The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew. (6:14-21)

On this beautiful Sunday, just a day before we jump into the lovely waters of Great and Holy Lent, the Church as a wise mother gives us this reading which comes in fact from the sermon on the mount. These are precious words of our Lord Jesus Christ and they remind us that what is contained within the 4 gospels is more important than anything that has ever been written in history. In fact, these gospels are the very foundations of our society. Some might wonder why the gospel book on the table is wrapped in gold plated material. It is to remind us that what is contained within the 4 books of the holy gospels is nothing less than gold! In actuality it is so much more precious than gold. If I gave a man on the street the choice between a block of gold and the 4 books of the gospels there is little doubt that he would take the gold brick and run. But in actuality what is within the gospels can make us truly rich people. It can change lives and it can help to give us an inheritance that makes the gold brick look like a mere speck of dust in comparison.

The message given to us today in this most precious gospel is that before we begin our lenten struggle to grow closer to Jesus Christ, and to His Father, we should first be reconciled to everyone else. Just like the wise builder we are forced by our Lord to ensure that the foundations of our repentance are built on rock solid ground. And how do we know that in fact our repentance is built on solid ground? We know it when we have forgiven everyone of everything wrong that they have ever done towards us. It might make some of us wonder and say “what does this have to do with our own repentance with God?” The short answer is “everything.” When someone comes to their senses and leaves their life of sin and darkness and comes to Christ, the first thing that they do is fall on their knees and beg God to forgive them of all their many sins. We come to God in a broken state and we have nothing to offer Him. Yet He is generous with us and offers us what is needed to make a new start, that is, His divine forgiveness. With this sense of forgiveness we begin again and we stand up straight, no longer bowed down with the extreme weight of our sins.

This Sunday is our reminder that we were once estranged from God and yet He accepted us back into His heart. If we have known this forgiveness the only logical outcome is that we will also pour out this kind of radical forgiveness on those who seek it from us. In fact the worst possible scenario is one in which we continually remember the faults and wrongdoings of others even after they have asked or begged for our forgiveness. If we don’t forgive them there can be little doubt that our prayers won’t even be heard by God. And we actually say this every day when we recite the Lord’s prayer “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespassed against us.” That is a bold statement and we would do well not to pray it unless we believe it and practice it. St. Mark the ascetic says that “The sign of sincere love is to forgive wrongs done to us. It was with such love that the Lord loved the world.”

One cannot help but think about the state of our society and the way that it is quickly degenerating. This is a sign of our turn away from Christian teaching and from belief that God truly exists. One sign of this is that many people feel themselves to be victims. They believe that they have been wronged and they seek revenge or justice. Everyone is keeping score all the time. One is a victim of this “ism”, another is a victim of that “ism.” I wonder what would happen if we turned from keeping score of all the wrongdoing against us and started to practice radical forgiveness? We might not even think this is a possibility for us. I wonder what might happen if we decided that the story that defined our lives wasn’t about victimhood but about our love for our enemies, both actual and perceived? That would be a radical departure from the current trends that lead to division and it would no doubt, set the world on fire with the love of God.

The Church is the society of God. So we as a group are the first to model the behavior that is taught to us by the Lord Jesus Christ. It is so important to us that we will even come together tonight to truly ask forgiveness of one another. Let’s not lose this opportunity. If anyone has done you wrong, forgive them quickly from the bottom of your heart. Whether the one who has sinned or upset you was your friend or your brother or sister, your son or daughter, your father or mother, forgive them all in a way that confirms without a shadow of a doubt, that you understand what Christ has done to forgive you.

Let the beginning of this holy season be a time to ask forgiveness of others and to accept others requests for our forgiveness. This is what the love of Jesus Christ looks like. May this love also be ours. Glory be to God forever, AMEN.

Source: Sermons

The reading is from the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew 25:31-46

One of the joys of serving in the priesthood is that any given day can turn out to be an adventure.  When the phone rings, you never know exactly what is coming.  This week someone called the church thinking that we were Roman Catholic and asking me if I would come and perform “last rites” for someone who was dying.  In our tradition of course, there is no such “last rites” but we perform the sacrament of Holy Unction for anyone who is sick, at any time, including on their deathbed.  After talking to them I figured out that they were not Orthodox Christians and I told them that I was not a Roman Catholic priest but that I was willing to come and pray with them and anoint the man who was dying with another blessed oil.  After all, I was not sure how long the man would live or if they would be able to get a Roman priest to visit in time.  They agreed.  I’m sharing all of this with you for a reason, as you will soon see.

I ended up at their home and I went in and saw the older man who was sick.  He was asleep or unconscious, I did not know which.  I did what I could do.  I prayed for him.  I asked God to forgive his sins.  I anointed him with some blessed oil (not the Holy Unction).  But ultimately I have no idea what kind of a life he had lived.  He was preparing to stand before the throne of the judgment seat of God and there was only so much that I could do for him.

