Separation of Church and State

It’s election season! You can’t turn on the radio or the internet without being bombarded by political commercials or arguments. There is no secret that many of the issues that plague our society are based on morality, and that morality often pits Church against State in the courtroom and congress hall. This week’s “Ask Father” sermon addresses the questions, “What is our Church view on the state law and our religious law?” This question is especially poignant considering the recent legal battles about sexuality and the public square.

Some believe that as Christians we are obligated to obey the State, no matter what law is passed. This is based upon the misunderstanding of the Scriptures. Saint Paul commanded, “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.” (Romans 13.1-2) But you can’t stop with this verse. Here is the entire passage:

“Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God's minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God's minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience' sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God's ministers attending continually to this very thing. Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.” (Romans 13.1-7)

Read from a distance, the entire passage speaks about fighting evil, not blind obedience to authorities. The key to understanding our role as Orthodox Christians as members of society is two-fold. First we must live in a respectful manner, always committed to treating others with the Love of Christ. This is what it means when Saint Paul says, “Do what is good.” It is NEVER evil to love your neighbor. It is ALWAYS good to treat each other with respect even if we have differing opinions. Secondly, not that it less important, but equally important, as citizens of the United States we are obliged to participate in the civic process of determining laws and public morals that help to create a stable and good society.

There will be times when the State Law and the Church (or religious) Law are in conflict, such as with the recent debates on sexuality. When such issues arise, it is our duty as followers of Jesus Christ and members of His Holy Orthodox Church to be the voice of Christ in a Changing World. This in fact was the theme of our most recent Archdiocese Clergy-Laity Congress. But being the voice of Christ does not mean forcing others into compliance. Each human being has been given the freedom to choose a life devoted to God or against Him. How can we be the voice of Christ?

We speak the truth in love, and allow each person to freely choose to obey Him or deny Him. But this NEVER means that we as Orthodox Christians have the obligation to follow a State Law that violates the Law of God. But neither does it mean we are free from the political consequences and social pressure to endorse the evil that some may convince the State is instead good. We must never forget that we too have the freedom given to us by God to follow Him or deny Him, and no State can take away THAT freedom.

The Scriptures and Great Lent - Saint Mary of Egypt

A special study of the themes and Scriptures readings for the fifth Sunday of Great Lent.

Forgiveness is Key

The key to salvation is the gift of forgiveness. Jesus says, "For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Matthew 6.14-15) If we want to enter the gates of Heaven, we must use the key provides to us in forgiveness. 

The Hymn of Simeon Should Be Our Hymn

When the righteous Simeon was presented with the infant Jesus for the Presentation to the Temple, he remembered God’s promise. You see, one day while Simeon was praying, the Holy Spirit revealed to him, “that he would not death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.” (Luke 2.26) It was shortly after hearing this promise that the Mother of God was in the Temple with her Son for the Forty Days Blessing. When Simeon held Jesus, he praised God and said, “Lord, now let your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.” (Luke 2.29-32)

Now Simeon felt he could die in peace, knowing the Savior had been born.

We have also received a promise from God. God has promised that if we believe in Jesus we will live eternally with Him in Heaven. Saint Paul reminds us, “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10.9) Simeon knew this promise and believed in his heart, and he rejoiced at the news.

With all the stress and anxiety our world is facing, you would think that we were wanting peace in our hearts. Now we can have it because our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has saved us from death. What more could possibly cause anxiety in our hearts if we remember this promise? The hymn of Simeon should be our hymn; maybe it would help us remember God’s promise.

So……You Think You’re Special?

I often encounter faithful Christians who share their frustration about the temptations in their lives. Many faithful Christians also question why they struggle in life. There seems to be belief, unfounded in Sacred Tradition and the Holy Scriptures, in which faithful Christians shouldn’t be tempted nor suffer. This myth is perpetuated by “The Prosperity Gospel” which suggests that God desires for His followers to be comfortable and prosper in worldly fashion. Preachers such as Joel Osteen fill huge arenas filling people with hopes of future comforts and worldly success. Just believe God wants it for you, and you will achieve it….so they preach.  And when the believer doesn’t become rich or they suffer what they consider an “injustice” from God, the cause is their lack of faith and positive thinking. And all along, the preacher becomes wealthy in the process.

Some cannot deal with the pressure of suffering in a world they are told they should not be suffering. Many turn to drugs and alcohol for comfort, or a life of moral decay and financial collapse. When they hit rock bottom, if they survive the decline, the preachers are gone and offer nothing but, “You didn’t have enough faith.” They have nowhere to turn, so they think, and finally become angry with God for letting them down.

It is at that moment when I ask, “What makes you think you’re so special that you shouldn’t suffer?” This may sound tough, but it was self-oriented advice that brought them to this low place to begin with, and just as a drug addict must be shocked into sobriety, I have found (in my experience) that selfish addict requires the same shock treatment. “After all,” I say, “Jesus was tempted and suffered. Do you REALLY think you’re better than Him? Do you REALLY think YOU deserve not to suffer, but He did?”

