20081123 Holding on to the Rope
www.stmichaeluoc.org
www.orthoanalytika.org
Ephesians 2: 4-10
St. Luke 10: 25-37
Homily: Holding on to the Rope
What does it mean that “by grace you have been saved?” What is the role of “faith?” What is the role of “good works.” What, exactly, do we need to do to be saved? Just believe in Christ? Just be a good person, doing “good works”?
There have been many answers to this question over time, and much of seminary is spent studying the course corrections that some Christian groups have made as they bounce from heresy to heresy. As with so many things, the answer is not found in one extreme or the other, but in balance. This is the balance that traditional Christianity – Orthodox Christianity – has preserved and taught from the beginning.
St. Nicholai Velimirovich explains it with this parable (from the Prologue from Ochrid, November 9th):
A child was on a journey by night, and it fell from hole to hole, from ditch to ditch, until at last if fell into a very deep pit, out of which there was no way it could clamber. When the child had abandoned itself to its fate and thought that this was the end, suddenly there was someone standing above the hole, letting a rope down to it and calling to it to take a firm hold on the rope. This was the king’s son, who rescued the child, washed it and clothed it and took it to his court, keeping it with him. Was this child saved by its own act? In no way. Its only action was to grab the passing rope-end and hang onto it. By what, then, was the child saved? By the mercy of the king’s son. In God’s dealings with man, this mercy is called grace. ‘By grace ye are saved.’
Let us also know and understand, my brethren, that we are saved through grace by the Lord Jesus Christ. We were held in the jaws of death, and have been given life in the courts of our God.
Like I said, there is a dry way to approach the question of faith and works – and that is through study of the dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the Reformed Protestant churches. But I am less interested in teaching you about history than I am guiding you to salvation through Jesus Christ Our Lord; so I am going to tell how this teaching relates to us as Orthodox Christians working out our lives here and now. So while the divisions I will describe do not match up with their historical precedents, they are quite real am important.
First of all, there is a significant number of people who do not really feel the need for salvation at all. They think that they are good enough already. To use St. Nicholai’s parable, it is as if they had managed to avoid falling into any hole from which they would ever need to get out. It was to such as these that God Himself referred when He walked this earth two thousand years ago, saying; “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick… for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance” (St. Matthew 9: 12-13). If you are already perfect, then you obviously don’t need anyone’s rope. How many people do you know that avoid Confession because they don’t have any sins to confess? You don’t need Confession and you don’t need Communion if you are already perfect. So those of you who are perfect, please pray for the rest of us. J Because the rest of us are like the child in the story, falling from hole to hole and from sin into sin.
And just in case there really are people out there who think they have no sin, let me point out an unavoidable fact that is described both in Scripture and our everyday experience: “the wages of sin is death...” (Romans 6: 23) Those who are perfect do not die – it is sin that brought death into the world (Romans 5:12); [and] death is a pit that no amount of work or self-righteousness can pull you out of; nor that event the most stubborn and hard-headed person can ignore. Death awaits us all, because we have all sinned (Romans 3: 23). Why not grab hold of that rope now, while you still have a chance? Because only the perfect get out of the pit of death, and it is only in Christ that we can become perfect and inherit eternal life.
Secondly, there are those who think it is their good works that save them: they have replaced faith in God for faith in themselves. These are folks who, when asked if they are saved, reply that they have done some things wrong, but on the whole they are pretty good people; after all, they haven’t killed anyone and they do the best they can, given the circumstances. They admit that they are not perfect, but think that their sparkling personalities and great sacrifices will tip the balance in their favor at the dread judgment seat. While I know Christians who act as if they believed this, it is irrational and heretical madness. Christ died for our sins. For all of our sins. He made this sacrifice because without it they [our sins] would condemn us to death and eternal darkness (Romans 5:1-11). If you think that you can make up for your own sins, then you have replaced Christ’s propitiary grace with your own, offering up your own goodness in place of His perfection. If that is really what you want, then “good luck… cause you’re gonna need it.” After all, [as today’s lesson of the Good Samaritan points out] the Judge will not be using your personal standard of right and wrong when he renders his verdict, but the eternal and changeless standard. And in that balance, our deeds will undoubtedly condemn us. That is why we need Christ to tip the scale in our favor (2 Corinthians 5:10, 21).
Lastly, there are some who are humbly holding on to that rope. They recognize the hole they are in and that they cannot get out of it themselves. They not only have faith in the rope to pull them out, they hold onto it as a force much greater than their own pulls them skyward. For most of us, it is hard to hold onto that rope. The effort of forgiveness, of “loving God” and “loving our neighbor” seems too much at times. We have to concentrate and make the rope the focus of our attention, despite all the many distractions. Sometimes we slip. Sometimes we lose our grip through the sins of “self-righeousness [pride], greed, adultery, envy, impulsiveness, anger & laziness” (list of major sins from the “Short Catechism”); we slip down that rope, but even if we were to let loose of it completely and wallow once more in the pit of our depravity, the rope is there. And Christ strengthens us and pulls us back to Him through His Mysteries of Confession and Communion.
And don’t forget who the parable of the child ends: once he pulls the child out of the hole, he takes that child to his court and keeps him there in splendor.
You are indeed in a hole, but the rope is here before you. It is the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, offered to you for the forgiveness of your sins, for life everlasting, and an acceptable answer at the dread judgment seat. Will you reach for it? Will you hold it? Will you recognize it for the lifeline it is, making it the center of your attention? Salvation and an eternal life in the mansions of glory await all those who do.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Monday, November 17, 2008
20081116 Healing on the Way
20081116 Healing on the Way
www.stmichaeluoc.org
www.orthoanalytika.org
Galatians 6: 11-18
St. Luke 8: 41- 56
Today we have a foretaste and proof of something that you must always keep in your mind. Something that will bring comfort to you in sorrow and strength when you are weak: that Christ is coming to resurrect all the dead, that He comes to restore everyone to complete health of soul and body, and, at the same time, to restore us to perfect health in community with one another. Just look at today’s Gospel: the pious man Jarius’ daughter was ill; Jarius petitions Christ to heal her; she then dies; but Christ restores her spirit to her body, and her to her parents’ love. Christ revived her and brought her back into loving union with her family. This is what God promises to all of us: as He Himself said: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even through he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” (St. John 11:25)
And the coming resurrection is more than just a restoration of spirit to body, it is a perfecting recreation. The moments of physical vitality and mutual love that we treasure so dearly are just hints and shadows of the vitality and love that await us. St. Paul shares this Good News in his letter to the Romans:
Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory”. (Romans 15: 51-54)
This is the road that Christ travels, and that we travel through Him. But what is it that happens on the way? Today’s Gospel describes two things that happen on the road to the restoration of Jarius’ daughter. They can help us as we walk this same road toward the General Resurrection.
First, there is the healing of the woman with the issue of blood. She had been suffering from this infirmity for twelve years. She was destitute from her search for a cure. She was suffering. So she sought out Christ. She found Christ on the road, as He was on his way to Jarius’ house. She reached out to Him, and the combination of His physical presence and her faith healed her. He saw her, blessed her, and gave her peace. What a beautiful encounter! Wouldn’t you like to see such a thing? Last week, Archbishop Antony reminded us that we are to be the Gospel; that we may be the only Christ that people see and hear. The woman received healing because she was able to find Christ.
This area is full of people in need of healing. Full of people who have spent their fortunes on false cures. People who are looking for an authentic cure. Seeking out the real Christ. Would they find Him in us? Would they recognize Christ in us? What kind of Gospel do we share? I don’t mean the one that stands on the center of the our altar, or the one that sits in your prayer corner, but rather the one that we really share; the one we share with how we live our lives, with how we treat one another, with how we treat strangers. Christ is self-sacrifice and love: are we? Christ is the “New Adam”, the one that exhibits and shares every “fruit of the spirit” (e.g. love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control – Galatians 5: 22).
Are we like that, or do we still walk in the flesh as did the old Adam (with adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like – Galatians 5:19). If we want to witness Christ, both as individuals and as a Church, then, as St. Paul says “let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.” (Galatians 5: 26) If we gossip about one another, if we provoke one another, if we refuse to forgive one another, if we bring anything but love and longsuffering to our relationships with one another, then we are not the real Gospel, but an abomination.
Christ brings healing to all He encounters on the road to the Resurrection. Abomination brings pain and suffering to all he encounters on the road to damnation. St. Michael’s is called to be Christ to the world: this requires our mutual love and sacrifice. Otherwise we are like all the other charlatans that the woman met in her twelve years of suffering.
The Second thing that happened on the road was that Jarius’ daughter died. Jarius was a faithful man. He expected Christ to heal his daughter from her illness – what else would a loving God do? But instead, she died from her illness. This is a vital lesson: Christ brings the one thing needful, but it isn’t always what you think it should be. Later in the Gospel lesson, Jarius understands. He understands when he holds his living daughter in his arms. You have the fullness of the faith at your disposal, so you should already understand.
Let me paint the picture of this at its most dire; at its most difficult: this week we have been commemorating the 75th year since the tragedy of the Holodomor, a time when one out of every four Ukrainians was purposely starved to death, when those who survived watched helplessly as one out of every three of their children died a slow and agonizing death. When abomination, under the guise of progress, did its best to destroy the love and test the longsuffering of Christian people. How can sanity endure such a thing? How can faith possibly persevere?
There is only one true answer to the havoc that abomination wreaks in this world: that through the suffering and resurrection of Jesus Christ; “The body is sown in corruption, [but] it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor, [but] it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, [but] it is raised in power.” (1 Corinthians 15: 42-58). We preserve our sanity in the midst of suffering through faith in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
And through living in His love, we like Him; we AS HIM; will bring healing, comfort, and peace to those we meet along the road.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
=================
Some thoughts on this past week - and on the Holodomor
It was another busy week here at St. Michael’s. Here are some highlights:
Monday
While I spent most of Monday on administrivia, the highlight came in the evening with the opening of the Holodomor exhibit at the Rhode Island Community College (Knight Campus) Art Gallery. As part of the commemoration, Professor Cheryl Madden (who teaches history at CCRI and was recently awarded the “Order of Princess Olha” by Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko) gave a talk on the tragedy, and a local playwright (David Eliet) discussed and shared his short film on the subject. Afterwards, we toured the exhibition compiled from the work of various local artists and groups (to include one from our parish - you can see it on the bottom left of the flyer linked above).
Wednesday
On Wednesday we usually pray the Moleban intercessory prayer service and then move into our Adult Education class. Instead of a Moleban, this week we continued our commemoration of the Holodomor with a Panakhida prayer service for the more than ten million souls who were starved to death in 1932-1933. It was an incredibly moving service [an aside: to save money on oil this winter, we are holding weekday classes and services in the rectory office. I learned this week that even a little incense will create enough of a cloud to make it impossible for all but the most hardy to stay. Thankfully, I learned this early enough before the service to allow things to clear out a bit!]. After the prayer service, we watched a short film on the Holodomor and then discussed it for a while.
After that, we had a parish board meeting where we conducted an AAR (after action review) of the bishop’s visit (it went very well), the patronal feast (some would prefer that we went out to celebrate, others prefer to keep it in the hall), and the possible incorporation of another Orthodox cemetery (St. John’s - a Ukrainian Orthodox parish in Providence that closed many years ago).
Friday
At 2:30 AM, my oldest son (Nicholas, 13) and I headed down to our seminary/consistory in S. Bound Brook, New Jersey. We got there at about 6:30 AM (it was an easy drive - we didn’t even have to slow down much to cross the George Washington Bridge!), just in time to prepare to celebrate Divine Liturgy in the seminary chapel with Bishop Daniel and our full-time seminarians. What a blessing! Then I headed across to the Consistory to check-in with Archbishop Antony and all my friends there. There, Fr. Bazyl (the rector of our seminary) asked if I was available to teach a class on “Kyivan Spirituality” for our weekend seminarians next semester. Of course I enthusiastically agreed. This will mean spending one Friday a month there (and a whole lot of time in preparation). On the way home, we stopped at Chipotle (Nick’s favorite restaurant and in my top five) and to see Fr. Taras in Cartaret (he gave us some new Divine Liturgy books for the pews). We got home at about 6 PM. Not everyone understands why I like to make that trip, but it really is a treat for me.
Saturday
I slept in a bit on Saturday morning, then helped out the Ladies’ Sodality do some last minute preparations for our “Ukrainian Kitchen”, which ran from 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM. The Kitchen went VERY well - not only did the Ladies raise some money, we got to meet lots of people in the local community (I like to play the role of greeter). The Ladies make incredibly good varenyky (cabbage and potato dumplings), perohy (stuffed rolls), holobtsi (cabbage rolls), fried cabbage, soup, etc. But even more amazing is their dedication to the Church. You would not believe the amount of time and energy they put into their efforts.
At 3PM, we had our weekly chanting class. At 4PM we celebrated Vespers. Then at 5PM we celebrated a crowning service for a couple who wanted to “renew their vows” within the Orthodox Church. I cannot describe the joy shared there. It was a beautiful thing. The couple invited us to the reception, which was everything a reception should be (good fellowship, food, etc.).
Sunday
Sunday was my “one morning of work” as a priest, and I followed my usual routine in preparing and the like. The service was beautiful, despite the fact that there were only about 45 folks there to enjoy it. After a coffee hour and a short nap, my family took me out to a local Mexican restaurant for my birthday. It was really nice. We finished up the day with swimming and ice cream. Happy times.
The coming week looks to be no less busy than last, with the biggest additions being a new weekly service on Wednesday afternoon (daily Vespers), a presentation on immigration at the “Faith and Order Commission”, and a new graduate-level class I am teaching down at the Naval War College in Newport. Daily Vespers and the immigration thing should be a snap, but I am a bit stressed out about the new class. [One more thing: I have a dear friend and mentor undergoing surgery on Friday (please pray for Ihumen Gregory).]
