A CHRISTMAS REFLECTION:  WHO NOT TO BE THIS CHRISTMAS

By Fr. Panteleimon Dalianis

When we think about the Christmas story we typically focus on the heroes and “good guys” of the story – the Virgin Mary, St. Joseph, the Christ child, perhaps also the shepherds and the wise men.  All of these characters are important to the story and give us much to think about.  But it can also be helpful to look at the villains and “bad guys” of the Christmas story to see what they can teach.  That’s what I’d like to do right now.

Bad guy #1 – Herod

We read the following about Herod:

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.”  When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him….

And after the wise men left, “by another way” (not returning to Herod because of the warning they received in a dream) we are told:

Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men.

Why did Herod do all of this?  Or, put differently, why is Herod bad guy #1?  Herod’s fault is in his exceeding desire to be in power and to hoard that power.  Accordingly, anyone who might be a threat to Herod’s reign must be taken out.

What can we learn from Herod?  We can learn that if we seek to have power in ourselves (apart from God) then we too will seek to remove anyone who competes with us for that power.  But, if we are humble enough to recognize that everything belongs to God, and, as the prophet Job once said,

The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord (Job 1:21).

Then we can live in fear of nothing and no one – since God is in charge.

Bad guy #2 – the innkeeper

We don’t hear directly about the innkeeper, but we read the following about the impact he had on where Jesus was to be born:

And she [Mary] brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

                                                                                               

Perhaps the innkeeper represents those who, as Jesus says in the gospel, have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear (Mark 8:18).  The savior of the world was right in front of him (albeit in the womb of Mary) and he missed it. 

The application to us is two-fold.  First, in Matthew 25 Jesus tells us that he is every hungry, thirsty, naked, lonely, sick and imprisoned person (vs. 35-36).  Do we have the eyes to see that in our lives and in our interactions with our children and family and co-workers and the homeless people we pass on the streets?  If not, we too are the innkeeper.

Secondly, Jesus Christ knocks at our door every time the Divine Liturgy is celebrated, and he asks if he can come in and dwell within us (in the form of Holy Communion).  Again, do we open the door and let him in, or, as the Christmas gospel tells us, is there no room… [at] the inn?

Bad guys #3 – the Jewish leaders

The most interest group to reflect on may be the Jewish leaders of that time.  The scripture don’t say much about their motives in the Christmas story, but there is something the scriptures omit that is, I believe, important.  The scriptures tell us that two groups were told about the birth of Jesus, the pagan Magi (wise men), and the (Jewish) shepherds.  But why weren’t the “establishment” Jews (the scribes, the Pharisees) informed about it?

While it’s hard to tell, the answer that seems most likely is that they didn’t really want the Messiah to come – at least not if his coming was going to change their comfortable life.  The scriptures say the following about the leaders of that time:

Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces.

It seems that the Jewish leaders had a fairly cushy life, and they weren’t eager for that to change.

What’s the application for us?  If Jesus is going to come into our lives and be our Lord (which means he is in charge), it’s likely that much of life is going to need to change.  If his commandments become the law by which we live, then we’ll need to forgive (Matt. 6:12) and turn the other cheek (Matt. 5:39), and give to everyone who asks (Luke 6:30) and rejoice in our difficulties (Rom. 5:3).

Are we willing to do this?  Or, does Jesus ask too much?  The Pharisees seemed to think that Jesus indeed was asking for too much, and they were happier without him.  How about you?

So, this Nativity, may our Lord teach us what we need to learn about the “villains” of the Christmas story.  And may we invert their weaknesses – hunger for power (Herod), eyes but can’t see (innkeeper), too much comfort with the status quo (Jewish leaders) - into spiritual strengths – humility, eyes to see, and a willingness to change for Christ – in the year ahead.     

The "E" Word: (Relatively) Simple Ways to be more Evangelistic in our World (Part 4)

The "E" Word:  (Relatively) Simple Ways to be more Evangelistic in our World

(Part 4)

Having examined in my previous articles five causes for our being less evangelistic than we could be, today’s article will begin our reflection on six (relatively simple?) ways we can strive to be more evangelistic in our lives.

