|
|
November 16, 2007 - The Worst Form of Persecution.
Dear Fathers, Parish Faithful & Friends in Christ,
"In matters of piety, freedom from oppression is the worst form of persecution. It is worse than any other persecution. No one understands or senses this danger because safety gives birth to carelessness. It weakens the soul and lulls to sleep, and the devil destroys sleeping men." (St. John Chrysostom)
With the commemoration of St. John Chrysostom this last Tuesday, November 13, I spent some time looking over his fascinating, tumultus, and ultimately tragic life, together with some of his teaching as it has come down to us. Once ordained to the priesthood, St. John was passionately committed to his vocation as a pastor and a preacher of the Gospel. Yet, he was deeply distressed at what he interpreted as laxity and indifference among his large flock in Constantinople, once he became archbishop there in 398. In fact, he once famously said: "From among so many thousands, it is impossible to find more than one hundred who are truly saving their souls, and I am not even sure that there are that many." In fact, the large number of "Christians" that he encountered in the city, led him to further lament: "This is all the more fuel for the fire."
I would argue that our living conditions as Christians today far more resemble - at least in certain key aspects - the times of St. John in the 4th c. than perhaps that of Christians as recent as the 19th c. St. John was then contending with what we now call religious pluralism and the vast intellectual and religious choices that people had before them. Besides this, however, he had pressing pastoral problems that remain universal given the consistency of (fallen) human nature. His ministry was practiced within a large and cosmopolitan urban center that revealed great social inequality, and all the enticements and temptations that gather around affluence. Wealth, entertainment, expensive dressing and lavish dining were among the more obvious signs of the dulling effects of affluence. St. John even sarcastically spoke of the golden and silver chamber pots found among the wealthy in their bedrooms - while the poor were among them unattended on a daily basis! Concentration on these empty and trivial attractions is what led him to openly question the salvation of his flock.
It is precisely this affluence that "gives birth to carelessness" referred to in the text above. Further, "it weakens the soul and lulls to sleep," and "the devil destroys sleeping men." In a society of affluence and material comfort, "the worst form of persecution" is precisely "freedom from oppression!" With great insight, St. John declares that "it is worse than any other persecution." We may choose to debate that and to disagree with him, but his point remains a telling one. St. John, though, is on to something in the realization that the comforts we so cherish work upon us stealthily, steadily and slowly, so that it is no longer God, but the comfort of affluence that receives the focus of our attention. Hence, it is a form of "persecution" because it takes us away from God. Affluence breeds a desire for more of the same and our "souls" are preoccupied with just about anything and everything else - except perhaps our salvation! (Christmas has itself become a dreary exersise for many to flaunt their affluence in the number, novelty and expense of the gifts purchased). Thus, our affluence may remain today as our contemporary form of persecution, though we would hardly assess it to be so. Otherwise, why pursue it with such passion, commitment and dedication?
The author Peter Whybrow wrote a book entitled: American Mania: When More is Not Enough. That title says it all. Compare that with the aphorism of the English essayist Charles Lamb (+1831): "Enough is as good as a feast." Who among us is satisfied with enough? These are two very different "ideals" to live by, so "meditating" upon the choice before us may be worth the time and effort. Would that mean great changes in our lives? Cutting back? Simplfying? Sharing more with others? A change in worldview will mean a change in lifestyle, and that can be a painful process.
Returning to another of the deep themes raised above, St. John wondered aloud if there are "more than one hundred who are truly saving their souls." Only the merciful God knows, of course; and St. John tirelessly preached about the limitless mercy of God. But the question remains both painful and poignant. To what extent are we actually concerned with the salvation of our souls? Our liturgical prayer is very much concerned with the salvation of our souls ("Soul" does not so much mean a distinct substance, as it does our very lives in their totality). Of course, that could lead to a morbid and fearful preoccupation and that would only be another form of egoism. But assuming that the phrase "the salvation of our souls" refers to a spiritually healthy desire for communion with God through Christ and the Holy Spirit; or "the knowledge of Thy truth, and in the world to come, life everlasting" as we pray in every Divine Liturgy. To what extent do we pursue this with passion, commitment and dedication? If taken seriously, can it be anything other than the top "priority" of our lives? How does it "rank" with our pursuit of affluence? St. John referred to this as a process; he spoke of "saving our souls," not "saved souls." This takes time and effort as we synergistically cooperate with God in the process of working out our salvation in "fear and trembling." This is a worthy goal that dignifies and lends meaning to our existence.
