Category: Relationships

Fear Not Little Flock!

Tuesday as we stood in the chilled morning air, facing east awaiting the Son to arise, The Mother of God encouraged us: “Fear not little flock! I am with you and no one is against you!”(Luke 12:32) And what a majestic sunrise it was. Build His Church!

You know, as a good Protestant I struggled with all the emphasis placed on this virgin. I knew the Romans made her divine but I could not find a path to believe in that practice. So where is the truth? Why does the true church hold her in such esteem?  Saint Paul instructs us: “Therefore brethren stand fast and keep the traditions which you have been taught whether by word or our epistle” (2 Thess. 2:15). That is where we find the fullness of faith including the epistles and continuing the traditions as handed down since the Christian church came into existence as they were taught.

The One who walked on water and performed such healings that the Gospel of Saint John records: “And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written.” (John 21:25)

However, hear the word that was recorded in Scripture! While Christ was teaching “a certain woman out of the crowd lifted up her voice and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that bore Thee, and the breasts which Thou didst suck.” [Lk. 11:27] And also to her the Archangel Gabriel came to honor and called her full of grace and blessed among women and Mother of my Lord (Luke 1:40-45). Blessed, or made holy is the womb, I often ask my friends, how can this be? Christ, fully divine and fully human, sharing oxygen, blood and nutrients while ever present in the womb with his mother, not somehow change her? Think about it, that which could not be contained was contained, and the Virgin lived to be ripe old age!

We do know when God’s presence was contained in the ark, precautions had to be taken. We certainly remember 2 Samuel Chapter 6, “Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled.  7The Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down, and he died there beside the ark of God.” And we also have in Leviticus the instructions to the high priests, the sons of Levi concerning their actions around the Holy of Holies (Leviticus 10:1-7, 16:2-34).

And we read in the Gospels of Mathew and Luke: “If a tree be known of by its fruit, and a good tree beareth good fruit (Mt. 7: 17; Lk. 6: 44)”. Saint Gregory Palamas asks us: “ then is not the Mother of Goodness Itself and the Birth-Giver of Eternal Beauty incomparably more excellent than any good, situated within the world of the natural or the supernatural?” (Saint Gregory Palamas, ArchBishop of Thessalonika)

From my un-orthodox upbringing I assumed our Lord was born unto a woman in the usual way but no, listen to the prophet Ezekiel: “Then said the LORD unto me; This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it; because the LORD, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut.” (Ezekiel 44:2) How is this possible scientifically? With God, Creator of science, all things are possible!

We read from the psalmist King David foretelling the coming of the Blessed Virgin: “and dressed the All-Pure Virgin in Her finest clothes. Singing sacred songs and with lighted candles in their hands, virgins escorted Her to the Temple (Ps. 44/45:14-15). And it was also prophesied by the profit Jeremiah that it will be the virgin who will be the intercessor for the entry to the world of the Savior Jesus Christ (Jeremiah 31:2-23).

And even much earlier we find in the Book of Genesis that “woman”—a virgin who shall through her Son crush the head of the snake (Gen 3:15). Even in the beginning chapters of Genesis, God puts in place His plan to save us from our sins! This was written carefully to emphasis the role of the Virgin Mary. Saint John Chrysostom writes: And not only this, but “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed.” I’m not even content with this that you slide on the earth: I will make the woman your implacable enemy, and not simply her, but her seed as well I will cause to be perpetually at odds with your seed. “He will watch for your head, and you will watch for his heel.” That is to say, I will supply him with such force that he will constantly threaten your head, whereas you will be trodden under his feet. (St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on Genesis)

 And the apostolic writer John records her in the Book of Revelation 12:1-9: “And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:  And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” 

That is why we Orthodox place so much emphasis on the Theotokos or “God-Bearer”. This is why we highly respect womanhood, the birth givers and the Holy Ark which contains our salvation. “Behold the handmaiden of the Lord; be it unto Me according to thy word” (Luke 1:38). She is the Mother of all Christians imitating thy Son and God in love! Through her obedience and demeanor, she has delivered us true hope!

Fear not little flock! I am with you and no one is against you!”(Luke 12:32)

 

Fr. Gabriel Weller 12-8-2019

 

 

 

It’s MINE!

 It’s mine, no, I had it first! I can still hear the squabbling sounds of young children not wanting to share. And I can also remember the tug of war battles I have had with my siblings as we each tried to gain dominance over a thing we each wanted and thought we desperately needed or deserved. We heard in the Gospel this morning: “But God said to him, ‘Fool, this night they demand thy soul from thee; and what thou didst prepare, for whom shall it be?’ “Thus is the one who treasureth up for himself, and is not rich toward God.” [Lk. 12:20-21] Perhaps at that age we were too young to understand the gift of sharing!

It’s mine; it is my turn! I hear this at church some too as people become less of a servant and more about demanding that their wants and needs be met. The church is one body, when a part of the body suffers, the whole body in affected! We all need to be here, it is our prescription for healing.

