A Sojourner's Sermons: Recent Episodes
Fr. Paul Lundberg
In the Epistle to Diognetus, we read that Christians "dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners. As citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers...They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh. They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven."
The publication of these short homilies is made possible through the sponsorship of Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Montgomery, Alabama. The image associated with the podcast is courtesy of Jon Tyson via Unsplash.
A reflection on Luke 13.19-29
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A homiletic reflection on Luke 13:10-17
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An informal reflection on the healing of the woman with a flow of blood (Mark 5.24-34)
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A Reflection on the Rich Young Ruler (Luke 18.18-27)
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A homiletic reflection on the feast of the Theotokos' Entry into the Temple.
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How can we, living in this world and dependent on it for our biological life, become more deeply connected to God, who is our ultimate Life?
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The context of the Parable of the Good Samaritan is important. It teaches us, among other things, that meeting minimal standards is only the beginning of the spiritual life, and that there is no limit to love.
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A reflection on Jesus' Parable of the Sower and the lies we might believe about His word.
Jesus Christ spoke with authority and acted with authority. He healed the sick, cast out demons from the people possessed by them, and even raised the dead. With all those displays of authority, why do we not believe more strongly in Him? Why do we not keep His commandments more diligently?
A reflection on the Gospel reading for the Saturday after the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, John 8.21-30.
What does the last of the Beatitudes have to do with the bell curve? It's all about focus.
Caring for others is a good and beautiful act, but even good things can become distractions. In this reflection on the Gospel reading for the feast of the Theotokos' Dormition, we learn of an important way to stay focused on what matters most.
This homiletic reflection on the fifth Beatitude focuses on the question, "How can we cultivate a merciful disposition in our hearts?"
What in the world could be blessed about the tears of mourning? Following Gregory of Nyssa, we learn that it's for the loss of the greatest of God's gifts that we will receive the greatest of comfort—namely Himself.
The journey from dependence to independence to interdependence described by Stephen Covey pertains only to human relationships. With regard to God, we are always dependent, always children. This 4th of July homily is a reflection on Matthew 7.7-11.
A reflection on the first Beatitude from chapter 5 of the Gospel according to Matthew, this recording addresses what it means to be "poor in spirit."
What do you do when you encounter a beggar? This is a homiletic reflection on the simplicity and extremity of the evangelical commandment in Matthew 5.42-48, the Gospel reading for the Saturday of Pentecost.
When our understanding of spirit is mainly or only emotional, we run the risk of misinterpreting the presence of the Holy Spirit. This homiletic reflection focuses on a few teachings about the Holy Spirit, namely what we need to do to acquire the Holy Spirit and what feelings accompany the presence of the Holy Spirit.
The Lord gave us his life-giving commandments as purifying remedies of the soul's passionate condition. For what medicines are to a diseased body, that the commandments are to the passionate soul. It is clear that the commandments were given to oppose the passions and for the healing of the sinful soul, even as the Lord said plainly to His disciples, "He that has My commandments and keeps them, he it is that loves Me; and he that loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him, and We will come to him and make Our abode in him."...It is evident that a man can acquire love only after he has received health of soul, and that the soul is not in good health unless she keeps the commandments. The keeping of the commandments is, however, still inferior to spiritual love. And because there are many who keep the commandments out of fear or on account of future reward but not for love's sake, the Lord often admonishes us to observe out of love the commandments which give light to the soul...It is not when we practice righteousness that we taste the sweetness concealed within it, but rather when longing for righteousness consumes our heart. And it is not when we commit sin that we are sinners, but when we do not hate sin and we do not repent of it. —Saint Isaac the Syrian, Epistle to Abba Symeon*
*The words "passionate" and "passion" here refer to natural desires, capacities, or faculties that have been distorted by sin; for example, hunger for food is distorted by sin into the passion of gluttony.
When affliction or suffering strikes those who have done nothing to deserve it, it's natural for us to ask, "Why?" This is a homiletic reflection on Jesus' answer to this question in John 9.1-38.