The time to prepare for our end is not just when we are on our deathbed or when we find out that we are very ill.  The time to prepare for our end is every single day because we don’t know the hour and the day when we will go to meet the Holy King.  On this the second to last Sunday before we plunge into the waters of Great Lent, the Church reminds us that we are all going to face the same fate.  We are all going to pass through the path of death one day.  So as a mercy, we are reminded that the Lord Jesus Christ has taught us exactly what is expected of us.

When I was in school we would always be nervous about upcoming tests.  There were times when a test could blindside you.  You felt as if you might see questions that you had not anticipated and for which you were simply not ready.  But at times you would get a really kind teacher who would say “I’m giving you a test but these are the questions that will be on the test.  Make sure you are prepared to answer these questions.”  

In a way, this is what the Lord Jesus is doing in today’s gospel reading.  He is giving us the questions to the exam.  He is telling us exactly what is expected of us and on what we are going to be judged.  He is not trying to spring it on us or catch us in some kind of a trap.  He is trying to prepare us in the best way possible.  But we need to be reminded that life is short and that something is expected of us.  Have we fed the hungry, given drink to the thirsty, clothed the naked, visited the sick and the imprisoned?  These are the questions on the exam.  How will we answer?  Only you can decide that for yourself.  

Why do these things matter to the Lord Jesus?  Why are they required of us?  Because those who belong to God must be clothed with love.  These act of mercy are some of the ultimate signs of love.  And love is the sign that we know God and are part of His family.

As we are getting geared up for the holy fast, we are likely to focus on things that at the end of the day won’t be on the exam.  We focus on coming to services and fasting and all of the other parts of Lent, but God won’t judge us on these.  He has already told us what is on the test.  “So why should we fast and attend the extra services?” One might ask.  The answer is because these practices and disciplines force us to look outside ourselves and to they help us grow in love by the grace of God.  The lenten struggles and disciplines that we are getting ready to undertake are there to stretch us past our comfort zone and to make us vessels that are able to carry God’s love and mercy to others through the work of the Holy Spirit.  They are meant to help us be numbered among the righteous.  They are meant to help us towards the goal that we all want, namely, our salvation.    

The final exam is coming one day and we already have the questions, but how will we respond?  Who will we be numbered with?  Will we inherit eternal life?  The Lord Jesus tells us that it will depend on whether or not we have shared the things of this life, our life, with those in need.  Our food, our clothing, our comforting presence.  May God number us among the righteous and may He reward us with the true and unending life.  Glory be to God forever, AMEN.

Source: Sermons

The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Luke. (15:11-32)

All of God’s activity in the world is focused on the salvation of humanity. The God who is love is the God who has sent His only begotten Son for us. This God has one great focus…each of us and our souls. Today’s parable is a glimpse into the mind of God and the way that He desires our fellowship and union with Him.

Our Lord Jesus Christ tells us this story about a man who had two sons. The younger son asked for his share of the inheritance from his father and his father agreed to divide out the sons portion and give it to him. We are amazed to find that the father gives this without arguing or hesitation. We are also surprised to find that God wants to give us according to our hearts desire, just as the father gave to his son in this parable. We notice that the son did not have anything in his own name, but wanted to take what was actually his father’s.

We all act similarly to this young man. We look at our lives and we often think that certain things are owed to us. We act as if everything that we desire is actually our birthright. This kind of feeling of entitlement is not a good thing. In fact it a sign of the ultimate act of rebellion against God. We take what is not rightly ours and we consider it our own. We take what was not rightly ours and we forget the source from whom these blessings came. This is what the young son has done in this story and this is what we do with our lives.

It was only a matter of time before the young man ruined his life. He had everything that he could ever want or desire, or so he thought. But all of this was a temporary gain. He would lose it all in the blink of an eye and be back to square one as a young immature boy with nothing to his name. We do the same as this young man when we take what rightly belongs to the Lord and use it in whatever way we see fit, even in ways that are against God. One example in our modern society is the argument around abortion. We are told that it is the woman’s right and the woman’s body. But all of this presupposes that God doesn’t exist, that we don’t belong to Him and don’t answer to Him.

We do the same in our day to day lives. We use our bodies and minds and lips and our energy, all of these things that are gifts from God, in ways that are not always pleasing to God. Why do you exist? Do you exist to serve yourself? Do you exist to pass your time until you grow old and die? NO! You exist because God has breathed His life into you and because of that we know that God has a purpose for your life. Each of you is important, each of you is a son or a daughter like this young man. And each of us is lost when we think that we can live on our own, independent of the Father. The young man thought the same thing and soon he found himself without the friends and the parties and without a penny left to his name. As he went to work for one of the people in the fields, feeding swine, his heart began to turn back to his father and to his home. What was it that began the process of the turning of the heart? It was his hunger.

Why do we fast to prepare for the Great Feast of Pascha (Easter)? Because it is the hunger that brings us to our right mind and turns us back to God our Father, and to His house, which is the Church. The young man fasted unwillingly, due to his own foolishness. We as Christians fast willingly due to the wisdom of the Church. We want to hunger and thirst and desire after God and the shortcut to ardent desire and longing for God is to grow hungry.

