Finding Our Own Egypt and Damascus

Tags

Christmas, Church and State, Cross, Gospel, Resurrection, St. Paul, Truth, Worship

Merry Christmas! Christ is born! Glorify Him!

I do hope everyone realizes that, in the Orthodox Christian world-view that this period — after Christmas — is when we should be celebrating Christmas, not in the days prior to Christmas. In many ways, our American culture has Christmas upside-down. We focus on the material — buying, getting and giving presents. We celebrate Christmas for months prior when we should be preparing and anticipating for the celebration. We see Christmas trees taken down the day after Christmas. We have made it politically incorrect to say ‘Merry Christmas!’ Our children are bombarded with the message that we need to “save Christmas” or find the “Christmas spirit” when the whole purpose of Christmas is to participate in the reality of God becoming a babe in cave for our salvation.

Imagine a world, for a moment, that stepped back from the material world, that fasted for 40 days prior and spent more time in prayer in preparation for a celebration that lasted a week. That is what the Orthodox Christian is supposed to do. In fact, if we didn’t have to get ready for Epiphany, I’m sure the Church would figure out a way to celebrate even longer.

We see this pattern of anticipation and celebration expressed on Sundays with the Sunday before and the Sunday after Christmas. Last Sunday we studied the genealogy of Christ — we were getting prepared for Christ taking on our humanity. Today is the Sunday after Christmas. The Gospel tells us of the Christ Child’s flight to Egypt in the face of Herod’s slaughter of the Innocents. This helps us to answer the question “Now that we have the Nativity of Christ, what are we supposed to do with it?”

In order to help us piece together this answer, the Church also gives us the words of St. Paul in his letter to the Galatians:

When he who had set me apart before I was born, and had called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia; and again I returned to Damascus. — Gal. 1:15-17

Paul, on his way to persecute Christians, gets visited by the Risen Lord and is told that he needs to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles. In response, Paul goes to Arabia and Damascus. He tells us that he doesn’t return to Jerusalem for three years.

In other words, the Church is drawing a parallel between the Christ Child and Paul and therefore between the Christ Child and us. In both cases the world hates us and reacts with violence. Imagine if Paul immediately returned to Jerusalem claiming to be Christian. He would have entered into the teeth of persecution and retribution.

The peace that the angels declare to the shepherds in the field is God’s peace, not man’s. In fact, those who seek earthly power understand and see Christianity as a major threat to their goals. We and our King stand in the way. When we claim a God who is wiling to sacrifice Himself in order to protect and save us, there exists an eternal and unchanging rule of ethics and morality that holds that everybody, no matter who they are, has value. Such an understanding gets in the way of the power-hungry from making up their own version of morality (or lack thereof) that suits their present needs. It doesn’t allow them to determine who has value and who doesn’t. This is why the Church has always been under assault and, until we see the Second Coming, it will always be under assault. This, by the way, is why we are told to say “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas!”

In the face of this assault, neither the Christ Child nor the newly enlightened Paul were ready for their appointed tasks. Each had to retreat and prepare. Christ had to allow his humanity to mature. Paul had to gird himself for the trials and tribulations that awaited him on his missionary travels around the Mediterranean.

In other words, celebrate the Nativity of Christ. Glorify the Living God that was willing to be born in a cave for our salvation. Revel in the reality that God so loves His creation; but be prepared for the assault that will come. Each and every one of us will be called to be martyrs — to witness to the reality of the Christ Child, of God Incarnate, of Christ on the Cross and Christ risen from the dead. We will be forced to make choices everyday between the morality of the world and the morality of God. Everyday we will be challenged to see the value in our fellow human being the way God does when the world wants to throw them away and turn their back on them. Someday, we will be called to boldly declare that Christ is our King instead of the politicians of the moment.

This is why the Orthodox Church gives us her services and encourages us to live our lives in anticipation and celebration. It gives us an opportunity to retreat into our own Egypt and Damascus. It gives us a spiritual place to find an internal silence where we can hear God in the stillness. As Elijah learned on the mountain, God isn’t in the business and noisiness of the world outside — the wind, the earthquake or the fire. God is in the stillness. Living in the cycles of the Church gives us the tools to learn to silence that business that invades our internal life. It allows us to fill ourselves with God. It gives the means and the power to return to the world and boldly declare the Gospel with our words, with our actions and with our very lives.

Today I pray that we hold on to Christmas a little longer this year — that we take advantage and celebrate the reality of Christ born in cave for our salvation. Allow that reality find its way into our heart and our inner life so that we find the stillness where we can hear God. Let us find our own Egypt and Damascus to prepare for the tasks that lay ahead. Let us gladly pick up our cross and do His will. Amen.

Eureka!

Tags

Christmas, Joseph, Manasseh, prayer, repentance, Theotokos, Worship

Today, during the Gospel, we are faced with the temptation of tuning out, rolling our eyes and wondering why is it necessary that we listen to all these “begats” and strange names? Such a temptation fails to understand the richness of today’s Gospel (Matthew 1:1-25). There are wonderful stories behind each of these names and these wonderful stories each reveal something to us about Christ. There is so much here that I have been struggling all week just to narrow it down to something to preach about — if I were to try and chase everything down available to us, we would be here for hours.

Normally, I’d chase down the oddities in this list — the law requires that ancestry be traced through the male lineage, yet Matthew mentions five women. These women have a lot to tell us about Christ. Due to time restraints, however, I am merely going to ask that you chase these names yourself. Rather, today I am going to focus on two names — one from the Old Testament and one from the New — Manasseh and Joseph.

