SNMOC - Lost that Christmas Spirit??? Find it Here!

So many of us go through the “holidays” running from one place to another in a mad dash to buy presents for everyone on their list; hoping to outdo the things that we did last year.  We seem to think that if we don’t get one child the same amount of “stuff” as the other child, then someone is going to get their feelings hurt or that someone is going to feel left out.  

So… we keep running from one place to the other, buying this and that; the latest and greatest “thing” that the modern world has to offer, and we think in the back of our minds that this year, we will finally catch that elusive “Christmas Spirit”… And wonder why we fail to do so in the end.  In fact, we find that all we’ve managed to do is teach our children how to imitate our own holiday neuroses and insecurities.  We have managed to perpetuate the very behavior that has been the cause of depression, anxiety and even suicides during this time of year.

It wasn't always like that... And it doesn't have to be like this anymore.

I'd like to share a word with you this Christmas.  St. John the Apostle wrote very succinctly the meaning of Christmas when he was inspired to write,

“For God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son, that whosoever should believe in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16

This is a gift that transcends all of history and all of what is to come.  His coming mended time itself. It cemented in place the bridge that Adam and Eve tore down.

He did not come for just some or a privileged few. He came that “all” would believe and partake of the greatest of all gifts.  The Father did not give his Son out of some feeling of “having to” or trying to outdo some other gift.  The Father gave this gift out of the greatest of all motivations… He did so out of love. How many Gods have ever done so much for their creation? How many kings gave up so much for so many? How many greats had become the least for you and me? How do we honor such sacrifice? We accept the gift and then we imitate it towards all. Not just some or a few... ALL...

The greatest gift we can give is our time, our love and our compassion for each other.   For Christmas this year, let your gift be this…

“That you love one another… as I have loved you.” John 13:34-35

Jesus said to His disciples,

“For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me. Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you  sick or in prison and visit you? And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”  Matthew 25:35-40

Dear ones… Go and be reconciled to that family member you haven’t spoken to in years. Sons and daughters, seek out your parents that you may be at odds with and forgive and be willing to be forgiven for the grievances of old. Time is brief and fleeting. Be thou imitations of Christ in all ways. LOVE can be a warm coat to a cold person. It can be a shelter for someone without a home. It can be the hand of reconciliation to one who thinks they are beyond reconciling. And it can be mercy where none could otherwise be found.

And to those that search and wander still for purpose and meaning in this life, wise men still seek Him (the Christ). If you want to truly experience the true reason for Christmas… Then ponder these words written above. Search your heart and you’ll find that Christmas begins with a King born of lowly means but of the greatest and noblest of reasons. Emmanuel means "God is with us". And He is and ever shall be.

What a strange beautiful, way to save the world…

Priest Benedict+
"A beggar who gives alms..."

SNMOC - Come to the Feast...

As we get closer to the Nativity Feast, it is a joy to participate regularly in the Holy Mysteries.

Many things work against us to try to take us away from the regular participation in the mysteries of the Faith. Take heart and have Faith.

Christ bids us to come to Him, all who are heavy laden and He will give us rest. Divine worship is also about laying down the things of the world and taking upon ourselves heavenly things. This is why confession is heard before the Liturgy. We are Christians who are witness to the miracle of the Eucharist; partakers of the Cup of salvation. Heaven draws near and we are truly amongst the angels and archangels. With them, Christ is in our midst.

A note: Tacitus opined that when the Romans wanted to arrest the Christians, he said that to do so, one merely had to discover the location where they met, because on Sunday, all of the Christians would be there. Not some... all of them. For it had become known that those who were not at the worship of the Church were not 'in' the Church.

A stunning thought. We do not live in the danger of the police coming to round us up because of what we believe and profess as Christians. Well not yet... But let us do as it is said in the Divine Liturgy, "Let us who mystically represent the cherubim and sing the thrice holy hymn to the Life-giving Trinity, now lay aside all earthly cares... As we prepare to receive the King of All who is upborne upon the heavenly host'...

