The Light in Your Eyes

The Light in Your Eyes

By Bethany Kaldas

‘The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light.’ – Matthew 6:22

It is easy to look at the world and grimace. I mean, look around—what do you see?

Disaster after disaster, fire, flood and plague. Starvation and famine in one region while obesity and obsession reign in another. Not to mention our own evils—greed, violence, anger, lust, lies…the world looks broken, destructive and morally compromised. It’s enough to make one want to throw it all out, to succumb to the notion that what we have here is nothing but a lost cause. To simply wait, gaze down your nose at a world gone bad, until it finally dissolves away. After all, it seems like this world is a Godless one, one without hope. There is nothing left for us here, right?

But before you ride off on your high horse, let me ask you this: How much of this is your fault?

No, no, I’m not saying you caused every natural disaster or human evil out there (that’s a different discussion for another day). I’m talking about that feeling you get when you look at the shattered world around you. That sense of despair, of disgust, that feeling that all that remains is darkness and that God has abandoned this world. Is that feeling coming from what you see? Or is it something else?

‘Bad times, hard times, this is what people keep saying; but let us live well, and times shall be good. We are the times: Such as we are, such are the times.’

St Augustine of Hippo

We don’t tend to think about this much, but although we have very little control indeed over what is going on around us, we can control something. We can control ourselves. If we cannot decide what it is we see, at the very least, we can decide how we see it. My father has told me for many years now an old Stoic phrase: it’s not what happens to you, but what you do with it.

But aren’t some things just…bad? How can we look at the torment of a dying world and do anything but weep?

‘I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.’

C.S. Lewis

It is important to remember that, although our hope is in ‘the life of the coming age’, it is still true that ‘the Kingdom of Heaven is within’ (Luke 17:21). Heaven is not meant to be a distant thing that we strive towards, in the same way that Christ has not really left this world—because He is right here. Right now. In you. 

And when you realise that God resides in you, you realise something else. Something so wonderful it might seem, at first, too good to be true.

‘For, indeed, everything about is marvellous, and wherever a man turns his gaze he sees the Godhead of the Word and is smitten with awe.’ 

St Athanasius of Alexandria

…You realise that He is everywhere else too.

But how can God be present in a world so plagued by evils? How can you think there is any Light in a world shrouded in shadow? When disaster strikes and the night falls…where is He?

‘God is everywhere. There is no place God is not…You cry out to Him, ‘Where art Thou, my God?’ And He answers, “I am present, my child! I am always beside you.’ Both inside and outside, above and below, wherever you turn, everything shouts, ‘God!’ In Him we live and move. We breathe God, we eat God, we clothe ourselves with God. Everything praises and blesses God. All of creation shouts His praise. Everything animate and inanimate speaks wondrously and glorifies the Creator. Let every breath praise the Lord!’

Elder Joseph the Hesychast

But you see, it could never for a moment have been otherwise. God never left us. God is all-good and all-present—there is nowhere He is not. If you have closed your eyes, how can you blame the Light for all the darkness you see?

I want you to look again. Look again at this weary and broken world, but this time remember that He is within—within you, within all of it. Remember that He has not forsaken it. It’s not a lost cause to Him. There is hope, not because there is no bad in the world—but because there is no bad in Him. And He never left.

Believe it or not, the Light is all around you—there is nowhere it cannot reach, no place it cannot find you. The only question that remains is, will you let it in?

‘Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.’ – Matthew 5:8

The Pure in Heart

The Beatitudes Series Part 5

Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God

By Marc Bastawrous

While serving in Sunday School a few years ago, one of my fellow servants thought of the clever idea to create a “Question Chest” for the kids. Basically, it was a home-made treasure box of sorts, where the kids would leave pieces of paper with questions on them anonymously for the servants to answer in the next lesson. During my week to answer questions, I pulled this out of the chest:

“Why should I believe in God, if I can’t see Him?”

The question broke me. Partly because I felt for my Sunday school kid who was going through a period of doubt, but mostly because I had no answer. I mustered up a half-hearted response, but I purposed in my heart that I wouldn’t let the year go past without offering a solution to this child’s problem.

A few months down the track, I was attending a revival for St Mary’s feast and the topic of the evening was purity, with the theme verse coming from Matthew 5:8 which says:

“Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.”

You know in those Tom & Jerry cartoons when Tom gets a great idea for catching Jerry and a lightbulb hovers above his head. Well, I had one of those “lightbulb” moments. 💡 The answer has been there all along. If I wish to see God, I must be pure in heart. One of the most precious promises in the Bible and it’s been right under our noses this whole time. I couldn’t wait to tell my Sunday school kid, but before I did, I had to dig a little deeper.

In Exodus 33:11, it says this of the Prophet Moses:

“So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.”

Why was Moses of all people allowed to see God? It’s simple. Because while Moses, was spending time in the presence of God, waiting to receive instruction, what were the Israelites doing at the bottom of the mountain? Worshipping idols, corrupting themselves.

Which is why King David said in psalm 24:

Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord?
Or who may stand in His holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol,
Nor sworn deceitfully.
He shall receive blessing from the Lord,
And righteousness from the God of his salvation.

The one who is pure in heart, can stand in the Presence of God and see His face. There is no other condition.

God emphasised this condition in Exodus 25 and 34 as well – which we sing about in our midnight praises. In these 2 chapters, Moses describes Gods instructions for the construction of the tabernacle and in them He says that they had to make things out of pure gold, in fact, the word pure in just one of these chapters is repeated 11 times.

