Barnabas Powell's Blog, page 9
June 23, 2023
You Have to Choose Sides!
It was a defining moment in the Old Testament when, at the end of Joshua’s life, he apportioned the land of Israel among the 12 tribes. Joshua was Moses’ successor and had led the tribes of Israel since entering the Promised Land. He and his people had driven out the pagan inhabitants of the land and began to create a great nation that was committed to following the Torah and being faithful…
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June 22, 2023
More Valuable Than Many Sparrows
The gradual shift in modern educational philosophy to a “self-esteem” emphasis is complete. From the math standards that discourage teachers from “correcting” incorrect answers to the ball fields where “we don’t keep score” so no one “feels” bad, this shift is now producing consequences of its own. In fact, some have come to call the modern generation the “snowflake” generation because these young people have all been told they are just like a…
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June 21, 2023
He Who Endures
William Barclay once said, “Endurance is not just the ability to bear a hard thing, but to turn it into glory.” Of course, we’ve heard this most of our lives. We have to stick with it. We can’t give up. We give up just when the breakthrough is coming. And all the other inspirational quotes we can muster to teach each other to keep trying; don’t give up. But sometimes, that misses…
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June 20, 2023
Knowing When It’s Time to Go
Sometimes you just gotta cut your losses! But how do you do that, especially when emotions are involved? And especially when you don’t know yourself well enough to see the end of your personal talents and gifts in a given situation! It seems I was at a very familiar place in my life. Being someone who loves to help and loves to be seen as a benefit in someone else’s life, I…
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June 19, 2023
Love Is A Choice to Obey
At the risk of really dating myself with this movie reference, I remember the movie “Love Story” and the famous line from the film “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.” Hey, it was the early 70s and we were just coming out of the tumultuous 60s. We needed a bit of saccharine sweetness! But does love really mean never having to say you’re sorry? Really? Is our understanding of authentic love really…
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June 17, 2023
The Parish As Steward – A Special Lecture
How (and why!) do we transform our communities from being inward-focused to outward facing? In our keynote address, Fr. Barnabas Powell of Sts. Raphael, Nicholas, and Irene GOC of Cumming, GA (http://stsrni.org) and Faith Encouraged Ministries (http://faithencouraged.org) challenge the parish leadership of the communities within the Metropolis of Pittsburgh to look to the needs of our local communities and people, who thirst for the “Church of the Living God, the Pillar and…
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June 16, 2023
What You Loves Shapes Who You Are – Sunday Homily
On All Saints Sunday, we find ourselves in an increasingly “enchanted” world. If we are ever going recover the centrality of Christ in our lives, we are going to have to avoid the temptations to idolatry in worshiping false gods, it is going to be by loving God with all our hearts, souls, and minds. Learning to love God more than anything else is the most important purpose of your life. https://youtu.be/kh6pNAzx24s
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God’s Grace Is Inexhaustible
“As Your grace cannot be fathomed, so Your mercy cannot be measured…” With these words, I invited this very precious person to confess her sins. We were at confession and this was the very first time she had ever done this before. And even though she had grown up in the Orthodox Church her whole life, she had never been to confession. She thought she was worthless. She thought all her bad…
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June 15, 2023
Have You Been “Saved?”
“Have you been saved?” The sincere lady was looking intently at me and waiting for my answer to her probing question. You see, she was “witnessing” to me in hopes I would be “saved.” Most of us have either experienced this sort of question or know someone who has been asked this at one time or another. And, in my old way of Faith, I would have proudly answered “Yes, I’m saved.”…
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June 14, 2023
The True God Changes Everything
The truth is you will never develop or mature beyond your idea of who and what God is. The old gods of the pagans were little more than really powerful humans, and it seemed the whole point of worshiping these gods was to get them to “like” you so they would either leave you alone or give you a prize! All those ideas crumbled when the Christian Faith upended the pagan world.…
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