Our bodies are closely tied to our salvation as well as our condemnation. We are preparing for the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and for our own resurrection from the dead, and this resurrection is in order to stand before the throne of God and be judged for our deeds done in the body. So we prepare to take this time of Lent to do according to the words of the Apostle Paul and “I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified” 1 Cor 9:27. As we bring our bodies into subjection we find that our minds and heart will properly unite with the body and will not be improperly swayed and influenced by the desires of the body. We will be like the young man who after feeling true hunger, came to himself. He came to his right mind and turned his focus back to his father, he repented.

Great and Holy Lent is our time to repent and turn back to our Father. To understand that all of our desires are not filled by various things and material goods, not even with food! Our deepest desires are met by God our Father who loves us and freely gives us all things that belong to Him. The father celebrated his sons return as if he had come back from the dead. Let us also come back from the dead by the grace of God. Let us turn from the death of our sins and our earthly desires to the resurrection of life in communion with God our Father. It is truly God’s pleasure to give you everything that is His and He has proven this by giving us the very life of His Son, Jesus Christ so that He might give us His divine life. May we repent and come to our right minds, and may we run towards the Father. We will be surprised to see Him waiting for us and ready to embrace us, to love us and to bring us back into His own house to enjoy a great feast together with Him. To Him be the glory, Father, Son and Holy Spirit AMEN.

Source: Sermons

The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Luke. (18:10-14)

Great and Holy Lent is a preparation for the after-life, namely the standing before the fearful and awesome throne of God, who is King and Judge of all souls. This time before Lent is considered a preparation for the great preparation that is Lent.

Today we hear the short and truly powerful parable of the Pharisee and the publican or tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself “God, I thank Thee that I am not like other men, extortionists, unjust, adulterers or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.” We should be amazed by the Pharisee’s attitude towards prayer. He has a certain boldness but it is not born of hope in the Lord and in His generous mercy. The boldness has another source, the man’s ego and pride. He speaks to God as if he has absolutely no need of Him.

Perhaps this should be our first lesson today: If you don’t feel that you have a need for God, if you don’t pray like you have a need for God, do yourself a favor and don’t pray. “But Father, isn’t that a bit harsh”? Well let’s look at the result. The Lord Jesus tells us that the Pharisee did not leave justified before God. This alone tells us that his prayer was a waste. It was fruitless because it did not draw him near to God and because God did not draw near to the man.

What is worse is that the Pharisee sinned greatly in his half-hearted attempt to go through the motions of prayer. How did he sin greatly? The basis of his prayer was a judgment and comparison with other men. He went even further than that. He did not stop at judging other men in a general sense. He continued by looking at another poor soul and judging him directly. Through all of this we learn that the Pharisee’s practice of religion was impure and unfruitful. Yes he tithed, and yes he fasted twice a week, and yes, he even made the motions of prayer. But all of it was for nothing, in fact it was for his own condemnation. The Lord says of such a one “judge not, lest ye be judged.”

In the exact opposite measure, we see the success of the tax collector in entreating the Lord to come to his aid. He went to the temple knowing that he was no good. In fact, each and every one of us should only come to prayer if we first understand that we are not really very good at all. We sin all day long, whether in word or deed or thought, whether we know it or whether we don’t. One of the worst things that we can do when we pray is to minimize our sins while maximizing the sins of others. In fact that is the opposite of love. When we have love we understand our need for God and when we pray we also pray for others to be saved.

The tax collector approached God with a spirit of contrition and extreme humility and this is pleasing in the sight of God. When He sees this spirit within us, He draws near to us quickly because God Himself is a humble Spirit. As Elder Zacharias of Essex says “We have to become nothing, so that God can use us, because God creates from nothing.” All of this is fairly straightforward but it is not necessarily easy. To pray properly means to sit alone and to dig deep and understand just how far we are from God. We have to get to the point that the publican’s prayer becomes our prayer “God, be merciful to me a sinner!” Saying it with words is not enough.

The saints of our great and holy Church tell us that we have to say these words, mean these words, and live these words. St. Dorotheos of Gaza says “In the mercy of God, the little thing done with humility will enable us to be found in the same place as the saints who have labored much and been true servants of God.” What a treasure we have if we have humility! To see ourselves as last and everyone around us as better. To see ourselves as poor and sick and in need of a great physician is the best state of all because the great physician Jesus Christ will come to our aid and will give us healing and strength beyond anything that we can imagine or hope for. He will give us strength beyond strength as He shares His very divine nature with us. This is God’s desire and good pleasure for His children. Glory be to God forever AMEN.

Source: Sermons

The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Luke. (19:1-10)

Whenever we hear the familiar story of Zacchaeus, our minds begin to come alive with the thought and the memory of years past and we begin to seriously think about the fact that in just a few weeks, we will begin Great and Holy Lent, which is the most joyous, difficult and beautiful time in the whole life of the Church.

