“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” -Matthew 5:9
Peace is such an amazing thing, it is something that cannot be easily grasped yet it is known and longed for by all. Peace is having inner contentment without materiality, meaning that we don’t need things such as iPods, iPhones, the best types of clothes, a nice car, and the coolest sunglasses out there to make ourselves content. This inner contentment can come from our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ alone, “For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation” (Ephesians 2:14).
Our sins caused us to come out of communion from God and made the above mentioned middle wall of separation. Through Jesus’ death on the Cross and Resurrection that middle wall was broken down and it caused the New Testament to begin. The New Testament began on that day, and the Old was completed. This has caused us, Mankind, to come back into communion with God in peace, and through faith we are saved.
An interesting note is that St. Paul the Apostle contrasts confusion and peace, making the two a sort of opposites, saying, “For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints” (1 Corinthians 14:33). If we look back at the origin of confusion we will end up in the Tower of Babel, in Genesis 11. Mankind had united, but for the wrong reasons, so God confused their languages to make a barrier between them in differences of thought so that they would never be able to reunite again unless it was part of His plan, and we see that happening on the Birthday of the Church, on Pentecost when the Apostles spoke in different types of tongues. God united Mankind because they now followed Him, and all the nations were united once again in Christianity.
Peace is also a fruit of the spirit, as mentioned in Galatians 5:22. So if we spend our time in prayer, praise, reading and studying the Bible, and focusing on God, we will have peace, because that is how the order of godliness goes. This peace is immaterial meaning that it isn’t influenced by material things. The Fathers wrote on peace, but most interestingly the Russian Fathers spoke about peace in a very deep way. They said that if one had inner peace, this peace, that he would be able to convert thousands around him just by being near them. Because peace is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, it is also a sign that the Holy Spirit is cooperating with us. So it is for this reason that one who has inner peace is able to convert thousands, because the Holy Spirit is with him, and aside from the Holy Spirit we can do nothing.
Peace is one of God’s attributes. There was peace before the Creation and afterward also. It was how life was and it was the only thing the Creation knew. Even the most vicious of animals were in peace with the animals they hunt today and this original vision will be restored at the end of the world as it says, “‘The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent’s food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,’ says the LORD” (Isaiah 65:25). It was only after the fall of man that disorder and malice began to enter into the Creation, but as the above verse assures us that the Creation will go back into its original vision, another verse makes it even clearer, “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4).
So we should be comforted, knowing that these things will pass away, and the Creation’s ultimate purpose will be fulfilled on the Last Day. We are in the last days, ever since the Church was born, and our Lord Jesus Christ comforted us saying, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you” (John 14:27). We should always remind ourselves that He is coming, and we will have to give to Him an account of everything we have done on the Judgment Day. Knowing this fact we should have peace, and get rid of all our trivial worries and fears, so that they may not keep us from Him. And also the fact that we will have peace will cause us to be conformed even more to God’s image, because peace is an attribute of God.
Today in this world, especially in this country, life moves very fast. They consider that to be a good thing, but it isn’t. Because life moves so quickly today, we can easily get carried away from the faith, and start to slack concerning things such as prayer and Bible reading. H.G. Bishop Youssef, the Coptic Bishop of the Southern United States, used the analogy of a body of water, and how when the water is peaceful we can see our image in it. The same is true with God, He wants to see His image in us, but if we have no peace (if the water is moving too quickly), He will not be able to see His image in us. And if we are conformed to His image, then the promise of us becoming His children is fulfilled. This might be what was meant by our Lord Jesus Christ when He said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” (Matthew 5:9).
Let us ask God to give us the virtue of peace, and that we would continually be conformed to His image. And glory be to God both now and ever and unto the age of all ages. Amen.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Friday, July 17, 2009
Repentance
“From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’” -Matthew 4:17
These are the first words that Jesus said marking the beginning of His public ministry. It is important to see that the subject is repentance. Because as Orthodox Christians we believe that we have to live a life of repentance. Salvation is not something that happens in a moment, it is a continuing process, and without repentance, we cannot attain Salvation.
Let’s start with defining terms. The word repentance in Greek is metanoia, this word’s roots literally means, “change of mind.” Hence, repentance is the act of changing one’s mind. This repentance first begins when we decide that we want to follow Jesus Christ. From that point on, repentance causes us to enter into the spiritual war set before us, and this life of testing, so that in the end we are proved in our faith, that it was both by word and deed.