============================
What was the Holodomor?
Holod: from the word for hunger; Mor: from the word for plague/murder
It occurs to me that not everyone who reads this may be familiar with the Holodomor. Here is the basic context: Stalin was trying to centralize control over all industry and agriculture. He was also trying to Sovietize the various nations under his rule. The Ukrainians resisted both of these efforts, so Stalin used starvation to force them into submission. The main mechanism that he used was the enforcement of impossible grain quotas. How does this work? Central planning runs on quotas: the government determines how many of every commodity should be produced, the price that will be offered for them, and the price that they will be sold for. In the case of Ukraine, Stalin demanded ALL of the grain (and other foodstuffs) produced and offered nothing in return (at least to those who refused to join the oppressive collective farm system).
Recognizing the danger to their very lives, some Ukrainians hid grain to feed their family, so Stalin sent in forces (both “professional” soldiers and deputized mobs) to look into every nook and cranny. He then put more forces at the borders of Ukraine to keep people from leaving and goods from coming in, and then he watched as over ten million Ukrainians slowly starved to death. This was about one in every four Ukrainians, and one out of every three Ukrainian children. The official party line was that there was no famine (artificial or otherwise), but that there may have been isolated suffering due to poor harvests. This was a lie that has now been publicly and clearly outed (despite the early efforts of the New York Times). To this very day, there are government officials in Russia who deny that the Holodomor ever occurred and to commemorate those who perished in it (I will never understand why anyone would feel the need to ignore or defend Soviet attrocities).
Some folks wonder how it is that such a thing could happen to such a large and civilized country in this day and age. Most assume that it could not happen today; that it could not happen here. I am not so sure. As I wrote last week, all it takes is a large government supported by people who value “progress” (or any other ideal) more than human lives. The Communists in Russia and Ukraine (and the Nazis in Germany) were not martians - they were sinners with the same temptations we have. It was easy for them to believe that the people dying were less important that what was being achieved; that the victims stood in the way of a brighter and more just future. I would argue that not only could it happen here, it is happening here; but instead of sacrificing peasants and farming families to the God of progress, we sacrifice babies to the God of comfort and sinful self-indulgence. You cannot tell me that anyone with a moral bone in their body doesn’t look at the slaughter of the unborn through abortion with the same abhoration and disgust as we do when we study the atrocities of the Nazi Holocaust or the Soviet Holodomor.
Yes, it can happen here. It is happening here. And like before, the apologists for our sin (such as the New York Times and every pro-abortion politician and activist) propagandandize to convince us that there is “nothing to see here”, that “everything is okay.”
But everything is not okay. People are being slaughtered. And just as the covering lies damaged the souls of the Soviet survivers, so to do our own lies kill our souls.
May God grant Memory Eternal to all the souls who departed this life during the Holodomor, and may God grant mercy to the souls of those who perpetuated and supported it.
www.stmichaeluoc.org
www.orthoanalytika.org
Galatians 6: 11-18
St. Luke 8: 41- 56
Today we have a foretaste and proof of something that you must always keep in your mind. Something that will bring comfort to you in sorrow and strength when you are weak: that Christ is coming to resurrect all the dead, that He comes to restore everyone to complete health of soul and body, and, at the same time, to restore us to perfect health in community with one another. Just look at today’s Gospel: the pious man Jarius’ daughter was ill; Jarius petitions Christ to heal her; she then dies; but Christ restores her spirit to her body, and her to her parents’ love. Christ revived her and brought her back into loving union with her family. This is what God promises to all of us: as He Himself said: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even through he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” (St. John 11:25)
And the coming resurrection is more than just a restoration of spirit to body, it is a perfecting recreation. The moments of physical vitality and mutual love that we treasure so dearly are just hints and shadows of the vitality and love that await us. St. Paul shares this Good News in his letter to the Romans:
Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory”. (Romans 15: 51-54)
This is the road that Christ travels, and that we travel through Him. But what is it that happens on the way? Today’s Gospel describes two things that happen on the road to the restoration of Jarius’ daughter. They can help us as we walk this same road toward the General Resurrection.
First, there is the healing of the woman with the issue of blood. She had been suffering from this infirmity for twelve years. She was destitute from her search for a cure. She was suffering. So she sought out Christ. She found Christ on the road, as He was on his way to Jarius’ house. She reached out to Him, and the combination of His physical presence and her faith healed her. He saw her, blessed her, and gave her peace. What a beautiful encounter! Wouldn’t you like to see such a thing? Last week, Archbishop Antony reminded us that we are to be the Gospel; that we may be the only Christ that people see and hear. The woman received healing because she was able to find Christ.
This area is full of people in need of healing. Full of people who have spent their fortunes on false cures. People who are looking for an authentic cure. Seeking out the real Christ. Would they find Him in us? Would they recognize Christ in us? What kind of Gospel do we share? I don’t mean the one that stands on the center of the our altar, or the one that sits in your prayer corner, but rather the one that we really share; the one we share with how we live our lives, with how we treat one another, with how we treat strangers. Christ is self-sacrifice and love: are we? Christ is the “New Adam”, the one that exhibits and shares every “fruit of the spirit” (e.g. love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control – Galatians 5: 22).
Are we like that, or do we still walk in the flesh as did the old Adam (with adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like – Galatians 5:19). If we want to witness Christ, both as individuals and as a Church, then, as St. Paul says “let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.” (Galatians 5: 26) If we gossip about one another, if we provoke one another, if we refuse to forgive one another, if we bring anything but love and longsuffering to our relationships with one another, then we are not the real Gospel, but an abomination.
Christ brings healing to all He encounters on the road to the Resurrection. Abomination brings pain and suffering to all he encounters on the road to damnation. St. Michael’s is called to be Christ to the world: this requires our mutual love and sacrifice. Otherwise we are like all the other charlatans that the woman met in her twelve years of suffering.
The Second thing that happened on the road was that Jarius’ daughter died. Jarius was a faithful man. He expected Christ to heal his daughter from her illness – what else would a loving God do? But instead, she died from her illness. This is a vital lesson: Christ brings the one thing needful, but it isn’t always what you think it should be. Later in the Gospel lesson, Jarius understands. He understands when he holds his living daughter in his arms. You have the fullness of the faith at your disposal, so you should already understand.
Let me paint the picture of this at its most dire; at its most difficult: this week we have been commemorating the 75th year since the tragedy of the Holodomor, a time when one out of every four Ukrainians was purposely starved to death, when those who survived watched helplessly as one out of every three of their children died a slow and agonizing death. When abomination, under the guise of progress, did its best to destroy the love and test the longsuffering of Christian people. How can sanity endure such a thing? How can faith possibly persevere?
There is only one true answer to the havoc that abomination wreaks in this world: that through the suffering and resurrection of Jesus Christ; “The body is sown in corruption, [but] it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor, [but] it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, [but] it is raised in power.” (1 Corinthians 15: 42-58). We preserve our sanity in the midst of suffering through faith in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
And through living in His love, we like Him; we AS HIM; will bring healing, comfort, and peace to those we meet along the road.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
=================
Some thoughts on this past week - and on the Holodomor
It was another busy week here at St. Michael’s. Here are some highlights:
Monday
While I spent most of Monday on administrivia, the highlight came in the evening with the opening of the Holodomor exhibit at the Rhode Island Community College (Knight Campus) Art Gallery. As part of the commemoration, Professor Cheryl Madden (who teaches history at CCRI and was recently awarded the “Order of Princess Olha” by Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko) gave a talk on the tragedy, and a local playwright (David Eliet) discussed and shared his short film on the subject. Afterwards, we toured the exhibition compiled from the work of various local artists and groups (to include one from our parish - you can see it on the bottom left of the flyer linked above).
Wednesday
On Wednesday we usually pray the Moleban intercessory prayer service and then move into our Adult Education class. Instead of a Moleban, this week we continued our commemoration of the Holodomor with a Panakhida prayer service for the more than ten million souls who were starved to death in 1932-1933. It was an incredibly moving service [an aside: to save money on oil this winter, we are holding weekday classes and services in the rectory office. I learned this week that even a little incense will create enough of a cloud to make it impossible for all but the most hardy to stay. Thankfully, I learned this early enough before the service to allow things to clear out a bit!]. After the prayer service, we watched a short film on the Holodomor and then discussed it for a while.
After that, we had a parish board meeting where we conducted an AAR (after action review) of the bishop’s visit (it went very well), the patronal feast (some would prefer that we went out to celebrate, others prefer to keep it in the hall), and the possible incorporation of another Orthodox cemetery (St. John’s - a Ukrainian Orthodox parish in Providence that closed many years ago).
Friday
At 2:30 AM, my oldest son (Nicholas, 13) and I headed down to our seminary/consistory in S. Bound Brook, New Jersey. We got there at about 6:30 AM (it was an easy drive - we didn’t even have to slow down much to cross the George Washington Bridge!), just in time to prepare to celebrate Divine Liturgy in the seminary chapel with Bishop Daniel and our full-time seminarians. What a blessing! Then I headed across to the Consistory to check-in with Archbishop Antony and all my friends there. There, Fr. Bazyl (the rector of our seminary) asked if I was available to teach a class on “Kyivan Spirituality” for our weekend seminarians next semester. Of course I enthusiastically agreed. This will mean spending one Friday a month there (and a whole lot of time in preparation). On the way home, we stopped at Chipotle (Nick’s favorite restaurant and in my top five) and to see Fr. Taras in Cartaret (he gave us some new Divine Liturgy books for the pews). We got home at about 6 PM. Not everyone understands why I like to make that trip, but it really is a treat for me.
Saturday
I slept in a bit on Saturday morning, then helped out the Ladies’ Sodality do some last minute preparations for our “Ukrainian Kitchen”, which ran from 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM. The Kitchen went VERY well - not only did the Ladies raise some money, we got to meet lots of people in the local community (I like to play the role of greeter). The Ladies make incredibly good varenyky (cabbage and potato dumplings), perohy (stuffed rolls), holobtsi (cabbage rolls), fried cabbage, soup, etc. But even more amazing is their dedication to the Church. You would not believe the amount of time and energy they put into their efforts.
At 3PM, we had our weekly chanting class. At 4PM we celebrated Vespers. Then at 5PM we celebrated a crowning service for a couple who wanted to “renew their vows” within the Orthodox Church. I cannot describe the joy shared there. It was a beautiful thing. The couple invited us to the reception, which was everything a reception should be (good fellowship, food, etc.).
Sunday
Sunday was my “one morning of work” as a priest, and I followed my usual routine in preparing and the like. The service was beautiful, despite the fact that there were only about 45 folks there to enjoy it. After a coffee hour and a short nap, my family took me out to a local Mexican restaurant for my birthday. It was really nice. We finished up the day with swimming and ice cream. Happy times.
The coming week looks to be no less busy than last, with the biggest additions being a new weekly service on Wednesday afternoon (daily Vespers), a presentation on immigration at the “Faith and Order Commission”, and a new graduate-level class I am teaching down at the Naval War College in Newport. Daily Vespers and the immigration thing should be a snap, but I am a bit stressed out about the new class. [One more thing: I have a dear friend and mentor undergoing surgery on Friday (please pray for Ihumen Gregory).]
============================
What was the Holodomor?
Holod: from the word for hunger; Mor: from the word for plague/murder
It occurs to me that not everyone who reads this may be familiar with the Holodomor. Here is the basic context: Stalin was trying to centralize control over all industry and agriculture. He was also trying to Sovietize the various nations under his rule. The Ukrainians resisted both of these efforts, so Stalin used starvation to force them into submission. The main mechanism that he used was the enforcement of impossible grain quotas. How does this work? Central planning runs on quotas: the government determines how many of every commodity should be produced, the price that will be offered for them, and the price that they will be sold for. In the case of Ukraine, Stalin demanded ALL of the grain (and other foodstuffs) produced and offered nothing in return (at least to those who refused to join the oppressive collective farm system).
Recognizing the danger to their very lives, some Ukrainians hid grain to feed their family, so Stalin sent in forces (both “professional” soldiers and deputized mobs) to look into every nook and cranny. He then put more forces at the borders of Ukraine to keep people from leaving and goods from coming in, and then he watched as over ten million Ukrainians slowly starved to death. This was about one in every four Ukrainians, and one out of every three Ukrainian children. The official party line was that there was no famine (artificial or otherwise), but that there may have been isolated suffering due to poor harvests. This was a lie that has now been publicly and clearly outed (despite the early efforts of the New York Times). To this very day, there are government officials in Russia who deny that the Holodomor ever occurred and to commemorate those who perished in it (I will never understand why anyone would feel the need to ignore or defend Soviet attrocities).
Some folks wonder how it is that such a thing could happen to such a large and civilized country in this day and age. Most assume that it could not happen today; that it could not happen here. I am not so sure. As I wrote last week, all it takes is a large government supported by people who value “progress” (or any other ideal) more than human lives. The Communists in Russia and Ukraine (and the Nazis in Germany) were not martians - they were sinners with the same temptations we have. It was easy for them to believe that the people dying were less important that what was being achieved; that the victims stood in the way of a brighter and more just future. I would argue that not only could it happen here, it is happening here; but instead of sacrificing peasants and farming families to the God of progress, we sacrifice babies to the God of comfort and sinful self-indulgence. You cannot tell me that anyone with a moral bone in their body doesn’t look at the slaughter of the unborn through abortion with the same abhoration and disgust as we do when we study the atrocities of the Nazi Holocaust or the Soviet Holodomor.
