Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - July 19, 2020

A brief reflection on the nature of power and authority and the difference between the two according to the Scriptures; how they differ from the world’s understanding and practice; and how understanding the difference should shape our thoughts and actions. 

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Referenced Scriptures

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Power: Matthew 6:13, Romans 1:20, Acts 3:1-12, Ephesians 3:14-20, 

Authority: Matthew 9:5-8

Power and Authority: Luke 4:31-36, Luke 9:1-6, Luke 10:17-20, Ephesians 1:51-21

Christ and Worldly Power/Authority: Matthew 4:8-11, Luke 4:5-8, John 18:33-37, John 19:10-11

Misunderstanding/Wrong Desire of/for Power: Acts 8:9-23  

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - July 12, 2020

A brief reflection on why understanding and experiencing beauty is formational to gaining and sustaining a repentant heart.

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Referenced Scriptures

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Repentance: Mark 1:14-15, Matthew 27:3-4, Matthew 6:21, Matthew 13:45-46, John 10:10, Psalm 50 LXX/51

Beauty: Genesis 13:1-13, 2 Samuel 11:2-5/2 Kingdoms 11:2-5, Isaiah 53:1-12 (see verse 2), 1 Kingdoms/1 Samuel 16:7

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - June 28, 2020

For this week’s class, I will be offering a brief reflection on what it is to be a true disciple of Christ in today’s world, and what this is in practice regarding money, authority and obedience, and our spiritual disciplines.

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Referenced Scriptures

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Hebrews 4:12-13, Matthew 28:19, Matthew 10:24-27, Matthew 7:7, John 15:5, Romans 7:15-20, Matthew 16:24-27/Luke 9:23-26, Matthew 6:24, Luke 14:25-33, 1 Timothy 6:7-10, Mark 12:41-44, Mark 10:17-31, Acts 18:24-28, Romans 13:1-7, Titus 3:1, 1Timothy 2:1-3, 1 Kingdoms/Samuel 24:1-8

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - June 21, 2020

For this week’s class, I will be offering a brief reflection on Christ’s teaching on the importance of choosing and using our words carefully and responsibly, and why not doing so harms others and condemns ourselves in the process.

Relevant Scriptures

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Matthew 12:36-37, Matthew 15:18-20, James 3:1-12, Ephesians 4:29, Proverbs 15:4, Proverbs 18:21, Luke 12:2-3, Jude 1:9-11 

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - June 14, 2020

For this week’s class, I will be offering a brief reflection on our heart’s desire to be well; why wellness of body, mind, heart, and soul, is something that has always been understood within Orthodoxy; how today’s science supports what we have already known; and why true wellness is difficult for us to achieve.

Relevant Scriptures

John 5:1-15, Luke 17:11-19, Mark 12:30, Deuteronomy 6:5

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - June 7, 2020

For this week’s class, I will be offering a brief reflection on the sacrilegious nature of racism, how and why we have always had a great inability to deal with differences in general, and how changed hearts through God’s love is the only pathway to healing.

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Relevant Scriptures

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Galatians 3:24, Matthew 5:17-18, Mark 12:29-31, John 13:34/John 15:12, Deuteronomy 10:17, 1 Kingdoms or 1 Samuel 16:7, John 7:24, Acts 10:34, Romans 2:11, Galatians 3:28, Genesis 11:1-9, Acts 17:26-28, Luke 17:11-19, Luke 10:25-37, John 4:1-42, Matthew 7:1, Genesis 1:26, John 14:6, 1 John 4:8

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - May 31, 2020

For this week’s class, I will be offering a brief reflection based on how we all hide in plain sight at times, projecting to the outside world that all is well while hiding our struggles; and how in doing so we miss opportunities to put Christ’s teachings into practice and deprive others of a chance to do the same for us. 

Relevant Scriptures

Galatians 6:2-5, Mark 12:29-31, John 13:34/John 15:12, Matthew 11:28-30, Luke 18:9-14, Matthew 7:4-5, Genesis 3:8-10, Matthew 7:24-27, Matthew 23:23, Isaiah 20:2-4, 1 Corinthians 13:12, James 1:27

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - May 24, 2020

For this week’s class, we are altering the format slightly. We will not be using Zoom and will be returning to OCN’s Facebook live. Also, instead of a one hour class, I will be offering a briefer reflection based on how understanding God’s nature and living out this understanding daily helps us maintain our well-being during this time of national and global crisis.

Relevant Scriptures

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Psalms ``7:17, John 8:58, Exodus 3:14, Matthew 6:11, Matthew 6:31-34, John 10:30, Philippians 4:6-7

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - May 10, 2020

St. Cyprian famously said “No one can have God for his Father, who does not have the Church for his mother.” We are in a dark time right now with the impact of the coronavirus keeping us from our spiritual mother, the Church. We miss her, and although technology permits us to “stay in touch,” and have a long distance relationship, it is not the same. Our mother, the Church, nurtures us through the Sacraments and by providing us sacred space filled with beauty the eye sees and the heart experiences. Fyodor Dostoevsky also wrote,“Beauty will save the world,” so this Sunday will focus on the beauty of the Church’s spiritual motherhood, the masculine and feminine nature of God, and Mary, the Theotokos.

Relevant Scriptures

These scriptures will be referenced in the lesson if you wish to read them ahead of class: Genesis 1:26-28, Genesis 2:4-25, Luke 1:26-38, Romans 5:14, 1 Corinthians 15:45, Matthew 19:1-10,

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - May 3, 2020

All the accounts of the risen Christ in the Gospels show Him to be initially unrecognizable, and then recognized differently by different people and in different ways. In this week’s class, we will examine these accounts in-depth, discuss the obstacles that kept those in the Gospels who encountered the risen Christ from recognizing Him initially, explore the differences in each account, and discuss how these same obstacles apply to us today in terms of recognizing Christ in our lives. 

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Relevant Scriptures 

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These scriptures will be referenced in the lesson if you wish to read them ahead of class: Mark 16:9-14, Mark 1:35, Luke 24:13-35 , John 14:27, Luke 24:36-49 , John 5:39 , John 20:1-19 , Luke 8:1-3, John 10:3, Matthew 28:1-10 , John 20:19-28 , John 21:1-14 

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - April 26, 2020

Prior to His crucifixion and resurrection, many saw Christ with their eyes but did not truly understand who He was and the nature of His purpose. All of the accounts of the risen Christ in the Gospels show Him to be initially unrecognizable, and then recognized differently by different people and in different ways. In this week’s class, we will examine these accounts, and see why to recognize Christ is not a matter of the eyes or the physical senses, but truly a matter of the heart. 

Relevant Scriptures 

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These scriptures will be referenced in the lesson if you wish to read ahead: John 1:37-39, John 1:6-9, John 8:12 , John 9:5 , Genesis 1:3 , Revelation 21:22-23 , John 14:6 , Matthew 11:15 , Deuteronomy 29:4 , John 12:35-36, John 12:37, John 12:40 , John 20:1, Mark 16:9-14, Luke 24:13-35 , John 14:27, Luke 24:36-49 , John 5:39 , John 20:1-19 , John 10:3, Matthew 28:1-10 , John 20:19-28 , John 21:1-14 

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - April 12, 2020

The world has been brought to its knees in both fear and prayer, but will it stay as prayerful when the threat of the coronavirus subsides. On Palm Sunday, we will explore the examples of courage and humility in the Gospel and how they pertain to the situation we find ourselves in today.

Relevant Scriptures 

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These scriptures will be referenced in the lesson if you wish to read ahead: John 10:33-35, Psalm 82:6, John 21:18, Deuteronomy 31:6 , Joshua 1:5-9, Romans 8:31-32, Hebrews 13:5-6, Psalm 46:10/Psalm 45:11 LXX, Matthew 14:27, John 16:33 , 1 John 4:17-19, Mark 10:32-45, John 17:12-16, John 11:1-44, John 12:1-18, John 13:1-17, Luke 22:39-46 , Isaiah 53:4, Hebrews 4:15

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - April 5, 2020

“Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace always in every way. The Lord be with you all.” (2 Thessalonians 3:16). We are in a troubling time with the coronavirus that threatens our lives and physical, emotional, and financial health. This is exacerbated by necessary social distancing which protects us but also robs us of both the ability to worship together in person, and the needed comfort of the physical presence of our loved ones. These conditions can easily create fear, anxiety, depression, and panic. All of these circumstances are very real and need to be taken seriously. However, this is also an opportunity to ask ourselves some difficult questions, look deeper into what is occurring to better understand it, and in doing so gain a measure of the Lord’s peace. In this class we will discuss the coronavirus in the context of death and mortality; healthy and unhealthy fear; plagues, evil and God’s will; humility and repentance; communion, distancing, and loving one another; and God’s judgement and love.