Today there are many, many denominations that teach there is no need for repentance and that we shouldn’t feel a sense of conviction after we sin. But however, the Holy Spirit is the One who causes us to have these feelings. These feelings then turn us toward repentance and make us to watch more carefully in our spiritual life that we wouldn’t enter into these sins again. It is like a master disciplining a servant through beating that the servant would become better in his service. Through this conviction of the Holy Spirit causing us to repent we become closer to God as we are able, through His grace, to overcome those sins. As St. Paul said to the Corinthians, “Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted” (2 Corinthians 7:9-10).
In order to repent effectively we must have our focus directed to God. When we have God before us, we will not sin, just as it says in Psalm 16 (15 in the LXX), “I saw the Lord always before me, because He is at my right hand that I may not be shaken.” It is also like a young child walking. His father and mother try to help him walk, and he focuses on them, sees them walking, and as he is younger, he will fall more often, but when he gets older, more mature, he will stop falling as often, little by little. The falling here is sinning, and the maturing is like the maturing in the faith.
Repentance should be sealed by the Sacrament of Confession. The Sacrament of Confession is very misunderstood. The Sacrament itself is more properly called the Sacrament of Repentance. Because the core of this Sacrament is that the priest advises the person confessing concerning his sin and on how to overcome it, and what spiritual practices to go through to progress further in their spiritual life. The priests are pastors, and pastors are shepherds (that’s what the word pastor literally means). And just like a shepherd walking in a pasture with his sheep, when he sees his sheep going astray he goes to them and guides them back to be with rest of the sheep. The priests do the same thing in the Sacrament of Confession; they guide the believer back into the way of righteousness. Those ordained to the priesthood have received the Holy Spirit for this service, as our Lord said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (John 20:22-23). And again He said, “Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 18:18). However, repentance must precede confession, because this is a spiritual journey, and nothing is automatic in the faith, you can’t push a button and reset everything. It needs effort.
There is much more to repentance, much deeper theology and application to life. But this article’s purpose is to give a small part of it for the sake of encouragement to repentance. But repentance is how any of us come to God, and it’s what causes us to become closer to Him. Repentance is a life, it isn’t a moment. This life of repentance causes us to move closer to God, every time we repent. The examples of repentance are so numerous because on a daily basis we have to make choices, and every time we make the right, godly choice, we repent, because we changed our mind concerning the other choice. We repent from our sins by focusing on God again, after we momentarily are distracted by the enemy’s schemes. Repentance is the grace which God gives us because His loving mercy. Let us keep God always before our eyes and repent, as the Psalms so often say, one instance which says, “My eyes are always toward the Lord for He shall pluck my feet out of the trap” (Psalm 25:15).
And glory be to God both now and ever and unto the age of all ages. Amen.
These are the first words that Jesus said marking the beginning of His public ministry. It is important to see that the subject is repentance. Because as Orthodox Christians we believe that we have to live a life of repentance. Salvation is not something that happens in a moment, it is a continuing process, and without repentance, we cannot attain Salvation.
Let’s start with defining terms. The word repentance in Greek is metanoia, this word’s roots literally means, “change of mind.” Hence, repentance is the act of changing one’s mind. This repentance first begins when we decide that we want to follow Jesus Christ. From that point on, repentance causes us to enter into the spiritual war set before us, and this life of testing, so that in the end we are proved in our faith, that it was both by word and deed.
Today there are many, many denominations that teach there is no need for repentance and that we shouldn’t feel a sense of conviction after we sin. But however, the Holy Spirit is the One who causes us to have these feelings. These feelings then turn us toward repentance and make us to watch more carefully in our spiritual life that we wouldn’t enter into these sins again. It is like a master disciplining a servant through beating that the servant would become better in his service. Through this conviction of the Holy Spirit causing us to repent we become closer to God as we are able, through His grace, to overcome those sins. As St. Paul said to the Corinthians, “Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted” (2 Corinthians 7:9-10).
In order to repent effectively we must have our focus directed to God. When we have God before us, we will not sin, just as it says in Psalm 16 (15 in the LXX), “I saw the Lord always before me, because He is at my right hand that I may not be shaken.” It is also like a young child walking. His father and mother try to help him walk, and he focuses on them, sees them walking, and as he is younger, he will fall more often, but when he gets older, more mature, he will stop falling as often, little by little. The falling here is sinning, and the maturing is like the maturing in the faith.