It makes you wonder, why does God care about it so much? I can’t imagine God to care about whether the gold is made out of 10 carets or 24 carets and He doesn’t really. What He is trying to say is that His presence is only available in a place of purity. Purity is a necessary component to accessing God.

One of the most taken-out-of-context verses comes from James 4:8. It reads:

“Draw near to God and He will draw near to you…”

But the part we often forget is the remainder of that verse which reads:

“…Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”

Before we can even contemplate drawing near to God, our hearts must first be pure. Which is why the final thing the priest prays in the Fraction right before communion is:

“Purify our souls, bodies and spirits. Purify our hearts, eyes, minds, thoughts, understanding and intentions. So that with a pure heart and an unashamed face we may dare with boldness to say unto You…”

So there! I finally had my answer. You can see God – but before you can even think about coming near Him, you had to be pure in heart. And just as I was about to offer this answer to my Sunday school class, I ran into another problem.

I discovered that in the Old Testament, seeing God was a problematic idea, to say the least. It was in fact considered to be life-threatening.

While on Mount Sinai, the Lord says to Moses:

You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live. (Ex 33:20)

Therefore, what God chose to do, was He appeared to people in the Old Testament in very filtered ways: in a fire, a cloud and even a whirlwind in the book of Job.

So then, what does Jesus mean when He says: “they shall see God”?

The word “see” here doesn’t actually mean to see with your eyes, but rather, loosely translated, it means, “to possess”.

Consequently, when Christ says:

Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God

What He really means to say is:

Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall possess God

It means that if I am pure, then I can possess God, He belongs to me. It’s a ridiculous thing to imagine but God is telling us that it’s possible. That if my heart is pure, then He will be my possession, God will belong to me and I to Him. How beautiful?

What God is describing here is the ideal relationship between a Bridegroom and his Bride. That they belong to each other. St Paul speaks of this relationship in 1 Cor 7:4 where he says,

The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise, the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.

This is the relationship God wants to have with me, this intimacy, this closeness. That He would allow Himself to belong to me. And do you know just how much God wants to belong to me?

In Isaiah 49:16 we read,

See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands

What does He mean by using this picture of “inscribing” me in the palm of His hands? Well, in that time, people would own slaves. In order to ensure that others knew who these slaves belonged to, the masters would engrave their names on the hands of these slaves. What God therefore is essentially saying is, “I will be your Servant, and I will belong to you.”

A sentiment echoed in the Christological Hymn found in Philippians 2 that says:

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. (Ph 2:5-7)

If all this wasn’t clear enough already, God makes sure the message is loud and clear in the book of Ezekiel. When talking about those who belong to His people, He says:

It shall be, in regard to their inheritance, that I am their inheritance. You shall give them no possession in Israel, for I am their possession. (Ez 44:28)

God is telling me, that He is my possession. How precious is it that He makes Himself my possession, my belonging?

Let us then conclude by understanding once and for all what it means to have a pure heart so that I can share in this intimate relationship with God. Simply put, to have a pure heart is to devote myself to Him. To dedicate every facet of my being to Him. My soul, body and spirit. And when I do that, only then will I see Him, only then will my name be “inscribed” in His hands as a symbol that He will forever belong to me.

In fact, the word “inscribed” that God uses in Isaiah is even more powerful in that, it means literally, “to engrave with nails”. He belongs to me, when He gives me His body on the Cross. To be pure in heart is to give Him mine in the same way.

A Death Leading to Life

A Death Leading to Life

by Angelo Hanna

Christ led a life pointing toward His climactic death, so we may have a death that leads to His promised eternal life. In this we live a life of true internal comfort; we mould into unbreakable fortresses that are hidden under the wings of Christ. No author, no matter how masterful, can fully express the comfort we gain once we learn to understand and feel the seismic shift Jesus’ life brought upon us. We lose our comfort externally by enduring in hunger, prayer and resisting temptation only to receive it tenfold internally. We wish not to live a life of glory, to the extent we see the glory of men as theft, theft from the beneficent glory of God. This is what the life of death looks like. 

We don’t belong here, we are not of this place, we belong somewhere else and we long for somewhere greater. If God was to lead the Israelites to a place on earth He described as “a land flowing with milk and honey,” only if they would obey Him; how much more shall we strive for the transcendent Kingdom that Christ promised if we obey Him? Jesus tells us the Kingdom is in us, then why, Lord, do I not feel this?

‘My Child, I AM this Kingdom. Open the door I always knock, allow Me into you. Only if you knew the wonders that are to come if you would just let Me in. I want you, just trust me, I yearn that you would only just neglect the exterior comfort. Comfort is not riches, it is not the love of men, It does not come from outside. No. No. No. Comfort is Me. I implore you to not worry about this life. Become an inner man so that you may dwell in the kingdom within you; the secret place within you where I shall preserve you under My wings.’

We have the chance now to be with Him, and we MUST yearn for the kingdom to come, not for His sake, but for ours. We MUST live with our eyes up. Christ came and “cried out,” the teachings of everlasting life. It is to our benefit to have no benefit in the world. It is to our detriment to have no detriment in the world. Even St Paul says, “we also glorify in tribulations,” (Romans 5:3); why then seek a life of exterior comfort if not even Christ lived this? Christ willingly becoming the innocent lamb died for us so we may “seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.”