Yes, it can happen here. It is happening here. And like before, the apologists for our sin (such as the New York Times and every pro-abortion politician and activist) propagandandize to convince us that there is “nothing to see here”, that “everything is okay.”
But everything is not okay. People are being slaughtered. And just as the covering lies damaged the souls of the Soviet survivers, so to do our own lies kill our souls.
May God grant Memory Eternal to all the souls who departed this life during the Holodomor, and may God grant mercy to the souls of those who perpetuated and supported it.
Monday, November 10, 2008
20081109 Orthodoxy and Your Budget
20081109 Orthodoxy and Your Budget
http://www.smichaeluoc.org/
http://www.orthoanalytika.org/
In deference to my bishop, I did not prepare a homily on this week’s lessons. So this week I would like to share the class I gave on Wednesday and some thoughts on the events of the past week.
Orthodoxy and Money
Our God is more than idea: He took flesh for us. He lived among us. He continues to live among us through His continuing Incarnation in the Holy Orthodox Church. He did this out of love for us, so that we would not suffer in this fallen world alone; so that through Him we can live life in abundance now and forever. Some think of God as something abstract or someone far away, but God is not really like that. He does more than watch us – He offers everything He has so that we can live better lives. This includes offering His death and Resurrection for us, revealing Himself through the Sacraments/Mysteries, and teaching us. His teaching is found in the Scriptures and, thanks to the gift of the Holy Spirit, in the teachings of the Holy Fathers and Mothers of the Church.
Living a Christian life involves more than confessing Christ as your Saviour. It even involves more than partaking of the Mysteries and prayers that He offers us through His Church. It involves developing and routinizing a way of life that is thoroughly grounded in His teaching, how else are we to become Christ-like if we do not implement His teachings? What kind of belief would we have if we did not take what He teaches seriously? What good would the Sacraments/Mysteries be if we did not take advantage of their deifying power to change our lives to the better?
Christ teaches us how to live. Not just in church, but in our marriages, our relationships, our jobs… in everything. This is not to say that there is a “one size fits all” solution to every problem, but rather that there is an approach that leads to sanctifying choices no matter what the circumstances. This is less a roadmap that it is a holistic worldview that leads one inevitably towards the only destination worth reaching: perfection and unity in Christ.
So what does God teach us about money?
The first thing is to recognize that money is not separate from anything else in our lives. It, like our time and our relationships, is to be treated according to basic Christian principles.
http://www.smichaeluoc.org/
http://www.orthoanalytika.org/
In deference to my bishop, I did not prepare a homily on this week’s lessons. So this week I would like to share the class I gave on Wednesday and some thoughts on the events of the past week.
Orthodoxy and Money
Our God is more than idea: He took flesh for us. He lived among us. He continues to live among us through His continuing Incarnation in the Holy Orthodox Church. He did this out of love for us, so that we would not suffer in this fallen world alone; so that through Him we can live life in abundance now and forever. Some think of God as something abstract or someone far away, but God is not really like that. He does more than watch us – He offers everything He has so that we can live better lives. This includes offering His death and Resurrection for us, revealing Himself through the Sacraments/Mysteries, and teaching us. His teaching is found in the Scriptures and, thanks to the gift of the Holy Spirit, in the teachings of the Holy Fathers and Mothers of the Church.
Living a Christian life involves more than confessing Christ as your Saviour. It even involves more than partaking of the Mysteries and prayers that He offers us through His Church. It involves developing and routinizing a way of life that is thoroughly grounded in His teaching, how else are we to become Christ-like if we do not implement His teachings? What kind of belief would we have if we did not take what He teaches seriously? What good would the Sacraments/Mysteries be if we did not take advantage of their deifying power to change our lives to the better?
Christ teaches us how to live. Not just in church, but in our marriages, our relationships, our jobs… in everything. This is not to say that there is a “one size fits all” solution to every problem, but rather that there is an approach that leads to sanctifying choices no matter what the circumstances. This is less a roadmap that it is a holistic worldview that leads one inevitably towards the only destination worth reaching: perfection and unity in Christ.
So what does God teach us about money?
The first thing is to recognize that money is not separate from anything else in our lives. It, like our time and our relationships, is to be treated according to basic Christian principles.
- That we are stewards of the things we have. God entrusted them to us to further His purposes (and our growth). This means charity and sacrificial giving (what about tithing?).
- That we should work hard (e.g. Proverbs 10:4), but not love money (1 Timothy 6:10), or be jealous of the prosperity of others (Exodus 20: 17).
- That we are more than consumers, and that relationships with others are more than contracts and transactions. We are made in the image of God, designed to be in community with others (look at how the Church lived in Acts!).
- God provides what is needful (not just the “lilies of the field”, but especially the “One Thing Needful” of salvation and perfection through Christ.
- What about debt? Debt is at the center of our current economic problems. Would it have been avoided if we had followed God’s advice?
Proverbs says that surety is foolish (6: 1-5 & 11: 15). Many Christian counselors advise against loaning money or cosigning. Does this counteract our Christian virtue of compassion?
- Going into debt makes you a slave to the lender (Proverbs 22:7). It also makes presumptions about the future (James 4: 13-15) and limits your maneuverability.
- Regarding the current crisis, debt has enabled us to satisfy artificially inflated wants. We confuse things we want/like for things that we need.
Questions to ponder: Why should the Christian work hard? What is the obligation of people with disposable income (i.e. more money than they need)? What is the obligation of the poor?
Some Commentary on the Past Week
This was another busy week here at St. Michael’s, culminating with the visit of our archpastor, His Eminence Archbishop Antony. While much of the business was pretty mundane, there were some things you might be interested in.
Tuesday was election day, one of my favorite times.
I love election day not just because it means politicians will stop trying to oversell themselves and their differences, but also because it is a reaffirmation of our commitment to the ideals of freedom and democracy. I’ve studied the theory and practice of democracy quite a bit, and, while I don’t buy into Rousseau’s ideas about the “will of the people” or the notion that democracy will lead us to some utopian future where individuals and communities are perfected through self-governance, I do buy into the more limited (but still quite grand) belief that democracy is the best institutional defense against tyranny. Anything else (like useful policies) is pretty much gravy compared to that.
As for this particular election, I think the contrast between the profiles of the two candidates was striking, and reckon that it was as much a rejection of an unsustainably aggressive foreign policy as an investment in charisma, optimism, and trust in government solutions. As someone born and raised in the South, I love the fact that we elected an “African-American” president (I put that in quotes because he is, as he has pointed out, as much a mutt as just about every others American; if we were being objective, he could be called “white” as much as “black” if it weren’t for the questionable and vestigial way we categorize race).
I also love that President-elect Obama admits to be driven by his Christian faith. Conservatives complain about double standards in the media (as when they point out that Conservative politicians who admit to being driven by their faith get mocked while liberal ones are embraced for their enlightenment); and they can argue that President-elect Obama interprets the implications of his faith incorrectly; but they should still recognize and appreciate (as Frank Schaeffer has written) that his popularity shows the limited reach of the new atheism and that we have not been entirely cut off from our Christian roots. I could not personally support Senator Obama because I know abortion to be a great evil, but I do like what his election says about America and Americans (very, very few of whom voted for him because they want to see the slaughter of innocents to continue).
On Wednesday, I got to visit a brother priest in the hospital.
Ihumen Gregory was in good spirits. Not only is he a wonderful pastor to his flock in New Britain and a liturgical scholar of the highest ordes, he is a kind heart and a generous mentor. I know that you will join me in praying that he is back in the pulpit and before the altar soon. Until then, we are doing what we can to help him and our sister parish.
Later on Wednesday, our adult education class joined our brothers and sisters from St. Paul’s Roman Catholic Church across the river in Blackstone, MA for a tour of the local mosque/masjid. It went very well. The men at the mosque were friendly and hospitable. Their imam gave us a nice ecumenical “introduction to Islam” and tour. We were also able to watch them pray their evening prayers. I was relieved that there was no awkward invitation to participate: they, like us, believe that understanding and tolerance can be maintained despite fundamental theological differences (this, as opposed to some who try to create false toleration by papering over our differences). I think that simultaneously understanding and tolerating difference is the civic equivalent of “walking and chewing gum” at the same time. We should really teach (and trust) everyone to do it.
On Friday, His Eminence, Archbishop Antony Arrived (and stayed through Sunday)
He had spent all day Friday on the road, from Ohio to New Jersey, and arrived in Massachusetts (where he was staying with old friends) around midnight. I met him there to pick up the two seminarians he had brought with him. This was a real treat: Ivan and Andriy had both stayed with us for a month or so during their breaks from seminary, and we enjoyed hosting them again. On Saturday morning, Archbishop Antony and I visited Ihumen Gregory, then (after sitting in Boston traffic) worked our way back to Woonsocket for the evening’s celebrations.
At four o’clock we celebrated Vespers. It was a wonderful occasion. Heirodeacon Vasyl and Seminarian/Reader Ivan came down from our sister parish in Boston; our own Subdeacon John came home from Chicago; and lots of folks came to celebrate the arrival of Arcbishop Antony.
The service went well (our cantors have been working hard to prepare, and it really showed), as did the reception thereafter. During the latter, Archbishop Antony affirmed his desire to keep me here in Woonsocket for many years to come; an announcement that allayed the concerns of many. In addition to parishioners and our board, several clergy from the community came to pay their respects.
On Sunday, we celebrated the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy and our Patronal Feast
The high point of every Orthodox Christian’s week (and life!) is Communion with God and His Community through the Holy Eucharist, and this week was no exception. While every Eucharist manifests the fullness of Christ and His Church, it is most evident and natural when presided by the bishop. It is within this context that you can begin to understand how exciting this past Sunday was for us. As icing on the cake, we had the “setting aside” and tonsuring/ordination of two men, one to serve as the leader of our cantors (“Dyak”) and the other as the leader of our altar servers (subdeacon). Vocations are an indicator of a community’s vitality, and this weekend was testimony of the vigor of St. Michael’s. Another indicator was the wonderful turnout and all the volunteer work that went into the preparations and execution of the myriad events this weekend.
The visit by a bishop is bit like having the commanding general come in the sense that his delegates (especially the priest, but also the parish board) are called to present and account for the state of the parish. Formally, this means that the bishop “inspects” the parish books and meets with the parish board (both of these went fine), but there is so much more involved. He is our archpastor, and has the discernment and responsibility to ensure that the needs of his flock (those entrusted to him by Christ) are being met. There is also the matter of making sure that the services are being conducted in a satisfactory manner (i.e. prayerfully and correctly), that the sacred grounds and articles are being tended, etc. All of this went well (Glory and thanks to God).
Conclusion and the Coming Week
And now? Now it is recovery time. This week we will commemorate the tragic events of the Holodomor, a testimony to the evil that can be committed against the alleged “enemies of progress”. It (and the broader soviet/communist experience) is also one of the many reasons I do not trust government, especially the “perfect storm” of a government that is 1) large 2) committed to “progress” 3) lacking in real Christian morality 4) unfettered by institutions that would protect its people from tyranny [political commentary: an Obama administration combines numbers one and two and a mixed bag on number three; leaving only four to act as a levee against the ravages of “good intentions”.
Monday, November 3, 2008
20081102 Why should we trust St. Paul?
20081102 Why Should We Trust St. Paul?
www.stmichaeluoc.org
www.orthoanalytika.org
Homily on Galatians 1: 11-19
Why should we listen to St. Paul? Wasn’t he “just a man”? There are lots of teachers out there, many of whom teach a different, easier, version of the Gospel. Why treat his opinions as any more valuable than these others? Our generation is not the first tempted to trade St. Paul’s teachings about the Christ for others. The Galatians were tempted to do this. As St. Paul writes to them:
“I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.” (Galatians 1:6-9)
Clearly St. Paul puts a lot of stock in what he is confessing, but conviction alone should not persuade us; those who “trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ” also present their versions of the truth with conviction. So how do we know that we can trust what St. Paul tells us? How do we know that he is right, and that what he teaches us is True and useful?
This is a big question, and it doesn’t just have to do with St. Paul. One of the great challenges of our present age is that we have become so jaded. Politicians and advertisers are incredibly good at marketing themselves and their products. So good that we sometimes give in to the hype and invest our money and our hope in what they offer, only to learn that they and their products were oversold; that they could not deliver what we hoped they could. When this happens enough times, we end up where most of us are now, refusing to believe or invest our hope in anything. The present presidential campaign has been run so well that many of us have once again opened ourselves up to new promises; but this says more about the deep yearning within us all for something better than it does about the candidates’ ability to actual make a lasting difference. No matter who wins, we are bound to be disappointed. We are bound to be disappointed because the government cannot satisfy the deeper yearning within us. This yearning can only be satisfied through loving communion with one another and God through Jesus Christ.
Which is why the question of St. Paul’s authority is so important: we need to be united to one another in Christ Jesus. This isn’t just about which political platform will improve our economy, our schools, our security, or even best protect the unborn (although these are obviously important); it is about how to bring ourselves and this world to salvation. People are teaching different Christ’s; how do we know that St. Paul is right? How do you know that I am right? Whom can you trust to tell you the Truth?
On a personal note, it was just this question that ultimately led me here, to the Holy Orthodox Church. I grew up knowing that the Truth was found in the Holy Scriptures, and that the Holy Spirit would lead the believer to the Truth through earnest study and prayer. This is a wonderful theory, but what do you do when earnest believers interpret the Scripture differently? When they come to different conclusions? Who is right? Which teacher, which denomination, which interpretation should we follow?