Suggested Scripture

2 Thessalonians 3:16, John 14:27, Philippians 4:6-7

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - March 29, 2020

“Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name…” (Philippians 2:9). When we pray the Jesus Prayer we are calling upon the name of the Lord. We are taught in the Scripture above that the name of Jesus is the name above all names. What does it mean to pray in the name of Jesus as the Apostles did throughout the book of Acts and as they taught in the Epistles? Praying in God’s name is also found throughout the Old Testament. Why are we instructed to pray in God’s name when we pray? In this Sunday’s class, we will explore the power and meaning of praying in the name of Jesus, the sacredness and meaning of names in general, and why this is particularly relevant in times like this when the coronavirus and all of its unknowns and implications threaten to overwhelm us at times. 

Suggested Scripture

Philippians 2:9-10, Genesis 4:26, Romans 10:13, Joel 2:32, Exodus 3:13-14, John 8:57-59, Matthew 14:22-27, Matthew 1:21/Luke 1:31, Luke 10:17, John 14:13-14, Acts 3:6-7

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - March 22, 2020

“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” The Jesus Prayer is sometimes referred to as the Prayer of the Heart. Both the Holy Fathers and contemporary science have a lot to say about what the heart really is and the effects of prayer. In this week’s class we will continue our discussion on the Jesus Prayer. We will explore why it is called the Prayer of the Heart, what the heart is, the spiritual power of Jesus’s name and names in general, and the different stages of prayer we encounter in the practice of the Jesus Prayer.

Suggested Scripture

Matthew 6:7-8, Philippians 2:9-10, Luke 10:17, John 14:13-14, Acts 3:6-7, Luke 18:38, Luke 17:13, Luke 18:14, 1 John 1:8, Luke 15:32, Galatians 4:6

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - March 15, 2020

“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” After the Lord’s Prayer, the Jesus Prayer and all of its variations is probably the most well-known and most used prayer by the Orthodox faithful. In this week’s class, we will begin our discussion on this prayer and its scriptural roots, the power of the name Jesus, meditative and contemplative prayer in the Orthodox Christian tradition, and, most importantly, what prayer does to us terms of our union with God. We will compare and contrast revelation versus cognition, and discuss what the Holy Fathers taught about our nous, the innermost part of who we are, and referred to often in English as either the heart, the mind, or the “eye of the soul.”

Suggested Scripture

Matthew 6:7-8, Philippians 2:9-10, Luke 10:17, John 14:13-14, Acts 3:6-7, Luke 18:38, Luke 17:13, Luke 18:14, 1 John 1:8, Luke 15:32, Galatians 4:6

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - March 1, 2020

“…Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” In this week’s lesson, we will unpack the meaning of these last three parts of the Lord’s Prayer. We will discuss how we should understand the Greek word used for ‘daily bread,’ discuss why ‘lead us into temptation’ is often misunderstood and what it really means, why ‘evil one’ is a better translation than just ‘evil,’ and why Christ choose those words. Time permitting we will discuss prayer and fasting, how Christ prayed and then transition to the Jesus Prayer and meditative and contemplative prayer in the Orthodox Christian tradition. Whatever we do not cover this week, we will cover in our next class(es).

Suggested Scripture

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John 6:51-56, Matthew 5:43-45, Matthew 5:23-24, Mark 11:25-26, James 1:13, Matthew 26:41, 1 Peter 5:8, Matthew 17:14-21, Acts 13:2

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - February 23, 2020

“...prayer ought to be the center of our lives – be we clergy or laity in our search for spirituality – union with God." (Bishop John of Amorion). Last week we began our discussion of how to pray with a particular focus on the Lord’s Prayer, how to pray this prayer taught to us by Christ Himself, and what each part of it really means. In this week’s class we will extend our discussion of the Lord’s Prayer, and then move to the Jesus Prayer and meditative and contemplative prayer in the Orthodox Christian tradition. We will continue to share our experience of prayer and how to deepen our prayer life to enter into greater union with God. 

Suggested Scripture

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Matthew 5:43-45, Matthew 6:5-7, Matthew 21:21-22, Mark 11:25-26, John 14:12-14, Matthew 17:14-21

Matthew 26:41, Matthew 21:12-14, Matthew 26:36-39, Luke 22:41-44, Luke 6:12-16, Mark 1:35

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - February 16, 2020

“Because prayer is a living reality, a deeply personal encounter with the living God, it is not to be confined to any given classification or rigid analysis”(Fr. Steven Peter Tsichlis). Last week we discussed the nature of prayer, how when we pray we are cooperating with the Holy Spirit within us, and how prayer’s primary purpose is to enter into union and communion with God. Though prayer does truly defy confinement and rigid analysis, we want to know how should we pray? When should we pray? What prayers should we pray? In this week’s class we will discuss the Lord’s Prayer, the Jesus Prayer, meditative prayer in the Orthodox Christian tradition, and what prayer looks like in the context of our various stages of growth in the Lord.

Suggested Scripture

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Matthew 5:43-45, Matthew 6:5-7, Matthew 21:21-22, Mark 11:25-26, John 14:12-14, Matthew 17:14-21

Matthew 26:41, Matthew 21:12-14, Matthew 26:36-39, Luke 22:41-44, Luke 6:12-16, Mark 1:35

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - February 9, 2020

As we continue our lessons on the Holy Spirit, this Sunday we will focus on prayer. The desire to pray and our action of prayer is the operation of the Holy Spirit within us. Our greatest teacher on prayer, both by His words and actions, is Christ Himself. He sent us the Holy Spirit from the Father so we can continue to pray in a way pleasing to God to bring us in union with Him. In this Sunday’s class, we will examine prayer in the Spirit and talk practically and specifically about how we should pray and what our heart’s purpose should be during prayer.

Suggested Scripture

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Matthew 5:43-45, Matthew 6:5-7, Matthew 21:21-22, Mark 11:25-26, John 14:12-14, Matthew 17:14-21

Matthew 26:41, Matthew 21:12-14, Matthew 26:36-39, Luke 22:41-44, Luke 6:12-16, Mark 1:35

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - January 26, 2020

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. (Galatians 5:22). Self-control is the last fruit of the Spirit St. Paul mentions in this scripture. The entire list is bookended by love and self-control. Ironically, to have true Christ-like love in our heart for God and others, to gain the self-control St. Paul references, is to let go of control and die to self as Christ teaches. It is in the abdication of control to Him that we gain the fullest measure of control. In this Sunday’s class we will again examine the Greek words used in the Bible for self-control and explore all of its facets to gain a deeper understanding of what St. Paul meant and how to apply it to ourselves.

Suggested Scripture

Galatians 5:22-26, Wisdom of Sirach 18:29-32 (OSB); 30-33 (online), 1 Corinthians 7:5, Titus 1:7-9, 2 Peter 1:5-7, 2 Timothy 3:1-5, Romans 7:7-25

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - January 19, 2020

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. (Galatians 5:22). Like a seed the grows and ripens into sweet tasting and healthy fruit, the fruit of the Holy Spirit within us (which must be cultivated) takes time to grow. This growth is evident by the characteristics St. Paul lists in this often read Scripture in the Orthodox Church. In this week’s class, we will focus on this list with special emphasis on the first four: love, joy, peace and long-suffering ( often translated as ‘patience’). We will examine the Greek words for these characteristics as they provide a deeper and richer understanding of what Paul meant, and explore what they mean to us in our daily lives.

Suggested Scripture

Galatians 5:22-26, 1 Corinthians 13:1-8, John 15:9-17, John 16:16-24, Psalm 90:4 (89:4 LXX), 2 Peter 3:8-9, James 1:2-4, Colossians 1:9-12

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - January 12, 2020

“Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”? (James 4:4-5). These strong words from James, the brother of the Lord, speak to spiritual adultery and the Lord’s passion to save us from it. But what do the Scriptures mean by spiritual adultery and what does it look like for the modern person. This Sunday we will continue our series on the Fruit of the Spirit and discuss this biggest obstacle to our spiritual growth and salvation.

Suggested Scripture

Galatians 5:22-26, James 4:4-5,  Ephesians 5:31-32, Hosea 1:1-3, Hosea 3:1-5  Matthew 5:27-30, Matthew 18:8-9,  Titus 2:11-14; 3:4-7, Ephesians 5:8-11

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - January 5, 2020

“I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another…” (Galatians 5:16-17). This Scripture is the beginning of St. Paul’s famous passage about the “fruit of the Spirit.” We will be focusing on the fruit of the Spirit for the next several weeks. However, we first need to understand what prevents the fruit of the Holy Spirit, the seed God has planted within us, from ripening into fruits than then yield fruitful works in our lives. This Sunday we will look at Christ’s and St. Paul’s teachings about “the flesh” and what they really mean when they use that word, and how “spiritual adultery” has been an ever present problem since antiquity and one we all face.

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Suggested Scripture

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Galatians 5:22-26, John 6:63, Matthew 26:41/Mark 14:38, Romans 8:5-8, Ephesians 5:8-11, Matthew 5:27-30, Matthew 18:8-9 

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - December 22, 2019

“It is possible to get carried away and led into error. For not all gifts are from the Holy Spirit” (Orthodox Study Bible, 1 Corinthians 12:2). The Apostle Paul, the other Apostles, Christ Himself, and the Holy Fathers all warn about falling into spiritual error and delusion. The latter is what the Holy Fathers call prelest, or a spiritual illness. Without the continuous medicine of the Church, which is applied through the sacramental life, we are susceptible to catching to this type of spiritual virus. This week we will continue our discussion about how to discern when the Holy Spirit is guiding us versus something else, and how to maintain spiritual health and continue to avoid spiritual deception and delusion.

