Sermons from St. Herman's

On Forgiveness Sunday ( Cheesefare Sunday ), the Sunday before Great Lent begins, Fr. Matthew Howell rehashes points from his homilies in the previous six years on this same Sunday. He starts by talking about how we see ourselves as Adam and Eve cast out of Paradise and what that looks like liturgically in Forgiveness Vespers. He then segues into talking about forgiveness, saying that forgiveness...

On the Sunday of the Last Judgment , Fr. Matthew Howell talks about how we do not earn salvation by performing good works. Instead, we perform good works to bear fruits of repentance and as fruits of love of God. He says that we should not do good works in a transactional manner, expecting something good in return, but should do good works out of love. He points out that the goats in the gospel re...

On the Memorial Saturday of Meatfare week, Fr. Matthew Howell explains why we pray for those who have died. In doing so, he reads excerpts from a homily by St. Augustine (+430), expressing that we pray for those who have died with hopeful expectation for their salvation and our own. Fr. Matthew takes the homily excerpts from St. Augustine from the book Synaxarion of the Lenten Triodion and Penteco...

On the Sunday of the Prodigal Son , Fr. Matthew explains how we all resemble the three characters of the parable at different points in our life, but that we need to strive to be compassionate like the Father in the parable. Along the way he exhorts his parish to become a safe harbor for shipwrecked souls, to be kind to those who enter the church severely damaged by the storms of sin, and to striv...

On the Sunday of the Pharisee and Publican (Luke 18:10-14), Fr. Matthew Howell explains how the Orthodox Church gives us our Lenten struggles in order to realign, reorient, and recalibrate our relationship with God. He also talks about how the pride of the Pharisee is contrasted with the humility of the Publican, showing how pride leads to delusion, arrogance, egocentrism, and ultimately judgment...

On the Sunday of the Canaanite Woman (Matthew 15:21-28), Fr. Matthew Howell contrasts her humble reaction to Christ's perceived indifference with his own grandfather's not-so-humble reaction to a perceived insult. He also explains how her humility, faith, and perseverance are the traits that we should emulate as we head toward Lent.

On the morning of the feast of the Meeting of the Lord in the Temple , Fr. Matthew Howell points out how the Church sees the Virgin Mary symbolized in the tongs that held the burning coal (seen as the Word of God) that purified Isaiah's lips in Isaiah chapter 6. He also talks about finding our mission in the Christian life as well as evangelism after encountering Christ.

On the eve of the feast of the Meeting of the Lord in the Temple , Fr. Matthew Howell explains how this feast presents people at different stages of the life cycle, including the infant Christ and the old man Symeon the Righteous. He talks about how we encounter God in the temple and find the fulfillment of our life in that encounter. He also points out how Symeon becomes a "herald of grace" and c...

On the Sunday of Zacchaeus (in the Byzantine tradition), Fr. Matthew Howell talks about the difference between true desire and wishful thinking. He points out that Zacchaeus brought his desire to fruition, how he acted on his desire rather than merely wishing to meet Jesus, and how in like manner we must do more than wish to be with Christ but our desire must bear fruit through the work of repenta...

Recalling a talk given a few years earlier at St. Herman Church by Rev. Fr. Calinic Berger, Fr. Matthew Howell talks about three prayers that you should never leave home without: "Thy will be done" (The Lord's Prayer); "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me" (The Jesus Prayer); and "Glory to God for All Things" (the dying words of St. John Chrysostom). Fr. Matthew uses the gospel passage...

In response to the Gospel reading of the healing of the ten lepers in which one turns back to Jesus to give thanks, Fr. Matthew Howell preaches about the importance of gratitude and thanksgiving. He claims that the Christian life is a life of thanksgiving (or more properly, "The Thanksgiving") and connects the dots by connecting the first line of the epistle (Col. 3:4) with our reception of holy c...

On the Sunday following the feast of Theophany , Fr. Matthew Howell uses the first line of the epistle reading (Ephesians 4:7-13) to talk about the gift of God's grace in baptism, both Christ's and ours. He talks about how baptism is a gift from God that avails us to the grace of God for the remainder of our lives if  we live in union and communion with God by following his commandments. He c...

On the feast of Theophany , Fr. Matthew explains how the Holy Spirit reveals God as a community of love at the Baptism of Jesus Christ, how the Holy Spirit does not dwell in a heart that is full of the foul stench of sin, and how we need to drown sin in the blessed water through the keeping of the commandments just as sin was drowned in the flood during the time of Noah. Along the way he reads fro...