The dizzying array of choices and their impressive ability to market themselves make it easy to give up. I suspect that many people have left organized religion altogether because the number of choices made it seem unlikely that any one of them was any more real than the others. Some don’t give up, but rather, select their version of the truth based on which one fits other opinions that they hold. So, for example political conservatives might move towards a more fundamentalist theology and political liberals might move towards a more liberal theology. By the way, you can do this without ever changing churches – I am sure there are even people here who are tempted to modify the Gospel in this manner. But neither of these options is satisfactory: you need to worship and study in community, and you need to worship and study the Truth. Your own brand of theology may match all your other lifestyle choices, but unless it actually matches the Truth, it isn’t going to move you any closer to perfection.
Let me give you the short answer to the questions I posed earlier:
You can trust that St. Paul is telling you the Truth because, as he says, he received from Jesus Christ. You can trust that he really did receive it from Christ because what St. Paul teaches is perfectly consistent with everything else that the Holy Orthodox Church teaches. You can trust the Orthodox Church because it was founded by Christ Himself. He taught and empowered the Holy Apostles (to include St. Paul) to continue His ministry. In turn, they taught and empowered bishops who have done the same down to this very day. Every bishop is taught and teaches the very same Truth first given to the Apostles. This Apostolic Succession, preserved in word and sacrament, is the ultimate “proof of authenticity”. It is what makes Orthodoxy the standard, and variations of Orthodoxy simple shadows and even perversions (no matter how well they are marketed or how much easier it would be if they were true).
Our bishop, His Eminence Antony will be with us next week. He is part of the Apostolic Succession. This means two things: first, that he maintains the very same Truth that has been proclaimed from the beginning, and second, that he is part of the chain of bishops going all the way back to the first Apostles. When we greet him, kiss his hand, and ask for his blessing, we are expressing our appreciation to God that He has revealed Himself to us in such an immediate and approachable a form as His Holy Church; that He has blessed us with bishops through whom He is given to us through the Holy Mysteries.
I was and remain convinced that Orthodoxy is the answer, that it and the Truth it proclaims can be trusted. And like St. Paul and his conversion, I am immersing myself in it and continue to change my life around it. I am overjoyed that all of you are doing the same. May the Lord grant us the strength of our convictions.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of Holy Spirit. Amen.
www.stmichaeluoc.org
www.orthoanalytika.org
Homily on Galatians 1: 11-19
Why should we listen to St. Paul? Wasn’t he “just a man”? There are lots of teachers out there, many of whom teach a different, easier, version of the Gospel. Why treat his opinions as any more valuable than these others? Our generation is not the first tempted to trade St. Paul’s teachings about the Christ for others. The Galatians were tempted to do this. As St. Paul writes to them:
“I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.” (Galatians 1:6-9)
Clearly St. Paul puts a lot of stock in what he is confessing, but conviction alone should not persuade us; those who “trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ” also present their versions of the truth with conviction. So how do we know that we can trust what St. Paul tells us? How do we know that he is right, and that what he teaches us is True and useful?
This is a big question, and it doesn’t just have to do with St. Paul. One of the great challenges of our present age is that we have become so jaded. Politicians and advertisers are incredibly good at marketing themselves and their products. So good that we sometimes give in to the hype and invest our money and our hope in what they offer, only to learn that they and their products were oversold; that they could not deliver what we hoped they could. When this happens enough times, we end up where most of us are now, refusing to believe or invest our hope in anything. The present presidential campaign has been run so well that many of us have once again opened ourselves up to new promises; but this says more about the deep yearning within us all for something better than it does about the candidates’ ability to actual make a lasting difference. No matter who wins, we are bound to be disappointed. We are bound to be disappointed because the government cannot satisfy the deeper yearning within us. This yearning can only be satisfied through loving communion with one another and God through Jesus Christ.
Which is why the question of St. Paul’s authority is so important: we need to be united to one another in Christ Jesus. This isn’t just about which political platform will improve our economy, our schools, our security, or even best protect the unborn (although these are obviously important); it is about how to bring ourselves and this world to salvation. People are teaching different Christ’s; how do we know that St. Paul is right? How do you know that I am right? Whom can you trust to tell you the Truth?
On a personal note, it was just this question that ultimately led me here, to the Holy Orthodox Church. I grew up knowing that the Truth was found in the Holy Scriptures, and that the Holy Spirit would lead the believer to the Truth through earnest study and prayer. This is a wonderful theory, but what do you do when earnest believers interpret the Scripture differently? When they come to different conclusions? Who is right? Which teacher, which denomination, which interpretation should we follow?
The dizzying array of choices and their impressive ability to market themselves make it easy to give up. I suspect that many people have left organized religion altogether because the number of choices made it seem unlikely that any one of them was any more real than the others. Some don’t give up, but rather, select their version of the truth based on which one fits other opinions that they hold. So, for example political conservatives might move towards a more fundamentalist theology and political liberals might move towards a more liberal theology. By the way, you can do this without ever changing churches – I am sure there are even people here who are tempted to modify the Gospel in this manner. But neither of these options is satisfactory: you need to worship and study in community, and you need to worship and study the Truth. Your own brand of theology may match all your other lifestyle choices, but unless it actually matches the Truth, it isn’t going to move you any closer to perfection.
Let me give you the short answer to the questions I posed earlier:
You can trust that St. Paul is telling you the Truth because, as he says, he received from Jesus Christ. You can trust that he really did receive it from Christ because what St. Paul teaches is perfectly consistent with everything else that the Holy Orthodox Church teaches. You can trust the Orthodox Church because it was founded by Christ Himself. He taught and empowered the Holy Apostles (to include St. Paul) to continue His ministry. In turn, they taught and empowered bishops who have done the same down to this very day. Every bishop is taught and teaches the very same Truth first given to the Apostles. This Apostolic Succession, preserved in word and sacrament, is the ultimate “proof of authenticity”. It is what makes Orthodoxy the standard, and variations of Orthodoxy simple shadows and even perversions (no matter how well they are marketed or how much easier it would be if they were true).
Our bishop, His Eminence Antony will be with us next week. He is part of the Apostolic Succession. This means two things: first, that he maintains the very same Truth that has been proclaimed from the beginning, and second, that he is part of the chain of bishops going all the way back to the first Apostles. When we greet him, kiss his hand, and ask for his blessing, we are expressing our appreciation to God that He has revealed Himself to us in such an immediate and approachable a form as His Holy Church; that He has blessed us with bishops through whom He is given to us through the Holy Mysteries.
I was and remain convinced that Orthodoxy is the answer, that it and the Truth it proclaims can be trusted. And like St. Paul and his conversion, I am immersing myself in it and continue to change my life around it. I am overjoyed that all of you are doing the same. May the Lord grant us the strength of our convictions.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of Holy Spirit. Amen.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
20081026 Orthodoxy as the "Good Ground"
20081026 Orthodoxy as the "Good Ground"
http://www.stmichaeluoc.org/
http://www.orthoanalytika.og/
St. Luke 8: 5-15 (Gospel) “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trampled down, and the birds of the air devoured it. Some fell on rock; and as soon as it sprang up, it withered away because it lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it. But others fell on good ground, sprang up, and yielded a crop a hundredfold.” When He had said these things He cried, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” Then His disciples asked Him, saying, “What does this parable mean?” And He said, “To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is given in parables, that
‘ Seeing they may not see, / And hearing they may not understand.’
“Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity. But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.
---
Christ is giving us an amazing parable today, describing how different people respond to Christ. All of the people he describes hear the Good News and accept Christ into their hearts, but it only flourishes in one group of people: the ones whose hearts are “good ground”. Unlike the others, they “hear the word with a noble and good heart, keep it, and bear fruit with patience.”
We cannot live life in joy without God. We cannot truly enjoy our relationships with one another unless we ourselves and those relations are grounded in the Truth. This is the way to salvation, so it is vital that we understand what Christ is telling us. What is it about the last group that allows them to keep the word in their hearts, that protected it from the thievery of the evil one; that allowed the Truth to take root and grow in them; to avoid the temptations that would pull them into error and lies; that would insulate them from the hedonistic cares, riches, and pleasures of life that would render them barren; in short, how does one develop a “good and noble heart”?
To develop Christ’s parable a bit, what can we do to prepare the grounds of our hearts for the seed of His Word? A farmer prepares the ground for planting in a very careful and intentional way. He removes rocks and thorns and weeds; and does whatever he can to make sure it is fertile. How do we remove the rocks, thorns and weeds from our hearts? How can we make it fertile so that the Truth will grow in us?
Let me give you the short answer: Orthodoxy.
Some people wonder why we have all this stuff: all the icons, the iconostasis, the altar, the vestments, the rituals, the prayers, and the customs; why we cross ourselves, bow, and make prostrations; thank God in the morning and the evening and before and after each meal; why we fast on Wednesday and Friday, before Communion, and in preparation for major feasts; why we get our houses blessed; why we make such a big deal about Baptisms, first Confessions, and Marriages; why we follow customs like kissing the bishops hand and asking for his blessing; and why we are gathered here today to celebrate the Divine Liturgy. The deep theological answer to “why do you have all this stuff”? is that it flows naturally from the Incarnation of God as Jesus Christ, and that His Incarnation continues mysteriously in His Holy Orthodox Church. But the more immediate answer is that we have all this stuff because it is what keeps our heart’s fertile for the flourishing of Christ’s word within us. All this stuff prepares the soil, removes the stones, pulls the weeds, and allows the seed within us to yield a “hundredfold” as described in the parable.
Plenty of people want to know if all this stuff is really necessary. Our pews are not full, so I have to assume that most people are trying for an “easier way”; that they are going to make a go of it without all the stuff. I wish them good luck, but the parable today leads me to fear for their failure, to wonder if they are doing enough to allow for a full harvest.
Friends will tell you that they love God and see Him everywhere. They do not need Church to keep Christ’s word in their hearts. They experience God in other ways: in a walk through the park, time spent with friends, caring for the poor, tending their garden, or taking care of animals. They really do not need something as old fashioned as Church. It may not be Orthodox, but the seed is the same.
Others will tell you that they have found an easier way to worship, a way that is simpler, more modern, more entertaining, and far less demanding. That it may not have all the stuff of Orthodoxy, but that all that stuff isn’t necessary – the only thing you really need is to accept Christ into your heart. The rest is just a celebration of this decision, so why make it so hard? Why not make it more fun? No, it’s not Orthodoxy, but the seed is the same.
On the face of things, both arguments have merit: you can and should see God everywhere; every motion and encounter should be a sacrament that works to bring you into closer union with Him. It is also true that the most important thing is to accept Christ into your heart. But when you look at the alternatives to Orthodoxy using today’s parable, you understand how incomplete and how dangerous they are. God would not be warning us about the many ways the Word can leave our hearts if it were as easy as all that. It’s not easy. Nothing worthwhile is. We can pretend it is easy – like when we buy lots of cool stuff on credit – but eventually reality brings this fantasy to an end. The farmer can pretend that all it takes is to have really good seed, and that all he must do to gain a good crop is spread it everywhere; that he can just sleep in, take strolls through the park, and have fun while it grows on its own, then harvest it all in the Fall. Yes, he can pretend that it is easy to grow a nice crop… right up until harvest time.
The seed that God has given us good. It has the potential to change our lives. To grow us into perfection. But just having the good seed is not enough. The soil must be prepared. The garden must be tended. Orthodoxy is the practical wisdom and practice of spiritual gardening. It’s not always easy, and you may be tempted to take short-cuts and compromise your faith. But when you are tempted to do this, to ignore some of the “stuff” of Orthodoxy, think of the parable of the sower. Cross yourself and keep gardening.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of Holy Spirit. Amen.
http://www.stmichaeluoc.org/
http://www.orthoanalytika.og/
St. Luke 8: 5-15 (Gospel) “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trampled down, and the birds of the air devoured it. Some fell on rock; and as soon as it sprang up, it withered away because it lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it. But others fell on good ground, sprang up, and yielded a crop a hundredfold.” When He had said these things He cried, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” Then His disciples asked Him, saying, “What does this parable mean?” And He said, “To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is given in parables, that
‘ Seeing they may not see, / And hearing they may not understand.’
“Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity. But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.
---
Christ is giving us an amazing parable today, describing how different people respond to Christ. All of the people he describes hear the Good News and accept Christ into their hearts, but it only flourishes in one group of people: the ones whose hearts are “good ground”. Unlike the others, they “hear the word with a noble and good heart, keep it, and bear fruit with patience.”
We cannot live life in joy without God. We cannot truly enjoy our relationships with one another unless we ourselves and those relations are grounded in the Truth. This is the way to salvation, so it is vital that we understand what Christ is telling us. What is it about the last group that allows them to keep the word in their hearts, that protected it from the thievery of the evil one; that allowed the Truth to take root and grow in them; to avoid the temptations that would pull them into error and lies; that would insulate them from the hedonistic cares, riches, and pleasures of life that would render them barren; in short, how does one develop a “good and noble heart”?
To develop Christ’s parable a bit, what can we do to prepare the grounds of our hearts for the seed of His Word? A farmer prepares the ground for planting in a very careful and intentional way. He removes rocks and thorns and weeds; and does whatever he can to make sure it is fertile. How do we remove the rocks, thorns and weeds from our hearts? How can we make it fertile so that the Truth will grow in us?
Let me give you the short answer: Orthodoxy.
Some people wonder why we have all this stuff: all the icons, the iconostasis, the altar, the vestments, the rituals, the prayers, and the customs; why we cross ourselves, bow, and make prostrations; thank God in the morning and the evening and before and after each meal; why we fast on Wednesday and Friday, before Communion, and in preparation for major feasts; why we get our houses blessed; why we make such a big deal about Baptisms, first Confessions, and Marriages; why we follow customs like kissing the bishops hand and asking for his blessing; and why we are gathered here today to celebrate the Divine Liturgy. The deep theological answer to “why do you have all this stuff”? is that it flows naturally from the Incarnation of God as Jesus Christ, and that His Incarnation continues mysteriously in His Holy Orthodox Church. But the more immediate answer is that we have all this stuff because it is what keeps our heart’s fertile for the flourishing of Christ’s word within us. All this stuff prepares the soil, removes the stones, pulls the weeds, and allows the seed within us to yield a “hundredfold” as described in the parable.