"Let us lay aside all earthly cares"...

NEW!!! SNMOC - Coats & Churches: Church Shopping as a Modern American Phenomenon

We Americans and others shop for churches like we shop for coats. Does the coat suit me? Does it make me look good? Does it "feel" good? Is it agreeable to my own sensibilities? If we ask ourselves those same questions and simply substitute the word "church", We will find the crux of the issue. Does this church suit me? Does this church make me look good? Does it make me feel good? Does this church agree with my own sensibilities? Dear ones... with such an outlook, we are looking for the church created in our own image and not the Church that is the Body of Christ. Think upon this. To become part of Christ's Holy Church one must sacrifice his own image in order to take upon himself the image and likeness of Christ; for indeed we are called to become imitations of Christ in all that we do. Even unto the Cross.

SNMOC - A Word for the Day: Of the Importance of Roots...

 There once was a husbandman who decided one day to plant some trees upon his property. He took young and healthy saplings and planted them on his property. The soil where he planted them was rich and fertile and in the southernmost parts of his fields where there was ample light and frequent irrigation from the rains that would come.


In time, these trees grew into big and strong maples providing verdant foliage and abundant shade in the heat of the day. Many of the maples formed deep and massive roots that anchored them well into the soil, even down as far as the bedrock. However, some of the trees laid down only shallow, smaller roots that spread out far around them but had no depth.


When in time, the heavy thunderstorms came; the deeply rooted trees swayed to and fro in the winds and even lost some of their leaves, but they remained firmly rooted to the good earth and hence, they survived. The others with the shallow smaller roots were not as fortunate. They swayed to and fro in the winds as well but were eventually uprooted and blown away with the storms. Even though their roots extended out farther around them, they had no depth and were not anchored to the good soil beneath them.


Dear ones... Let us be as the trees with deep roots anchored firmly to the solid foundation of the Christian Faith. We have a fertile home of abundance if we would persevere and send our roots deep into the Faith as it was once delivered for all time. Let us not expend our time looking here and there and sending smaller, more tentative roots out towards alternatives and unproven havens. The sure foundation of the Orthodox Church is the safe harbor of our salvation in Jesus Christ. Let us cling to the bedrock of our salvation.



Benedict+

SNMOC - Claiming Poverty With Full Storehouses

Today's Message: A homily on Luke 12: 16-21. The parable that Christ presents describes the folly of the rich man who fills up his storehouses with things so that he can sit back and "eat, drink and be merry".
However, as Christ points out, it is his soul that is required of him and he has been found wanting.

SNMOC - For We Are Legion (Homily on the Gadarene Demoniac)

A homily regarding Christ's exorcism of the Gadarene Demoniac and what it tells us about God's sovereignty over all creation...

SNMOC - The Duty of the Sentinel (A Homily on Ezekiel)

A homily by Father Benedict Simpson on Ezekiel 33:1-9 regarding the duty of the sentinel to sound the warning at impending attack. Today, we are constantly assailed by the proclivities of a fallen age. The Christian must remember well the call to sound the alarm for even now, the enemy's sword is at the ready. Shall we sound the alarm even when it is uncomfortable or unfashionable to do so?

SNMOC - A Call to Repentance (A Homily on Corinthians 6:16-7:1) 10/20/2013

Paul's message to the Corinthians is timeless. He speaks of the need to come out of worldliness and desires for temporal things and to develop a desire for those things that do not decay. He calls us towards "genuine repentance", not just some emotional response to having done something wrong and feeling bad for it. Repentance is what you do to keep those sins from becoming habitual sins. How to deal with those sins that have already become habitual. Salvation is to be seen more as a journey rather than an ending destination. After all... it is the journey that gets us there.

SNMOC - Grace & the Law

“Camels, Needles & Good Advice!!!” A Homily on Matthew 19:16-26 by Priest Benedict (Simpson)

“Camels, Needles & Good Advice!!!”

