Barnabas Powell's Blog, page 3
September 8, 2023
Thinking Like Jesus Thinks – Happy Marymas!
How do you think? Or, a better question is, What has formed the way you think? SDcientists call this question “epistemology” from the Greek word “episteme.” How you think flows from what has shaped how you think. So, what do you allow to shape your thinking? Because how you think, and what you think shapes your choices, attitudes, and decisions. It’s the reason why the Church’s wisdom on repentance is so foundational…
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September 7, 2023
Knowing Your Freedom in Christ
There was a day when I relished a good theological argument. Jousting with this or that “opponent” over this or that doctrine was as much fun as it was challenging. My favorite fights were over questions about the Trinity or predestination or even the very question about what was salvation anyway. I’d pour over scriptures read books about apologetics and hone my “arguments” until I thought they were ironclad! And then I’d…
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September 6, 2023
The Stone Rejected Has Become the Cornerstone – Sunday Homily
Your life is a gift from the God Who loves you. The Creator has allowed you to be His tenants of His world, and all He asks is that we remember that our life is gift and return gratitude to the Creator, not for His benefit (He needs nothing) but for our benefit. When confronted with the ugly unfaithfulness of ungrateful “tenants” the shortsighted leaders attacking Christ condemn themselves. Learn the power…
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How Can Suffering Make You Perfect?
The word “asceticism” is something of a mystery to our modern way of life. We have lived with such plenty and such amazing comfort and ease for so long that now we assume that all of life is meant to be pain (and even effort) free. Just consider our attitudes towards marriage. We assume that marriage is meant to “fulfill us” or “complete us” as if the Hollywood version of romantic love…
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September 5, 2023
It Isn’t Easy, But It Is Good!
Every parent has heard themselves say this at one time or another: “If you two don’t stop bickering, I’ll stop this car and punish you both!” I mean, surely I’m not the only one! Please tell me I’m not the only dad that has threatened this! Seriously, as parents, we really do set expectations of behavior for our children. One of the most fundamental tasks of parenting is to both model and…
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September 4, 2023
I Don’t Seek Yours; I Seek YOU!
Steve Jobs said ” Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.” So true. Most of us are far too comfortable with mediocrity or “that’s good enough.” Because of this, we get a life that never is pressed to discover its potential, the possibilities. What a waste. This addiction to mediocrity is a symptom of pride! And yet, because we are so comfortable with…
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September 1, 2023
A New Year! Let’s Be Peaceful
Today marks the start of a new Church Year on the Orthodox calendar, and, like all New Year’s celebrations, this offers us a moment to reflect and reorient our actions and our attitudes to a more peaceful life. And in the midst of this chaotic age of “us vs. them” and “Red vs. Blue” and “Right vs. Left” and all the other ways we use our fantasy words to belong to tribes…
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August 31, 2023
Making The Hard Decision to Change
I was watching a well-known leadership teacher speak recently (I like to keep up with this world since I find this both helpful and cautionary) and he was commenting about the necessity of making decisions to change. And he used some commonly heard excuses about why someone doesn’t live up to their potential: “I am not a leader. Then CHANGE and become a leader!” I get where he’s coming from and I…
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August 30, 2023
Where Are You At War With Yourself?
Unity is a concept that is as old as humanity. It permeates the stories of history, the attaining of unity, the betrayal of unity, and the loss of unity. American money has this motto printed on each bill “E Pluribus Unum” – Out of the Many One. Sadly, our motto seems to be a faraway wish in light of our divisive society today. Unity means strength. Division means destruction or loss or…
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August 29, 2023
More Than Good Intentions!
I knew a man once who loved to hear sermons about fire and brimstone. He was himself, an indulgent man who wasted his life on behaviors that we should not talk about in polite company. And yet, every year he went to the annual “revival meetings” at a church he had gone to in his youth, looking forward to hearing about the fires of hell and the impending judgment God was to…
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