Sermon
Holy Thursday
Night-2007
When
most people hear the word Intimacy, they associate that with a spouse or a
boyfriend/girlfriend. They also
associate it with something physical, rather than emotional or spiritual. I use the word intimate to describe my
relationships with many people—my wife, my parents, my Spiritual Father, a few
close friends, and most especially with God.
When I define the word intimate, I say that it is a relationship that is
deeper than a surface relationship. It
is a relationship where there is freedom to confide not only secrets, but
struggles, knowing that the person who hears them will not only not repeat
them, but will respond properly, with advice, with sympathy, with empathy. When you have an intimate relationship with
someone, you can be totally honest, and not worry that you are being
judged. When you have an intimate
relationship with someone, you can cry and not feel that you look weak to them.
Last
night was a very powerful service. And
what happened after the service was even more powerful. I asked people to come to be anointed one at
a time on the solea, so that there could be a private
moment between myself and each person in attendance, an intimate moment if you
will. The Bible says that the eye is the
lamp of the body. It is also what
identifies most clearly how a person is feeling. The mouth can lie fairly easily. It is much harder, however, for the eyes to
hide the truth. And as I looked into the
eyes of those in church last night, while praying over each of you, I saw many
things. I saw eyes that looked sad, some were even filled with tears. I saw eyes that looked frustrated and
hurt. I saw eyes that looked renewed,
and others that looked confident. I saw
some eyes that looked profoundly humble and others that looked very proud. I saw eyes that were filled with joy and I
saw at least one set of eyes that looked empty.
There
will always be people with whom we do not desire intimate relationships. A cursory hello will be enough. There will be mutual respect but there will
not be conversation, or confiding, or vulnerability or empathy. Tonight we are each afforded some intimate
moments with Christ. There will be a
moment when we will each come to venerate the cross. And there will be more moments as we stand in
the pews waiting our turn, or as we return to our pews to reflect on that
moment at the foot of the cross.
As
you gaze upon the cross this year, I ask you to meditate on two
questions—first, how intimate is your relationship with God? Is it a cursory relationship? Do my cross, say a
prayer when I remember to, go weeks or months without reading the Bible or
offering a sincere prayer? Or is it a
significant part of your daily life? Does the relationship bring you joy, does
it challenge you, does it make you a better person, or does it do nothing at
all for you?
And
the second question is, what do the eyes of your soul
reveal about you this year as you stand before the Cross of Christ? Are they filled with sadness, or tears, or
frustration or hurt? Are they renewed,
confident, humble or contrite? Are they
filled with pride or humility? Are they
filled with joy? And perhaps most
seriously, are you more lost than found this year, or more found than lost?
I
mentioned last Sunday that the priests often joke to each other that Holy Week
attendance is higher on the nights that there is a free gift—people come Palm
Sunday for a palm, Wednesday for oil, Friday for a flower and Easter for an
egg. The gift you receive tonight is not
something you can put on the dashboard of your car, or in a vase on your
table. You can’t hold it in your hand
or put it in your pocket. The gift you
receive tonight is the gift of hope. And
all you need to offer in order to receive it is a contrite and humble heart. A heart that gazes at
Christ on the Cross and says, Thank You Lord, for dying for me. A heart that says,
tomorrow can be a better day. A heart that says I will try a little harder tomorrow and next week
and next month and next year.
Spend some time tonight, you and God.
Have an intimate conversation.
Shed a few tears. Share your
sorrows with Him. And work on making an
intimate relationship with God an important part of your daily life. And then if your eyes are proud, they will
become humble. If they are angry, they
will become joyful. If they are full of
doubt, they will become confident. And
if they are lost and empty, they will be found.
I’m so glad to see so many people here tonight. For those who can stay the remaining hour,
thank God. And for those who cannot stay
until the end, come up, venerate the Cross and depart with peace in your heart,
it’s wonderful that you made this trip this year. For those who are tired from standing but
would like to stay, please go ahead and sit, that’s okay. I want to thank the choir and the chanters
for their beautiful chanting this evening.