Manasseh was the son of the righteous King Hezekiah. According to both 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. He built altars and to pagan gods — even in the Temple — and worshipped idols. When Manasseh ignored the warnings of God, the Lord allowed him to be captured by the Assyrians and put in fetters. In this humbled state, Manasseh cried out to the Lord in repentance (which at its root means to turn around — turn towards God). In our rich Orthodox liturgical tradition we have Manasseh’s Prayer which we have as part of our Great Compline service. Using the same imagery that God used in His promise to Abraham about the number of offspring God would give him, Manasseh cries out (and we with him), “I have sinned above the number of the sands of the sea.”

Although Manasseh was returned to Judah and tore down all of the pagan altars, poles and idols that he had previously built, St. Paul tells us in today’s Epistle that Manasseh’s (albeit beautiful) repentance didn’t really gain him much:

And all these [faithful from the OT], though well attested by their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had foreseen something better for us,that apart from us they should not be made perfect. — Hebrews 11:39-40

This promise — this “something better” — was found by Joseph. Note the eighteenth verse of the first chapter of Matthew:

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit.

This word “found” falls flat in the English translation. It doesn’t have any connotation of amazement. The Greek — εὑρέθη — does. It is the root for the English word “eureka!” In other words, “Eureka! Mary is with child by the Holy Spirit!” Thus, Joseph knows from the beginning the importance of this child. So much so that the devil (depicted in the icons of the Nativity) tries to tempt Joseph to disobey the Law — which calls for adulterers to be stoned — and put Mary away and divorce her.

Of course, he doesn’t because he heeds the words of the angel Gabriel:

Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit; she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. — Matthew 1:20-21

The name “Jesus” means “Saviour.” Note what the angel says that He will save us from: our sins — our separation from God. This is only something that God Himself can do. Thus, Joseph understood from the very beginning that the child Mary carried in her womb was God Himself.

God, whose flesh He took from the likes of Manessah. He embraces even those who do evil in the sight of the Lord. This is the “something better.” This is the fulfillment of the promises made by God to all those faithful throughout the OT — Emmanuel! God is with us!

What an honor it is to be a Christian. What a gift it is to worship a God who loves us so much that He was willing to do all these things for us. How awesome is that when we repent — when we turn towards God — we get the fullness of the promise that is Jesus Christ.

Today the Apolytikion tells us that “Great are the achievements of faith!” It goes on do demonstrate one of the many amazing things that happened in the OT through faith — the three holy youths in the furnace fire unharmed. We have more than they did.

Let us all, then, have the repentance of Manasseh and turn toward God. Then, let us all have Joseph’s “eureka” moment when we take to heart the reality of the gift that God has given us through Jesus Christ. Let us embrace the opportunity to give Him thanks and take advantage of all the Orthodox Church has to offer through Her worship services. Come and see and be amazed. Amen.

A Man Once Gave a Great Banquet

Tags

almsgiving, Christmas, fasting, Old Testament, prayer

Today we are two Sundays out from Christmas. Every year on this Sunday, the Church remembers the Forefathers of Christ — all the people from the OT that God worked through in order to prepare for His Incarnation. This is beautifully expressed in the Doxological Hymn From the Lauds of Orthros:

Come now, one and all, in faith let us celebrate the annual memorial of the Fathers before the Law, Abraham and those with him. Let us honor as is right the tribe of Judah, and let us extol the Children in Babylon, the Trinity’s image, who extinguished the furnace fire, and also Daniel. As we unerringly cling to the predictions of the Prophets, together with Isaiah we cry out in a loud voice, Behold the Virgin will conceive in the womb, and she will bear a Son, Emmanuel, which means God is with us.

This vision of preparation actually helps us to interpret and understand the parable from todays Gospel: Luke 14:16-24; Matthew 22:24. It is the parable of the man who prepares a banquet. Upon having his invitations rejected, he sends his servant out into the streets to bring the poor, the lame and the blind. When his table still has room, he sends his servant out to the open roads and the hedges to compel more, so that his table might be full. If we understand the preparation of the banquet to be a metaphor for God’s preparation for the coming of Christ, than we can see the man in this parable as God and the banquet as the Eucharist. Please note: the place where we set and prepare the gifts during the liturgy is called the Table (Tραπέζῃ).

Following through with this metaphor of the Table as the banquet and God as the men giving out invitations, this leaves us with three people that we might be in this metaphor. One: we have the men who refuse the invitation. Two: we have the poor, the blind and the lame. Three: we have the servant who has gone out to the open roads and the hedges.

Before you assume which one of these three you are, listen to the invitation of God spoken through his priests at every liturgy:

With the fear of God, with faith and love draw near!

If you are an Orthodox Christian, this means you. Period. If you are in Church during a liturgy, you have the fear of God, you have faith and you have love. Beyond that, there are no qualifications. Certainly, we are expected to be walking a Christian life of prayer, fasting and almsgiving but how are we supposed to do that on our own without God’s help? That is what we are trying to do, if we don’t approach the cup at liturgy — we are trying to be Christians on our own and by our regulations and judgement, not God’s. Refusing to come to the cup is akin to the lame excuses that the men in the parable give for not coming to the banquet. The land and oxen will be there tomorrow to examine. This is a hospital, where the Body and Blood are not just the richest food available to humanity, but it is also medicine for the greatest diseases that afflict us: death and sin.

