St. Paul writes to the church today and warns us about division and schism. [1 Cor. 1:10] In our history, the church has weathered many storms and will continue too, some of these stormy attacks led to the gathering of ecumenical councils which declared a true understanding of the controversy and in some cases, threw the trouble-makers out, or at least until they repented! The Apostle Mark records: “And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.” (Mark 3:25)
Well in these times for those of us who do not deny the cross, our salvation is of the utmost importance. That is why we hold tightly to this history. It is why the church is full of martyrs. And it is why you are here! Even within this crazy time that we live in; our life is worth holding fast to the faith of the Apostles, at all cost. In this world, Christianity has never been convenient. The teachings of Christ never bend to our outlook or our interruption of how we think things ought to be. No, it is through prayer and repentance that we reshape out understandings and realign our life in the shadow of the Holy Cross. St. Philaret of Moscow wrote: “A fish that is alive swims against the flow of water. One that is dead floats down with the water. A true Christian goes against the current of sinful age. A false one is swept away by its swiftness.” (St. Philaret of Moscow, Orthodox Life Vol. 63 No. 3 May-June 2012)
We find ourselves in a world today full of people trying to imitate the lost and wayward city of Follywood, while numbing ourselves with alcohol and wacky weed and other mind altering junk, and vainly transforming our bodily temples into colorful cartoon characters which I believe makes us more of a floater, not a swimmer! Whom are we trying to please? Should we seek the world’s approval of our existence, or should we seek the One who created the world. Or maybe the question I should ask is, will our survival actually exist outside of the church and its teachings, or are we just dust in the wind, as the Rock group Kansas asked us back in 1977. Which do we chose, a path that leads to death, or a path that leads us to life?
Well for me, I am desperately seeking life and I need the path from the original teachers, and I will not settle for watered down, modernized, muddied understandings of what is clearly taught by the First Christian Church, less of me, more of Him! I want the Non-GMO church, the one without alterations, the Heirloom Faith. Or as the Brother of our Lord St. Jude articulates: “the faith that was once delivered to the Saints” (Jude 1). I need to recognize the God-pleasing blessings I am surrounded with and stop trying to make excuses for my sinful choices and instead work diligently on my need for true repentance, again and again, like my life depends on it!!
Maybe we can change Christianity in this country back to its roots, back to the basics for those who have come to realize how the evil one has redefined love. It is not acceptance of sin; it is the acceptance of the possibility what the Love of Christ can have in the darkest corners. It is a determination that we must obtain of loving the possibility of salvation, for everyone we meet. It is a time for prayer! It is a time for love! It is a time for forgiveness!
The Holy Prophet Isaiah is calling us, listen to his plea: “Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: “Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.” (Isaiah 6:8) If you knew your life’s exact ending date and time, wouldn’t you then be all about your Father’s business? (Luke 2:49) For one day soon, your flesh will return to dust. As King Solomon said: “Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, And the spirit will return to God who gave it.” (Ecclesiastes 12:7) It may very well seem a long way off for many of you, but it is much closer than you think.
Listen to the words of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk:"We see the water of a river flowing uninterruptedly and passing away, and all that floats on its surface, rubbish or beams of trees, all pass by. Christian! So does our life. . .I was an infant, and that time has gone. I was an adolescent, and that too has passed. I was a young man, and that too is far behind me. The strong and mature man that I was is no more. My hair turns white, I succumb to age, but that too passes; I approach the end and will go the way of all flesh. I was born in order to die. I die that I may live. Remember me, O Lord, in Thy Kingdom!" (St. Tikhon Bishop of Voronezh)
