The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew. (8:5-13)

God’s grace is something that we speak of but do we realize that this energy and healing presence of God is very near to us?

It often becomes our habitual way of thinking to assume that God is far away, a distant entity who cannot be concerned with our day to day lives. With such a theology it becomes easy to believe that we are basically all alone barring certain inexplicable miracles. Today’s gospel passage tells us something quite different and it is of utmost importance that we figure this out and that we also figure out how to feel God’s presence.

The Lord is entering into Capernaum and as He does this He is greeted by a Roman centurion, a very high ranking soldier. The centurion said to Jesus “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, in terrible distress.” That’s it! That is all that he said and this is how the Lord responded to him: “I will come and heal him.” We should wonder at the speed and the willingness of our Lord to go and heal a man who is not of the house of Israel, but an outsider.  How often do we find ourselves going out of our way to immediately help those in need and to serve others?  The Lord was ready to jump to the aid of a complete stranger (though we know that no one is a stranger to the Lord).  Are we ready to at least jump to the aid of our brothers and sisters in the church or within our own family?

We are stunned at the quick response from the Lord but the next thing that the centurion says will show us why the Lord was so quick to try and help the man.

The centurion, having heard the Master’s reply says to Him “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant will be healed.” Unbelievable! The Lord was not simply content with such a response, He was genuinely overjoyed and marvelled to hear such a response. He tells those who are standing nearby “Truly, I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.”  What made the centurion different? What was it about him that invited and welcomed the grace of God? Humility. Genuine humility.

Think about it, this man was a Roman centurion, a high ranking member of the greatest army the world had ever known. He was in some ways, the definition of earthly power and might. Yet even this powerful man comes to the Lord without haughtiness or pride. He comes as one who genuinely seeks the help of Christ and he does this without any feeling that this healing is his right or is somehow owed to him. In fact, it is the opposite, he tells the Lord that he is not worthy to receive Him into his house. What a concept! The idea of unworthiness is completely alien to our culture isn’t it?  People believe that they deserve everything under the sun.  While it is alien to our culture, it is important that it becomes part of our very fiber as Christians.  Because if the concept of unworthiness is alien to you, then you will be alien to God.  

Why is this the case?  Scripture tells us that “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.”  The Lord Himself teaches us to follow Him as He says “For I am meek and humble of heart.”  The only way to attract God’s grace and to feel God’s presence is to feel a deep seated sense not of entitlement, but of unworthiness to be in the presence of God. One of the powerful dichotomies in the life of the saints is that as they grow in holiness and the grace of God, they will also grow in humility and it would reinforce their deep and profound sense of unworthiness to know and to experience the presence of God.  After all, who are we to think that we are worthy of God’s grace?  Who are we to think that we should be given the opportunity to experience His powerful visitation?  

None of this is owed to us.  None of this is required of God. And that my dear brothers and sisters is why it is called God’s grace.  Because it is freely given.  While there is nothing that we could do to earn it, there is a certain attitude and demeanor that attracts this grace of God and allows us to feel the presence of the Holy Spirit and this doesn’t take long, it can happen very quickly, like a flash of lightning.  This is what happened to the servant of the centurion.  The Lord healed the servant based on the centurion’s faith and humility.  

Are we praying for others with genuine faith and profound humility?  Are we seeking the Lord’s face with humble prayers?  Or are we coldly going through the motions and imagining that we are somehow worthy of feeling God’s presence, and worthy of seeing God’s miracles? Or even worse, are we simply in disbelief that God is very near to us and desires to dwell with us?  

Do not be unbelieving, but believe as this centurion believed.  His humility invited the grace of the Holy Spirit just as a bee is drawn to a lovely flower.  He knew that he was unworthy of the Lord’s visitation.  He didn’t make excuses for his sins and shortcomings.  He didn’t put blame on others.  He knew that he was very unworthy of having the Lord Jesus come to his home and his deep sense of meekness and humility attracted the grace of God and all of the gifts that come with His grace all the more!

We can approach Christ in the same way that the centurion approached Christ, and we do this through real prayer.  Whether we are approaching God in prayer for ourselves or for others, let us follow this example and we will be shocked by the immediate willingness of the Lord to dwell with us and to come to our aid.

Glory be to God forever AMEN.

Source: Sermons

The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew. (10:32-33, 37-38; 19:27-30)

On this day, the Sunday after the Feast of Pentecost, we celebrate All Saints. In the West this celebration falls on November 1^st and for this reason Halloween, which means “All Hallows eve or All Saints eve, is the previous evening. In the Orthodox Church this All Saints day is celebrated on the Sunday after Pentecost as a sign of the fruits of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Church and in the life of her people. Because the Lord, the Holy Spirit has come down and dwelt within us, it is possible for us to be completely changed and to become saints. Not all of the saints will be recognized officially by the Church. But they will all be recognized by the Lord as His children, His sons and daughters.

