Continuing in homily 42, St. Isaac gives us another warning. When you find unchanging peace, that is, when everything is going smoothly for you most of the time, then “beware: you are very far from the divine paths trodden by the weary feet of the saints. For as long as you are journeying in the way to the city of the Kingdom and are drawing nigh to the city of God, this will be a sign for you: the strength of the temptations that you encounter. And the nearer you draw nigh and progress, the more temptations will multiply against you.”

Approaching God's requirements as a simple checklist for eternal life will leave us, like the Rich Young Ruler, outside of the great joy of Christmas.

The Lord’s genealogy in St. Matthew’s gospel traces the Savior’s human ancestry back through many generations to Abraham. The story of the ancestors of Christ, who helped to prepare the way across the centuries for the incarnation of the God-Man, certainly does not read like a Facebook posting. The Old Testament presents them realistically as unlikely members of His family tree.

The good news of our Lord’s resurrection extends to everyone and the entire world. The Church directs our attention during the Paschal season to how some very different people came to share in the life of our Lord, such as the disciple Thomas, the Myrrh-Bearing Women, Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus, and the paralyzed man. Today we focus on someone who was different from all of them by worldly standards, for they were Jews and she was a Samaritan. We know her in the Church as the Great Martyr Photini, but in that time and place she would have seemed a very unlikely candidate to become a great evangelist of Christ’s salvation.

Let us take the Theotokos as our great example of how to receive and follow Christ every day, even as we ask for her prayers for the healing of our souls. That is the only way to celebrate the great feast of her Dormition with spiritual integrity.

The devotion of the Myrrh-Bearers, Joseph, and Nicodemus shows us what true faith looks like, and it has nothing to do with figuring out how to use God to help us get what we want on our own terms in a pathetic attempt to distract ourselves from the fear of death.

Christ said, “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” No one else would have looked at Photini and seen a future saint who would shine with the light of holiness.

As we continue to prepare to welcome Christ at His Nativity, we must keep our focus on becoming like those who first received Him with joy. That includes the Theotokos, whose Entrance into the Temple, where she prepared to become His Living Temple, we celebrated last week. That includes unlikely characters like the Persian astrologers or wise men, certainly Gentiles, who traveled such a long distance to worship Him. What better news could there have been than that the Prince of Peace was coming “to preach good news to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord”? (Lk. 4:18-19) As we sing during these weeks of Advent, “Dance for joy, O earth, on hearing the gladsome tidings; with the Angels and the shepherds now glorify Him Who is willing to be gazed on as a young Child Who before the ages is God.”

On Jan 18, we sing the dismissal Theotokion in tone 5. Its deep theology may be unpacked by reference especially to the prophet Ezekiel and Psalm 130/131, as well as by the book of Revelation and some of the fathers of the Church.

Fr. Ted warns us that If we cannot distinguish between happiness and true spiritual joy, then there's a problem in our lives.

Stories shared by Brother Luke of St. John the Compassionate Mission.

A story written by Fr. Nicolaie.

Members of the community reflect on the margins of our existence; where seemingly-forgotten people dwell; and yet, in the margins is where they find their faith strengthening...

Fr. Apostolos reminds us that unless we see our salvation in the face of Christ, there is no particular reason for joy at Christmas.

Fr. Apostolos Hill speaks on the theme of the Sunday before the Exaltation of the Cross with a challenge to consider that we have been viewing the Cross incorrectly; e.g. as an impediment to our happiness and not as the cause of joy in the life of the redeemed.

In order to further prepare our thoughts for the coming of Great Lent, the Church presents us with our Lord's description of His return in glory. Fr Thomas reminds us that the Last and Final Day is both terrifying and awesome, dread and joyful, as we prepare now in this life for the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Sunday of the Last Judgment)

In a special Christmas edition of Sermons at St Nicholas, Fr Thomas reminds us of the cosmic significance of the birth of Christ. Because God the Father sends His Son to us, the world will never be the same!

The Holy Myrrh Bearing Women were the first to proclaim the risen Christ to their incredulous male counterparts.

Dr. Rossi visits with Fr. Alexander Atty at Antiochian Village and discusses Fr. Alexander's cancer diagnosis and how he has dealt with it. Part two of the interview.

Dr. Albert Rossi shares his understanding of how to discover Christ's joy in both the small and great experiences of our daily lives.

Dr. Albert Rossi discusses the cultural understanding of joy in contrast with the Orthodox understanding of joy.

Dr. Rossi reflects on joy.

In this week’s broadcast, Archimandrite Irenei examines several sections from St John’s Ladder to Paradise, read throughout Great Lent and particularly remembered in this Fifth Week, dealing especially with the paradoxes of spiritual life and the mystery of a "joy-creating sorrow."

Drawn from a remarkable passage from St. John of the Ladder, Archimandrite Irenei examines the crippling effect of spiritual fear on the life of the Christian, and draws from the saint’s guidance the help towards overcoming it with a trustful love in the power of God.

This week, Archimandrite Irenei examines a text by St. Mark the Ascetic in which the Christian is enjoined to "give himself entirely to the Cross," undergoing "with joy" the abasement that it brings. Do we live our lives in this way? Can we claim to be what St. Mark terms "true Christians"?

