Judgment Sunday (Meatfare Sunday)

Sermon Audio

This past Sunday the Orthodox celebrated (I guess that is the right way to say that) Judgment Sunday. We are reminded in the Gospel passage that we will all the judged and the criteria for how we will be judged.

“Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ “Matthew 25:31-46

We will be judged on how we treat each other and what we do for each other. As Orthodox Christians we believe that faith is not static. It is not enough to just have faith we must put that faith in action and action for the other. It is not enough for us to sit on the sidelines. Christianity is an active faith and we must be active. Its the little things that make the difference.

Tomorrow night (Thursday) we will have our second Community Meal here at the church. We began last month offering a free meal to the community to those who cannot afford a meal, or those who are alone, or those who just want to come together with other people from the community and share a meal. This is the church in action, this is what we are called to do, we are not sitting on the sidelines anymore. Join in and Lent is a great time to do this.

This is also the start of the fast for us Orthodox. We slowly begin the fast starting Monday (Yesterday) by abstaining from meat and meat products until after Easter. Next Monday we begin to abstain from dairy and dairy products as well as wine and olive oil until after Easter. I am working on a post on fasting so look for that latter in the week.

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