You and I were created to enter into a full relationship with our Father, God. Becoming a saint is not something strange or weird. Becoming a saint is accepting your calling and the purpose for which you were created. You were not created for worldly successes and honors. You were not created to win the lottery and become rich. You were not created to become the president. Even all of these titles and honors are nothing compared to the purpose for which you were created, to serve and to know and to commune with the most high God.

When we orient ourselves to this reality and to this purpose, we find everything is a source of peace in our lives, even the difficult circumstances. When we run from this reality and purpose, we find that everything is tedious and challenging and nothing brings peace or joy, no matter how successful we are, no matter how wealthy we become, no matter what honors or titles are bestowed on us. All of it is empty and meaningless because we haven’t found the source of our hunger and thirst and this hunger and thirst cannot be quenched by anything but the One who is infinite joy and unending peace.

What is the beginning of sainthood? According to the Lord, it is the acknowledgement of Jesus Christ before others. The Lord said “Everyone who acknowledges Me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father Who is in heaven; but whoever denies Me before men, I also will deny before My Father Who is in heaven.” How do we acknowledge our Lord and master on a daily basis before others? It is a really important question that is worthy of reflection and a thoughtful answer.

We may acknowledge God with simply gestures like bowing our head and making the sign of the cross before we eat our meals, no matter where we eat our meals. We may acknowledge God by asking others to refrain from using the name of Jesus Christ in vain since it is deeply offensive and would not be tolerated if the name of Christ was replaced with any other religious figure. The name of Christ is sacred. You might be thinking “but I will be labelled and people will think differently of me…” Glory to God for that. If you have to suffer a little dishonor in order to honor God, you aren’t actually suffering at all, you are blessed by God! I’m challenging you today because the Lord is challenging us and this is no game. The Lord loves us and an important step in our journey to sanctity and sainthood is to honor the Lord and not to deny Him. Either He is our Lord and master and the One whom we love and serve, or we should be more transparent and honest with ourselves and say that we are not practicing Christians but Christians in name only.

I have the sense that in our society almost anything is allowed. We can say whatever we want about any subject, no matter how ignorant or immoral our opinions may be. But if we speak clearly and soberly about Jesus Christ or His teachings….we are committing an act of open revolution. George Orwell once wrote “In a time of universal deceit – telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” My brothers and sisters, we are here now in the time of universal deceit. But are we ready to tell the truth?

It is no secret that many of the saints of the Church are martyrs. These people have suffered and died for sharing the truth. The martyrs were like revolutionaries who never took up swords and guns, but instead they slew the empires with their courage and with the truth who is Jesus Christ. New martyrs are being made daily. Somewhere right now, someone is being challenged to remain quiet and deny Jesus Christ, and they are defiant to the glory of God, no matter what the consequences or punishment may be.

Tomorrow we will begin the Apostles fast. This is a time when we increase our prayers and ascetic disciplines in order to honor the Apostles and to emulate their courage. The Apostles were transformed from men who worked in the world to me who served the Lord with complete disregard for the things of the world. They spent their time courageously preaching and teaching others about Jesus Christ. And when at times, they were beaten and imprisoned, and slaughtered, they glorified God for the privilege of suffering for His holy name.

They were true revolutionaries because they taught the world the truth about the God-man Jesus Christ. They were men transformed by their encounter with Jesus Christ and by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Their transformation led to the transformation of the entire Roman Empire. The people who sat in darkness indeed saw a great light and this light is the truth who is Jesus Christ. Let us take courage from our Holy Fathers, the Apostles and disciples of the Lord and boldly acknowledge Christ not only with words but with our hearts and minds and our very lives….for this, we will be acknowledged and our memories will be eternal in the sight of Our heavenly Father.

Glory be to God forever AMEN.

Source: Sermons

Today (Sunday June 4th),

we celebrate the Holy Feast of Pentecost. We celebrate the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Disciples and Apostles of Our Lord Jesus Christ. But what about us? “How do we receive the Holy Spirit?” A basic study of this question may yield some surprising results. According to the book of Acts, baptism alone does not grant the gift of the Holy Spirit:

Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, who, when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For as yet He had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. (Acts 8:14–17)

The passage continues to reinforce the idea in the next verses: “And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, saying, ‘Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit’” (Acts 8:18–19).

So, amazingly, we see that it wasn’t enough simply to be baptized. We also see the role of the sacramental priesthood in the work of the Apostles as they came to lay hands on the newly baptized. After the Apostles died, the teaching of the Orthodox Church is that a tradition was passed on from them to the bishops of the Church and this is the sacrament of chrism. Chrism (also known as myron) is a special oil of anointing that was originally blessed by the Apostles. In modern times, it is blessed only by the patriarchs or heads of the various Orthodox churches at specifically appointed times. It is also quite possible that St. John the Evangelist is speaking about this in his general epistle when he writes, “But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things” (1 John 2:20). A few verses later he also writes:

But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.