This brings us to the second group of people in the parable: the poor, the blind and the lame. This is where most of us are. We are sinners. We are in desperate need of spiritual food and healing. We come to the cup knowing that we are being given Christ Himself — the one who forgives sin, who heals the blind and the lame. When we accept this reality and walk a life that expects to return to this banquet every week miracles happen because God is with us! The fullness of Christ gives us the time for prayer, the strength for fasting and the abundance for almsgiving. We cannot do these things on our own.

This brings us to the last person in this parable that we can aspire to be: the servant. Note what the servant says to his master when he has scoured the streets and the lanes of the city to bring the poor, the blind and the lame:

Sir, what you have commanded has been done and there is still room.

Look around you at the empty seats in church. There is still room. We are now called to get out of our comfort zone and go to the open roads and to the hedges — places where robbers and highwaymen frequent — in order to bring more to the table. As any one who has gone to the Clergy Laity conference of our Metropolis can tell you, one of the best ways we can do this is ministry. The only way this can happen, however, is if we are willing to give of our time, our treasure and our talents.

A ministry can only happen if we make a commitment to make time for it. We all have extremely busy lives, especially those of us who have children. Here in Decatur we are blessed with a plethora of opportunities and activities for children. The only way that we are going to compete with these things is if we choose to. That means our time.

If we are willing to make time for these ministries, we must also be willing to pay for them. We need to know what we can expect to get from our stewards so that we can set a budget. That budget must then include money set aside specifically for ministry. Materials, food, personnel all need to be paid for in order to make ministry happen.

Finally, the priest cannot be expected to do every single ministry the Church does. He is not superman. God has given him certain skills — skills that allow him to be a priest — but that doesn’t necessarily make him the best person to run a nursing program, for example. Every single one of us has talents that need to be brought to bear to make ministry happen. That means volunteering that talent, and possible taking over and doing the entire ministry, reporting to the priest as to how things are going.

Today’s Gospel Reading isn’t entirely from Luke. The Church has made an addendum with Matthew 22:24 which reads:

For many are called, but few are chosen.

There is great irony in this verse. God is doing the calling, but He isn’t doing the choosing. We are. We choose whether or not to come to the banquet. We choose whether or not we will depend upon the Body and Blood to help us heal. We are the one who chose whether or not to go out into the open roads and hedges to bring more to the table.

As we continue to approach the Nativity of our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ, let us review our choices. Let us respond to the greatest gift evergiven to humanity by choosing to be a servant — by giving back our time, our treasure and our talents. With the help of God and the prayers of the saints may we see the table full. Amen.

There is No Law Against Love

Tags

Christmas, Cross, Image and Likeness, Love, Marriage, St. Paul

In today’s Epistle Reading, St. Paul exhorts us to live and walk by the Spirit (Gal. 5:25). He also paints a picture of what this looks like:

the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control … have no self-conceit, no provoking of one another, no envy of one another … Bear one another’s burdens. — Gal 5:22-23, 26; 6:2

This is pretty straightforward stuff; however, Paul complicates things by mentioning that there is no law against the fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5:23) and that bearing on another’s burden’s fulfills the law of Christ (Gal. 6:2). When St. Paul uses the word law, he isn’t talking about traffic rules, he is talking about God’s Law.

Let us remember what the ultimate purpose of the the Law is — revelation. It tells us who God is and who we are in relationship to Him. Since we are fallen, it demonstrates to us our sin and the necessity of God in our life in order to save us from sin and its primary consequence — death. There is no law against love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control because these are all attributes of God. There is no law against being like God. In fact, God made us in His likeness to be exactly that — like God.

Our ability to become like God has never been more possible than right now. God so loved the world that He gave us His Only-Begotten Son who willing went to the Cross and Tomb so that He might send us His Holy Spirit. At our chrismation, we have all been sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit Himself. This is why St. Paul calls all of these wonderful attributes of God — love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control — fruits of the Spirit. When we allow these things, these attributes of God, to manifest in our own life we are allowing the Holy Spirit to manifest in and through us.

By the grace of God, I have been blessed to do a lot of pre-marital counseling with several couples of late. In these sessions I always remind them of the Epistle reading for weddings. Among the feminists, it is a very unpopular reading:

Wives, be subject to your husbands as you are to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife just as Christ is the head of the church, the body of which he is the Savior. Just as the church is subject to Christ, so also wives ought to be, in everything, to their husbands — Eph. 5:22-24

The feminists, however, conveniently ignore the next verse:

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her — Eph 5:25

Marriage is given to us so that we learn how to be like Christ. We are given crowns of martyrdom because a successful marriage requires that we sacrifice for each other. In learning how to sacrifice for one another, we learn how to fulfill the law of Christ. We learn to be like God.

In the coming weeks, we are going to be talking about stewardship, budgets, parish council elections, the May dinner etc. You will be asked to give your time, your treasure and your talents to the Church. In hard economic times, especially during a season of the year as full and busy as this one, we are going to be tempted to say no, I can’t afford that.

Today, St. Paul is reminding us that you can’t afford not to. At the root of all these things we are aren’t going to find money, time or talent. All of these things have been given to us by God, just as marriage has been, so that we can learn how to be like Him. These are not burdens, these are opportunities. With St. Paul I humbly ask that all of us take advantage of these opportunities in the coming months to allow the Holy Spirit to move in and through us. I pray that through the intercessions of St. Paul we all use these things to become like God and fulfill in us His greatest desire for us — that we fully and willfully embrace the image and likeness that He created us for. Amen.