A Homily on Matthew 19:16-26

by Priest Benedict (Simpson) of St. Nicholas of Myra Orthodox Church

Today's Gospel reading is one that has provoked more controversy than any other one in current memory. We have two particularly difficult passages that challenge us in their directness.

We are given the occasion of a young man's encounter with the Lord and a question that he asked of Christ. The man asks quite simply the million dollar question. “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” This is a simple enough query. It is to the point, direct, and succinct in it's simplicity. It is not a question asked in a way to test Christ. Indeed, the exact term use in the man's query of Christ includes the title preface, “Good Teacher”. This is significant. The man does not address Christ as “Rabbi” or “Lord”. His words betray his opinion of Christ. He regards Jesus as simply a “Good Teacher”; one who teaches good things to the people but no more and no less.

The answer he receives is just as direct. Christ tells the man to follow the commandments. “Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honor thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself”. To this, the man presses deeper and states, “All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?” Here is an interesting thing! The man is in all honesty genuinely seeking a necessary truth. Here is this man who we are told later in the narrative is wealthy and without earthly need. He lives a life of relative comfort has within him the knowledge of something of great worth that he needed but was lacking.

Christ now serves the man with the meat of the Gospel. This is a statement that cuts to the bone of the soul. Jesus answers the man by saying, “If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.” Now I ask you... Which of these two tasks is the most difficult? Many would say the first task! It is hard to fathom selling all that one has and giving the proceeds to the poor! What a thing to demand!!! I NEED my stuff! How will I live without all of my stuff? What a quandary!

St. John Chrysostom actually tells us that this first requirement is actually the easiest of the two tasks given to the man. To physically sell all that one owns or to give it away is actually physically easy! One simply has to scoop it up and give it away. Certainly this is within anyone's capacity... if simply the mind and the heart would not get in the way. Christ knew this and was very clever in His response. He had discerned the man's heart rightly in that the man was “possessed by his possessions.” His message in saying this was not to say that all Christians had to be penniless and without possessions. His message was catered to this man whose grasping at material things made it impossible for him to perceive that which he needed most. In reality, it is the second of the two things that is the most difficult.

The second thing Christ tells him is to “Follow Him”. Sounds simple enough on the surface but if one takes a look at the nature and the mission of Christ, they will understand that it is indeed this second requirement that is the most extreme. To follow Christ is to deny the self and take up your Cross and “follow Him”. Christ's journey had always led to the Cross. It is the sole event that Christ's ultimate mission is centered upon. To follow Christ is to accept a sacrifice of all that one has been before and taking up Christ's Cross upon their own selves. To this, the man walked away, dejected and in sorrow, for he could not relinquish the grasp of that which he thought he needed but in reality, would weigh him down into hell, itself.

In the man's leaving, the opportunity had come for teaching the disciples and those gathered the reason all of the above had transpired. Christ turned and said,”Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” Here is the enigmatic analogy that has really caused more confusion than it should. Some interpretations render the phrase as “rope” instead of camel due to the closeness in relation to the two root words for “camel” and “rope”. Still a nearly impossible task! However, the Peshitta (Aramaic translation) renders the phrase much more closely to an actual understandable idiom of the time that Christ lived. The phrase is thusly rendered, “camel through the eye of a gate...” Here lies a view that is supported by similar passages from the Torah regarding elephants and “eye”. The “eye of a gate” is the small opening whereby those who minded the main city gate might be able to open to allow passage of a very small person, item, or animal without having to open the main gates wide leaving the city vulnerable to attack. The main criteria for size would be to allow the passage, if just barely, of one camel after it has been divested or unloaded of all of its cargo and trappings. This last phrase is very telling! If the camel was still vested in all the cargo and freight that it had journeyed with, it would be unable to physically enter through this narrow gate. It is a truth that this fact should not be lost upon all of us who would seek after the Kingdom of Heaven.

