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The Journey Begins With A Yes

Posted on by Fr. Peter

ANNUNCIA

I have been writing about spirituality for many years now.  I have written about the need for us to forgive others and ourselves.  I have written on the necessity of confession and Scripture reading.  I have written on spiritual reading and Eucharist but what I have not written about is that none of that will happen unless we answer yes to God’s call on our lives to become authentic followers of His.

Today we celebrate the great feast of the Annunciation.  This is the day that the Angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and asked her, notice I said asked and not told, asked her to become the vessel that would deliver the Son of God to earth.  I am stressing the asking part to point out that God does not force us to do anything.  He wishes us to follow Him, and even provided for that with His prophets and His only Son as a guide, but the decision is ours to make.

Traditionally the Church believes that Mary was a young woman in her teens.  She had spent her life in the temple, given to God by her parents shortly after her birth and was prepared for this from her birth.  One could even say that this was the reason she was born.  The Angel Gabriel came to Mary and told her of God’s plan.  The Angel told her that she would conceive, and she would bear a son and she was to call Him Jesus.

Hearing this she asked only one question, and that was how this can be since she had no husband.  The Angel told her that the Holy Spirit would come upon her, and the power of the Most High will overshadow her and that the child would be the Son of God.

Now I am not sure about you but I think I would have a million questions about all of this, and as Scripture reveals, Joseph, her betrothed, had many questions.  But Mary was different.  As I mentioned, she had been prepared by her parents and God for this very moment.  Mary looked at the Angel and said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”

I always like to ask the question, what if Mary had said no?  I know it can be a silly questions but put yourself in her place.  A young woman, in a society that has little or no value for women, and suddenly she is “with child.”  She is engaged to a man, and unlike society today, they do not live together nor have they had sexual relations.  How is she going to explain this to her parents and others?  These would all be questions that I would expect to be asked if this were a 21st century story.

But so great was the trust that Mary has in God that she did not question what was being asked of her.  This child, with no formal education, agreed to do what being asked of her simply because God asked her too.  That is the essence of the spiritual life, the yes to God.

This feat is less about the fact that the Angel came to Mary and she conceived and in nine months will give birth, no, what this feast is about is the yes of a simple first century girl to God that started her on the journey of a lifetime.

Many years ago, the contemporary Christian artist Steven Curtis Chapman wrote a song called The Great Adventure.  The first line of the song is “saddle up your horses for this is the great adventure.”  He was writing about the spiritual life and our yes.  A journey of a million miles begins with that first step but before we can even take that first step we have to agree to take the journey in the first place.

On this Feast of the Annunciation say yes to God and follow Him on the Great Adventure!

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10 Tips for Stress Control

Posted on by Fr. Peter

stress-awareness1

As people, we are under more and more stress each and every day and that stress is not good for us.  Stress can, and will, affect us physically and spiritually as well as emotionally so knowing how to deal with stress is the key to health.

Here are ten tips for dealing with stress in our lives.

  1. Diet ~ If we have a poor diet, and poor eating habits our performance will be compromised and we will lose stamina and our tolerance for stress will be reduced. Limiting the amount of caffeine, alcohol, refined sugars, fats and excessive salt will go a long way to change all of this.
  2. Exercise ~ This will increase muscle strength and lung capacity, but exercise will also lower blood pressure and cholesterol and will improve sleep. All of these will help reduce the amount of stress and how we deal with stress in our lives.  The better physical shape we are in, the better we will be able to handle the stressors in our lives.
  3. Smoking ~ Stop! Nicotine intensifies a stress reaction. Nicotine depletes vitamins C and E and makes our bodies more vulnerable to stress-related diseases.  Chewing tobacco would also be included in this category.
  4. Positive Metal Attitude ~ We have within us, the power to overcome stress and to manage our reaction to stress. Being flexible and not taking life too seriously, find humor in difficult situations, positive thinking, not jumping to conclusions, admitting mistakes and learning from them, think first and act second.  All of these will help us to remain positive, and when stress happens, and it will, the effects will be less.
  5. Spirituality ~ People with a belief in a power beyond themselves cope with higher levels of stress for longer periods of time. Prayer and meditation, call it what you want, but that quiet time that centers us is an effective tool in stress control.
  6. Relaxation ~ Relaxation is the deliberate, purposeful quieting of the mind and the body. Chemicals are produced in our bodies when we relax that neutralize stress chemicals. Deep breathing is one way to relax.