Old testament Scripture points towards this internal struggle, and we see this through the narrative of the Israelites; 

During the Babylonian exile, there were two very popular ‘ways of exile’ which the Israelites would take; to ardently reject the Babylonians or to give in to their customs, ultimately forgetting the God of Israel. To many, these were the only two ways possible to take, however we see a third way of exile, the way of Daniel. Daniel and his friends adhere to the harmless aspects of Babylonian life, without compromising his foremost priority, his Godly life. Daniel prays for the wellbeing of Babylon, and even finds favour in the eyes of the King. He lives a righteous life, within the exile. 

We who live now are in exile and have been since the time of Adam and Eve. We too, have these paths to choose from. But one thing is inevitable within the Christian path – continual death to the world and its desires. Daniel fasted despite being told he couldn’t and Daniel didn’t bow down to idols but instead decided to seek a God that he may not see with his eyes- depriving himself of the gratification of seeing this physical ‘god’ of theirs. We too must live a similar life, a life of deprivation, hardship and prayer. 

But how? 

Well, it is important to make a clear distinction between the soul and the body. We hear Christ say to His disciples, “the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak”, Mat 26:41. Our flesh desires earthly and temporal life, and too often do we follow it, neglecting the will of the soul, a will guided by the Holy spirit. In reality, our soul truly wants death, it wants to be free of this exile from God.

Our soul is like the Israelites,

Being entrapped within Babylon,

The ways and desires of our body meander the individual.

The soul wishes to be free of our bodies through death, to enter true life. But just like Daniel and his friends in Babylon, we must live a Godly life- a life which nourishes the soul so that it may be able to enter into eternal life. And then we will come to realise that truly, 

Death is what grants us life.

The Joy of The Resurrection

The Joy of The Resurrection

By Fr Abraham Fam

Original post by goCoptic blogsite

Christ is Risen. Truly He is Risen. 

During the Holy Fifty Days of the Resurrection, I visited a very remote village in Congo called Masuika. His Grace Bishop Paul told me to prepare talks about the Resurrection; the joy and power of the Resurrection.

As the trip started, I went from Lusaka, Zambia to Lubumbashi, Congo, which took half a day journey. From there, the following day, early in the morning, we flew half a day journey to Kananga, Congo. We still were not in our final destination. Again, early the following morning, we drove 20 hours on an undrivable and unbearable road. 

Honestly, I felt broken and down and I kept thinking to myself how am I going to preach about the joy of the Resurrection. 

However, once we arrived to Masuika, it was one of the most amazing sights ever to see. The people were so joyous for our arrival and so excited for the five days to come. They were jumping, singing, waving palm branches, giving all of us flowers, and hugging us. I was overwhelmed! 

I was looking at their poverty and sicknesses but after seeing real joy, I realised I was the one learning from them about the joy of the Resurrection. That no matter what my situation, I still can have joy. 

We continued to visit the 15 churches and were gathering leaders and doing training every day. It was hot and I was sleeping on a hard, wooden bed with no mattress every night. No rest. I continued to complain. No real toilets or place to bath or shower and more complaints under my breath. With no electricity and no refrigerator, most of the food we brought went bad. We ran out of water then we all started to panic. 

Then, we would visit churches, do liturgies, and H.G. Bishop Paul would ordain deacons. What I saw after liturgy again touched me. The deacons showed so much joy and would hug one another after being ordained. It really touched me so much to see how joyous they were for this occasion. 

I remember when I was ordained deacon I didn’t even crack a smile. And they are happy with little. God sent me to Masuika to learn the joy and power of the Resurrection. This is the mission life – that we learn and gain more than we can ever give. 

I feel we all need to stop looking at all the bad and the sad things around us. Instead, we should be grateful and thankful for what we have and who we have. To really enjoy the small moments before they are gone. 

We saw simple people living a simple life and really enjoying it. And we, who have so much, continue to complain, remain sad and complicate life. 

I really saw in reality 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, ‘Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.‘ People in the deep bush of Congo understand and live the Resurrection. 

I pray that through this blog, you can consider that your life is actually better than you think. That you have more than you really need. That troubles will come but look at the good in everything and everyone. And to know God is taking care of all of it.  

I pray also that this blog inspires you to consider doing some type of mission work. Sometimes we need to leave the comforts of our home and go on a mission trip or have a mission experience to open our eyes. 

God Bless you and I pray we live and experience the Joy of the Resurrection daily. 

Original blog found at- https://gocoptic.org/masuika-congo-the-joy-of-the-resurrection/

Drumroll, Please

Drumroll, Please

By Marc Bastawrous

Just as my friend was about to share his news with us, he paused, took a breath, then turned to me and said, “drumroll, please.”

You’ve almost definitely been in this situation before. The drumroll has been around longer than most of us have been alive. In fact, it is known to have originated in the early 20th century and was frequently used during the rise of the travelling circus and vaudeville (some musical thing, don’t worry). Its purpose was to build suspense leading up to a final act. For example, a performer in the 1920’s known as “The Great Regurgitator” would request a drumroll before spitting a mouthful of kerosene into flames, igniting the cheers of onlookers wherever he travelled.