Repentance should be sealed by the Sacrament of Confession. The Sacrament of Confession is very misunderstood. The Sacrament itself is more properly called the Sacrament of Repentance. Because the core of this Sacrament is that the priest advises the person confessing concerning his sin and on how to overcome it, and what spiritual practices to go through to progress further in their spiritual life. The priests are pastors, and pastors are shepherds (that’s what the word pastor literally means). And just like a shepherd walking in a pasture with his sheep, when he sees his sheep going astray he goes to them and guides them back to be with rest of the sheep. The priests do the same thing in the Sacrament of Confession; they guide the believer back into the way of righteousness. Those ordained to the priesthood have received the Holy Spirit for this service, as our Lord said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (John 20:22-23). And again He said, “Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 18:18). However, repentance must precede confession, because this is a spiritual journey, and nothing is automatic in the faith, you can’t push a button and reset everything. It needs effort.
There is much more to repentance, much deeper theology and application to life. But this article’s purpose is to give a small part of it for the sake of encouragement to repentance. But repentance is how any of us come to God, and it’s what causes us to become closer to Him. Repentance is a life, it isn’t a moment. This life of repentance causes us to move closer to God, every time we repent. The examples of repentance are so numerous because on a daily basis we have to make choices, and every time we make the right, godly choice, we repent, because we changed our mind concerning the other choice. We repent from our sins by focusing on God again, after we momentarily are distracted by the enemy’s schemes. Repentance is the grace which God gives us because His loving mercy. Let us keep God always before our eyes and repent, as the Psalms so often say, one instance which says, “My eyes are always toward the Lord for He shall pluck my feet out of the trap” (Psalm 25:15).
And glory be to God both now and ever and unto the age of all ages. Amen.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Judging Others
“Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.” -Luke 6:37
Judgment by us is a grave problem and it causes relationships to be destroyed. There are many reasons as to why we judge. It might be because of arrogance, progression in the faith, insecurity, feeling as if one has accomplished a lot, knowledge, high grades, good looks, popularity, and such things. But for today I will talk only about the reasons as to why we judge others because of our accomplishments in the faith.
A reason is progression in the faith. We must remember that any progression we have made in our spiritual lives, is due to God alone. It is through His grace that we are able to proceed. An analogy of this grace is like a Father holding the hand of his young child. And the Father knows where He wants the young child to go, and as long as the child is holding the hand of the Father, or at least following Him, He will proceed and progress where he needs to go. The same is true with us, so we should find no reason to boast or parade ourselves in front of others because of the progression that we have made, because all glory is due to God for He is the One who led us, and we become the objects by which He is glorified. Therefore we should say with the David as in Psalm 34:2, “My soul shall make its boast in the LORD; the humble shall hear of it and be glad,” and also St. Paul the Apostle says, “But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” -Galatians 6:14
If we judge someone because of a sin they are committing (not a sin they are walking in, because walking in sin and sinning are two different things). If we judge someone because of a sin they are committing, most often we will start committing that sin. This is to show the grace of God working in our lives to make us understand that we didn’t overcome the sin from ourselves, but through God we were able to because He is the One who overcame sin. So it is God’s grace that allows us to become free from sin, and not our own efforts. If we spend a lot of time in prayer on a regular basis, we become closer to Him, and He is all pure and holy. An illustration of this would be like a dirty object moving closer to an immense source of water, and that water coming down like a soft mist, will cause the dirt, little by little to be washed off the object, until when the object is with the source, it will become completely clean.
Another problem is gossip. If we gossip, we are judging others, because usually gossip involves judging the other person by criticizing something he or she does. Of this St. James the Apostle says, “Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law… There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?” -James 4:11-12
A good way to keep ourselves from judging is to do this, to remember that whatever we are judging the others of, we are sinners too and we will be judged. The interesting thing is that if we judge others of judging, we are doing the same thing. So actually whatever judgment we are passing on them, we deserve. But we become blinded because of our pride when we start judging, and because of this we stop examining ourselves and repenting. The advice of St. Paul the Apostle applies perfectly to this situation when he says, “For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged” (1 Corinthians 11:31). If we were to judge ourselves we would see that we are sinners, and we struggle just like those we are judging, and then we would repent. But when we stop judging ourselves and judge others, we add to our sins and on the Judgment Day we will be judged with the same measure that we judged as it says in the Gospel.
Last year I was sitting in the college group at our church and one of the girls in the group pulled out a quote from Mother Theresa and read it, which says, “If you judge people, you have no time to love them.” This is a strong saying, because if we judge people, we really don’t have time to love them because instead of walking with them in their journey, and encouraging them, and caring about them, we look down on them, and at its worst, we can actually tear them down by saying things to them coming from our judgment.
