An Introduction to Ephesians w/ Seraphim Hamilton
The 1st Episode Is Now Released For Free! (7 Part Series for only $5 a month!)
Dear friends,
The first episode in our new Bible Study on the Book of Ephesians is now available for free, and we just finished recording the 2nd episode. The study of Scripture with the mind of the church fathers is very dear to my heart, and so it is my hope (with your support) that we can continue to go through many more New Testament books so that everyone can be fully “equipped for every good work.” If more paid subscribers hop on over the next few weeks (only $5 a month), we hope to go through the Book of James next (one of my favorite NT books) with Seraphim Hamilton from an Orthodox perspective.
Interview w/ Elissa Bjeletich Davis, Monday (5-12), Live at 1pm (EST)
Today at 1pm, I will be interviewing Elissa Davis on her newest book, The Art of Myrrh Bearing: Encountering Christ through Serving Others. This book is a rich read through Scripture and Church history on saints who followed Christ sacrificially by binding the wounds of the broken-hearted. There are loads of examples of hospitality, caregiving, and radical service to others. In today’s interview, we will touch on the myrrh bearers (those who buried our Lord) as well as a few examples (St. Basil & St. Olga of Alaska) in church history who demonstrated this same spirit. (Picture below: Baby Julia tries to chew on this new book when I tried to sneak in a late evening read!)
Leisure as Resistance? (& Holiday at the Sea)
My friend, Robin Phillips over at
has written a wonderful article on the importance of ‘pausing in Christ’ or finding true rest in Him through prayer and spiritual leisure. This is so important in a world that tempts us with overwhelmed calendars and workaholism as well as the opposite—endless distractions and slothfulness. Neither of these extremes is pursuing true Christian leisure.C.S. Lewis captures the heart of this ‘rest’ with his phrase ‘holiday at the sea.’
“We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased” (The Weight of Glory)
Robin Phillips writes,
When we suppose that our value depends on how much we can accomplish, it’s easy to ignore the messages from our body telling us, “Slow down!” Often when we do slow down to pause, we find it hard to stop thinking of everything we still need to do. Or maybe we think, “Once I get everything checked off my list, then I can relax.”
Sometimes religious cultures can be the worst culprits in driving people to exhaustion. I will never forget when one family invited me out to dinner. The wife was struggling with exhaustion, and with good reason: she was working a full-time job, pursuing two master’s degrees, running her own business, plus spending all her free time helping her husband, a pastor involved in full-time Christian ministry. The overwork was seriously impacting her health, both physically and mentally. During dinner I noticed she was reading a book. Curious, I asked if I could see it. The book, written by the Christian celebrity David Cerullo, suggests that when our lives are open to the Spirit, He will bless us so we can accomplish more things, need less sleep, get more money, have more energy, etc. More, more, more![7]
Without implying any judgment on my friend, this type of Christianized overwork is quite common. In what amounts to a kind of implicit Pelagianism, we often imagine that our value in God’s eyes depends on rushing about doing the Lord’s work, or constantly being available lest we miss an opportunity to build for His kingdom. But like St. Martha in Luke 10:41, we only end up being troubled by many things. Part of the solution is reframing what counts as “God’s work” and “spiritual activity.” Sometimes the best way we can serve God is to suspend our fixation with tangible results and submit to the pause, even if that means “doing nothing” in the world’s eyes.
You may read his entire article here:
An ‘New’ Orthodox Newsletter by The Poorly Illumined
Lastly, if you haven’t subscribed to
yet, please do so! He is doing a wonderful job putting together a weekly newsletter of all the happenings in the world of Orthodoxy. It has already been a blessing for me to catch up on things that I had missed, forgotten, or had simply had never even heard of. He has recently mentioned the Bible Study course with so I am excited to see the word getting out!In XC,
Cassian Kyle King