Sacrifice

Tags

Armor of God, Cross, Gospel, Resurrection, Sacrifice, Worship

I have to make a confession. As someone who grew up playing with toy soldiers and fascinated with history (especially ancient and medieval military history), I adore the metaphor St. Paul uses in today’s Epistle Reading:

Brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand, therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the equipment of the gospel of peace; besides all these, taking the shield of faith, with which you can quench all the flaming darts of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. — Ephesians 6:10-17

Metaphors, of course, invite us to apply them to our own lives. As 21st century Americans, however (being several centuries removed from soldiers using armor, shield and sword), this is not an easy a task as one might at first think. Fortunately, today’s Gospel gives us a clue. Christ tells the rich man:

Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me. — Luke 18:22

Note the similarity this has to Christ’s more universal command:

If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. — Matthew 16:24

This gives us something to grab onto. Look at this imagery used in the Kontakion of the Elevation of the Cross:

for an ally, Lord, may they have You, peace as their armor, the trophy invincible.

Look also at the imagery from the Ikos of the Elevation of the Cross:

This very Cross of the Lord, then, let us all surely hold as our boast. For this wood is our salvation, the shield of peace, the trophy invincible.

Using this imagery we can then understand that the armor of God, the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit are all the Cross. This is our key to applying the metaphor to our own lives. In order to put on the armor of God, we must deny ourselves, pickup our Cross and follow Christ. In a word: sacrifice.

This is our path, our armor, our protection and our call:

Lord, God Almighty, You alone are holy. You accept a sacrifice of praise from those who call upon You with their whole heart. Receive also the prayer of us sinners and let it reach Your holy altar. Enable us to bring before You gifts and spiritual sacrifices for our sins and for the transgressions of the people. Make us worthy to find grace in Your presence so that our sacrifice may be pleasing to You and that Your good and gracious Spirit may abide with us, with the gifts here presented, and with all Your people. — Prayer of the Proskomide from the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom

As members of the royal priesthood, we make sacrifice not just for ourselves but everyone. Indeed, we implore God:

Remember also, Lord, those whom each of us calls to mind and all your people. — Anaphora from the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom

We are called today to to put on the armor of God through sacrifice — by freely giving of our time, our treasure and our talents. We are called to bring these forth before the altar of God for our salvation and the salvation of the people. This sounds counter-intuitive. Our natural instinct is to hold on to what we have for our own protection. This is especially tempting in times of strife and we certainly are going through a period of economic strife. Remember, though, we are talking about the Cross.

God so loved the world that He sent us His Only-Begotten Son who willingly sacrificed Himself upon the Cross so that we might taste the Resurrection. The font of mercy and power that is the Cross is endless. When we chose the Cross, when we choose to freely sacrifice our time, treasure and talents (just as Christ freely went to the Cross) we not only get to participate in Christ’s sacrifice, we get to participate in His Resurrection.

Remember Christ’s own words to us today:

What is impossible with men is possible with God — Luke 18:27

Miracles will happen. Things you thought impossible will become possible. The love of God the Father will manifest in your life and that sacrifice will suddenly become resurrection. Amen.

The Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple

Tags

Christmas, Entrance into the Temple, Katavasiæ, Theotokos, Worship

Whenever we encounter a reading from Scripture that is associated with a specific feast, we must understand that the Church has already interpreted it for us. We must therefore look at it from the perspective of the feast in question. Thus, the Church is calling us to see this reading from Hebrews in light of God’s Mother, our most holy Lady, the Theotokos and more specifically, her Entrance in the Temple:

Brethren, the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly sanctuary. For a tent was prepared, the outer one, in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the Presence; it is called the Holy Place. Behind the second curtain stood a tent called the Holy of Holies, having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, which contained a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant; above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail. — Hebrews 9:1-5

Since the story of this feast cannot be found in Scripture, we must turn to the hymnody of the Church. This, from the Kathismata of the feast, tells us the basic story:

The feeder of our Life, now an infant in body, the offspring of the just Joachim and Anna, is offered to God today in the holy Sanctuary. She was blessed therein by the priest Zacharias. Therefore let us all, with faith, proclaim she is blessed, for she is the Mother of the Lord.

However, the key to understanding today’s reading from Hebrews is found in the Lauds:

V. When they saw the Entry of the all-pure one the Angels were astonished at how the Virgin entered into the Holy of Holies.

Now let no uninitiated hand approach the living Ark of God to touch it. Rather let believers’ lips sing out in exultation the Angel’s salutation unceasingly to the Theotokos and cry out: You, O pure and virgin Maiden, are truly superior to all.

According to the Church, not only was Mary dedicated to the Temple, but she entered the Holy of Holies where only the High Priest was allowed to go once a year. When describing the Temple, St. Paul tells us “Of these things we cannot now speak in detail” (Heb 9:5) because they no longer had access to the First Temple, destroyed by the Babylonians. The Second Temple — the temple in which the Virgin Mary was presented — no longer had “these things,” especially the Ark of the Covenant whose proper place was in the Holy of Holies.

Note how the Church not only claims that the Theotokos went into the Holy of Holies, but equates the Theotokos with the Ark of the Covenant. The metaphor calls attention to the proper function of the Ark — the place where God dwelt. The Theotokos is properly called the Ark because she is the place where God dwelt in the person of Jesus Christ. This, by the way, is one of the reasons that we see the icon of the Theotokos, called the Platytera, behind the altar in most Orthodox Churches — the place where the Ark of the Covenant would have been in the First Temple.