As our Lord Jesus Christ said: "For what does it profit a man, to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?" (MK. 8:36)
Fr. Steven
November 15, 2007 - Only Forty Days Left...
Dear Parish Faithful,
Beginning today, there are two different ways of approaching December 25, expressed in "slogan form:"
"Only forty days of shopping left before Christmas!"
"Only forty days of charity, prayer and fasting left before Nativity!"
Which sounds more appealing, and which will become our focus for the next forty days? Will we be able to further expand our church life for the next forty days; or will it be further marginalized by other preoccupations? Obviously, we will be combining both worlds to some extent. Yet hopefully, as pilgrims on a journey, we will remain on the long road leading to the mystical Bethlehem within the heart, where Christ will be born, making each and every one of us a "God-bearer" in resemblance of the Theotokos; rather than stray off the road and tumble into the "ditch" of consumerism, or aimlessly roam toward the "dead end" of superficial hedonism. The Church provides the compass that will guide us by the interior star shining brightly in our uplifted minds toward the hallowed cave and the Infant Who is the Word of God incarnate. Without this moral and spiritual compass, we are in danger of heeding the seductive and soothing voice of the latest incarnation of Herod, whose real objective is to destroy the presence of Christ in our hearts and in the world, so that darkness will prevail. In short, life is about choices, and these choices provide orientation in our lives. If we choose the "Orient from on high" then all will be well.
Below is attached a flyer that provides us with a list of the types of goods we will be collecting for our Nativity Food Drive, provided by our chairperson, Francis Fowler-Collins.
Fr. Steven
- Nativity Season Food Drive
- Christ the Savior/Holy Spirit Orthodox Church
We would appreciate donations in the following categories:
Inasmuch as you did it to the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me. (Matt. 25:40)
November 14, 2007 - The Nativity Fast vs. "Getmas"
Dear Parish Faithful,
Thursday, November 15 - tomorrow! - is the beginning of the forty-day Nativity or Advent Fast that prepares us both liturgically and personally for the Feast of our Lord's Nativity in the Flesh on December 25. This is a sacred season because it leads us toward the awesome event of the Incarnation, expressed so powerfully in the Gospel according to St. John:
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us full of grace and truth. (JN. 1:14)
It is also the time of year that more than ever reflects what I call the "battle of the calendars:" our ecclesiastical calender with its ongoing liturgical cycle and rhythm of fasting and feasting; and the secular calendar that is basically oblivious of the Christian revelation (though "Christmas" may show up on it). But even if Christmas appears on both calendars, the path to that event is very different according to the two calendars! The secular calendar has every day theoretically open to "partying" all the way until the long-awaited Christmas gift opening/exchange and the final dinner party to follow. Eat, drink and be merry, it is the holiday season! Yet, the ecclesiastical calendar directs us to fast up to the Feast with the year's longest fast-free period (Dec. 25 - Jan. 4) to follow. History is with the Church, for in centuries past, Christian society would spend the "twelve days of Christmas" in a festal mood after the day of December 25 itself. The contrast is rather stark, so the choices present to us reflect two very different approaches to how we will celebrate Christmas. As your parish priest I, of course, urge all of you to be practicing Orthodox Christians to as maximal a level as possible. Be patient, as all of humanity had to patiently await the advent of salvation in the Person's of God's Messiah and only-begotten Son. When the Lord comes we will celebrate; but the time of expectation we will spend in vigilant prayer, fasting and almsgiving.
