Congratulations to our Bloggers who signed up for the 30 (40) Days of Blogging.

Today is the 40th day! Your marathon journey has come to an end! Axios!

I want to thank everyone for participating. I’ve been reading your blogs, and I must say, I’m impressed with your work and the incredible labor that went into it. We will repeat this exercise next year, starting (once again) on Nov. 15th.

In the meantime, I want to especially congratulation some especially distinguished and new bloggers:

Fr. Matthew Thurman, of St. Luke’s Mission in Solon, OH, and his blog “30 Days.”

Fr. David Eynon of Annunciation Church in Decatur, IL, and his blog “Shine Within Our Hearts.”

Fr. Seraphim Holland of St. Nicholas Church in McKinney, TX, and his blog “Redeeming the Time.”

Finally, Fr. Athanasios Haros, of  Transfiguration Church, Florence, SC, who is the author of the “Be Transfigured” blog. He blogged every single day of our 40 Day Challenge. Fr. Athanasios also blogged on the New Testament Challenge, not an easy thing to do with a full pastoral schedule, let alone to blog on. Frankly, it was a herculean feat!

I want to thank our most experienced bloggers, Fr. James Coles and Fr. Peter Michael Preble, who are very experienced and outstanding bloggers. You added some great inspiration, not only to blogging, but to preaching. More than once I have ‘borrowed’ material from your blogs for my sermons.

In fact, I’ve done that with all our bloggers. Thank you for helping me preach with more excellence.

Most of all, congratulations to all! See you next Nativity Fast!

We have now completed 30 Days of our 30 (40) Days of Blogging, and offer our congratulations to all our bloggers who took up the challenge.

For those going on to the full 40 Days of Blogging, you have only ten days to go.

For those who are stopping here, we salute you on a job well done.

For those of you who would like to see what our bloggers have been up to, go to our online Forum, and see what the bloggers have been blogging about.

With only ten days before Nativity, it’s clutch time. If you have not regularly blogged before, you’re in the home stretch. Blog and blog well, and know that we are in your corner.

From all of us at Preachers Institute, good blogging!

by Fr. John A. Peck

Well, friends, it is that time in our exercise. There’s no shame in it. Blogging has become difficult. We’re hitting ‘the wall’ in this marathon.

Runners know what ‘the wall’ is. It’s that wonderful experience you just have to push through. It’s tough. It’s all will power. Now for those of you who took up the challenge of the 30 (40) Days of Blogging, first let me congratulate you for takinng the challenge.

Second, for those blogging only the first 30 days, we are only a day away from the finish line, so blog on anything, but just blog.

For those of you going all the way to 40 Days of Blogging, it is a unique crucible, and one that has required some real effort.

I’d also like to say that it is precisely your willingness to – at this very busy season in the priesthood – put aside time for this exercise that will benefit you. Read more

During every Nativity Fast, I offer my spiritual children and parishioners an exercise in Scripture which I call “The New Testament Challenge.”

It’s really not all that challenging, but for someone who has never read the entire New Testament before, it is an excellent time for just such an exercise.

• If you begin on Nov. 15th, you will do the 40 day schedule.
• If you begin on Dec. 1, you will do the 25 day schedule.
• Both schedules complete their readings on Christmas day.

This makes the entire Nativity Fast a time of real devoted ascetic effort and spiritual growth. It is especially appropriate (in my opinion) as the term Advent, basically implies a preparation and anticipation of the Second Coming of Christ. Notice, on Christmas Day, one is finishing Revelation!

Now, you may say “Who is honestly going to read half – or the entire – book of Revelation on Christmas?” Well, that’s what the 12 Days of Christmas are for! Read more

Now that we have entered Advent/Nativity Fast, and many of us have begun the 2009 New Testament Challenge (some will begin on Dec. 1st), I’d like to make a simple offering about the actual reading of the Holy Scriptures.

When I am teaching my parishioners or catechumens to read the Bible, few actually ask how one does this in the Orthodox way, but I believe this is an important idea, and in the spirit of giving, I always offer it to them.

I believe that the Orthodox Christian way of reading the Scriptures can be summed up as follows: Read more

by Fr. John A. Peck

We have been getting ready for a solid 30 (40) Days of Blogging and today is the day we begin.

Let me begin by wishing you all a blessed and fruitful Nativity Fast. This is a busy time for pastors, but it is also a time laden with unexpected opportunities. Many souls are seeking answers that only Christ can give. It is a time of evangelism! The goal of our 30 (40) Days of Blogging is to encourage and assist bloggers to blog daily for 30 days (ending Dec. 15th) and/or then to go on to a full 40 days (all completing the exercise on Dec. 25th – Christmas Day!).

As you know, the Christmas season is a time of personal reflection for most people, whether or not they are believers. During the days approaching Nativity, many people – though surrounded by festive decorations, ornaments, music and friends – feel the most depressed at this time of year. Why is that? Read more

Well, we have reached the big day. Tomorrow begins our 30 (40) Days of Blogging. I wish you all the very best in this endeavor and hope that the articles we posted in the days leading up to Nov. 15th have been at least useful, and perhaps even provided you with material for your own blog, or perhaps an idea that led to a blog post.

Blogging can seem intimidating at first, and even more so when you come to realize that a few people are regularly looking at what you have posted.  It really isn’t all that different from preaching, however. Blogging requires you to prepare and organize your thoughts, prepare to articulate your ideas, and finally deliver them with excellence and spirit. Read more

Look at this picture. I spent some time pondering it. It defies simple categorization, in my humble opinion. A girl wrapping herself in the flag? A green-eyed patriotic American muslim?  A young woman afraid of what too much patriotism can effect? Is this a statement on encroaching Shariah law?What is this photo saying?

In truth, I selected it because I found it uncategorizable. That is, it doesn’t fit into any clearly defined category.

Now, I’m not even certain that uncategorizable is a word. Actually, I’m pretty sure it isn’t, so please don’t write me about it

As human beings, especially as men of the West, we have a propensity to draw contrasts and comparisons in order to categorize things by distinction. This is normal, it’s good science, and adds to the breadth and depth of human knowledge. Read more

Blogging on the writings of the Fathers offers some unique things to the prospective blogger!

First, the writings of the Fathers are a treasury of theology, truth, wisdom, instruction, and just plain old fashioned good advice. They offer to the reader a chance to see a reflection of the Gospel teachings as expressed in different ages, in different struggles. Readers will see that the more things change, the more they stay the same. The condition of man hasn’t changed. The condition of the Church hasn’t changed. The condition of Christians in, but not of, the world is still the same. Read more

In writing a blog post, often we see, even in our favorite blogs, that the author has reposted, linked to, reported on and/or commented on something they have seen on the Internet, television, heard on the radio, or read in a book, magazine or newspaper.

A news story, an opinion piece, an excellent essay, a pensive reflection, a timely article: all these make excellent blog entries. It is a snap to rewrite the title, provide a link to the original story and offer some thoughtful commentary on your blog. Read more