Bobby Maddex interviews Cheryl A. Tuggle, the author of the new novel from Anaphora Press titled Unexpected Joy, which is being billed as one of the first modern adult fiction books for Orthodox Christian readers.

Bobby Maddex interviews Fr. Thomas Colyandro and Hieromonk Mark about the new Orthodox Monastery of the Mother of God, Joy of All Who Sorrow in Monteagle, TN. Listeners can learn more and help support this amazing monastery here.

On Palm Sunday, at the beginning of this saddest of weeks, St. Paul exhorts us, "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice."

Prayer isn't a numbers game, it's about experiencing Christ's joy!

“Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord” (John 12: 13) The Saturday of Lazarus and Palm Sunday are a sort of bridge between Great Lent and Holy Week. These days also live in the tension between joy and betrayal. People are welcoming Jesus as the Messiah while others are preparing to put Him to death. Do who actually welcomed Jesus when He entered Jerusalem? It was those who were joyous and gentle: whose hearts were ready to be filled with the Holy Spirit so they could welcome the true Messiah. It was the children. As always, we've prepared a FREE downloadable workbook to help you act on what you'll learn: https://mailchi.mp/goarch/bethebee174

It is possible to find joy in the mundane . . . even at 12:30 a.m.

Robert MacIntyre admits his golf was "in a dark place" this year before he turned it around and got into the world top 20.

A first win in the Premier League for 22 years lifts Town out of the relegation zone.

Car-obsessed teenager Dakota, who has muscular dystrophy, is treated to a trip to Silverstone.

Mercedes have put the car from Lewis Hamilton's controversial 2021 championship defeat on display in the lobby at their factory.

E-government serves as a vital channel for citizen interactions with the public sector, where user enjoyment is of paramount importance. To date, few studies have comprehensively examined the determinants of citizen enjoyment in e-government. To address this research gap, we administered a survey and gathered data from 363 Australian residents using myGov for tax filing. Our analysis revealed a pronounced discrepancy between reported enjoyment and the intention to continue using the services. Although users demonstrated a strong intent to use e-government services, this intent did not uniformly align with enjoyment. Additionally, informed by self-determination theory, we developed and tested an e-government service enjoyment model to study the impacts of effort expectancy, technophilia, technology humanness, and engagement in fostering user enjoyment. Unexpectedly, the results showed that information privacy concerns, commonly seen as a deterrent in e-government adoption, did not significantly affect enjoyment. Our findings advance the discourse on e-government service improvement.

Aim/Purpose: This study investigated a model of mobile esports acceptance among urban citizens based on an extended Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Background: Currently, esports are increasingly popular and in demand by the public. Supported by the widespread development of mobile devices, it has become an interactive market trend to play games in a new model, mobile esports. Methodology: This study collected data from 400 respondents and analyzed it using partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Contribution: This study addresses two research gaps. The first gap is limited esports information systems studies, particularly in mobile esports acceptance studies. The second gap is limited exploration of external variables in online gaming acceptance studies. Thus, this study proposed a TAM extended model by integrating the TAM native variables with other external variables such as visual appeal, enjoyment, social interaction, and competition to explore mobile esports acceptance by urban citizens. Findings: Nine hypotheses were accepted, and four were rejected. The visual appeal did not affect the acceptance. Meanwhile, social interaction and enjoyment significantly affected both perceived ease of use and usefulness. However, perceived ease of use surprisingly had an insignificant effect on attitude toward using mobile esports. Moreover, competition significantly affected the acceptance, particularly on perceived usefulness. Recommendations for Practitioners: Fresh and innovative features, such as new game items or themes, should be frequently introduced to enhance players’ continued enjoyment. Moreover, mobile esports providers should offer a solid platform to excite players’ interactions to increase the likelihood that users feel content. On the other hand, the national sports ministry/agency or responsible authorities should organize many esports competitions, big or small, to search for new talents. Recommendation for Researchers: Visual appeal in this study did not influence the perceived ease of use or usefulness. However, it could affect enjoyment. Thus, it would be worth revisiting the relationship between visual appeal and enjoyment. At the same time, perceived ease of use is a strong driver for the continued use of most online games, but not in this study. It could indicate significant differences between mobile esports and typical online games, one of which is the different purposes. Users might play online games for recreational intention, but players would use mobile esports to compete, win, or even get monetary rewards. Therefore, although users might find mobile esports challenging and hard to use, they tend to keep playing it. Thus, monetary rewards could be considered a determinant of the continuation of use. Impact on Society: Nowadays, users are being paid for playing games. It also would be an excel-lent job if they become professional esports athletes. This study investigated factors that could affect the continued use of mobile esports. Like other jobs, playing games professionally in the long term could make the players tedious and tired. Therefore, responsible parties, like mobile esports providers or governments, could use the recommendations of this study to promote positive behavior among the players. They will not feel like working and still con-sider playing mobile esports a hobby if they happily do the job. In the long run, the players could also make a nation’s society proud if they can be a champion in prestigious competitions. Future Research: A larger sample size will be needed to generalize the results, such as for a nation. It is also preferable if the sample is randomized systematically. Future works should also investigate whether the same results are acquired in other mobile esports. Furthermore, to extend our knowledge and deepen our understanding of the variables that influence mobile esports adoption, the subsequent research could look at other mobile esports acceptability based on characteristics of system functionality and moderator effects. Finally, longitudinal data-collecting approaches are suggested for future studies since behavior can change over time.