This calls attention to the amount of preparation that God has taken for our salvation. He chose Mary from birth and prepared her for her role in salvation history. Indeed, God’s preparation goes back generations:

Let us with faith extol in song the Virgin Mary, child of God, of whom the assembly of Prophets prophesied and of old declared to be the tablet and the rod, the mountain that was quarried not. For she is introduced today into the Holy of Holies, to be fostered by the Master. — Exaposteilarion from the Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple

All of this, however, does not diminish Mary’s free will. She had the choice to reject her role. She did not have to say, Thy will be done (or more specifically, “let it be with me according to your word” — Luke 1:38).

What this demonstrates to us is that God has a place for each of us in the story of salvation. Just as he gave the Virgin Mary a means to prepare herself for her role — today’s feast of the Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple — He has given us means to prepare for our role. The key is our free will. Are we willing to prepare for our role in the story of salvation? Are we willing, as the Virgin Mary was, to say Thy will be done?

The Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple takes place in context of our preparation for the Nativity of Christ. Today we do not sing the Katavasias for the Theotokos, we sing the Katavasias for Christmas. We are a week into the Nativity Fast. In other words, we have before us an opportunity to prepare — not just for Christmas, but for whatever it is that God has prepared for us. This is an opportunity for us to re-center our lives on Christ through fasting, through prayer and through alms-giving. It is an opportunity for us to enter the temple with the Virgin Mary and eagerly await for our chance to say Thy will be done.

Today the animate temple of the great King comes into the Temple, to prepare herself to become His divine dwelling. O peoples, be exultant. — Troparia after Psalm 51 from the Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple

Amen.

The Feast of St. Elias (Elijah)

Tags

Cross, Elijah, Gospel, Holy Spirit, Old Testament, prayer, Science, St. Elias, stranger, Worship

On July 20, my mother was chrismated at St. Spyridon Greek Orthodox Church and became an Orthodox Christian. I flew out to take part and was asked to deliver the sermon. The one gift that my mom wanted from me is to post that sermon here on my blog. What follows is an attempt to reiterate that sermon as best as I am able:

When my mom decided to take on St. Elias (Elijah) as her patron saint and that she would be chrismated on the prophet’s feast, I was thrilled for many reasons. One of which being that Elijah is not only one of my favorite prophets and one of my favorite figures in the OT, but he is one of my favorites in all of Scripture. Of all of the stories in the bible that I go to to find inspiration, many of them involve Elijah.

One of the reasons is that his life, in particular, is so cinematic and visually dramatic. If Hollywood would ever get smart enough to realize that there is an entire audience out here in fly-over country that would flock to go see movies that speak to our Christian values, they could, with the technology available to them today, make a fabulous movie about Elijah.

Take the battle royale between Elijah and the priests of Baal. He challenges them to call on their god to set afire the burnt offering of a bull. They cry out, the cut themselves with swords, and poke themselves with lances until they are covered with blood. Of course, nothing happens. Then it is Eijah’s turn:

At the time of the offering of the oblation, the prophet Elijah came near and said, “O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your bidding. Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so that this people may know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.” Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, and the dust, and even licked up the water that was in the trench — 1 Kings 18:36-38

A personal favorite that I go to all the time in my personal prayer life is when God tells Elijah to go to the mountain because God is about to pass by:

Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. — 1 Kings 19:11-12

And it was in this stillness that Elijah encounters God.

Elijah’s story is full of these big, dramatic, cinematic miracles of God. We see this reflected in the services of Church. During Vespers, the OT readings not only recount the two stories above, but also the stories of Elijah raising the widow’s son from the dead and his ascension into heaven on a flaming chariot. We see these stories referred to in the hymns of Orthros. However, when we get to the Divine Liturgy, both the Epistle and Gospel readings are silent about these big, dramatic and cinematic miracles. Instead, in the Epistle reading St. James implores us to pray for one another, using Elijah as an example of the power of prayer:

Elijah was a human being like us, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. — James 5:17

In the Gospel reading Christ then tells us that:

there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. — Luke 4:25-26

In short, the two things that the Church highlights from all the stories we have about Elijah, are prayer and ministering to strangers. One might be tempted to consider this a bit of a let down. Prayer and ministering to strangers surely are not as dramatic or fantastic as calling a consuming fire from heaven; however, we need to see prayer and ministering to strangers in context of the Divine Liturgy.

Speaking about the faith of all the great OT figures and the miracles wrought through that faith, St. Paul tells us:

Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better so that they would not, apart from us, be made perfect. — Hebrews 11:39-40

Despite the fire from heaven, the resurrection of the widow’s son, and the fiery chariot that shuttles him up into heaven, Elijah did not have Emmanuel — “God with Us,” God Incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ. He was not the Temple of God, sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit. He was not able to gather with the people of God to call upon the Holy Spirit to descend upon the gifts in order to partake of the very Body and Blood of our Lord, God and Savior.

In this context, prayer and ministering to strangers — activities we can participate in every day — take on a whole new dimension. In this context we begin to see that we get to participate in a miracle far greater than anything worked through Elijah in his lifetime. Through prayer, we humble ourselves — Lord Jesus Christ have mercy upon me the sinner — and in so doing we soften our hearts. We are able to get out of the way, allow the Holy Spirit to work through us. We are able to participate in one of the greatest miracles of all time — through the Holy Spirit we are able to love as God loves. We are able to love with a divine love.

