“O Word, have mercy upon us who are despised, and make us good and chosen vessels.”

Sunday Matins Oktoechos, Tone 6

I was struck by this brief and passing line this past Sunday during Matins (11/23). I was struck with a sense of both joy and sorrow, mixed and intense. As Orthodox Christians all over the world prepare to enter into the joy-filled celebration of the nativity of Jesus of Nazareth it is good to be reminded that not everyone in the world marvels at what we consider one of creation’s most awesome events. In fact it is good to be reminded that many in the world outright loathe the birth of this baby. As I sit here in my little room, in my little home, in my little city, and in what amounts to my little world, it is hard to imagine anyone loathing the birth of Jesus. Yet I remember how immediately at Jesus’ birth King Herod and all Jerusalem were “troubled” by the rumored birth of the King of the Jews, and how Herod sought “to destroy him” (Matthew 2); and though it may not have been apparent his entire life, the One who would become the “suffering servant” would actually be despised right up to the injustice which led to his murder. The spirit of Herod is one of concern to me as it should be for all of us, for it certainly did not die with Jesus. The Lord Himself warned His disciples precisely about this: “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you” (John 15:18-20). It is hard to be reminded of this truth but it is foolish not to be!

While we were on vacation in San Diego earlier this month I had the to opportunity to play golf. Since I was alone I was assigned to play with two other men. It is customary to carryon small talk while playing and at some point people usually ask the obvious question, “So, what do you do?” When it was my turn to answer I of course said, “I am a priest in the Orthodox Christian Church”; and suddenly the sounds of nature were never so loud! Thankfully, tolerance governed the remaining holes of the round but there was very much a different spirit in the group before and after this customary conversation. On this particular day the silence was obvious and brutal!

I received a small but pointed lesson that day. I doubt that those men “despised” me. They certainly did nothing overt or unkind which could indicate that. However, the level of discomfort those men displayed when I disclosed my priesthood was evident and was a stark reminder of the spirit of the age. In this situation, as neutral as it was, the mere presence of a priest unsettled these men. In one way or another Christians will always be up against a relentless adversary!

I received a more dramatic example of the growing disparagement of Christianity in a forwarded e-mail of an ABC television representative responding to criticism from a Christian viewer offended by a homosexual theme of an episode of the show, “The Practice”. He responded: “How about getting your nose out of the Bible (which is ONLY a book of stories compiled by MANY different writers hundreds of years ago) and read the declaration of independence (what our nation is built on), where it says “All Men are Created equal,” and try treating them that way for a change! Or better yet, try thinking for yourself and stop using an archaic book of stories as your lame crutch for your existence. You are in minority in this country and your [opinion] will not affect us or our freedom of statement.”

While we ask God to “make us good and chosen vessels” we know there is little else we can do to change the attitudes of others towards the Christian faith. The birth of Jesus Christ was about reconciliation on one hand and about division on the other (see Luke 12:51-53); consequently we know that we will be despised by some. Our hope, therefore, is not in the praise and acceptance of men who do not care to hear the Word of love, peace and healing that comes from unambiguous Truth and morality; rather it is in our convictions about the incarnate God, humbly born in that Bethlehem cave. While understanding that the spirit of Herod is still alive, our hope is in God and the coming (advent) of Christ Who has shown us great mercy and has given us all we need to live as His good and chosen vessels!

“I will come into Thy house in the multitude of Thy mercy; and in Thy fear I will worship toward Thy holy temple. Lead me, O Lord, in Thy righteousness because of mine enemies; make Thy way straight before me, that with a clear mind I may glorify Thee forever, One Divine Power worshipped in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.”

The Prayer on Entering a Church

As we move closer in time to the reality of our own church facility I believe this is a good time to reflect a moment on an important point of piety that requires our attention now and especially when we are in our new building. At Edgewood College there was separation between our worship space and fellowship space. At Eagle School, as it will be in our new facility, these two spaces are essentially the same. This inevitably begs the question: “When will our h’s new building be a ‘church’ and when will it be a ‘fellowship hall’?” For the past four years we have been blessed with the opportunity to experience this good “tension”.

The Orthodox Church views the sanctification of space no differently than it does the sanctification of life or the sanctification of time. Sanctity in this context is equated to holiness, meaning to be “set apart.” Our lives are set apart in that we have been “called out” of the world to be examples to the world of God’s love and fulfilled promise. Our time has been set apart in that we are called to be stewards and priests of God’s creation for the purpose of offering our lives, “all our lives”, to the glory of God. The spaces where we live are sanctified by the blessing of homes that occur when we move into a new home and the walls are “sealed” with the oil of blessing; or each year at Theophany when we bless and rededicate this “space” to the glory of God as a “little church” and a place of heavenly refuge from the spiritual conflicts of worldly cares. It is no different, and even more powerfully so because of the heavenly worship that resides therein, that our church buildings are set apart, sanctified as the dwelling place of God.

