Saint Sophia Blog (All Categories) - Page 289 of 354

Marketing the Church: “Mad Men” or “Holy Heralds” (Part I)

07/15/2014

By Father Frank Marangos One of the objectives of many churches is to attract people who do not participate in the life of a church. According to Barna Group Research data (2011) 28% of the adult population has not attended any church activities, including worship services, in the past six months. That translates to nearly 65 million adults. When their children under the age of 18 who live with them are added to the picture,

The False Self Follows Us

07/14/2014

The heart of the Christian ascesis is the struggle with our unconscious motivations. If we do not recognize and confront the hidden influences of the emotional programs for happiness, the false self will adjust to any new situation in a short time and nothing is really changed. If we enter the service of the Church, the symbols of security, success, and power in the new milieu will soon become the new objects of our desires.

Reaching Out

07/11/2014

What does it mean to live a life in the Spirit of Jesus Christ? It is a personal [question], a [question] born out of struggles which in the first place were and still are my own. But during the years it became more and more clear that by deepening these struggles, by following them to their roots, I was touching a level where they could be shared….the quest for an authentic Christian spirituality is worth

God and Caesar (Part I): The Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Caesar

07/10/2014

‘From now on politics will be our religion’; so wrote Feuerbach, a little before Marx socialized God. And looking now at the emptiness created by industrial civilization, we can see how right he was. With the headlong progress of technology and the development of global civilization, there is a greater need than ever for a sense of purpose, the influence of the Spirit, a new marriage covenant between the human race and the earth. Our

ON THE SINS OF OTHERS AND ONE’S OWN

07/09/2014

Now that you have thus become aware of your own wretchedness, your insufficiency, and your wickedness, you call upon the Lord as did the Publican (Luke 18: 13): God, be merciful to me a sinner. And you add: Behold, I am far worse than the Publican, for I cannot resist eyeing the Pharisee askance, and my heart is proud and says: I thank Thee that I am not like him! But, say the saints, now

The Open Porches of the Mind: On Silence and Noise (Part I)

07/08/2014

The result of justice will be silence and trust forever. -Isaiah 32:17 Let stillness be the criterion for assessing everything. -Evagrius If you love truth, love silence. -Isaac the Syrian THE BLACKBIRD SINGING With hopes of teaching them all how to draw, Kathleen Norris stands before her classroom of elementary school students. She recounts in Amazing Grace her remarkable way of going about this. Before teaching them to draw, she first needs to teach them

Me, My “Selfie,” and I

07/07/2014

By Fr. Vasile Tudora “They say—and I am willing to believe it—that it is difficult to know yourself—but it isn’t easy to paint yourself either.” Vincent van Gogh, letter to his brother, September 1889 The self-portrait genre has been around from the very beginning of art. It was used to identify the artist, when no photography existed, or to tell one’s story in a visual manner or to dive deep into one’s existential struggles. Some

A July Fourth, 2014, Meditation

07/04/2014

George Washington1st U.S. President “While we are zealously performing the duties of good citizens and soldiers, we certainly ought not to be inattentive to the higher duties of religion. To the distinguished character of Patriot, it should be our highest glory to add the more distinguished character of Christian.”—The Writings of Washington, pp. 342-343. John Adams2nd U.S. President and Signer of the Declaration of Independence “Suppose a nation in some distant Region should take the

The Cruciform Pattern to Reality

07/03/2014

The Cruciform Pattern to Reality The Gospel of Mark is the shortest gospel and likely the oldest. In many ways it is the simplest and clearest, and it cuts the hardest because it is so utterly without frills. The more that commentators have studied this gospel, the more they have found that the way in which Mark put events together is trying to say a lot about the centrality of suffering and the cross. By

Liberation from our Enslavement

07/02/2014

Once we have become aware of our enslavement, and have passed from mere lamentation and a sense of misery into a sense of broken heartedness and poverty of spirit, our imprisonment in the land of Egypt is answered by the words of the next beatitudes: ‘Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted’, ‘Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth’. This mourning that is the result of the discovery of

Blog

Marketing the Church: “Mad Men” or “Holy Heralds” (Part I)

The False Self Follows Us

Reaching Out

God and Caesar (Part I): The Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Caesar

ON THE SINS OF OTHERS AND ONE’S OWN

The Open Porches of the Mind: On Silence and Noise (Part I)

A July Fourth, 2014, Meditation

The Cruciform Pattern to Reality

Liberation from our Enslavement

Categories

Archives

View Our Live Stream Services

Keep In Touch

Stewardship Application

Daily Meditations

Worship Schedule

Light a Virtual Candle

Text-to-Give in 2 easy steps!

1) Text 202-899-7801 to include your donation amount

2) Follow the link to complete the one-time registration