The Hands of Christ

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Yesterday on the Orthodox liturgical calendar was the Sunday we remember the Man Born Blind the great story from the 9th chapter of St. John’s Gospel.

The story goes like this, Jesus encounters a man blind from birth. A discussion starts about who sinned him or his parents. This is the old story of we are sick because of our sins. Well as I shared during the sermon we are not sick just because of our sins. Anyway, in this story Jesus bends down and spits on the ground and makes a paste and puts it on the mans eyes and send him to wash it off. Jesus actually did something in this story. Usually he just speaks a word and the person is healed in some stories the person does not even have to be present for the healing to take place but in this story he actually does something. Christ in action.

I recently heard a story, I shared this yesterday, about a church in Europe that was being repaired after the war ended. In the church was a statue of Jesus, arms outstretched with the inscription “Come Unto Me” carved in the base. The problem, the hands were broken off. Try as they may the folks could not get the hands to stay on the statue. So they carved another inscription below the one already there, “Be My Hands.”

That is the entire Gospel message. We need to be the hands of Jesus. The hands that heal, that clothe the naked, feed the hungry, visit the sick, bind up wounds and so on. Christianity is a verb, not an adjective. We are people of action! Just a Jesus made the past to heal the man that’s what we need to do, we need to follow his example and get to work.

Are hands are amazing things. Our hands can create wonderful masterpieces that can be seen by millions in museums. But our hands can also destroy those very same masterpieces. Our hands can wave and say hello, but our hands can also wave, with not all of our fingers up, and say something else. Hands can bring peace and hands can bring war. What are you using your hands for?

Are we going to be like the blind man and use our hands to grope around in the darkness? Or are we going to use our hands, like Jesus did, and bring some comfort and relief to many. The choice is yours.

What’s Fate of Orthodox Unity and Diaspora?

Posted on by Fr. Peter
From: Orthodox Christian Laity
By Peter Marudas

Behold now, what is so good or so joyous as for brethren to dwell together in unity? Psalm 132

In late May, a meeting of potentially enormous significance for the Orthodox Church in America will occur in New York City when all Orthodox Bishops in good standing in North and Central America convene for a first-ever Episcopal Assembly. This unprecedented gathering has received little attention in most Orthodox circles and virtually none in the wider religious and secular media.

Nevertheless, its implications for the future of Orthodox Christianity in the Americas are both hopeful and controversial. The historic Episcopal Assembly will take place shortly after the Great Feast of Pentecost – the Kairos – when the Holy Spirit inspired the disciples to establish the Church.

Until 18 months ago, the mere contemplation of such a meeting would have been considered unthinkable in view of long-standing and entrenched official opposition to even discussing the question of closer intra-Orthodox relations. In recent years, a few Orthodox hierarchs with some support from clergy and laity openly but unsuccessfully championed unity initiatives. But with the exception of Orthodox Christian Laity, no group has consistently or aggressively pursued Orthodox unity in America. In October, 2008 the unity landscape experienced an earthquake, when His All Holiness, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew convened in Istanbul, a Synaxis (gathering) of the leaders of all Autocephalous (independent) Orthodox Churches; the entire leadership of world Orthodoxy.

At that meeting, Patriarch Bartholomew delivered a remarkable address about the dangers of division among the Orthodox in the so-called Diaspora and the pressing need for these believers to unify themselves in a way consistent with church tradition. Immediately, the assembled Orthodox leaders unanimously endorsed a communiqué calling for a process to address Diaspora issues – and to the shock of many – for the convocation of a Great and Holy Council of Orthodoxy; an encouraging announcement for those seeking greater Orthodox unity both here and abroad.

The Rest of the Story

Immigration Reform

Posted on by Fr. Peter
For the past few days I have been having a discussion with some folks on Facebook about the Arizona Immigration Reform Act. It has raised my blood pressure a little and sometimes that is not good. But discussion is always a good thing. I find some of the comments interesting. There is void between the right and the left, conservative liberal, progressive regressive, point of view or whatever we are calling it now. What is missing from all of this, compassion.

Now I will admit that we need some sort of reform, but it needs to be comprehensive reform. I believe that we need to get folks on the road to citizenship and I also believe that if we round everyone up and send them back our economy will grind to a halt. The folks who are here do most of the tasks that Americans will not do. They are ones that pick the food we eat, clean the rooms we sleep in and cut our grass. They are not the ones laying about on welfare and the like, there are some yes, but more often then not they are hard working folks. What do you do with the children of the undocumented if we send them back. Children born here are citizens regardless of how your parents got here. Another question to ponder.