And I want to remind you that tomorrow, we will
have the service of the Royal Hours at 9:00 a.m., done primarily in English,
decorating of the Epitaphios at 10:30 a.m., the
service of the Apokathelosis or un-nailing at 3:00
p.m. and the service of the Lamentations at 7:00 p.m. And I look forward to sharing a day of prayer
as we mark the most solemn of days of the church year.
I want to close this sermon by sharing one intimate
detail of my life with you, my spiritual family. For years, not one or two years, for many
years, I have shed tears in front of the cross of Christ, asking God to bless
us with a child. And each year, in addition to those tears of sadness, there
would be tears of frustration, here another year has passed, and I find myself
in the same place as I was a year ago.
In all those years, I never lost faith in God. This year, for the first time since I have
been a priest, those tears are tears of joy, as I thank God for the gift of our
son. If you are in a good place this
evening, thank God for that and live a life that reflects your gratitude. If you are in a bad place this evening, or
you feel you are in the same place you were last year, don’t give up, don’t
lose faith. In the words of
Sermon-End of Holy Thursday evening-2007
One major difference in
Orthodox and Western theology on the Passion of Christ is that the Orthodox place more focus on the tomb and triumph of Christ, while
the West places emphasis on the suffering and death of Christ. It is the Orthodox tradition that for the 12th
and final Gospel of this service of the Passion of Christ, that the priest
wears white vestments, and that we leave the church this evening having one eye
on the cross of Christ, while the other already begins to look towards the empty
tomb of Easter Sunday, only two days away.
For we are people of hope and not despair, and the biggest reason for
our hope is our Lord, hanging on the Cross, for as we read in Isaiah, Chapter
53, “Surely he has born our griefs and carried our
sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He
was bruised for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that made us
whole, and with his stripes we are healed.”
(53: 4-5) Good evening, Kali Anastasi!
PRAYER BEFORE CROSS OF
CHRIST-Holy Thursday 2007
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we thank you for the
gift of Your love, a love so great that desired to
take on the sins of the entire world. We
thank You for enduring the mocking, scourging, spitting, torturing, beating,
the long and painful journey to Golgotha, and the nails, the cross and the
tomb, so that we might be saved. Lord,
we are all sinners, and just like the people who drove the nails into your Holy
Body, we too put in our share. Forgive
us Lord when we do these things, we do not know what we are doing. Some of us Lord are confused about the
meaning of all these things—at times we all have a hard time believing. Help us Lord to understand the importance of
this event we are remembering, Your crucifixion, and
in three days, your Resurrection, why they so significant in our lives. Help us
to put our faith and trust in your promises.
Strengthen our belief in the moments of doubt. In times of temptation, when our spirit is
torn between the ways of the world and the ways of God, help us Lord to place
our spirits into Your hands. Help us at all times to
live out what we believe. Help us Lord, all of us, but especially those whose
lives are beset by illness, struggle, sadness and grief, help us Lord to carry
the crosses we each bear. And when we
see our fellow human beings staggering under the weight of their heavy burdens,
put love into our hearts so that we can help them to bear their crosses.
As the priest who so unworthily
stands before the Holy Altar on behalf of these people, I thank you Lord for
another year of ministry, of ministering to them. Forgive me the sins I have committed for they
are greater in number than the grains of sand on the seashore. And give me the strength, the courage and the
discipline to continue to do Your will in all things.
Remember my priesthood in Your kingdom. And for these people
to whom I so unworthily minister, help them, guide them, strengthen them,
inspire them, save them, protect them, and keep them o God in Your grace. Remember each one of them, and the specific
needs that each has. Heal their wounds,
soothe their pains, allow them to be led by Your Holy
Spirit at all times and in all places.
For You Lord are the help of the helpless, the hope of the hopeless, the
savior of the afflicted, the harbor for those tossed
about by the stormy see of life. Lead us
to you, grant us Your forgiveness, Your peace and Your
love, because you have given all things to us.
Thank you Lord for the gift of my son. Most of all, thank you for the gift of Your
Son. Remember Lord, all of us, when you
come into Your Kingdom. Amen.