As time went on, the drumroll made its way into our daily lives as a prelude to our ‘good news.’ In the process of delivering good news with the aid of a drumroll, there is always a silence that breaks up the drum roll and the news. It’s often just a brief moment of silence that precedes the news, but it is long enough to build suspense up to a climactic point. The news is then delivered at this pinnacle of suspense and what often follows is jubilation. Hysteria at the joyful news! Scenes will often look as such:

*drumroll*

*silence*

“We’re having a baby!”

*drumroll*

*silence*

“I got the job!”

You get the point.

Essentially, the picture I am trying to paint is one of preparation. Not just any preparation, but preparation for something joyful, something that will make hearts dance. This image is just a fraction of the build-up that we have undertaken towards what is undoubtedly the most joyful day in the Church’s calendar – the Resurrection of Christ.

Picture the period of Lent as our drumroll. Each week we are being inundated with lessons on the Lord’s journey to accomplishing salvation for the whole world. First, He triumphs over temptation in the wilderness. Then we are introduced to the concept of repentance in the story of a boy and his Father. We discover that His mission is not only for the Jews, but that His message is for anyone with a heart open to listening – and that includes a certain Samaritan by the Well. There is sense of urgency as each week passes, a sense that we are in fact, building up to something momentous. The climax of this drumroll is reached as He rides a donkey victoriously into the city, basking in the praises of the people and entering the temple in power and glory!

And then, the sounds of the drumroll cease.

We enter into the church for the very first Pascha service, the reader gets up to read the very first prophecy of the week from the book of Zephaniah and says:

“Be silent in the presence of the Lord GOD; For the day of the Lord is at hand, For the Lord has prepared a sacrifice; He has invited His guests.” (Zephaniah 1:7)

The first reading of the week is a call to silence. And this year, more than any other Holy Week in our lives, this is precisely how we spent this past week. In the silence of our homes. In the quietness of our secret places as we followed the Lord through His Passion.

We were quiet as He rebuked the fig tree, contemplating our own fruitlessness. We were quiet as He spoke of the end to come, reflecting on the frailty of our lives. We were quiet in His betrayal, His denial, His loneliness, His trial. We have been quiet through it all.

And in front of the Cross, we stood – just like all of Heaven did in that very moment – in stunned silence. As the Lamb of God took our place, stretched out His hands and died in place of us all in an act of spectacular love.

This week is our brief moment of silence. But the Church, like Christ, could not remain silent. Because what follows the silence must be, the good news.

All of Heaven and Earth, in unison, is at its loudest the moment Christ rose from the grave. A friend once told me, “the silence of this past week is just a way to set us up for the thunder of Joyous Saturday.” And I feel that statement every time I hear the Church singing ‘Come All You Heavenly Hosts.’ Because the greatest news in the history of the world was shared today. Christ is risen so now our faith is not empty (1 Cor 15:14). Christ is risen so now we have become victors over death (1 Cor 15:55). Christ is risen so now we have new life (Romans 6:4). This is news worth shouting over!

And so what if we’re in our homes? Sing loudly! We’ve had the drumroll, we’ve endured the silence, now it’s time to join in the greatest news ever shared. Let the world hear it from every home, from every corner in the globe. Christ is risen!

There’s a story that has been making the rounds on social media since the closure of the churches about a Caliph in 11th Century Egypt who closed all churches for 9 years. When, one day, he decided to take a stroll through a street where he knew Copts lived and heard loud chanting coming from each of their homes. He turned to his advisor and said, “open up their churches.” The advisor, confused, asked him, “why?” To which the Caliph responded, “I wished to close a church on every corner, they opened one in every home.”

I tried long and hard to dig up more details on this inspiring story but had very little luck. I was specifically after a date of this occurrence asking myself the question, “what happened on this day within the life of the church that made her voice so audible?” Maybe I’m wrong (I’m usually wrong), but I believe this day was Joyous Saturday. A day when the Church could not keep silent. A day when the Church would have her voice heard!

And now it’s our turn to let history hear our voices. Because I have some news.

You ready?

*drumroll*

*silence*

“He’s alive!”

You know the rest…

How Much Does God Love Me?

How Much Does God Love Me?

Adapted from a sermon by Fr Elijah Iskander

Holy Week leads up to the crucial death of our Lord. If we were to summarise this week in one phrase, it is, The Cross. If the Cross was described in another way, that is love – The Cross is Love.

We preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. – 1 Cor. 1:23-24.

To some, the Cross is foolishness, how could you believe in a god that would accept to be treated in this way? Others take it one step further and say that it is a stumbling block. I want to believe but I can’t.

To some it is weakness, agony, failure. Even some Christian denominations have this view; that Jesus was the victim.

To the Orthodox Christian, the Cross is victory and power, but above all the Cross is love.

If we knew how much God loved us, our lives would be different. If we knew the depth of His love for us personally, our lives would be renewed!

We meet so many characters in the Scriptures of Holy Week. All their thoughts and actions could be understood by asking one question – did you know how much God loved you?

We read about the Israelites in the prophecy of the sixth hour of Good Friday. After they saw the ten plaques, after the first-born of the Egyptians die, after the Red Sea is parted and they escape, after they receive manna from heaven, they then complain against God. We read, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt to kill us in the desert, For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread.” The Lord Himself sent bread from Heaven to sustain them but even this, they did not like. (Numbers 21:5).

After everything the Lord had done for the people of Israel, the question becomes, did you forget how much He loves you?