The problem with legislation is we forget that real people are involved. What makes someone leave everything, or nothing in some cases, and risk their very lives to come to the land of milk and honey, and seek a better life. What makes someone pay another human to bring them across the boarder, in some of the worst conditions known to man. What makes someone tunnel underground or climb over a fence, or push out to sea in a boat, that may or may not make it here. What makes people do this, desperation. This desperation is the same thing that drove the folks from Western and Eastern Europe, Africa, and other places. It is what brings people here to the greatest country on the face of the earth.

I told a story in a previous post, about my cantor who was trying to do the right thing and obtain his green card. What I did not tell you was the coast that was associated with this. Well it was thousands of dollars to do it the right way. You see you need a lawyer and each time they fill out a form for you it costs money. Some have done it without a lawyer but most use one. So if you do not have the thousands of dollars needed, then you cannot do it.

So what do we do? The Arizona law gives the police the right to pull people over, and detain them, simply on the suspicion that they are illegal. It also forces people to carry their papers, not just an id card or passport, but their immigration papers. Now I know the argument that profiling is not allowed by this law and that is fine. But how many illegal Canadians or Russians or Romanians for that matter do you think will be pulled over by the police? Not many I am sure. Approximately 30 percent of Arizona is Hispanic and about 80 percent of undocumented folks are Hispanic so let’s do the math. Does something need to be done, yes it does.

According to Princeton political scientist Douglas Massey, the number of illegal immigrants dropped by 100,000 in Arizona over just the last year, and has fallen from 12.6 million in 2008 to 10.8 million in 2009 country-wide, as the recession means fewer jobs for immigrants and U.S. citizens alike. Things are changing on their own.

The point of all of this is each time we talk about an illegal or undocumented or whatever you want to call it we are talking about people. People who have been created in the image and likeness of God. People who have a soul, people who have the Divine Spark that we all have. America is a great country with opportunities for anyone to make it big. Do we need change, yes we do. But we need to remember that human beings are attached to this legislation. It is easy to not think of it that way and to only think of the numbers, but think of the faces of the men, women, and children who risked their life to come here to try and find a better life. Think about the people and look into their eyes.

Digital Natives Embrace Ancient Church

Posted on by Fr. Peter

Twentysomethings Captivated By Orthodoxy
By ANDREA GOODELL
The Holland Sentinel
Apr 28, 2010

Holland, MI — Tim Flinders will graduate from Grand Valley State University next month. Raised Lutheran, he also explored fundamentalist Baptism, Roman Catholicism and even Messianic Judaism before converting to Orthodox Christianity this year.

“Orthodoxy has completely transformed me already,” he said. “I feel like the first time in my life I’m growing spiritually.”

Flinders, 22, like many other young people converting to Eastern Orthodoxy, was looking for authenticity and historical accuracy in his Christian faith.“I had so many different questions that needed to be answered,” said Flinders, who added he wrestled with the many divisions of the Christian church over the years.He was chrismated Holy Saturday at St. George Orthodox Church in Grand Rapids. Chrismation is akin to confirmation.

Recently he attended the second annual Encountering Orthodoxy Conference at Hope College.

The Rev. Deacon Nicholas Belcher, dean of students at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Boston, gave the opening keynote address, using the themes of holy week to introduce Orthodoxy to the more than 50 who attended.

Eastern Orthodox Easter, Pascha in Greek — the language favored by Orthodox everywhere — fell on the same day as Western Easter this year.

Belcher described the nailing of Jesus to the cross as “one of the most cruel things human beings have ever thought of to do to other human beings.”

Eastern Orthodox Christians, he explained, experience the crucifixion and resurrection in the now during liturgy.

“There is no sense that we are just talking about something that happened a long time ago. It is today,” he said.

Dustin Miller, a Hope senior, attended the conference for extra credit in his history of Christianity class, but said, “I’ve always been curious about Orthodoxy.”

He, too, said he was looking for the apostolic, historical roots of the Christian church. Miller considers himself non-denominational and said he didn’t know the Hope campus had Orthodox students.

“I’ve been trying to figure it out, trying to find what best fits me,” Miller said.