So when we start to have the impulse to start judging others, let us judge ourselves first, and remind ourselves that we are sinners too. Let us not get confused as to what judgment is though, we might see somebody committing a sin, and we care about that person, and we should do our duty as Christians to go and tell that person that we are concerned and try to help them to get over the sin and pray for them. This is isn’t judgment. Judgment is when we start bringing others below us and condemning them because of their struggles. However we should remember that there is one Judge, and He is Most Faithful and True, and All-Merciful. And remember in the end that we should repent and spend our time in prayer to God and in fellowship with the Church, the Body of Christ. And glory is always due to God, now and until the end, and forever. Amen.
Judgment by us is a grave problem and it causes relationships to be destroyed. There are many reasons as to why we judge. It might be because of arrogance, progression in the faith, insecurity, feeling as if one has accomplished a lot, knowledge, high grades, good looks, popularity, and such things. But for today I will talk only about the reasons as to why we judge others because of our accomplishments in the faith.
A reason is progression in the faith. We must remember that any progression we have made in our spiritual lives, is due to God alone. It is through His grace that we are able to proceed. An analogy of this grace is like a Father holding the hand of his young child. And the Father knows where He wants the young child to go, and as long as the child is holding the hand of the Father, or at least following Him, He will proceed and progress where he needs to go. The same is true with us, so we should find no reason to boast or parade ourselves in front of others because of the progression that we have made, because all glory is due to God for He is the One who led us, and we become the objects by which He is glorified. Therefore we should say with the David as in Psalm 34:2, “My soul shall make its boast in the LORD; the humble shall hear of it and be glad,” and also St. Paul the Apostle says, “But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” -Galatians 6:14
If we judge someone because of a sin they are committing (not a sin they are walking in, because walking in sin and sinning are two different things). If we judge someone because of a sin they are committing, most often we will start committing that sin. This is to show the grace of God working in our lives to make us understand that we didn’t overcome the sin from ourselves, but through God we were able to because He is the One who overcame sin. So it is God’s grace that allows us to become free from sin, and not our own efforts. If we spend a lot of time in prayer on a regular basis, we become closer to Him, and He is all pure and holy. An illustration of this would be like a dirty object moving closer to an immense source of water, and that water coming down like a soft mist, will cause the dirt, little by little to be washed off the object, until when the object is with the source, it will become completely clean.
Another problem is gossip. If we gossip, we are judging others, because usually gossip involves judging the other person by criticizing something he or she does. Of this St. James the Apostle says, “Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law… There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?” -James 4:11-12
A good way to keep ourselves from judging is to do this, to remember that whatever we are judging the others of, we are sinners too and we will be judged. The interesting thing is that if we judge others of judging, we are doing the same thing. So actually whatever judgment we are passing on them, we deserve. But we become blinded because of our pride when we start judging, and because of this we stop examining ourselves and repenting. The advice of St. Paul the Apostle applies perfectly to this situation when he says, “For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged” (1 Corinthians 11:31). If we were to judge ourselves we would see that we are sinners, and we struggle just like those we are judging, and then we would repent. But when we stop judging ourselves and judge others, we add to our sins and on the Judgment Day we will be judged with the same measure that we judged as it says in the Gospel.
Last year I was sitting in the college group at our church and one of the girls in the group pulled out a quote from Mother Theresa and read it, which says, “If you judge people, you have no time to love them.” This is a strong saying, because if we judge people, we really don’t have time to love them because instead of walking with them in their journey, and encouraging them, and caring about them, we look down on them, and at its worst, we can actually tear them down by saying things to them coming from our judgment.
So when we start to have the impulse to start judging others, let us judge ourselves first, and remind ourselves that we are sinners too. Let us not get confused as to what judgment is though, we might see somebody committing a sin, and we care about that person, and we should do our duty as Christians to go and tell that person that we are concerned and try to help them to get over the sin and pray for them. This is isn’t judgment. Judgment is when we start bringing others below us and condemning them because of their struggles. However we should remember that there is one Judge, and He is Most Faithful and True, and All-Merciful. And remember in the end that we should repent and spend our time in prayer to God and in fellowship with the Church, the Body of Christ. And glory is always due to God, now and until the end, and forever. Amen.