In the ancient world, when a disease hit a metropolitan area, people had two choices. If they were rich enough, they would flee the city and wait out the epidemic in their country villas. When the disease had run its course, they would return to the city and continue to with their urban lives. If they were not rich enough to flee, they holed themselves up and hoped that they would not become infected because it usually meant death.

Christianity offered a third option. The early Church would visit the sick and bring food, water and prayer. Miracles began to happen — people started to survive epidemics whereas before, they died. Our modern, cynical and scientific minds might attribute this to the fact that by bringing food and water to the sick, Christians were eliminating the most likely cause of death. Many of the diseases that afflicted the ancient world were not deadly in and of themselves. Rather, people more likely died of dehydration and starvation. This cynical point of view, however, misses the point.

Through prayer, the Church was moved by divine love to minister to strangers. They knew that it didn’t matter whether these strangers were pagan or Christian, Greek or Jew, male or female, rich or poor, young or old — because Christ is all in all. He took on all our humanity. Out of divine love, He went to the Cross for all of us. The real miracle in this story is the way God’s love was made manifest in Christians and shown to the world. With this divine love, Christianity went on to conquer the Roman Empire.

We see the fruits of this same miracle today. I don’t know how many remember me, but this is not the first time I have been at St. Spyridon. Thus, when my mom began to have even an iota of interest in Orthodoxy, I suggested that she go to St. Spyridon — because I knew of you. I sent you a stranger and because of your love, today my mom no longer stands here as a stranger, but as a child of God who has finally come home.

So today I pray that God grant us the strength and the wisdom to pray. That our hearts will soften. That we find the humility to get out of the way and allow the Holy Spirit to move us to minister to strangers. That His love is manifest in us so that all of God’s children come home. Amen.

The Nativity of St. John the Baptist

Tags

Conception, Gospel, Holy Spirit, St. John the Baptist, Theotokos, Zacharias

On this, the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, we see his father Zacharias punished for asking a question of Gabriel that sounds very similar to the question the Virgin Mary asks the Archangel when he visits her to announce that she will give birth to the Christ.

Zacharias said to the angel, “How will I know that this is so? For I am an old man, and my wife is getting on in years.” (Luke 1:18)

Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” (Luke 1:34 )

Yet, Mary is told she is full of grace, while St.John’s father is made mute. It is helpful to look at Zacharias’ question in Greek:

Κατὰ τί γνώσομαι τοῦτο;

A more literal translation would be:

According to what will I know this? or By what will I know this?

Zacharias is testing God by asking for a sign, despite the fact that the Archangel Gabriel is standing before him inside the Temple. Note Gabriel’s reaction:

The angel replied, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. But now, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time, you will become mute, unable to speak, until the day these things occur.” (Luke 1:19-20)

Zacharias doubts.

Mary, on the other hand, does not ask for a proof or a sign, rather she accepts the reality of what God will do. Her question is a clarification. She knows that all of the other miraculous births throughout Scripture (Sarah in Gn 16:1, Rebekah in Gn 25:21, Rachel in Gn 29:31 and Hannah in 1Sam/1Ki 1:2) and even her own birth came about from barren women who had relationships with their husbands. She is a virgin. Note Gabriel’s response:

The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. (Luke 1:35)

His answer is one of clarification — the Holy Spirit is the mechanism by which this miracle will happen. Mary never once questions whether or not that miracle can or will happen, as does Zacharias.

Thus, in our own lives, when we ask things of God we should strive to be like Mary and not like Zacharias. We should not test God by asking for proofs and signs. We should have Mary’s faith that God will do exactly what is needed for our salvation, knowing that God is willing to even overturn the laws of nature in order to save us:

You were known to be a Mother passing nature, O Theotokos, and still remained a Virgin in a way passing speech and thought. And no language is capable of explaining the wonder of your childbirth. O pure Maid, your conception was paradoxical, hence the manner of your pregnancy is also incomprehensible. For whenever God so wills, nature’s order is overridden. Therefore, acknowledging you as the Mother of God, to you we all intently pray: Intercede for the salvation of our souls. — Doxastikon in Grave Mode from Saturday night Vespers

Amen.

Sunday of the Samaritan Woman

Tags

Gospel, Holy Spirit, St. Athanasius, St. Phontine, Worship

Christ is Risen!

This morning’s Gospel Reading is one of my favorites. It is broad, it is deep and there is so much that we could speak about in it; however, I would like to focus on how God reveals St. Photine to be a theologian, despite her utter lowliness.

St. John very specifically says that is about the sixth hour when St. Photine comes to the well. In other words, it is about noon — the hottest time of the day. This is not the time to go gather water. Any one who has ever hauled water knows that it is pretty heavy. You don’t want to be hauling water at the hottest time of day because it will make the hard work of getting water even harder. The normal time for getting water was early in the morning or late in the evening when it was cooler.

The reason that St. John points this out is to call our attention to the fact that this woman is so ashamed of her status — that she is living in adultery and that she has had five husbands — that she goes to the well when she knows that no one else will be there. This way she can avoid encountering anybody and have to face her status and her shame.

This compounds all of these marks against her:

• She’s a woman. In the eyes of the Jews and the ancient world, she is a second class citizen.
• She’s a Samaritan. This is worse than being a Gentile. The Samaritans were seen as “fake Jews” — the mixed bloods and half-breeds that worship on Mt. Gerizim instead of in the Temple.
• On top of these, she is adulterer.

She is the lowest of the low.