St. Ignatius Mission was founded mainly by cradle Orthodox who have an ingrained sense of this piety, although I myself was raised in an Orthodox tradition of piety that was not as intense as other Orthodox traditions. Yet while my Byzantine background may have seemed a little more “casual” than those of a Slavic background, there is no question that my Orthodoxy instilled in me an awareness of the sacred nature of the “consecrated” space of the church building itself. I remember vividly the former Archbishop Iakovos coming to Assumption Greek Orthodox Church and the service where he ritually dedicated—consecrated—the church. I remember the washing of the altar table and the placing of the relic within it. I remember the overpowering smell of overheated beeswax that was used to seal the relic in the altar. I remember the placing of the white cloth over the altar table, like the baptismal garment of the newly illumined, and its further “vesting” with beautiful golden brocade cloth. I remember holding a candle in the joyous procession around the inside of the church as the walls were anointed with holy chrism, “sealed” with the gift of the Holy Spirit. I remember!

I believe each of us at St. Ignatius Mission has sought and continues to seek a sense and expression of piety; while at the same time doing so without sacrificing basic Christian joy which can be lost when people become legalistic about such matters. I am very thankful for this and offer these thoughts not out of urgency; rather I offer them simply to remind and challenge us, especially with the possibilities of growth that will face us once we enter our new building. The discussion of “church etiquette” is one that needs to be revisited from time to time, especially in a world where virtually all aspects of our lives are influenced more and more by “casual” attitudes. Topics such as when and when not to enter or exit the nave of the church, when to stand or sit in church, talking or visiting in church, the modesty of dress, etc., require vigilant effort on our part in order to resist any temptations to a casual or even careless attitude. The very fact that we have a prayer to pray when we enter the church building should be a strong indicator of our pious responsibilities. In that we have been using and are planning to build a “multi-purpose” facility requires us to be extra aware of our responsibility to remember the sacredness of our worship space which will also be used as a place of fellowship and education. From the ordained priest to each member of the royal priesthood this is a priority of piety which I hope will continue to guide our community.

“When she saw where the soldiers had driven them, she cried out to the mountain: ‘O mountain of God, receive a mother with her child!’, and the rock opened and hid the mother and child inside itself.”

From The Prologue from Ochrid – September 5, the feast day of the Holy Prophet Zacharias

Miracles! Why are they sometimes so hard to believe? Or maybe the question should be, “Why are some miracles simple to believe while others are simply unbelievable?” True, there are several different levels of stories and miracles reported in the lives of the saints, from the historically accurate to what some call “legend”. For example there is a “legend” reported in the life of our holy patron, St. Ignatius of Antioch. The story of his martyrdom concludes with the Christians of Rome entering the coliseum when the lions had finished with the holy bishop to “gather up the heartier pieces” of his remains for proper burial. Legend tells us that as his heart lay open on the ground the Christians discovered the letters IC XC (Jesus Christ) written in gold inside his heart. Another legend, though much more historically feasible, tells us that when St. Ignatius was a young child he was the child whom Jesus “took… and put in the midst of [the disciples]” (Mark 9:36). Maybe some of you have wondered why the Church has assigned this Scripture passage to be read on the feast day of St. Ignatius?

I was intrigued by the question of miracles when I read the story of the Holy Prophet Zacharias, the father of St. John the Baptist, from the Prologue this past month. More of the story goes as follows:

“and Zacharias was made dumb from that moment, and did not speak until his son was born and he had written on a tablet: ‘His name is John.’ Then his mouth was opened, and he glorified God. Later, when the Lord Christ was born and Herod began killing the children in Bethlehem, he sent men to find Zacharias’s son and kill him, for he had heard of all that had happened to Zacharias and how John was born. Seeing the soldiers, Elisabeth took John in her arms—he was eighteen months old at that time—and fled from the house with him to a rocky and desert region. When she saw where the soldiers had driven them, she cried out to the mountain: ‘O mountain of God, receive a mother with her child!’, and the rock opened and hid the mother and child inside itself. Herod, furious that John had not been killed, ordered that Zacharias be cut down before the altar. Zacharias’s blood spilled over the marble and became as hard as stone, remaining thus as a witness to Herod’s wickedness. At the place where Elisabeth hid with John, a cave opened and a spring flowed forth, and a fruit-bearing palm grew up by God’s power. Forty days after Zacharias’s death, blessed Elisabeth also entered into rest. The child John stayed in the wilderness, fed by an angel and guarded by God’s providence, until that day when he appeared by the Jordan.”

