There’s Always Time for Cranberry Sauce

When Jesus healed a woman on the Sabbath, those who were watching complained because He “worked” on the Sabbath. They had forgotten there was an actual purpose for the Sabbath. In the same way, many of us look at the Church rules as just rules to follow. We spend so much time worrying about following the rules; we forget that the rules have an actual benefit for our lives. The weeks leading up to Christmas present a great opportunity to refocus our attention on what really matters. If only we could trust the Church enough to understand the meaning behind the rules, we could arrive at the Feast of Christmas with peace rather than a panic about making sure everything is in order for the dinner. There’s always time for cranberry sauce. This year, let’s get our soul ready for Christmas.

On the Tenth Day of Christmas – It’s Time to Prepare

Everything worth something requires preparation. I’m sure you can think of something, no matter how small, that you have prepared for in your life. That is, of course, if you considered that “something” important enough, and a priority in your life. Today we begin our liturgical preparations for the Feast of Theophany with a service we call “Royal [or Great] Hours” celebrated on the Eve of Theophany. If Theophany falls on a Sunday of Monday, this service is offered on the Friday before the Feast, since it is NOT to be offered any Saturday or Sunday as these are days reserved for other services. This service, a combination of the First, Third, Sixth, and Ninth Hours, is celebrated also on the Eve of Christmas and on Holy Friday Morning. The prayers, hymns, and readings from the Old and New Testament, are filled with references to the coming Feast of Theophany.

One such hymn, uniquely assigned to the Friday before the Feast if Theophany, speaks of this idea of preparation and anticipation. In this singular hymn, the Church teaches us to prepare ourselves and be ready to receive Christ, Who “appeared, wanting to renew the entire creation. Even the river must prepared itself!

Prepare yourself, Zabulon, and make ready, Naphtali; and you, Jordan river stand still to receive with joy the Master coming to be baptized. Rejoice, Adam, together with the first mother Eve; do not hide yourselves, as you did before in paradise; for having seen you naked, He appeared in order to clothe you with the first raiment. Christ has appeared, wanting to renew the entire creation.

The concept of liturgical preparation is most appropriate for Friday, the Day of Preparation. With the Sabbath  and the Lord’s Day approaching with Liturgy and Great Vespers and, in the case of Theophany, the Great Blessing of the Waters, we cannot afford to leave details to the last minute.

• Is the Holy Water Font cleaned and ready?
• Is the Prosoforo baked for Liturgy?
• Have the Altar covers been changed to reflect the Feast?

These are details, among others, the Church must prepare, but there are details for you to prepare as well.

• Do you have your Holy Water bottle from last year cleaned and ready to fill from the Font?
• Have you prepared for Holy Communion with Prayer and Holy Confession?
• Have you cleaned your home to receive the Priest who will begin house blessings in a few days?
• Have you arranged your family schedule to include attending special services for Theophany?
• Have you looked up your nearest Orthodox Church service schedule to see when the services are?
• Have you “signed up” to have your house blessed by the Priest?
• Sunday is a day of fasting (rare and not strict); have you prepared an appropriate menu for Sunday?

When the Sabbath was more strictly followed (see my prior post on the importance of the Sabbath), Friday (the Day of Preparation) was when all the necessary tasks for the Jewish household had to be accomplished, which is yet another reminder that we must rededicate our lives to focus upon the Lord.

Why not start this year by preparing to celebrate the Feast of Theophany in a truly Orthodox Christian manner? Spend time today reading Holy Scripture and other sources, like this blog, to have a richer understanding of your Faith. It doesn’t have to be a LOT of time, but enough for you to grow in your Faith and LIVE A NEW LIFE IN CHRIST.

2013 New Testament Challenge – Day 35 (Reflections on John 1-11)

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.

Today’s reading bring many thoughts to my mind, but two I wanted to share with you. First,

From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. Then Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also want to go away?" But Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. "Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." (John  6.66-69)

When the teaching of Jesus Christ become too hard to bear, some believers choose to leave rather than remain within the Church. And what is Christ’s response? He allowed them to depart freely. That’s how much God loves us. If we want to walk away, while He desires us to remain, He allows us to depart. What that means for us today is that Jesus wants us to freely follow Him, without forcing us and without trickery. This was one reason He didn’t reveal Himself with power to the multitudes, as He will when He returns riding on a cloud, so that people would be able to freely accept Him with their own will.