Already the Church is preparing us by giving us small bread crumbs on the path to our salvation and healing. That is what salvation is all about, the healing of the human person, the restoration of his soul. And Zacchaeus clearly demonstrates some of the steps that are necessary for anyone who desires to be healed and saved. You know, I meet many people who say that they desire to be saved or desire to know God or desire to acquire peace. Yet we cannot expect to desire such great things without some effort and work on our parts. If someone desires to be a great athlete, they will have to do more than wish for it to happen. They can’t sit on the couch and eat potato chips while watching the television. That will not help them progress. Likewise the person who wants to become a great author and write the next great American novel, will need to do more than read the work of others. He or she can’t daydream about stories forever. One day, they will need to put pencil to paper or sit in front of their computers and type. The work of salvation and of knowing God is infinitely more difficult than becoming a great athlete or an accomplished author because it involves every part of us and every waking moment of our lives. If we say that we desire these great things from God, we will have to work to prove that to be true. Let us look at the example of Zacchaeus and see what is required.

We are told that Zacchaeus “sought to see Who Jesus was.” What a simple first step. Notice that we are not told that He sought to see Jesus, but to “see Who Jesus was.” Which means that Zacchaeus had a desire to know more about the Lord Jesus. It wasn’t enough to trust the word of others. He had an intense desire to search for himself. But this intense desire was not enough. He acted upon this desire to climb up into the tree. Zacchaeus could have made many excuses as soon as his desire developed in his heart. He could have said “there are too many people” or “I am just not tall enough to see over the others” or even “I would climb into the tree but I am afraid that I will look extremely foolish.” But he did not make excuses or justify inaction. If we are serious about knowing Christ, we will not make excuses or justify our own inactions. This means that we have to be abundantly honest with ourselves, which is maybe the most difficult thing for us to do. The Lord will not appear and force you to seek and pursue him, you must cooperate with the grace of God that is given you and force yourself and your will towards Him.

When the Lord Jesus looked up in to the tree and saw Zacchaeus He said “Zacchaeus make haste and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” The next step that we see is a simple one. Zacchaeus promptly obeyed the Lord without hesitation. How often do we hear the Lord’s words to us in our scripture reading or in the words of the Sunday gospel? How often do we hear the words in our conscience? Are we responding to the word of the Lord like Zacchaeus? Do we obey the Lord quickly and without hesitation? Again we are required to be honest with ourselves.

Finally as the Lord Jesus draws near and enters the house of Zacchaeus we witness a transformation occurring. We shouldn’t be surprised that it is happening because the presence of the Lord is full of power and wonder even from the first moment. First, he gave half of his goods to the poor. This is a sign truly the love of the Son of God had permeated his heart and mind. He was being healed and restored by Christ to the image and likeness of a child of God. In addition to demonstrating this love for the poor, he also is showing us that he is completely detached from materialism and the acquiring of wealth. Perhaps that is when we truly know that someone has genuine faith, when they “put their money where their mouth is.” In addition to his generosity towards the poor and his detachment from materialism we see one final step on his path to salvation, he repents greatly and tries to make amends with those around him, saying that he will restore fourfold of whatever he has taken unlawfully or defrauded from anyone. Fourfold! If he unjustly charged an extra ten dollars, he would pay back forty. If it was an extra $100, he would pay back $400 and so forth and so on. Do we need to make amends with people around us? Do we need to make things right with people that we haven’t treated well?

All of the steps that Zacchaeus took to gain salvation are steps that each of us must also be willing to take. 1) Desire to see Who Jesus is. 2) Follow your desire with action. Speaking about the first and second steps we’ve mentioned here our saint of the day, Maximos the Confessor writes “The person who loves God values knowledge of God more than anything created by God, and pursues such knowledge ardently and ceaselessly.” 3) Promptly obey when the Lord instructs you. 4) Give alms to the poor and needy. Regarding this point, St. Maximos writes “The state of love may be recognized in the giving of money.” 5) Repent not only towards God but by making things right with those that you have wronged at any time in your past.

All of these steps are fairly straightforward but they require honesty and introspection and they call us to action. They are difficult, but Christ is infinitely worth any momentary difficulties we may face when trying to be healed and saved, which is His will for our lives. Zacchaeus followed the path of his desire and hunger for the Lord Jesus and by his faithfulness in a few things, the Lord granted salvation to him and to his household…all within the same day! May our Lord Jesus Christ come to dwell in our homes and in our hearts and allow us to share in this joyous salvation. Glory be to God forever, Amen.

Source: Sermons

The Reading from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Ephesians. (4:7-13)

In today’s epistle the holy apostle St. Paul writes “grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.” We will come back to that in a moment. He also writes“When He ascended on high He led a host of captives, and He gave gifts to men.” The “He” whom St. Paul refers to is Our Lord Jesus Christ, “When He ascended on high He led a host of captives, and He gave gifts to men.”