Plenty of people want to know if all this stuff is really necessary. Our pews are not full, so I have to assume that most people are trying for an “easier way”; that they are going to make a go of it without all the stuff. I wish them good luck, but the parable today leads me to fear for their failure, to wonder if they are doing enough to allow for a full harvest.
Friends will tell you that they love God and see Him everywhere. They do not need Church to keep Christ’s word in their hearts. They experience God in other ways: in a walk through the park, time spent with friends, caring for the poor, tending their garden, or taking care of animals. They really do not need something as old fashioned as Church. It may not be Orthodox, but the seed is the same.
Others will tell you that they have found an easier way to worship, a way that is simpler, more modern, more entertaining, and far less demanding. That it may not have all the stuff of Orthodoxy, but that all that stuff isn’t necessary – the only thing you really need is to accept Christ into your heart. The rest is just a celebration of this decision, so why make it so hard? Why not make it more fun? No, it’s not Orthodoxy, but the seed is the same.
On the face of things, both arguments have merit: you can and should see God everywhere; every motion and encounter should be a sacrament that works to bring you into closer union with Him. It is also true that the most important thing is to accept Christ into your heart. But when you look at the alternatives to Orthodoxy using today’s parable, you understand how incomplete and how dangerous they are. God would not be warning us about the many ways the Word can leave our hearts if it were as easy as all that. It’s not easy. Nothing worthwhile is. We can pretend it is easy – like when we buy lots of cool stuff on credit – but eventually reality brings this fantasy to an end. The farmer can pretend that all it takes is to have really good seed, and that all he must do to gain a good crop is spread it everywhere; that he can just sleep in, take strolls through the park, and have fun while it grows on its own, then harvest it all in the Fall. Yes, he can pretend that it is easy to grow a nice crop… right up until harvest time.
The seed that God has given us good. It has the potential to change our lives. To grow us into perfection. But just having the good seed is not enough. The soil must be prepared. The garden must be tended. Orthodoxy is the practical wisdom and practice of spiritual gardening. It’s not always easy, and you may be tempted to take short-cuts and compromise your faith. But when you are tempted to do this, to ignore some of the “stuff” of Orthodoxy, think of the parable of the sower. Cross yourself and keep gardening.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of Holy Spirit. Amen.
Monday, October 20, 2008
20081019 Restoring Our Sense of Touch
20081019 Restoring Our Sense of Touch
www.stmichaeluoc.org
www.orthoanalytika.org
2 Corinthians 9: 6-11
St. Luke 17: 11-19
What is it that your heart desires? What is it that you long for? Or, to put it a different way, what is it that you fear; the one thing that you worry about so much that it keeps you from enjoying the manifold blessings we call life?
With the huge government bailouts and a looming depression, our first inclination towards answering these questions may have to do with financial security. In recent polling, most Americans listed economic problems (to include employment and heating costs) as their greatest concern. A reported increase in stress and decrease in levels of happiness seems to be correlated with increased economic woes. It seems obvious that our hearts desire security and prosperity, and that we fear not being able to make ends meet.
God is our loving Father. He does not want us to suffer from stress and uncertainty. Look at one of the most obvious expressions of that love: God took on flesh. He was incarnate among us; lived among us. Some people knock the Church and stay away from her services claiming that they do not offer real solutions to real problems. They are deceiving themselves and refusing the very help they need. God’s help is immediate. It is real. And it is imminently practical. Today’s lessons are great examples.
Let us look at the Epistle reading. Are you one of those people whose financial problems keep you up at night? Is money what keeps you from enjoying life? Is it what poisons your mind so that you know only stress and hopelessness? St. Paul has an answer for you: give cheerfully. [In tough economic times, this may seem like an oxymoron: giving and cheerfulness do not seem to fit together at all: but our faith is full of such seeming contradictions. For example the cross of crucifixion; a sign of torture and agony, becomes a joyous sign of victory over sin and death.]
St. Paul writes; “he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully”. Some Christian pastors have perverted this into the “prosperity gospel”, claiming that if you give money to the church, then God will give you even more money back. This is heresy. Our Church is the Church of the martyrs, not of billionaires. St. Paul is teaching something far more fundamental than this: he is teaching us how to attain joy even in difficult times. Even in the midst of poverty. Giving of yourself and of your money changes everything. It empowers you, reminding you that you were put here for more than groceries and heating bills; and in so doing, it puts all these necessities into perspective. How can you be happy if making rent is your highest monthly priority?
God knows that we have to pay our bills. If you are interested in the nuts and bolts of Christian budgeting, there are plenty of good resources out there [Dave Ramsey is my personal favorite, and we at St. Michael’s will cover the basics of fiscal responsibility in our adult education classes later this Fall]. But unless you change your attitude towards money, then fixing your budget is like straightening the deck chairs on the Titanic. Cheerful giving and making charity a priority in your life redirects the ship towards safer waters.
Another, related, piece of practical advice contained in today’s epistle has to do with gratitude. You cannot be a cheerful giver if you are not grateful for the things you have. If you horde over your possessions like a miser, then you cannot enjoy them or anything else. When misers give to charity, they do so reluctantly, grudgingly. For the miser, things like parish dues and tips for service become obligations; the giving of which sucks even more happiness out of their souls because they drain money that might be put towards things that are deemed more essential. Do you see how this poison works? How it commodifies and perverts our transactions with others and leads us into greater stress and depression?
Gratitude is a strong anecdote. Teach yourself to be grateful for the things you have, and tipping a waitress and charitable giving become ways to express and share that gratitude. They actually increase happiness rather than draining it. Do not think of these things as bills to be paid for services rendered: you should not give to the Church in return for sacraments, good singing, or useful programs; nor should you give to your waiter simply for bringing you your food; or to the beggar on the street just to leave you alone. You give because things have been given to you. Because you are grateful. Give so that it can become who you are. Give because it reifies and restores your humanity, your relationship with others, and your relationship with God.
Today’s Gospel reaffirms this lesson. Christ the God-man heals ten lepers and sends them to the priest, but only one returns to thank Him. Let’s explore this for just a moment. Leprosy causes terrible suffering. First, it deadens the sense of touch. There is no feeling. No direct contact with the outside world. So all feeling turns inward, to the creeping malady there. Second, lepers are ostracized. According to Jewish law, lepers were complete outcasts, totally cut off from any kind of fellowship. They suffered and died separate from family; separate from community. This is a terrible combination. So when Christ healed these lepers, He did more than give them a new lease on life, He restored their sense of touch, gave them the potential to regain contact with the community, the potential to develop strong reciprocal relations with families and friends. They were no longer sentenced to a life focused on internal stress and misery, but could share their lives – their joys and concerns – in harmony with others. But would they? Perhaps their attitudes had been so poisoned by years of introspective worrying that they were no longer willing to connect with others at any more than the most superficial level. The lack of gratitude of the nine suggests this to be the case, at least with them. This is a great pity.
But one did came back! When God renewed the possibility of a full life for him, he jumped on the opportunity. He reached out of himself by showing his gratitude - and look at what that did for him: it truly restored his connections with humanity and with God Himself. He was more than thankful: through his gratitude he had become a cheerful giver; a positive force for joy and restoration.
There is no greater metaphor for the way we live our lives in this fallen world than leprosy. Our senses have become dead to the touch of others; we have turned inward, focusing on the many potential points of failure in our lives and in our budgets; we have cut ourselves off from the enjoyment of community. Our interactions with others have become obligations, things that drain us.
Earlier, I asked you what you feared. If you thought about money, I want you to look deeper. I believe that our stress over financial challenges is just a symptom of a much greater malady. This malady is the utter aloneness and desperation of life lived apart from the shared love of community (ecclesia) in one another through Christ. A malady that the world misdiagnosis and against which it offers only snake-oil and narcotics, the peddling of which has brought us nothing but financial ruin and even greater numbness. I believe that our greatest fear is to live and die alone, unloving and unloved.
The irony is that there is a real cure, and it is here. You are Christians. Through the Sacraments of His Church, Christ has healed your spiritual leprosy as surely as he did those lepers in Samaria and Galilee. You are free to join humanity, to feel love, to grow eternally in your enjoyment of fellowship and community. Or you can be like the nine who never came back and continue to live and die inside yourself.
What does your heart desire? You will find it in Christ. You will find it, feel it, enjoy it, and share it though your gratitude to Him and all that He has given you.
www.stmichaeluoc.org
www.orthoanalytika.org
2 Corinthians 9: 6-11
St. Luke 17: 11-19
What is it that your heart desires? What is it that you long for? Or, to put it a different way, what is it that you fear; the one thing that you worry about so much that it keeps you from enjoying the manifold blessings we call life?
With the huge government bailouts and a looming depression, our first inclination towards answering these questions may have to do with financial security. In recent polling, most Americans listed economic problems (to include employment and heating costs) as their greatest concern. A reported increase in stress and decrease in levels of happiness seems to be correlated with increased economic woes. It seems obvious that our hearts desire security and prosperity, and that we fear not being able to make ends meet.
God is our loving Father. He does not want us to suffer from stress and uncertainty. Look at one of the most obvious expressions of that love: God took on flesh. He was incarnate among us; lived among us. Some people knock the Church and stay away from her services claiming that they do not offer real solutions to real problems. They are deceiving themselves and refusing the very help they need. God’s help is immediate. It is real. And it is imminently practical. Today’s lessons are great examples.
Let us look at the Epistle reading. Are you one of those people whose financial problems keep you up at night? Is money what keeps you from enjoying life? Is it what poisons your mind so that you know only stress and hopelessness? St. Paul has an answer for you: give cheerfully. [In tough economic times, this may seem like an oxymoron: giving and cheerfulness do not seem to fit together at all: but our faith is full of such seeming contradictions. For example the cross of crucifixion; a sign of torture and agony, becomes a joyous sign of victory over sin and death.]
St. Paul writes; “he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully”. Some Christian pastors have perverted this into the “prosperity gospel”, claiming that if you give money to the church, then God will give you even more money back. This is heresy. Our Church is the Church of the martyrs, not of billionaires. St. Paul is teaching something far more fundamental than this: he is teaching us how to attain joy even in difficult times. Even in the midst of poverty. Giving of yourself and of your money changes everything. It empowers you, reminding you that you were put here for more than groceries and heating bills; and in so doing, it puts all these necessities into perspective. How can you be happy if making rent is your highest monthly priority?
God knows that we have to pay our bills. If you are interested in the nuts and bolts of Christian budgeting, there are plenty of good resources out there [Dave Ramsey is my personal favorite, and we at St. Michael’s will cover the basics of fiscal responsibility in our adult education classes later this Fall]. But unless you change your attitude towards money, then fixing your budget is like straightening the deck chairs on the Titanic. Cheerful giving and making charity a priority in your life redirects the ship towards safer waters.
Another, related, piece of practical advice contained in today’s epistle has to do with gratitude. You cannot be a cheerful giver if you are not grateful for the things you have. If you horde over your possessions like a miser, then you cannot enjoy them or anything else. When misers give to charity, they do so reluctantly, grudgingly. For the miser, things like parish dues and tips for service become obligations; the giving of which sucks even more happiness out of their souls because they drain money that might be put towards things that are deemed more essential. Do you see how this poison works? How it commodifies and perverts our transactions with others and leads us into greater stress and depression?
Gratitude is a strong anecdote. Teach yourself to be grateful for the things you have, and tipping a waitress and charitable giving become ways to express and share that gratitude. They actually increase happiness rather than draining it. Do not think of these things as bills to be paid for services rendered: you should not give to the Church in return for sacraments, good singing, or useful programs; nor should you give to your waiter simply for bringing you your food; or to the beggar on the street just to leave you alone. You give because things have been given to you. Because you are grateful. Give so that it can become who you are. Give because it reifies and restores your humanity, your relationship with others, and your relationship with God.
Today’s Gospel reaffirms this lesson. Christ the God-man heals ten lepers and sends them to the priest, but only one returns to thank Him. Let’s explore this for just a moment. Leprosy causes terrible suffering. First, it deadens the sense of touch. There is no feeling. No direct contact with the outside world. So all feeling turns inward, to the creeping malady there. Second, lepers are ostracized. According to Jewish law, lepers were complete outcasts, totally cut off from any kind of fellowship. They suffered and died separate from family; separate from community. This is a terrible combination. So when Christ healed these lepers, He did more than give them a new lease on life, He restored their sense of touch, gave them the potential to regain contact with the community, the potential to develop strong reciprocal relations with families and friends. They were no longer sentenced to a life focused on internal stress and misery, but could share their lives – their joys and concerns – in harmony with others. But would they? Perhaps their attitudes had been so poisoned by years of introspective worrying that they were no longer willing to connect with others at any more than the most superficial level. The lack of gratitude of the nine suggests this to be the case, at least with them. This is a great pity.
But one did came back! When God renewed the possibility of a full life for him, he jumped on the opportunity. He reached out of himself by showing his gratitude - and look at what that did for him: it truly restored his connections with humanity and with God Himself. He was more than thankful: through his gratitude he had become a cheerful giver; a positive force for joy and restoration.
There is no greater metaphor for the way we live our lives in this fallen world than leprosy. Our senses have become dead to the touch of others; we have turned inward, focusing on the many potential points of failure in our lives and in our budgets; we have cut ourselves off from the enjoyment of community. Our interactions with others have become obligations, things that drain us.