To paraphrase Fr. Alexander Schmemann: all our thirst is ultimately a thirst for God. Thirsty himself in the heat of the day, Jesus once asked a Samaritan woman at a well for a drink. This homily, given in 2019, is a reflection on physical and spiritual thirst, and how they are ultimately satisfied in Jesus Christ.
What we sometimes defend or champion as "freedom" is often better called "autonomy." This homiletic reflection on John 5.16-30 proposes that there is a better way than independent self-will.
Given in 2017, this homiletic reflection on the reading for the Sunday of the Paralytic (John 5.1-15) addresses the ways in which God uses troubled circumstances to heal us and help us grow.
From 2019, this homiletic reflection on fear was inspired by the Gospel reading for the Sunday of the Myrrh-bearing Women, Mark 15.43-16.8.
About Desmond Doss, the only conscientious objector to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for service during World War II.
Children are dear to God, and He reveals Himself to them in special ways. This is a homiletic reflection on the association of the Sunday of Palms, when we commemorate the Lord's entrance into Jerusalem, with children.
There's a big difference between setting our hearts on earthly hopes and lifting our hearts up to God. This is a homiletic reflection on unfulfilled hopes.
The practice of sacrifice did not have an especially promising beginning. The first ended in fratricide. The second involved the destruction of animals that God had just saved from death by drowning. Through history, God developed our inclination to sacrifice until Jesus Christ gave it its ultimate meaning. This meditation on sacrifice starts with that of Noah in Genesis 8.20.
There are parts of ourselves we cannot see. We can't see our own faces. We can't see our own backs. And what lies within—thought, feeling, soul—is even more difficult to see. This homiletic meditation on Genesis 4.1-7 considers how the scriptural texts can help us know ourselves better.
In a time when there is considerable fragmentation regarding gender and sexuality, reading Genesis can teach us important truths, one of which is that all human beings, male and female, are made in God's image (Genesis 1.26-27).
One of the greatest sources of our suffering is the lies we tell ourselves. We sometimes hide from the truth because we are ashamed. As Fr. Zacharias of Essex says, "Shame is the lack of courage to see ourselves the way God sees us." This homily from the beginning of Lent in 2019 is a reflection on John 1.43-51.
A "homiletical conversation" with George about the Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15.11-32).
"Just as water and fire cannot be combined, so self-justification and humility exclude one another." —Mark the Ascetic, On the Spiritual Law
“Even now, however, we must preserve humility of spirit. Experience will show that the moment we begin to feel satisfied with ourselves, instead of 'poor in spirit', the whole spiritual ladder that we have climbed collapses and 'our house is left unto us desolate.'” —Saint Sophrony of Essex, On Prayer
The 38 sayings of Saint Anthony
The book from which the sayings were read
Find the podcasts of Fr. Thomas Hopko here.
When experiencing national disunity, Christians do well to remember Jesus Christ, who gives diverse gifts to the Church for the sake of growth into unity in faith and in the knowledge of Him. This homily is a reflection on Ephesians 4.7-13, heard annually on the Sunday after Theophany.
For a fine history of the lightbulb from an economic perspective, check out this podcast episode from the BBC.
Click here to view a sample of Professor Ralph C. Wood's Flannery O'Connor and the Christ-Haunted South.
The coronavirus vaccines are finally available. Some people can't wait to receive one. Others are deeply skeptical about being vaccinated. This reflection on Hebrews 11.9-40 seeks to address the vaccine question.
A theatrical trailer for Terrence Malick's A Hidden Life, the title of which was taken from this passage of George Eliot's Middlemarch:
“The growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.”