1. Begin with prayer – This should be obvious.  In the book of Acts we see that the Holy Spirit had called out Barnabas and Paul to preach the gospel to the gentiles (non-Jews), and as a part of that commissioning, we read the following:

While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”  Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off (vs. 2-3).

There are two sub-points to this.  First, we need to be spiritually growing and serious, or else we’ll have nothing to offer the people around us (and, if we’re not spiritually growing, it’s unlikely we’ll even try to spread the gospel because, why would we share something that’s not important to us?).  Secondly, we need to pray for the people in our world (ideally by name) whose hearts we are hoping the Holy Spirit will open to the message of the gospel (evangelism isn’t a manmade “project”, but the work of the Holy Spirit in the human heart – and we need always to see it that way).

2. Build relationships with non-believers – If we don’t have non-Christian friends, it will be very difficult to spread the good news to non-believers.  We need to be pro-active in making friendships with people outside the church – whether that’s through volunteering on the PTA, coaching a local team, playing pick-up ball at the park, or serving at a favorite charity.

Everyone can do this.  We all have interests, and part of evangelism is simply seeing those interests as a means to spreading the gospel.  Perhaps the best scripture verse here is from the gospel of Matthew, Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven (5:6).  As we enter into the lives of our friends and neighbors, ideally the gospel message will simply overflow from our life into our interactions with the people around us.

3. Invite someone to church – One concern that people often raise about evangelism is that they feel ill-equipped to answer questions that a friend might raise about Christianity and the church.  The best answer I would offer to that concern is, invite them to church and let the church explain itself.  In the book of Psalms, King David explains that the truth of the church in seen in the church, …O taste and see that the Lord is good (Psalm 34:8)!

We don’t need to have all the answers (and, indeed, thinking we need to have all the answers can be a trick of the devil, to keep us from spreading the gospel).  A good example of this comes from the life of St. Vladimir, Grand Prince of Kiev, who, during his reign sent his envoys to see, first-hand, the great religions of his time, Islam, Roman Catholicism, Judaism and Orthodox Christianity.  On enter the Orthodox church, they made the following observation:

We knew not whether we were in Heaven or on Earth… We only know that God dwells there among the people, and their service is fairer than the ceremonies of other nations.

If we are faithful in bringing the people, we can trust that God will do the rest.

- Offered by Fr. Panteleimon Dalianis

The "E" Word: Five Reasons Why we Don’t Evangelize as we Should (Part 3)

The "E" Word: 

Five Reasons Why we Don’t Evangelize as we Should

(Part 3)

Last week we looked at three explanations as to why the church is less evangelistic today than it could/should be.  They were:

1. We’re not convinced that people need Jesus Christ;

2. Our faith has become “routine”;

3. Our churches have an ineffective evangelistic strategy of “you come” rather than “we go”.

Today’s article will look at two more possible explanations for the lack of evangelistic zeal in the church today.

4. Church members often see the church as a place to get their needs met rather than a place to bring those in need of Jesus  Christ;

This can be a hard pill to swallow, but, we have to ask ourselves what the church is to us – because we are going to act in the church in accordance with how we see the church.  Do we see ourselves as continuing Jesus Christ’s ministry, which he defines in Luke 4 with the following passage from Isaiah:

                                                         

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed…. (18).

                                   

Or are we a club where, “I’ve paid my dues and I expect to have my wants taken care of” – whether that’s in the language of the service, the preaching style/length, the ministries offered, etc.?  If we see it as a place where God’s grace and healing is offered, we will bring others (so they can be healed).  If not (if it’s a club) then we likely won’t (and if we don’t get our needs met sufficiently, we may very well leave and not return).

                           

5. Church members may not be “converted” themselves;

What does it mean to be converted to Jesus Christ?  It means to have him as the center of our lives – his commandments govern our actions – our time, our talents and our treasure is his (not ours) and we’re just here to manage it for him and get him the best return on his investment.

To the degree that we believe this, we will make it a priority to bring others to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ (if for no other reason than one of his commandments is to go and make disciples of all nations (Matt. 28:19)).