Suggested Scripture

1 John 4:1-3, Colossians 2:4-10, 2 Peter 2:1-3, 2 Thessalonians 2, Matthew 24:24

Ephesians 5:8-11, 1 Corinthians 12:1-3, Matthew 7:21-23, 2 Corinthians 11:13-15 

Discerning the Holy Spirit

“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world (1 John 4:1). How do we know whether our thoughts and perceptions are from the Holy Spirit or not? In a world of myriad religions, thoughts, and philosophies, how can we truly discern truth and the Holy Spirit? What does it mean when the Apostles and the saints tell us to test the spirits? In this week’s class we will discuss how we can discern the Holy Spirit in ourselves and in the world, and how to avoid spiritual deception and delusion.

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Suggested Scripture

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Luke 10:17-21, Matthew 16:13-23, Ephesians 5:8-11 1 John 4:1-3, 1 Corinthians 12:1-3, Colossians 2:4-10, 2 Peter 2:1-3, 2 Thessalonians 2, Matthew 24:24

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - December 8, 2019

“And anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but to him who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven. Now when they bring you to the synagogues and magistrates and authorities, do not worry about how or what you should answer, or what you should say. For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.” (Luke 12:10-12). In this Scripture, Jesus shows us both the consequences of rejecting the Holy Spirit, and the fruits of being in complete communion with Him. In this week’s class we will discuss what it means to truly reject the Holy Spirit, the various wrongheaded ways we can fall into that lead to this rejection, and, most importantly, how we can receive and live a life in the Holy Spirit. 

Suggested Scripture

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Luke 12:8-12, 1 John 5:16-17, 1 Thessalonians 4:7-8, Matthew 21:12-13, Acts 8:9-25, 1 Corinthians 12:3, Matthew 12:43-45, Luke 16:14-15, Proverbs 6:16-19, Luke 10:17-21

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - November 24, 2019

“The full power of the Spirit did not descend upon the Apostles when they first joined Christ. Their confirmation in the Spirit came after Jesus had taught them how to be receptive to it” (Father James C. Moulketis). The Holy Spirit is not something we just have. He is a Divine Person, our helper, advocate, and comforter, who Christ sent to us from the Father to have a relationship with. To be receptive to the Holy Spirit and have a relationship with Him that results in our peace and joy, growth, and salvation means we must both understand and do certain things, and conversely not do other things that make a relationship with Him difficult or even impossible by our choice. In this week’s class we will discuss the ways of the Holy Spirit in us and in the world, and what we must do and not do to cultivate a rich and rewarding relationship with Him. 

Suggested Scripture

Matthew 7:7-8, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-22, Luke 12:8-12, 1 Corinthians 12:3, Matthew 12:43-45, Luke 16:14-15, Proverbs 6:16-19, Luke 10:17-21

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - November 17, 2019

“Only those who are mature in faith can hear and discern the promptings of the Spirit” (St. John Chrysostom). Becoming mature in faith to the point where we can discern and trust our inner promptings as that of the Holy Spirit takes time and requires choice and deliberate effort. As St. Nicodemos of the Holy Mountain says, “The grace of the Holy Spirit which is given mystically to every Christian when they are baptized acts and is manifested in proportion to our obedience to the commandments of the Lord.” The word obedience comes from words that mean to hear, listen in, and respond. We do this with the Holy Spirit through our nous. Nous is often translated as heart, but is actually described by the Holy Fathers more like a sensory organ. Much as the eyes, ears, and other physical parts of our bodies are used to describe how we experience the five senses, the Holy Fathers described our nous as that which allows us to perceive the Holy Spirit and the invisible things of God. In this week’s class we will discuss the state of our nous, and how we our formed by the Holy Spirit. 

Suggested Scripture

Genesis 2:7, Psalm 51 (50 LXX), Matthew 7:7-8, Luke 12:8-12, Matthew 12:43-45, Luke 10:17-21, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - November 10, 2019

“And it happened, while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus. And finding some disciples he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” So they said to him, “We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.” (Acts 19:1-2) Who is the Holy Spirit? We know no one has seen God the Father (John 6:46) but we can relate to what and who a Father is. We can certainly relate to Jesus the Son in His divinity and humanity through the Gospels and the Scriptures. But the Holy Spirit is the most mysterious of the Three Persons of the Holy Trinity. We sometimes have trouble understanding Him as a Divine Person and what our experience of Him is personally. Yet the Church and Christian culture were formed, and continue to be formed, by and through the action of Holy Spirit. He convicts each person to the truth of Christ and the Father and unites us in one Body of Christ. This week we will explore who the Holy Spirit is as a Divine Person, His role as one of Three Divine Persons of the Godhead, and how He acts in each of us and our lives. 

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Suggested Scripture

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John 20:19-22, John 16:5-15, John 3:5-8, John 15:26, 1 Peter 2:9, 1 Corinthians 12:4-7, 2 Timothy 1:6

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - November 3, 2019

“The Word became flesh at a particular moment in time; He grew from an infant into a man over a span of years. Nevertheless, the Word is eternally begotten of the Father; the Word is eternally the Father’s child.” This quote by Orthodox Christian professor and author Vigen Guroian has a profound implication to how we understand our childhood, the raising of our own children, and how this effects the culture of our home and all around us. In this week’s class, we will discuss what Christ being the eternal Son of God means to use in our roles as children and parents, what about modern psychological and sociological theory on children and childhood is compatible and not compatible with our theological understanding, and the differences between childlikeness and childishness

Suggested Scripture

Proverbs 8:23-30, Mark 1:11, Mark 14:36, Matthew 18:1-7, Mark 10:13-16, John 1:11-13, Romans 8:16-21, 1 Corinthians 13:11, Ephesians 4:25-5:2

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Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - October 27, 2019

“For a Christian is not called to flee the world or mankind, to reject or curse it. He is called to bring the light of Christ's teaching into earthly life and to creatively reveal the gifts of the Holy Spirit in the fabric of this life. And this means that we must create a Christian culture.” In this week’s class, we are going to continue to discuss the many implications of this quote by the Orthodox religious and political philosopher Ivan Ilyin from his 1937 book Foundations of Christian Culture. Specifically, we will cover the role of art, story, and creativity as a means to deepen our sacramental understanding of reality, and how each of us can become lights of Christ. We will look at what the Bible, certain Holy Fathers, and others have to say about these topics.

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Suggested Scripture

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Christianity as “The Way” - John 14:6, Acts 9:1, Acts 19:9, Acts 19:23-37, Acts 22:1-5, Acts 24:10-16, John 17:14-19, 

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Christians and the World - Romans 12:2, John 15:18-25, John 17:14-19, 1 John 2:15-17 

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - October 6, 2019

“For a Christian is not called to flee the world or mankind, to reject or curse it. He is called to bring the light of Christ's teaching into earthly life and to creatively reveal the gifts of the Holy Spirit in the fabric of this life. And this means that we must create a Christian culture.” In this week’s class, we are going discuss the many implications of this quote by the Orthodox religious and political philosopher Ivan Ilyin from his 1937 book Foundations of Christian Culture. Specifically, we are going to cover how we can live our faith in proper balance, neither withdrawing from world or capitulating to it, and dangers of these extremes. We will also cover the role of art, story, and creativity as means to achieve this balance while also deepening our sacramental understanding of reality, and how each of us can become lights of Christ. We will look at what the Bible, certain Holy Fathers, and others have to say about these topics.

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Suggested Scripture

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Christianity as “The Way” - John 14:6, Acts 9:1, Acts 19:9, Acts 19:23-37, Acts 22:1-5, Acts 24:10-16, John 17:14-19, 

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Christians and the World - Romans 12:2, John 15:18-25, John 17:14-19, 1 John 2:15-17 

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - September 22, 2019

“Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He [Christ] answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:20-21). Last week we defined and discussed the differences between secular culture and Christian culture. We also explored some of challenges secular culture presents to Orthodox Christians. This week we will examine these challenges in depth, discuss why secularism is particularly lethal to the Orthodox Christian worldview, and why this quote of our Lord Himself can actually be very misunderstood and mistakenly applied in a very secular way. Lastly, we will examine why some leading Orthodox theologians call secularism a Christian heresy that comes from the Church itself.

Suggested Readings

Luke 17:20-21; Matthew 13:30-32, Mark 4:30-32, Luke 13:18-19;  Matthew 17:14-20, Luke 17:5-6 

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - September 15, 2019

“The culture of our own time continues this separation from Christianity, but not only from Christianity. Contemporary culture is losing its religious spirit, its meaning, and its beauty.” This quote by Russian religious and political philosopher Ivan Ilyin, written in 1937 in his book Foundations of Christian Culture, seems like it could have been written yesterday. It was true then and seems even more true now. For this first class of the 2019-2020 Religious Education year, we will compare Christian culture to contemporary culture, or modernity, and discuss the profound differences as they apply to us a persons and as community.