This anointing is spoken of throughout the early centuries of Christianity. Hippolytus, Roman priest (170–235), writes:

The neophytes are anointed by the presbyter from the oil consecrated by the bishop. He says, ‘I anoint you with holy oil in the name of Jesus Christ.’ (Apostolic Tradition 21–22)

Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem (313–386), writes:

And to you in like manner, after you had come up from the pool of the sacred streams, there was given an Unction, the anti-type of that wherewith Christ was anointed; and this is the Holy Spirit. (Catechetical Lecture 21:1)

Basil, Bishop of Caeserea (330–379), one of the great figures of Christian history, has this to say:

We also bless the water of baptism, the oil of anointing, and even the baptized themselves. By virtue of what writings? Is it not by virtue of the protected, secret, and hidden tradition? Indeed! Even the oil of anointing, what written word has taught about that? The triple immersion, from where does it come? And everything that surrounds baptism: the renunciation of Satan and his angels—from what scripture does that come? Is it not from that teaching held private and secret, which our fathers kept in silence, protected from anxiety and curiosity, knowing well that in keeping quiet one safeguards the sacred character of the mysteries? For how would it be reasonable to divulge by writing the instruction, that which is not permitted to the uninitiated to contemplate? (On the Holy Spirit 15, 35)

Not only does St. Basil show us the teaching about the sacrament of chrism, but we also see him touch on the subject of holy tradition and why certain subjects are not “divulged by writings” but kept secret and safe from “the uninitiated,” that is, those who have not yet received Christian baptism.

It becomes clear from all of these passages that this sacrament of the early Christians has fallen out of practice in nearly every Christian denomination besides the Orthodox and the Roman Catholic (confirmation). God wants to bless our lives. This is the way that has been preserved for us from apostolic times. Our journey with the Lord Jesus Christ is fulfilled and blessed because we have received the Lord, the Holy Spirit and in this we have become like the Apostles on the day of Pentecost. On this joyous feast may we cleanse our hearts and humble ourselves and actively seek the guidance of the Lord, the giver of life who desires to unite our nature with His divine nature and to glorify us with the saints.

Glory be to God Forever AMEN.

(excerpted and adapted from “Ask for the Ancient Paths” J. Guirguis, Ancient Faith Publishing)

Source: Sermons

The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. John. (17:1-13)

There is in our society a concerted effort which begins at the university level, to discredit the idea of absolute or objective truth. In the life of a Christian there is nothing that is more important than the absolute truth. We do not understand the truth as an idea or a philosophy or ideology but as a person. The Lord Jesus Christ says “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me.”

Today we celebrate the memory of the holy fathers of the first ecumenical council which was assembled at Nicaea in the year 325 a.d. by the emperor St. Constantine the great. This council was assembled to address a swirling controversy in the Roman Empire concerning the teaching of a priest named Arius and the real identity of Jesus Christ. Nowadays we argue and bitterly divide over politics and things that ultimately won’t matter but at that time the argument really mattered…and the answer mattered. The truth mattered whether it was convenient or inconvenient, whether it was alone or in the majority.

In today’s gospel the Lord Jesus Christ says “This is eternal life, that they know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ Whom Thou hast sent.” According to our Lord, knowledge of God is the most important goal of one’s existence. Knowledge of God is in large part, the purpose for which we were created. In knowing God we know the One who exists, the I AM, and in knowing this One who exists, we are imparted with His existence, we find immortality.

Knowledge of God assumes that one will understand God in truth, and with a proper understanding or else one does great harm to themselves and to those around them. In the light of this we understand that the work of the fathers of the first ecumenical council was of utmost importance. We speak about and teach about and worship Jesus Christ because of what the Holy Fathers taught us or discerned for us. The Bible is not simply a document that is subject to whatever interpretations one imagines within his or her mind. This is one of the problems of the Protestant movement; everyone brings their private interpretation of the text and calls it authoritative. The problem is that we can’t all have an authoritative reading of the text. It’s impossible.

The Church of Christ has built-in structures that allow it to rise above such tendencies. In the first place, we don’t rely solely on the biblical text. There is more to our faith than the words on the page. The faith of the Church of Christ is rooted in the faith that was preached and handed down by the Apostles and which they learned directly from Christ. The Church is called the body of Christ and this body is a living breathing body that passes the faith from person to person. The Church has leaders just as any properly organized group would have. These leaders are the bishops who are tasked with teaching, preaching and upholding the faith. If at any place or time one of those who is given the authority to teach, does so in a way that seems improper or inaccurate, they can be brought before the assembly or council of bishops to state their case and attempt to define their position. The council of bishops, guided by the grace of the Holy Spirit, will ultimately decide whether the teachings are sound or false. In this way they protect and safeguard the faith throughout the ages.