Fasting implies restraint, and restraint is not only about the types of food and drink that we consume. Last year I recall one of my priest friends telling me of a clever yet convicting way of describing the consumer twist that we now inflict upon the Feast of Christ's birth. For our society as a whole, Christmas has become "Getmas." Getmas is all about "getting" as much as possible, with no real restraint applied to the getting process. How many children evaluate a "good Christmas" based upon what they "get?" (Not all adults are exempt from such an evaluation I would imagine). Not to get everything on the list could prove to spoil the event. Warming all of this up with a bit of Jesus in the manger is hardly a well-thought out response to the travesty of Getmas. Of course, there is giving as well as getting. But even that can be one more face of the consumer -driven event of the secular calendar. In our Orthodox tradition, fasting is part of an over-all discipline that seeks to free us from the constraints and demands of the world and its passions. Yet, what if we succeed in not eating meat for forty days, but still shop till we drop? What if we fast from food but make the mall more of a "home away from home" than the church? What if we practice a bit of charity for Christmas, yet spend way beyond our designated budget and get in further debt over Getmas? That sounds like placing the form over the substance of true religious piety.
Over the years I admit to having become something of an ecclesiastical Scrooge; but the hypocrisy of abandoning Christ while maintaining the spirit of maximal spending and consuming has taken its toll on my over-all appreciation of the world's embrace of Christmas - an embrace which has inexorably and unapologetically led to "Getmas."
Fr. Steven
November 1, 2007 - The Eternal, Unchanging, Dynamic, Organic, Divine Liturgy
Dear Parish Faithful,
If you recall from yesterday, I forwarded an article in which the leaders of the successful Willow Creek "mega-church" acknowledged the failure of the "turnstile" approach of filling up a vast auditorium with thousands of souls, but ultimately leaving those thirsty souls program-saturated but spiritually empty. A good part of this failure must be the lightweight "worship" that is offered in the "sanctuary," but which may dangerously approximate "religious entertainment," rather than genuine liturgy. The hazards of "worship by committee" - subject to marketing and consumer trends that feel the need to be "audience-friendly" - are now being subject to a more careful scrutiny apparently, and seen to be wanting to an alarming degree. In all of this you sense a strong desire to appear relevant. Yet, what becomes irrelevant more quickly than the relevant? You only wear yourself out trying to keep up ...
Liturgy is organic, that is it grows and develops naturally through the historical life of the Church, maintaining enough sense of timelessness and changelessness that protects it from contemporary trends and fads. Thus, the pervasive sense of holiness and transcendence that characterizes even an aesthetically-poor celebration of the Liturgy. This is the gift of Tradition, the guarantor of continuity throughout the centuries. We are spared from having to "make it up" as we go along. Therefore, "Byzantine" as it may be, the Divine Liturgy is always "relevant!"