Friday, July 3, 2009
Setting Goals
Setting goals for our spiritual life is a very important thing. Without it we can get nothing done. This is a very important principle and I will repeat it again, without setting goals, WE CAN GET NOTHING DONE! Because our whole faith is based off a goal, which is the salvation of our souls, as St. Peter the Apostle says, “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls.” 1 Peter 1:6-9
St. Peter talks about us having been grieved by various trials that our faith would be proven true in the end. It is so easy for us today to become discouraged by anything. I was listening to a sermon this morning about missionary work and its difficulty, and I would like to give this as an example. It was a Bishop giving the sermon and he was talking about his days as a monk priest and how difficult it was for him to start up an Orthodox Church in the country he was preaching in. He continued on by saying that of the Orthodox Christians who were there, much of them left the country, and others didn’t have the enthusiasm for Church. This story, if one hears it, might discourage him or her from becoming missionaries, but we must remember the words of the Lord Jesus, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” This entire experience (and many others like it), go just to show how God works in our weaknesses to show His power, so that we cannot boast and take credit for anything He has done. And St. Paul continued afterward saying, “Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” -1 Corinthians 12:9-10
So we must be encouraged, and we cannot rely on ourselves for effectiveness. We must rely on God by prayer. And when I say prayer, I don’t mean prayer at Church. If one only prays at Church and the rest of week when he or she does not pray, this is a lost soul. We should have personal prayers outside of the Church, and I am not talking about “Our Father.” Praying “Our Father,” reciting some Psalms, praying the Book of Hours and such are all great prayers, and they cause us to come closer to God, but these are one form of prayer, and there is another form, which is very crucial, that form is vocal prayer. Vocal prayer is when we pray using our own words coming straight from our heart. That means we tell God what we want directly, not thinking of it while reciting a Psalm or “Our Father.” This is confusion and “God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints” (1 Corinthians 14:33). God enjoys hearing our prayers, and hearing us from our hearts. The Psalms began as vocal prayer, and you see how close David was to the Lord. If we need encouragement, wisdom, and organization let us ask God.
The next step to setting goals is going to the Confession Priest. An often misunderstood fact about Fathers of Confession is that they are there to give you advice, and how great is the advice they give. Fathers of Confession have existed from the beginning of the Church, and this aspect of advice from them is not anything new, it goes back to the beginning too. Among the greatest examples of the Fathers of Confession are the Desert Fathers of Egypt. They were simple yet deep in the advice they gave, and they used the greatest of analogies and illustrations. If we want to set goals we should go to our Fathers of Confession, because unlike us they will look objectively, and the Holy Spirit will be working in them, as we shouldn’t forget, Confession is a Sacrament! They will guide us as to whether or not we should do something, and also how to go about achieving it.
Also, we should constantly be reading the Bible, because the Bible will help us while we are trying to achieve our goals. The Bible is called the Canon. The word canon is derived from the Greek word which means “the fixed reference point.” The Bible is inerrant, and the Church knowing so canonized it. Christianity and the message of the Bible has changed the entire world, it brought civilization to it. Most people don’t know that the nations that seem civilized today were very savage and practiced things that most would not be able to handle if they saw. But the Gospel of Christ brought order to the world. We should read the Bible regularly knowing it is the canon, and that it is the inerrant word of God. It will keep us focused on the faith, and will cause us to always be thinking about God. With this in mind, it will cause us to pray more often, and through prayer we will be closer to God.
Seeing this article we come to the final thing before setting out on achieving our goals, we must draw up a plan. We must have some structure as to what we are going to do before we do it, not after. This way we will focus on what we should do, and our goals will become easy for us, because everything will run smoothly. For example a student who wants to get an A on an exam without spending an all nighter and without cramming or going insane will draw up a plan. That plan might include starting to review the week before the exam, taking little by little every day, and then the final day before the exam, go over what was studied. This a well structured plan on how to achieve this goal. So we must make a plan for our spiritual goals, even by doing this we will reflect God’s image in us because He Himself made a plan. The Church Fathers use the word “economy” often, and if one doesn’t know the understanding of this term as used by the Church and the Church Fathers, he or she will become confused. This word simply means the plan that God had made for the salvation of mankind. So God Himself has a plan, so we should follow by making plans for our spiritual life, of course.
One final thing to remember is that if we expect some type of grace from God to just come to us without us doing anything, it will not. It says in Matthew 11:12, “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.” If we want something in our spiritual life we must fight for it, by prayer, fasting, almsgiving, and all other ways we can think of. Nothing will just come to us without us fighting for it before.
So let us be watchful and pray concerning our spiritual lives, that we would set goals about how we are to serve God, so that we are able to say like St. Paul in Philippians 3:14, “I PRESS toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” That way we can be closer to our salvation, Jesus Christ Our Lord. And glory be to God both now and ever and unto the age of all ages. Amen.