Miguel Franzem filmed with Landon Barnes a rad new video at the Joyride150 BMX park during his Canada trip. Miguel made the best out of his time in Canada and produced a lot of awesome clips, which you can see in his latest edit.

Enjoy the video, your kunstform BMX Shop Team!



Video: Landon Barnes



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"Come on, man, show some love to Papi."

The post David Ortiz enjoyed soaking up jeers from Yankee fans during World Series coverage appeared first on Boston.com.

Anyone who has been serving in the local church long enough knows that ministry is a 24/7 - 365 gig. There is no off-season. There are no slow months. And there definitely is no such thing as part-time. In fact, those times of the year when everyone else is enjoying extra time with family and friends, church leadership is usually pulling overtime like it’s a lifeline.

As I type these words, we are waist deep in the Christmas season. Trees are up and decorated. Garland is strung on anything that will sit still. Sales are in full bloom. On the church front children’s Christmas programs are wrapping up, Christmas Eve service times are being blasted all over social media, and worship leaders all over the world are trying to figure out the perfect set lists. 

That all sounds so simple, doesn’t it? 

If only that were the case. But for most people in church leadership, the Christmas season is anything but simple. I don’t know about you, but this year in particular seems uncharacteristically heavy. It feels like every time I turn around, I learn about someone else in my little corner of the world who is walking through something tragic . . . a death, job loss, divorce, a diagnosis, and the list goes on. Sure, there are plenty of wonderful things happening in the midst, but the fight every single day is to not let those wonderful things get overshadowed by the not-so-wonderful. And I have a feeling that until Jesus comes, that fight is going to get tougher every year. 

So as worship leaders, what role do we play in helping both our worship team members and the people we serve navigate a season that at times can feel more joyless than joyful? Unfortunately there is no secret formula, but I do have a few tips that might resonate with some of you who are entering into Christmas surrounded by people who are suffering, or even walking a tough road yourself.

1. Acknowledge the hurt.

A precious friend of mine lost her 2 1/2 year old little boy unexpectedly right before Thanksgiving this year. Not terribly long after his death, she posted a quote that basically said not to avoid mentioning him out of fear of somehow reminding her that he was gone. She hasn’t forgotten, and never will. Instead what you’re reminding her of is that he lived. The people around us who are hurting don’t wake up some days having forgotten what is going on. They don’t walk through the doors of our churches and suddenly feel all better. So what good does it do for us to tip toe and pretend like nothing is going on, whether face to face or from the stage? When the Bible tells us to rejoice with those who rejoice and to weep with those who weep, it doesn’t say anything about holidays being exceptions or saving it for certain settings. The church operates at her best when she comes around those hurting especially at times like these. So call it for what it is - painful - and you might be amazed at the new level of freedom that is felt in the room.

Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. - Romans 12:15

1. Give a reason to celebrate.

When everything is on the table and there is a rich sense of acceptance for everyone regardless of their mental, emotional, or spiritual state, the door to authentic celebration tends to open a little easier. It may not look the same as the person sitting next to them, but reminding them of the truths of who God is, what He’s done, and what He’s still doing will always prove fruitful - even if it’s just one more layer of doubt being broken off. At their lowest points, those who are hurting need to be reminded that there are still things in their lives to find joy in. Then once they are tapping into that joy that only comes from the Lord, they begin to experience a renewed strength they might not have thought was possible.

Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. - Nehemiah 8:10

1. Root it all in HOPE.

The most important piece to the puzzle of loving well those who are hurting is to keep everything established and fixed on HOPE. Nothing you say or do is going to make things all better for them or take their pain away, but the HOPE of Christ can and will move the needle. If a hurting person leaves your presence or your church service knowing and believing that things will not always feel this way and that Jesus is able to replace their suffering with victory, their pain with joy, and their grief with peace, then you’ve done your job well. So keep HOPE as your North Star. Center it all around the fact that a baby was born to change everything, that our current sufferings are not in vain, that He wastes nothing. 

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. Romans 8:18

Whether it’s someone on your team walking through the most painful time of his or her life or a family in your congregation experiencing a tragedy, you have been given the opportunity to breathe life back into a place where death has begun settling in. Pray for open eyes to see the hurt around you. Ask the Lord to open doors for you to speak into those lives. Make the most of those chances and watch the Holy Spirit do what He does best. 

Gaylord, MI Sofia Kunst had already developed a knitting hobby by the age of 12 after learning how to knit blankets from her grandmother. One day she ran into a “snag." She was running out of yarn. Reflecting on that moment, Sofia says, “I didn’t have enough money to buy more yarn, because the yarn I like to make blankets with is more expensive.” Sofia’s mom, Courtney, suggested she use the remaining yarn and weave a wall tapestry and sell it. They found a design online, and for three days...