That is simply a few introductory thoughts to what I consider a densely wonderful and profound description of the Divine Liturgy provided below by Fr. Alkiviadis Calivas. As a liturgical scholar, but more importantly, as a priest and celebrant of the Liturgy, Fr. Alkiviadis brings together many of the sacred strands of liturgical experience that organically unite in the Liturgy, thus providing us with a short, but very memorable mediation on the Church's core act of worship:
"In this present age between the two comings of Jesus Christ our Lord, the Divine Liturgy is always the messianic banquet, the meal of the Kingdom, the time and place in which the heavenly joins and mingles with the earthly. The Eucharist initiates humankind, nature, and time into the mystery of the uncreated Trinity. The Divine Liturgy is not some sacred drama or a mere representation of the past events. It constitutes the very presence of God's embracing love, which purifies, enlightens, perfects and deifies (2 PET. 1:4) all those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb (REV. 19:9), all who through baptism and chrismation have been incorporated into the Church and have become Christ-bearers and Spirit-bearers. In the Divine Liturgy we do not commemorate one or another isolated event of sacred history. We celebrate, in joy and thanksgiving, the whole mystery of the divine economy, from creation to the incarnation, especially, in the words of the Divine Liturgy, "the cross, the tomb, the resurrection on the third day, the ascension into heaven, the sitting at the right hand, and the second and glorious coming." Thus, in experiencing the risen and reigning Christ in the Divine Liturgy, the past, present and the future of the history of salvation are lived as one reality." (ASPECTS OF ORTHODOX WORSHIP)
That is more than enough for any given Sunday morning! Not only is there nothing wanting, but the fullness and plenitude of divine grace and truth are present whenever we assemble as the Church to celebrate the Liturgy. We prepare for the Liturgy and then the Liturgy prepares us for our return to the world "in peace" - "the peace of God which passes all understanding." (PHIL. 4:7) When we return to the world of every day experience, we then enter the time of the "liturgy after the liturgy." This is the living out of our lives based upon the nourishment we received at the messianic banquet, the "meal of the kingdom" as described above. We are not returning to "profane time," but to life itself, all of which is potentially permeated with God's loving presence. At any point in history, the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church can be "mega" or mini." Whatever its historical circumstances, as the anticipation of the Kingdom which is to come, the Church is a source of unfailing spiritual nourishment. Any hunger on our part is self-generated and sinful, based upon our refusal to eat from the Tree of Life. That "food" comes to us in various forms - the Eucharist, the Scripture, prayer, etc. If we ever feel spiritually starved, we only have ourselves to blame.
Fr. Steven
October 31, 2007 - Mega-Church Repents?
Dear Parish Faithful,
The following is a fascinating article that I urge you to read. It was forwarded to me from Marty Davis. This "admission" of a "mistake" is very telling as it comes from the most "successful" of today's Mega-churches - Willow Creek Community. Apparently - and sadly - the thousands upon thousands who come through the doors of that church are still feeling spiritually starved. It is an example of what happens when a church is forced to make it up as its goes along. With no tradition and no sense of continuity, it seems that the congregation is prey to the latest marketing fads and gimmicks, all of which will eventually fail to satisfy the spiritually thirsty. Their plan, expressed in the final paragraph is misguided and also doomed to failure, if indeed they are simply going to "take out a clean sheet of paper" and "rethink" the whole thing. (See Marty's comment at the end of the article) That was the initial problem! Entertainment in the name of Jesus, and even programs designed to "grow the church" will always come up empty because the soul "thirsts for the living God" (Psalm 42:2), to be found in genuine worship and sacramental participation.
None of the above is being stated in a spirit of Orthodox triumphalism. It is simply a commentary on what is so obvious. As to those of us who are Orthodox, how little excuse we have for not allowing ourselves to be spiritually nourished within the Church! How responsible we will be before God if we ignore the endless treasures of wisdom and the powerful practices of the Church - beginning with prayer, fasting and almsgiving - because of indifference, distraction and "busyness!" Everything that these pastors are bemoaning the absence of, exists in the full plenitude of divine grace within the Church. Yet, at least they are repenting! Not only do our hierarchs and leaders fail to repent for the current sins allowed to undermine the integrity of the Church - although of a different nature - but they obfuscate and cover them up in the process. When I was young, the everyday phrase that caught the biblical "do not judge" was: "people who live in glass houses should not throw stones!" Those of us who proclaim our Orthodoxy must give substance to that confession through Orthopraxis. Something like "walk the talk!" if I am not mistaken.
Fr. Steven
Dear Fr. Steven, this is an interesting article about Willow Creek - perhaps the first and foremost "Mega-church" in the country today.
October 18, 2007
Willow Creek Repents?
Why the most influential church in America now says "We made a mistake."