Earlier, I asked you what you feared. If you thought about money, I want you to look deeper. I believe that our stress over financial challenges is just a symptom of a much greater malady. This malady is the utter aloneness and desperation of life lived apart from the shared love of community (ecclesia) in one another through Christ. A malady that the world misdiagnosis and against which it offers only snake-oil and narcotics, the peddling of which has brought us nothing but financial ruin and even greater numbness. I believe that our greatest fear is to live and die alone, unloving and unloved.
The irony is that there is a real cure, and it is here. You are Christians. Through the Sacraments of His Church, Christ has healed your spiritual leprosy as surely as he did those lepers in Samaria and Galilee. You are free to join humanity, to feel love, to grow eternally in your enjoyment of fellowship and community. Or you can be like the nine who never came back and continue to live and die inside yourself.
What does your heart desire? You will find it in Christ. You will find it, feel it, enjoy it, and share it though your gratitude to Him and all that He has given you.
Monday, October 13, 2008
20081012 Our Great Counselor
20081012 Our Great Counselor
www.stmichaeluoc.org
www.orthoanalytika.org
Today, I would like to use the First Epistle of St. John to set the context for today’s lesson:
This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. (1 St. John 1: 5-9)
God is Light: the purest perfection. The purest joy. The purest love. The purest beauty. The purest peace. He desires that we join Him in that light. That we become pure joy, pure love, pure beauty, and pure peace. That we transcend the sin and darkness of this broken world to live now and eternally in abundant and rational bliss.
Is this something that you think you might enjoy? Wouldn’t you prefer a life of peace to one where you are beset by worries; a life of purest joy to one where your happiness is dependent on the stock market, the size of your paycheck, or the vicissitudes of bodily health? Wouldn’t you enjoy a life of shared love, fellowship, and communion with others who walk only in beauty and joy and who desire only the best for you? Isn’t that kind of success better than anything the world offers?And I say to you as God says to you: this goal is within your reach. The path is before you. It will take you to your heart’s deepest desire. Will you take it?
I have benefitted from the advice of many counselors. In my junior year of college, I realized that I liked studying political science and thought I might like to go to graduate school. So I went to the graduate school admissions counselor to find out how to get there. He pulled out my transcript and immediately put a wall between me and my new dream, saying; “you don’t have the grades to get into graduate school; I just don’t think you would do well. There are plenty of other things I am sure you are good at. Graduate school is not for everyone.” You see, I had not applied myself during my first two years of college. I made some really bad grade, and would have had more if I had not dropped several classes before their grades stuck. I did well at the classes I liked, but lacked the discipline to work at the ones I didn’t. But that had been two or three years before. Since then, my time in the army had taught me the value of hard work, perseverance, and self-discipline. During a year at the army’s language school, a year in which we lost 50% of my class, I learned how to learn. I knew that I had the skills to succeed at graduate school. Rather than giving up, I asked; “what would it take for me to get into graduate school?” To his credit, he gave me a target:; “a 4.0 from here on out, and a really good score on your GRE”. I smiled, thanked him, shook his hand, and left. I am sure he thought he would never see me again. But I followed the plan he set out for me and, despite working two to three jobs and taking extra classes, I hit the target [of course, Pani Tina played a big role in this; we were married between my junior and senior year]. Unfortunately, while I was able get into graduate school, I still haven’t figured out how to get out. One day I’ll get around to defending a dissertation :-)
As you know, there are all kinds of counselors willing to give us advice about how to improve aspects of our lives: career counselors can help us get better jobs; financial counselors can help us save for retirement; credit counselors can help us get and stay out of debt; marriage counselors can help us gain greater fulfillment from our marriages. But the value of advice even the best of these can give pales next to that given to us by God. Those other counselors can help you be more productive in your life; but Our Great Counselor can give you a reason to live.
The counselor told me that graduate school was not for everyone. Those who did not enjoy reading, writing, and working hard would only be hurt by the experience. St. John tells us that God is light; and that if we have sin or darkness in us that we cannot be with Him. So how do we become creatures of the light? What is the path that leads to the only goal worth achieving?
Glory to God that He has made the way straight. In today’s scripture lessons He tells us what we must do.
1. The first lesson come from the epistle reading: St. Paul teaches us that if we want to be true “sons and daughters” of God; then we have to separate ourselves from all the things that defile us. He uses the metaphor of the temple. We are to be temples of the Living God. Our church is a temple. We would never bring or do anything in here that was not holy, that did not reflect God, that did not help us move closer to Him. All of our icons, literature, banners, candles; everything is specifically and intentionally put here for our edification and God’s glory. We are to do the same with our lives; intentionally surrounding ourselves with things that are holy and removing and avoiding those things that defile us. As St. John says, God gave us the sacraments to cleanse our hearts; but don’t stop there. Intentionally order your life in purity. Purify your time through morning and evening prayer. Purify your house by removing temptations and putting up icons. We are in the midst of a financial crisis: purify your budget by removing those things that distract you from the Truth. All these things will allow us to “perfect holiness in the fear of God.
2. The second lesson comes from the Gospel reading: Christ Himself tells us that must “love [our] enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return.” It is not enough for us to love those who might love us back; or give to those who might reciprocate; or welcome those who might join; or console those who might console us. We must do these things despite the expected return. When we say that “God is Love” we mean that it comes out of Him like light from the sun. The sun does not give light because we want to see, or even because it wants light back. It gives light because that is what it does. This is how we are to live. We are to be love. We are to radiate Christ to everyone and everything.
In summary, God desires us to live in perfect joy, to become partakers of eternal goodness. He has given us the straight path of His Son so that we might attain this goal. Order your life around Him and become like Him. This is our calling; our life’s work. It is also our blessed assurance, our peace, and our joy.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
www.stmichaeluoc.org
www.orthoanalytika.org
Today, I would like to use the First Epistle of St. John to set the context for today’s lesson:
This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. (1 St. John 1: 5-9)
God is Light: the purest perfection. The purest joy. The purest love. The purest beauty. The purest peace. He desires that we join Him in that light. That we become pure joy, pure love, pure beauty, and pure peace. That we transcend the sin and darkness of this broken world to live now and eternally in abundant and rational bliss.
Is this something that you think you might enjoy? Wouldn’t you prefer a life of peace to one where you are beset by worries; a life of purest joy to one where your happiness is dependent on the stock market, the size of your paycheck, or the vicissitudes of bodily health? Wouldn’t you enjoy a life of shared love, fellowship, and communion with others who walk only in beauty and joy and who desire only the best for you? Isn’t that kind of success better than anything the world offers?And I say to you as God says to you: this goal is within your reach. The path is before you. It will take you to your heart’s deepest desire. Will you take it?
I have benefitted from the advice of many counselors. In my junior year of college, I realized that I liked studying political science and thought I might like to go to graduate school. So I went to the graduate school admissions counselor to find out how to get there. He pulled out my transcript and immediately put a wall between me and my new dream, saying; “you don’t have the grades to get into graduate school; I just don’t think you would do well. There are plenty of other things I am sure you are good at. Graduate school is not for everyone.” You see, I had not applied myself during my first two years of college. I made some really bad grade, and would have had more if I had not dropped several classes before their grades stuck. I did well at the classes I liked, but lacked the discipline to work at the ones I didn’t. But that had been two or three years before. Since then, my time in the army had taught me the value of hard work, perseverance, and self-discipline. During a year at the army’s language school, a year in which we lost 50% of my class, I learned how to learn. I knew that I had the skills to succeed at graduate school. Rather than giving up, I asked; “what would it take for me to get into graduate school?” To his credit, he gave me a target:; “a 4.0 from here on out, and a really good score on your GRE”. I smiled, thanked him, shook his hand, and left. I am sure he thought he would never see me again. But I followed the plan he set out for me and, despite working two to three jobs and taking extra classes, I hit the target [of course, Pani Tina played a big role in this; we were married between my junior and senior year]. Unfortunately, while I was able get into graduate school, I still haven’t figured out how to get out. One day I’ll get around to defending a dissertation :-)
As you know, there are all kinds of counselors willing to give us advice about how to improve aspects of our lives: career counselors can help us get better jobs; financial counselors can help us save for retirement; credit counselors can help us get and stay out of debt; marriage counselors can help us gain greater fulfillment from our marriages. But the value of advice even the best of these can give pales next to that given to us by God. Those other counselors can help you be more productive in your life; but Our Great Counselor can give you a reason to live.
The counselor told me that graduate school was not for everyone. Those who did not enjoy reading, writing, and working hard would only be hurt by the experience. St. John tells us that God is light; and that if we have sin or darkness in us that we cannot be with Him. So how do we become creatures of the light? What is the path that leads to the only goal worth achieving?
Glory to God that He has made the way straight. In today’s scripture lessons He tells us what we must do.
1. The first lesson come from the epistle reading: St. Paul teaches us that if we want to be true “sons and daughters” of God; then we have to separate ourselves from all the things that defile us. He uses the metaphor of the temple. We are to be temples of the Living God. Our church is a temple. We would never bring or do anything in here that was not holy, that did not reflect God, that did not help us move closer to Him. All of our icons, literature, banners, candles; everything is specifically and intentionally put here for our edification and God’s glory. We are to do the same with our lives; intentionally surrounding ourselves with things that are holy and removing and avoiding those things that defile us. As St. John says, God gave us the sacraments to cleanse our hearts; but don’t stop there. Intentionally order your life in purity. Purify your time through morning and evening prayer. Purify your house by removing temptations and putting up icons. We are in the midst of a financial crisis: purify your budget by removing those things that distract you from the Truth. All these things will allow us to “perfect holiness in the fear of God.
2. The second lesson comes from the Gospel reading: Christ Himself tells us that must “love [our] enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return.” It is not enough for us to love those who might love us back; or give to those who might reciprocate; or welcome those who might join; or console those who might console us. We must do these things despite the expected return. When we say that “God is Love” we mean that it comes out of Him like light from the sun. The sun does not give light because we want to see, or even because it wants light back. It gives light because that is what it does. This is how we are to live. We are to be love. We are to radiate Christ to everyone and everything.
In summary, God desires us to live in perfect joy, to become partakers of eternal goodness. He has given us the straight path of His Son so that we might attain this goal. Order your life around Him and become like Him. This is our calling; our life’s work. It is also our blessed assurance, our peace, and our joy.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
20081005 Now is the Time!
20081005 Now is the Time!
www.stmichaeluoc.org
www.orthoanalytika.org
2 Corinthians 6:1-10
St. Matthew 25:14-30
In these financial times, when people have taken our economy to the brink of destruction with bad loans and risky investments, it might be tempting to sympathize with the servant who buried his talent. But this is not a story about going into debt (which scripture routinely criticizes as unhealthy and dangerous), or about about taking on risk in an attempt to satisfy hedonistic desires for riches or property; or even about mortgaging the future to satisfy illicit desires now. This is a story about taking stock of what we have, rolling up our sleeves, and getting to work.
What have we done with the gifts God has given us? Have we used them for His glory, or have we been too afraid to do His work? Have we been so timid in our service to Him that we hid the gifts He gave us? Are we “good and faithful servant[s]”, or a “wicked and lazy” ones?
For there is no doubt that we are God’s servants: all that we have is given on loan to us as His stewards. In this sense, He gives us gifts as a farmer might give his tenants land and seed: so that they might use them to gain Him a great crop. To some He has given more than others; as He says in this parable, He gives “according to [their] own ability.” He does not expect a farmer who only has the strength to till and maintain one acre to farm ten; nor does he expect the weaker farmer with the smaller field to return as large a yield as the stronger farmer to whom he leased a larger field. Notice that God rewarded both the servant who returned five more talents and the servant who returned two more, calling them both “good and faithful servant[s]”, making them both “ruler[s] over many things”, and granting them both to “enter into the joy of your lord.” The problem with the servant who received one talent was not his ability, but his refusal to roll up his sleeves and get to work.
The Gospel tells us that the man refused to roll up his sleeves and get to work because “he was scared”. Specifically, it seems as though he was scared of failure. He was scared of failure, so he became lazy. Rather than confronting his fears, he did nothing. He did nothing, and as a result he was cast into “outer darkness”.
Being scared is not a sin. But anyone who has studied our catechism knows that laziness is. God can help you overcome fear; first and foremost by offering forgiveness as soon as we confess our shortcomings. You have to realize that God does not care about the talents, or the crops, or the obvious results of the work we do for Him: He is our great Father and Teacher, desiring only our growth and progression towards perfection and bliss. It is the work we do for Him more than the tangible results they produce [and that we then offer] that perfect us. What do we have that God really needs? All He wants is our perfection; and in order to grow us into perfection, He demands that we work. And He demands that we get to work right now.
Quoting and paraphrasing the prophecy of Isaiah, St. Paul tells us that “Now is the accepted time… now is the day of salvation”. There are things that we need to do, and now is the time to do them. Some of the things we are asked to do will put us outside our comfort zone; we might not like doing them. They might be hard. We might rather be doing something else. But let me share two pieces of advice my saintly grandmother gave me when I defended my [mile-wide] lazy streak: “everything worth having is worth working for” and the less philosophical; “they don’t call it work for nothing.” Work may be hard, it might move us out of our comfort zone, but look at the rewards God offers!
I agree with St. Paul: the time is now, this is the day of our salvation. Right now we are in the middle of the Divine Liturgy. [Some of you might rather be doing something else. We have many empty pews, and some are empty because some actually decided to do something else.] Liturgy means the “work of the people”. The “work of the people”. This is the Divine Liturgy. This makes it the most important of all the work we do. This may obvious for me as a priest [after all, this is what I am called and paid to do], but it is no less true for all of you.
