the fact that people in darkness are acting out of that darkness or that the people who claim to have Light have been apathetic in the face of the darkness around them? Perhaps the greater judgment will be, not on the people around us who are acting out of a darkness that has made them blind, but rather on those of us who claim to see clearly and have done next to nothing to help those who cannot see.
Category: Faith
You Should Be at Matins (Orthros)
Sometime around 9 tomorrow morning a handful, just a handful, will be in Church. That’s a shame.
Busy with what a Sunday morning brings, much of which could have been handled on another day, it’s a mad rush to get things together and everyone packed in to the car. Many, maybe most, will find themselves skidding into the nave just seconds behind the beginning of Divine Liturgy and more than a few will try to sneak in the doors while the Priest’s back is turned during the Epistle.
So before you tell me about kids and stuff and getting everyone up in the morning please know that I’m not angry and I don’t have to judge. I’m just sorry you’re missing one of the best services of the Orthodox Church, a treasure right underneath your nose. A treasure which, for most Orthodox in this country, remains unclaimed.
Matins, Orthros, or morning prayer is a service that proceeds the Divine Liturgy. For the person outside the iconostasis there’s actually not much to do. You come in, take your place, and listen. There’s one procession to venerate the Gospel and in many parishes there is also time to make a good confession. For the most part its quiet an uneventful. Sit, stand, listen.
And that’s the beauty, the treasure of it. The world is busy, challenging, fragmented, and noisy. It’s nearly impossible for a person to come rushing in from that kind of world into the Divine Liturgy and, as the service asks us, “Lay aside all earthly cares.” The Orthodox Liturgy is not mindless, it requires thought, engagement, and time to instill the sacred in hearts that have been immersed in the world for most of the past week. There is no “microwave” version of this recipe and the Liturgy refuses to trade a quick sentimentality for lasting and deep transformation.
In Matins (Orthros) a person is given the gift of time. Time to be bathed in holy hymns, prayers, scripture, and most of all the presence of God. It’s a kind of decompression from everything outside the walls of the church, a time to slough off everything out there and prepare yourself to taste of heaven. This is crucial time, time of value to prepare yourself for the Divine Liturgy, time to reflect, confess, pray, get the noise out of your head, and be ready when the presence of the Kingdom is announced.
It takes, like many things in Orthodoxy, effort. You have to rearrange your schedule on Sunday morning to focus on the services of the Church. You’ll need to get the kids set up for Sunday on Saturday and make sure you don’t hit the snooze button either. Let Martha fuss over Sunday dinner, Mary has chosen the better part and so should you.
When you get there it might take some getting used to everything. We’re so used to constant noise and busy work that we’re often stunned, sometimes even traumatized, by holy peace. Give yourself time to adjust. Yet, when, over time you “get” it you’ll probably never want to go back. Because as the holy words, holy space, and holy Presence begin to find their way into your heart during the service of Matins you’ll understand why your fathers and mothers in the Faith took time to let the world fade away before they stepped into the light of the Kingdom of God.
I know, you’re busy, the whole world is busy. Yet no time in the presence of God is ever wasted, either now or in all the time to come. Come to Matins (Orthros) and begin to understand.
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It’s Not So Much…
the spiritual and moral breakdowns I see all around me that causes me to fear. More often than not I simply grieve for those people who are looking for something, accepting less than the best, and then suffering the consequences. We’re paying a steep price because we thought that by discarding the “rules” we would be free, and have, instead, often found ourselves in even greater slavery.
What gives me pause, though, is that one day at the darkest point of this breakdown, people will not choose to understand that the solution is the rebuilding of themselves as moral and spiritual beings but will rather opt for the easy answer of a dictator, someone who promise them simple answers, scapegoats for their problems, and takes away freedom in the guise of providing security and predictability.
That truly frightens me.
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Indeed…
From the spiritual diary of St. John of Kronstadt, “My Life in Christ”
What do I need? There is nothing on earth that I need, except that which is most essential. What do I need, what is most essential? I need the Lord, I need His grace, His kingdom within me. On earth, which is the place of my wanderings, my temporary being, there is nothing that is truly mine, everything belongs to God and is temporal, everything serves my needs temporarily. What do I need? I need true and active Christian love; I need a loving heart which takes compassion on its neighbors; I need joy over their prosperity and well-being, and sorrow over their sorrows and illnesses, their sins, failings, disorders, woes, poverty; I need warm and sincere compassion for all the circumstances of their lives, joy for those who are joyous and tears for those who are in tears. Enough of selfishness, egoism, living only for oneself and acquiring everything only for oneself: riches, pleasures, the glory of this world; enough of spiritual dying instead of living, grieving instead of rejoicing, and carrying within oneself the poison of selfishness, for selfishness is a poison that is continuously poured into our hearts by Satan. O, let me cry out with King David: Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire besides Thee. My flesh and my heart fail, but God is the strength of my heart. Grant me, O Lord, true life, dispel the darkness of my passions, disperse their power with Thy strength, for with Thee all things are possible
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The Whole World…
lies naked before God. In His eyes there are no deceptions possible, no lies that cannot be discovered, no secrets left hidden, no motives exposed. All is truth, the actual truth, clear as the purest water and without nuance or distortion. We may deceive others. We may deceive ourselves. God is not deceived and sees all of us as we really are, with greater clarity than we will ever see ourselves.