Few would disagree that Willow Creek Community Church has been one of the most influential churches in America over the last thirty years. Willow, through its association, has promoted a vision of church that is big, programmatic, and comprehensive. This vision has been heavily influenced by the methods of secular business. James Twitchell, in his new book Shopping for God, reports that outside Bill Hybels' office hangs a poster that says: "What is our business? Who is our customer? What does the customer consider value?" Directly or indirectly, this philosophy of ministry&emdash;church should be a big box with programs for people at every level of spiritual maturity to consume and engage&emdash;has impacted every evangelical church in the country.
So what happens when leaders of Willow Creek stand up and say, "We made a mistake"?
Not long ago Willow released its findings from a multiple year qualitative study of its ministry. Basically, they wanted to know what programs and activities of the church were actually helping people mature spiritually and which were not. The results were published in a book, Reveal: Where Are You?, co-authored by Greg Hawkins, executive pastor of Willow Creek. Hybels called the findings "earth shaking," "ground breaking," and "mind blowing."
If you'd like to get a synopsis of the research you can watch a video with Greg Hawkins here. And Bill Hybels' reactions, recorded at last summer's Leadership Summit, can be seen here. Both videos are worth watching in their entirety, but below are few highlights.
In the Hawkins' video he says, "Participation is a big deal. We believe the more people participating in these sets of activities, with higher levels of frequency, it will produce disciples of Christ." This has been Willow's philosophy of ministry in a nutshell. The church creates programs/activities. People participate in these activities. The outcome is spiritual maturity. In a moment of stinging honesty Hawkins says, "I know it might sound crazy but that's how we do it in churches. We measure levels of participation."
Having put all of their eggs into the program-driven church basket you can understand their shock when the research revealed that "Increasing levels of participation in these sets of activities does NOT predict whether someone's becoming more of a disciple of Christ. It does NOT predict whether they love God more or they love people more."
Speaking at the Leadership Summit, Hybels summarized the findings this way:
"Some of the stuff that we have put millions of dollars into thinking it would really help our people grow and develop spiritually, when the data actually came back it wasn't helping people that much. Other things that we didn't put that much money into and didn't put much staff against is stuff our people are crying out for."
Having spent thirty years creating and promoting a multi-million dollar organization driven by programs and measuring participation, and convincing other church leaders to do the same, you can see why Hybels called this research "the wake up call" of his adult life.
Hybels confesses:
"We made a mistake. What we should have done when people crossed the line of faith and become Christians, we should have started telling people and teaching people that they have to take responsibility to become 'self feeders.' We should have gotten people, taught people, how to read their bible between service, how to do the spiritual practices much more aggressively on their own."
In other words, spiritual growth doesn't happen best by becoming dependent on elaborate church programs but through the age old spiritual practices of prayer, bible reading, and relationships. And, ironically, these basic disciplines do not require multi-million dollar facilities and hundreds of staff to manage.
Does this mark the end of Willow's thirty years of influence over the American church? Not according to Hawkins:
"Our dream is that we fundamentally change the way we do church. That we take out a clean sheet of paper and we rethink all of our old assumptions. Replace it with new insights. Insights that are informed by research and rooted in Scripture. Our dream is really to discover what God is doing and how he's asking us to transform this planet."
Posted by UrL on October 18, 2007
Marty's Comment:
It's amazing that they still don't quite get it - taking out a "clean sheet of paper" and "discover what God is doing" - I think it's already been done - 2000 years ago!!!
In Christ - Marty
October 15, 2007 - Icon... or Anti-Icon?