During the Vesperal Liturgy for the Paramon (Eve) of the Feast of Theophany , Fr. Matthew Howell reads excerpts from the full Kontakion of St. Romanos the Melodist on the Baptism of Christ. Fr. Matthew then talks about the themes brought forth by St. Romanos, concluding that the miracle of God being baptized in the Jordan River continues to happen today in the Church through the consecration of th...

On a day on which a very strong wind caused a power outage and forced liturgy to be cancelled, Fr. Matthew Howell preaches at a typika service about St. Seraphim of Sarov . He draws lessons from St. Seraphim's life and words explains how we can apply these lessons in our own lives.

Wouldn't it be nice to celebrate Christmas throughout the entire year? Well, the Orthodox Church actually does celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ throughout the year because every Sunday is a celebration of the Resurrection. On the Sunday after Christmas , Fr. Matthew Howell compares the Nativity of Christ to the Resurrection, pointing out parallels, types, and fulfillments between the two...

At the Christmas Liturgy, Fr. Matthew Howell reads the famous homily by St. John Chrysostom for the Feast of the Nativity of Christ . The Nativity Sermon of St John Chrysostom “I behold a new and wondrous mystery!” My ears resound to the shepherd's song, piping no soft melody, but loudly chanting a heavenly hymn! The angels sing! The archangels blend their voices in harmony! The cherubim resound t...

During the Vesperal Liturgy for the Paramon of the Nativity of Christ on December 24, Fr. Matthew Howell reads excerpts from the Nativity Sermon of St. Gregory the Theologian, #38 in his collection called The Orations . The full Oration by St. Gregory can be found here . The excerpts read by Fr. Matthew can be found at https://sainthermanwasilla.org/sermons/the-nativity-sermon-of-st-gregory-the-th...

On the Sunday before the Nativity of Christ , Fr. Matthew Howell talks about what Christmas is  really about: "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:14). He talks about the family that Jesus was born into and how Christ came to redeem the family history, making it His story, and how He also can redeem us and our families. He also talks about how the Word of God took on the ent...

At the end of a baptism of an infant, Fr. Matthew Howell offers a few reflections and explanations about the baptismal service. Among the things mentioned are how the newly-illumined daughter of God can keep her baptismal garment undefiled; how she already made her first offering to God; and how the sponsor, parents, and community have a responsibility to help her learn to walk in the light of the...

At the conclusion of Great Vespers for the feast of St. Nicholas of Myra , Fr. Matthew Howell offers his thoughts about how we focus too often on what we can receive for our actions or gifts. A better way, though, is to focus on what more we can give rather than worrying about the costs or rewards that might come as a result like St. Nicholas, who gave away his money to follow in the footsteps of...

Fr. Matthew Howell offers a homily about Christ's healing of the woman in the synagogue who had been hunched over for 18 years. He talks about the liturgical use of the word " Orthoi " which means "straight" (usually translated "Stand Aright"). He also discusses how we need to straighten out our souls, and by doing so we receive the fruit of the Holy Spirit mentioned by St. Paul in the  epist...

After serving the Trisagion Prayers of Mercy for the Departed for Tom (Thomas) Webster, Fr. Matthew Howell offers his reflections on lessons learned from Tom's life. Tom Webster was a founding and longstanding member of St. John Orthodox Cathedral in Eagle River. He died on Wednesday December 2; he took a nap in the afternoon and woke up with the Lord.  He had many friends at St. Herman...

In this homily about Luke 18:18-27, Fr. Matthew Howell talks about how we need to meet Christ "empty handed" when we die. He starts by reading the opening two pages of a homily on this gospel reading from St. Nikolai Velimirovic ( Homilies , Vol. 2, pp. 308-309). St. Nikolai sets up an image of a sinking ship that has someone who gets into a lifeboat and then begins loading as many things as possi...

The famous Thanksgiving Day sermon of Fr. Alexander Schmemann was the last sermon he preached shortly before his repose in 1983. He read it immediately following the conclusion of the final Divine Liturgy he served at St. Vladimir Orthodox Theological Seminary, where he had been the dean for many years. He reposed on December 13, 1983.  Fr. Matthew Howell read this homily at the end of the Th...