in order to bring us to Himself. We rejoice because God will come again and all who are in Christ will have joy and all tears will be wiped away.

December 11, 2018 - For 35 chapters in the Book of Job, Job's friends attempt to correct Job's lament before God. They are so right in everything they say to Job. There is no lack of truth in their words. However, there is one problem. They are applying right formulas to a wrong problem. Yet God even uses Job's friends to keep Job hanging on to him for dear life through the suffering. Now we come to see how God shows up on the scene and reveals Himself to Job. There is much we can learn for us from how God shows up and how He revealed Himself to Job, Job's response to this revelation, and the restoration and redemption of not only Job but his friends as well. He is a God who calls us out of shame and wretchedness back to the dignity in which He created us all.

December 9, 2018 - The question gets asked to Priests in the Orthodox Church every season of Advent and Lent, "Why do we fast? What is it supposed to do? It seems like it just makes me hungry, tired, and irritable." These are great questions! I always return these questions with this question, "What are you doing to accompany your fasting?" I ask this because our Great Physician does not call us just to fast. Our Great Physician has also prescribed an increase of prayer which is fellowship with God along with the reading of Holy Scriptures. We are also to increase our giving of alms to those less fortunate. This homily speaks of how all of these spiritual disciplines work together both for the healing of our souls as well as our greater experience with the Living Lord Jesus Christ.

December 2, 2018 - We are given the grace-filled Season of Advent to prepare our souls to receive the King of All. God, through the prophet Hosea, tells us to "Break up the fallow ground, for now is the time to seek the Lord until He comes and rains righteousness upon you." This is the focus of Advent. It is no surprise nor wonder that the season of the culture in which we live, the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas, presents such distraction and opposition to what God has called us to do and what He desires to work in us. This reflection presents the reality of a season of opposites. What culture will we live in during Advent? Will we follow the distractions of the culture outside of the Church. Or, will we follow the culture of the Kingdom of God and experience the reality of the King of All Who comes to us and for us?

November 25, 2018 - On this Sunday Next Before Advent, it is appropriate for us to be reminded of the meaning of this blessed season. It is a season of preparation for the Advent of our Lord. Advent is a word that simply means "coming." All Living Stones in the Church are called to prepare the soil of their souls that we may receive the King of All Who we not only remember comes to us at Christmas, but comes to us daily in our lives.

In today's session we continue looking at Job's continuing lament through his extreme suffering. We look to learn from some key points of his lament that truly must become part of ours in times of duress and pain. Job struggles so faithfully to hang on to God and pursue him with a necessary desperation in hopes that God will come and deliver him. I pray we all grow to be like Job that we might be granted the revelation of God that heals us, corrects us, and redeems us.

November 18, 2018 - God speaks through His Prophet Jeremiah words that should draw our hearts to rejoice in great thanksgiving to God when He says, "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of affliction..." We look at this as well as the rest of this passage to see not only who God is but also how He is postured towards us. We then take a look at our Gospel reading from St. Matthew 9 to see in the testimonies regarding the woman with the issue of blood and the ruler who's daughter had just died to find. For in these stories we see the heart of God in Christ toward mankind making Himself present and able to be found by us. At the encounter of the Christ, Who is for us, we are released from our captivity and healed of our infirmities.

November 11, 2018 - We have all hear Jesus' words from Matthew 22 when He says to the Pharisees, "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's." What does it really mean to render to God the things that are God's? This homily answers that question and talks about the spiritual discipline of the tithe as a gift of God to us all; a grace-filled discipline that transforms our lives so that we are enabled to live our lives as a joyous offering to God of all that we are and all that we have.

As Job undergoes an incredible level of torment and suffering, he keeps his lament directed toward God. But it is certain that not everything that comes out of his mouth makes us comfortable. For example, he cries out to God for death saying death would be so much better than life; a suicidal sentiment. Is Job right in all of the words he lifts to God? Absolutely not. But the key is that he never turns away from God even when he is in such error of thought. He always goes to God authentically right where he is in life. God can handle and correct our error when we are suffering. One of the most important things we learn from Job's lament...never let go of God. For God, when we are truly ready to receive Him will reveal Himself to us to redeem us and save us.

November 4, 2018 - Peter asks Jesus how many times must he forgive the offenses of his brother. Jesus answer is that he must forgive endlessly, without limit. Then Jesus gives us what we know as the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant. He begins with the words, "The Kingdom of God is like..." This homily explores the realities of the Kingdom regarding Christ's call to us to forgive in the same way we have been forgiven. Though Jesus gives difficult words, His words are true and always for the healing of our soul. We must forgive so that we may be set free.

November 2, 2018 - The Church has been praying for the departed since its inception. St. Ignatius of Antioch, a disciple and one mentored by the Apostle John, wrote one of the most beautiful Christian prayers; the theme of which has continued to be prayed in the prayer services and liturgies of the Church for over 2000 years. Why do we pray for the departed to be welcomed into a place of rest and peace? The All Souls Mass answers this by placing in the forefront Jesus Christ, the Resurrection and the Life, through the Scriptures and prayers of the Feast of All Souls Liturgy.

November 1, 2018 - This day we celebrate the Feast of All Saints and what a glorious feast to celebrate before Christ our God. It is this day we celebrate the saints in heaven and on earth; for there is one Body of Christ that death cannot separate because through Christ all in Him have been granted His victory over death and hell. We focus tonight truly upon All Saints for the veil is much thinner than we perceive between those who have gone before us and those of us who now remain. Thanks be to God!

Today we begin our overview of the narrative of Job. Job is a man who, because of his faith and the blessings of God because of his great faith, lives in somewhat of a paradise. As Satan is allowed to destroy Job's property, kill his servants, take the lives of Job's ten children, and finally inflict great physical suffering upon Job, we take a look at how Job responds to God in all of this. It is his first lament of many and we seek to learn how to desperately hang on to God and not let go in the midst of our own sufferings.