Dear Parish Faithful,
At yesterday's Divine Liturgy we commemorated, honored and celebrated the "Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council." This sacred assembly, called by the Byzantine empress Irene to meet in Nicea in 787 and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, restored the icon to the Church after the imperially-sanctioned iconoclastic ban on the icon had threatened its very existence for about half of a century. This restoration by the Fathers of the Council was based on a solidly articulated theological defense of the icon as a witness to the Incarnation and the capacity of matter to be a vehicle of divine revelation and presence. St. John of Damascus, the great defender of the icon in his three treatises On the Holy Icons combines these themes in an important passage:
The Incarnation embraces all of human endeavor, and that includes the vocation of the iconographer and the possibility of a sacred art that reveals divine beauty to the world as it witnesses to the Gospel. Centuries later, Dostoevsky (+1881) would say that "Beauty will save the world," and he probably meant the beauty that reveals something of the divine and heavenly realm within a world often distorted by sin and ugliness. If the icon is indeed
"theology in color," then it is a glimpse of the perfect union between the divine and human in the Person of the incarnate Son of God; and of humankind transfigured by the deifying energies of the Holy Spirit as the fruit of that union. The icon is the image and presence of its heavenly Prototype. Jesus told Philip: "He who has seen Me has seen the Father." (JN. 14:9). When we gaze upon the icon, we are "seeing" our Lord (and through Him, the Father), just as when we hear the Gospel, we are hearing the words of the Lord spoken directly to us: "He who has ears to hear let him hear." (LK. 8:8) In "words and images" the Church witnesses to the Gospel, and though Protestant Christianity in America has an iconoclastic (and anti-sacramental) strain running throughout it - an object of biting irony in the writings of the Roman Catholic Flannery O'Connor (+1964) - this witness is of great importance in a society surrounded by the "anti-icon."
The "anti-icon" is "everywhere present and fillest all things" within a fallen world reduced to the one-dimensional realm of sensory perception. In other words, on every screen or facade available to public or private viewing - the television, computer, billboard, sign, etc. - there is a bewildering and endless array of images that entice us toward some form of consumeristic enjoyment that promises that elusive "happiness" that at this point in time must be a distortion of what the Founding Fathers were attempting to articulate in the Declaration of Independence! (Although even their celebrated homage to every human being's right to the "pursuit of happiness" has always seemed a bit ill-defined to me). That image can be of a frolicking and smilingly handsome/beautiful young person in a pair of breath-deprivingly tight jeans; of a roulette wheel enticing one to the casino right across the river, where you can make a fortune or mortgage away your entire family's future in one fateful evening of "fun;" or to overdosing on so much (unhealthy) food and drink, that this unrestrained consumption would all but guarantee an unwanted "cardiac episode" - if not to a premature departure from the land of the living.
Basically, the anti-icon of today's world is the use of the human face and body to drive us toward "the passions," those impulses that grow to dominate the soul and enslave us to our baser desires. This drive only further accelerates the seemingly ceaseless and intertwined activities of spending and consuming. Simplicity, restraint, discipline, and charity, are not-so-subtly relegated to a quaint but antiquated worldview. Thus, the advertising industry, to use but one example, is more than aware of the power of the image, but here distorted once again, into the anti-icon that ignores the world as belonging to God. Not to give this industry more credit than it deserves, but it promotes a kind of popular atheism, because it essentially reduces the human person to what we are biologically. Of course, religious/spiritual values are not the concern of the advertising industry, but it nevertheless presupposes a view of human nature that limits us to our physical needs and desires. A certain "give them bread and circus" cynicism lurks beneath the smiling faces. We are then pulled in that direction except for our brief excursions into church on Sunday morning. How essential the Liturgy is in reminding us of who we actually are, from where we actually come, and to where we hope to be eventually moving!