The Orthodox Christian Fellowship campus club, which sponsored this month’s conference, meets Thursday nights for Small Compline (a short Psalm and evening prayer service). Then the handful of Orthodox students, one seminary student and Fr. Steven VanBronkhorst discuss topics such as biblical foundations for Orthodox worship.

He would like to see more inquirers at the OCF meetings and more students at the second annual Encountering Orthodoxy Conference.

VanBronkhorst was a Reformed Church of America minister for almost two decades before coming to the Orthodox church 14 years ago. Still, VanBronkhorst said, he sees many more today looking for the historical church than when he was doing his own searching.

“I always felt that ideally there should be just one church,” he said. “The Orthodox church is by far the most historically faithful body. … Who is going to deny that the greater part of the evangelical world has the faith? They have faith. What they don’t have is the worship.”

Tyler Dykstra of Holland was chrismated this month.

He grew up Christian Reformed, but says he “wanted more.”“Over time I started to realize there was so much history I had not known about even though I had gone to Christian schools all my life,” Dykstra, 24, said.

One Word at a Time ~ Joy

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Once again I am participating int he One Word at a Time Blog Carnival. The premise is simple, pick one word and write about it. This time around the word is ~ Joy.

Joy is one of those hard words to define. Is it an emotion or a state of mind. I often think of this word during the Divine Liturgy on Sunday. The Divine Liturgy of the Orthodox Church is supposed to life the worshiper, well any worship for that matter, is supposed to lift the worshiper up and give them a glimpse of what heaven is. Sometimes I ask myself if this is what heaven is Like I am not sure I want to go… LOL

Week after week folks come and fill our pews, or not in some of the Orthodox Churches as they do not have pews, and basically sit there like someone has killed their dog. Where is the joy? During this season of Easter we sing Christ is Risen, but some times it sounds more like we are taking Christ to the tomb. Sometimes I wish I had one of those cattle prods to get people going. Of course I write this with much humor in mind, so find some joy and lighten up.

What brings you joy? What makes us smile, or laugh? In times like these it is often hard to find joy. Maybe you have lost your job or your retirement funds took a hit and we have to work another year before we can retire. All of these things do not lend themselves to joy. Joy like love is more than a simple emotion I believe it is a state of mind. We can find joy in any situation.

The other night I was having a discussion about death. The person I was talking with did not want to talk about it but I pushed on anyway. She feared death and was not looking forward to it. I said as Christians this is what we are supposed to be looking for as we, I hope anyway, will be with God. Joy in death? Yes indeed joy in death.

Let us resolve to make joy part of our very existence. Smile daily, it take less energy to smile than it does to frown. Look people in the eye and the street and smile at them and say good morning, it just might bring joy to their life and I know it will bring joy to yours.

Water

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Yesterday in the Orthodox Church we commemorated the Woman at the well. The story deals with the life giving water that only Jesus can bring. It is an amazing story of peace and reconciliation.

On Saturday, a very large pipe burst just outside of Boston and more than 2 million people are now under a boil water order including my parents. All the water that comes out of the tap needs to be boiled for at least a minute before it is good enough to drink. I guess they water folks are using a back up system and the water is not treated so it is not safe to drink. You can bath in it but not drink it or brush your teeth and the like. The upside is they had water.

Down in Tennessee yesterday they saw some of the largest flooding in more than 100 years. A few of the folks I follow on Twitter and Facebook live in and around Franklin and it sounds like the whole place was under water. So they had more water than they could handle and the folks in Boston did not have enough.

It is amazing the things we take for granted. We walk over to the tap and run the water, fill a glass, and drink it down. We don’t think about it we just do it. How many of us run the water for a minute or more to make sure the water is hot? How many if us run the water the entire time we are brushing our teeth? How many of us take showers that last 20 minutes or more? The average tap will run about 1 gallon of water a minute, so a 20 minute shower will use 20 gallons of water!

God created this earth we live on and left to us to care for. We have not treated it well but we can change. We can recycle, conserve water etc. I am planting a garden here this year and I am also installing several rain barrels to collect the rain water to water the garden with. I am doing my bit, what are you doing?