So every bit of our darkness is present to God. Everything we’d rather die than reveal about ourselves is in broad daylight in God’s view. The thoughts we would never tell anyone are as bright as morning in the presence of the One who lives without shadows. I, we, you are infinitely exposed in heaven even if we are expert in presenting carefully crafted images on earth.
Yet, we are loved. Deeply, profoundly, truly, and really, in ways beyond our imagination by the very One who knows more about us than we know of ourselves. If my closest acquaintances knew every nook and cranny of my soul, my thoughts, my temptations, my closeted pains, and every hidden thing I’m not sure they would be my friends. The darkness, the darkness I struggle against, could easily overwhelm them. Still, God, aware of it all, loves, you, me, the world, and every living soul. Not just superficially, but with a depth that human intellect will never fully grasp.
All that I can offer in return is my awe, my surrender, and my life.
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I Suppose You Like to Play Russian Roulette…
she said as she walked by.
I knew what she meant. She was talking about what others had talked about as well. Going to Africa, 20 hours and a world away by plane, when all the headlines are screaming “Ebola” at the top of their lungs. There was no sense in using logic, talking about the facts, showing people maps. All everyone heard was “Africa” and “Ebola” on the TV and nothing else seemed to matter.
They asked my boss if I was gong to be quarantined when I came back. I understand the consternation, but I’m saddened at how emotion has made everyone afraid of things with which they don’t have to be consumed. There are many countries in Africa but only four at the present have people with Ebola. My destination is more than the length of the United States away from the countries that do, and on and on, facts trying to climb the walls of emotion and take down a castle bit of misinformation. Still, when my plane takes off and heads east there will be questions.
I have my own as well. Will people want to be around me when I return? I’m a Priest and I wonder if people will take the Holy Gifts from me, hug me, or kiss my hand (although I’m not crazy about that anyway)? On my return will there be some magic day when all of it goes away and people feel safe around me even though the country where I am going , Uganda, has no Ebola and the realistic chances of me getting it are winning the lottery slim and my spreading is even longer odds?
Still, I’m going to go.
Some of it is, to be truthful, about the travel and adventure, both things I enjoy. When I was a child I would devour National Geographic and I’ve been around the world many times in my mind. Now its going to happen, for real. I love the diversity of culture and land and people and all the magnificent tapestry of creation and if I was a wealthy man I would probably invest that wealth in little else than taking it all in. There is beauty and grace everywhere because the One who called it into being is the very definition of both.
Yet, there’s more.
You see, the story of Jesus is true. When Jesus came to us God came to live with us, teach us, heal us, bear our sorrows, conquer our fears, overcome our sins, and join us to himself. Somewhere deep inside of me, even when my life wasn’t and isn’t always reflective of this Truth, I still understood and understand that it is real, authentic, and good. Of all the messages, all the claims to truth, all the words that could be spoken, what words would be better than those that tell the story of Jesus and invite people into a living encounter with a God who loves them more than they will ever understand? Not just a matter of duty, it should be our joy to proclaim, in word and deed, this hope for the world, especially in these challenging times. What hardness of heart would keep this most precious reality away from those we love, or, for that matter, anyone who crosses our path? What cause could be greater than to live this life and help people anywhere possible to come to know the Lord of Life?
I have so much to learn, about life, about Faith, about being a Priest. All I can do is go where I can help, listen, and serve. Most of the time all of that will happen right here where I’ve been planted. Some of the time there are things that need to be done in a far away place. Regardless, I’m in God’s hands and whatever else happens the glory is His.
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A Hopeful Word…
“It often happens that Satan will insidiously commune with you in your heart and say: ‘Think of the evil you have done; your soul is full of lawlessness, you are weighed down by many grievous sins.’ Do not let him deceive you when he does this and do not be led to despair on the pretext that you are being humble. You should answer: “I have God’s assurance, for He says: ‘I desire, not the sinner’s death, but that he should return through repentance and live.” (Ezek. 33:11) What was the purpose of His descent to earth except to save sinners, to bring light to those in darkness and life to the dead?”
St. Macarius of Egypt
h/t to Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church on Facebook
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A Good Word…
Msiwe na wasiwasi mkisema, “Tutakula nini?” au “Tutakunywa nini?” au “Tutavaa nini?”… Baba yenu wa mbingui anafahamu kwamba mnahitaji yote hayo. Lakini uta futeni kwanza Ufalme wa mbinguni na haki yake, na haya yote mtaongezewa. Kwa hiyo msihangaike kuhusu kesho, kwa sababu kesho itajihangaika yenyewe. Kila siku ina shida zake za kutosha.
Do not worry, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?”… for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
– Matthew 6:31-34
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Wisdom…
“We cannot ask God and His holy saints that they remove all the difficulties from our missionary road and everything that causes us moral suffering. We can only pray that He help us carry the cross, and enable us to survive the difficulties and sufferings that await us on our missionary road. Our service is giving birth to spiritual children for God; and what birth is not accompanied by pain? And for this we must be prepared in advance. But we have a source of great consolation. To serve with energy and success we must have confidence beforehand that our labor is not in vain and that our work will be crowned with success.”
(St. Nicholas of Japan)
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Indeed
Via the Orthodox Christian Network Facebook Page
The Beautiful Path 