But Look, I Made You Some Content!

Not really. But kinda?

Dear friend,

It’s now been six months since my last truly substantive post.

Among many topics on my list for future essays, I’d like to explore the way our Secular 3 “Age of Authenticity” shapes the way we approach contemporary questions of ethics and philanthropy.

But this is not that day.

Work’s been pretty busy, and I haven’t had a chance to get these thoughts down on paper.

Not that I’m complaining, mind you. My brief time with FOCUS North America has been fruitful and wonderful, by God’s grace.

• Last year, we developed two new Centers, bringing our total to seven by year’s end (that was 40% growth).

• Just this year, we’ve developed four new Centers, bringing our total up to eleven (which is 60% growth).

• And we still have another Center in development, not to mention the new cities we’ll begin working with in 2025.

Like I said, it’s been a fruitful season, by God’s grace!

I mean, it really is inspiring to see Orthodox Christians coming together to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and visit the lonely.

After all, isn’t this what the Church is supposed to be?

Below, I’ve linked a brief video we made sharing the great news.

(My beard’s a lot shorter and my hair’s a lot longer than it was in the last episode of “Be the Bee,” which was two whole years ago! I keep my barber on his toes.)

While I’m still working on some new material for this Substack, I thought I’d at least share some recent presentations that you might find interesting…

First, the Metropolis of Pittsburgh’s Stewardship Team invited me to share some thoughts on our Orthodox Christian response to poverty. I focused on our commitment (or lack thereof) to almsgiving.

We often talk about the three basic practices of the ascetic life: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Unfortunately, while we maintain a high bar for the first two practices, almsgiving is easy to overlook (at least in the contemporary Church).

Check it out:

And last month, I visited Phoenix in support of one of the (four) new Centers we started this year.

I was blessed to offer the sermon at Holy Trinity Cathedral. I explained the day’s readings and wondered about a world where the Church truly takes poverty seriously and is known for its compassionate response.

If you’re interested, you can find my remarks on the Holy Trinity Facebook page as part of the livestream (my sermon begins at 01:33:00).

That’s all for now.

More to come…eventually?