So how are we doing at this Divine Liturgy? How are we doing at Our Holy Work? In what ways is it pulling us outside of our comfort zone, and how are we responding? This work demands our full attention – are we giving it our full attention, or is that too hard for us? Are we too lazy? I know that my mind is tempted to wander, but even more than in the secular world, my job here is not to daydream, but to serve attentively. Perhaps we are distracted by children or tempted to judge those around us; we may even be harboring hatred for past wrongs done to us or someone we love. These are real temptations, but they are no excuse: our Master told us to “suffer the little children”, never judge another, and to love everyone – even our enemies. This Liturgy, this encounter with Perfection, sanctifies us, but it takes effort. It takes work. It may not be easy for us. Unless we are already perfect, it probably should move us outside of our comfort zone.
Listen again, to how St. Paul puts it, as he describes the proper attitude towards doing this work:
This work of being a Christian can be hard, but look at the reward. In just a few minutes Christ will offer Himself to you; His Body and Blood for your salvation and eternal life. The time of salvation is now: Enter now into the Joy of Your Master.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
FWIW, this homily was matched with the following in the "Q&A section of our weekly bulletin:
Question: I know someone that has been away from the church for years, but wants to come back. What is the procedure?
Answer: Invite them to come home! In accordance with the Gospel (e.g. St. Matthew 20: 13-16 & St. Luke 15: 31-32), we welcome them with open arms: they are immediately restored to full communion through the Sacraments of Repentance and Communion (if penance is required, then that is largely a private matter). Again in accordance with God’s instructions (e.g. St. Matthew 18: 4-6), we should put nothing (to include grudges and hard-heartedness) between Christ and His children. The “devil” is only “in the details” if we put him there. It is my opinion that if we truly reached out to folks that have been away for whatever reason, not only would our pews be full: we would be one step closer to living the kind of life that Christ requires of those who bear His name. We always greet everyone who comes in our doors with love and compassion (e.g. St. Matthew 5: 43-48). This is how we grow (as persons and as a church).
www.stmichaeluoc.org
www.orthoanalytika.org
2 Corinthians 6:1-10
St. Matthew 25:14-30
In these financial times, when people have taken our economy to the brink of destruction with bad loans and risky investments, it might be tempting to sympathize with the servant who buried his talent. But this is not a story about going into debt (which scripture routinely criticizes as unhealthy and dangerous), or about about taking on risk in an attempt to satisfy hedonistic desires for riches or property; or even about mortgaging the future to satisfy illicit desires now. This is a story about taking stock of what we have, rolling up our sleeves, and getting to work.
What have we done with the gifts God has given us? Have we used them for His glory, or have we been too afraid to do His work? Have we been so timid in our service to Him that we hid the gifts He gave us? Are we “good and faithful servant[s]”, or a “wicked and lazy” ones?
For there is no doubt that we are God’s servants: all that we have is given on loan to us as His stewards. In this sense, He gives us gifts as a farmer might give his tenants land and seed: so that they might use them to gain Him a great crop. To some He has given more than others; as He says in this parable, He gives “according to [their] own ability.” He does not expect a farmer who only has the strength to till and maintain one acre to farm ten; nor does he expect the weaker farmer with the smaller field to return as large a yield as the stronger farmer to whom he leased a larger field. Notice that God rewarded both the servant who returned five more talents and the servant who returned two more, calling them both “good and faithful servant[s]”, making them both “ruler[s] over many things”, and granting them both to “enter into the joy of your lord.” The problem with the servant who received one talent was not his ability, but his refusal to roll up his sleeves and get to work.
The Gospel tells us that the man refused to roll up his sleeves and get to work because “he was scared”. Specifically, it seems as though he was scared of failure. He was scared of failure, so he became lazy. Rather than confronting his fears, he did nothing. He did nothing, and as a result he was cast into “outer darkness”.
Being scared is not a sin. But anyone who has studied our catechism knows that laziness is. God can help you overcome fear; first and foremost by offering forgiveness as soon as we confess our shortcomings. You have to realize that God does not care about the talents, or the crops, or the obvious results of the work we do for Him: He is our great Father and Teacher, desiring only our growth and progression towards perfection and bliss. It is the work we do for Him more than the tangible results they produce [and that we then offer] that perfect us. What do we have that God really needs? All He wants is our perfection; and in order to grow us into perfection, He demands that we work. And He demands that we get to work right now.
Quoting and paraphrasing the prophecy of Isaiah, St. Paul tells us that “Now is the accepted time… now is the day of salvation”. There are things that we need to do, and now is the time to do them. Some of the things we are asked to do will put us outside our comfort zone; we might not like doing them. They might be hard. We might rather be doing something else. But let me share two pieces of advice my saintly grandmother gave me when I defended my [mile-wide] lazy streak: “everything worth having is worth working for” and the less philosophical; “they don’t call it work for nothing.” Work may be hard, it might move us out of our comfort zone, but look at the rewards God offers!
I agree with St. Paul: the time is now, this is the day of our salvation. Right now we are in the middle of the Divine Liturgy. [Some of you might rather be doing something else. We have many empty pews, and some are empty because some actually decided to do something else.] Liturgy means the “work of the people”. The “work of the people”. This is the Divine Liturgy. This makes it the most important of all the work we do. This may obvious for me as a priest [after all, this is what I am called and paid to do], but it is no less true for all of you.
So how are we doing at this Divine Liturgy? How are we doing at Our Holy Work? In what ways is it pulling us outside of our comfort zone, and how are we responding? This work demands our full attention – are we giving it our full attention, or is that too hard for us? Are we too lazy? I know that my mind is tempted to wander, but even more than in the secular world, my job here is not to daydream, but to serve attentively. Perhaps we are distracted by children or tempted to judge those around us; we may even be harboring hatred for past wrongs done to us or someone we love. These are real temptations, but they are no excuse: our Master told us to “suffer the little children”, never judge another, and to love everyone – even our enemies. This Liturgy, this encounter with Perfection, sanctifies us, but it takes effort. It takes work. It may not be easy for us. Unless we are already perfect, it probably should move us outside of our comfort zone.
Listen again, to how St. Paul puts it, as he describes the proper attitude towards doing this work:
- ...we commend ourselves as ministers of God: in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in fastings; by purity, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by sincere love, by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold we live; as chastened, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things. (2 Corinthians 6:3-10)
This work of being a Christian can be hard, but look at the reward. In just a few minutes Christ will offer Himself to you; His Body and Blood for your salvation and eternal life. The time of salvation is now: Enter now into the Joy of Your Master.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
FWIW, this homily was matched with the following in the "Q&A section of our weekly bulletin:
Question: I know someone that has been away from the church for years, but wants to come back. What is the procedure?
Answer: Invite them to come home! In accordance with the Gospel (e.g. St. Matthew 20: 13-16 & St. Luke 15: 31-32), we welcome them with open arms: they are immediately restored to full communion through the Sacraments of Repentance and Communion (if penance is required, then that is largely a private matter). Again in accordance with God’s instructions (e.g. St. Matthew 18: 4-6), we should put nothing (to include grudges and hard-heartedness) between Christ and His children. The “devil” is only “in the details” if we put him there. It is my opinion that if we truly reached out to folks that have been away for whatever reason, not only would our pews be full: we would be one step closer to living the kind of life that Christ requires of those who bear His name. We always greet everyone who comes in our doors with love and compassion (e.g. St. Matthew 5: 43-48). This is how we grow (as persons and as a church).
Monday, September 29, 2008
20080928 Jars of Clay
20080928 Jars of Clay
www.stmichaeluoc.org
www.orthoanalytika.org
2 Corinthians 4: 6-15
St. Matthew 22: 35-46
This is a difficult world. There are so many of us who are sick. There are so many of us that are hurting. Not just sick and hurting from physical ailments and pain, but also mentally and spiritually. We are a wounded people. And among almost all of us, there is the mistaken belief that we should bear our pain in secret. While there is a time and a place for stoicism, this is not it. Despite what the world teaches us.
You see, modern psychology has it exactly backwards. It teaches that you take care of the necessities first (health, food, clothing, shelter), then move on towards things like self-actualization later. But Christianity turns this hierarchy of Maslow on its head: we are to seek perfection and salvation through Christ first, trusting that He will take care of our other needs in turn. We do not wait to dedicate ourselves to Christ and His Church until everything else is taken care of: we seek Him first so that everything else is ordered around Him. So that everything else is established on a firm foundation. We do not wait until our pain is gone, until we are healed of all our ills, until we are perfect and have “everything together” to come to Church. We should never, ever, suffer alone, apart from Christ and the Church.
St. Paul teaches us the right way to approach our suffering in his epistle lesson today, and today we will go through this epistle in order to understand this teaching. St. Paul calls us “earthen vessels” to remind us of the frailty of our bodies; and to tell us that despite this frailty we can endure. We can endure because it is God Himself, the one who “commanded light to shine out of the darkness” [who created the world from nothing] has come into our hearts through the mercy of Jesus Christ. It is thanks to what fills us that we can endure.
“We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed.”
St. Paul is referring to the Roman practice of putting criminals under slabs of granite, adding weight until they were crushed beneath them. Have you felt this way? Of course you have. All of us have. I dare say that most of us probably do right now. We use the word “stressful” to describe modern life, and it fits with this metaphor. St. John Chrysostom says that these “sides” that press in on us are “concerning our foes, our friends, necessities, other needs, from them that are hostile and of our own household”. The responsibilities of this world – and our inability to address them all properly – seek to crush us. Despite this and the frailties of our fallen bodies and minds, we can endure.
“We are perplexed, but not in despair.”
St. Paul wrote this referring to the impossibility of getting every calculation right. He wrote this two-thousand years ago – how much more is it true now! The array of choices before us is bewildering, and often the consequences of failure seem so catastrophic as to be downright paralyzing. And none of us have gone through this computational gauntlet unscathed: everyone has miscalculated and suffered as a result. Worse yet, we have all caused others – people we love dearly - to suffer as a result of our own miscalculations. Such mistakes and the fear of making more can build over time, threatening to throw us into hopelessness; to suck the life and joy out of our world. Yet somehow we can endure.
“[We are] persecuted, but not forsaken. Struck down but not destroyed”.
A person is persecuted for going against the prevailing law; it cannot happen unless those who administer the law hate you or see you as an enemy. They see you as an enemy and they try to destroy you. And please do not doubt that the powers and principalities of this world work for your destruction. But the ultimate power, the authority greater than those that rule this world, never turns against you. Never forsakes you. As long as we walk in it, this fallen world will strike us down. We fall so many times, both due to our weakness and the strength of those that oppress us. But we need not be destroyed. Somehow, we can endure.
This flesh and blood, this earthen vessel, is so fragile, so weak, but it need not break. It need not break because it is “always carrying about ... the dying of the Lord Jesus.” God does not will us to suffer- it is the evil we ourselves have planted here that does that – but God will (through the Christ we bear within us) preserve and strengthen us through our suffering.
To summarize St. Paul’s lesson, we are able to endure and thrive through suffering because Christ makes us more than the easily shattered jars of clay that we inhabit.
But there is something more; another way that Christ works through us in our suffering. We are made to live in community. Just as our miscalculations harm those around us, so too do the things we do right bless and strengthen those around us. I am not talking about making the right investments, keeping a sound budget or portfolio, or being attentive to the needs of our family. This is something more profound and more difficult for many to understand. St. Paul teaches us that we persevere despite our human frailty “so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh”. Christ endured suffering not for Himself, but so that we might endure through Him. And when we persevere, it is obvious to all that we do it in Christ; through Christ. We become victors that inspire others toward victory themselves.
I say that this is difficult for many to understand because endurance and perseverance are not always pretty. They do not always look like victory to the world. It, in its fallenness, thinks suffering to be humiliating; something shameful to be hidden. Worse yet, it teaches us to think this way. We hide our suffering in our hearts, in our veiled expressions, in our closed mouths, behind our closed doors. We do not think it proper to share our pain, to let others see our weakness. This is the culture we must break. And we must break it for at least two reasons.
First, the Church is not just for those who are well. It is the hospital and Christ is the Great Physician. You do not go to the hospital when you are well, but when you are ill. We should not wait until we have healed from the pain of broken relationships [or whatever else] to come back to Church, we come immediately and constantly so that Christ can hasten our healing. Remember that God ate with lepers, healed them, and brought them salvation. He wants to do the same with you. Do not hide your pain from Him and His Church.
Second, we suffer together so that the Love of Christ might grow among us. As a priest, I am occasionally allowed to see things that few others do, so let me share a short testimony. Part of my calling is to visit the sick, and especially those whose bodies have all but failed them. This is a very difficult time for everyone. To many it seems as though the sick have been robbed of all dignity; that they have been “brought low”; that, perhaps, it would be better for it all to have ended long ago. I sympathize with this sentiment – no one desires to see anyone suffer, much less those whom they love. It is difficult, but I always come away from such encounters moved. The tears they bring are not just of sorrow for the pain and loss; but due to the love the encounter has grown in my heart – for Christ is so strongly manifested in our mortal flesh. When we suffer alone, we keep this witness hidden, like a light beneath a bushel.
In conclusion, we suffer together because we are Christ. When we see the cross, we do not just see the suffering, but straight through it into the Resurrection. We are strengthened in suffering, knowing that “He who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up.” As St. Paul ends today’s lesson, we suffer together because “all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.”
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
www.stmichaeluoc.org
www.orthoanalytika.org
2 Corinthians 4: 6-15
St. Matthew 22: 35-46
This is a difficult world. There are so many of us who are sick. There are so many of us that are hurting. Not just sick and hurting from physical ailments and pain, but also mentally and spiritually. We are a wounded people. And among almost all of us, there is the mistaken belief that we should bear our pain in secret. While there is a time and a place for stoicism, this is not it. Despite what the world teaches us.
