Category: Faith

The Pope Says…

~ Fr. John Chagnon ~ Leave a comment

that work and business free Sundays are a good idea for the faithful and non faithful.  He’s right. Even if you don’t take time off for religious observances on Sunday, a day free from business and hard work is recuperative, strengthening, and helpful. Those old “Sabbath” laws have, I believe, a basis not just as spiritual exercises but as a good for the sake of the whole human being. Work? Yes. But not all the time, ever day, and everywhere.

I do remember as a child noticing that almost everything was shut down in my hometown in Wisconsin on Sundays. Basic services like police, fire, and hospitals were, of course, up and running but not much else. I’m not sure that even all of the gas stations were open. Sunday was a church day, a family day, a day to exhale from the past week and rest for the one to come.

Fast forward to now where commerce and business is a 24 hour a day, seven days a week, proposition. We chase money all day, every day, and never seem to have any time to catch our breath. Even Orthodox Christians will keep the shop or restaurant open on Sundays, sometimes skipping Liturgy and valuable rest to squeeze out another dollar or two from the public. Why? I suppose because that’s the prevailing wind these days but sometimes the crowd is wrong and even the breeze that blows strongest is a foul one.

God asked us to take a day to rest. No, as Orthodox Christians we are not obliged to be as specific and detailed about the whole thing as our Jewish ancestors decided to be. Yet, the principle still remains. Take a day to rest, to make room for God, to be with those who are closest to you. A hundred years from now nobody will care that your place was opened up on Sunday, but giving time to things that matter, the things eternal, will make a difference now and bless you forever.

Mindful Meditation…

~ Fr. John Chagnon ~ Leave a comment

is good for you, so the article says. Well, we Orthodox Christians have been “mindfully meditating” for over 2000 years and have a very well developed tradition in this area. One of the great tragedies in our Faith  is that so many Orthodox have less than a clue about the rich meditative tradition of their own Faith. They will seek out gurus, yoga teachers, pundits, and new age practitioners unaware of the deep riches into which they were baptized. The very things they will pay money to discover are those things which Orthodox Christian Faith has given away to seekers since Christ walked the Earth.

Here’s the Bad News…

~ Fr. John Chagnon ~ 1 Comment

Life as a Christian is tough and probably going to get tougher. If you wish to be an observant Christian in this culture you’re going to struggle, face temptations and challenges, endure the hardships of being a perpetual outsider, and be constantly faced with the sins of the world and your own.

The days of easy culturally accepted Christian Faith are over, have been for some time. In the years to come there will be fewer places to run, fewer places to hide, and even the most benign forms of observant Christianity will increasingly be seen as a public scandal. You’ve been warned. Prepare for it now, not like some sort of “prepper” hiding out in the woods waiting for an apocalypse but rather by increasingly cultivating within yourself a prayerful, peaceful, and holy life, a life centered on Jesus Christ.

Now here’s the good news.

As things darken the contrast  between light and dark will grow. The good in you, if it is the good of God, will shine brighter than ever as the world around you grows more bleak. In this contrast, vividly displayed in our own lives, will be a message for those many who are looking to escape the madness of our times. It won’t be a message of superiority, of self-righteousness, of uncritical judgment, or of false holiness, but rather an invitation, couched in the moments of your life, to encounter the living Christ who is, was, and always will be the Light of the world.

There will be more dark times ahead but it is the darkness before morning. We humans are stubborn, incorrigible, and full of ourselves. Trials, large and small, may sometimes be the only way God can get our attention and draw us from the sickness of the world to the life He wishes us to share with Him. If we cannot learn by being wise we often learn by experiencing struggle, the results of our own inclinations that God can use for the greater and eternal good. Yet God is still God and the Light that He shines in the world, and the people who struggle to keep that Light alive in themselves, will never ultimately perish from the Earth.

This is no time for fear, this is, rather, a time to respond to the world we see around us by drawing closer to God. As we do this we ourselves will change, and, in time, so will this desperate world. In Christ, by Christ, and with Christ we are the revolution we’ve been waiting for.

 

Shirking Our Duty…

~ Fr. John Chagnon ~ 3 Comments

gun ad

Did you know that there was a time when you could buy firearms right from the Sears catalog? Anecdotally I have heard that in the earlier part of the 20th century one could purchase dynamite at the local hardware store. One would think, then, that the culture would be full of violence and mayhem, school shootings, and teenagers blowing each other up and away on street corners. After all, back in the “old days” all you needed to do was show up with money in hand at your local hardware store and walk away with a pistol, no questions asked.