Start with three very deep breaths, inhale through the nose, hold it for five seconds and breathe out through the mouth.  Pause for 5-10 seconds between each breath.  Take three more deep breaths, but slightly smaller than the previous ones utilizing the same procedure, in through the nose out through the mouth.  Finish with three normal, but full breaths.

  1. Satisfying Self-Expression ~ Read a book, get a hobby, write, paint, woodworking, the idea is to find another channel for the energy that we store inside us that can intensify stress in our lives.
  2. Have a Life Beyond the Job ~ The job is not your life and your life is not the job. There is a big world out there filled with family and friends.  Leave the job behind when it is quitting time and, using number 7 above, find an outlet for the energy.  Spend time doing something else and get your mind off the job.  Keeping a balance between your home life and your work life, be attentive to how family members feel, two-way communication is important.
  3. Limited Self-Disclosure ~ Talking with people helps. Studies have shown that people who talk more about issues have an easier time dealing with the issues when they arise again in our lives and reduce the amount of stress related to those issues.  Communication lowers tension, reduces feelings of being unique and improves our thinking and decision-making.  Communication helps us to feel “normal.”
  4. Look out for False Stress Cures ~ Alcohol and other “recreational drugs, avoidance of circumstances, people and places that remind you of a bad experience. Denial of the situation, excessive joking when someone is unhappy, arrogance, and emotionally freezing.  All of these are false cures that only bury the problem and will continue to cause stress in our lives.

The best, and most successful way of dealing with stress is to deal with it when it happens.  Proper preparation will go a long way in helping when stress arises, and it will, but when it does deal with it.

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The Ladder of Divine Ascent

Posted on by Fr. Peter

climicus

By Fr. Nicholas Apostola

This is the fourth Sunday of Great Lent. We remember our father among the saints, John of Sinai who wrote the great spiritual work, The Ladder of Divine Ascent. We also continue to read from the Gospel of St. Mark. This week we hear the story of the healing of the epileptic boy (Mark 9:17-29). We read St. Matthew’s telling of the same miracle (Matthew 17:14-21) earlier in the cycle. (You may read those comments on the web site under: “This Week’s News,” August 17.) Here I would like to focus on two specific passages that I believe pertain directly to our struggle through Lent on our journey toward the Lord’s Pascha.

The miracle retold in this passage involves an epileptic boy whose father, while loving the boy deeply, is of rather limited faith. Hearing of Jesus, he brings the boy to the disciples to be healed. But they, lacking sufficient faith, were unable to help the boy. Finally, the boy is brought to Jesus himself. The Lord questions the faith of the father, and the father famously declares, “I believe; help my unbelief” (v. 24).

The three Synoptic Evangelists all accurately record that this miracle occurs after the Lord’s Transfiguration as he is going toward Jerusalem and his Crucifixion. Therefore, there are things that he says to both the boy’s father and to the disciples that reveal much about how Jesus himself understands the upcoming events.

When the boy’s father comes up to Jesus pleading with him to heal him, Jesus, speaking not only to the father but to the whole crowd, says: “You faithless generation, how much longer must I be among you? How much longer must I put up with you?” And then, having compassion on the boy, he says, “Bring him to me” (v. 19).

We can see how the lack of faith of both the “people” and even the disciples has tried and wearied the Lord. Moreover, from our vantage point, we can see that He clearly foresees his upcoming crucifixion and death and, in a sense, embraces it. He understands that he has taught and shown them all that they can absorb. If they do not understand now, they never will. This is an important, if somewhat painful, observation. When trying to teach someone a life-changing lesson we often think that the more we explain it, the easier it will be for them to understand. The truth is, as we see here, the lesson must be absorbed and internalized by the listener. There is very little that the teacher can do to facilitate that vital process. The Lord is telling all those within hearing distance that he has done and spoken all that he can. The rest is up to them.

The second verse I’d like to highlight is also very poignant for us during this Lenten period. When asked by the disciples why they could not cast out the spirit, the Lord says to them that “this kind can come out only through prayer and fasting” (v. 29). The Lord is giving us an insight into the nature of the spiritual struggle before us, and the tools we’ll need.

