What Is the Difference between Missions and Evangelism?
What do all these words mean? That will greatly help us understand the commission given to Christians to “go and make disciples…teaching them to observe”. And particularly, we need to look at the difference between missions and evangelism. Missions. Think of the word missive, as in ‘to send out a missive’. It is ‘to send’, […]
What Was the Gospel before the Gospel?
Trick question for you: what does it mean to “preach the gospel”? To tell others about the death and resurrection of Christ, right? Then, what did Jesus mean when he said to the disciples of John the Baptist: “‘The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead […]
The Ten Lepers and a Life of Thanksgiving
At the center of the gospel passage in Luke 17, about the ten lepers is the idea of thanksgiving. In the Old Testament Law, we see different kinds of sacrifices brought to the Tabernacle, and one of those is a thank-offering. The word “eucharist” means ‘thanksgiving’, and the connection between our thanksgiving/eucharist and the thank-offerings […]
The Secret Gifts of St. Nicholas
Even in our modern understanding of Saint Nicholas, that is, in all the movies and stories about Santa Claus, we have not forgotten one of the most important things about St. Nicholas, something that he did so much and so often, that it helps us know why he is such a shining star and saint […]
A Few Glimpses beyond Death
Here are some stories of what happens beyond the death of this body, and not mere stories, but ones passed down to us from the experience of the saints. A great place to start is to read the life of St. Theodora of Constantinople. But there are several more which are well worth mentioning…