If God doesn’t force people to follow Him, why do we Christians still try to force people to love Him and His Church? Not only is not productive, it also does not express the freedom that God grants. That same freedom, we are not permitted to take away from others.

Another thought came to my mind while I was reading today. When Jesus heals on the Sabbath, while this is technically breaking the Law, Jesus reminds us that the Law is for a purpose – to do the will of God, which is love. The religious elite had no difficulty doing work on the Sabbath if it was something such as circumcision.

Jesus answered and said to them, "I did one work, and you all marvel. Moses therefore gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath? Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment." (John 7.21-24)

We each choose every day which “rules” of the Church we think are important to follow, while rejecting others. Then we turn around and speak badly of others who choose, based upon what THEY think, different “rules” of the Church to follow. Who is correct? Maybe both are correct, depending upon the circumstances, or maybe both are incorrect.

Sin is sin, and every time we look at the sin of others and declare THEM sinners, while holding our chin up high, we are no better than the religious elite who rejected the compassionate healing Jesus did on the Sabbath. Shame on us!

Until tomorrow…..Consider where you have acted as one of the religious elite rather than showing compassion on your brothers and sisters.

Stop Being a Hypocrite!

The religious “elite” couldn’t tolerate that Jesus healed on the Sabbath, even though they regularly broke the Sabbath by watering their animals. Their obedience to the Law, something which should have been a blessing, became their condemnation because their hearts were not in their actions. They obeyed the Law, while not knowing the purpose of the Law. The same can happen to YOU as you struggle to be a “good Christian” and obey the laws of Christianity. Don’t fall into the trap of judging your brothers and sisters. That’s what the hypocrites do. Stop  being a hypocrite!

A RestLESS Sabbath

Since the 40 Days of Blogging Challenge had assigned Sabbath as today’s topic, and I already wrote on Sabbath for the last “Bloggers Choice” I can’t just NOT blog today. Please read my post earlier this week on the Unseen Benefit of the Sabbath for my thoughts about the Sabbath. I wish only to make this additional comment.

Soccer, Football, wash the car, clean the gutters, cut the grass, paint the fence, vacuum the carpet, wash the windows, repair that hole in the upstairs bedroom, and don’t forget SHOPPING! These are just a few of the things people work into their Saturday, so many times when Sunday comes around, they are too tired to come to Church for Divine Liturgy.

“Sunday is the only day we have to sleep in…” We’ve all heard this and other excuses, and some we’ve even used ourselves, because we didn’t get any rest on Saturday  - the ACTUAL Sabbath. When we don’t take advantage of the Sabbath and REST, we turn Sunday into a day of rest, because we couldn’t POSSIBLY take time away from work during the week to get these projects finished. (sarcasm)

There isn’t only an unseen benefit to the Sabbath. There is also an obvious benefit. We human beings need rest. God gave us the Sabbath to rest our bodies and souls so that we could continue in our mission to live in communion with God. Tomorrow is Sunday, and EVERY Orthodox Church has Divine Liturgy, unless there isn’t a priest assigned to that particular Church. Did you spend today getting EVERYTHING on your list done so you’ll be too tired for Church tomorrow? Well, how about taking the rest of this evening for prayer and preparation for Holy Communion? It’s not too late, it never is, to live a new life in Christ.

This post is written for the 40 Days of Blogging Challenge sponsored by the Preachers Institute. You may find other blogs participating in this challenge. I hope you enjoy this year’s Advent journey.

The Unseen Benefit of the Sabbath

Since I am participating in the 40 Days of Blogging, sponsored by the Preachers’ Institute, and today’s topic is “Blogger’s Choice,” I have decided to blog about a topic I have been considering lately.

The idea of a Sabbath (day of rest) has its roots in the Old Testament Command of God for the People of God to work only six days and rest on the seventh, paralleling the “work” of Creation and rest on the seventh day.

Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made. – Genesis 2.1-3

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed – Exodus 20.8-11

While the Sabbath is Saturday, the Holy Apostles established Sunday (the Lord’s Day) as the day to gather for the Divine Liturgy, forever linking Sunday, which is the Day of Resurrection, with the pinnacle day of Christian worship.