The Lord gave the disciples the power to cast out demons and heal sicknesses, but they had never really been put to the test. While I am sure they noticed that the Lord would withdraw into the desert for long periods of time to pray and fast, I am also sure they did not fully comprehend the necessity of this for the spiritual life.

When we take up the Christian life we enter into the “arena.” This is a spiritual spectacle that involves the Evil One and his allies. We often speak of the “demons of Lent” that attack us more ferociously as we take up the ascetic mantle more seriously during this time of year as we prepare ourselves to partake of the Light of the Lord’s Resurrection. We see in this Gospel account how even the disciples themselves were unaware of how much struggle and sacrifice it would take to do battle with the forces of darkness. We have the advantage of reading about it and being forewarned. However, this does not lessen the vehemence of the struggle.

Our comfort lies is this. Our Lord has taken up this struggle before us and for us. He tells us, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.” (Matthew 17:28-30) This is the Lord’s true promise and a lesson for us. Let us pray for the wisdom to not only to receive it, but also to understand it.

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Memory Eternal Fr. Thomas Hopko

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Fr. Thomas Hopko
Fr. Thomas Hopko

This is a very sad day for the Church.  The Servant of God, the Protopresbyter Thomas has fallen asleep.  I met Fr. Tom many years ago, long before I was Orthodox, and he has been a great inspiration to me through his many books and his podcasts on Ancient Faith Radio.  May his memory be eternal!

Posted from the family website:

MEMORY ETERNAL!

Fr. Thomas reposed peacefully today, March 18, shortly after 3 pm.

The last of his five children, who had not been able to visit him at the hospice until today, arrived this morning. She told him that she came, and now he could go. And, by the mercy of God, he reposed after spending much of the day with her.

No funeral plans yet. They will be posted as soon as they are available.

MEMORY ETERNAL!

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Child, Your Sins Are Forgiven

Posted on by Fr. Peter

healing

As we continue our journey through Great Lent the scripture for the week, taken from the Gospel of St. Mark, remind us of faith and how we need to have faith in our lives.  The story is about a man who is paralyzed, and his friends bring him to see Jesus in a most unusual way.

Jesus has entered the fishing village of Capernaum and had gone to a friend’s house.  Word had spread that He was there, and so many people came and filled the house and spilled out into the street to hear Him speak.  The crowd was so dense that people were having a hard time moving around.  It was into this crowd that the paralyzed man was brought.

His friends could not get him through so they decided to go up on the roof and gain access to Jesus in this way.  The house would have had a flat roof that was used by the residents as a place to sit in evening when the temperatures cooled off so there would have been outside access.  The roof may have been covered in grass that would have helped to keep the house cool in the hot Palestinian sun.

The men carried their friend, laying on his bed, up to the roof and dug a hole between the rafters and lowered their friend down to Jesus.  I can only imagine the commotion this must have stirred not only with those inside the house but the homeowner himself.  Imagine someone breaking a hole in your roof!

Scripture tells us that Jesus was moved by the faith of the man’s friends.  Their faith that drove them to do this, to get their friend to Jesus not matter what the cost.  He was so moved by their faith that He tells the man that his sins are forgiven.  Not the faith of the man himself but the faith of his friends is what Jesus is telling him.  They did not let something like, not being able to get there, stop them from doing what they felt they had too.  The faith, and drive to help their friend, was so great that there was no obstacle would stop them.

This was an immense task that must have taken some planning.  When they left the house did they bring shovels and rope with them or did they have to return to get the items necessary to remove the roof?  Face with the challenge they put their heads together to come up with a solution to the problem, and that was to get their friend the help he needed.

It has been said “it takes a village” and this is true in our spiritual life.  It is no secret that I do not believe in “I’m spiritual but not religious” nonsense that the world wants us to believe.  Okay, maybe you have an issue with organized religion, fine, but we cannot do this alone we need the loving support of a community to help us through, and if necessary, break open the roof for us.

How many times have we turned back because we thought the challenge was too great?  Perhaps we are paralyzed with the fear of judgment we might face doing to our lack of faith or our perceived sinfulness. Perhaps we do not feel that God could love us because we are sinners, and our sins are so great that God would never be able to forgive us.  Are you paralyzed with doubt and despair?  Find some friend who would be willing to remove the roof to help you.

There is no sin that is so large that God will not forgive.  What I hope the world understands is that God loves everyone, I know it sounds simple, but it true, God truly loves each one of us for who we are and where we are.  The problem is we don’t believe that.