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Suggested Readings: Bible Passages that Speak to the World and Culture

John 15:19, Romans 12:2, 1 John 2:15-17, Revelation 7:9

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - May 19, 2019

There are 11 Resurrection Gospels. If you read them all you will see themes emerge of recognition and understanding, and love and doubt. The resurrected Christ was not physically recognizable to most eyes. He was only recognizable through an understanding heart. Furthermore, most of those who has spent several years with Jesus prior to His crucifixion, and had witnessed His numerous miracles, still had trouble believing in the resurrected Christ even when He was standing before them. They loved Him but were assailed with doubt. Last week we explored in-depth the themes of recognition and understanding. This week, in the last Adult Education class of the 2018-2019 religious education year, we will further explore the themes of love and doubt and how we can overcome our doubt to open our hearts to the love of Christ.

Suggested Readings
Relevant Scriptures: Matthew 28:16-20, Mark 16:1-8, Mark 16:9-20, Luke 24:1-12, Luke 24:12-35, Luke 24:36-53, John 20:1-10, John 20:11-18, John 20:19-31, John 21:1-14, John 21:15-25

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - May 12, 2019

Genesis 1:26 reads, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.” Though some see image and likeness as interchangeable terms, most of the Holy Fathers teach that the image of God is imprinted in us and is the nature of our souls; whereas His likeness is something we grow into through sanctification. It all depends on our free will choices and actions. The resurrection of Christ and His appearances to the Myrrh-bearing women, Mary Magdalene, and the Disciples during His final forty days on earth teach us much about image and likeness. In this class we will explore the lessons from 11 resurrection Gospels and what they mean to us on a daily basis in terms of our spiritual growth and salvation.

Suggested Readings
Relevant Scriptures: Matthew 28:16-20, Mark 16:1-8, Mark 16:9-20, Luke 24:1-12, Luke 24:12-35, Luke 24:36-53, John 20:1-10, John 20:11-18, John 20:19-31, John 21:1-14, John 21:15-25

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - May 5, 2019

We just celebrated a glorious Holy Week and Pascha. This was followed by Bright Week where each day was called a Renewal Day (i.e., Renewal Monday, Renewal Tuesday, etc.) because it is an opportunity, in this heightened time of spirituality in our ecclesiastical year, to start fresh and renew our hearts for Christ. The Church, in its wisdom, places the Sunday of Thomas right after Renewal Saturday to remind us how easy it is to still have doubts and fall back into old patterns of thoughts and behaviors once the elation of Pascha is over. In this Sunday’s class, we will explore how we can stay renewed and continue to acquire the Holy Spirit who opens our hearts by revelation to the truth revealed to us in Christ.

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Suggested Readings

Relevant Scriptures: John 3:27-36, Galatians 1:11-24, Ephesians 3:1-13, 2 Corinthians 12:1-10; Acts 1:4-8 and Acts 2:1-38; 1 Corinthians 13:1-8

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - April 7, 2019

Falling off a ladder can cause serious physical injury or even death. Falling off our spiritual ladder can be equally damaging. Our union with God, which ultimately leads to the joy and happiness we are all seeking, depends on how well we climb the 30 step ladder St. John Climacus describes in his classic work, The Ladder of Divine Ascent. In this Sunday’s class we will examine in detail the Patriarch Jacob’s dream and life story which served as the inspiration for St. John’s ladder. We will also discuss the Orthodox understanding of Christ and the Virgin Mary as the ladder between Heaven and earth and, most importantly, apply what this all means to our daily lives in a practical way that will aid us in our spiritual growth.

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Suggested Readings

Relevant Scriptures: Genesis 25:12-34, Genesis 27:1-46, Genesis 28:10-22, Genesis 29:1-28, Genesis 32:22-32, Ezekiel 43:27-44:4, Proverbs 9:1-11, Galatians 5:16-25

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Relevant Articles/Book Excerpts – The Secret is in the Climbing (Click here); The Passion and the Virtues (click here), The Ladder of Divine Ascent (click here)

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Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - March 31, 2019

A crossroad is literally the intersection of two or more roads. Metaphorically, coming to a crossroad is a point at which a crucial decision must be made that will have far-reaching consequences. At this mid-point of Lent, when we celebrate the Sunday of the Holy Cross, we are reminded that we are always at a crossroads in our lives where we have to either choose the road leading to the Cross or the road leading away from the Cross. This choice will indeed have far reaching consequences in this life and the next. Suffering wakes us up to the reality of this choice, but comfort dulls our senses. This Sunday we will explore the meaning of the cross in all of its facets and how it applies to our daily lives.

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Suggested Readings

Relevant Scriptures: Luke 9:23/Mark 8:34-35/Matthew 16:24-25; Psalms 22/Psalms 21 LXX, Isaiah 53; Matthew 27:46/Mark 15:34/Luke 23:46/John 19:30; Matthew 27:32/Luke 23:26, Luke 14:25-35; 1 Corinthians 1:18

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - March 24, 2019

We all have callings in life. It may be a calling to a certain job or career, a calling as a volunteer, a calling to ministry, a calling as a parent or spouse, and more. We also call these callings vocations. If we believe we receive callings/vocations, do we also believe they come from a caller? In Christianity our vocation is to draw close to God, to love Him and love others. Our vocations are the many different things we do in this life at various stages where we have the opportunity to demonstrate our love of Him and others. As we are now formally into our Lenten journey, we will continue discussing Moses and Exodus story we began last week, and use it to explore how we hear the call of God in our lives, and how we either accept it, or become tone deaf and reject it, preferring self-will over His will.

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Suggested Readings

Relevant Scriptures: Exodus 16:1-17:7, Exodus 24, Exodus 32-34, Matthew 3:13-4:17

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - March 10, 2019

The stories in the Old Testament foreshadow the fullness of the truth revealed in the New Testament. The stories of the people and events in Genesis and Exodus are particularly important and it is impossible to understand the full truth of the Gospel without knowing them. In this Sunday’s class we will continue to connect certain events in the Old Testament with those in the New Testament. We will further look at the spiritual meaning of the number forty and the symbolism of water, but expand it to understand the meaning and symbolism of the wilderness since so many significant events of the Bible happen there. We will also discuss what all of this means to our spiritual journey as individual persons and members of the body of Christ.

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Suggested Readings

Relevant Scriptures: Exodus 1:1-4:17, Exodus 13:17-14:31, Exodus 16:1-17:7, Exodus 24, Exodus 32-34

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Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - March 3, 2019

Next to the number seven, the number forty occurs most frequently in the Bible. It is mentioned 147 times. Further, numbers are not just numbers in the Bible. Every number has a literal meaning and a symbolic meaning. Forty is a particularly meaningful number. There is a reason it is used so much in Scripture. The Biblical use of the number forty heavily influences our liturgical cycle, fasting periods. and church calendar. Most importantly, the number forty has distinct meanings that inform and speak to our human condition as we understand it spiritually within the context of our faith. Because we are approaching Lent and the great 40 day journey, we will begin this Sunday what we will be the first in a series of lessons exploring these meanings in the context of Biblical stories and what they mean to us.

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Suggested Readings

Relevant Scriptures: Genesis 6-8 (The Flood Story)

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Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - February 24, 2019

Truth or Consequences was an old humorous TV game show that originated in 1940 and ran in various versions off and on until the late 1980s. It is also the actual name of a city in New Mexico. But Truth or consequences in reality is more serious than a game show and much bigger than a city. It’s a condition of life. Christ is the truth and choosing anything less than Him to include half-truths and lies opens us up to the consequences of our wrong choices – the choices Christ wants to save us from. In this class we will continue to discuss the hard truth about the truth and how we can avoid the same timeless wrong choices we see people make in the Gospels.

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Suggested Readings

Relevant Scriptures: John 8:13-59 (Genesis 3:4-5), Mark 3:20-35, Matthew 23:1-39, John 6:41-70, Romans 1:18-25, Galatians 6:7-8, Romans 6:23

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - February 17, 2019

Last week we covered some very difficult teachings of Christ regarding truth, namely that most of us prefer lies or half-truths over Christ, who both is truth and testifies to the truth. We discussed how the blindness to the truth of the religious establishment and much of the people of Christ’s day is the same today. This week we will go even deeper and further examine the reactions of the people Christ preached the truth to while He was on earth, and examine reactions of modernity to the same message.

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Suggested Readings

Relevant Scriptures: John 8:13-59 (Genesis 3:4-5), Mark 3:20-35, Matthew 23:1-39, John 6:41-70, Romans 1:24-25

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Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - February 10, 2019

The Gospel of John is the greatest written testimony to the truth. It teaches us what and who truth is, where lies ultimately come from, and why human beings most often prefer lies over truth, darkness instead of light, and truth only in small measure. The famous movie line “you can’t handle the truth” seems to actually be true. But why is that? Why is it so hard to live truth and why is it so easy to accept anything less than truth as okay? In this week’s class, we will explore what John’s Gospel account teaches us about truth and lies, and how both start in our hearts before making their way into the world as actions and behavior.

