One way to handle the secularization or, depending on your source, (re)paganization of the Christmas holiday is to become a reactionary. This may not be the best option, but it is a valid one. Everyone’s tempted by something. Being a reactionary has never brought me many favors, but we’re pals nonetheless. Back in 1997 our daughter came home from day care and informed us that her class wasn’t doing just one Christmas that year. Rather, they were going to be... Read more

By now, no doubt, most have heard about the Houston Bathroom Kerfuffle. I rarely mention the loo in sermons << and I held a serious pause after even writing that! But I suspect that bathrooms have been mentioned quite a bit of late in the pulpits of ol’ H-Town. The problem is much bigger than the John, though.  It may even predate the need to “move” altogether. Here’s the blurb and link to yesterday’s sermon: Houston made the news recently—a... Read more

I was blessed to be with the fine folks of St Luke Orthodox Church, Garden Grove, California for a retreat — Fire From Ashes — last Saturday. The trip also served as a daddy-daughter date with my 12 year old.  Think 12 hours:  Disneyland 😛 Other than the Antiochian Archdiocese Convention — Palm Desert, 2009 — it was my first time back in Southern California in 30 years. I lived in Pasadena one summer, back in 1982, and in Buena... Read more

So I’m sitting in my office at church, glancing – every now and then – out of my window, awaiting the faithful to show for Adult Class on a Tuesday morning. There’s a homeless guy. He’s staggering up the drive toward the church. He’s drinking a tall can of beer. It’s 9:40 AM. I observe him … one big gulp … 2nd gulp … 3 sip’s a charm … AARGH! Breakfast of champions. He then crushes the can and flings... Read more

It was a dark and gloomy morning, 5:10 AM, before the light of day, the branches of live oaks arching over the streets of Southwest Houston … Off in the distance … a Van, with only one living headlight shining cock-eyed; the 1980’s vehicle is swerving from side to side scrambling down the street, tires squealing — slowing, stopping, starting — darting, all the while humming projectiles from open windows. As it lumbers closer (wait. lumbers is not quite right)... Read more

On the Ex Libris podcast, Bobby Maddex interviews Fr Joseph Huneycutt and Steve Robinson, authors of the new Ancient Faith Publishing book Fire from Ashes: The Reality of Perpetual Conversion. The captions above are the Questions … for the Answers – listen to the interview HERE. Read more

The Orthodox Clergy Association of Southeast Texas is sponsoring a gathering at St George/Houston tomorrow evening, Friday – September 5th, concerning the situation in the Middle East: “The Silent Holocaust – The Persecution of Christians in the Middle East” Fr George Dahdouh and I were interviewed by a local public radio station yesterday as a way of getting the word out. Your prayers! You can skip ahead 7 minutes or so … to bypass the Assyrian woman’s speech at a... Read more

Back when I was young, summers were free — Alice Cooper sang about school being out FOREVER — and the warm days of class-less youth were spent in the sun, at the beach, on family vacation, perhaps the mountains, with more TV than normal and, of course, general boredom disguised as perfect freedom. These days, not so much. The public schools assign HOMEWORK over the summer! My son, now a junior in high school, had to read three books —... Read more

Ever wonder where sermons come from? The answer is, of course, a good hot shower … but more on that later. Currently, I’ve got a homelitical dilemma playing out … You see, I’m the Candy Man. I got this idea years ago from an old priest up at Holy Trinity Monastery, Jordanville – NY. Fr Vasiliy was kinda scary looking – yet, all the children came running up to him to get a blessing. Odd. I found him a bit... Read more

  1. Who is Orthodox Christian Supply and how did your company get its start? Our company grew out of our love for Orthodoxy beauty. The staple product offered by Orthodox Christian Supply, our traditional panel icon, was the catalyst for beginning our business. This was the case in that we really wanted to present a reproduction icon to the market that still maintained many of the qualities and presence of icons painted throughout antiquity. We have been making this... Read more