The Morning Offering

How to Grow
into Spiritual Adulthood

Bob Harrison of Portland, Oregon, painted the abbot's cabin

When God Seems to Distance Himself from Us.

 

There are those times in our lives when God seems distant, even absent from you. These are usually times when your faith seems weak and you struggle to believe God really cares for you, or perhaps you begin to question whether God even exists. In Western Christian tradition these moments are often referred to as the dark night of the soul. God seems as though He's far removed from you and you struggle with your faith.

In such moments it is good to remember that God is closer to you than your own breath and you only feel He's absent. God uses such periods in your life as a way to make you work at the relationship. As you struggle, you grow stronger. When God seems to withdraw Himself it is something like the parent who stands his toddler on his feet and moves a few feet away, encouraging the child to take his first steps, alone. The parent is prepared to reach out, should the child fall, but letting the child take that first step is necessary for the child's development.

Each time we are forced to work at this relationship, God's grace builds us up, making it possible for us to mature in the faith. Spiritual growth can not happen unless we feel the need for God, since the Lord will not force Himself on us. The awareness of God's presence in our lives comes with struggle, and as long as we do our part, God's grace flows abundantly.

Love in Christ,

Abbot Tryphon

 

Abbot Tryphon's Norwegian Barn Red Cell

Tuesday September 20, 2011 / September 7, 2011

15^th Week after Pentecost. 

Forefeast of the Nativity of the Theotokos.
Martyr Sozon of Cilicia (304).
St. John, archbishop and wonderworker of Novgorod (1186).
Martyrdom of St. Macarius, archimandrite of Kanev (1678).
Venerable Macarius of Optina (1860).
New Hieromartyrs Peter and Michael priests, Alexander diacon (1918).
New Hieromartyr Priest John Maslovsky of Verkhne-Poltavka, Amur (1921).

The Morning Offering - Ancient Faith Radio

Click on the above text to hear Abbot Tryphon's short talk.

Galatians 2:21-3:7

 ²¹ I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”

Galatians 3

Justification by Faith

 ¹ O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? ² This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? ³ Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? ⁴ Have you suffered so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?
⁵ Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?— ⁶ just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” ⁷ Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.

Mark 6:1-7

 

Jesus Rejected at Nazareth

 ¹ Then He went out from there and came to His own country, and His disciples followed Him. ² And when the Sabbath had come, He began to teach in the synagogue. And many hearing Him were astonished, saying, “Where did this Man get these things? And what wisdom is this which is given to Him, that such mighty works are performed by His hands! ³ Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us?” So they were offended at Him.
⁴ But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house.” ⁵ Now He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. ⁶ And He marveled because of their unbelief. Then He went about the villages in a circuit, teaching.

Sending Out the Twelve

⁷ And He called the twelve to Himself, and began to send them out two by two, and gave them power over unclean spirits.