We see a similar approach in the way that laws are crafted in the United States. Ultimately a law may be deemed unconstitutional, yet the Constitution itself does not deem what is or is not unconstitutional rather it is the informed, authoritative reading of the Constitution that is offered by the nine Supreme Court Justices that matters.

What is true for the American system of law and government is more true and has far greater consequences in the life of a Christian and in the life of the Church. Knowledge is a key part of our salvation and that salvation hinges upon whether or not the knowledge we have is true Scriptural, Apostolic, knowledge of God or falsehood. There are correct ways to understand and speak about Jesus Christ. There are correct ways to speak about God the Father and the Holy Spirit. There are of course, incorrect ways and the incorrect ways far outnumber the correct ways as our Lord Jesus Christ teaches us “narrow is the way that leads to eternal life, and there are few who find it.”

So our commemoration of the 318 holy fathers, bishops of the One Holy Church of Christ is a celebration of the one saving truth which is the identity of Jesus Christ as perfect God and perfect man. It is the celebration of Christ as unoriginate, without beginning. It is the celebration of the truth that the One who came to dwell among us and suffered and shed His blood for us and died for us is indeed able to save us because He is truly light from light, true God from truth God, and nothing less than God. It is God’s will that all would know Him and His Son intimately. May we faithfully follow the One whom we know and enter into true fellowship and communion with the Lord who is Life eternal. Glory be to God forever AMEN.

Source: Sermons

The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. John 9:1-38

The miracles of our Lord God and savior Jesus Christ are often seen in the gospels as something of a litmus test. Each and every person will respond to the miracle in a slightly different way. Some will respond with an even greater sense of faith in God. Others will look suspiciously on such work and claim that it is the work of the devil. Yet others will question why this work happened at such a time and to such a person.

In today’s gospel the Lord acts in a powerful way to heal a man who was born blind. Perhaps even, born without eyes. In His powerful work we see the faith of the blind man and the utter refusal to believe by the Pharisees and the Jewish authorities. In this we see the truth with which the evangelist St. John is trying to feed us and give us life; It is better to see with one’s heart than to see with one’s eyes. True sight is to recognize the Lord and His work in the world and in your life. True blindness is to refuse to acknowledge the presence and the work of God in your life.

Why do some refuse to acknowledge His presence and His work in their lives? Often it is because people want to be their own masters and lords. In addition, people will refuse to acknowledge the work of God in their lives because that work does not fit neatly into their concepts of what God can do. God is never bound to work according to our ideas or imaginations. Often God works in unexpected ways. We are regularly given the choice to accept this work or to ignore it. God does not impose His opinion on us because He loves us and in His love He has allowed us complete freedom to choose how we live and what we will believe in our hearts.

We cannot also help but notice that those who have the most serious problem of unbelief are in fact the most “religious” people of the day. It is the Pharisees who were well known for their religiousity and their keeping of the Jewish customs and the teachings of the Mosaic law. Yet time and time again we see that the way that God acts in the world has completely escaped their understanding. It should give us pause my brothers and sisters. If we come to the Church and if we live lives where we go through the motions of Orthodoxy, it doesn’t necessarily mean that we’ve come to a genuine knowledge of Christ through the work of the Holy Spirit. Every believer is given the daily opportunity to reflect on why they go through the motions, what is the purpose of what we do, do we really believe, do we really hold this faith as sacred? And if so, how does our practice of the faith translate to tangible love for God and love for our neighbor.

In today’s passage we notice that the Pharisees did not simply discount the miracle when the blind man was questioned. They questioned the honesty of every witness who came forward including the blind man’s parents. But they went even further in their utter denial of the amazing work of God. They denied that the miracle was the work of God and they ascribed it to the demons. Finally, they treated the man who could now see for the first time in his life, not with mercy or with amazement, but with contempt bordering on utter hatred. In this they demonstrated that their religious practice and belief was unto death and condemnation and not unto their salvation. They used their religious practice not as a tutor that would bring them to a knowledge of Jesus Christ, not as a way to glorify God and praise Him for His mighty acts. They used the law of Moses to judge, to condemn and to punish. The Lord Jesus Christ spoke rightly when He said to them “But go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice’.”

What about us? Do we recognize the work of God happening in our own lives and all around us? Do we glorify God for everything or do we find little reasons not to joyfully give thanks to God? God is alive and moving actively. We have so much for which to be thankful. I don’t want us to miss out on the joy and the blessings by being blind to the work the God is doing. I don’t want us to miss out because we have a narrow definition and understanding of what God can do. He is doing much more than we can imagine.

But what is required of us? We have to understand that Our Lord Jesus Christ is the light of the world just as He states in this passage. We must then fall humbly and ask the Lord to remove all of the blindness of our hearts and illumine us with His divine light. We have to commit to Christ Himself as the way. Pray, “Lord replace the darkness of my heart, which was caused by my own sins, with Your glorious light. Remove O Lord, all of the blinds and pull back the curtains of my heart and allow me to see You through the grace of the Holy Spirit.”