Yet, Jesus comes to her and starts to have this conversation with her. Now things become interesting, because when He tells her that He knows she’s had five husbands, and that she is living with a sixth man who is not her husband, instead of defending herself or saying “how do you know that?” or “who told you that?” or being embarrassed, she asks a theological question:

The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.” — John 4:19-20

What is the correct way of worship? How should we worship God? Even in her lowliness, her mind is focused on higher things. Thus, whenever we find ourselves at the bottom, the place where we should be looking is towards God. We should be putting our minds towards Him.

God gives us an interesting answer to St. Photine’s question, what is the correct way to worship? Christ says:

The hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth — John 4:23

I’ll start with the second one — truth. I have said this before and I will say it again: Truth is not an idea, it is not something that we get from philosophy, it is not something that we get through science and it is not something that we can prove or disprove. Truth is a person — our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ. He has told us that “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). Thus, correct worship is in truth — in Jesus Christ. The way we get there is in spirit.

Throughout the Gospel we see the Holy Spirit coming in front of Christ, paving the way for Him. At the Annunciation, it is the Holy Spirit that descends upon Mary so that she becomes pregnant with the Christ (Luke 1:35). At the baptism of Christ, it is the Holy Spirit that descends upon Him in the form of a dove (Matthew 3:16, Mark 1:10, Luke 3:22, John 1:33). At the beginning of His ministry, it is the Holy Spirit that leads Him into the desert to fast for forty days (Matthew 4:1, Mark 1:12, Luke 4:1).

It is the Holy Spirit that leads us and brings us to our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ. Our entry into the Church is our baptism and chrismation when we are sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit. We speak of the Holy Spirit all the time and throughout the liturgy. We implore that God send us His Holy Spirit. Let us read the prayer of the Proskomide — the prayer of preparation:

Lord, God Almighty, You alone are holy. You accept a sacrifice of praise from those who call upon You with their whole heart. Receive also the prayer of us sinners and let it reach Your holy altar. Enable us to bring before You gifts and spiritual sacrifices for our sins and for the transgressions of the people. Make us worthy to find grace in Your presence so that our sacrifice may be pleasing to You and that Your good and gracious Spirit may abide with us, with the gifts here presented, and with all Your people.

It is through the Holy Spirit that the whole liturgy is made possible and manifest. Let us now read the prayer where we ask God to make the Bread and Wine into the Body and Blood:

Once again we offer to You this spiritual worship without the shedding of blood, and we ask, pray, and entreat You: send down Your Holy Spirit upon us and upon these gifts here presented.

And make this bread the precious Body of Your Christ. Amen.

And that which is in this cup the precious Blood of Your Christ. Amen.

Changing them by Your Holy Spirit. Amen. Amen. Amen.

We worship in spirit. We participate in the Holy Spirit and through the Holy Spirit, we live in Jesus Christ — the Truth.

Today, we also celebrate one of my favorite saints, a guy I have spent a lot of time getting to know — St. Athanasius the Great. He was one of the guys leading the charge against those who claimed that Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit are not God, one in essence with the Father. One of the arguments that he made was that the whole purpose of Christ going to the cross and resurrecting was so that we could participate in the Holy Spirit. If either of them are just creatures, it renders all of Christianity meaningless. The Holy Spirit is God. By participating in Him, through Him we can be in and with Jesus Christ and do the will of the Father. I mention St. Athanasius because he informs us of a practical way to worship in spirit.

He wrote a letter to his friend Marcellinus on the psalms. He tells us that the Psalms should be prayed and should be chanted, due to their unique status in Scripture. They have the things that other parts of Scripture have — history, prophecy and the Law. What makes them unique is that they are written with human emotion. We will find the whole range — from joy to sorry, to anger and to despair. This allows us to take these words and make them our own. When we feel despair, we can read a Psalm that speaks about despair and make those words our words. Since these words are inspired by the Holy Spirit, we participate in Him by making those words our own.

This pattern is also true about our hymns and our services. Our hymns and services are to the Fathers what the Psalms are to Scripture. Our hymns are full of joy and wonder — human emotion. When we sing them and make these words our words we speak with the voice of the Fathers and those generations of Christian who came before us. We participate in the Holy Spirit. Through the Spirit we live and walk in Jesus Christ.

So, let us today learn how to make these words set before us in the Psalms and the hymns and the services of our great and holy Orthodox Church our own. Make them our words. Own them. Feel them. Worship in spirit and in truth. Amen.

Sunday of the Paralytic

Tags

Gospel, Holy Spirit, Pascha, Pentecost, Resurrection, Sin, Worship

John 5:1-15

This morning there was a little bit of confusion by the choir because they were expecting the Doxalogical hymn of Pascha, which ends with ‘Christ is Risen.’ This is a very reasonable expectation because we are still celebrating Pascha and will be until Ascension. This is the reason why we see all the bay leaves and all the flowers. They are out because we are still celebrating. The tomb has been opened.

We throw the flowers and the bay leaves all over the place because St. John tells us that Christ was buried in a garden tomb (John 19:41). We imagine the power of God and the energies present when Christ is risen from the dead bursting forth with power, glory, fragrance and wonder from the tomb. This is why we see the priest throwing the bay leaves and flowers on Holy Saturday crying out Arise O Lord! And we still have the kouvouklion out. It represents the tomb and note that we place in it the icon of the Myrrh-Bearing Women at the Empty Tomb. So, this stays out for 40 days.

