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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 … [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 … [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 … [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 … [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 … [Read more...]
The Orthodox Church suffers from an abysmal lack of cogent apologetic material. Interestingly, thanks to blogging, I believe this will change soon. Someone like you or me will get so tired of not having the kind of printed material we need, that we'll just make it ourselves, and in the day of print-on-demand publishers (see here for examples of my own books, published at Lulu.com), well - it won't be long. In the meantime, we stand at a wonderful … [Read more...]
Every week in my parish bulletin, I include a short life of one of the saints commemorated in the coming week. (You can find my weekly bulletins here, if you care to see - Weekly Bulletins from Prescott) I try to include a wide variety of saints - well known, obscure, men, women, children, families, soldiers, martyrs, confessors - you get the picture. I've done this for many years now, and I've often had people tell me how much they like these … [Read more...]
Yesterday, I wrote about setting a simple blog schedule and using the Calendar to 'fill in' some basic, but personally significant dates. I also mentioned how easy it was to prepare these in advance, write them up and then schedule them for publication on the desired date - that way, the 'work' of the writing can be done anytime prior. Voila! Just like that, almost a third of your blog is filled. I recommend you seriously consider it to get … [Read more...]
Now that we are less than two weeks away from beginning our 30 (40) Days of Blogging, and as a part of this endeavor, the Preachers Institute will offer some help, suggestions, ideas, guidelines, and hopefully a few basic, default ideas for starting your blog. First, begin planning your 30-40 day blogging schedule. It need not be anything too formal, but it is an easy matter to take a few days off the Calendar which have some significance, and … [Read more...]
30 (40) Days of Blogging Here at the Preachers Institute, we are intensely interested in helping pastors, preachers and evangelists prepare themselves for the art of preaching. Many Orthodox preachers, priests, deacons, teachers and evangelists have entertained the idea of starting a blog – something which would be of immense interest and help to their flocks – but are concerned about being able to consistently produce material day after day. … [Read more...]
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