St. Peter talks about us having been grieved by various trials that our faith would be proven true in the end. It is so easy for us today to become discouraged by anything. I was listening to a sermon this morning about missionary work and its difficulty, and I would like to give this as an example. It was a Bishop giving the sermon and he was talking about his days as a monk priest and how difficult it was for him to start up an Orthodox Church in the country he was preaching in. He continued on by saying that of the Orthodox Christians who were there, much of them left the country, and others didn’t have the enthusiasm for Church. This story, if one hears it, might discourage him or her from becoming missionaries, but we must remember the words of the Lord Jesus, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” This entire experience (and many others like it), go just to show how God works in our weaknesses to show His power, so that we cannot boast and take credit for anything He has done. And St. Paul continued afterward saying, “Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” -1 Corinthians 12:9-10
So we must be encouraged, and we cannot rely on ourselves for effectiveness. We must rely on God by prayer. And when I say prayer, I don’t mean prayer at Church. If one only prays at Church and the rest of week when he or she does not pray, this is a lost soul. We should have personal prayers outside of the Church, and I am not talking about “Our Father.” Praying “Our Father,” reciting some Psalms, praying the Book of Hours and such are all great prayers, and they cause us to come closer to God, but these are one form of prayer, and there is another form, which is very crucial, that form is vocal prayer. Vocal prayer is when we pray using our own words coming straight from our heart. That means we tell God what we want directly, not thinking of it while reciting a Psalm or “Our Father.” This is confusion and “God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints” (1 Corinthians 14:33). God enjoys hearing our prayers, and hearing us from our hearts. The Psalms began as vocal prayer, and you see how close David was to the Lord. If we need encouragement, wisdom, and organization let us ask God.
The next step to setting goals is going to the Confession Priest. An often misunderstood fact about Fathers of Confession is that they are there to give you advice, and how great is the advice they give. Fathers of Confession have existed from the beginning of the Church, and this aspect of advice from them is not anything new, it goes back to the beginning too. Among the greatest examples of the Fathers of Confession are the Desert Fathers of Egypt. They were simple yet deep in the advice they gave, and they used the greatest of analogies and illustrations. If we want to set goals we should go to our Fathers of Confession, because unlike us they will look objectively, and the Holy Spirit will be working in them, as we shouldn’t forget, Confession is a Sacrament! They will guide us as to whether or not we should do something, and also how to go about achieving it.
Also, we should constantly be reading the Bible, because the Bible will help us while we are trying to achieve our goals. The Bible is called the Canon. The word canon is derived from the Greek word which means “the fixed reference point.” The Bible is inerrant, and the Church knowing so canonized it. Christianity and the message of the Bible has changed the entire world, it brought civilization to it. Most people don’t know that the nations that seem civilized today were very savage and practiced things that most would not be able to handle if they saw. But the Gospel of Christ brought order to the world. We should read the Bible regularly knowing it is the canon, and that it is the inerrant word of God. It will keep us focused on the faith, and will cause us to always be thinking about God. With this in mind, it will cause us to pray more often, and through prayer we will be closer to God.
Seeing this article we come to the final thing before setting out on achieving our goals, we must draw up a plan. We must have some structure as to what we are going to do before we do it, not after. This way we will focus on what we should do, and our goals will become easy for us, because everything will run smoothly. For example a student who wants to get an A on an exam without spending an all nighter and without cramming or going insane will draw up a plan. That plan might include starting to review the week before the exam, taking little by little every day, and then the final day before the exam, go over what was studied. This a well structured plan on how to achieve this goal. So we must make a plan for our spiritual goals, even by doing this we will reflect God’s image in us because He Himself made a plan. The Church Fathers use the word “economy” often, and if one doesn’t know the understanding of this term as used by the Church and the Church Fathers, he or she will become confused. This word simply means the plan that God had made for the salvation of mankind. So God Himself has a plan, so we should follow by making plans for our spiritual life, of course.
One final thing to remember is that if we expect some type of grace from God to just come to us without us doing anything, it will not. It says in Matthew 11:12, “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.” If we want something in our spiritual life we must fight for it, by prayer, fasting, almsgiving, and all other ways we can think of. Nothing will just come to us without us fighting for it before.
So let us be watchful and pray concerning our spiritual lives, that we would set goals about how we are to serve God, so that we are able to say like St. Paul in Philippians 3:14, “I PRESS toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” That way we can be closer to our salvation, Jesus Christ Our Lord. And glory be to God both now and ever and unto the age of all ages. Amen.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Evangelism
“‘Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’ Amen.” -Matthew 28:19-20
These verses are known as the Great Commission. They record the commandment of our Lord sending us into the world to preach the Gospel. It is the duty of every Christian to tell others about Jesus Christ. Now not all of us might be called to be evangelists or missionaries, but it isn’t only for evangelists or missionaries to TALK ABOUT the Gospel. Evangelists and missionaries are called to PREACH and SPREAD the Gospel, and they have received the Holy Spirit to do so. Others might be called to other forms of service, but we are all told to defend the faith and hope that is in us.
