“Let my prayer rise like incense, the lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice.” Psalm 140:2

These words from Psalm 140 are used during the celebration of Vespers in the Orthodox Church.  The priest, standing before the altar, raises the censer up as the cantor, or choir, sings these words.  He then proceeds to use the incense around the altar, the Icons on the Iconostasis, and then people who are also Icons.  The Incense is used as a blessing for the holy objects.

It has been said that Orthodoxy Liturgy is a sensory experience and that all of your senses are used during the services in the Orthodox Church.  I have often said that if you can see the altar you did not use enough Incense.  It is hard to think of Orthodox Liturgy separate from Incense.

As some of you reading this might know, I spent several years in an Evangelical Church, in fact I say that if it was not for those years in that Church I never would have found Orthodoxy.  When I think back on those days I think how sterile the “liturgies” were.  No vestments, no color, certainly no incense, just the preacher standing there preaching.  Now if the preaching is good, cool, but there is still something lacking.  In an effort to reform some of the abuses in the historical Church, the reformers threw out the baby with the bath water and have lost the sense of worship.  All of the mystery is gone, and that is what drove me away from Evangelicalism and back towards a liturgical Church.

Orthodox Liturgy is designed not to be a spectator sport, this is why I detest the invasion of the Western Pew into Orthodox Liturgy.  When I was in Romania, the people coming to Liturgy moved around, venerating Icons, lighting candles, praying, going to confession, all the while Liturgy was going on.  Liturgy washes over us and becomes part of us; it is hard to do that when you are corralled in a pew like sheep and goats.  Time for the heresy of the pew to end!

Like the Psalm I quoted above states, let my prayer rise like incense!

One of the things I like best about the Christmas season is the music.  Not the modern junk that is out there, although I do like some of the Celtic Christmas music and the Country Christmas Music is also pretty good.  I have to say that Handel’s Messiah is one of my all-time favorites.

In what seems like another life, I had the honor and privilege of singing in a chorus that presented Handel’s Messiah.  We rehearsed for months to get it all right and then performed it for two nights if memory serves.

To quote from the blog of Fr. John Peck:

The glorious English-language oratorio composed in 1741 by George Frideric Handel, with a scriptural text compiled by Charles Jennens from the King James Bible, and from the Psalms included with the Book of Common Prayer. Most of his quotations come from the Old Testament. It is one of the best known and most beloved choral works ever, spanning 4 1/2 hours to perform in its entirety. He wrote the entire oratorio in 22 days.

Wow 22 days!  That is just amazing.

One of the more famous pieces from the entire work is the Hallelujah Chorus.  I have embedded a video of the Royal Choral Society performing the Hallelujah Chorus at the Royal Albert Hall in 2012.

Fr. John is really trying to stretch my imagination with the topic of today, the foot.  The foot has to be the ugliest part of the human body, no wonder it is located where it is!

However, the Bible has much to say about feet, especially the washing of them.  One of my favorite passages is the passage where Jesus washes the feet of His Apostles.  Washing of the feet was always done by the lowest servant in the household so for Jesus to do this must have been very upsetting.  In fact Peter, in his usual I don’t quite get it yet way, refuses to have his feet washed by Jesus.  But Jesus reasons with him very gently and Peter eventually allows this, but, again in his go overboard fashion, now wants Jesus to wash all of him.  You gotta love Peter!

This past Holy Week, we restored the ancient custom washing feet.  The rubrics follow the Gospel story I just alluded to above.  The priest removes his vestments and ties a towel around his waist and proceeds to wash feet of those gathered.  In one of the most moving moments of the service, the priest will kiss the foot he just washed; again this is a sign of service and of humility.  This past year I chose the parish council, just as Jesus chose His Apostles, this shows that we never be to grand and we should strive to serve all.

Back when I was a monk in a Benedictine community, the abbot would wash the feet of the youngest in the community.  Not the youngest chronologically but the youngest in years of profession. One year this fell to me.  In the same fashion, the abbot would kneel before the monk and wash his feet.  The leader of the community washing the feet of the lowest.