If we look at Judas, a key figure of Holy Week, the question becomes, did you ever realise that Christ loved you? While other church fathers disagree, St John Chrysostom believes that Christ did wash Judas’ feet along with the other disciples. He did this to show him that He loved him. He wanted to give him one more chance. Maybe this would move his heart. Maybe this would have stopped Judas’ scheme. Maybe this would soften his heart.

If Judas knew how much the Lord loved him, would he have sold Him so cheaply for thirty pieces of silver? It would be impossible. If Judas knew how much the Lord loved him, would he have been able to go and betray Him with a kiss – an intimate, calculated and premeditated act? If Judas knew how much the Lord loved him then his life would have been very different. Perhaps the question for Judas becomes, did you ever know how much the Lord loved you?

If we look at the two thieves that were crucified with Christ, we see two different perceptions of the crucified Christ. In the right-hand thief’s creed of Good Friday, we say, “What did you see and what did you comprehend,” to be able to confess Christ as King?

The left-hand thief didn’t see or hear anything, we know this because we hear him blaspheme against the Lord when he said, “If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us” (Luke 23:39). If the left thief had known how much the Lord loved him, his words would have been very different. If he comprehended how much Christ loved him, perhaps he would have cried out like the right-hand thief, who could see how much Christ loved him. Even if every moment of his life had been away from Christ in not a negligent way, but intentionally for he was a robber, he was yet able to comprehend Christ’s love. He looked at Christ and saw how much He loved him. He saw that Christ could overlook what he had done. It was not too late for the boundless love of the Lord.

The sinner woman rushed into the Pharisee house uninvited, breaks the flask of alabaster oil, loosens her hair and wipes His feet with her. She made a spectacle of herself. She knew how much Christ loved her, she knew He would defend her, she knew He would honour her and say, “what this woman has done will be told as a memorial to her” (Matthew 26:13). Because she knew how much Christ loved her, her actions without words, were testament to her recognition of Christ’s love for her.

St Peter also, loved the Lord but in an impulsive moment he denied Him. If St Peter remembered in that specific moment how much the Lord loves him then it would be impossible for him to deny. There was a momentary lapse; a moment that his fear clouded his vision of Christ’s love.

Finally, St John the Beloved; the one whom Jesus loved. The one who knew how much Jesus loved him. He was unwavering in faith, standing at the foot of the Cross when all the other disciples had scattered. He could do this because he knew how much the Lord loved him, his words and actions were different. He was the one whom Jesus loved.

For us on Good Friday, we must reflect on these characters. I ask myself, in the midst of uncertainty, pestilence, plaque, setbacks in study or health, am I like Israel, forgetting what the Lord has done for me in the past? If I knew how much the Lord loves me, I will never be shaken.

Am I like Judas? If I know how much the Lord loves me, will I betray Him for a cheap lie? An inappropriate image or thought? An inappropriate relationship? If I know how much the Lord loves then my response to His love is an inability to do these things.

Am I like the right-hand thief? I know how much You love me, even if I have sinned and been far from You up until this day, I know it is never too late, I know You still have hope for me. I know that You can still accept me.

If we know how much the Lord loves us, our words, actions and lives will be different. Knowing the Lord is more than just information, we must have intimate knowledge of the Bible.

What if I don’t know the Lord loves me? Knowing the Lord runs much deeper than facts, but having intimate knowledge of the Bible. How then, can I remind myself?

The Cross. Look at the Cross. Contemplate the Cross. Sit at the foot of the Cross. Pray, Lord, I just need to remember, I just need to know how much You love me. This becomes easy, for we love for He first loved us.

“He bows his head, as if to kiss you. His heart is made bare open, as it were, in love to you. His arms are extended that he may embrace you. His whole body is displayed for your redemption. Ponder how great these things are. Let all this be rightly weighed in your mind: as he was once fixed to the cross in every part of his body for you, so he may now be fixed in every part of your soul.”

St Augustine

💝 Full Sermon 💝

The Stories We Tell Ourselves

The Stories We Tell Ourselves

by Sandra
Original post by Becoming Fully Alive blog site

The cross must have looked like a failed mission.

I think of Good Friday, of the Son of God breathing His last, of His followers watching from afar in dismay and horror as the gruesome events unfolded one by one. I think of them looking on in disbelief as they held their breath and held on to some last hope that things wouldn’t end that way, that there would be a dramatic turn around of circumstance and the sky would rend open as the Father’s power and majesty thundered and delivered the Son in a grand display.

Yet, His head hung low and He died.

I wonder how everyone felt at that moment; the teary eyed knocked breathless, the disillusioned riled up with anger. As the disciples lay hidden in fear, the smell of bread and wine from just one night before lingering in their lungs. As His followers walked away from the scene and returned to their homes, His words still running through their minds. Could they have gotten it so wrong? Could they have misread all the signs? Surely His words were true? Surely if He was God’s Son they couldn’t have killed Him? What comes next?

Confused, restless, crushed.

Waking up numb and blindsided to a dark Saturday morning and remembering all over again what they witnessed on Friday. How he’d gone just as quickly as he’s come into their lives. How everything would go back to the way it was without him. How nothing will ever really change and they must face this hopeless reality as their permanent reality.

Anxious, disappointed and defeated.

How many of us are living in Saturday? We were promised deliverance, we were hanging on to His words that it’s His good pleasure to give us the Kingdom and yet we think of certain points in our pasts, certain relationships, certain failures and disasters and we feel so far from that sanctification we longed for, and that newness of hope we were sure was coming.
How many of us look back and see an empty cross and Jesus is still buried in a tomb when we think of those Friday nights of our past?