Once the Lord visits us, we will be the opposite of what we once were. Instead of doubting and disbelief, we will be renewed in our faith and blessed to see His hand in everything in our lives. May the Lord grant this to us through His grace and love for mankind. Christ is risen!

Source: Sermons

The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. John 4:5-42

On this Sunday we hear the story of the Samaritan woman at the well. This is a long and fascinating passage that deserves to be studied carefully and I would encourage you to do so. I would like to focus on some of the difficult things our Lord Jesus Christ says to the woman at the well. In our society we are being very well trained not to cause any waves with the things that we say. We are taught to be politically correct with all of our speech. We are taught that there are no absolute truths and objective realities only opinions and feelings are relevant.

Our Lord Jesus Christ is the great healer and yet He can also divide in that His word is a two edged sword. It is binding in our lives and this word has the power to unite yet it can most certainly divide us and put us at odds with others. At such times we should not be surprised when people throw accusations at us. They can call us hateful and cruel and many other things but we are at peace when we follow the king of peace. We want others to know the truth of a life with Christ and in Christ.

In today’s passage our Lord says to the Samaritan “You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.” This is really an epic statement and it breaks all of our conventions and rules for polite and sensitive discourse. Sensitivity is good, but never at the expense of truth.

The Samaritans were an off-shoot of the Jewish faith. They believed in the same God. They had the Torah of Moses as their holy scriptures. They were very similar in their beliefs and yet the Lord boldly declared that they worshipped what they did not know! He went even further to say to them that their worship and practice of religion was not salvific. Meaning the way that they practiced the faith would not bring them to salvation. All of this really makes us pause and wonder about the ways of God. They are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts.

In our day and age I have heard people often say “We all pray to the same God.” But that’s not really true is it? We don’t all pray the same God. But taking this further, according to the Lord, even worshipping the same God in the wrong way means that we don’t understand our worship and who we worship and this means that our very salvation is at risk. This is not my opinion but it is the word preached by Christ.

According to the Lord Jesus salvation comes from the Jews. This is most certainly true since we know that Our Lord Himself was born into the Jewish people, and He is our salvation. But this saying teaches us so much about having the proper knowledge and worship of God. Not everything is simply a matter of feelings or opinions. Some very important matters require definition, exactness and a healthy dose of reality. Our Lord tells us that our worship and religious practices are such matters.

He continues in today’s passage saying “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” St. Basil the great, commenting on this verse has this to say “To worship in the Spirit implies that our intelligence has been enlightened. Consider the words spoken to the Samaritan woman. She was deceived by local custom into believing that worship could only be offered in a specific place. But the Lord, attempting to correct her, said that worship ought to be offered in Spirit and in truth. By truth he clearly meant himself.”

How we worship is a sign of how we believe and what we believe. As Orthodox Christians we believe that there are right ways to worship God and wrong ways to worship God. There are also right ways to speak of God and wrong ways to speak of God. There are ultimately right ways to know God and wrong ways to know God. Without right belief we will not have right worship and without right worship we will not enter into right faith and practice which brings us into right relationship with the Lord. It is right relationship with the Lord that leads us to salvation.

That is what the Orthodox Church is all about; Holding the doctrines and practices that have been handed down to us with love and reverence in order to share them with humanity. Orthodox Christianity is about human beings coming to a right knowledge of God and entering into a right relationship with God through the genuine practice of faith and proper worship.

Why am I telling you all of this today? Because I want us to understand that the Church is not a museum but a living temple to God. The Church is an institution of God’s love for mankind. What we do and what we believe are closely related and they both matter! Being a part of the community of Orthodox Christians is for us not simply a matter of preference, it is in very truth, a matter of salvation. You may have had various reasons for coming to the ancient apostolic faith but God has in His abundant mercy, brought you into the Church in order to heal and to save you.

Let’s not be like the wishy washy and unstable like much of this generation but let us be like the woman at the well who held fast the truth when it was revealed to her. Her name is St. Photeini and we keep her feast on February 26th. Her life changed through her encounter with Christ and she travelled everywhere spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ. She even gave her life as a martyr in Rome. That is a changed life. That is worship in spirit and truth….and this type of love for Christ and His Church, is what the Lord desires for our lives.

Source: Sermons

The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. John. (5:1-15)

“Do you want to be healed?” This is the simple question of our Lord God and savior Jesus Christ in today’s gospel text. “Do you want to be healed?”

As Christians we lose track of why it is that we come to the Church. Sometimes we come simply to socialize or because this is a religious habit. But the real reason why we must come to the Church is because we desire to be healed.

What sort of healing do we need? We require physical healing and more importantly we require mental, emotional and spiritual healing. We each carry many wounds and often these wounds exist due to our sinfulness. One of the primary tasks of the holy Church of God is to offer medicines to heal its people.