Yet it didn’t happen. Why?

Because people were different. Yes there were criminals back then and violent people as well. Yet there was something more that kept the whole thing from turning into the chaos we often see in our present. There was, even if people didn’t always follow it, a larger moral, and dare I say Christian, consensus about right and wrong.

Sears could send you a military grade pistol because it was also understood that the person who purchased it more than likely understood what “Thou shalt not kill…” meant. There was a consensus that doing harm to another was something that, for normal people, was an option only in the gravest of conditions. For that small community of people who chose to ignore that consensus justice was swift, sure, and sometimes harsh. Beyond the specific laws themselves there was a moral world that often and largely stayed the hand of evil even when law enforcement was not present.

Fast forward to today. We have laws beyond laws, a police presence that is growing more militarized every day, and still more violence than we ever thought possible. Cameras are everywhere and people are killing each other on the street. Why? The answer is simple. We’ve lost the moral consensus.

A child growing up today will see thousands of shootings and killings on TV, many of them simply gratuitous exercises of people blowing each other away for the reasons of a moment. They will see their own government using death and destruction as the first response to international crisis. They will bathe themselves in a culture that sees people from before they are born as disposable. They will steep in a consumer culture that sees no value in anything or anyone that cannot provide the next “fix” of happiness. As they grow up in this self-centered and empty world they will also have no larger moral guidance to help them steer their way through the challenges because the idea of any kind of truth beyond the person has been relegated to the collective ash heap as a sign of a primitive past. Then we wonder why people pick up guns in a way the vast majority of people even 50 years ago would have never considered and kill a classroom of their peers or “put a cap in the ass..” of some guy in the street who is wearing the wrong color.

Here’s a secret. If you want to turn a culture into some kind of pagan war zone the first thing you need to do is compromise the churches. And its our compromises that have helped our culture become this mess. We have given in, in ways large and small, to the spirit of the age. We’ve failed to teach. We’ve failed to lead. We have failed to serve. We’ve failed to be the salt and light we were called to be and people, even people with no religion at all, are feeling the consequences. There are whole denominations of Christians who have abandoned nearly the entirety of their historic witness and embraced an easy consumer driven “relevancy” that little to do with the actual Christian Faith. Among the observant Christian communities there are many that, while retaining the dogmatic content of historic Christian Faith, are very much asleep, unwilling to wake up and see what is as obvious as the nose on their faces. Because we are not who we have been called to be the entirety of our culture has suffered, is suffering, and may die as we know it.

We, as members of the observant Christian community, have shirked our duty, content to be little boats floating on the waves of the culture convinced that by doing so we are safe. It was a lie then and it is a lie now and as the culture has abandoned the things we’ve taken for granted we’re going to discover that our safe compromises with the world are the deceptions that may one day overwhelm us. We’ll survive, of course, but not without great suffering.  Fire is harsh, yet it will burn away the extraneous and reveal the pure.

Still, there is hope. We need a generation of observant Christians who will give themselves entirely to God and actually live, in every realm of their life, the Faith. Could it be that in the events we see around us that God is calling His people to a rediscovery of the grace, the love, the power, and the holiness of the Faith. In the face of the world around us our enemies would have us despair, withdraw, and give up the fight. “All is lost” they will say. “You’re on the wrong side of history” they will proclaim. The temptation to give up and go along to get along is strong. Yet even now there are lights being kindled in the present darkness, people who are seeing the world and the people around them with God’s eyes, the eyes of Faith. Even now there are people who, somewhere deep in their heart, are being asked by God to live lives of love of neighbor, service to the least of these, joyous holiness, and fervent dedication to eternal truth. As these lights are kindled those who are slaves in darkness will see and be drawn to it. Person by person, moment by moment, the great pain of our time will be turned to joy, our promiscuities to holiness, and our futilities to enlightened purpose.

We can be saved, but for this to happen so much has to change, and soon.

 

It’s Not About Panic…

~ Fr. John Chagnon ~ 1 Comment

when we hear about the subtle, and sometimes not so subtle, pushes against observant Christian people and institutions in our culture. After all Jesus told us such things would be a routine part of our life and what makes us think that as Americans we have some kind of exemption?