Sunday of the Samaritan Woman

Posted on by Fr. Peter
One of the most ancient cities of the Promised Land was Shechem, also called Sikima, located at the foot of Mount Gerazim. There the Israelites had heard the blessings in the days of Moses and Jesus of Navi. Near to this town, Jacob, who had come from Mesopotamia in the nineteenth century before Christ, bought a piece of land where there was a well. This well, preserved even until the time of Christ, was known as Jacob’s Well. Later, before he died in Egypt, he left that piece of land as a special inheritance to his son Joseph (Gen. 49:22). This town, before it was taken into possession by Samaria, was also the leading city of the kingdom of the ten tribes. In the time of the Romans it was called Neapolis, and at present Nablus. It was the first city in Canaan visited by the Patriarch Abraham. Here also, Jesus of Navi (Joshua) addressed the tribes of Israel for the last time. Almost three hundred years later, all Israel assembled there to make Roboam (Rehoboam) king.

When our Lord Jesus Christ, then, came at midday to this city, which is also called Sychar (John 4:5), He was wearied from the journey and the heat, and He sat down at this well. After a little while the Samaritan woman mentioned in today’s Gospel passage came to draw water. As she conversed at some length with the Lord and heard from Him secret things concerning herself, she believed in Him; through her many other Samaritans also believed.

Concerning the Samaritans we know the following: In the year 721 before Christ, Salmanasar (Shalmaneser), King of the Assyrians, took the ten tribes of the kingdom of Israel into captivity, and relocated all these people to Babylon and the land of the Medes. From there he gathered various nations and sent them to Samaria. These nations had been idolaters from before.

Although they were later instructed in the Jewish faith and believed in the one God, they worshipped the idols also. Furthermore, they accepted only the Pentateuch of Moses, and rejected the other books of Holy Scripture. Nonetheless, they thought themselves to be descendants of Abraham and Jacob. Therefore, the pious Jews named these Judaizing and idolatrous peoples Samaritans, since they lived in Samaria, the former leading city of the Israelites, as well as in the other towns thereabout. The Jews rejected them as heathen and foreigners, and had no communion with them at all, as the Samaritan woman observed, “the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans” (John 4:9). Therefore, the name Samaritan is used derisively many times in the Gospel narrations. After the Ascension of the Lord, and the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the woman of Samaria was baptized by the holy Apostles and became a great preacher and Martyr of Christ; she was called Photine, and her feast is kept on February 26.

Immigration Reform

Posted on by Fr. Peter
First a little disclaimer. If you are one of the people who think we need to round up everyone who is here illegally you might not want to read any further or you might want to make sure you have taken your blood pressure pills….

The Archdiocese I serve in is made up of may 98% immigrants to the USA from Romania. I also have first hand experience of the immigration and visa situation. My former cantor came to the USA on a R-1 (religious worker) visa four years ago. He intention was to apply for a green card as soon as he was eligible. In the third and final year of this visa he began the process. As immigration seems to be a fluid situation the requirements were changing almost daily. He will fill out the required forms, attach the required check, and send it off. It would be returned with yet more requirements. We had a visit from Homeland Security to make sure we were real. I had to write letters attesting to the fact that he was doing what we said he was doing. Okay all of that is fine, but the process took so long that he visa was about to expire. Remember I said we started this process a year before his visa expired. Long story short (I know too late) his visa expired and he had to leave the USA and return to Romania. Situation resolved and now all is well.

We do need comprehensive immigration reform in the USA this I do not disagree with. We need to find some solution that makes it all work. Do I agree with undocumented people here, well I am not sure. Do I agree with undocumented people receiving benefits, well not in all cases. See it is complicated. But think of this. How much would it cost to round up the more than 1 million undocumented people here and what would that do to our already fragile economy? You see these people do many of the jobs that we Americans no longer do. Who cleans that hotel room you stayed in last night. Who picked those strawberries you put on your cereal this morning. Who cuts your lawn, etc. etc. etc. We need reform yes, but rounding people up is not the best idea.

Okay turn to Arizona. Arizona passed a comprehensive immigration reform bill last week. Arizona has a large problem, being a boarder state, that is crippling their economy. However giving law enforcement the power to pull people over just because of a suspicion that they might be illegal is not right. If I am driving down the street I am not going to get pulled over but Jose will. Of course racial profiling will not be allowed but come on! However, I do feel that as a sovereign state they have the right to pass that law. You see I am a big supporter of states rights.

If anyone cares I would like to suggest the following. Lets take a deep breath. Take this out of the political arena. Halt deportations. Keep people working. Tighten the border, and work on getting the illegals legal. If that means they need to leave for a time, okay, but I submit if we make all of them leave our economy will crash.

Yes we need reform but we need compassionate reform. These are people after all in search of the American dream and a better way of life for their family. This about that.