So, what is it that you are carrying that you could not put down to follow Christ? Do we still yet cling to that which gives way to rust and decay whilst we forgo the true treasures of the Kingdom? Do we look upon that which the moth doth eat and the worm gnaws away instead of those imperishable things that are prepared for us already?

Let us be brilliant! Let us eschew that which is temporary, whatever it may be! We should not allow trivial things become stumbling blocks along the way that leads from here to Christ! The gate is narrow and the fit is tight enough without the baggage; but the reward of what lies beyond the gate is beyond imagination!

SNMOC Ears to Hear and a Tongue to Proclaim

A homily on the healing of the deaf/mute man in the book of Mark. How many of us have been healed of our spiritual deafness and muteness, and yet remain as we had never been healed???

SNMOC - Lamentation at the Triumphant Entry

SNMOC - But Everybody's Doing It" (Part 1)

SNMOC - "But Everybody's Doing It" (Part 2)

SNMOC - Love Is A Battlefield...

A homily regarding the Church's mission throughout the ages. Men and women have given their lives for the saving message of Christ. This love... what does it require of us as Christians today going forward?

SNMOC - Baptism and the Two-Fold Death to Sin

Orthodox In Dixie: A Video about the Eastern American Diocese Parishes in the Southern States of America

SNMOC - The Good Shepherd and the Lost Sheep

SNMOC - Come to the Feast!

Published on Jul 7, 2013

A homily on the Gospel reading for the second Sunday in Pentecost.
Christ's parable of the invitation to the Feast is symbolic of our
invitation to salvation and to join the Heavenly Feast. Father Benedict
talks about this invitation

Confessing Christ in a Hostile World

Pentecost: The Gifts of the Spirit (Episode 1: The Gift of Tongues)

Go Out Into All the World and... 06/13/2013 (Feast of the Ascension)

SNMOC - For A Little While

NEW!!! The Good Shepherd

Of Seeing and Believing

PASCHAL VIGIL SCHEDULE:
For those who wish to join us at St. Nicholas of Myra Orthodox Church for the Pascha Vigil, it will begin tonight at 12am at 2877 Estuary Drive Acworth, Georgia 30101. We are a home church for the immediate time being. We will be celebrating the breaking of the Lenten Fast and a blessing of any Easter Baskets that are brought. For more info, contact Fr. Benedict at 404.543.1289. Have a Blessed Pascha!!!

Little is Much... When God is In It (04/14/2013)

Today's homily on Laetare Sunday (Old Calendar). This is also known as the Sunday of the Five Loaves. The message comes from John 6:1-15. What God does with the Least, is the Greatest!!!

Satan, Get Thee Behind Me!

In Imitation of Christ

Facing the Devil in the Wilderness

Lent...Our Forty Day Journey into the Wilderness...

Flourishing Where God Plants You... The Parable of the Sower

The Parable of the Prodigal Son (Septuagesima Sunday)

The Parable of the Mustard Seed (February 24th, 2013)

The Wheat & the Tares (Sunday, February 17, 2013)

The Storm, the Boat & the Master (Sunday, February 10, 2013)

The Wedding at Cana (Sunday, January 28, 2013)

Why was Christ Baptized? (Theophany Sunday)

Orthodox in Dixie

The Presentation in the Temple (Sunday, January 13, 2013)

Today at St. Nicholas of Myra Orthodox Church (01/13/13)

Today at St. Nicholas of Myra Orthodox Church:  Divine Liturgy of St. Gregory the Great at 3pm.  Choir Practice at 2:00pm.  Servers are invited to meet at the Church (Acworth Church of God of Prophecy *Small Chapel) at 1:30pm for set up and confession.  Homily will be a verse by verse exposition (unfolding) of the Gospel of St. Luke 2:33-40.  Today, no Kyrie... Will be praying the Gelasian Sacramentary (Post 492 A.D)

Salvation Has Drawn Near... A Christmas Homily