We are called to imitate the life of Christ in our own lives and this is one way that we have to do that.  We must continually humble ourselves for our own spiritual well-being lest we get to haughty and then the evil one will take hold of us.  We cannot ever forget, no matter what position we ascend to, that we are still servants.

So the holiday season is upon us.  For some this is a time of great excitement and for others this is a time of depression.  Maybe they have lost a loved one over the holidays and are still grieving, maybe their family lives too far away for them to spend time with, or any of the other reasons people fall into depression. How do we avoid holiday depression?

Here are a few tips from an Orthodox perspective, about avoiding holiday depression during the holiday season.  These tips come from the blog Again and Again in Peace written by V. Rev. Archimandrite Nektarios Serfes.

1. An Orthodox Christmas Can be a Remedy for Christmas Depression and Holiday Blues

The birth of Christ brought joy and hope to these who had been in darkness and the way the Orthodox celebrate Christmas is designed to let people feel that hope again. The Orthodox Church teaches that Advent represents the time before Christ, when God’s people were lost and disconnected from God. Instead of “pre-celebrating” the Christmas holidays during Advent, Orthodox Christians participate in a solemn, six-week Nativity fast (started on November 15th until December 25th) during this time. It is a spiritual practice that helps people grieved their losses,endure their sadness, feed their souls, and ultimately, experience joy on Christmas day – the Holy Nativity of our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ.

2. The Orthodox Nativity Fast Can Help Those Who Struggle with Depression

During the fast, all meat, cheese, eggs and wine are avoided on most days and primarily vegetarian diet is kept. Fish is allowed except on Wednesdays and Fridays and the last week of the Nativity of our Lord. In place of food, drink and partying during Advent, the faithful are asked to nourish their souls with prayer, communion with their fellow parishioners, and drawing closer to God. For those who are struggling with personal problems, this period can give them a spiritual boost. This helps Orthodox Christians prepare to receive the joy that Christmas day brings. We can spiritually look forward to the joy of the birth of our Lord and this can help take away the blues, as after all we do celebrate the birth of our Lord for ten days afterwards.

In addition to fasting and increased prayer, almsgiving is expected to increase during the Nativity fast. This means, specifically, giving money to relieve poverty and material need. Doing this offers a counterbalance to people’s urges to overspend and over-indulge in material goods during Christmas. It brings the faithful in contact with others who are far worse of financially, quelling feelings of personal deprivation that tends to arise in this culture where so many have so much.

3. The Orthodox Christmas Nativity Fast Helps People Feed their Souls

These acts of almsgiving restore Orthodox Christian’s connection with humanity. They remind the faithful of Jesus’ Great Commandment to love one another, which is the primary act Christians are in charge with. It is a reminder that life has more meaning than the consumption of material goods. It helps Orthodox Christians get out of the rut of the day to day life and put their spirituality first.

4. The Orthodox Feast of the Nativity of our Lord is the Opposite of Depression

The faithful are prepared to experience true joy on the Nativity of our Lord that is Christmas Day. Toward the end of the fast, people feel like they have accomplished something difficult. On Christmas day they break the fast, exit the period of darkness and celebrate the light. The feast is that much sweeter because of the famine which proceeds it. Because they have done the work of nourishing the soul they are now free to indulge in the God-given blessings of food, drink, material things, family, friends and fun. Orthodox Christians believe that God wants people to be joyful.

Even those who are lonely or poor, having their souls filled, may see a path to a more satisfying life, or a way to comfort their pain and experience joy in small things after breaking the fast. The baby in a manger offered hope to the world, Christians are called to follow in His footsteps and to be the light of the world. No person is too faulted or too ordinary to make a difference, according to Orthodox teaching. Each person is called by God to do good in the world and to love one another.

May you have a spiritually rewarding fast in preparation for the Great Feast of the Holy Nativity of our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ. Keep Christ our Lord focused in your lives during these holy days of preparation and celebration. Peace to your soul! God love and bless you! Humbly in Christ our Lord.

