In a move as shocking as reading the lyrics to popular songs in church, Fr. Joseph asks the folks at St Joseph/Houston to pull our their cell phones!

Fr. Joseph interviews Fr. Matthew Snowden of St Nicholas Mission/Jackson, Tennessee—on the struggles and joys of shepherding a fledgling Orthodox community

Fr. Tom transitions now to the second half of the Divine Liturgy with the Litany of the Faithful.

Fr. John shares his homily on the Seventh Commandment.

Fr. John shares some of the cultural context of the story of the sinful woman and the Pharisee to better understand our own need of repentance, from Luke 7:36-50.

Fr. John shares from Matthew 6:22-23.

Fr. John shares from the Evangelist John's words to the Church of Sardis in the book of the Revelation (3:1-6).

Fr. John talks about prayer, using the story of the widow's mite.

Fr. John shares about the life of St. Juliana of Lazarevo.

Fr. John reflects on the myrrhbearing women and apostles in how they reacted to Christ annulling the curse of death.

Fr. John Whiteford discusses Psalm 118.

Fr. John Whiteford shares about the Good Samaritan and the story of his father-in-law's life in Communist China.

Fr. John Whiteford shares about the importance of scripture, from Psalm 118:129-136.

Fr. John shares his homily from the Sunday of St. Mary of Egypt.

Fr. John Whiteford reflects on the gospel reading from John, Chapter 8.

Fr. John Whiteford preaches a message of hope during this difficult time, looking at passages from Matthew 10:28-31.

On the final Sunday of Pascha, Fr. John Whiteford reminds us to come humbly and meekly towards Christ.

Fr. John Whiteford preaches on the account of St. Paul's discourse on Mars Hill (Acts 17:18-34).

Fr. John Whiteford helps us to understand how to receive suffering in a way that is redemptive in our lives. (Acts 14:19-22)

Fr. John Whiteford discusses the meaning of the parable of the unmerciful servant (Matthew 18:23-25).

While most Mother’s Day celebrations include things like cards, brunch or carnations, there are other, more tangible ways to embrace the more non-commercial aspects of appreciating mothers. What would it look like to connect daily gratitude with the small moments of mothering? How might it transform us?

We have all heard the Golden Rule, but there is so much more to this passage and it has everything to do with a very serious challenge to the status quo of our lives. After all, even sinners love those who love them!

The Apostle Paul reveals the central purpose of our Christian life together as Church when he tells the Ephesians that all the ministries of the Faith are meant to "attain the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ."

On the Sunday of St. Gregory of Palamas we celebrate the wisdom of the Orthodox Faith to marry the physical and the spiritual and escape the false dichotomy of the created and the Uncreated. In other words, no more cubbyholing our lives into the sacred and the secular!

When Jesus heals a woman on the Sabbath Day, His act of love and mercy reveals the deep spiritual poverty of others whose hearts are gripped by mere rule keeping. This revelation is an invitation to you and me to examine our own attitudes towards our faith!

The Sunday of the Samaritan Woman sees the Lord gently confront a dear lady who didn't realize Who she was speaking to, and this blindness to just Who Jesus is means she is missing the real point of her life!

You are the light of the world!

The work of the Faith is meant to cleanse your spiritual eyes so you have 20/20 vision about what's most important in your life.

The distance between what I know and what I do causes such frustration in my life, and the confusion of seeing the world, the nation, the community, the family I love suffer due to the weaknesses of all of us causes even more frustration. But, in the end, this frustration flows from my own broken life!

I would argue that when it comes to making money online, the most important skill you need is not in being able to find untapped niches, knowing how to do A/B testing, creating attractive websites or even having a great ability to write. Instead, the most sought after skill in my eyes is being able […]

The post 6,595 Words on a Traffic Generation Tactic You’re Not Using (But Should Be) appeared first on ViperChill.

In the Academy Award-nominated film Food Inc, filmmaker Robert Kenner reveals how the varied choice of items we see on the shelves of supermarkets is actually a false presumption. Instead, that seemingly endless variety is actually controlled by just a handful of companies. Today I’m going to reveal how the huge diversity we perceive in […]

The post How 16 Companies are Dominating the World’s Google Search Results appeared first on ViperChill.

Do private blog network’s still work? Does a higher word-count help your pages rank better? Did Glen really spend 60 hours on this article? I hope to answer all of these questions and many more in my new behind the scenes report on the current state of link building. I can clarify I did spend […]

The post The State of Link Building 2016: What I Learned Manually Analysing 1,000 Search Results appeared first on ViperChill.

Michael describes his recent experience, while recovering from a concussion, of viewing key scenes from the Academy Award winning movie Good Will Hunting through an Orthodox Christian lens. Using these scenes and their circumstances as illustrations, he discusses understanding sin as sickness, condemning self-judgment and judgment in general, the fine line between our sense of personal accountability and self forgiveness, and both God’s love for us and our love for each other as it should be.

Mindfulness is a growing movement in the United States. It’s finding its way into schools as well as into the daily practice of the lives of many. So what is mindfulness and what are its many benefits? How is it different from prayerfulness, or is it? Join Michael as he discusses prayerfulness and mindfulness, nepsis or watchfulness, and what some Orthodox Christians who are also priests, professors and psychologists have to say about mindfulness.

Exploring what the Sacrament of Confession teach us about the dangers of popularity and hero-worship in this age of social media.

We have all heard the phrase “culture of death.” Many use it to describe the culture we live in, especially when it comes to current social issues. Join Michael as he talks about life and death, what we as Orthodox Christians need to do to continually bring life to a world riddled with death, and why our understanding of life and death needs to be understood in a much broader and deeper sense.

St. Porphyrios wrote, “Whoever wants to become a Christian must first become a poet.” Most of us are not poets so does this preclude us from being true Christians? Join Michael as he explores God’s poetic and artistic nature and how to understand and connect to Him through the divine language of symbol, beauty, and our own personal artistry even while living in a culture dominated by utilitarianism and reductionism.

Cancel culture is a culture of hate, division, and destruction. Join Michael as he uses the Gospels and other scripture to show just how wicked this culture is; what the current culture is doing to us; why we are knowingly or unknowingly participating in it; and what we should do to combat it.

Great Lent is a holy and sacred time of year yet we can turn it into a secular practice and experience if we are not careful. Join Michael as he discusses our understanding and participation in Lent, and how to avoid subtle ways that lead us to experience Lent less than how we should.

Join Michael as he discusses how we are either living in repentance or rebellion at any given time in our response to God grace, and how this determines the quality of our existence both now and in the life to come.

Join Michael for a discussion on why forgiving ourselves is often so hard and what we need to understand and do to open our hearts to self-forgiveness.

Join Michael in a discussion about prayerful and practical ways to frame our understanding in regard to our difficulties and setbacks, and deal with them in a spiritually healthy way.

Join Michael in a discussion about living intentionally to embed hopefulness in our body, mind and soul, and accept death with the hope of eternal life.

Join Michael in a discussion of the difficulty of getting out of our own heads, the cultural and spiritual challenges that perpetuate this, and leaning to live our faith through our hearts and not just our minds.

The worries of American Christians, as important and contemporary as they may be, are in reality secular concerns.

From the States, Fr. Seraphim discusses the Orthodox perspective on the value of death.

Fr. Seraphim Aldea answers the question of whether or not couples should abstain from sexual relations after the years of procreation.