The Church of God is the body of Christ, and St. Paul the Apostle refers to this saying, “For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member but many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. And if they were all one member, where would the body be?” -1 Corinthians 12:12-19
This whole point is emphasized to show that we all have different forms of service to offer God and the Church. The majority of Protestants today always talk about evangelism, giving it more weight and importance over prayer and other things vital to the Christian life. They teach all to be evangelists, but this isn’t right, because as St. Paul said, “If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing?” and so on. They criticize those who dedicate their lives to prayer by saying that they have cut themselves off from the world and have broken the Lord’s commandment. They forget that it was Moses who raised his hands while Israel fought in the valley, and as long as he had his hands raised Israel prevailed. This is a symbol of the spiritual war we are in as Christians, and how we are one body. Those whom Israel fought in the valley were symbolic of the spiritual powers that fight against us, and those from Israel who fought are symbolic of those who serve in the Church, whether Priests, Deacons, Evangelists, Teachers, etc. Moses was symbolic of those who pray for the service of the Church, and without him raising his hands, Israel was losing. This is symbolic of how we must have both service and prayer, but the service comes because of the prayer, without the prayer, the enemies prevail.
Today, we deal with much more people than any other generation before us dealt with in their lifetime. With all the schools, social networks, and text messaging, we have an opportunity to reach many people around us. But for some reason or another, we, especially the Orthodox don’t share our faith with others, even our best of friends. Why is it that we are not afraid to talk about sex, drugs, music, and gossip, but we are afraid to share our faith? I read in an article, I believe it was attached to the Orthodox Study Bible that said “the Orthodox Church is the best kept secret of America.” Now from certain aspects this is a very good thing, but from another aspect it means most people haven’t heard about us, and that is probably because we don’t share our faith. The Greek Orthodox have been here since the middle of the 19th Century, and there was a Russian Orthodox Saint, St. Herman, who preceded them and preached in Alaska to the indigenous tribes such as the Eskimos, in the 18th Century, while George Washington was still in office as President of the United States of America. St. Herman brought Orthodoxy to this continent, and translated the Bible for the first time to the language of the Native American tribes of Alaska. The Armenian Orthodox have been here since the early 1900s, the Syrian Orthodox since the 1950s, and the Coptic Orthodox since the late 1960s and early 1970s. It has been a long time since Orthodox Christians have arrived in America but not many Americans have heard about us.
Evangelism’s motive should be out of love, because if it isn’t out of love, it is meaningless, because everything God does is from His love, and if we cease to love, then we have cut ourselves away from God, because “God is love” (1 John 4:16) and also St. John says, “My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:18). So this means our goal would not be to show off how much we know about our faith, but to bring these people to the knowledge of Christ and give them the same hope that we have which is within us.
If one goes to the Orthodox Churches in America, depending on which culture is represented, for example Greek, Russian, Armenian, Syrian, more than likely one will not find anyone except those cultures in that church, so where is the evangelism? It makes it very hard for Americans to convert to Orthodox Christianity when the people in the Church don’t know English and when people come to visit, the laity don’t know how to explain the faith to them, and even worse, might end up explaining the culture to them! But the situation is getting much better, there are two of these cultural churches that have done more evangelism than the rest, these two (as to my knowledge) are the Greeks and the Copts (Egyptians). These two have spread themselves far and wide over the United States of America; others tend to focus themselves only in a couple of states. The cultural aspect has actually become a major problem in America for the youth of these churches, because many of the youth have grown up here while their parents have not. Not only that, but the fact that it is another culture within a country that doesn’t share the same culture, causes us to be bothered by each other and discouraged. Father Bishoy Andrawes, a Coptic Priest, compared this situation to many fish in small fishbowl, he said, “When you put some fish in a container, small container, they grow big, what are they going to do after that? They are going to eat each other. Yeah. They are going to just have nothing to do. They are going to bother each other… I think that is what we do in the Church, we grow fat, and then we start to criticize each other and blame each other, and judge each other. But when you put these fish in the sea… they breed, have a lot of children, they grow healthier because that’s what God wants. When you put them in the sea, in the ocean, they breed, they have lots of fruits.”
Let us remember the Apostles and their work of evangelism. Let us follow their example and bring people to Christ. And may God grant us His wisdom when we are asked about our hope and faith. And glory be to God both now and ever and unto the age of all ages. Amen.
