One of my favorite communion hymns is from Psalm 116, in which St. David asks, “What shall I render to the Lord, for all His bounty to me?” His response? “I will lift up the cup of salvation, and call on the Name of the Lord.”
Consider all the gifts that God has given us before we were even formed: the world that He created for us, the beauty of the sea and the stars, mountains, and all the animal life upon the earth, and, beyond the creation, His saving acts: the incarnation, the cross, the tomb, the resurrection, the ascension, and the Second Coming, we quickly realize that in a sense we have nothing to offer that can repay God for His bounty to us, His blessing to us, His many gifts.
Then, if we add to these universal blessings, the personal blessings and gifts He’s given each of us, foremost, the opportunity for new birth in Him, for koinonia and communion with Him through the Sacraments, healing from our sin-sickness, growth in the knowledge and love of Him, and eternal life with Him, we are left speechless, awed, humbled, and, I pray, thankful.
St. Gregory Palamas says, “When David, having reflected on the matter, saw everything he had received, and everything given to those who went before him…he understood that the benefits bestowed by God are immeasurable and that, whereas these really are bounties from God for us, the things men offer to God are nothing in comparison.” And so, what does St. David offer in response? He says, “I will offer to Him the sacrifice of thanksgiving.”
Our thanksgiving is the song of praise, the glory we offer to God in worship, as well as our willingness to come outside of ourselves to serve Him and His Church, to build up the body of Christ, to witness to His truth and salvation.
But how hard it is for us to have this attitude of thanksgiving and service when our focus is on ourselves, our own problems, or if we are consumed with our preoccupations in the world, our work, or our desire for gain and for worldly pursuits at the expense of our worship and life in Christ—He who is Life. These distractions keep us from our focus on Christ and make it next to impossible to cultivate the kind of thankful spirit we see in King David.
Likewise, our lack of faith that our entreaties and praises to God, or listening to the divine Scriptures of hymns or teachings of the Church will avail us anything. Pride so easily gets in the way so that we make excuses when it comes to offering up the minimum we can give God in return for His inexplicable graciousness to us sinners. We can perhaps more easily see the tangible and material benefits of our time spent at work, pursuing some hobby, doing chores at home, or taking care any of the other myriad of problems we have to deal with in the world—their name is “Legion.” We’ll never be free of them; like the poor, they will always be with us.
In today’s Gospel, the disciples cannot understand why they cannot cast out the demon. Christ tells them straight on, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.”
Ask yourself, what is the ‘mountain’ that needs to be moved in my life? Is there anything holding you back from putting Christ and His Church first in your life? The worship of the Church, our service to the body, our coming outside of ourselves, to offer our “sacrifice of thanksgiving,” to lift up the cup of salvation in our hearts, to do what is needed to participate more fully in the sacramental life of Christ, is the means to our further growth in faith and the removal of those ‘mountains’ that come between us and God. Increase in faith begins with a desire for more faith, praying for more faith, availing ourselves of what the Church has to offer.
Coming to church once a week is a first step, but it alone is not enough to counter the culture’s influence on us and the barrage of distractions we’re confronted with day in, day out. Being in the world but not of the world requires vigilance on our part. It’s like standing in the middle of a river with a fast current. Unless you move upstream persevering in the struggle, you won’t make any progress; instead, you’ll be swept further downstream. So it is with us in our walk with God: We have to keep Christ before us, make use of the opportunities we have for worship, for learning, for fellowship, for the Sacraments, if we are to heal, grow, and work out our salvation.
For this reason, we need to take advantage of other reminders of Christ throughout the week, not neglecting our fellowship with one another: praying daily, coming to Bible study or Vespers, which will begin again this Fall, Great Vespers on Saturdays, staying for Trapeza on Sundays after Liturgy whenever possible, preparing to receive the Sacraments.
At the same time, Church can never be just about what’s here for me. God gives us everything we need and more. Our attitude is what most affects our ability to grow in Christ and learn His way. If we want the church to make things comfortable for us and do as we bid, serving us only, then we’ve missed the mark. It is we who must serve each other. In our Orthodox worship as in our Orthodox understanding of salvation, it’s necessary for us to be willing to come outside of ourselves to serve, to grow. There’s no other way because this is what it means to be and become more and more like Christ.
The worship of the Church guides us in this way, to come outside of ourselves and use all of ourselves in worship. In Orthodox worship, we use all of our senses: we see the gilded icons and beautiful vestments reflective of and pointing us towards the heavenly worship, we smell the incense, the sweetness of the Kingdom of God and the life that is in Him, we hear the music and the song of praise from our lips and those of our brethren in Christ, we hear the truth of God’s words spoken through the Holy Tradition of the Church—liturgy, Scripture, hymnody. We cross ourselves, touch and kiss the icons, the cross, and, foremost, take Christ inside of ourselves, the medicine of immortality. “We taste and see that the Lord is good.”
Our coming outside of ourselves in worship is a paradym for our coming outside ourselves to serve on another and witness in the world. The less time we give to God in worship, the less we’ll benefit from it. But the reverse is also true: the more we strive to worship, to give of ourselves to God, the more we avail ourselves of opportunities to have our faith strengthened and our focus on God renewed, the more we serve, the more we will reap the benefits in our lives and the more we will help others to find their healing and salvation as well. The more we partake of the medicine of the spiritual hospital of the Church, the more we will heal and grow and make it possible for others to do the same. What more can you render to the Lord? Whatever you or I offer, whatever worship we render, God has given us and will give us so much more in return.
Fr. Robert Miclean
Holy Archangels Orthodox Church
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Epistle: I Cor. 4:9-16
Gospel: Matt. 17:14-23