We are sick from anger. We are sick from impatience. We are sick from lust. We are sick from worry and anxiety. We are sick from egotism and pride. We are sick from the love of wealth. We are sick from materialism. We are sick from gluttony. We are sick from laziness. We are sick from the need for power. We are sick from busyness. We are sick from “entertainment.” We are sick for attention and for the need to be heard and respected. All of these things are affecting us as Christians. They are affecting us as human beings. They are walls between us and God.

The man in today’s gospel was sick with a physical illness for 38 long years. Sometimes we’ve carried our sins and spiritual infirmities for a long time. We carry these sins of jealousy, anger, lust, pride and the love of wealth. We’ve lacked faith in God and trusted ourselves instead. We all carry sickness as a result of our sins and unfortunately this is not as easy to heal as some physical illnesses might be. You can’t just take an antibiotic and be cured of anger. You can’t simply put a bandage on worry. You can’t take a pill to cure your problems with lust and the love of the flesh. So what now? How do we find healing from all of these ailments that are spiritual in nature?

It depends on how we answer the question “Do you want to be healed?” I suspect that if I ask you if you want to be cured of your anger, you will reply “Yes, I want to be cured.” But in the depths of your heart is that true? There is a difference between our words, and the actions that follow our words and that is what defines our relationship with Christ the master. God isn’t impressed by our outward appearance, He wants our hearts. We see that the Lord had great compassion upon the paralytic because the paralytic could not help himself and had not been offered help by others. In a manner of speaking, that is what God is looking for. God desires those who are hopeless and who have no other hope but Him. We have to learn to lean on God and pray to God with that kind of disposition.

Are we using our time in a way that demonstrates our true desire for healing? Our life is defined by what we do and how we use our time. How are we showing the Lord that we are genuinely waiting for healing? Are we filling our time only with work? Are we filling our time with to-do lists and plans for the future? Are we filling our time with social media, games and shows? Do these things help us with our desire to be healed? Do they bring us closer to Christ? We have plenty of things that take our time and attention, but how many of them are really profitable for us? Where is the reading of the word of God in our daily activities? When do we make time for prayer? Not short, routine prayers, but heartfelt prayers where we forget about time and space and simply sit in the presence of God? Do we run to the Church as to the body of Christ? Do we understand that all of Christ’s healing is offered here in the Church?

The paralytic waited for healing for 38 years and he even found his way to a miraculous pool that could offer such healing. What he could not imagine and did not expect was that the man standing next to him could offer him even greater healing, both physically and spiritually, in an instant. This didn’t happen once 2000 years ago in a remote part of the world. It happens daily. God heals physical infirmities and more importantly God heals the spiritual illnesses that divide man from his Creator and this type of transformation is apparent in the lives of the multitude of saints and holy men and women. Shall we stay paralyzed in our sins or shall we live as we were meant to live? It will come down to how we answer the question posed by the Master “Do you want to be healed?”

Source: Sermons

The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Mark. (15:43-16:8)

At times the Holy Scriptures and the New Testament are just as powerful for what they leave out, or what they don’t say, as for what they do say. Here is an example: nowhere in the Scriptures or the New Testament does anyone refer to God as “Mother.” Another example: nowhere in the New Testament or the 4 gospels does anyone refer to Holy Communion as a symbol. These are simple but powerful examples of how the word of God speaks to us and if we choose to add or subtract from the text, we are doing a grievous thing because it is no longer the word of God, it becomes the word according to our imagination.

Today we continue our celebration of Pascha, Easter, the resurrection of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. As you know this celebration continues for 40 days until we celebrate the feast of Ascension. The Church continues to focus on the resurrection of the Lord in the gospel text this week and we hear about the pious Joseph of Arimathea, whom we are told was a respected member of the council (likely the council of Sanhedrin). This man does what would have been unthinkable to the logical and rational mind. He went to the Roman governor Pontius Pilate and requested the dead body of the Lord Jesus so that he could see to His proper burial.

Why is this unthinkable, illogical and irrational? Because it was an act of respect and love towards a man who was just betrayed by the Jews and was just executed by the Romans. When someone is hated and despised by the people and when that person is put to death, we would expect that everyone would scatter and go their separate ways. Yet we are told that Joseph took courage! He went directly to Pilate with complete disregard for his own safety and with disregard for how he might be viewed by the rest of the Jews including his own council. Such was this man’s love for God and for the Lord, His only begotten Son. Such was this man’s desire to show mercy to the One who had poured out mercy on thousands upon thousands of people who had flocked to Him during His three year ministry.

But as I told you at the beginning, the New Testament can be just as powerful in what is not mentioned as it is in what is mentioned. Do you know what is missing from the passage? The disciples. They are completely absent from this story about going to Pontius Pilate to receive the body of the Lord. They were not there at all! This should strike us as strange because they had given up everything and followed Him as their master for the last three years! Where were the disciples? Why didn’t they come to show their love of the Lord? Why didn’t they come to pay their respects and to honor the body of the Lord with dignity and a proper burial? They certainly knew what would happen to a body that was unclaimed; that it would be thrown into a common pit with the other criminals who had been executed. So where were the disciples?!

