St Peters Orthodox Church

We are beginning to turn the corner from the Liturgical Season of Trinitytide to the Season of Advent. In the Season of Advent, we enter into a longing for the deliverer to come and deliver us. We also enter into a preparation of our soul for the Second Coming of our Savior. Every one of us needs healing and deliverance from our fallen condition and the suffering that condition causes us. Thanks be to God that this is our Lord's desire, to deliver us and lift us up. Today we look at an authentic cry for deliverance as our prayer even in preparation for our journey through Advent.

When God gave the Law to Moses, He said "You shall have no graven images." So, why does the Orthodox Faith make use of Iconography in both worship and the experience of the faithful in their homes? In this session, Fr. James helps us understand what "graven images" were and we will clearly see that Iconography is not a disobedience to the Law. We also delve into the spirituality of Iconography and how it is such a gift to our experience of and growth in our Lord Jesus Christ.

In our Gospel reading from St. John chapter 4, we have the testimony of the healing of the nobleman's son by our Lord Jesus Christ. This is one of a number of examples showing how our Lord knows how to bring someone with a weaker and less mature faith to a stronger and more mature faith. He takes the nobleman on a journey knowing precisely how to relate to him so that the nobleman would truly come to know Him. This is the faith journey of us all.

In the Mass of All Saints, we are told that the angels are in wonder of Christ's restoration of the dignity of His Saints. The extent to which Jesus took the fallen condition of mankind and raised it back up to its truly created design has the angels and the innumerable Saints in heaven in constant awe and praise. Tonight we look at this revelation given to us of Paraidise. And we consider the path forged by Christ and graced by Christ for us to come to the eternal experience of these unspeakable joys.

Sermon from Mass of the Angels by St. Peter Orthodox Church

Every year at the Feast of All Souls, our Lord graciously places the gift of our mortality before us. We live as though we have an eternity left in this life. Christians are to live as though this life is a vapor that could end at any moment, and if we allow Christ to be our healer in the moments of each day, we will receive the promised unspeakable joys of eternity. Today, we look to see how the gift of our mortality moves us to Christ so that we become His love to others.

Today we examine the revelations given to the Church about our Lord's Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary. Everything we understand about her points to and glorifies her Son, Christ our God. And, all that we see in her reveals to us our most true identity as those who are being re-created by her Son our Lord. In this session, we see how Holy Scripture reveals these truths that have been handed down to us.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines paradox as a seemingly absurd or self-contradictory statement that when investigated proves to be well-founded and true. The truths of Christ our God are often revealed through paradox. Today we celebrate the Feast of Christ the King. Today we see the Divine Nature of Christ the King revealed to us through paradox. As we reflect on how Christ came to be elevated by the Father as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, we discover that our path as citizens of His Kingdom is to follow the path of paradox to become like our King.

Many outside of the Orthodox Faith test various theologies using Scripture alone believing that Scripture is the highest authority for Christianity. While the Orthodox Faith holds Scripture in the highest esteem and it is infinitely important to our growth in knowing God and drawing near to Him, Scripture alone is not the absolute measurement. We do not ask, "Is it Biblical?" Rather, we ask the question, "Is it Apostolic?" Today we discover what that question means and how Scripture does indeed fit into that most important question.

One of the ways God revealed Himself to His people in the Old Covenant was by giving them a Name by which to know and understand Him. In this Mass, He reveals to us that He is Jehovah Rophe. That Name in Hebrews means I AM healing, I am both Physician and Cure for my people. The context of His healing work in our lives is always relationship. Today we examine the relationship between the Great Physician and those with illness and disfigurement of soul, mind, and body. The One Who is healing is always pursuing us, knocking at the door to let Him come in and be Who He is for us. Are we responding to the knock; opening the door so that He can come in and heal?

The question is not, "What is our faith?" The question is, "Who is our faith?" If Christ our God is our faith, then it is most certainly our faith that defines us. We do not define the faith. And Christ our faith shares Himself with us. Christ our faith reveals to us who we truly are as a people who have been made one with Him. And this God shares with us that we are His children of the light; those who now call Him Abba, our Daddy.