We look now on the cross and we think of redemption, reconciliation, and salvation. But on that Saturday with Christ hung high, the choice words must have looked a lot different, a lot like: shame, disappointment and despair.

Will we live out our Saturday till the dawn of Sunday? There’s always two ways to tell the story of the cross. Will we choose to tell it way we know to be true? Will we choose the story that ends on Sunday morning with Christ risen trampling death and our past and our shame in the tomb instead?

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“The past is just a story we tell ourselves.” Because we are not our past, yet we cannot deny the story existed, and we existed in it. But we can choose how we tell this story to ourselves. We can chose whether it becomes our whole story or just part of our story. We can tell it to ourselves in a way that the darkness turns into a canvas for all the foolish pride and vain idols to lose their grip as our saviours as we learn to grope in the dark and grip onto Him, finding our heart’s true desire. We can tell it so that our words pave a path through darkness – a path of letting go, a path of abandoning oneself, losing oneself, and in so doing ultimately finding what is real.

“Heaven is God and God is in our heart” so we are living in the eternal now, with the sacred inside. Wherever we go we can bring the Kingdom. And when our mind travels down memory lane and our hearts beat heavy and our spirits falter fast we can bring our stories of old into His kingdom and His eternal story

An eternal story of calmed fear and restored hope
An eternal story our deep and irrevocable communion with the Divine
An eternal story of all that was once corrupted with fickle inconsistencies and restless unfaithfulness restored to their heavenly natures.

And when we tell our story in this way to ourselves we can begin to transcend ourselves on our way to reunification with God. To see God is to see His energies and light through everything and everyone – through our past and our shame. We are a light of love eternal and St Symeon the New Theologian once said: “God is light and all those whom He makes worthy to see Him receive Him as light”

So endure the dark night, it is a guiding night and a night more kindly than the dawn. And let the night leave you vulnerable to God to recreate you as you were made to be: lovers of God and one another. Love is the law. “Let Love come first, it should be the beginning of, and the reason for everything.” So that wherever you go you may see Light.

Will you tell the story of your past in a way that frees you? The pieces of your past and every last wound must no longer be buried with Him and sealed with a stone beyond reach.

It is Sunday morning.

There is an empty cross, there is an empty tomb and there is a risen King. A risen King who is telling a new story of our past – broken homes, broken hearts and all. A risen King who is the Word so He gets the last word. For He gathers all the broken words in every line of every story we’ve strung along and unites all of our words to all of Him, giving them Life. “That is the good news of the Incarnation. The Word becomes flesh and thus a new place is made where all of you and all of God can dwell. When you have found that unity, you will be truly free” Henri Nouwen

And we will run, living testimonies of the great Love story.

“because of the tender mercy of our God,
whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.” Luke 1:78-80

“oh as you run, what hindered love will only become part of the story” Bethel

Original blog found at – http://becomingfullyalive.com/the-past-is-just-a-story-we-tell-ourselves/

Drowning in Mercy

Drowning in Mercy

Adapted from a sermon by Johnny Sharkawi

Would it be accurate to say that God’s mercy is available to us?

To anyone in the church, the answer would be, yes. The Bible presents us with a different answer. A more accurate answer is that God dumps His mercy on our heads.

A common prayer that Fr Elijah would pray was, “Thank You God for pouring Your mercy and blessings upon us.” I would hear this prayer time and time again. The attitude that God is pouring mercy without falter is the more accurate description.

What is strange is that in the Bible, God pours mercy even on those that do not ask for it. On the Cross, there were none that asked for His mercy. The reality was that they were opposing Him. The first time He opened His mouth on the Cross was to pour mercy upon them. He said, “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23:34). Even to those that did not ask nor want His mercy, the Lord still with the largest bucket possible, dumped His mercy upon them.

Till today, He continues to poor blessings on those that do not ask. In Matthew 5:45, we read, “for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” His mercy is poured on the evil, just as the sun rises on all people. There is no distinction made between His children, all receive mercy. It would be weak for us to say that His mercy is merely available to us. God does not reluctantly give mercy if we beg. He is not that kind of Lord.

“Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool.” – Isaiah 1:18.

He says, ‘come,’ as if the Lord is grabbing us by the arm and pulling us. He wants to reason with us that even though we are sinful, He wants to make us white like snow. This is not a Lord reluctantly giving away mercy but a Lord that is looking for every opportunity to give away His mercy.

Another example of His pleasure in mercy is in Micah 7:18-19; “Who is a God like You, Pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever, Because He delights in mercy. He will again have compassion on us, And will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins Into the depths of the sea.”

The Lord’s delight is in mercy. If you think of the way you delight in your favourite meal, you do not leave in remnants behind. You lick the plate clean, and you get every last drop off your fingers, too. You do this in delight. This is the Lord’s approach to mercy. The Lord’s delight is in mercy so that His forgiveness is never short of 100%. He licks His fingers until there is no mercy left to give, this is His greatest delight.

More than this, “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins.” – Isaiah 43:25.

He tells us that He forgives us not for our sake, but His. Even if we do not want our sins forgiven, He can’t help but forgive. This is the extent of His mercy, He wants it more than we do. He does not desire the death for a single sinner but that all should return and live (Ezekiel 18:23).