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.  And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. (Matthew 4.1-2)Then they spat in His face and beat Him; and others struck Him with the palms of their hands. (Matthew 26.67

Some will say to me, “Sure, but that was Jesus. He could handle it because He’s God.” Then I remind them Christians have been suffering all along.

Have you suffered so many things in vain -- if indeed it was in vain? (Galatians 3.4)For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus. For you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen, just as they did from the Judeans, who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they do not please God and are contrary to all men. (1 Thessalonians 2.14-15)

So Jesus Christ and His Church have suffered and were tempted to help us.

For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted. (Hebrews 2.18)

You may be in the midst of a great struggle, or you have just completed a great struggle and “licking your wounds” looking back and wondering why it all took place. You may be tempted to blame God for your struggle. You may be tempted to think you deserve better in life because you believe in Jesus Christ. You may believe Jesus let you down. Please keep this in mind…..you are TEMPTED to believe these things about God, because someone doesn’t want you to know the truth.

The truth is; you don’t deserve better, not because you’re bad, but because nobody deserves better.

The truth is; nobody deserves God’s love, but He loves you anyway.

The truth is; you will suffer, and God didn’t make you suffer, but He is holding your hand right now.

The truth is; God has NEVER left you.

We are all in the same boat. We “all fall short of the glory of God,” (Romans 3.23) but He loves us anyway. You’re not special, but you are one of us. Join us and we can struggle together.

2013 New Testament Challenge – Day 32 (Reflections on Luke 17-24)

Every year I participate in a special effort called the New Testament Challenge sponsored by a priest of the Orthodox Church in America. He encourages Christians to spend the Christmas Fast, also known as Advent) reading the entire New Testament as a preparation for Christmas. Each year I have done this, it has been blessing to me and I pray this year will be no different. As part of the New Testament Challenge, I endeavor to blog a bit about the reading for that particular day. I may miss a few, but I pray for those who follow this blog (NOW ALSO ON FACEBOOK) it will be a blessing.

“Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.” (Luke 21.36)

When you hear of Biblical Signs, the temptation can be to read them as future telling, but a Biblical Sign is much deeper than just reading the future. When Jesus outlines the many things to look for so they can understand the “end times” and His return, He is planting an image for us, so that when we witness them happening, we will remember His promise. And why does He do this? Because we are weak. He knows we will grow impatient and begin to doubt His return. He knows we will fall to temptation and become lazy, comforting ourselves by believing He is delayed. He also knows that sometimes we need a firm reminder about the things that really matter.

Many believe we are currently living in the “end times” based upon the decline of morality. I’m not sure I disagree based upon what Jesus said.

As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. (Luke 17.26-30)

There is little doubt our society is experiencing a moral decline. We human beings seem to have a pattern of decline. Noah, Lot, the Jews at the time of Christ….and as Saint Paul teaches in Romans. “Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the hosts of their hearts.” (Romans 1.24) Really only one question remains. If God has rescued His people just in time to save us from total destruction, beginning in the Garden, just how much further must we decline this last time before He returns? I’m not sure I want to find out.

Until tomorrow…..I suppose I’ll settle for trying to be as ready as I can, just in case it happens tonight.

2013 New Testament Challenge – Day 31 (Catch Up! Part 2)

Every year I participate in a special effort called the New Testament Challenge sponsored by a priest of the Orthodox Church in America. He encourages Christians to spend the Christmas Fast, also known as Advent) reading the entire New Testament as a preparation for Christmas. Each year I have done this, it has been blessing to me and I pray this year will be no different. As part of the New Testament Challenge, I endeavor to blog a bit about the reading for that particular day. I may miss a few, but I pray for those who follow this blog (NOW ALSO ON FACEBOOK) it will be a blessing.

I continued with my “catch-up” today.

Day 26 – Romans 1-8

Saint Paul couldn’t make it any clearer for us. Our new life in Christ shouldn’t be a slave to our former passions, but united to a Godly life free of sin. Of course, since we are never truly without  sin, obviously Saint Paul is talking about the attempt to live a sinless life as he said.

Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God – through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. (Romans 7.13-25)

How can we give up so easily? It seems like we throw in the towel when it comes to our sinful passions. But Saint Paul’s advice is to challenge and comfort us at the same time. Since God came, “while we were yet still sinners” and we each are warring against sin not always successfully, then we should be comforted to know that God will forgive us. He already HAS forgiven us if we accept His forgiveness. And since He has forgiveness us, how can we not try harder to live as He desires for us to live? I’m sure you feel this same battle in your life, so we can all join Saint Paul’s words of praise, “I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Yes indeed.

Day 27 – Romans 9-16

Building on his advice to live a new life in Christ, Saint Paul reminds us that if we fail to live as we should, we will face the same judgment as the Jews. As they witnessed the Church being taken away from the, we will see the Church depart from us, although in actuality it will WE who have departed from the Church. We shouldn’t be so smug that we are members of the Church.