These verses are known as the Great Commission. They record the commandment of our Lord sending us into the world to preach the Gospel. It is the duty of every Christian to tell others about Jesus Christ. Now not all of us might be called to be evangelists or missionaries, but it isn’t only for evangelists or missionaries to TALK ABOUT the Gospel. Evangelists and missionaries are called to PREACH and SPREAD the Gospel, and they have received the Holy Spirit to do so. Others might be called to other forms of service, but we are all told to defend the faith and hope that is in us.
The Church of God is the body of Christ, and St. Paul the Apostle refers to this saying, “For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member but many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. And if they were all one member, where would the body be?” -1 Corinthians 12:12-19
This whole point is emphasized to show that we all have different forms of service to offer God and the Church. The majority of Protestants today always talk about evangelism, giving it more weight and importance over prayer and other things vital to the Christian life. They teach all to be evangelists, but this isn’t right, because as St. Paul said, “If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing?” and so on. They criticize those who dedicate their lives to prayer by saying that they have cut themselves off from the world and have broken the Lord’s commandment. They forget that it was Moses who raised his hands while Israel fought in the valley, and as long as he had his hands raised Israel prevailed. This is a symbol of the spiritual war we are in as Christians, and how we are one body. Those whom Israel fought in the valley were symbolic of the spiritual powers that fight against us, and those from Israel who fought are symbolic of those who serve in the Church, whether Priests, Deacons, Evangelists, Teachers, etc. Moses was symbolic of those who pray for the service of the Church, and without him raising his hands, Israel was losing. This is symbolic of how we must have both service and prayer, but the service comes because of the prayer, without the prayer, the enemies prevail.
Today, we deal with much more people than any other generation before us dealt with in their lifetime. With all the schools, social networks, and text messaging, we have an opportunity to reach many people around us. But for some reason or another, we, especially the Orthodox don’t share our faith with others, even our best of friends. Why is it that we are not afraid to talk about sex, drugs, music, and gossip, but we are afraid to share our faith? I read in an article, I believe it was attached to the Orthodox Study Bible that said “the Orthodox Church is the best kept secret of America.” Now from certain aspects this is a very good thing, but from another aspect it means most people haven’t heard about us, and that is probably because we don’t share our faith. The Greek Orthodox have been here since the middle of the 19th Century, and there was a Russian Orthodox Saint, St. Herman, who preceded them and preached in Alaska to the indigenous tribes such as the Eskimos, in the 18th Century, while George Washington was still in office as President of the United States of America. St. Herman brought Orthodoxy to this continent, and translated the Bible for the first time to the language of the Native American tribes of Alaska. The Armenian Orthodox have been here since the early 1900s, the Syrian Orthodox since the 1950s, and the Coptic Orthodox since the late 1960s and early 1970s. It has been a long time since Orthodox Christians have arrived in America but not many Americans have heard about us.
Evangelism’s motive should be out of love, because if it isn’t out of love, it is meaningless, because everything God does is from His love, and if we cease to love, then we have cut ourselves away from God, because “God is love” (1 John 4:16) and also St. John says, “My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:18). So this means our goal would not be to show off how much we know about our faith, but to bring these people to the knowledge of Christ and give them the same hope that we have which is within us.
If one goes to the Orthodox Churches in America, depending on which culture is represented, for example Greek, Russian, Armenian, Syrian, more than likely one will not find anyone except those cultures in that church, so where is the evangelism? It makes it very hard for Americans to convert to Orthodox Christianity when the people in the Church don’t know English and when people come to visit, the laity don’t know how to explain the faith to them, and even worse, might end up explaining the culture to them! But the situation is getting much better, there are two of these cultural churches that have done more evangelism than the rest, these two (as to my knowledge) are the Greeks and the Copts (Egyptians). These two have spread themselves far and wide over the United States of America; others tend to focus themselves only in a couple of states. The cultural aspect has actually become a major problem in America for the youth of these churches, because many of the youth have grown up here while their parents have not. Not only that, but the fact that it is another culture within a country that doesn’t share the same culture, causes us to be bothered by each other and discouraged. Father Bishoy Andrawes, a Coptic Priest, compared this situation to many fish in small fishbowl, he said, “When you put some fish in a container, small container, they grow big, what are they going to do after that? They are going to eat each other. Yeah. They are going to just have nothing to do. They are going to bother each other… I think that is what we do in the Church, we grow fat, and then we start to criticize each other and blame each other, and judge each other. But when you put these fish in the sea… they breed, have a lot of children, they grow healthier because that’s what God wants. When you put them in the sea, in the ocean, they breed, they have lots of fruits.”
Let us remember the Apostles and their work of evangelism. Let us follow their example and bring people to Christ. And may God grant us His wisdom when we are asked about our hope and faith. And glory be to God both now and ever and unto the age of all ages. Amen.
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