They were absent on purpose because they were terrified and hid for their lives. Their absence demonstrates so much about the courage of Joseph of Arimathea, it would’ve humbled them greatly. But more than this, their absence overwhelmingly and powerfully witnesses to the truth of the resurrection of the Son of God. Within a matter of three days the cowardly and timid disciples will grow bold and before long they will be like lions as they boldly preach and proclaim the risen Lord. Their activity is the most important movement in the history of the world, a movement that we are continuing here and now because we also believe in the risen Lord. But do we believe enough to proclaim this to the outside world? Are we pious, reverent, and respectful towards Christ even when doing so is unpopular and dangerous? Are we hidden and terrified as the disciples were? Are we terrified of what co-workers and classmates might say? Are we terrified of being labeled by friends or neighbors?

The disciples were terrified for their very lives. They believed when they saw Christ physically resurrected but Our Lord blessed those who would believe without seeing. Perhaps you’ve never given much thought to Joseph of Arimathea. Perhaps you quickly glossed over that part of the passion narrative. It shows us that every detail is important. Both what is mentioned and what is not mentioned. It shows us that the resurrection powerfully transformed the disciples who scattered as soon as the Shepherd was struck.

Finally, it also teaches us that Joseph showed mercy and compassion when it was not convenient to do so. He showed mercy to what he thought was a lifeless corpse, who could offer nothing in return. How much more should we show mercy and compassion to those around us, even when it is inconvenient to do so? May the example of Pious Joseph, his mercy, his piety and his courage, be an encouragement to each of us as we seek to be disciples of the risen Lord Jesus!

Christ is risen!

Source: Sermons

The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. John. (20:19-31)

Within the Orthodox Church all over the world we have been enjoying a wonderful celebration. Ultimately this is not the celebration of a neat idea or a famous story or a cleverly devised fable or myth. In a hundred years people will still speak of Harry Potter as a great story but they will not hold festivals and great celebrations in his name. Our celebration within the Church is of a different nature. For us it is the celebration of a life changing reality.

The resurrection of Christ which we celebrate is ultimately a celebration of truth over falsehood, life over death and light over darkness. It is through the crucifixion and subsequent resurrection that the Apostles fully understand the truth of the identity of Jesus Christ.

This week I read a news article about a group of university students who wrote a letter to the president of the school in order to protest the upcoming speaking engagement of a man who did not agree with their particular worldview. What was shocking was just how far these students were willing to go with their disagreement. Here are their exact words “The idea that there is a single truth–‘the Truth’–is a construct of the Euro-West that is deeply rooted in the Enlightenment…” They went on to claim that objective truth is simply a construct of racists that is used to silence oppressed peoples.

Our society is losing a grip on reality and ultimately that grip has to do with morality and that morality has to find a reference point with a moral law-giver and that moral law-giver must have an identity. And that identity must ultimately be rooted in something deeper than myths and inspiring stories. Star Wars is a myth and an inspiring story but it has no real power in our lives.

What we Christian peoples have been celebrating this week and for the last 2000 years is the truth that has been revealed to us through the experience of the Apostles. For us there are some matters that are life or death and the crucifixion and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ is certainly among the most important of these.

In today’s gospel reading we hear these words from our Lord to Thomas, who doubted the resurrection until he had seen physical proof. The Lord said “Put your finger here, and see My hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side; do not be faithless, but believing.” Thomas answered Him, “My Lord and my God!” We cannot ignore the power of this story because it demonstrates that what the disciples saw was not some ghost or vision. It was a real flesh and blood human being. And this human being still had the wounds which He had received 3 days earlier. He still had nail holes and a huge spear wound in His side. His presence shook Thomas and the others to their very core. In all of this we see that Thomas cries out “My Lord and my God!” It is one of the direct instances where Jesus is clearly called God and we notice that the Lord does not rebuke or silence Thomas. He doesn’t say to Thomas “Please don’t say that, it is blasphemy.” The Lord Jesus accepts the words of Thomas because they are full of truth.

Jesus continues saying “Have you believed because you have seen Me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.” The sight and the presence of the Lord shook the disciples and completely utterly changed their worldviews and ultimately changed the fabric of the society around them. They who were utterly cowardly became bold and courageous like lions. They went from place to place preaching the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Nearly every one of them was murdered for preaching, teaching and proclaiming that Jesus was risen from the dead.

At no time did any one of the disciples waver or change their course of action. At no time did any of the disciples say “It was all a story that we made up, it never happened.” They were thrown out of their synagogues and forcefully removed from the Temple. They were ostracized and laughed at. They were beaten and imprisoned. Through all of this, the message never changed and their joy also never changed. Their joy never changed and never failed because Christ had forever changed their understanding of the things that mattered.