Tradition in the Church is the deposit of faith. It is the revelation of Christ our God and His Kingdom to man for the salvation of souls. Tradition is the pure and perfect lens through which we understand the Nature of God and God's perspective on all things. Holy Scripture, for example, is an integral part of the Tradition of the Church but can only be understood correctly and clearly through the lens of this deposit of faith given to us from and kept by God the Holy Spirit. Today we seek to grow in our understanding of the miracle and blessedness of the Tradition of the Church.

Our Lord Jesus Christ, from the beginnings of the Church, poured out gifts and ministry so that each living stone in the Church could minister His salvation one to another and to this world. Satan used the humanity in the Church to twist those gifts into tools of division. St. Paul writes about this in Ephesians, 1 Corinthians, and Romans. In each of those writings, St. Paul corrects and exhorts the children of God giving them the remedy to this problem. Today we look at St. Paul's writing in Ephesians chapter 4. There the Apostle teaches the Church that the foundation for every ministry in Christ must match the Divine Nature of our Lord. That foundation is love which stands upon the pillars of the virtues of humility, meekness, and longsuffering.

Many outside of Orthodoxy wonder why the Orthodox Bible has more books than Bibles used by protestant Christians. Today, Fr. James Rooney takes us on a historical journey of the development of Holy Scripture beginning with the development of the Old Testament and ending with the New Testament. From that journey, we grow in understanding why the Church has always had the particular Canon of Holy Scripture through which God reveals Himself to the faithful.

In the Gospel of St. Matthew chapter 7, Jesus raises the son of the widow at the gate of the city of Nain. Two different processions of many people collide at the gate of Nain. One is a procession of life and consolation led by our Lord. The other is a funeral procession of death, great mourning, and suffering. As they meet, Christ our God is filled with compassion for the widow. He raises the son from the dead and, in doing so, takes away the source of her pain and suffering. While this is a real testimony of a miraculous work of our Lord, it is also the very story of our salvation as we meet with Christ at the gate of the city of Nain within our souls.

Living in America, particularly in middle America, the Orthodox Church seems to be a small portion of all who call themselves Christian. In reality, it is the second-largest body of Christians in the world. It is pre-denominational. What does that mean and what is the basis of this claim? Today Fr. James Rooney shares with us historical realities and understandings of our Faith that will help us all to answer the question, "What is the Orthodox Church?"

How often we are anxious and worried about our finances; sinking in the storm of concern that we will not have what we need when we need it. When we find ourselves burdened with such fears, it shows us that we have great room to grow in knowing God Whose very Nature is to provide. The antidote to all these fears is to make a path in our lives for the Lord our God to reveal Himself for Who He really is, the LORD our provider.

Just because we are in the Apostolic Church does not mean that we have the mind of Christ on the great theology, the revelation Christ has given of Himself and His salvation, that is kept therein. Today is an overview of the series "Giving Answers to Our Faith." As we look in this series at many topics in our Faith for which we are asked questions, the goal is that we grow deeper in an understanding of how our core beliefs and practices bring us into the experience of Christ that brings healing and salvation to our souls.

In the Gospel of St. Luke chapter 17, 10 lepers are healed by Christ. Only one turned back to give thanks to the Lord Who healed him. Giving thanks to God, a response that wells up from our souls and comes out of our mouths is a great and important part of the spirituality of the Christian. We were created in the beginning to be an expression of the Divine giving glory to God for all that He is and all that He does on behalf of mankind. Today, we are given help toward opening our eyes to see the many reasons we have to voice thanksgiving to God for all that He has done for us. And, in doing so, we grow in the enjoyment and knowledge of Him.

How do we perceive Jesus Christ our Savior? How do we know Him? And what to we understand His Nature and Disposition is toward us? How we see Him is directly proportional to how we see ourselves and how we respond to Him when we fail and fall short. Today, Jesus shows us His true nature in the telling of the Parable of the Good Samaritan. We must see Jesus correctly as He has revealed Himself to mankind. If we knew Him in that way, we would run not walk to Him when we fail. We would press toward Him for the healing He desires to work in us.