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Suggested Readings

Relevant Scriptures: John 14:6, John 1:14-18, John 18:37-38, John 4:23-24, John 3:10-21, John 15:18-16:15, John 8:13-59 (Genesis 3:4-5), John 6:41-70, Romans 1:24-25

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Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - February 3, 2019

As Orthodox Christians we understand God loves us so much and perfectly that He gives us near complete freedom. It is near complete freedom, as opposed to total freedom, because we have freedom of choice but not freedom from choice. Only God has freedom from choice. At any given moment in time we are always making choices. Even a choice not to choose is a choice. In the Gospel accounts, Christ usually presents us with two choices and they always come down to our salvation or condemnation. God can save us from anything except our choices. In this class, we will explore what Christ and the Scriptures teach us about choice, how to make the right ones, and why it is so easy to fall into self-deception that leads to wrong choices.

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Suggested Readings

Relevant Scriptures: Proverbs 15:3, Matthew 7:13-27, Matthew 24:36-44; Luke 12:10, 1 John 5:14-17; Luke 6:20-26, Matthew 6:19-24, 1 Corinthians 1:14-24; Matthew 9:22/Luke 8:48, Mark 5:34, Mark 10:52/Luke 18:42, Luke 17:19

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - January 27, 2019

Most of us need to be cost conscious. We can’t just spend what we want and when we want without considering costs of things and the impact to our finances. We assess the value of something compared to its cost before we decide to buy it. Christ tells us to do the same thing when it comes to following Him. Though He freely offers Himself to us, there is a cost to being His disciple. Sadly, He tells us many times and in many different ways in the Gospels that few of us make this choice because we perceive the cost to either be too high, or we do not see the value of what He is offering. Yet, He never stops offering Himself to us. In this class we will explore in-depth the cost and value of discipleship according to Christ and what is should mean to us.

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Suggested Readings

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Relevant Scriptures: Matthew 4:18-22, 1 Corinthians 12:27-13:8; Luke 14:25-35, Matthew 10:32-39, Genesis 11:27-12:4, Luke 9:57-62; Luke 8:4-15, Matthew 22:1-14, Luke 18:1-8, Luke 17:12-19; Mark 10:17-29, Mark 10:35-45; Philippians 3:1-21

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Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - January 20, 2019

“Out of Order.” We’ve seen this sign or message on vending machines, ATMs and other contraptions, and it requires a skilled repairman to fix them. If we could look inside of ourselves, we may see a sign on our souls that says the same thing. Do we feel out of order? Some of us may, some of us may only at times, or maybe we don’t feel that way at all. Our Orthodox Christian faith tells us that despite how we may feel, we are all disordered within and we need Christ to repair this disorder. In this class we will explore the principles of order and disorder as taught to us in Scripture and our Holy Tradition, how disorder affects us like an illness, and why order and proper alignment are vital to spiritual health and well-being.

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Suggested Readings

Relevant Scriptures: Genesis 1-2:3, Proverbs 8:22-30, Romans 8:18-25, Acts 17:28; Luke 11:24-26/Matthew 12:43-45, Matthew 25:1-13, 31-46; Ephesians 5:8-6:20

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Relevant OCN Articles: Bringing Order Out of Disorder: The Trials of a Housewife, On the Spiritual Struggle, The Freedom of the Person

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - January 13, 2019

Pride is typically named first in the list of “the seven deadly sins.” It is the first sin ever committed according to Scripture. Although many people give intellectual assent to the harmfulness of pride, our culture also celebrates pride in overt and subtle ways. What place, if any, should pride have in our lives? What is okay to be prideful about? Does pride have a positive and negative aspect? In this class we will explore pride in all of its facets, why the Church considers it the deadliest of all sins, and how pride and self-will are intertwined and stunt our spiritual growth and lead us away instead of toward God.

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Suggested Readings

Relevant Scriptures: Proverbs 6:16-19 (Proverbs 6:20-23 LXX), Proverbs 8:13, Proverbs 11:2, Proverbs 16:18 (16:16 LXX), Proverbs 29:23; Proverbs 3:34 (3:37 LXX), James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5-8; Isaiah 14:12-14, Ezekiel 28:12-16, Revelation 12:7-9, Genesis 3:1-8;

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Relevant OCN Articles: True Autonomy is Achieved Through Humility; Submission to the Will of God

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - December 23, 2018

The Orthodox Church teaches that out of love for us God the Son, the Second Person of the Trinity, Christ, left the comfort of paradise, became one of us, and shared completely in our humanity. Out of love He bore our sins, allowed Himself to be wounded beyond measure, and died to save us. We all suffer wounds and woundedness in this life. The question for us is will we bear them with love or with bitterness. Depending on our choice, our wounds can be debilitating or transformational. In this class, we will revisit the nature of woundedness and what Christ, the Gospels, and the Scriptures as a whole teach us.

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Suggested Readings

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Relevant Scriptures: John 20:24-29, John 11:8-16; Genesis 3:15, Deuteronomy 32:39, Psalm 147:2-3 (Psalm 146:2-3 LXX), Isaiah 30:26, Job 5:17-18; Genesis 32:22-32, Luke 18:1-8, 2 Corinthians 12:7-10; Isaiah 53:5, 1 Peter 2:24, Matthew 5:10-12

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Relevant OCN Articles: Understanding and Living Our Orthodox Faith: Embracing Woundedness

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - December 16, 2018

The words evangelist, evangelical, and evangelism mean different things to different people. But what is evangelism and its place in the Orthodox Church? The Orthodox Church is a sacramental church, but is it also an evangelical church? Is the Divine Liturgy for evangelization or those who are evangelized? Are clergy the only people truly qualified to evangelize and what actually qualifies a person to evangelize? How do our gifts and talents fit into evangelization? We will address these questions and more as we explore the all to unfamiliar topic of Orthodox evangelism.

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Suggested Readings

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Relevant Scriptures: Luke 4:18 and Isaiah 61:1, and Mark 1:14-15; Acts 5:12-16, Acts 6:1-7, 2 Timothy 4:5; Ephesians 4:11, Romans 12:6-8, 1 Corinthians 12:1-13; Romans 8:14, Galatians 5:16-26; 2 Timothy 1:6-7

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - December 9, 2018

We believe in One God but yet we say He is Trinity or three. We believe Christ was one hundred percent God but also one hundred percent man. We call Christ the Prince of Peace yet He says Himself that He came to the earth to bring division not peace. How do we reconcile this and so many other seeming contradictions of our faith? In an “either/or” often polarized culture, how do we learn to accept two opposite things as being valid and true? In this class we will explore the many seeming paradoxes of our faith and how we need to readjust our hearts and minds to embrace them.

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Suggested Readings

Relevant Scriptures: Genesis 1:26-27/Genesis 3:5/Genesis 3:22, Psalms 82:6 (Psalm 81:6 LXX), and 2 Peter 1:2-4;  Isaiah 1:18 and Isaiah 55:8-9; Isaiah 9:6-7 and Matthew 10:34-39; Luke 6:20-36 and Luke 10:16-21; 2 Corinthians 4:7-16 and 2 Corinthians 6:1-10

Relevant OCN Articles/Blogs: O Paradox of Paradoxes! A Reflection on the Feast of the Holy Cross

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - December 2, 2018

But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give and account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified and by your words you will be condemned (Matthew 12:36-37). Commentary by several Holy Fathers on this passage shows that they took this statement by our Lord literally. If you take life expectancy stats, shave off a few years for the years before we learn to talk, take some stat about how many words men and women use a day, it easily nets out to the fact we will use hundreds of millions of words in our life time. That’s a lot of opportunity for idle and hurtful words that condemn us. In this class, using various Scriptures as a basis, we will explore the sacredness of the Word and words, how misuse and misunderstanding of words, especially those in Scripture, has led, and continues to lead, to multiple problems for us as persons and communities.

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Suggested Readings

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Relevant Scriptures: Matthew 12:36-37, Matthew 15:18; James 3:1-12, Proverbs 18:21, Proverbs 15:4, and Ephesians 4:29; John 1:1, Genesis 1:1-3, Proverbs 8:22-30, Wisdom of Solomon 9:1, Genesis 2:18-20;  Psalms 42:10 (41:11 LXX); Matthew 5:48, Matthew 6:13, Luke 2:14, Luke 17:20-21

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Relevant OCN Articles/Blogs: Five Orthodox Words I Wish Everyone Knew; Deliver Me From Idle Words

Live Stream Video - Orthodox Christian Network - November 24, 2018

A thankful heart is critical to our peace and well-being. Without a thankful heart, we can actually close ourselves off to God. Because in the United States we celebrate a holiday on the 4th Thursday of November called Thanksgiving, and schools are closed from that Thursday until the following Monday, Orthodox Churches also do not typically have Sunday School at this time. As a result, we will not be having Live Adult Education. However, join me know for the next 15 minutes or so as I talk about what it means to have a thankful heart. I will be reading/paraphrasing from an article I wrote in 2009 called "Everyday Spirituality: The Importance of a Thankful Heart" (see the link below). It was published by "The Pemptousia Journal for Theological Studies." My bio is a bit dated but you can go to my website if you want to learn more about me and my work (also see link below)

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Suggested Readings

The Importance of a Thankful Heart

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Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - November 11, 2018

United we stand, divided we fall. Most people think of that expression in the context of community and nation. Many feel we are in a national crisis due to the division in our country. However, this expression most readily applies to our individual selves and goes beyond any national crisis. The crisis we all suffer from is in reality a global crisis of the human heart that has plagued us from the beginning. In Sunday’s class we will explore our division within and what the Bible calls the natural/carnal versus spiritual man. We will also discuss the obvious and subtle causes of internal division, the damage internal division does to ourselves and others, and how we heal the division within and acquire the mind of Christ.