If we were to ask the Lord what he really wanted from us, I think He would respond in the same way He responded in Ezekiel 36: 25-26, “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 

Why does the Lord want us to be clean? Because it is a pre-requisite to seeing God. If we are to see God, we must first be clean. In Hebrews 12:14, it says, “Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.”

We will not see the Lord without holiness. The objective is not to be clean in our own eyes, or to be clean in the eyes of other people, but am I clean in God’s eyes? Without true holiness that only the Lord sees, we will not be able to see Him.

The Lord pours His mercy, He dumps His mercy on us all now so that now is the time to pursue holiness so we may see the Lord. There will come a time that the door will be shut and it will not be opened again. We must pursue holiness now while His mercy is being poured upon us.

Many of us will ask is confession a struggle? The answer is yes. Even HH Pope Kyrillos VI would agree, he said, “do not keep your thoughts hidden but struggle to purify your thoughts through confession.” It is a struggle; It is not easy. If we take on the heart of Jesus who said, “I am gentle and lowly in heart,” (Matthew 11:29) then confession will be easier. A major reason why we find confession is a struggle is because we want to look good. I want Abouna to think well of me. The truth is, it is my pride that stops me from confessing my sins.

On Covenant Thursday, the Lord breaks Himself for us. He took His Body (that is the Eucharist), and He broke Himself for our sake. Confession is me breaking myself, for my own sake.

“Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left.” – Matthew 24:40. Confessions is the difference between the one taken and the one left behind. We do this for ourself. We do not have confession so that we can tell others that we have had confession and we are now clean, but we do it so that we may be clean in God’s eyes. We do it so that we are not the ones left behind of Judgement day. The door is open now while we have life in us.

“Seek the Lord while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the Lord, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon” – Isaiah 55:6-7.

The Lord is ready to pour His mercy and He waits for us. The Lord is so simple, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand (Matthew 3:2). Sometimes, we translate this wrongly, because we are complicated while the Lord is simple. We interpret this as dwell on your sin, for the Kingdom is at hand. Think a lot about your sin. Feel really bad about your sin. Let this manifest into depression about your sin. Hide your sin. This is complex and it is not the Bible. If we are weighed down by our sin then we have missed the whole point of the week.

The Lord shed His blood to make us clean. We do not need to carry our sin. He came that we may have life and live it more abundantly (John 10:10).

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Journey of Resilience

Journey of Resilience

Adapted from a sermon by HG Bishop Angaelos

There are many elements of our ‘journey’ during passion week. Most are inspiring and uplifting, for this is a wonderful journey to be with our Lord. It is a time of joy, growth, power and faith. It is a time to witness and a time to serve. 

Tonight, we see another element of this journey – a journey of perseverance. A journey of resilience and focus, where we come to understand the direction this journey is heading in… 

We see the obstacles that the Lord must face in the space of a few hours. He is betrayed by one of his disciples and abandoned by all his disciples. He was arrested, rejected, captured unjustly, tried, and had false witness borne against him. And of course, he was subject to extreme insult and injury. Yet our Lord, the incarnate word, continued in His mission. 

It is a beautiful journey, but it is a journey to an end. It’s end that doesn’t come easily. For our Lord suffered this to give us a completely countercultural message. He went against every norm and He did it with power, strength, grace and love, with a divine perseverance and endurance that inspires us. 

On our personal journeys, we may face some or all of these obstacles. For most people, that’s the end of it. We get angry, upset, disappointed or disillusioned. We often forget that there are people who have been offended by these obstructions and have left the church. Maybe it’s because they didn’t have resilience or strength – but what we need to consider is what we are doing about it. How are we, in our journeys, inspiring them to return? How are we trying to fix the betrayal, the denial, the rejection and marginalisation? 

I can’t imagine going into a life-threatening situation, where my life depended on your witness, and one of you, after all these years, suddenly says, “I don’t know him”. Not once, not twice, but three times. What effect would that have on me or you? 

What effect would it have on me if I thought I was speaking the truth, and quite blatantly saw someone bearing false witness? How would I react or feel? 

We put ourselves in the place of our Lord in this situation, maybe we can put ourselves in the place of those who have been mocked, abandoned, marginalised, persecuted and denied. And then we can try to see how we can heal that. 

We often focus on the message that we need to be resilient. Which is true. But we also need to care for those who may have been less resilient, whether through intention or negligence, whether through their fault of ours. For the journey of our Lord, in flesh, to the cross and beyond the cross was a journey for us. He walked every mile for us. 

If we come out of this week with anything, let it be that we remember to walk in the footsteps of our Lord beyond this week. Now we have a constant reminder, but on Saturday, the black drapes are gone, the hymnology’s changed, the readings are different to suit the new season.

Does that stop us from journeying in his footsteps? Does it stop us from remembering that His journey was for those who were outcast and living in darkness and the shadow of death? He didn’t discriminate based on whether we were intentional or negligent, but he came for all. 

It’s easy for us to focus on the cross this week and it’s important, but the cross should be something we carry with us always in our hearts throughout our Christian journey. We carry it, we persevere, but we know that it is the Lord who carries the cross with us, and sometimes for us as well. 

It’s easy for us to lose steam and become bored of these same issues. But thankfully, this is not how God looks at us. Every day He deals with the same issues, same insecurities and inadequacies and sinfulness, but he is resilient and persistent. We are able to journey regardless, courageous and confident that we are not alone. 