To the degree we don’t, we won’t.  Why would we try to bring someone to believe in something that we’re not even fully convinced of?

In the next article we will look at four (relatively) simple ways we can be more evangelistic in our own lives.

- Offered by Fr. Panteleimon Dalianis

The "E" Word: Three Reasons Why we Don’t Evangelize as we Should (Part 2)

The "E" Word:  Three Reasons Why we Don’t Evangelize as we Should

(Part 2)

If we look at any organism, we see that the health of that organism is very much tied to the reproduction of that organism – both on a “micro” level and a “macro” level.  On the micro level if the human body (for example) doesn’t continue to produce new healthy cells, the body will die.  On the macro level if human beings as a group don’t produce more human beings, they will go extinct.

The church is no different.  The continued life and health of the church requires reproduction – in this case Christians producing more Christians (i.e. evangelism).  Where this isn’t happening, we can only logically conclude that there is a lack of health (and extinction in on the way?).  In this article I’ll examine three reasons that churches may be less evangelistic than they could be.

1. We’re not convinced that people need Jesus Christ

 In John 14, Jesus makes a very strong claim about his role in salvation: I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me (v. 6).  We notice in this verse that there is no qualifier – Jesus never says, “except for….”  Which means that Jesus is the only way into the kingdom (there is no other road in).

Do we believe this?  Or, as we clergy will often hear, do we believe that “all religions lead to the same place” (I’ve heard this many times)?  And if we do believe that last line, we need to know that that’s not what the church teaches, nor is it what the Bible itself states.  Everyone needs Jesus, because He’s the only road to the Father.

2. Our faith has become “routine”

 If you’ve seen children on Christmas day, you’ll know that every toy is exciting when they first get it.  But, as often happens, as time goes by, the excitement level also goes down.  This can be the case with our faith and with our evangelism.  When we first become converted to Christ, we want to learn and pray and read and talk about our faith all day long (just like the kid on Christmas morning), but as time goes by, we can come to see our faith as just one more event in the calendar – one more thing to get done that week.  What we need to do is consciously strive to keep that flame burning in our hearts for Jesus Christ through the spiritual practices of the church – prayer, fasting, reading the scriptures, etc.  If we aren’t living the faith daily, there’s little hope that we will have the grace or the interest to share it with the world around us.

3. Our churches have an ineffective evangelistic strategy of “you come” rather than “we go”

 The gospel is rather clear that one job of a Christian is to go out and spread the gospel to the world: 

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my [Jesus’] witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).

This applies not just to the individual Christian, but to the church as a body.  The “you come” strategy isn’t wrong, it’s just not enough.  Our churches need to be places where everyone feels welcome.  But we also need to be places where no one feels comfortable unless they are sharing the gospel with the people in their world (i.e. “we go”) – their neighbors, their co-workers, their friends.

How comfortable are we in sharing (or not sharing) our faith with the world around us?  In next week’s article I will reflect on three more reasons we aren’t as evangelistic as we could be.

- Offered by Fr. Panteleimon Dalianis

Evangelism (the "E" word)

The "E" Word

(Part 1)

What is the "E" word?  Simply put, the "E" word is evangelism.  And I title this article as I do because for many of us in the Orthodox church, it's a word we don't like (a "bad" word).

But, evangelism shouldn't be a bad word.  In this first article on the "E" word, we will look at the first reason why evangelism is something that we should honor and practice in our lives - which is that evanglism is biblical.

The Bible has many examples of evangelism - too many for a brief article like this one to cover - but for the sake of brevity we can look at two examples of evangelism in the Bible that represent pretty much all the rest.

St. Peter speaks to the masses on Pentecost

In the book of Acts, chapter 2, we read about the day of Pentecost.  50 days after Jesus had risen from the dead, the Holy Spirit was poured out on the disciples and they were empowered to spread the gospel to all nations.

Beginning from Acts 2:14, St. Peter addresses all who had gathered around this very noisy scene of Pentecost (both believers and non-believers) concerning who this Jesus was and God's plan for the salvation of the human race. At the end of this chapter we learn that it was a very fruitful evangelistic day - So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls (2:41).