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Suggested Readings

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Relevant Scriptures: Genesis 25:29-34, John 6:63-64, Romans 8:1-8, 1 Corinthians 3:1-4; Romans 7:1-25, Galatians 3:19-29, Mark 3:20-25, John 15:1-8; Ecclesiastes 12:11-14, John 5:39-40, John 21:25; 1 Corinthians 2:13-15, Philippians 2:5-11, Romans 8:27

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Relevant OCN Articles/Blogs: The Downside of Books and the Written Word, From the Book or From the Heart

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - November 4, 2018

We are taught that Orthodox Christianity must be lived to be learned; that it is to be experienced more than studied; that it is formational rather than informational. Yet, we live in a world which measures so much by the benchmark of intellectual knowledge and pursuit and uses rationalism above all else to understand itself. Not that these are bad or even wrong, but they can be stumbling blocks to us experiencing our faith and therefore become an obstacle to our relationship to God, especially when it comes to really embracing the truth of the sacraments and the sacramental life. In this class we are going to take a deep dive into what Orthodoxy really is, and how it is an experience of God of which language can be a poor medium to express but we will try!

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Suggested Readings

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Relevant Scriptures: Genesis 25:29-34, John 6:63-64, Romans 8:1-8, 1 Corinthians 3:1-4; Ecclesiastes 12:11-14, John 21:25; 1 Corinthians 2:13-15, Philippians 2:5-11, Romans 8:27;

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Relevant OCN Articles/Blogs: Phronema and Canons, Phronema the Lifeblood of Orthodoxy, Do You Hear God

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - October 28, 2018

Motion sickness. If you have ever had it to any degree you know it is one of the worst feelings in the world. Yet it’s a feeling we seem to be seeking now. Two brothers who authored a book write, “In our world of constant activity, we are suffering from a certain level of motion sickness. We go from one thing to the next and never take time to catch our breath...the first step to fixing our attention on our Creator is to be still in His presence and experience a firsthand relationship with the God who made us.” Believe it or not, there is a relationship to perpetual motion and sin in our lives. Sin means to “fall short” or “miss the mark” and our constant activity can cause us to sin, knowingly or unknowingly, by missing the opportunities God has for us. In this class, we will discuss what our faith teach us about sin and stillness and how to deal apply its truth in today’s pace driven society.

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Suggested Readings

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Relevant Scriptures: Genesis 4:7, Genesis 4:7 (LXX), 1 Peter 5:8; 1 Kings 19:11-13 and Psalms 46:1-11; Hosea 6:6 and Matthew 9:13; Deuteronomy 6:4-5, Leviticus 19:18, and Matthew 22:37-39; John 13:34, and 1 John 3; James 5:19-20 and 1 Peter 4:8  

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Relevant OCN Articles/Blogs:  Why We Need Stillness and Silence, The Need for Intentional Silence  

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - October 21, 2018

“Who do you say I am?” Christ asks that of His disciples (Matthew 16:15) and He also asks it of us. The answer to this question determines so much in our lives here and hereafter. It determines how we live the faith in our homes and teach it to our loved ones. The answer to this question is what allows us to navigate safely and spiritually intact through the myriad belief systems existing today, or to become shipwrecked on the shores of so many “truths” that we do not know what to believe. It even determines our health and well-being. Perhaps most importantly, it determines the present and future of the Church because shockingly, many inside the Church do not believe what the Church teaches about Christ. In this Sunday’s class, we will explore our own experiences and challenges to understanding and living the truth of Christ, and what we say and do when challenged by those closest to us.

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Suggested Readings

Relevant Scriptures: Matthew 16:13-23, Mark 3:20-27, John 6:35-70, John 7:10-24, 1 Corinthians 15:12-19,

Relevant OCN Articles/Blogs: Jesus Christ The Universal Person, The Full Divinity of Jesus

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - October 14, 2018

Most of us are familiar with the mythology of Star Wars and the light and dark sides of the Force. But what about the light and dark sides of grace? Does grace even have a dark side? The answer is yes and no; yes because of our limited perspective and narrow vantage point at times and no because grace is from God and therefore it is always good. This week will discuss what grace is, explore our experiences of grace that are easily identifiable as such, and also focus on our experiences where grace seemed hidden and removed and only revealed itself in retrospect and through suffering.

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Suggested Readings

Relevant Scriptures: 2 Corinthians 12:1-10, Romans 5:1-20, John 1:14-17,

Relevant Articles/Blogs: God’s Grace is Sufficient to Overcome the Thorns, Grace Changes Us, Grace Mold Us Gradually

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - October 7, 2018

“There’s not enough time in day!” “I need more time.” “Time is running out.” “Have a great time!” “You caught me at a bad time.” “It’s just a matter of time.” “Time is of the essence.” This list of expressions and idioms about time in our culture is nearly endless. The volume of expressions shows just how much time is a dominant part of our thought and daily reality. How we understand and experience time reflects deeply our understanding and experience of God and our faith journey though we may not think about it this way. This week we will explore the notion of time and share our experiences on how it influences our relationship with God and others, and either serves to grow our faith or undermine it.

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Suggested Readings

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Relevant Scriptures: Deuteronomy 30:19, Matthew 12:30, 1 John 2:17; Ecclesiastes 3:1-8; Matthew 6:11, Matthew 6:34, James 4:13-14, Philippians 4:6-7, 2 Corinthians 6:2; Ephesians 5:15-16 , Colossians 4:5; Revelation 22:12-13

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Relevant Articles/Blogs: The Mystery of Time, Church and Time, Pascha and the Transcendence of Time

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - September 30, 2018

Do you own a Bible? Do you actually read it or does it just gather dust? If you do read it, how do you read it? Is there a right way or a wrong way? What does Christ say about the Bible? What does the Bible say about itself? Can we experience Liturgy and our Holy Tradition without knowing the Bible? Even though the meaning of the word Bible is “ the books” if it is just a book to us, we are misunderstanding what it is and its purpose. This week we will explore our corporate and individual experiences with God through the Bible and discuss the Bible’s proper place in our Sacramental journey.

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Suggested Readings

Relevant Scriptures: 2 Timothy 3:15-16, Acts 8:26-39, Luke 24:27 and Luke 24:44-45, John 5:39, 1 Corinthians 11:2 and 2 Thessalonians 2:15 and 2 Peter 1:21

Articles/Blogs: Take Up and Read, Reading the Bible, Scripture Helps Make the Foundation Solid

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - September 23, 2018

Last week we explored what it means to encounter the Divine Presence and share our personal experiences of the presence of Christ in our lives. But what does it feel like when God seems absent from us? Is it even possible for this to be so? Many Christians, clergy and laity alike, from ancient to modern times, have described periods in their life of pain and suffering when God seemed distant and remote, or not there at all. This week we will explore this topic and share our experiences of when God seems absent and what we did (and can do) to get through these rough periods in our spiritual lives.

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Suggested Readings

Matthew 27:46/Mark 15:34

Psalm 21 LXX or Psalm 22

The Dark Night of the Soul

When God Seems Absent

The Presence within the Absence

Dealing with Feeling of Abandonment

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - September 16, 2018

Christ is in our midst! God is everywhere present and fills all things. The Orthodox Church believes that Christ is truly present with His people in the celebration of the Holy Eucharist. Every Sunday, we say, hear, and understand these things to be true. But what is the extent of our personal revelation of Christ? How well do we know and experience Him as opposed knowing about Him? What is the depth of our relationship with Him? This week we are going to explore what it means to experience the Divine Presence and share our personal experiences of the presence of Christ in our lives.

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Suggested Readings

Acts 17:28

Matthew 16:25, Mark 8:35, Luke 9:24

Matthew 6:33

John 10:10

John 1:39

Blog - How Can Divine Presence Be Perceived?

https://blogs.ancientfaith.com/growingthechurch/can-divine-presence-perceived-part-1/

https://blogs.ancientfaith.com/growingthechurch/can-divine-presence-perceived-part-2/

https://blogs.ancientfaith.com/growingthechurch/can-divine-presence-perceived-part-3/

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - May 20, 2018

The Holy Fathers defined the human person as body and soul. They expressed the relationship of body and soul in a unified way the runs counter to Western thought. They wrote in-depth about illness of the human person, its relationship to the spiritual, and how illness of the body will express itself fin the soul and vice-versa. We read in our recent church e-mail blast that “the root of physical illness is the disordered state of the soul.” Why do the Holy Fathers teach this? In this week’s class we will explore all facets of illness, what Christ, the Great Physician of our bodies and souls, said and did when He encountered illness which is what informs the Holy Father. Further, we will discuss what we should do as faithful Orthodox Christians when facing illness in ourselves and others.