Yet, today is the first Gospel Reading we hear on a Sunday after Pascha that isn’t directly related to the Resurrection. On Thomas Sunday, right after Pascha, we see Thomas encounter the Risen Christ and place his hands in the mark of the nails and in His side. Last week we read about the Myrrh-Bearing Women discovering the empty tomb. In contrast, today we read about the Paralytic next to the Sheep Pool. This is before Christ went to Golgotha and was crucified — before we know Him as the Risen Christ.

The reason for this is that in the life of the Church we are in periods of expectation and periods of celebration. Great Lent is an example of one long act of anticipation. We anticipate Pascha and saying to the world, “Christ is Risen!” Then, after Pascha, for 40 days we continue to say it: “Christ is risen from the dead, by death he has trampled death and to those in the tomb He has granted life!” We sing this over and over and over again. At the same time, however, we begin to anticipate Pentecost.

In today’s Gospel reading, we see hints that the Church is beginning to turn its attention towards Pentecost. The Sheep Pool, Bethesda, had a liturgical significance to the life of the Jews. The Gospel according to John speaks of the festival of tents, which the Church equates with Pentecost. There was a liturgical act that the Jews used to do during this festival. The priests would take a big, golden pitcher to the Sheep Pool to take water from the pool to use as a liquid sacrifice at the altar. Thus, the Church is using the story of the Paralytic, which happens next to the Sheep Pool, to pique our interest and get us to start anticipating Pentecost.

On top of this we hear about the descent of the Angel of the Lord upon the waters, which reminds us of both the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles at Pentecost and the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the waters at our own baptism. We are reminded of the glorious miracles through the presence of the Holy Spirit that made it possible for the Holy Apostles to go forth and accomplish, against all odds, the great commission to baptize all the nations in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Given this context, I’d like to read you today’s Kontakion, read during Orthros this morning:

I have sinned in every way, I have improperly acted; therefore with paralysis my soul is woefully stricken. Raise it up, O Lord, through Your own divine attention, even as of old You raised up the paralytic, so that saved I may cry, Glory to Your dominion, O my compassionate Christ.

The Church is making the story of the Paralytic into a metaphor. It reminds us of the reality of the fallen world. Though each and every one of us may be a faithful Orthodox Christian, though we make time in our lives to come to church on a Sunday morning, though we make time for Him in our daily lives, each of us — including and especially myself — sins. This reality of sin is like a paralysis and if left untended, it will paralyze our whole life. The cure for this paralysis, according to this morning’s Gospel reading, is coming into the presence of Jesus Christ. By a word, He heals the paralytic, “Pick up your pallet and walk” (John 5:8).

Our cure is the same. Come into the presence of our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ and the paralysis of our sin is healed. It is washed away. The most obvious way that we come into the presence of Christ is what we do every Sunday. Christ is on the Table. His Body and Blood are right there. We are given the great blessing to partake of them. He is with us.

The challenge for all of us is to take this moment, this liturgy — this work of the people — and apply it out in the world. We must make choices on a daily basis to be in the presence of our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ. This is made possible out in the world by the descent of the Holy Spirit.

We are the Temples of God. The Holy Spirit is with us always. As we say at the beginning of many of our services:

O heavenly King, the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, who are everywhere and fill all things, the treasury of blessings and giver of life, come and dwell within us and cleanse us from every blemish and save our souls, O Good One.

We participate in the Holy Spirit with the life of the Church. We do this when we choose prayer over turning on the TV or the computer to catch up on the morning news — something I struggle with. We do this when we choose to be at church during the week — whether to do work around the church (such as maintenance) or to attend Bible Study, Chant Class or a service — instead of playing golf, catching up on work, watching a movie, etc. These are choices we are given on a daily basis. So we need to make the choice to make the time to be with our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ. Make the choice to pray. Make the choice to spend time with Scripture — to learn about our Savior.

During Orthros this morning, we read about Cleopas and Luke on the Road to Emmaus. Our Risen Lord opens up the Scripture for them, about how all of them speak about Him. He wasn’t taking about the Four Gospel accounts or the Epistles (they didn’t exist yet!), He was speaking about the Old Testament. As Christ tells us, the OT is replete with information about who Jesus Christ is. We need to make the choice to look for Him there. Make the choice to be with Him, to get to know Him and understand who He is.

When we make the choice to be with someone who needs our help, who needs our presence — “For two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them” (Matt 18:20). Thus we make the choice to visit people in the hospital and those in need in order to bring Christ with us where ever we go. We make the choice to be with Christ through other people — the people we see on a daily basis.

Make the choice to live that life where we get out of the way — we must decrease so that Christ can increase within us, as St. John the Baptist says (see John 3:30). When we make these choices to live and walk with with Christ all the time, when we allow the Holy Spirit to flow through us unabated by our own fallenness we will see miracles happen.

This past week, I was talking to a friend of mine, who happens to be a pastor. He was struggling with the idea of miracles. He says to me, I read the Scripture and about all these miracles — where have they all gone? I told him about what they tell you on Mt. Athos. You will see miracles on Mt. Athos every day, but don’t make a bid deal out of it, because it’s normal. When you are with God, when you walk with Christ every where you go the miraculous is normal. The miraculous is the way the world should be. A world without miracles is abnormal — it is not what God intended for His creation. When we make the choice to walk with God, our hearts are softened, our eyes are opened, our ears will open and we will see and hear miracles every where we go.

So, let us cry out to our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ, heal me of the paralysis of my own sin. Be with me. Walk with me. Allow me to see and hear Your work in Your world through me.

Christ is risen from the dead, by death He has trampled death and to those in the tombs, He has granted life.

Amen.