St. Mary Orthodox Church

Sermon Preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, February 3, 2008

Zaccheus was hated by his neighbors.  He was a tax collector. He cheated the people to profit himself. Though small in stature he had a big ego.  Big egos often come in small packages.  Still I am pretty sure he was not all bad and that some of the stories his neighbors told were far worse than the reality. His first step toward freedom came in the form of climbing a tree. In fact, Zaccheus was good down deep as all people are.  Jesus knew this and went out of his way to make something significant happen that day.  

The point about the ego came home to me just the other day.

Sermon Preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, January 27, 2008

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God.

Presentation given by Teva Regule on Sunday, January 27, 2008

What is liturgy?  What are some of the benefits of coming together to celebrate the "sacred mysteries of life and our faith?"[1]  How can we grow closer to God through our communal celebration?  We began this series on the liturgy by looking at these questions.  We emphasized that liturgy is the context in which we become Church, the Body of Christ.  It has a catechetical as well as a formative and ultimately, a transformative dimension.  We also emphasized that it is work-it requires our active participation.

There are many ways that we can grow closer

Presentation given by John Daly on Sunday, January 20, 2008

We live in a day and age where we don't like to memorize things.  In fact, even if we wanted to memorize things, we have a hard time doing so.  We're not really trained for it.  One of the "gotcha" questions many reporters like to ask political candidates is "Who is your favorite philosopher?" or "What is your favorite poem?" immediately followed up by "Could you recite a few lines for us?"  Even the most intelligent or educated among us sometime struggle with this.  It's hard for us to imagine how people could have committed the ancient Greek epics to memory -- thousands of lines, able to recall and recite them on command -- but they

Presentation given by Deacon Jeffrey Smith on Sunday, January 13, 2008

Last week Dave Vermette spoke about the Liturgy of the Word.  Today, I am to speak about the second half of the liturgy – that is our participation in the Eucharist.

Someone once remarked to me that a typical Protestant service is just the first half of ours.  The Protestants certainly focus on the Liturgy of the Word of God, but not so much on our second half, the Eucharist – thanksgiving for the gifts of God, and participation in his body and blood.

Last week, Fr.

Presentation given by David Vermette on Sunday, January 6, 2008

The public portion of Liturgy is divided into two main parts: The Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist.  As the invocation of the Holy Spirit upon the gifts is the highlight of the Liturgy of the Eucharist, the highlight of the Liturgy of the Word is the reading of the Gospel of the Incarnate Word of God, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  In the Gospel reading we receive Christ Himself through the sense of hearing as in the Holy Communion we receive Him through the sense of taste.  The readings from Holy Scripture and the Eucharist are both means by which we become partakers of the Divine Nature.

Now, if Jesus were to come visibly every Sunday and stand

Liturgical Catechesis Presentation-Introduction

Presentation given by Teva Regule on Sunday, December 30, 2007

(I invite you to turn to the post communion hymn, "We have seen the true light".  In the 1987 edition of the Service book {Antiochian}, it is on p.

Sermon Preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, November 18, 2007

Luke 12:16-21

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen.

Glory to Jesus Christ!

There is a misconception that the Christian life is supposed to be miserable. Why, if that is not true, would the Church ask us to fast, to sacrifice and to deny ourselves the pleasures and goods of this life? But the opposite is true in fact. Although we do not use this word often in our conversation, happiness is one of the main goals of the Gospel message. We might use the word peace instead or contentment, but in the Christian context they are the same.

Jesus came to offer the way to true happiness.

Sermon Preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, November 11, 2007

Luke 10:25-37

It is the most natural thing for us to help one another. It is natural because we are made in the image of the All-Compassionate God. This is what defines us as human beings. We have to work very hard to subvert that natural inclination and one of the ways we do that is by making up stories.  

Most ethnic or national groups have a target for their story telling.  Everybody has a boogeyman. The Irish have the English, the Russians have the Chechnyans and religious fundamentalists (no matter what sect) have everybody else.  It turns the world into a nice, neat, controllable place.

Sermon Preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, November 4, 2007

(Luke 16:19-31)

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen.

Glory to Jesus Christ!