In tonight’s setting, He was completely alone. Being brought before a counsel, He was tried and sentenced with all those He had known, mentored, taught, supported and healed all gone. There was not an adulteress or leper or even disciple in sight. No one. 

Yet for us, our situation is never so dire because there is always someone there for us. Even if we don’t feel it or believe it, we are there for one another. The Church is there. The body of Christ is there. Your confession father is there. Your spiritual guide is there. Your companion is there. Your servant is there. This is a journey that we take together, and we are never completely alone. 

Satan often tells us that we are completely alone. Yet we are not, and we are confident in that.

So as we journey tonight, and as we continue in the knowledge that beyond the cross there is a resurrection, we are confident that our God is with us. We are confident that we are never alone. The Lord says to us that in our patience, we will possess our souls. He tells us to be brave. Not to worry. He tells us that He will never leave nor abandon us. These aren’t empty words – they are divine promises.

Our God is a God of fulfilled promises. 

We persevere because we know what the end is. Beyond this life, there is a life to come, and that is what we are aiming for. But we don’t want to go there alone – we need to remember all those who may be feeling exactly the same as we are. Those who are deceived into feeling that they are alone. 

This is where it is important for us to not only see God’s actions in our lives, but how He desires our actions to be in the lives of others. We do not deceive, we do not abandon, we do not betray, we do not bear false witness, we do not perform acts of injustice, because if they hurt the Lord, they will hurt us. If they hurt us, they will surely hurt everyone else. 

It is a blessed journey, but one that needs focus, resilience and the confidence that it is a journey alongside our Lord, Who takes us beyond the cross and resurrection into the life that He has promised us. 

The Cross

The Cross

Adapted from a sermon by Fr Augustinos Nada

Crucifixion started in about 600 BC by the Babylonians who were crucifying people on trees. The person would be nailed to the tree and their body would be left for the animals and birds to prey on. Very barbaric!

The Romans modified this method of punishment and became experts in crucifying people. The word excruciating comes from a Latin word which means crucifixion, and it describes the severe pain which is exactly what the Lord endured. A very severe pain both on the cross and leading to the cross. In icons, you notice that a lot of the crosses are very high and tall, but in reality, some of the scholars say that Roman crosses were not that high, only about two meters or so. This allowed for anyone to approach the person on the cross to slap, spit, curse or abuse them. It was quite humiliating, in addition to the pain.

Christ was crucified outside Jerusalem as the Jews believed that if anyone was to die, especially criminals, they should not to be executed or put to death in Jerusalem, in their holy city, because that was regarded as defiling the land. They wanted Christ to be crucified in accordance to the law in Deuteronomy that said anyone who hangs on a tree is, “cursed by God” (Deut. 21:22-23). The Lord was crucified outside the city and on a place called Golgotha. Some traditions say that this is the place where Adam was buried and this is quite ironic. The second Adam, the one who lifts the curse from us and opens the doors of Paradise outdoes the consequence of the first Adam’s actions.

The greatest miracle witnessed on the Cross was the acceptance of the right hand thief, who acknowledged and accepted the true faith. In itself, this is the greatest miracle. The Lord rose many people and performed countless miracles, including Lazarus, but all those died again. The situation with the right hand thief was the raising of the spiritually dead person who was granted everlasting life. Even while on the Cross, the Lord was still giving and performing miracles.

More still, there was darkness all over the land from the sixth hour (Matt 27:45). In 55 AD, a Jewish historian recorded that there was some kind of eclipse during the year of the Lord Jesus Christ although it was later confirmed that there was no eclipse, as this was not the time for it. Something clearly dramatic happened at this time that had the appearance of the darkness of an eclipse but was beyond what Science could explain. This is why the church switches off the lights from the sixth hour to commemorate this unusual darkness at the time Christ gave up His soul.

“And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46). A lot of people think that He is praying to the Lord because He is in agony. He was in fact directing us to Psalm 22. Psalm 22 describes the Lord’s crucifixion and all the things that happened to Him in those hours. When the Lord says, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken Me,” He was simply directing them to the Psalm. In those days, psalms were not numbered and so, the people would know the psalm by its opening line.

The Lord also said “I thirst.” In response to this, they gave Him sour wine, which is very old wine. The aim of this was to lessen the pain, as an analgesic but instead, the Lord refused it. The reason for this was because Christ didn’t want to soften the blow. He wanted to feel the full extent of the pain. He wanted to feel the pain and the suffering for the salvation of humankind. He was not forced to die, He went to the Cross willingly and accepted every bit of suffering for our sakes.

In the Gospel of St John, it says that the Lord bowed His head, and gave up His soul (John 19:30). Normally, at death, a person will die and then bow their head. Christ did the opposite. It was almost a display of honour to the Father as He gave up His soul. Christ was in full control throughout all His suffering. The Lord was so unique and so wise in all these happenings. If the Jews still could not see this, the veil of the Temple was torn, a declaration that the self-righteous Jews were not worthy of the Holiest of Holies.

The splitting of the veil of the Temple was a prophecy about the destruction of the Temple while Christ opened the Holies of Holy for all mankind to enter into the joy of the Lord. This allows Christians to come and partake of the Holies of Holy. It is no longer only the Jews that were God’s chosen people but all people.

We are so privileged to be Christian! We are so honoured to be Christians; to know and understand what the Lord did for our sake. To see how much suffering and how much pain He experienced, the nails, the scourging, the humiliation, that was on the Cross and all this was for our salvation.

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