This example represents one way of approaching evangelism that I will call mass evangelism.  St. Peter doesn't have a one-on-one conversation with any one person in the crowd that day, but rather speaks to a large group.  And, empowered by the Holy Spirit, we see that his seeds fall on fertile ground and bear fruit.

St. Philip the deacon and the Ethiopian eunuch

The second example is from Acts 8.  In this scene we read about St. Philip the deacon and an Ethiopian eunuch.  At the start of this story we read that …an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza” (8:26).

On this road he comes across an Ethiopian eunuch who is reading a prophecy concerning Jesus from the book of Isaiah, but doesn't understand what the prophet is about.  St. Philip explains the meaning of the passage and goes on to explain the gospel of Jesus Christ and in the end we read:

And as they went along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What is to prevent my being baptized?”  And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him (36-38).

Here, rather than a mass presentation, we see a one-on-one interaction, where the soil is fertile and the gospel is presented and received with joy.

The point being that evangelism - both in it's mass-presentation form and in it's one-on-one form - are clearly a part of the church.  These are things that Christians have done, and are still called to do (you and me) today.  And, indeed, both a healthy Christian and a healthy church can't exist without evangelism - which will be the topic of next week's reflection.

- Offered by Fr. Panteleimon Dalianis

Monday

II Thess. 1:1-10; Luke 12:13-15, 22-31

The Lord said to the man who asked Him to divide between him and his brother, Who made Me a judge or a divider over you? (Luke 12:14). Later He added: Take no thought (Luke 12:22) about what to eat or drink, or what to wear. Earlier He taught: Let the dead bury their dead (Luke 9:60). Another time he suggested that is is better not to marry (cf. Matt. 19:10-11). This means that the turning aside of the attention and heart from everything worldly, as well as freedom from vanity and worldly bonds, make up one of the characteristics of a Christian spirit. The fact that the Lord blesses marriage and and supports its indissolubility, which effectually renews the commandment regarding the relationship between parents and children and attaches significance and does not give Christians the right to avoid preserving it and cherishing it in their hearts. Compare both things and you will see that you have a duty to keep your heart unworldly amidst the worldly order of things. How can you do this? Resolve it yourself in your own life; in this is all practical wisdom. The Lord guide you toward resolving this with the following rule: Seek ye first the Kingdom of God (Matt. 6:33). Direct all your concern toward having God reign in you, and everything worldly will lose its binding and burdensome spell over you. Then you will conduct your affairs outwardly, but inwardly your heart will be possessed by something else. But if on account of this, the resolution arises to cut off even this outward relationship to worldly things, it will not be a loss for you. You will come closer to the goal which faith in Christ will give you.

-From St. Theophan the Recluse

Monday

1 Thess. 2:20-3:8; Luke 11:29-33

The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgement with the men of this generation, and condemn them (Luke 11:31). For what? For indifference to the work accomplished by the Lord before their eyes. That queen, upon hearing about Solomon's wisdom, came from afar to hear him, but these men, having before their face the Lord Himself, did not heed Him, although it was obvious that He was higher than Solomon, just as the sky is higher than the earth. And the queen of the south condemns everyone who is indifferent to God's works, because among us as well, the Lord is always as obviously present in the Gospel account as He was (in the days of Solomon). Reading the Gospel, we have before our eyes the Lord with all of His marvelous works, for the Gospel is as undoubtedly true as the testimony of our own eyes. Meanwhile, who heeds the Lord as One Who has imprinted Himself upon our souls? We have closed our eyes or averted them. This is why we do not see, and not seeing, we do not devote ourselves to the Lord's works. However, this is no excuse, but rather the reason behind our heedlessness, which is as criminal as the acts that proceed from it. The work of the Lord is our top priority-that is, the salvation of our souls. Furthermore, since we must heed what comes from the Lord even if it not directly related to us, should we not all the more heed what is directed at us for the accomplishment of our essential work, the significance of which extends throughout all eternity? Judge for yourselves how criminal it is to disregard such a matter!

-From St. Theophan the Recluse