But every Lord's day gather yourselves together, and break bread, and give thanksgiving after having confessed your transgressions, that your sacrifice may be pure. But let no one that is at variance with his fellow come together with you, until they be reconciled, that your sacrifice may not be profaned. For this is that which was spoken by the Lord: In every place and time offer to me a pure sacrifice; for I am a great King, says the Lord, and my name is wonderful among the nations. – Didache of the Apostles to the Nations

However, the purpose of my blog today isn’t for the purpose of defending Sunday vs. Saturday, or even whether Christians should keep the Jewish Sabbath. My purpose, as implied in the title I have chosen for this post, is the UNSEEN benefit of a Sabbath, whether Jewish or Christian. Of course, this blog is dedicated to living a new life in Christ, and focuses upon the Christian life.

So what is the hidden benefit?

Living in the South, the deep South of South Carolina, I live in a town in which many business still close on Sundays. It was only in the past few years, where it became legal to sell/purchase alcohol on Sunday, and THAT was legitimized based upon the sales tax revenues that had increased associated with tourist income. Here in Florence, South Carolina, “Blue Laws” are still a fresh memory, and some still exist.

When the Jewish community kept the Sabbath, it wasn’t only the Jews who benefited with rest. The servants, whether Jews or not, and animals (not even human), were blessed, by the Commandment of God, with a day to rest from work. I don’t think we can take this reality too lightly. Still, the Jews had to care for and feed their work animals, without this “work” being considered a violation of the Sabbath. In fact this point was highlighted by our Lord in His rebuttal to the Pharisees who challenged His “right” to heal on the Sabbath.

And behold, there was a man who had a withered hand. And they asked Him, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?" -- that they might accuse Him. Then He said to them, "What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? "Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath." – Matthew 12.10-12

We don’t have servants (technically speaking) and work animals have been replaced (at least in industrialized countries) with machines. Yet, we do have a working class (so-called blue collar workers) who accomplish much of the hard labor that the servants of old accomplished. So, when a society keeps a Sabbath today, those workers who may be Christians or may not be, are blessed with a day they can rest and spend time in prayer. If they choose not to pray, at least they can strengthen their family ties, a point which would result in a near-universal benefit to society.

You might be asking why this is on my mind lately…well, there is a “movement” making its way through the internet to stop shopping on Thanksgiving Day, as a sign of protest against our commercial-driven society. As a part of this discussion, many on the “shopping is ok” crowd suggest that workers may want the extra income by working a holiday shift, and therefore receiving holiday pay.

I think the deeper issue of working on the Sabbath is DIRECTLY related to the pressure society places on keeping up with the Jones’. We have created society which elevates wealth while casting doubt on any “holy roller” who would choose to stay home or close his business on Sunday, “just” to spend time in Church or with his family. The pressure to pursue happiness (guaranteed in the founding documents of our Nation) has been equated with pursing wealth.

It is the pursuit of wealth that becomes the issue. There is a saying in business, at least the restaurant business as it has been explained to me, which states, “If you can’t make it in six, you won’t make it in seven.” Living in the South where many restaurants are still closed on Sunday, except the national chains, I have seen this saying hold true. The possession of wealth is not considered sinful; rather it is the pursuit of wealth which creates sin. The Lord says, “Seek first the kingdom…,” rather than seeking wealth.

So what about those who “have” to work on Sunday vs. those who desire to work on Sunday? With the exception of professions such as police/fire/EMT/nurses/ER Doctors, etc I would be hard placed to identify a single profession that, if closed on a Sunday, would bring our society to a screeching halt. So, unless someone works in such a profession, the only need to work on Sunday is a financial one.

I’m not about to question each person’s motives for desire to work on Sunday. I will, however, point out that in MOST cases, the need to work on Sunday is either a perception, OR a result of poor financial priorities in the past. Both can be corrected through repentance, prayer, fasting, and almsgiving to help reprioritize life to coincide with living a new life in Christ.

BUT if Christians continue to expect services on Sunday, such as after Sunday brunch or Sunday afternoon shopping trips to the mall, simply because we know there are workers willing to work on Sunday, then we continue to ignore the hidden benefit of the Sabbath; the benefit that the Lord specified in the Old Testament, when He commanded that ALL work stop. The least we could do is allow workers time to rest for the busy week ahead.