As I read this story I could not help but think about conversations I’ve had, especially with inquirers and converts to Orthodoxy, regarding the believability of such events. I know that the part about Zacharias not speaking would be believable because it is “in the Bible.” Maybe with some biblical awareness one might know that the Zacharias Jesus referred to in Matthew 23:35 was Zacharias, the father of St. John. However, I can just hear the questions about the rock opening and the commonly held Orthodox tradition that St. John was raised in the wilderness and fed by an angel from about the age of two.

There are countless examples of such miracles throughout the history of the Church. The question raised then is which ones do we “have to believe?” My answer would be that no one is being forced to believe anything specific about the life of a saint and that if someone refused to believe certain things it is up to their conscience. I would only caution such doubt because of what it does to nurture the passions of prideful opinion and self-reliance. When I let myself doubt one thing, soon it can lead to another, and another, and another; and pretty soon we are questioning the Incarnation of God and the Virgin birth of Jesus, or the validity of Holy Communion and the surety of the Resurrection, or the need for the Church to guide our Christian faith. One need not look far to see these doubts existing not only in secular atheistic circles but in some “Christian” circles as well!

As Orthodox Christians we are challenged by historical traditions which include embellished stories of many holy heroes from the past. A grain of salt is very tiny but maybe with judicious and spiritually mature usage we can bypass the temptation to doubt and leave ourselves open not only to the possibility that such things did happen in the lives of St. Ignatius, St. John and countless others, but also to the possibility that miracles of many kinds are happening right now in the unfolding of our own lives. Who knows, maybe one day.

“Do not hold the commandment to love in contempt, for through it you will become a son of God The kingdom of God is characterized by humility and gentleness.”

St. Maximus the Confessor

August was a month to remember though at this moment it seems a blur! The faces of children fill my God’s eyes, especially the children of Camp St. George, where I was wonderfully connected to the spiritual joy and “mountain top” experience of summer church camp. From the beginning of staff training to our final goodbyes at camp’s end, we succeeded by the grace of God to present a vision of community as the basis for camp life. What happened was nothing short of miraculous. One hundred or so relative strangers became a family. There was an amazing spirit of cooperation and freedom that exists when boundaries are defined and maintained and when people feel safe. In a place where rebellious behavior was rare and even frowned upon by the peer group itself, the atmosphere was free and friendly and God’s love and joy was felt by all! I am very thankful!

My meditation comes from a comparison of this experience to that of our vacation in the life of our 2-1/2 year old son, Anthony. P.K.s (t’s kids) like Anthony who have the opportunity to be associated with summer camp at this young age often take on the unofficial role of “camp mascot.” By the end of camp Anthony was either being invited or inviting himself to the dinner tables of the different cabin groupings. Sometimes we wouldn’t see him for entire meals. In other settings, where it was safe for him, the older children were always welcoming him with hugs and little conversations. This friendly and welcoming spirit was the norm for Anthony and we were very pleased to see him respond warmly to this very natural human exchange.

By contrast, Anthony had a very different experience while we were camping up in Door County. Vanessa shared with me a recurring observation she made on the occasions when she was out with Anthony at the campground or when she took Anthony into town on the day I played golf. She observed Anthony being naturally friendly with other children, usually by offering a kind “Hello” and, with very few exceptions, the responses ranged from aloof silence to outright hostile facial and body language. At first I reduced Vanessa’s reports to over-protective mothering until I saw it for myself when Anthony tried to say hello to another child at a restaurant. I still find it hard to believe that people, especially children, can be so exaggeratedly unfriendly!

I am not going to over-analyze these behaviors. Thankfully there were a few “normal” responses to y’s friendliness which gave us a break from having to affirm or encourage him (I don’t think he was deterred in his interest in others and we hope he never will be!). Is simple neighborly kindness, like many other human pleasantries, eroding from our social landscape? If so, why? Considering this, it made me even that much more thankful for Anthony’s Camp St. George experience. It also made me lament the many forms of violence which are seemingly imploding two of the most basic of freedoms that this country once afforded her citizens—the freedom to feel safe and the freedom to be kind to our neighbor. This erosion is not just from the aggression of international terror or ongoing national crime, there is also a violence that comes from a self-centered and self-satisfied materialism which I believe desensitizes men (and especially children) to the basic virtue of appreciation for one’s neighbor.