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - April 29, 2018

Most of us think of Christ as our savior and the Resurrection as a blessed and glorious event, and rightly so. Yet Christ will also be our judge and He says all of us will experience the resurrection. The question is what type of resurrection? Christ says there will be two types and our choices and actions determine which one we will experience. In this class we delve further into what Christ teaches about resurrection and eternal life, and what we need to be doing now as Orthodox Christians to live life rightly in the present, so we may experience the better of the two futures Christ promises.

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - April 15, 2018

“Christ is risen from the dead, by death trampling down death and to those in the tombs, He grants life.” Whether it is Greek, English, or another language, the Orthodox faithful are all singing these words, or some variation of these words, as we celebrate Christ’s resurrection until Ascension Thursday. Yet people are still dying. So how can we sing these words with such joy, faith, and confidence? In this week’s class, we will compare the Orthodox understanding of life and death against modernity’s understanding and explore what the Scriptures teach us.

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - March 25, 2018

This year the Feast of the Annunciation coincides with the fifth Sunday of Lent, the traditional Sunday of St. Mary of Egypt (the Annunciation takes liturgical precedence). We can think of this Sunday as the tale of two Mary’s: one who led a virtuous life from birth to her dormition; and one who arguably sunk lower in vice than any other saint until her repentance and redemption. This Sunday, we will explore morality and immorality from an Orthodox Christian perspective. We will address how our morality should be different than other belief systems, but how we often hyper-focus on certain behaviors while ignoring the root-cause behaviors God really wants us to correct so we can have a deeper union with Him.
 

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - March 18, 2018

“How can God let this happen? Where was God during that tragedy? Why won’t God help me? God must not be a loving God? I don’t believe in God.” Most of us have heard or thought some of these things at different points in our lives, especially when we experience tragedy, setbacks, and all the awful things we see on the news. Doubt had been a condition of human beings since our beginning. In this class we will explore doubt and why it is a “double-edged sword” as we discuss why it is both necessary for faith and also an obstacle to faith.
 

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - March 11, 2018

Nothing perhaps is more vexing to Christians at times as trying to figure out God’s will for our lives. We have all heard the saying that “God has a plan for your life”. Is it true? If so, what is the plan? How do we figure it out? Why does it have to be so hard to discern? Why doesn’t He just tell us? The answer to these questions is often not what people think. In this Sunday’s class we will explore understanding God’s will in-depth, clear up common misconceptions, and understand what doing God’s will looks like for Orthodox Christians.

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - March 4, 2018

Sin and evil are not comfortable topics to discuss, yet everything we do in our sacramental life is to help us refrain from evil, cleanse ourselves of sin, and draw closer to Christ. Great Lent is a particular time of the year where through fasting, prayer, and almsgiving we intensify our focus on these goals. In this class we will discuss our Orthodox Christian understanding of what sin and evil really are, how to confront it within ourselves, and what our response to it should be when we encounter it in others.

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - February 18, 2018

Great Lent is about to begin. It is a time of the year like no other time if we embrace it as we should. But to embrace it we really need to understand its true purpose. With Lent comes the greatest of the four major fasting periods in the Church, but Lent is about so much more than just fasting. Further, fasting and how and why we fast are often misunderstood among the faithful. In this class we are going to explore common misconceptions associated with Lent and fasting so that we can experience the richness of Lent and draw closer to God.

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - February 11, 2018

"We Christians are always bleating on about humility, yet hardly any of us have it,” writes one Orthodox priest. Is this true? If so, why do we “bleat on” about it? What is so important about humility that it is often referred to as the “mother of all virtues?” How do we reconcile a true Christian understanding of humility with modern notions of self-esteem, self-interest, be yourself, love yourself, and the other messages we are bombarded with constantly? In this Sunday’s class, we will explore how God reveals to us the truth of humility, the reason we need it so badly, the challenges to living humble lives, and the benefits to our well-being of humility.

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - February 4, 2018

Anxiety is the most prevalent mental health problem we face today surpassing even depression. Because our faith informs every aspect of our life, we devoted our last class to discussing how we should understand our anxiety from an Orthodox Christian perspective - body, mind, and soul – and ways to address it. In this class, we are going to focus solely on the spiritual aspect of anxiety and the things we can and should be doing spiritually for our own good to deal with it.

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - January 21, 2018

We have all suffered from anxiety at different times in our lives. Some deal with anxiety daily. How it makes us feel can range from nervous to overwhelming to even debilitating. Yet Christ tells us not to be anxious and Paul says be anxious for nothing. So, when we feel anxiety are we sinning? Doesn’t God understand our anxiety? How should we treat our anxiety from an Orthodox Christian perspective? We will gently explore this sensitive topic in Sunday’s class and learn how God loves us despite our anxiety and how we should love and treat ourselves when dealing with it.
 

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - January 14, 2018

“Temptation is a part of life, it doesn’t matter if it is wrong or right…it makes you do what you love” are lyrics to a once popular song. The first statement about temptation being a part of life is certainly true, but the rest is amongst the most wrongheaded words ever put to song. Yet, so many people do not see temptation for what it is, succumbing to the subtle destructive temptations while thinking they are okay because they avoid the obvious ones. Many also try to successfully resist and fight temptation solely through willpower. In this class we will explore temptation in its obvious and subtle forms, and discuss what God teaches us about resisting and fighting it.

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - January 7, 2018

“We all have a cross to bear,” is a saying that has become a popular idiom in our secular culture. But for us as Orthodox Christians, it is much more than an idiom; it is a direct commandment from Christ Himself on how we should live our daily lives. He also tells us we cannot be part of Him if we are unwilling to do so. Yet most of us are unwilling, or at least reluctant, because bearing a cross is very hard. In this week’s class we will explore in depth what it means to bear our cross, or crosses; what this looks like in daily life; and the principles we need to understand that will help us to embrace our cross
not flee from it.

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - December 24, 2017

A light shines in the darkness (John 1:5); God is with us (Matthew 1:23); our joy is full (John 15:11) – this is the Christmas story, the true message of Christmas. God has come as one of us, to be with us, to bring His light, and to give us His joy. Yet, joy often escapes us. We mistake joy for happiness and lack of joy for sadness, but joy is something much deeper that transcends these things. One the eve of what is supposed to be one of the most joyful days of the year, we will explore joy in-depth, and discuss what it means to be truly joyful, and how we attain the joy of the Lord.
 

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - December 17, 2017

So many people this time of year, the holidays, suffer more than any other time. Their loneliness and grief become overwhelming. While many are engaged in intensive shopping, they’re enduring intensive suffering. While many are engaged in gifting, they’re are grieving. Why is this? What is it about holidays that cause pain instead of joy for so many. As a Church and as persons, what are we doing? What can, and should we be doing? In this class we will address these questions and discuss some things we can do that may not seem like much, but have great effect.

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - December 3, 2017

“Shame, shame, shame hey shame on you” are the lyrics of a 1970s song. One could argue that back then we still had a sense of healthy shame in our society, but it seems so no longer. Are we indeed now a shameless society? Do we no longer understand the difference between healthy and unhealthy shame? How should we understand shame in the context of Orthodox Christianity? How does Jesus model both our understanding and treatment of shame?  Finally, why can we make a case that without shame there is no spiritual growth and union with God. We will explore all these questions and more in this Sunday’s class.

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - November 12, 2017

Last week we discussed pain and suffering because we all suffer at least once at some point in our lives. For many of us, there will be several instances of suffering to lesser or greater degrees over the course of our lifetimes. Some of us suffer more than others. Some suffer almost continually. Many people turn do God when they suffer and receive comfort, healing, and find Him amidst their suffering. But what happens next? The period after suffering can be a precarious time in our lives in terms of our spiritual growth and formation. In this Sunday’s class, we will explore why this is, what we should be aware of, and what we should do to continue growing in Christ.

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - November 5, 2017

No one in their right mind seeks or wants pain and suffering. Pain avoidance seems to be part of our cultural consciousness as many try to avoid pain and suffering at all costs. Some mistakenly embrace their pain and suffering, but in a way that stunts their growth. Some use it as a tool to manipulate other people. Yet, some experience pain and suffering in the way than can enlighten us all and show us what true faith in God looks like. In this Sunday’s class, we will explore pain and suffering and some of the more difficult passages in the Scriptures that speak to it.