For our purposes I would like to focus on the second part of that phrase, “He gave gifts to men.” It is a well known fact God loves us so much that it wasn’t enough for Him to forgive us our sins. He did much more than this in order to prepare us to continue in good works which build up the Church, the body of Christ. St. Paul continues writing “And His gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers”. These are different roles within the community of the Church. Not every person fills every role, but each according to what God has given him to do. That is why we began the passage with the verse “grace was given to each according to the measure of Christ’s gift. This means that everyone within the Church has been given gifts not only for their own salvation but primarily for the salvation of others. And there is no use in being jealous or envious of the gifts that another person has because God is the giver of each whether we like it or not, and God gives to each in a different manner and not equally but everyone is given gifts from God for His purposes.

And then St. Paul says something really interesting, he tells us why these roles exist. “To equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

Who are these saints that are spoken of here? It is all of you. The Christians were understood to be holy and separate from those in the rest of society. They were considered holy because Christ our Lord is holy but they were also considered holy because they did not do the things that the outside world did. When their neighbors would run to pagan feasts and worship idols and fall into drunkenness and debauchery, those who were in the Church, kept themselves away from such things. They followed the will of the Lord.

When we are together, we are being equipped for the work of ministry. That tells us that each and every Christian within the Church is a minister of God. Each person has a ministry, a calling, a way that God can use their gifts and talents to build up the body of Christ (which is the Church). In our society, we are often taught to focus on what my gifts and talents can do for me as an individual. We begin to ask children from a very young age, what they would like to do when they grow up. We ask college students what they study. We almost never ask “How will you use your gifts for God and the profit of His Church?” It’s a pretty important question that we might want to begin asking our children, and that we might want to begin asking ourselves if we have never done it before.

St. Paul goes on and he tells us what it looks like as we build up the Church. He says that we build up the body of Christ “until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God.” So this tells us that even though we are all here, we are not all in the same place regarding our faith and our knowledge of the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ. So each of us has a calling to assist our brothers and sisters towards this goal. Each of us should have a personal goal of deeper knowledge of Our Lord and savior and we can deeply affect others by our struggle for deeper faith in Christ. There is no limit to the ways that God can use us to help others through our genuine struggles to know Him. St. Paul tells us that the goal for the Church is “unity of the faith and of knowledge of the Son of God.” We are meant to believe as one mind, to worship as one body, to love with one heart.

He goes on further with his description of our life within the Church. He tells us that the goal is “mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” What does that actually mean? Let’s ask the holy fathers of the Church. St. John Chrysostom says “By maturity he means here the perfecting of conscience. For a grown man stands firm while young boys’ wits are tossed about. So it is with the faithful. We mature until we attain the unity of the faith, that is, until we are all found to share a single faith. For this is unity of faith when we are all one, when we all alike acknowledge our common bond. Until then we must labor.”

We see from this epistle that everything that God has given us is for our benefit. Each of us is planted here in this place to fulfill His purposes, to put on the mind of Christ, to become mature human beings who reflect Jesus Christ, not just a little bit. Instead we are seen to be mature with the fullness of Christ, as saints who radiate Christ in every word, deed and even our very thoughts. This is why God has created us, this is why God has redeemed us, this is why God has given us gifts and this is why he has brought us all together as one body. Glory be to God Forever AMEN.

Source: Sermons

The reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. John. (1:29-34)

It is a great temptation to see the world around us and to try to fix it. We see the troubles, the trials, the suffering and we attempt to apply our human logic in a productive way to address the many problems of our world. Engineers try to build better gadgets or devices. Doctors try to find cures. Politicians write new laws. Some people work hard to try and make their world a better place. There is certainly nothing wrong with that. However, when we read the Holy Bible we are forced into a new way of thinking. We are forced to accept something that we don’t intuitively realize or understand at first. It is this realization that creates a paradigm shift and allows us to see the world with fresh eyes.

St. John the baptist opens our eyes and changes our reality with one sentence… “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world! In fact this tells us so much about John, about Our Lord Jesus Christ and about the world. John the baptist was a great prophet. He had a direct connection to God and spoke words of caution, correction and preparation to all of the people who came to him. He knows the problems of the world around him and for the most part, those problems have not really changed over two thousand years. People still get sick, some are in great debt, some have family issues, some suffer hunger and yet others suffer injustices. But John goes to the heart of the matter and tells us that the biggest problem facing each and every person who has their eyes towards the kingdom of God is not socioeconomic injustice or global freezing.  Our biggest problem according to St. John is the issue of sin.  As we think about sin we understand that it affects every man, woman and child both directly and indirectly. When we see the many troubles facing mankind and even creation, we can understand them to be the product of sin or rebellion against God and His teachings.

One of the shortcomings with all of the disciplines mentioned above is the ignorance of sin and how it affects us and divides us as people and disrupts our society. We are also unable to see how sin creates a wall between us and God. Sin is usually ignored because many people would rather not believe that God exists and God alone gives sin a frame of reference. Without God there is no sin, or so the thought goes. But take for instance the politician who helps create laws. If he creates a law that says murder is forbidden, will that alone stop people from committing murder? Not at all. The law does nothing to address the source of the problem which is the sinfulness in the heart of mankind. So we may hear these words of the gospel many times throughout our lives but we should never take them for granted. Sin exists, and it enveloped all of creation in its web of darkness. It had done so since the time of the first fall of Adam and Eve and it continued uninterrupted until God provided the Lamb.