If any one of us were to be a figure included in an icon, would it be the actual icon of the Church, or the anti-icon of the world? Meaning, does our face "fit it" more naturally with one of those intense faces, let us say, that appear in the background of the icon of the Raising of Lazarus, The Decent Into Hades, or the Dormition of the Theotokos, gazing at the Lord or the Mother of God with awe and humility? Or would we be more at home on the television screen fast-talking the latest line of clothes, furniture or cars? What "icon" essentially captures our truest and deepest image? Who am I - really? According to the vision and teaching of the Scriptures, further expanded upon by the Fathers and Mothers of the Church, we are created "in the image and likeness of God" (cf. GEN. 1:26-27), destined for eternal life with God - the theosis of the saints. If we seek to fulfill our vocation and transform the image into the likeness of God we will truly honor the memory of the Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council who understood, assumed and taught that we the icons of the "Icon/Image of the invisible God." (COL. 1:15)
Fr. Steven
October 8, 2007 - Grace, Love, Communion
Dear Fathers, Parish Faithful & Friends in Christ,
Anyone remotely familiar with the Liturgy will immediately recognize this wonderful blessing during the Anaphora:
The basis for this blessing is not the result of later "theological development" that became very consciously trinitarian following the Arian crisis and the First and Second Ecumenical Councils. Rather, we find here a scriptural passage that became part of the Liturgy presumably at a very early date. This blessing is actually the final verse of St. Paul's Second Epistle to the Corinthians and is the culmination of his warm benediction - after a rather stormy letter! - to the local church there:
The Lord Jesus Christ, God (the Father), and the Holy Spirit are named together as equal yet distinct Persons. This may be the Trinity in embryonic form, but it is still expressed emphatically. But not only are the Persons of the Trinity named. St. Paul succinctly brings together the three most essential and enduring divine gifts that pour forth from the Persons of the Trinity and that sum up the Gospel and the entire New Testament: "grace," "love," and "communion." The unknown writer referred to as Ambrosiaster, comments on the essential unity of these mighty gifts:
These "uncreated energies" create, sustain, inspire and transform our lives within the Church. A community characterized by the presence of these divine gifts would certainly reflect the words of Christ: "You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden." (MATT. 5:14) a community devoid of such gifts would be reduced to a club.
In fact, if put into practice, this entire final blessing could be seen as the Apostle's description of an ideal local church, or parish. Before all of the planning committees and their proposed programs are put into place; before the necessary stewardship drives are organized; before, even, the "evangelization committee" begins the work of "growing the church;" before all of this, on the most foundational level, the local church must be the "place" where grace, love and communion are present and active; together with "peace," mutual love, and unity of mind. This is the type of church where people would desire to be active, give generously to, and witness to others about. The Liturgy exhorts us to this when preparing us for our shared recitation of the Nicene Creed:
Let us love one another, that with one mind we may confess.
Clear remnants of the "holy kiss" referred to in this passage still exist to this day, though often limited to the concelebrating clergy, the exchange of a kiss during the paschal season, and simply the affectionate greeting of members of a parish. St. John Chrysostom reminds us why a certain type of kiss can indeed by "holy:"
Being pastoral, the Apostle Paul realized that the Corinthians needed a strong and affirmative blessing to end his correspondence with them, a correspondence that was often filled with chastisement and correction. At times, he was clearly angry and employed more than a little bit of calculated irony and even sarcasm. Yet, he never lost sight of his burning desire that the Christians of Corinth manifest the new life to which they were called and into which they were baptized when they received the Gospel. For this reason, he labored and struggled to properly articulate a sound understanding of such seemingly disparate themes as the resurrection of the dead and a Christ-centered sexual morality. We can only believe him when he assured the Corinthians that he wrote to them in tears, fearing for their salvation as he begged them to repent of their sins. The apostle who himself was the astonished recipient of the unmerited forgiveness of God, was convinced that the "grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit" were able to transform a wayward community so that it would truly be the "church of God" residing in Corinth or Cincinnati, or wherever God is pleased to raise up a people to the glory of His Name.
Fr. Steven
September 26, 2007 - Letters from The Beloved
Dear Parish Faithful,
I would like to embody, in the form of a meditation, a particular analogy I used in Sunday's homily that was meant to challenge all of us with reading the Holy Scriptures as both a disciplined aspect of our Christian lives and a joyful experience of encountering Christ in the living Word of God.
So let us imagine a loving relationship with a particular person - the "beloved" - that has depth in addition to trust and commitment. The very presence of this person is a source of deep joy, even if no words are exchanged. You claim to find your very being in the beloved, as you hope the beloved finds his/her being in you. This relationship, based ultimately on love, gives purpose and direction to your existence. At least this is what you claim to others and to yourself with sincerity and conviction.