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - October 29, 2017

Lord Acton famously said, “power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Yet, many human beings seem attracted to power despite this. We live in the nation’s capital, the seat of national power and worldly power, a place where powerful people make impacting decisions that can affect us all. In any given situation in our daily lives, we may sometimes feel powerful and other times we may feel powerless. As Orthodox Christians, how should we understand power? What is the power we often quest for versus the power we should be seeking. Christ’s life in its entirety, words and deeds, is a statement about power, and in this week’s class we will examine what He teaches us about it.
 

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - October 22, 2017

There seems to be a lot of fear and distrust in our society today. Our leaders peddle it as tools of persuasion. The majority of news stories are negative, even horrific, and often breed fear and distrust. We all have our own internal fears and anxieties as well, things that motivate our thoughts and behavior consciously or unconsciously, regardless of external circumstances. As Orthodox Christians, how should we address our fear and distrust? What should we truly fear versus what often do fear? In this week’s class we will focus on what Christ teaches and demonstrates about these all too common viruses of the soul that can torment us.
 

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - October 15, 2017

Many experts among scientists, mental health professionals, theologians, clergy, and others, believe there is a growing problem of loneliness and isolation in our society. Is this true? Is there really an increasing problem? If so, why? We seem to be more connected than ever? But with all this connectivity have we become, ironically, less bonded and more distanced. In this week’s class we explore loneliness and isolation and why they are in direct opposition to the foundational truth of Orthodox Christianity.

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - October 8, 2017

We are a theology of wholeness but a people of division – or so it seems per the latter. But is this true? Are we really as divided as it may appear? In this week’s class we will explore what unity and wholeness and division and divisiveness mean from an Orthodox Christian point of view. We will also look at the division we have within ourselves and among ourselves at all levels. We will discuss Christ’s and the saint’s teachings about the practical thoughts and actions we must take to strive for unity when faced with divisiveness.

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - October 1, 2017

Heart disease is the leading cause of cardiac sickness and physical death in the United States and worldwide. But there is another form of heart disease that leads to spiritual sickness and spiritual death and we can call it ‘affluenza.’ Christ warns us about it repeatedly both directly and in parables. It is a root cause of so much of our internal division that leads to external division. This Sunday we will unpack Christ’s teachings on this subject and explore why we are so vulnerable to this condition.

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - September 24, 2017

“Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy” is the fourth of the ten commandments, but forget the Sabbath Day and keep it secular, or keep it like the other six days may be a more accurate description of many of our Sundays. So many Sunday activities compete for our time and attention. How do we deal with this? What should we do? This Sunday we will: 1) discuss in-depth what the Sabbath means and should mean to us; and 2) explore the principles behind the commandment and the challenges we face as Orthodox Christians in our roles as Church leaders, parishioners, parents, and in general, to keep the Sabbath.
 

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - September 17, 2017

Since the Church began, all Christians have been called to understand, live, and practice the faith in their place and in their time. Christ used what was relevant in His time, location, and culture to teach and live the faith. The Holy Fathers and the Saints did the same in their respective time and place. We are called to do the same. This year we will explore modern accepted notions and issues relevant to our local place and time, and discuss our understanding of and challenges to living and embracing the faith.

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - May 14, 2017

We all bear wounds. Some of our wounds are physical and apparent for the world to see. But most of our deepest wounds are spiritual, hidden from others, and even ourselves. They are often the sources of shame, pain, and pride. Much as open physical wounds need to be treated and covered to avoid infection, so do spiritual wounds. Often, however, they remain untreated and can fester. This week we will explore woundedness and how it can help or hinder our spiritual journey.

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - April 30, 2017

Cynicism was once a school of ancient Greek philosophy that promoted virtue and living in simple agreement with nature. Like many words that once held a different meaning, cynicism today means skepticism, jaded negativity, and a general distrust of the integrity and motive of others. Sin means to “fall short” or “miss the mark.” How do the two relate? What about modern cynicism can cause us to think and live in a way that makes us fall short of how we should think and live? What is the difference between skepticism, or healthy skepticism, and cynicism? How does cynicism affect the mind and heart? This week we will address these questions and more as we explore this prevalent attitude of much of society.

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - April 23, 2017

If you had a choice between memorizing and learning a bunch of rules to follow, or reading or watching an exciting story, which activity would you pick?  Most would choose the latter. Despite our universal love of story, we do not often share our Orthodox Christian faith as a wonderful story, but more often share it as either do’s and don’ts or as information to learn. This week we will explore the story of Christianity, and why it is so important to understand and communicate to both instill morality and virtue, but also truly teach our faith in a way that connects to the longing in our hearts – a longing that self-evident, of all places, in the movie entertainment industry.

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - April 2, 2017

Last week we examined why the Orthodox Church (and Christianity in general) is declining in America. We learned that the lack of multi-generational relationships between adults and youth within the Church is the primary reason. We discussed studies and data that show that within parishes over segregating our adults and youth into different ministries, liturgies, and educational opportunities is a cause of the problem; and how this should be a wake-up call for Orthodox Churches to reexamine how we organize our worship, education, and ministries. However, there is another contributing factor to Church attrition and it is what most youth and adults believe about the faith. This week we will discuss what has been called “the true religion of America” and why it undermines the Orthodox Christian Faith.  

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - March 26, 2017

The Orthodox Church is declining in America. So is Christianity in general. Six out of ten young people are leaving the church after college never to return. Despite popular sentiment among older generations that the young people return when they marry and have kids this is no longer true. Further, even though society is no longer as faith supportive as it once was, studies show that views on faith, religion, and spirituality have not significantly changed since the 1960 and 1970s. So, what has changed and why, surprisingly are we, the Church itself, actually contributing to the problem? We will explore this topic in this week’s class and learn about the well-intended things we are doing that we need to consider adjusting to reverse this course.

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - March 19, 2017

We are all blessed with gifts and talents. Our Sacrament of Chrismation is when we receive the seal of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The Scriptures talk repeatedly about the gifts and talents God bestows upon us and what we are supposed to do with them and not do with them. In this week’s class, we will explore the nature of our gifts and talents, how we should use them to serve God and others lovingly, and how misuse and misunderstanding them can lead us away from God.

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - March 12, 2017

The Scriptures and the Holy Fathers warn us repeatedly about the dangers idols and idolatry. Money, power, and hedonism are the more obvious things they warn us about. But they also warn us about much more subtle forms of idolatry that we can easily and unconsciously fall into. In this week’s class, we will explore these subtle idols, how to recognize them in our lives, and what to do about them to guard our hearts.

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - March 5, 2017

Most of us want to be in control of our lives. We don’t like it when things “feel out of control.” The message of society and culture is take control of your life and don’t be passive. There are books, videos, seminars, and speakers a plenty that advocate this message. Is it bad thing to take control of your life? Control, like most everything else, has its virtues and downsides. In this week’s class, we will explore the conscious and unconscious ways we try to control God, and discuss other mistakes and misconceptions we have that impede our spiritual life and growth.

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - February 26, 2017

What is the true purpose of the Church? Has it changed with the times? Should it change with the times? What is its relevancy in today’s culture? Is it even relevant anymore in an age where so many put their faith in technological, scientific, and political solutions to solve the many problems face today? These are just a few questions we will address in this week’s class as we discuss in-depth the Church, its vocation, mission, and its relevancy in a complex world.

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - February 19, 2017

Are body and soul two separate things? Does the body follow the mind or does the mind follow the body? What words do the New Testament authors and Holy Fathers use to describe body, mind and soul and why is what they meant so commonly misunderstood? How does this misunderstanding create an obstacle to our relationship with God? 

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - February 12, 2017

We hate being judged but so easily judge others. On any given day, we make multiple judgements about ourselves and other people. The Scriptures warn us about judging others and ourselves but how do we go through life without making judgments? Today, we will explore self-judgment, judgment of others, and God’s judgment, and discuss judgement versus discernment, and remorse/regret versus repentance, as we try to untangle this complex issue.

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - February 5, 2017

Fear is powerful emotion with different dimensions. It can motivate us and it can paralyze us. The Scriptures repeatedly tell us to fear God, yet they also tell us God is love and that perfect love casts out fear. This week we will explore the healthy and unhealthy aspects of fear and how it can lead us either toward God or away from Him.

Live Adult Education Class - Orthodox Christian Network - January 29, 2017

We put a lot of time and effort into achieving balance in our lives. What do we mean by balance? What should a life lived in balance look like for an Orthodox Christian? Today we will explore this notion of balance from a spiritual perspective, why it is or is not something we should strive for, and how our quest for balance can actually become an obstacle to our faith.

Using the professions of law and medicine, this week we will explore two different, yet prevalent and competing views about God. Do we think of Him more like a lawyer, or a judge, or more like a doctor? It’s import because how we view God affects whether we believe in God as a loving God, or a harsh God, or somewhere in between.

Father Thomas Hopko said these words and they really capture the paradox of our faith. How do we know if we know God? Is knowing about God the same as knowing God? Is our gift of intelligence and human reasoning a help or an obstacle, or both, when it comes to knowing God? These are tough questions to answer and sincere and well-meaning Christians have wrestled with them since the days of the early Church. This week we will explore these questions in-depth and share our own thoughts and experiences.