Powerful interests in our culture have reasons to marginalize, or indeed eliminate, the existence of observant Christianity and why should we be surprised to see them act in their own self-interest? The idea of a transcendent faith, vision, or morality strikes at the heart of the myths that pervade our godless consumer culture so why are we so often dumbfounded when the institutions and people who stand to benefit from such an arrangement want us to go away?

Moral human beings, especially of the Christian variety, need very few laws so why should we be puzzled when the state, which for the sake of its own survival and necessity,  encourages a kind of amorality that allows it to place itself, with all its bureaucracies, where once a well-formed conscience existed? If you want the State to grow and expand you need people with a vacuum where a conscience used to be. Such people then become dependent, not on an informed soul, but on the State with all its rules, plans, and priesthoods. So why should the State, which thrives on the neediness of the morally dysfunctional, seek to encourage that which would limit its scope and power?

Corporate America, as well, needs people without a sense of the transcendent, people who will react emotionally and see their fulfillment in an endless stream of consumer goods which it, conveniently, will provide at a cost. If you think about tomorrow, or even about eternity you may not be the kind of person who responds to “Just do it” and therefore you will be of limited value to the great economic machines of our age. So it makes sense, in one sort of way, for such concerns to push for laws and policies which favor the libertine as pursuing such a lifestyle is of significant benefit to those who control the production of the goods and services which define it.

One could go on about the academy which is, in fact, often a place not of expanding thought but rather of self-perpetuating secular orthodoxies enforced with the passion of an inquisition and the tolerance of a prison. If you believe there is more to life than just the here and now pursuit of knowledge within the strict confines of a materialistic vision you are a threat to the very heart of the academy and the academy, if it cannot change you, will at least ridicule and ostracize you as primitive or uneducated.

Indeed, if you are an observant Christian you have, your are, and you always will be a revolutionary of the most dangerous kind. Your life becomes, over time, a living witness, by contrast,  to the nature of the lies that undergird much of what has been considered “normal”. You live as a citizen of another world whose rules often stand in stark contrast to the prevailing spirit of a lost age. You destroy, not with violence but rather with light. You do not kill but you have within you the power to transform yourself and others. You are evolving into something that will, over time, look more and more like God and the people, powers, institutions, and principalities that have a vested interest in the world as it is will take notice and do what they can to divert or stop you because if you succeed the people they have made captive will be set free.

So when you see the great powers of this world use force and law and the easily manipulated mood of the herd against you there is no need to panic.  Such things must be and it is a sign that having failed to convince they resort to force. Endure. Love. Do no violent harm. Pray. Grow deep. Shine. We are watching the end of an empire and the beginning of redemption.

For Days Like These…

~ Fr. John Chagnon ~ Leave a comment
From Life of the World on Facebook
XVII How tedious to me are the counsels of human leaders and wise men–oh how tedious they seem to me–ever since Your wisdom caused my heart and mind to tremble, Holy God. Those whom the dark desires of the heart are dragging into the abyss do not believe in Your light. There are no obstacles for a stone while it is rolling down a hill. The higher the steep slope and the deeper the abyss—the swifter and more unrestrained is the rolling of the stone. One dark desire lures another with its success; and that one hires yet another, until all that is good in a person withers, and all that is evil gushes out in a torrential flood–until, along with everything else, all that the Holy Spirit has built is washed away, both inside and out; Until the scorners of the light begin to scorn themselves and their teachers; Until the sweetest sweets begin to choke them with their stench; Until all the material goods, for which they killed neighbours and razed cities, begin to mock their monstrosity. Then they stealthily lift their eyes toward heaven, and through the dung of their profaned and putrid existence, they cry out: “Holy God!” How it irritates me like a burning arrow to hear men boasting of their power, ever since I came to know of Your powerful hand, Holy Mighty! They build towers of stone and say: “We are better builders than your God.” But I ask them: “Did you, or your fathers, build the stars?” They discover light inside the earth, and boast: “We know more than your God.” But I ask them: “Who buried the light beneath the earth for you to discover?” They fly through the air and arrogantly say: “By ourselves we have created wings for ourselves, where is your God?” But I ask them: “Who gave you the idea of wings and flying if not the birds, which you did not create?” Yet see what happens when You open their eyes to their own frailty! When irrational creatures show them their monstrous power; when their mind becomes filled with wonder at the starry towers, that stand in space without pillars or foundations; when their heart becomes filled with fear of their own frailty and insanity–then, in shame and humility, they stretch out their arms toward You and cry: “Holy Mighty!” How it saddens me to see people overrating this life, ever since I tasted the sweetness of Your immortality, Holy Immortal! The shortsighted see only this life, and say: “This is the only life there is, and we shall make it immortal by means of our deeds among men.” But I tell them: “If your beginning is like a river, then it must have a source; if it is like a tree, it must have its root, if it is like a beam of light, it must come from some sun.” And again I tell them: “So, you intend to establish your immortality among mortals? Try starting a fire in water!” But when they look death in the face, they are left speechless, and torment seizes their heart. When they smell the flesh of their dead brides; when they leave the empty faces of their friends in the grave; when they place their hands on their sons’ chests that have grown cold; when they realize that even kings are not able to buy off death with their crowns, nor heroes with their mighty deeds, nor wise men with their wisdom–then they feel the icy wind of death breathing down their necks too, and they fall down on their knees and bow their heads over their toppled pride, and pray to You: “Holy Immortal, have mercy on us!”From “Prayers by the Lake” by Saint Nikolai of Ochrid and Zirca