The miracle of Camp St. George was that in the presence of a Godly vision, with prayer and fasting in preparation for the Feast of Holy Dormition, with clearly defined expectations and a safe environment and in the absence of television, computers, cell phones and strip malls, we were given a gift to experience life free from terror and materialism and full of Godly fraternity and kindness. My hope for Anthony, and all of us, is that we can build upon this warmth to the glory of God and resist the heart-hardening, love-diminishing realities that the passions of this world can bring.

“But Thou, O Lord most loving, long-suffering and merciful, hast not given me over to perish in my sins, but dost ever await my return.”

Pre-Communion Prayer of St. Basil the Great

Oftentimes the familiar is suddenly and wonderfully highlighted against the background of life’s routine. How does a scripture read a hundred times suddenly sparkle with new meaning? How does a prayer prayed countless times surprisingly become an inspired source of comfort or illumination? During the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy at the recent Parish-Life Conference I asked myself these questions. The priest’s role at the liturgy is minor when the bishop presides, which that day left me time to read pre-Communion prayers when I normally would have been preparing the Eucharistic offering. When I read these words of St. Basil I was overcome with a new sense of warmth and assurance and was reminded again of the limitless depth of each word given by God to His Holy Church!

When God seems far away and the challenges of each day appear to mount beyond one’s ability to stand; when sin’s grip looks to restrict one’s ability to loosen the tight hold of temptation; when the devil’s deceit steals from us our trust in God’s strength and mercy; it is words like these which lead us back to a place of hope and peace. In our fallen state it is natural from time to time to feel as though we are “perishing.” Yes, the life we have been given in this world is blessed as “good” (Genesis 1:4-31) and God in His Advent has promised us a life of “abundance” (John 10:10) but we can never forget that this life is tainted with sin and our ultimate enemy, death. Despite God’s promise and the goodness of this life, we are perishing.

When God gave mankind His law, it was then that our sins were revealed (Romans 3:20). God knows that we are unable to follow His laws by our own strength and that even though the law is good eventually man would need His grace to “fight the good fight” (1 Tim. 6:12). In Christ we are given this grace, and ultimately victory; even though our bodies are still subject to the consequence of the fall, in the resurrection our souls are no longer held captive by the devil’s deceit. It is our faith in this victory which helps us lift our heads when we are cast down under the hopeless weight of our sins. It is our faith in this victory which encourages us to fight the fallen inclinations of our flesh. It is our faith in this victory which stirs us to return as many times as necessary to the waiting arms of our “most loving, long-suffering and merciful” God.

Here it is important to recognize the need for repetition in our relationship with God. When we take a long, hard and honest look at life we see repetition in virtually ever quadrant of daily routine. Some people are so caught up in routine that even the slightest variation can cause an upset affecting many other areas of their lives. When a man travels he plans and follows a specific route. Should he depart from his route he might find himself lost along the way. The more he travels that route the more familiar he becomes with it. While at the beginning of his travels his face might have been buried in his map, as the number of trips increase the more he is able to lift his head to see and appreciate the scenery of his route. The more familiar he becomes with his route the more he may be able to slightly alter his route to explore other aspects of his journey without veering from his proven route and from his final destination. So it is in our relationship with God; with prayer and with worship. Repetition in prayer is criticized in some circles as “dead” or “man-made” but to Orthodox Christians it is the basis of our journey towards God’s Kingdom. We do not claim that others cannot find their own way but what we do know is that we have a well-worn path before us, prepared by centuries of repetition and triumph. Why would I want to depart from this path? Why can’t I appreciate the energy and wisdom that has been put into the clearing of this path? Is it not better for me through repetition to become good at walking this proven path rather than to spend so much energy carving my own and possibly missing the finer points of progress that can be made once a certain level of skill and proficiency is attained? I believe this is what happens when we become good at the routine and repetition of worship and prayer. The Holy Spirit comes in His time to comfort, inspire, reveal, abide and, maybe most importantly, reconcile.

Clarity can be elusive so I am thankful when it comes. We have very simple tasks set before us; to recognize our need for God and to trust in His welcoming and merciful nature. We should be impressed by God’s love and nurture, leading always to the increase of faith. We should be patient and appreciative in our repetition, knowing that God has given us these words in surety to prepare our hearts to receive His true touch and to lead us always back to Him.