About Franz Jägerstätter
About the movie The Perfect Storm
"Eternal Father, Strong to Save"
One of the central tensions faced by a pastoral leader is shown in the life of Saint Abraamius, Bishop of Cratea, also commemorated on December 6th. This is the tension between service and silence, the active life and the contemplative. After being elected to the leadership of his monastery, he fled, longing for solitude and eager to escape the praise of men. He then returned when the local bishop excommunicated him for disobedience and the saint was unable to obtain restoration to communion from any other bishop. When the excommunicating bishop died, Abraamius was unanimously chosen to succeed him and, despite his love of solitude, for more than 15 years he was renowned for his love of neighbor and for his charitable works. He founded orphanages, hostels and hospitals; he drove that demons, gave arms and wrought miracles of all kinds. But love of God and longing for the quiet of the desert grew ever stronger within him. In response to his prayers, God revealed to him in a dream His blessing to return to the calm of the desert, where he finished his earthly life.
Elder Aimilianos on prayer by night, from Psalms and the Life of Faith: "During moments of quiet and isolation, especially during the night, the conscience is wonderfully able to examine itself. The night is by far the most beneficial time to be face-to-face with God and hear His voice. The night is rich with possibilities, for it is then that the all-powerful Word of God Himself comes to us (Wis. 18.14-15), provided, of course, that there is silence within us and our conscience does not accuse us of anything."
Elder Aimilianos also teaches us that the word for the morning worship service of the Church, όρθρος (orthros), was the name given to the second-to-last shift of the night watch kept by the ancient Israelites. When it is done at the proper time, as it is in monasteries, its conclusion often coincides with the rising of the sun.
The holiday season is upon us, including the holiday shopping season. If you are perplexed at the prospect of finding good gifts, consider these principles from a reflection on God's gifts as described in Ephesians 4.1-7.
There are walls that have fallen, like the one in Berlin, and walls that haven't, like the one in Nicosia, Cyprus. But there are other, invisible walls in every human heart. What—or who—it takes to tear down walls is the subject of this homiletic reflection on Ephesians 2.14-22.
It's all about action. This homiletic reflection on the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10.25-37) is from November 2019.
In times of stress—whether caused by hurricanes, elections, or coronavirus epidemics—the quality of our love is revealed to us. This homiletic reflection on Saint Paul's famous words about love in his first letter to the Corinthians (12.27-13.8) is on the occasion of the feast of the Holy Unmercenary Healers Kosmas and Damian.
When you get discouraged by worldly news sources, remember the source of the Good News: God. And go right to Him. This is a homily on Galatians 1.11-19.
It's easy for us to trust and rejoice in earthly power in the face of threat or need, but God instructs us to trust in His goodwill, to rejoice that our names are written in heaven. This is a homiletic reflection on Luke 10.16-21, the Gospel pericope for the feast of Saint Luke the Apostle and Evangelist.
What keeps the Word of God from growing in our hearts and bearing fruit? Here is a contemporary reflection on the Parable of the Sower in Luke 8.5-15, originally delivered in October of 2019.
My constant prayer proceeded from the profound despair that had taken over my heart...two seemingly totally incompatible states (Easter joy and despair) met together in me...The Lord had granted me the grace of repentance...The moment despair slackened, prayer cooled off and death would invade my heart...Through repentance, by being expanded until in spirit I touched upon both hell and the Kingdom. —Saint Sophrony, On Prayer
And from one of his spiritual children:
If we are to be in the image of the new Adam, Christ, we should bear in our hearts the rest of humanity. Therefore, whoever puts himself in the way of the Lord receives this enlargement of the cross and resurrection of the Lord, and this enlargement makes him universal. We cannot become universal with technology, with computers and mobile phones, and such things. True universality comes when we put ourselves in the way of the Lord. —Archimandrite Zacharias, The Enlargement of the Heart
A homily on the Epistle for the Sunday before the Elevation of the Holy Cross, Galatians 6.11-18.
Given on November 3, 2019, this is a homiletic reflection on the story of the rich man and Lazarus in the Gospel according to Luke (16.19-31).
A homily on the Epistle reading for the 10th Sunday of Matthew, 1st Corinthians 4.9-16.
From August 23, 2019, this is a homily on the Gospel reading for the 9th Sunday of Matthew (14.22-34).