We then need to further imagine the distress you would feel if circumstances separated the two of you, so that the beloved was now far away and all intimate contact was interrupted. You no longer share the same space, and thus you are consumed with longing. If we could possibly further stretch our imagination and place ourselves in the pre-modern world of limited means of communication, then we might realize what a new meaning letter-writing would take on (sadly a dying art form today in the rushed and grammatically-challenged world of cyberspace email correspondence)! In other words, imagine reading the letters from your beloved one: the sheer anticipation and impatience with which you await such a letter amplifies the whole experience of the letter's arrival; your tearing it from its envelope and then devouring every word with intense concentration and an admixture of joy and apprehension, as you hope for good news and dread any possible bad news. Saving and re-reading these letters as you await further correspondence may actually become an integral part of your daily routine. All of this imagined scenario is based upon your heartfelt claim to truly love this person. In fact, this separation may test those very claims.
If, on the other hand, a friend came into your home and could not help but notice a large stack of unopened letters on your table, and was so bold as to ask what those were or where they came from; you may feel more than a small prick of conscience if you told your friend that the letters are from your beloved, but that right now you are too busy and too preoccupied to get to them, but that you will one day in the distant future when you had the time. Meanwhile, the pile grows higher and the dust continues to accumulate. If, following that response, your friend became a bit skeptical about your claims to truly love this person from whom you are separated and who writes theses letters carefully and lovingly, to what extent could you legitimately disagree, protest as you might against such skepticism? A painfully honest assessment would acknowledge that you had grown distant from your beloved over the course of time.
All analogies are imperfect, but I would like to apply this one to our claim to believe in Christ, to have faith in Christ, and to love Christ. I believe it was St. Tikhon of Zadonsk (an 18th c. Russian bishop) who wrote that the Scriptures are "love letters" from God. The saint is not aiming at sentimentality or cleverness in this expression, but trying to convey something of the overwhelming love of God for us which takes many forms. God communicates Himself to us through the words of Scriptures that we believe are the Word of God. More specifically, the Bible contains the words of the Word, Who became incarnate as our Lord Jesus Christ, but Who was "with God," and "was God" from all eternity. These "love letters" contain the revelation of God to all believing members of the Church in order to nourish, strengthen, and deepen our faith in Christ during or earthly pilgrimage. Christ is not "absent" from us, for He promised: Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the age." (MATT. 28:20) Thus, He is not the "absent Beloved," but the ever-present Beloved by the grace of the Holy Spirit. In this, our relationship with the Risen Lord transcends any human relationship which is more bound by the limitations of space and time. Yet, since His presence is not as palpable or concrete , He may seem distant at times, so He communicates to us through the living Word of the Scriptures, as He does through prayer and the Eucharist.
There is a definite connection between our claims to believe in Christ, to have faith in Christ, and to love Christ and the reading and study of the Holy Scriptures. The one "feeds" the other. What do those claims to love Christ even mean if we do not avail ourselves of His desire to communicate with us through the Holy Scriptures? An unopened Bible undermines those very claims. Or, we could say that the presence and availability of the Scriptures tests those claims. If our Bible remains closed and accumulating dust, to what purpose is it even present in our homes? It sounds like a silent reproach to our indifference sitting on the bookshelf.
Then again, we could read the Scriptures with the same intensity, concentration and commitment as we would devote to those letters sent by the beloved as described above. That was and remains the practice of the saints. In the language of mystical love that is found in the Church, Christ is the beloved Bridegroom of the soul, and the human soul is the bride. This union is one of trust, commitment and love. This union of love is nourished through prayer, the Eucharist, the keeping of the "law of Christ," and the careful and concentrated reading of the Holy Scriptures, the "love letters" from above sent down to us for our enlightenment and nourishment, so that "we may enter upon a spiritual manner of living, both thinking and doing such things as are well-pleasing" to our Lord (Prayer Before the Gospel).
Fr. Steven