Sunday of Orthodoxy The Holy Gospel according to St. John. (1:43-51)
Our reading is given today for the Sunday of Orthodoxy. This, the first Sunday in Great Lent is when we honor and commemorate the restoration of icons in all Christian churches which happened in the year 843 a.d., many hundreds of years before the Protestant reformation. Perhaps by divine providence this is our first Sunday together since we received the news that by your faith and generosity we have fully funded the first round of iconography for the Church. It is a really special gift that we are giving to one another and to the future faithful who will step foot into this church. We want people to be transported to another place when they come to pray. We want them to forget the world and it’s troubles. We want them to be fully immersed in the kingdom and the life of Christ. It is our Orthodox faith and understanding of worship which makes this possible.
As St. John of Kronstadt says, “The Church, through the temple and Divine service, acts upon the entire man, educates him wholly; acts upon his sight, hearing, smelling, feeling, taste, imagination, mind, and will, by the splendor of the icons and of the whole temple, by the ringing of bells, by the singing of the choir, by the fragrance of the incense, the kissing of the Gospel, of the cross and the holy icons, by the prosphoras, the singing, and sweet sound of the readings of the Scriptures.”
But the Sunday of Orthodoxy is actually much more than just the icons. It honors the whole Orthodox Church and her teachings and her life. In the Synodikon or proclamation of faith that is read today after our procession we will hear these words, “This is the Faith of the Apostles; this is the Faith of the Fathers; this is the Faith of the Orthodox; this is the Faith which has established the universe!”
Can you imagine such a gift? We have the faith which has not only been passed down unbroken from generation to generation. We have the faith that has established the Universe! The reason that we can say this with confidence is because we believe that Jesus Christ created the whole universe and we believe that His crucifixion and resurrection have saved the whole world from the full effects of sin. Do I truly believe that in my heart? Do we truly understand the honor and the responsibility that belongs to each of us because we are Christians in the unbroken Church?
We are part of a very special people. The Church that is truly holy and truly hears the words of the Lord Jesus and His apostles and obeys them. We are a part of the same Church as the great saints and fathers of the faith. The same Church that saw martyrs die for her teachings. And that brings us to today, March 9th in Fuquay-Varina, NC. We have spoken of honor but what about our responsibility to the Church that has given us so much, to the Church that we have baptized our children in and where we ourselves where baptized, where we are married and where we will hopefully be buried.
As St. Tikhon put it “all the important events of our life are related to it, and it is ever ready to give us its help and blessing in all our needs and good undertakings, however unimportant they may seem. It supplies us with strength, good cheer and consolation, it heals, purifies and saves us.”
Now what are our responsibilities to this Church in return? We are to actively love her in all her ways. We spend time with her, in her services. We are to respect and cherish her teachings and never treat our own opinions as equal to hers. This has often been the case regarding teachings which seem politically or religiously inconvenient, but while our opinions can often bring harm, the teachings of the Church may offend some, but they bring life to any and everyone who accepts them with joy. Please remember that Church teaching is not subject to our approval. We subject ourselves to it and not vice versa. The teaching doesn’t answer to us, just as the Lord Jesus Christ does not answer to us, rather we submit ourselves to the doctrines of truth and life.
Finally, another great responsibility is to remember that we are the light of the world. It is not enough to be part of a special group of people. It means nothing if we hide this treasure for ourselves. Instead we should be like Philip in today’s reading when he told Nathaniel to “Come and see”. Invite others to come see your most precious treasure. Invite them to see your most prized possession. You can do this by being a great example of a Christian, by going out of your way to help others, by forgiving others, by carefully using words instead of carelessly speaking or talking inappropriately and finally we can invite others by telling them about the Church that we cherish and love. We are to become icons of the living God as Christ is the icon of the invisible God.
Yes our responsibility is more than just coming to church and hoarding the blessings for ourselves. Our responsibility is to be like Christ, to love everyone and to try to be a source of healing and peace which we will become by God’s grace. And if you are saying to yourself, “I don’t know where to begin…I’m not sure what I would tell someone about the Church” then I invite you to come and see with fresh eyes. Because the life of the Church must first be the joy of our lives before we can share this joy with others.
May all things be possible in and through Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN!
First preached February 21, 2010
Source: Sermons