The spotless lamb is an image which is used with regularity in the Old Testament. Lambs and goats were among the many animals that were offered and sacrificed on behalf of the people before the Lord. The spotless or perfect lamb in particular was sacrificed for the passover. John tells the Jews who came out to see and to hear him, that the One who was coming towards them at that very moment, was in fact the true Lamb of God. The spotless, blameless and perfect Lamb who would become the sacrifice not only for the Jewish people but for all of humanity, and even the whole cosmos. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ was still about three years away and yet His cousin St. John understood that this was ultimate purpose for the coming of Jesus Christ. He came to fix the things that can’t be fixed by doctors, engineers, lawyers, psychologists or gurus. He came to fix what could not be fixed by therapy, medicine, religious practice, meditation or self-help books. Christ came to fix our souls by wiping away our sins and freeing us from what is useless and unprofitable. In the prophecy of Isaiah chapter 1 verse 11-19 it is written:

“Of what value to me is the abundance of your sacrifices? saith the Lord: I am full of whole-burnt-offerings of rams; and I delight not in the fat of lambs, and the blood of bulls and goats: neither shall ye come with these to appear before me; for who has required these things at your hands? Ye shall no more tread my court. Though ye bring fine flour, it is vain; incense is an abomination to me; I cannot bear your new moons, and your sabbaths, and the great day; your fasting, and rest from work, your new moons also, and your feasts my soul hates: ye have become loathsome to me; I will no more pardon your sins. When ye stretch forth your hands, I will turn away mine eyes from you: and though ye make many supplications, I will not hearken to you; for your hands are full of blood. Wash you, be clean; remove your iniquities from your souls before mine eyes; cease from your iniquities; learn to do well; diligently seek judgment, deliver him that is suffering wrong, plead for the orphan, and obtain justice for the widow. And come, let us reason together, saith the Lord: and though your sins be as purple, I will make them white as snow; and though they be as scarlet, I will make them white as wool. And if ye be willing, and hearken to me, ye shall eat the good of the land:”

St. John understands the problem and he give us the solution.  He offers us the way to freedom by showing us the One who is the Way, the Truth and the Life.  May we diligently follow and be obedient to the teachings of this Lamb of God who desires to wipe away our sins. It is for this reason that He came and dwelt among us. Glory be to God forever, AMEN.

Source: Sermons

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to St. Mark. (1:1-8)

Christmas is about the coming of God to all of mankind. It is about His taking human flesh and dwelling with us, in order to suffer and die for us and save us, but God became man for another reason as well. So that we might hear His teachings. By the grace of God we are given the privilege of coming into His house every week and hearing His actual words. He loves us so much that He doesn’t tell us to go off on our own and figure things out. God does not want us to be lost, or confused. He teaches us with His words, to give us His teaching for our lives. In today’s reading, given to us on this the eve of the New Year, we hear these words “Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight.” If that is not a worthwhile New Year’s resolution, I am not sure what would be. Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight. But what does that actually mean for us? What is this path that we need to make straight? What is the way of the Lord, and how do we prepare it?

Perhaps we should not be surprised that ultimately these words refer to the heart. Christ desires to reign and to rule over His people by ruling in their hearts. And we who deeply desire to know Him more intimately, more deeply, are given the way forward here. We have to prepare the way of the heart and straighten the paths of the heart so that God can come to us, or rather, that we might come to Him. We prepare the way of the Lord in the same way that the people prepared the way for the Lord long ago, when these words were first spoken. We repent and we confess our sins and then we receive baptism or the washing away of our sins. Of course we know that in our Orthodox Christian faith, there can only be one baptism. So how can we be baptized again?

St. Basil the great says that the second baptism is the baptism of tears. We should pray in a heartfelt manner and reflect upon all of our sins. We should acknowledge that our sins have truly and violently separated us from the God who loves us and also from our families and friends. We should acknowledge that our sins have tainted every single thing that we have done in our lives. I should understand that my sins affect more than just me. They are felt within the whole community and even cosmically. Our sins are powerful. But God is more powerful by far.

Why should we start our New Year with this resolution? Because as Christians, we have stated that we desire to know God and be His sons and daughters. This, my brothers and sisters, is the only way to make our desire a reality; through true and heartfelt and even painful repentance. Anytime someone wants to build a house, we think that the first thing that must be done is to prepare a foundation. But it’s not true. The first thing that must be done is to clear a path for the materials and workers and equipment to come to the construction site.

The Lord Jesus will provide the materials, the workers and the equipment and He will even oversee the whole job. The materials are the sacraments that bring us the grace of God, especially Holy Communion. The workers are the clergy and our fellow brothers and sisters who minister to our needs and love us. The equipment is the Church and all that is contained in her. Her prayers, her discipline, her services, her hymns. All of that is provided by the chief architect and builder, who is Christ our Lord. What is required of us is to clear a path for Him to work. We have to give Him space to do His amazing work. The work requires patience and time and it requires us to genuinely struggle to keep the path clear and straight for the Lord. If the Lord is always battling for a spot on the path, we are bound for failure. But if we uproot the sins and the unnatural and downright demonic lusts of our hearts, then He can do a marvelous work in each of us. I know that some of you, hopefully all of you, would like to be saints. It is possible only if the heart is struggling for purity. So how do we struggle in a practical sense?