A homily on 1 Corinthians 1.10-17, inspired particularly by the stones thrown against Saint Stephen the Protomartyr, the translation of whose relics we commemorated that day (August 2nd) as well as Saint Basil the Fool for Christ and Wonderworker of Moscow, whose holy folly was expressed once by throwing stones at the houses of the righteous.
Homily on the Epistle reading for the Sunday of the Fathers of the 4th Ecumenical Council, from Saint Paul's Letter to Titus (3.8-15).
Sophrony of Essex, to which the homilist refers as "Father", was canonized a saint a few months later, in November of 2019.
To watch a trailer from Field of Dreams
Midway between illumination and abandonment lies the experience of trial, and midway between sadness and joy lies hope. This is why the Psalmist says: “I waited patiently for the Lord; and he heard me“ (Psalm 40.1); and again: “According to the multitude of the sufferings in my heart, Your blessings have gladdened my soul“ (Psalm 94.19). —Saint Diadochos of Photiki
And for swag from God is Dope
And hope is not easy!
"God belongs to all free beings. He is the life of all, the salvation of all—faithful and unfaithful, just and unjust, pious and impious, passionate and dispassionate, monks and seculars, wise and simple, healthy and sick, young and old—just as the diffusion of light, the sight of the sun, and the changes of the weather are for all alike; ‘for there is no favoritism with God.'"—St. John in The Ladder of Divine Ascent (step 1.3)
Blake's preface to Milton was set to a beautiful musical arrangement that is immensely popular in the British Isles, sung from rugby games to royal weddings. Here's a favorite rendition, connected to a movie that drew its title from the poem.
A homily on the Epistle reading for the Sunday of the Fathers of the 1st Ecumenical Synod (Acts 20.16-18, 28-36).
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The prerequisite for the experience of true freedom is not to have dominion over anyone and for no one else to have control over you. Every man inevitably forfeits his freedom as soon as any power over any one of his fellows manifests itself in him. The aspiration to dominate is itself the consequence of an inner enslavement. In enslavement there is no love. (Saint Sophrony, Letters to His Family)
every encroachment on the freedom of anyone whosoever leads first and foremost to the loss of freedom of those who are doing the encroaching. If someone wishes to be free, he must look after the freedom of everybody else, and then he will receive the highest form of freedom, which is not threatened even by death. (Saint Sophrony, Letters to His Family)
All men are made In God’s image; but to be in His likeness is granted only to those who through great love have brought their own freedom into subjection to God. For only when we do not belong to ourselves do we become like him who through love has reconciled us to himself. No one achieves this unless he persuades his soul not to be distracted by the false glitter of this life. (Saint Diadochos of Photiki, On Spiritual Knowledge and Discrimination)
A homily on the epistle reading for the Sunday of the Samaritan Woman, from the Acts of the Apostles 11.19-30.
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A homily on the unity of the early Church as described in the first chapters of the Acts of the Apostles.
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A homily on the Gospel reading for the Saturday of St. Lazarus, John 11.1-45.
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A homily on the epistle reading for the 5th Sunday of Lent, Hebrews 9.11-14
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A homily offered on the epistle reading for the 4th Sunday of Lent, Hebrews 6.13-20.
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A sermon on the epistle reading of the third Sunday of Great Lent, Hebrews 4.14–5.6.
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Homily offered on the epistle reading (Hebrews 1.10-2.3) of the 2nd Sunday of Lent, 2020.
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Homily delivered on February 2nd, 2020.
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A homily on St. Paul's message to Timothy in his first epistle to him (chapter 4, verses 9-15).
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A homily about the story of Zacchaios, offered on January 27th, 2019.
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A message on St. Paul's Letter to the Colossians (3.4-11), offered on January 19th, 2020.
A homily on Luke 17.12-19 (the 12th Sunday of Luke), the story of Jesus healing the ten lepers, offered on January 20, 2019.
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A homily on the Sunday after Christmas (Matthew 2.13-23)
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A personal reflection on Luke 14.16-24, a parable of Jesus.
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