You will say then, “Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.” Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off. And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree? (Romans 11-19-24)

I find this to be a problem in many “cradle” Orthodox raised in the Faith. As the Jews felt certain superiority because they were the “chosen ones” and the People of God, they failed to understand His intent to save the world. Likewise since we are already comfortable inside the Church as members, we often forget that our mission is to continue Christ’s saving work. But if we’re not careful, we will (as today’s Gospel reading during Liturgy pointed out – Luke 14.16-24) find ourselves OUTSIDE the Church.

Saint Paul thought it was God Himself who hardened the hearts of the Jews, so that the Gentiles could come into the Church. I sometimes wonder if the same thing is happening today with the cradle Orthodox Christians. If our Churches were full, which they unfortunately are not, there might not be an urgency to reach out and bring new people into the Church. Jesus said He wanted His Church full, so maybe He sends some away to make room for more. And if, as Saint Paul suggests, it is God who does the sending away, then His mercy is sufficient.

Day 28 – Luke 1-7

It never ceases – my awe of the Holy Scriptures. At this time in my life, age 44, I guess I have read the entire New Testament more than a couple dozen times, either from the pulpit during services, or in person as I am for the New Testament Challenge. YET, each passage STILL reaches me with profound respect.

Take for example, the opening verses of the Gospel of Luke,

Inasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus, that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed. (Luke 1.1-4)

Not only does he write with complete certainty, but he writes for clarity’s sake. We know the Gospel of Mark had already been written, and Luke traveled with Saint Paul, so he was well versed with the Gospel. But being a physician, he desired for us to have clarity. He must have known that confusion leads to doubt, and doubt leads to faithlessness, and faithlessness leads to despondency, and despondency leads to death.

But the Gospel is for life, eternal life! And I am given new life every time I pick up the Holy Scriptures. Thank you Saint Luke; and thank you God.

Day 29 – Luke 8-16

Some people are just hard-headed. No matter how many miracles Jesus performed (and they witnessed), no matter how many times Jesus revealed their most inner thoughts; many could not bring themselves to accept Him as the Christ. I think the same thing happens nowadays. I wonder sometimes what WE would do if we were blessed to witness the things they witnessed. Jesus taught and healed PUBLICLY in the Temple and Synagogues and in the marketplaces. Some believed, while others refused to believe. And why did they not believe?

The only way for them to accept the Christ was to deny their own comfort and prestige. This was the basis for the challenge Christ offers,

Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them, "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. "And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. "For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it --  "lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, "saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.' "Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? "Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. "So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple. (Luke 14.25-33)

So…..do you believe?

Until tomorrow…..I’m finally caught up. Tomorrow we finish the Gospel of Luke.

2013 New Testament Challenge – Day 5 (Matthew 13-18)

Every year I participate in a special effort called the New Testament Challenge sponsored by a priest of the Orthodox Church in America. He encourages Christians to spend the Christmas Fast, also known as Advent) reading the entire New Testament as a preparation for Christmas. Each year I have done this, it has been blessing to me and I pray this year will be no different. As part of the New Testament Challenge, I endeavor to blog a bit about the reading for that particular day. I may miss a few, but I pray for those who follow this blog (NOW ALSO ON FACEBOOK) it will be a blessing.

“Let us pray to the Lord, that we may be made worthy to hear the Holy Gospel.” This call, heard immediately prior to the reading of the Matins Gospel, has been on my mind the past few weeks. It is also said during Paraklesis, which we celebrate each Wednesday evening in Florence. My question is, “Aren’t we all worthy?”

Today’s readings for the New Testament Challenge begin with several parables from the Lord. When asked why the Lord teaches in parables, He said, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.” (Matthew 13.11) I believe, taken in context of several other passages today, confirms that the Lord will not allow “just anyone” to understand His Gospel.

“But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.” (Matthew 13.16-17) “All these things Jesus spoke to the multitude in parables; and without a parable He did not speak to them, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, ‘I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things kept secret from the foundation of the world.’” (Matthew 13.34-35) “He who has ear to hear, let him hear!” (Matthew 13.43)

If the Lord openly has declared that not all people will be honored with understanding His Gospel, we should be fervent in our prayers to “be made worthy to hear the Holy Gospel.” This has a double urgency, in my thoughts. If we HAVE been chosen by God to hear, and therefore understand, the Gospel, but we choose to ignore the message of hope, we are all the more in danger of eternal torment.

“The Son of Man will send out His angles, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness.” (Matthew 13.41)

Don’t you want to be worthy of hearing the Gospel? The flip side of the coin is that we will hear the word of God and not comprehend its blessings and continue to live in darkness until God chooses to shed His light on us. But even to this, though not a part of today’s readings, God has already prepared. “Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens.” (Romans 9.18) If God has chosen to hide the truth from your heart, it is God’s will, and therefore Saint Paul comforts with these words of hope. BUT we should WANT to understand God’s word so that we can be saved. It would be our condemnation if He chooses to count us worthy to understand the Gospel, and we respond with unbelief! To quote Saint Paul, “Μη γένοιτο – Certainly not!” (Romans 9.14)

Until tomorrow….pray for worthiness!