There are few things that are quite as invigorating as as a full church, a wonderful Liturgy, communing from two chalices, etc. What a great day we had on December 4 when the feast of the Entry of the Theotokos coincided with a Sunday! It reminded one of how things were before the pandemic! Since the pandemic we have slowly been getting back to our average number of folks kissing the cross. We’ve long since surpassed pre-pandemic numbers of people partaking of Holy Communion every Sunday, but not the numbers attending. Of course, some folks fell out of the habit of going to church every Sunday during the pandemic. That is understandable, of course, but it is time for us to start working hard to reacquire that good habit. We encourage everyone to push themselves in this regard, especially during the Lenten period we are now working through as we prepare ourselves for the great feast of the Nativity of the Lord.
When Metropolitan Nicholas visited the Cincinnati parish a few weeks ago for a Wednesday Divine Liturgy the church also was full, communion took place from two chalices, the choir sang wonderfully, etc. Just like what we experienced at STV on Sunday, December 4. And Vladyka mentioned this several time during his sermon and after the Liturgy too: Orthodox Christians should strive to be in God’s House every day – not just on Sundays. But we should especially strive to be in church on Sunday, as this is the day of the Lord’s Resurrection. Every Sunday is a small Pascha. Every Sunday we celebrate the Feast of Feasts and Day of Days. And this has been the Christian practice for time immemorial.
Let us not think that the pandemic we just experienced was the first of the Christian Era. Or the worst of the Christian Era. There have been MANY pandemics since the time our Lord walked the earth, and it is well known that the first two pandemics of the Christian Era were in fact hemorrhagic fever pandemics. That is, the disease that spread in those times killed its victims in horribly bloody and gory ways. Of course, in the end, whether killed one way or another the outcome is the same. But the Christians in those early pandemics distinguished themselves by not only caring for their own dead, but even the pagan dead. Yes – those same pagans that were seeking to wipe out Christianity. And there is an interesting correspondence between the two Roman Emperors (one in the east and one in the west) that notes this, and further notes that surely this spells the death of paganism, for the pagans run from those who die, while the Christians care for them – even at great risk to themselves.
In many ways as Orthodox Christians we strive to embody the best of those that came before us. In externals no, of course. We don’t wear Roman garb from the first century, for instance. But in the most important things, that is, things of faith and virtue, we do strive to emulate them because they point us the way to the Heavenly Kingdom.
It is time now for us to re-adjust our paradigm regarding our participation in the Church. During the pandemic this changed for many, and understandably so, but now we have to fight those demons who are suggesting to us that it is OK: we can just come to Church once in a while at our convenience, perhaps following this cadence for the rest of our lives. We survived the pandemic without going to Church every day after all. Maybe we don’t need that. Maybe just once in a while is good enough...
Those are not MY suggestions, but no doubt we struggle with those suggestions from the demons who do not have our best interest at heart. When will we finally understand and truly accept that the world does not love us as much as God does? That those that suggest that we not put God first in our lives do not care for our comfort, but use this “temptation to comfort” as a weapon to drag us down to share in their eternal destruction? Somehow those thoughts seem so logical though. After all, we have many things to do, and sleeping in and doing chores on Sunday is much more comfortable than pushing ourselves to get up and go to church EVERY WEEK. On December 4 it was hot in the church too. But it is better to be hot in the church for a short time rather than hot for eternity! :) And the Metropolitan did not call us, in his first sermon in our diocese, to seek comfort. He called us to be in church MORE often – not just on Sundays!
The pandemic paradigm of inactivity and self-indulgence has had its time. And its time has past. Like most sins it began with something good and reasonable, and over time deviated into something that is not only inappropriate for a Christian, but something that truly “misses the mark”, as the Greek word for sin can be translated. Is the expectation that every Orthodox Christian come to every Divine Service every time? Of course not – that is just not reasonable, and is perhaps also a temptation from the source of temptations that drives us towards the opposite extreme. Extremes are never conducive to salvation. But should most of us be at most services most of the time? Indeed we should. And that is not unreasonable – that should be a welcome challenge for those of us who are striving for the Heavenly Kingdom. The Lord said “...the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.” (Matthew 11:12). We do not take it from the couch. Or doing chores in the yard on the Lord’s Day. Or by any other way than by force – forcing ourselves to do the right thing. Forcing ourselves to peel ourselves out of bed in the morning. Forcing ourselves to the realization that this life is a time of spiritual war, as St. Paul said: “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” (Ephesians 6:12). This metaphor of war is not symbol, an allegory, or anything else but the absolute reality of our spiritual lives. If war is the right reality, then sloth is not the right strategy for victory. We must FIGHT – and fighting to get to God’s House more often, for the renewal of our ammunition, supplies, intelligence, and other important resources towards our victory is a crucial tactic in our struggle.
Again I ask: when will we finally understand and accept that the world does not love us as much as God does? That those that suggest we not put God first in our lives do not care for our comfort, but use this temptation to comfort to drag us down to share in their eternal destruction? I would suggest that the time is NOW to embrace this understanding. Now is the time to push ourselves. Now is the time to reestablish good habits of regular churchgoing. And this too: now is the time to push ourselves not just back to our pre-pandemic status quo, but beyond that! If you were a regular Sunday morning attendee before the pandemic, since you are pushing yourself now anyway, why not push right into being a regular attendee of Saturday night Vigil too? And if you were pretty good at Saturday night and Sunday morning, then push yourself right into at least one weekday Divine Service per week. The big effort is not so much to attain to what you had, but to move yourself off the status quo. Once you’ve established momentum by moving from the status quo, the sky is the limit.
And so, in the end, since everything that the Lord sends to us is good, we see too that the pandemic, in the end, has opportunities for good as well. Without the pandemic would we ever have changed our churchgoing habits? I mean for the better? If we are honest, the answer is: probably not. But now that we see it is time to break those pandemic habits and get back to church? In fact we can rather easily exceed our pre-pandemic practices and end up in a better place than we were when we started back in 2020!
One more word about December 4 before we close this piece. Sts. Joachim and Anna are front and center in the feast of the Entry of the Theotokos. This is because the feast is, in a nutshell, them fulfilling their vow to God to dedicate the child to Him that they prayed He send them for so many years. They followed through on their promise. They put God first not just hypothetically, but in ACTION. This is what I am suggesting to us all here: to practice our faith in action. To do what we know we need to do, and to exceed the cadence of visiting the Lord’s House that we had before the pandemic.
Glory to God for everything, dear brothers and sisters, even for the pandemic! Yes – there were bad things which came with it to be sure. But in the end it has given us the opportunity to be more diligent Christians than we were before it came upon us. To value our faith even more than before the pandemic. The Lord, in His love for us, gives us many opportunities to draw near to Him in this life. Here is yet another – and a very good one indeed. Let us take advantage of His love for us, and repay Him by acting to fulfill His will in creating mankind: that He might share His love with us for all eternity. The more we care for our souls, the more we put God first, the more we strive to live according to the Gospel, the more we align ourselves with His will to grant us the Heavenly Kingdom!
Asking Your Prayers,
Fr. Gregory
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