Our struggle is not just to avoid certain things, and certain activies. We have to struggle to actually do some things that are very important. We have to develop a spiritual rule for our lives. It has to be something that we do every single day, without fail. If you don’t think this is possible, remember that you shower, brush your teeth and eat nearly every day. The soul is also hungry, so allow God to feed it! First, Dedicate time to God every single day, at the very least with 10 minutes in the morning and 10 minutes in the evening. Don’t try to convince yourself or me that you don’t have the time. Our days are already numbered by God. There are plenty of prayer books and prayer apps that can be used and if you would like a recommendation, please see me later or send me an email. The end of each day should be marked with prayers of repentance and a daily private confession of your sins. This confession should be punctuated by confession with your father confessor at least 4 times a year and my recommendation is to confess early in the fasting periods as opposed to right before the feasts in order to get the biggest benefit, because “no one puts new wine into old wine skins”.

In addition we should definitely understand that purity is holistic and it builds upon our environment and our senses. Christians have no business watching filth, no matter what name that filth goes by, be it Game of Thrones or Walking Dead or Sex and the City or Will and Grace or whatever other nonsense to which we are exposing ourselves. Guard the door to your hearts ferociously, with zeal, because our God is a jealous God and He refuses to share space in our hearts. There is only enough room to love God and love your neighbors. Sometimes, even if what we are watching and doing is not awful, it can still be obscuring the path to our hearts. Facebook is not just a drain on your time, it is a drain on society. If you want to continue to use it, do so, but understand that when it replaces things that are spiritually productive, it becomes a great sin, because your life was given to you so that you would have fellowship with God and serve Him.

That is ultimately what this gospel reading is telling us, cleanse your hearts in an uncompromising way and allow space for God and what is holy, and then you will be quite surprised by the way that God breathes new life into you and into your life, your relationships, your school and your work. May the Lord bless the crown of the New Year by His grace and love towards mankind. AMEN.

Source: Sermons

The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Luke. (14:16-24)

Today’s gospel reading is given to us traditionally two Sundays before Christmas (the feast of Nativity). This Sunday is called the Sunday of the Forefathers or Ancestors of Christ. On this Sunday we hear this parable about the man who gave a great banquet. This reading is specifically appointed for this day, but the question is why?

What does the Sunday of the forefathers of Christ have to do with this parable about the grand banquet? The short answer is EVERYTHING. The man in the parable is the living God. This living God whom we worship and serve, has been inviting men and women into His great banquet for a few thousand years. He has extended this invitation to many, throughout the generations of the people of Abraham, and the generations that lead up to the Messiah Himself. But the sad truth is that while the invitation has been given freely, so many people have ignored or plainly rejected the invitation to come and to sit at the table with the Lord and to dine in His presence, to be treated to the most amazing banquet that we can possibly imagine.

As we prepare for the coming feast where we celebrate the earthly birth of the Lord and His taking on of human flesh, we are reminded that there were many who came before the Lord, who are related to the Lord. There are many who were invited, but only a few were ultimately chosen to taste of the Lord’s banquet. Two thousand years after the birth of Jesus Christ, we can say that in this regard, not much has changed. More people have been invited to this banquet, in fact, billions have been invited to this banquet. Yet the Lord is telling His servants to go out to the streets and lanes of the city, and to the highways and hedges in order to find more guests. He does this because He desires that His house may be filled.

We are part of those who are given an invitation to the banquet. In fact the Liturgy which we serve every week is a sign and symbol, a foreshadowing and a confirmation of the reality of this banquet. This mission alone has around 120 members. But where are those who were invited? Could they not afford the ticket? It was free. Could they not understand the services? They are said in the language of the land. Could they not find a seat? The seats are plentiful. Did they not receive an invitation? Far from it! The invitation is universal. Christ our Lord is inviting us to His heavenly banquet, to salvation, which is in truth a process of uniting with us and with our hearts. When we move past this little community we see the same thing in each of the churches. So many invited, so few who responded. What is worse is that these same people respond with eagerness to the invitations of the world, the world from which we are called to be holy and separate. So they run to parties, they plan for sports, activities, and leisure even on the day of the Lord. In addition people are toiling, sweating, worrying, and spending their lives to work for and buy gifts and toys and distractions that will not benefit us much in the long run. A heartfelt letter or card, or time together is more precious than most of the gifts we give. In the business world, those who make purchases are called consumers. But in truth it is what we purchase that often consumes us. It is what we possess that often possesses us. The Lord reminds us of this when He says, “for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

What about us? We are here, physically present in the church. But where is our heart today? Where has our heart been during this fasting season? Where has our heart been all along, for the previous days, weeks, months and years? Christ has invited us to prayers every day, how have we responded? He has invited us to read His holy words in the gospels, how did we answer Him? Christ has shown us the examples of His multitude of saintly men and women, have we read their stories and imitated their lives? Christ has invited us to receive the greatest possible gifts and treasures, things that eyes have not seen nor ears heard. The Lord loves us so much that He has not only invited us to the banquet, He has clearly demonstrated the way to get there. He even grabs us by the hand and walks us there, if we are willing to be led by Him. My brothers and sisters, life is short, the invitations have been received by each of us, and the time to respond is now!