Mental Illness

Posted on by Fr. Peter
This is the fourth time I have begun this post. I was not satisfied with the results of the other three so they have gone into the trash can.

As many of you know I serve as Chaplain for a local fire department. Usually this entails hanging out at the fire house and talking to the guys. On occasion it gets a little more exciting that that. While out for lunch the other day, my pager went off then my phone rang. “We’ve had a jumper” the voice on the other end of the phone said.

It seems a young woman leaped from the fourth floor of her apartment building. At the time of the call the woman was still alive and being airlifted to a larger hospital in Worcester, Massachusetts. Little is know about this woman other than this is not the first time she has tried this.

My role in situations like this is to participate in what we call a debriefing. We gather all those involved in the event and have them speak about what they saw and what they did and how they feel about all of this. We have learned, through experience, that the sooner we get folks to vocalize what they have seen, the faster they are able to put it behind them and get back on the job. Basically you learn to deal with it because seeing something like that will stay with you for a long time. All that responded did what they are trained to do and feel that they did everything possible for the woman.

But, what would lead someone to do this. What would cause someone to crawl out on a ledge and push themselves off? This is part of the mystery of metal illness. We see people everyday on the street, at work, at church, and in our own homes that might be going through some personal hell. This poor tortured soul did what she thought she needed to do. I am not sure if she is still alive but based on her injuries I hope for her sake she is not. I hope she is at peace and in a better place.

Mental illness in the silent killer and affects more people than we think. As the economy continues in the direction it is heading we will see more of this has people who feel they have no other choice but to end their own life, will take it. We will also see, as the economy continues in the direction it is headed, that services to people who are the most vulnerable in our society are cut or discontinued all together.

Please pray for this woman and please pray for all of those suffering from mental illness, those who care for them and those affected by their mental illness. Yes that’s right there are other affected by mental illness who do not suffer from the actual illness. The families and loved ones suffer along with the person. So please pray for all of them. Pray also for the professional that assist and in this case the professionals who responded to the incident and the doctors and nurses who treated her.

Who Do We Follow? Jesus or Jefferson?

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Long time readers of these pages will know that I follow more than 100 blogs on a daily basis. I find the opinions of people of different opinions of mine refreshing and it helps me to clarify in my own mind what I think and believe and why I believe it. It is not enough to only read or listen to people who think the same way we do. We need to engage in dialogue with people of various opinions. Just because we do not agree with them does not make them wrong just different.

I read the blog posted at EthicsDaily.com and find it very refreshing. Sometimes I get so mad I could spit nails but most of the time it makes me go hmmmmm. This was one of those times.

Nathan Napier has written a very thought provoking piece on Jefferson and Jesus. I often have this discussion of weather Jesus was a liberal or a Conservative. It is hard to take 21st Century titles and apply them to someone who lived in the 1st Century but we need to do that to try and make sense of things.

My political philosophy has changed over the years and continues to evolve. I started as a Regan Republican. The first election I ever voted in was for Ronald Regan. I was the Chairman of the Republican Party in Quincy for a few years and voted for George Bush the first time. However I have seen all the parties devolve into something resembling craziness of the last few years and I guess I would not consider myself a Classical Liberal.

I believe in less government and less government regulation. Let the chips fall where they may I say. No big bailouts. If GM is going under let it go. Same with Wall Street let is roll I say. The best thing about an economy is it will self correct of left alone. We want to do something to help it along but leave it alone and it will correct. Will it be hard, yes, but we should be saving money, putting it away for that rainy day.

I am a big fan of Dave Ramsey and his goal to get America out of debt. In his program you start with $1,000 in the bank and then start to pay down your debt. The $1,000 is the emergency fund that is used just for that. We should budget and track where our money goes. He say sometimes you need to eat rice and beans for a few years and “Live like no one else so you can live like no one else.” After your out of debt you need 3 to 5 months of expenses in the bank. That way if you loose your job you have a cushion of 3 to 5 months to find another one and not look for a hand out from the government.

I also believe that the church needs to play a much larger role in the social service sector. To quote Dave Ramsey again, “we need to give the government out of business.” When did we give over the care of our neighbor to the government. When did it become the role of the government to provide money to people who, for what ever reason, cannot work. When did it become the role of the government to fund homeless shelters and soup kitchens, that is and always has been the role of the church and society not the government.

Read the article and see of your mind is changed. I know I have more reading to do and thinking about how I think about what I think about.

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