We need to take that first step and return to Him.  We need to take that first step and reach out our hand to Him and take His outstretched hand in ours and ask Him to show us the way.  There is no better time than right now to do that, and if you need someone to break open the roof for you, give me a call and I will do it!

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English Separatists and My Family

Posted on by Fr. Peter

The_Mayflower_Compact_1620_cph.3g07155

If you have been following these pages for any length of time, you know that my family is heavily involved in family research.  We can trace our ancestors back to a common ancestor that arrived in the new world in 1640 in Scituate Massachusetts.  Knowing where one comes from is exciting, I think everyone secretly hopes that we come from royalty, but sometimes the story is just as good for the plain folks.

My family, like most that bear the name Preble in America, descend from a common ancestor, Abraham Preble.  He came from Kent England in 1640 and settled in Scituate Massachusetts.  He part of what is now known as the First Trinitarian Congregational Church of Scituate.  His soon to be a father in law, was the ruling elder of the Church.  This Church was founded by a group of English Separatists (or dissenters as they are sometimes called) who came to America shortly after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth.

17th century England was not a pleasant place to live if you did not agree with the Established Church that is the Church of England.  There were two types’ nonconformists and separatists.  The nonconformists stayed in the Church of England and attempted reform from within.  They did not believe that the reformation went far enough and that there were too many popish elements left in the Church.  There was the sense that one could worship separate from all of the trappings of worship, vestments, incense, etc.

The separatists were those who separated themselves from the Church of England, at great risk.  They disagreed with the fact that the sovereign was the head of the Church and abide by a strict separation of Church and State.  They held the belief that each local Church community was sovereign from others and could worship as they saw fit.  They did not need bishops or canons to direct their lives they had Scripture that was sufficient for them and their lives.  The minister, although an important part of the life of the community was just that, part of the community, called from and into the community to be their spiritual head and provide for the sacramental life of the Church.  However, decisions were made by the congregation itself meeting together.

The first group was established in Scrooby a town in South Yorkshire England under the leadership Richard Clifton and met in the home of William Brewster, who would later sail on the Mayflower for the new world.  They found it difficult to worship there, so the decision was made to immigrate to Leiden in the Netherlands, but they did not last long there.  They found that as foreigners they were only allowed to take unskilled labor jobs, and their children were growing up more Dutch than British.

When the opportunity presented itself to go to America they took it and in July of 1620, after negotiations with the London Company that would finance their trip, they set sail from Leiden on the ship Speedwell. A Royal Charter was given with the understanding that the religion would receive official sanction.  Due to difficulties with the ship, William Bradford believed that the crew of the ship was deliberately sabotaging the ship so the voyage would not happen.  Eventually, the passengers transferred to the Mayflower for the cross-Atlantic journey.

History will tell the tale of the Pilgrims arriving at Plymouth Rock and their settlement, but the story did not end there.

In and around the town of Kent in the early 1600’s house churches had been established.  This unsettled the king as any challenge to his rule was a challenge to his sovereignty and so the leaders, and some of the congregation, were arrested and sent to prison.  One of them was the Rev. John Lothrop, who was released but ordered to leave England in 1634.

Rev. John Lothrop and 30 of his followers left England and settled in Scituate, a town that had been first settled by others from Kent before 1628.  There they established the Scituate Congregational Church and Rev. Lothrop was installed as minister in December of 1634 becoming the fourth church in the Plymouth Colony.

I am unsure as to why Abraham Preble left Kent, but it was to this community that he would come.  As this was s community founded by separatists, I am led to believe that he was a follower of this religion, and that is one of the reasons he came.  There is no evidence that Abraham Preble was ever arrested although he was 31 at the time the Rev. Lothrop left for America.  There is no clear evidence as to why he left although like man, I am sure it was for a new life promised in a new world.

I think we sometimes have a romantic notion that the Pilgrims were fleeing persecution by the king. However, they were freely worshipping in the Netherlands, so there were other reasons driving them to the new world.  Also, their religion would not be recognized, nor supported by the King.  If we want to think of this in romantic terms, they came to the new world for the same reason most come, for a better life.