Heaven and Hell…

~ Fr. John Chagnon ~ Leave a comment

I very much recommend spending just a tiny bit over a dollar and getting a small pamphlet, written by Fr. James Bernstein,  on the Orthodox Christian understanding of heaven and hell. In just a few short pages you’ll have a very clear understanding of our Faith’s teaching on the topic and you will find the Orthodox understanding of this topic will answer many of the questions that are posed by our wider culture’s often medieval and Western understanding of the topic. If you are a member or inquirer at an Orthodox parish there may be a good chance this pamphlet is in a rack somewhere in the temple. Absolutely worth the read.

You’re Not Worthy…

~ Fr. John Chagnon ~ Leave a comment

to receive the Eucharist and neither am I. In fact, I’m not worthy to pray the prayers of consecration over the bread and wine and certainly not worthy to stand in front of the altar in the first place.

That’s just a plain fact because I’m a sinner and so are you and so are we all. We know it, and God knows it better than even we do.

So if you’re waiting for some perfect moment to receive the Eucharist forget it because it will never happen. You’ll never be good enough and neither will I. There is, however, freedom in that. It’s not the freedom to live any kind of life we want but rather the freedom of knowing that the one requirement is that we are penitent, that we are in a place where we recognize our sins and struggles and come to God seeking grace, which in the Orthodox Christian context is found in many places and in a remarkably deep and profound way in the Eucharist.

The Eucharist is medicine for sinners and strugglers, the humble who acknowledge their need of God and seek wholeness that can only be found in Christ. For the proud and the self-righteous it is a chalice of destruction (although that destruction is still in the hope of enlightenment and change of heart)  but for the broken and humble of heart who come seeking healing it grants life.

I am a Priest. I am a sinner. If God has not consumed me but has been gracious beyond my deserving could He not also grant grace, healing, and forgiveness, to you, even with all your struggles, in the Eucharist? Crawl on your knees if you have to but come to the chalice of life with a penitent heart and God will grant you life, forgiveness, and mercy. Leave your earthly cares behind and come taste, even though we are sinners, the presence of heaven.

Perhaps…

~ Fr. John Chagnon ~ Leave a comment

when we see all the sadness and struggle in the world we need to ask a very simple but clarifying question. “Where is the voice of God in all of this?”

I think it’s too easy to think apocalyptically about the world we live in because it allows us to give up on everything and hope that we’re going to be lucky enough to hide, or be taken away, from the world. We may even relish the idea that God will settle accounts, vindicate us, and destroy evil and evil doers. It also a ring of truth to it because we do believe, as Christians, that there will be a day when God will establish perfect justice and renew a broken world.

Yet could it also be true that the sin, struggle, and just plain craziness we see in the world  has within it a still small voice that too often gets unheard because we’re focusing on the storm? Could it be, for example, that God is trying to tell us, that the chaos and troubles of the world as we experience it are actually indicators for where we, as the people of God, need to be active and encountering the world? When a person is in pain we ask them where that pain is in order to help them become whole. Could it also be that what we see around us are the cries of a world in pain and we need to listen to them so we know where the hurt is and make healing possible?

Regardless, if we presume that God is the God of history should we not at least not give in to panic as we see the world around us but rather to look to see where God is in all of this? At the least we could learn from St. Peter and realize that if our eye is only on the storm around us, and not on the Master of the wind and the waves, that we will almost certainly sink.