Self-Directed Spirituality and Failure to See a Direct Benefit In his April 2023 article, “10 Reasons Church Attendance is Declining (Even for Committed Christians),” Carey Nieuwhof listed off several very well known reasons for declining attendance, however two in particular were very pertinent and often overlooked: Self-Directed Spirituality and Failure...
Reflections on Holy Week While every Holy Week and Resurrection service is beautiful, this year was especially memorable in that it was immensely joyful to see our church filled once again to celebrate this most important event of our Orthodox faith. COVID certainly has had an impact on all of...
Let Pascha Become Our Way of Life While there have been countless articles written about the joy of Christ’s Resurrection as our promise of salvation it bears repeating so that we understand why this event, our Lord’s Passion, Death and Resurrection is so significant for not only us as Orthodox...
What Happens During Great Lent? The services of Great Lent are constructed to aid us in a somber review of the gap between who we are and what we should be, as the image and likeness of God. The royal gates to the altar area remain closed as a physical...
The Faith Entrusted to Us In the 2020 census of the status of Eastern Orthodox Churches in America there was found a dramatic change in the Orthodox Church participation, mainly a decline of 14% in regular church attendance and 17% loss in members. While the Orthodox Church has struggled with...
Truth Matters As is probably no surprise to anyone, a recent study by Edelman’s annual Trust Barometer found that credibility in traditional media such as TV news, Radio, and Facebook, has declined to an all-time low with the following statistics: 56% of Americans agree with the statement that “Journalists and...
We once again celebrate Christmas, that is, the important and reverent festival of love and compassion of God. Within the brilliance of this joyful feast, Our Lord Jesus, the humble infant in the manger, carries the light-bearing essence of our lives. The Son and the Word of God, out of...
At one of my recent Sunday sermons, I spoke about the importance and impact that positive mentoring can have on retaining our young adults (25-40 years old) in our Annunciation church Community. This topic has been one of the issues this parish, along with many other in the Archdiocese, continue...
For obvious reasons, two of the most popular videos on our Church’s YouTube channel are, “It is Safe to Receive Holy Communion” and “How is Holy Communion prepared”, each of which have over 14,000 views. In these videos, I discuss the science and the faith of receiving Holy Communion. In...
This month in light of the events occurring in our country calling for justice, immediate change, and no less than a tearing down of established institutions, I wanted to explore two quotes, one from the Old Testament and the other from one of Orthodoxy’s prolific saints in an effort to...