Doulos

Do you ever get the feeling that the more you own, the more it owns you?  Why are we so tempted by accumulation? What do our cupboards, closets,  garages, and storage units reveal about our trust in the Lord's provision? How do we faithfully steward what the Lord so generously provides?

Professional organizer, Presvytera Stacey Dorrance, reflects on the teaching of Jesus who instructed, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume . .  but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven." (Matt 6:19-20)

We love leaders with vision and clarity, assuring us of the certain path ahead. The Gospel writers challenge the certainty of the religious leaders by offering a clear and simple vision of mercy - expressing gratitude for the mercy received and extending mercy to others.  

Fr. Timothy Lowe shares the perspective of The Blind Man from the Gospel of John. Jesus extends mercy, bringing sight to the blind and revealing the blindness of those who presume to see through the certainty of self-righteousness. 

Like Samson, it's easy to be blinded by poor choices, bad habits, and neglect of the vocation to which the Lord calls us. And like Samson's story, the Lord's strength is revealed despite our unfaithfulness. Samson's sacred vocation is finally realized in bringing down the entire structure of disloyalty and idolatry, crashing down even upon his own head. 

Samson and Delilah's story, like many others in the Bible, provide a clear warning and an opportunity to reflect, repent, and realign priorities to the Lord's priorities. Fr. Dustin Lyon shares the Lord's hope for the next generation through the telling of this sacred vocation.

Making excuses comes almost as naturally as eating or sleeping, and it begins at a young age.  We are wired to cover our sins with self-justification and shifting blame. But for a doulos charged with service in the Lord's household, there is no room for excuses. Jesus offers wholeness and new life, demonstrated by the story in John's Gospel of the paralytic man who was healed despite the excuses and presumed accountability to the old way of life.  

Fr. Timothy Lowe shares how with this new life comes freedom from excuses and new accountability to walk in the life-giving commandments and to "Go and sin no more." 

Is cheer and gladness a prerequisite to giving and tithing? Or might obedience to the Lord's instruction to give alms and tithe foster true cheer and gladness? In any case, Fr. Patrick O'Grady warns against any transactional approach to tithes and offerings.  Rather, in response to the philanthropy of God, the One who loves mankind, we are invited to act in kind. 

Fr. Patrick O'Grady, pastor of St. Peter the Apostle Antiochian Church, opens the Wisdom of Sirach and shares the story of St. Philaret to encourage generous giving with cheer and gladness.  

Loyalty, faithfulness, and reliability is what every servant leader pledges, just as Peter assured Jesus, "Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!”  Yet that very night, after invoking a curse and anathema upon himself that Peter knew not the arrested Jesus, the words of Jesus, "Before the rooster crows you will deny me three times," were made manifest. Fr. Timothy Lowe suggests that arrogance must run its full course so that our only hope is in the mercy of the Lord. 

We all want a champion for our cause.  But a naked man hanging dead from a cross doesn't look like a winner. Even the disciple Peter rebuked Jesus who foretold of his suffering in Jerusalem by the elders, chief priests, and scribes.

Who among us doesn't pay good money to protect, preserve, and champion our beliefs, our way of life, our prestige? Perhaps Judas sought to protect religiosity or force the hand of Jesus against the Roman occupation or was simply captivated by his own greed when he betrayed Jesus. Regardless, the will of the Father was accomplished through Jesus Christ, the ultimate Champion on the cross. 

Fr. Robert Holet, DMin, author of The First and Finest: Orthodox Christian Stewardship as Sacred Offering, discusses Judas's entanglement with money and his ultimate betrayal of an innocent man.

Psalm 51, a prayer of repentance so familiar to Orthodox Christians, teaches the double-edged wisdom of judgment and hope. Fr. Paul Lundberg suggests the psalm provides sobriety and a connection to the grace of humility, essential for anyone who wants to take leadership seriously, and to do it well. With "my sins ever against me" and acknowledging that "against Thee only have I sinned," does self-absorption run its course, realizing that our only hope is the hesed, the mercy of the Lord.

If you want like to learn more about current Biblical Hebrew or Greek course offerings as this podcast mentions, please contact Fr. Timothy Lowe. 

From the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches private prayer and gives us the words to pray in "Our Father." A discipline of prayer, meditating on the words of Scripture, transforms a doulos who serves in the Lord's household, to seek and do His Father's will.  Prayer supports the transformational process of self-emptying, where we might truly pray, "Not my will, but Thine be done."

Michelle Moujaes, Director of Faithtree Resources, shares The Encounter - a prayer book, app, and community initiative to support a discipline of transformational prayer.

Leaders feel exposed and vulnerable when they must forge ahead, so they surround themselves with people they can trust. But no one trusts a leader who derails the mission to the community in order to accomplish a personal mission of power and control. When loyalty is tested and allegiance demanded, only fear and jealousy of the leader is revealed just as we see in the story of King Saul. 

Andrea Bakas demonstrates how the Book of Samuel subtly reveals even our own lust for power as we find ourselves rooting for the young David and his rise to power against the suspicious and paranoid King Saul.  We quickly forget that the Lord warns his people about their rebellion against Him in seeking an earthly king who constantly abuses his power on the backs of those he rules.