You see, modern psychology has it exactly backwards. It teaches that you take care of the necessities first (health, food, clothing, shelter), then move on towards things like self-actualization later. But Christianity turns this hierarchy of Maslow on its head: we are to seek perfection and salvation through Christ first, trusting that He will take care of our other needs in turn. We do not wait to dedicate ourselves to Christ and His Church until everything else is taken care of: we seek Him first so that everything else is ordered around Him. So that everything else is established on a firm foundation. We do not wait until our pain is gone, until we are healed of all our ills, until we are perfect and have “everything together” to come to Church. We should never, ever, suffer alone, apart from Christ and the Church.
St. Paul teaches us the right way to approach our suffering in his epistle lesson today, and today we will go through this epistle in order to understand this teaching. St. Paul calls us “earthen vessels” to remind us of the frailty of our bodies; and to tell us that despite this frailty we can endure. We can endure because it is God Himself, the one who “commanded light to shine out of the darkness” [who created the world from nothing] has come into our hearts through the mercy of Jesus Christ. It is thanks to what fills us that we can endure.
“We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed.”
St. Paul is referring to the Roman practice of putting criminals under slabs of granite, adding weight until they were crushed beneath them. Have you felt this way? Of course you have. All of us have. I dare say that most of us probably do right now. We use the word “stressful” to describe modern life, and it fits with this metaphor. St. John Chrysostom says that these “sides” that press in on us are “concerning our foes, our friends, necessities, other needs, from them that are hostile and of our own household”. The responsibilities of this world – and our inability to address them all properly – seek to crush us. Despite this and the frailties of our fallen bodies and minds, we can endure.
“We are perplexed, but not in despair.”
St. Paul wrote this referring to the impossibility of getting every calculation right. He wrote this two-thousand years ago – how much more is it true now! The array of choices before us is bewildering, and often the consequences of failure seem so catastrophic as to be downright paralyzing. And none of us have gone through this computational gauntlet unscathed: everyone has miscalculated and suffered as a result. Worse yet, we have all caused others – people we love dearly - to suffer as a result of our own miscalculations. Such mistakes and the fear of making more can build over time, threatening to throw us into hopelessness; to suck the life and joy out of our world. Yet somehow we can endure.
“[We are] persecuted, but not forsaken. Struck down but not destroyed”.
A person is persecuted for going against the prevailing law; it cannot happen unless those who administer the law hate you or see you as an enemy. They see you as an enemy and they try to destroy you. And please do not doubt that the powers and principalities of this world work for your destruction. But the ultimate power, the authority greater than those that rule this world, never turns against you. Never forsakes you. As long as we walk in it, this fallen world will strike us down. We fall so many times, both due to our weakness and the strength of those that oppress us. But we need not be destroyed. Somehow, we can endure.
This flesh and blood, this earthen vessel, is so fragile, so weak, but it need not break. It need not break because it is “always carrying about ... the dying of the Lord Jesus.” God does not will us to suffer- it is the evil we ourselves have planted here that does that – but God will (through the Christ we bear within us) preserve and strengthen us through our suffering.
To summarize St. Paul’s lesson, we are able to endure and thrive through suffering because Christ makes us more than the easily shattered jars of clay that we inhabit.
But there is something more; another way that Christ works through us in our suffering. We are made to live in community. Just as our miscalculations harm those around us, so too do the things we do right bless and strengthen those around us. I am not talking about making the right investments, keeping a sound budget or portfolio, or being attentive to the needs of our family. This is something more profound and more difficult for many to understand. St. Paul teaches us that we persevere despite our human frailty “so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh”. Christ endured suffering not for Himself, but so that we might endure through Him. And when we persevere, it is obvious to all that we do it in Christ; through Christ. We become victors that inspire others toward victory themselves.
I say that this is difficult for many to understand because endurance and perseverance are not always pretty. They do not always look like victory to the world. It, in its fallenness, thinks suffering to be humiliating; something shameful to be hidden. Worse yet, it teaches us to think this way. We hide our suffering in our hearts, in our veiled expressions, in our closed mouths, behind our closed doors. We do not think it proper to share our pain, to let others see our weakness. This is the culture we must break. And we must break it for at least two reasons.
First, the Church is not just for those who are well. It is the hospital and Christ is the Great Physician. You do not go to the hospital when you are well, but when you are ill. We should not wait until we have healed from the pain of broken relationships [or whatever else] to come back to Church, we come immediately and constantly so that Christ can hasten our healing. Remember that God ate with lepers, healed them, and brought them salvation. He wants to do the same with you. Do not hide your pain from Him and His Church.
Second, we suffer together so that the Love of Christ might grow among us. As a priest, I am occasionally allowed to see things that few others do, so let me share a short testimony. Part of my calling is to visit the sick, and especially those whose bodies have all but failed them. This is a very difficult time for everyone. To many it seems as though the sick have been robbed of all dignity; that they have been “brought low”; that, perhaps, it would be better for it all to have ended long ago. I sympathize with this sentiment – no one desires to see anyone suffer, much less those whom they love. It is difficult, but I always come away from such encounters moved. The tears they bring are not just of sorrow for the pain and loss; but due to the love the encounter has grown in my heart – for Christ is so strongly manifested in our mortal flesh. When we suffer alone, we keep this witness hidden, like a light beneath a bushel.
In conclusion, we suffer together because we are Christ. When we see the cross, we do not just see the suffering, but straight through it into the Resurrection. We are strengthened in suffering, knowing that “He who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up.” As St. Paul ends today’s lesson, we suffer together because “all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.”
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Monday, September 22, 2008
20080921 Humility and Offering
20080921 Humility and Offering: The Nativity of the Theotokos
www.stmichaeluoc.org
www.orthoanalytika.org
Philippians 2: 5-11
St. Luke 10: 38-42; 11: 27-28
Today we celebrate the feast of the Nativity (the birth) of Our Holy Lady, Mary. In the hymns for the feast, we sing that on this day the barrenness of Joachim and Anna has been removed. It is also the removal of barrenness from the world – the one who is born today is the gate through which Christ the Messiah, the salvation of the world, enters. This means that we are celebrating something much more than the birth of a great saint today: we are celebrating the Incarnation of Our Lord, Jesus Christ. For without the Incarnation of Christ, the birth of even this most blessed Lady would not adorn our calendar; nor, for that matter, would her icon adorn our walls.
To make this point, the iconography of the Church rarely depicts Our Lady separate from Her Son. [Notice above you: this, like this one on my right, has her holding Christ. Even the one over the altar has her bowing to Him.]. Nor is this is not an insult to Our Lady. No icon is EVER written without reference to Christ – for when we reverence any saint, we do not reverence them, but the Christ who is in them; who has purified them. So today’s celebrations of Our Lady’s birth is proclaimed not just as the joy of her parents or of the holy life the newborn child would eventually lead, but within the context of the God-Man, Jesus Christ, the salvation of the world, and the salvation of all who believe in Him.
In the birth of Mary, you have a juxtaposition of weakness and strength; the weakness of the elderly and heretofore barren Joachim and Anna, [and] the weakness of their newborn babe; with the strength of God and the inexorable tide of history leading through their small efforts to the grand climax of the world’s remaking. St. Paul reminds us today of another juxtaposition, when he says that “Christ Jesus, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.” The point St. Paul is making is that Jesus Christ was one with God the Father. He was God. All glory and honor were His natural due. But He did not cling to this; rather, He humbled Himself to also become man.
We have much to learn from this example. There is so little humility in the world today. Whereas God did not cling to the glory and honor that really were His due; we devote all of our energy clinging to things we do not even own. I do not just mean the culture of debt through which we are destroying ourselves and our economy; we cling greedily to everything that lies within our reach: our homes, our cars, our collections, our time, our reputations, our children, our pride. Do we not realize that none of these things are ours by right? That even the good things in our care are just ours “on loan”; given to us by God in our roles as His stewards? Only a thief clings so hard to things that are not really his.
Everything really was God’s; but as St. Paul goes on to say in today’s epistle; “He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” God gave up so much; as Father, He gave “His only begotten Son”; as Son, He gave up His own glory to become man, then suffered immeasurably on the cross. God is shown to be so humble, so loving, that He gave up everything up for us. But there is more: not only was God willing to give up all the good things that really were His, He accepted pain and punishment for crimes He did not even commit. The death He suffered on the Cross was not for things He did: it was for our sins – it was punishment for what we have done. What a tremendous example and offering of humility and love!
But what about us? Just as we cling to all those things that are in our possession only through providence; so, too, do we reject all the punishment that we really have earned! How rare it is to meet a person in today’s world who will step up and take responsibility for the mistakes he has made! Rather, we like to present ourselves as victims of someone else’s crime, or of some huge conspiracy against us. We have created entire institutions to shield us from the results of our folly. We have come to the point where we do not even recognize “sin” and “heresy” as meaningful concepts. And as far as we are from taking ownership of our own sin, we are so much farther from being willing to sacrifice ourselves for the sin and mistakes of others.
In our greediness, our irresponsibility, and our lack of love; we are so utterly unlike Christ. And this is tragic. We are greedy and avoid blame because we are proud: we want to be recognized as good and worthy. Having lots of things and avoiding blame are signs of success here in this world. But here is the irony: the path of Christ, the one that takes us through poverty and self-sacrifice, is the one that really leads to Glory; as St. Paul finishes today’s epistle reading; “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
As Christian’s here at St. Michael’s, we have forsaken the ways of the world; we cling not to our possessions or our pride, but to the Truth. We acknowledge our own sins and we help others work through the consequences of their own. And through this, we receive glory. Through this, in Christ, we are perfected. Through this we look to a life of abundant riches, not just now, but for all eternity.
www.stmichaeluoc.org
www.orthoanalytika.org
Philippians 2: 5-11
St. Luke 10: 38-42; 11: 27-28
Today we celebrate the feast of the Nativity (the birth) of Our Holy Lady, Mary. In the hymns for the feast, we sing that on this day the barrenness of Joachim and Anna has been removed. It is also the removal of barrenness from the world – the one who is born today is the gate through which Christ the Messiah, the salvation of the world, enters. This means that we are celebrating something much more than the birth of a great saint today: we are celebrating the Incarnation of Our Lord, Jesus Christ. For without the Incarnation of Christ, the birth of even this most blessed Lady would not adorn our calendar; nor, for that matter, would her icon adorn our walls.
To make this point, the iconography of the Church rarely depicts Our Lady separate from Her Son. [Notice above you: this, like this one on my right, has her holding Christ. Even the one over the altar has her bowing to Him.]. Nor is this is not an insult to Our Lady. No icon is EVER written without reference to Christ – for when we reverence any saint, we do not reverence them, but the Christ who is in them; who has purified them. So today’s celebrations of Our Lady’s birth is proclaimed not just as the joy of her parents or of the holy life the newborn child would eventually lead, but within the context of the God-Man, Jesus Christ, the salvation of the world, and the salvation of all who believe in Him.
In the birth of Mary, you have a juxtaposition of weakness and strength; the weakness of the elderly and heretofore barren Joachim and Anna, [and] the weakness of their newborn babe; with the strength of God and the inexorable tide of history leading through their small efforts to the grand climax of the world’s remaking. St. Paul reminds us today of another juxtaposition, when he says that “Christ Jesus, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.” The point St. Paul is making is that Jesus Christ was one with God the Father. He was God. All glory and honor were His natural due. But He did not cling to this; rather, He humbled Himself to also become man.
We have much to learn from this example. There is so little humility in the world today. Whereas God did not cling to the glory and honor that really were His due; we devote all of our energy clinging to things we do not even own. I do not just mean the culture of debt through which we are destroying ourselves and our economy; we cling greedily to everything that lies within our reach: our homes, our cars, our collections, our time, our reputations, our children, our pride. Do we not realize that none of these things are ours by right? That even the good things in our care are just ours “on loan”; given to us by God in our roles as His stewards? Only a thief clings so hard to things that are not really his.
Everything really was God’s; but as St. Paul goes on to say in today’s epistle; “He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” God gave up so much; as Father, He gave “His only begotten Son”; as Son, He gave up His own glory to become man, then suffered immeasurably on the cross. God is shown to be so humble, so loving, that He gave up everything up for us. But there is more: not only was God willing to give up all the good things that really were His, He accepted pain and punishment for crimes He did not even commit. The death He suffered on the Cross was not for things He did: it was for our sins – it was punishment for what we have done. What a tremendous example and offering of humility and love!
But what about us? Just as we cling to all those things that are in our possession only through providence; so, too, do we reject all the punishment that we really have earned! How rare it is to meet a person in today’s world who will step up and take responsibility for the mistakes he has made! Rather, we like to present ourselves as victims of someone else’s crime, or of some huge conspiracy against us. We have created entire institutions to shield us from the results of our folly. We have come to the point where we do not even recognize “sin” and “heresy” as meaningful concepts. And as far as we are from taking ownership of our own sin, we are so much farther from being willing to sacrifice ourselves for the sin and mistakes of others.
In our greediness, our irresponsibility, and our lack of love; we are so utterly unlike Christ. And this is tragic. We are greedy and avoid blame because we are proud: we want to be recognized as good and worthy. Having lots of things and avoiding blame are signs of success here in this world. But here is the irony: the path of Christ, the one that takes us through poverty and self-sacrifice, is the one that really leads to Glory; as St. Paul finishes today’s epistle reading; “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
As Christian’s here at St. Michael’s, we have forsaken the ways of the world; we cling not to our possessions or our pride, but to the Truth. We acknowledge our own sins and we help others work through the consequences of their own. And through this, we receive glory. Through this, in Christ, we are perfected. Through this we look to a life of abundant riches, not just now, but for all eternity.
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