He was not a man of means, and more than likely came to the new world as some servant to have his passage paid.  In his book, The First Three Generations of Prebles in America, Rear Admiral George Henry Preble talks of Abraham as some sort of noble man but I can find no evidence of that in any reliable source to this date.  He married Judith Tilden, daughter of the Ruling Elder of the Church Nathaniel Tilden on January 3, 1641.  Judith was the 8th child and 3rd girl to be born to Nathaniel and Lydia Tilden and although an Elder and a man of great lands and means marrying off your daughter to anyone in those days, especially one that would inherit very little due to her place in the birth order, was no small feat.

Soon after their marriage, again for reasons that are unclear, Abraham moved to what was to become York Maine, and there made a very successful life for himself and his family.

Perhaps it was religious freedom that brought Abraham.  Perhaps it was economics that brought him; he was the 7th child and his chances at any substantial inheritance were almost nonexistent.  But the truth be told, for him to have married the daughter of the ruling elder he would have had to have been part of the Church of Scituate and thus would have had separatist’s beliefs.

We New Englanders owe much to these brave souls who left the old world for the new.  Some had to leave and left for religious reasons, and some left for other reasons but it was their spirit of a separation of the Church from the state that gave us this philosophy in America today.  There is much we can learn from these men and women, and I look forward to the journey.

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The Necessity of Forgiveness

Posted on by Fr. Peter

Forgiveness

The last of the preparatory Sundays in the Orthodox Church is the Sunday of Forgiveness.  This is the Sunday that we call to mind the expulsion of our first parents from paradise and the Icon of this day depicts Adam and Eve sitting outside of the closed doors of paradise weeping for what they have lost.  This is a stark reminder to us, as we begin this holy period of Lent, just how important forgiveness is in our lives.

The Gospel for this Sunday is taken from the 6th chapter of St. Matthew and begins with these words, “If you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father also will forgive you, but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”  Jesus is reminding those who are listening that if we hold back forgiveness our Heavenly Father will also withhold forgiveness.  As we say in the Our Father, forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.  These are not just words but a reminder of the necessity of forgiveness.

A few years ago, I received a letter in the mail from a classmate from junior high school asking for forgiveness.  During those years, he was kind of a bully not only to me but others in my class. He had fallen on some difficult times and was progressing through the steps of treatment for substance abuse.  One of the steps is to make amends with people that you have harmed in the past, so he was reaching out to ask forgiveness.  I was moved by this letter, and I wrote him back right away to thank him for writing and to give him my forgiveness.  I had all but forgotten what had been done, but it would have been wrong of me to withhold the forgiveness he was seeking.

I have said that forgiveness is necessary for our spiritual life.  The granting of forgiveness is less about the person that we are forgiving and more about us and our spiritual lives.  When we withhold forgiveness we do more harm to ourselves than we do to the one who has harmed us, in fact by withholding forgiveness we are actually giving the power over to the one who has hurt us.  Withholding forgiveness harms our spiritual life and in a way separates us from God.

Holding back forgiveness harms us in a spiritual way by keeping the hurt alive in our minds and our spirits.  Forgiveness does not mean forgetting what has happened, but it is the start of the healing process for us. Whether the person accepts the forgiveness or even if they admit they were wrong, we have to forgive.

I was recently asked a question about justice and forgiveness.  Spiritually forgiveness one, our part, has nothing to do with justice.  The healing process may be tied to the meeting out of justice if that is what the law requires, but forgiveness needs to be given for healing to begin.

Last week, the news brought us a report of twenty-one Christians in Libya being martyred by radical Islam.  They were martyred for no other reason than they were Christians.  They were all members of the Coptic Orthodox Church.  The Church has canonized them as martyrs of the faith and in a statement one of the bishops of the Coptic Church said that he has forgiven those who have done this because he is a Christian and has no other option, and neither do we!

At the start of every Liturgy in the Orthodox Church, we say, “In peace, let us pray to the Lord.”  We are seeking peace with God but also with humanity.  It has been said that if we come to Liturgy, holding anything against another, we should leave, go make amends and return so that our sacrifice will be pure.  If we are not reconciled to our fellow man, we cannot hope to be able to pray without distractions.

We have begun the forty-day period of preparation for the great feast of the Resurrection.  This time has been set aside for us to work on our spirituality.  This is the time for us to be intentional about getting our spiritual life back on track if we need to but even if we don’t we need to remember that forgiveness is essential and if we have been holding it back we need to give it.

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