He changed their understanding of suffering. He changed their understanding of death. He changed their understanding of God. He changed their understanding of the truth because He demonstrated that He is the Truth. Ultimately, He changed their very understanding of life. They were ready to leave everything behind in order to boldly proclaim this objective truth, that God exists, that God love us so much that He sent His Son into the world for us, that His Son suffered and died for us and that this same Son rose from the dead in order to give us renewed life and purpose through communion and fellowship with Him.

Far from being a tool of racists used to silence oppressed peoples, objective truth in the person of Christ is meant to liberate and free oppressed and enslaved humanity from the delusion of idols and the prison of false teachings that can never offer us healing, hope or salvation because they never actually bring us to the one true God!

But why am I saying all of this to you today? Because we are the people of the resurrection! I don’t want you to be enslaved and entangled in the world, in its materialism, in its lusts. We are reminded that life has no meaning unless it is married to truth. The resurrection of the crucified Lord, who is the only Son of God, should be the central truth of our life. It should shake us to the core as it shook the first disciples. It must change our lives.

Don’t fill your days with plans of what to buy next, what to eat next, what to do next. Fill your hearts with the joy of Christ’s resurrection and with the thought that while everything in this life is passing away, our life with God is still just beginning and it will continue forever through Christ’s glorious resurrection from the dead. This is the truth proclaimed by the Apostles and it is the truth and the reality of the people of God. Christ is risen!

Source: Sermons

The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Mark 10:32-45

“Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn Him to death, and deliver Him to the Gentiles. And they will mock Him, and scourge Him, and spit upon Him, and kill Him; and after three days He will rise.”

We are now entering our final week of Great and Holy Lent. The Church today reminds us that we are not far from the climax of the story of our salvation. Before long we will again be reminded of God’s goodness towards mankind. We will again be reminded of the way that God has worked and continues to work to bring the human race to life, true life, and to peace with one another and with Him.

Just as we hear the gospel and we understand that the Church is preparing us for the whirlwind of events that will happen. We also understand that Our Lord Jesus is preparing His twelve disciples for what is to come. Yet we see that even after teaching them privately and attempting to prepare them for what was to come, what was to befall Him, they really never understand. Do we understand?

Do we understand the magnitude of this story which is central to our Christian faith? Do we understand the ramifications of the Creator of life choosing to voluntarily lay down His life as a ransom for many? Do we understand that the Lord Jesus had every opportunity to escape such a fate? The Lord wasn’t captured against His own free will. He chose to become a prisoner, He chose the mocking and the scourging. He chose to be spit upon and to be treated like dirt. He chose by His own free will to be put to death by those whom He had given existence and life.

This past week I read about one of the technology billionaires. He was interviewed and said that he was afraid of what artificial intelligence might do in the future. He envisioned that it was possible that one day the computers and robots that we have created would turn on the human race. He doesn’t know this to be true but he speculates that it is a possibility. I could not help but think about God’s mercy towards the human race. He fully understood that we would turn against Him. He knew this even before He formed the world. He knew that we would rebel and choose a life that was actually death because it was detached from Him and He is the source of life. He knew that we would choose false gods and that those gods would take many forms. He knew that we would so fully and completely turn against Him that we would not be satisfied by merely ignoring Him. He fully and completely understood that even those whom He called His own people would betray Him and sentence Him to death.

We talk about love. What manner of love is this that the Father of Our Lord God and savior has for each of us? What manner of love does God demonstrate towards us? He doesn’t punish us because of our rebellion. He doesn’t change His mind towards us because He knows that we will turn viciously against Him. He freely allows us to do what we will to Him, so that He may demonstrate His love towards us even more fully. He will accept death at the hands of His creation, our hands, so that He might pour out His life on us. Can we imagine any scenario where someone would react to such injustice and abuse with so much kindness, mercy and forgiveness? Yet this is precisely the gospel of Jesus Christ. God loved us so much that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

As we draw near to Holy Week we should take a few moments to reflect and meditate on this amazing Messiah, this Christ who loves each of us so dearly that He is willing to accept the worst that we have to offer in order to give us the best of what belongs to Him. He willingly takes our punishment, our disrespect, our dishonor and if these were not bad enough, He chooses to also take our physical death. In return He lifts up the human race and brings us honor, glory, dignity, and immortality through the divine nature which He shares with us, not because we deserve it, but because He desires that we would know Him and unite with Him more fully.

As we reflect on what is to come let us also examine ourselves and see whether we have raised our love and our faith to this standard that has been put forth for us to follow and to imitate. The compassion of our Lord is not simply something for us to observe. We have to enter into this compassion by following the way of Christ. As St. Silouan of Mt. Athos said “Unless you have love for your enemy, you do not know God.” May the love of God penetrate the darkness of our hearts as we boldly finish the course of the fast and prepare for the saving and life-giving passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ….to Him be the Glory with His Father and the Holy Spirit, AMEN.

Source: Sermons