Without Christ there would be no great banquet, no Christmas, no festivities at all! Without Christ we would have no forgiveness, no surpassing joy, no freedom from sin and death, no resurrection. Without Christ we are nothing but dead, inside and out. With Christ there is festive joy, forgiveness, freedom, life and resurrection. This is the joy and the meaning of the invitation given by Our Lord Jesus. He comes to us as a pure and innocent babe that we might choose to come to Him in purity and innocence of heart. He comes to us as poor, that we might come to Him and receive true wealth. He comes to us to give us the gift of His life, that we might die to our old ways and accept His invitation to a banquet of true life with Him and in Him! To Christ be the glory, with His Father and the Holy Spirit, always, now and ever and unto ages of ages AMEN.

Source: Sermons

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to St. Luke. (13:10-17)

When our religious practices don’t start with the love of God, they become like weapons. They no longer can do good for us or for others. They no longer help us to heal but cause wounds.

We are witnesses to the way that the ruler of the synagogue practiced his religion, his Jewish faith. He was like many of the Jews of his day. Perhaps he had started his life with a pure love for God but somewhere along the way, it was overtaken and obscured and replaced with love for rules and laws. In truth rules and laws are easier. They don’t require us to have open hearts. They don’t require us to leave our comfort zone. They don’t require us to be vulnerable. Don’t misunderstand what I am saying. Laws and rules are very important. They bring order to our lives and when applied correctly, they reflect the presence of God. But when the laws are divorced from God, they become weapons of destruction.

One of the traps that can often ensnare people as they try to grow in faith is the idea that perfect adherence to rules is what will make us worthy before God. According to the gospel of Jesus Christ, nothing makes you worthy of God’s love. God in His mercy, pours out this love upon all of us. We are here in a season of fasting. We do our best with the rules of the fast but we should remember that our strict adherence to the fast does not, in and of itself, make us holy, good or worthy in the Lord’s eyes. St. John Chrysostom says that people can abstain from eating meat and yet they devour one another with their gossip and lack of charity. The fasting that is pleasing to God has nothing to do with what goes into the mouth. It has everything to do with what comes out of our hearts. Those are not my words, but the words of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Does it mean that we shouldn’t fast? No. Does it mean that we should be slack in the way that we practice our faith? No. It means that we should be ready to do everything that is required of us with cheerfulness and by putting Christ at the front of our minds. God is the one who brings it all together and allows it to be done correctly, with love. The ruler of the synagogue was alive towards the rules of the law, but he was dead towards his neighbor’s needs. And if he was dead towards his neighbor’s needs, he was in truth, dead towards God. Our Lord Jesus Christ opens his eyes and exposes his darkness. He says “You hypocrite! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his ass from the manger and lead it away to water it? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?”

All that the ruler of the synagogue could see was a law being broken, but in his blind zeal, he forgot that he also broke this law every Sabbath when he took care of his own animals. But it was even worse. Not only did he forget his own works on the Sabbath, he forgot to care for the needs of the woman who was suffering for eighteen years! He forgot to fulfill the second commandment of our Lord, to love thy neighbor as thyself. In neglecting to love his neighbor, he neglected to love his God. This is the definition of a dead faith. We are told that all of the Lord’s adversaries were put to shame at that moment. It is crucial that our practice of faith doesn’t bring us shame but joy and liberty through Jesus Christ.

How can we ensure that we are not like this man who had misplaced zeal and who used his religion as a weapon against others? We have to recognize that we are also infirm like the woman who was sick for those many years. We have to genuinely believe that we are in need of the healing touch of Jesus Christ. Not once or twice in our lives, but daily. When we feel our need for God, when we feel our shortcomings and our fallenness we won’t have the strength to focus on what others are doing or to compare our practices to others. We will feel truly at the mercy of the Lord and that is precisely when the Lord does His best work. My prayer should not be “Lord, thank you for making me better than other people” or “Thank you for making me good.” My prayer should be “Lord, reveal to me the depth of my sins, and the depth of my sickness and have mercy on me, the one who is not worthy of your mercy or your love.”

Our Lord Jesus helped the woman because He could see her need. He also sees our hearts. He knows if we genuinely seek Him. He knows if we, deep in our hearts, actually hunger and thirst for Him. He knows if we feel self-sufficient. He knows if we have deeply seated pride. He knows if we love Him and if we love our neighbor, and upon these two laws, hang all the law and the prophets. May our Lord search our hearts and find our religion to be pure, genuine and full of love. Glory be to God forever AMEN.

Source: Sermons