The message today is all about the sins of craving and fear also known as attachment and aversion.

Attachment is an irrational craving for the things of this world in the belief that in them we will find true happiness.

Sermon Preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, October 21, 2007

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen.

Glory to Jesus Christ!

I want to say a few words about Christian Education today.  It is an important subject for all of us to consider. It is not just about teaching children, but of the education of our community as a whole.

The emphasis in churches of all kinds has been towards children. Sunday Schools are mostly about them.  Of course this is necessary.

Sermon Preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, October 14, 2007

Luke 8:5-15

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen. Glory to Jesus Christ!

Today's Gospel reading is St. Luke's account of the Parable of the Sower. Interpreting the parable to his disciples Jesus told them that the seed represents the Word of God. I want to expand our understanding of what the word of God is and then say a few words about what we need to do to be able to receive it.

Often we limit our definition of "the word of God" to the Holy Scriptures and while that is true it is not the whole picture.

Sermon Preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, September 30, 2007

Luke 6:31-36

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen.

“As you would have men do to you, do also to them. If you love those who love you, what good is that? Love your enemies and do good and lend expecting nothing in return and then you will be called the children of the Highest. Be merciful just as your Father in Heaven is merciful.”

Jesus calls us to live up to our divine potential. The whole of what that means is summed up here.  Love everyone and do good for them, even our enemies and give without expecting anything in return.

Sermon Preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, September 23, 2007

(The Reading is from Luke 5:1-11)

Jesus Christ turned the world upside down and inside out in big ways and little ways. When He asked Peter to set out on the lake and cast his nets again he was giving him a chance to see things in a different way.  Everything Peter had learned as a fisherman told him that fishing on Galilee was to be done at certain times and in certain ways. Old habits die hard. Pride gets in the way. Still Peter did as he was asked and his world changed.

Sermon Preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, September 16, 2007

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God.  Amen.

Glory to Jesus Christ!

There is an old African proverb, "When the student is ready the teacher will appear."

Over the past four years many teachers have appeared in my life from a great variety of places beginning with a sixteen-year old camper at Antiochian Village and ending presently with an Abbot from Greece.

Sermon Preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, September 9, 2007

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen.

Glory to Jesus Christ!

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved."

This verse is the very heart of the Gospel. It is the reason we are here, the reason the Church exists. It is the message we preach, Christ and him crucified, for the sake of love, for the salvation of the world. St. Paul claimed to preach this message and nothing else.

Love becomes incarnate.

Sermon Preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, September 2, 2007

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen.

Glory to Jesus Christ.

Today’s parable needs a little explanation. Placed in its context the message is much more meaningful.

The parable has three parts. In the first, a king sends servants to invite guests to his son’s marriage feast, but they make light of it, refuse to come and kill the messengers. The angry king sends his troops to wipe them out and burn their city.

In the second part, the king sends more servants out to invite others to the feast, everyone they find, the good and the bad.

Sermon Preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, July 15, 2007

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen.

Glory to Jesus Christ!

Jesus, the Light of the World, says that we, too, are the light of the world. He is the Sun and we are the moon, reflectors and receptors of the Divine Radiance. And this is why we were created: to bear the light of God and to become brighter and brighter, progressing in the likeness to God in whose image we have been made.

St. Paul writes of the potential we hold saying that the whole of creation eagerly awaits the revealing of the children of God.

Sermon Preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, July 8, 2007

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen.

Glory to Jesus Christ!

The words and deeds of Jesus and were one and the same. There was no hypocrisy in him. So he could not only forgive the sins of the paralytic he could demonstrate the truth of his words with miracles. Some of the scribes were disturbed by what they heard and saw. They could not bear to hear the truth. They claimed that Jesus was a blasphemer. To prove otherwise Jesus went one step further and healed the poor man of his paralysis.

The crowds were amazed.

Sermon Preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, June 17, 2007

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen.

Glory to Jesus Christ!

“The eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness.”

Lamps give light when they are turned on, if the bulb is good, if the electrical connection is unimpeded; that is, if the lamp is in working order all will be well and the room will be filled with light.