Today, November 30^th, is the Feast of the Holy and First Called Apostle Andrew.  St. Andrew has a special place in my heart as he is the patron saint of Scotland as well as Romania so in St. Andrew we see my birth culture and my adopted culture coming together.

Much has been written about St. Andrew and a simple Google search will take you to many of those places so I am going to go in a different direction and focus on some traditions that have started around the feast of St. Andrew.

Last Saturday night I attended the 356^th St. Andrew’s Day Celebration sponsored by the Scots Charitable Society of Boston.  The Scots Charitable has the distinction of being the oldest Scots Group in the United States being founded in 1657.  The main purpose was to provide aid for needy Scots, “after proper investigation” and today the Scots Charitable funds a Scholarship that provided much needed aid to college students from the area.

I enjoy reading history and I was presented with a copy of the Constitution and By Laws of the Scots Charitable at last week’s dinner and I really have enjoyed thumbing through it.  The opening pages reveal the reasons for the starting of such a group and I quote it here, in the original Scots:

At a meeting of the 6 of January 1657 we whose names are underwritten being all or the most part present did agree and conclude for the releefe of our selves and any other for the which wee may see cause.

And with that the Scots Charitable Society of Boston was formed and continues the work of bringing relief to those in need and also continues to keep the spirit of philanthropy and the traditions of our Nation and that of Scotland alive in New England.

Over the next few days Americans will spend upwards of $60 billion dollars in retail sales on stuff that they think will make them happy.  That works out to about $423 per person over the next few days.  The big question is how much of that $60 billion will not add to the debt that each American carries?

You would think that by now people would know you cannot buy happiness, as happiness does not come from things for from WalMart but from inside and living a life that is balanced both spiritually and mentally.  The acquisition of stuff does nothing but enslave us more and more to those we owe money too, and that in turn makes us unhappy.

Now don’t get me wrong, I am all for showing our live for family and friends by giving gifts, after all the Magi brought gifts to Jesus, but they did not sell their souls to the retail establishment to do it.  They gave from what they had, they did not borrow today on the promise of paying it off tomorrow ad they would have received a blessing now matter they gave gifts or not.

We are conditioned, dare I even say brainwashed, that the level of love we have for people in the size of the gift we purchase.  What is wrong with making a gift or even give a gift to a charity in the name of the person, show love for someone by helping other, very Biblical I would say.

Rather than engage in the craziness of Black Friday and Cyber Saturday, why not take a step back and consider what it we are doing and the harm that we cause our souls when we focus only on the things we can buy.  Stop and think about the gift that God gave us, that tiny baby, born in the humblest of conditions with nothing.  That is the gift and that is the reason for the season.

Prior to 1863 the National Holiday of Thanksgiving that we know in US did not exists.  Each state would set their own dates for a general time of giving thanks mostly because the states still thought of themselves as individuals.  It has been said that prior to the Civil War people said “the United States is” and after “the United States are” one word change but the sentiment that went along with it changed forever.

 The US was in the midst of the Civil War and the President had just dedicated the military cemetery at Gettysburg a few short months after the great battle there.  With the words of the proclamation, written by Secretary of State William H Seward, the last Thursday of November was set aside as a time of National Thanksgiving.

By the President of the United States of America.

A Proclamation.

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consiousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth.

By the President: Abraham Lincoln

William H. Seward,
Secretary of State

Each time we gather for worship it is an act of Thanksgiving.  We remember all that God has done for us, and for us Christians, that includes the giving of His Son for our sake.  The very act of worship and praise is thanksgiving or of giving thanks in season and out of season.

We gather around the table, the Holy Table, and we offer the perfect sacrifice.  It upon this altar that our gifts of bread and wine, the simplest of all the gifts, is made sacred and becomes for us the healing that we all need.

I think when you do something over and over we tend to stop thinking about the mystery that is behind it.  As a priest, each time I stand at the altar and offer the prayers on behalf of all the people I am thankful for all the God has done and is doing in my community.  We bring those prayers to the altar and we can rejoice in the answering of those prayers.

It is an awesome responsibility that we priests have.