It’s mine; you always get the first pick. So many things sparkle and glitter and after we possess them, they lose that appeal and end up at a yard sale or deep in the closet or thrown up into the attic of our stuff-museum. “The bread you do not use is the bread of the hungry. The garment hanging in your wardrobe is the garment of the person who is naked. The shoes you do not wear are the shoes of the one who is barefoot. The money you keep locked away is the money of the poor. The acts of charity you do not perform are the injustices you commit,” so says Saint Basil the Great!

 

It’s mine, I need all this money for my stuff and its monthly payments, and God will just have to wait! Someone else will take care of the poor; after all they continue to make bad choices that keep them cold, naked and hungry! The celebration of Thanksgiving is about giving alms and sacrificing our time for others. As Saint Maximos the confessor said: “He who gives alms in imitation of God does not discriminate between the wicked and the virtuous, the just and the unjust, when providing for men’s bodily needs.”

 

As we begin this advent journey to Bethlehem, I hope and pray that we all can be less distracted with the mess and stress of stuff and family dynamics, and more open and observant to see those ways we can help our brothers and sisters in our families, here at church, at work, next door, and all those struggling to survive. The Nativity season is about giving through unselfish love and therefore as Saint Clement writes: our “Sins are purged by alms and acts of faith.” (St. Clement of Alexandria)

 

Our Father through His abundant mercy has given us the greatest gift and He was born poor, without stuff, in a barn amongst the animals and laid in a feeding trough or manager where the animals were usually fed their sustenance. And through His birth in a trough we all have been fed the necessities of the most precious everlasting life. May the mercy we have all been shown be an unlimited resource as we transform the world through Christ-like love, one act at a time, one person at a time, with continued repentance and service to all of God’s creation, the wicked and the virtuous. The world is need of a Savior; we simply have less time for stuff and need to spend more time working in His vineyard, being truly thankful for all that we have been given. Everything that is, is HIS!

 

Fr. Gabriel Weller 12-1-2019

Those Who Touch, Believe!

And Jesus said, Who touched me? When all denied, Peter and they that were with him said, Master, the multitude throng thee and press thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me?”  [Lk. 8:45]

We all go about the motions of trying to be a good Orthodox Christian and we may be certainly in the crowd but are we touching Christ? We can say our prayers and practice all the Christian virtues but skillfully neglect that thing that separates us from God. That thing is different for everyone. We have all been sinfully disfigured and wounded and therefore struggle to put all of our faith and trust in the great healer. At times, we seem to get just close enough without total surrender, keeping our options open so we can once again flee, licking our wounds and disappearing into the throng of bystanders, unwilling to change and experience true liberty. And just like the crowd in the Gospel reading today we press up on Christ, while still protecting our injuries and failures, finding comfort in the bondage and chains of slavery of past wrongs, whose memory have become our norm and our thin cold blanket of comfort. As Saint Ambrose writes: “For those who throng do not believe; those who touch believe.” [Saint Ambrose [Ib., Bk. VI, §57.]

Oh Lord, help my unbelief! The wounds of my soul are more life-threatening than any disease or illness but yet I neglect their healing. I settle for mere existence, as the shadow has become comfortable, and days come and go. Loving as Christ loves seems so vulnerable and foreign, maybe I will try harder tomorrow or next week, we’ll see! We then settle for being in the pressing crowd near Jesus but not close enough to touch his garment’s hem and not close enough to heal that part of our hemorrhaging life.  

Oh Lord, heal my unbelief! Is it my lack of courage or distrust of God, or should I say that I seem to trust me more than the Alpha and the Omega? Evangelist Luke instructs us to: “Be of good courage.”(Lk 8:48) Good courage comes from above and only through ascetic struggle as we hear St. John the Theologian say: “Perfect love casts out fear” (I Jn 4,18). How then do we love perfectly while our attention seems to be on our woundedness and then our actions are deeply rooted in pain and brokenness? Is it my shame for my continued sinfulness that cripples me or my lack of true repentance? Where is my faith? Do I still love the world more than my salvation?

That thing that keeps us from being made whole differs for each and every one of us and our Lord will respond to each of us differently in way that will help us individually in our growth towards holiness if we allow Him in, into the cold shadows, into the pain and darkness, into our failures. O Lord, cure my unbelief!

Light overcomes all shadows! Reach out to Christ, the light of the world, for His mercy, forgiveness, strength, and healing as best and as often as you can. Place your feet here, at the chalice, which truly contains the Body and Blood of Christ, where we can all intimately touch His warmth and life. Just like Jarius and the woman with the issue of blood, with faith draw nigh. (Lk 8:41-56) Come out of the shadows and into the Light, for His mercy and love are what you have been longing for and what you really need! Our Savior is merciful! More of Him, less of you!

 

Fr. Gabriel Weller 11-17-2019

GO FISHING!

In the summers when the sun was leaving the open room and the crickets began to chant their praises, Grandma Hazel would get the spade shovel, a small bucket, her catgut thread and some fish hooks and head out to her secret earthworm stash. We kids would gather the worms quickly as Grandma overturned blocks, boards and mulch and after we had gathered enough bait, through the gates and barnyard and down to the fishing pond we would go!

Along the bank of the pond, Grandma had planted towering Weeping Willow trees which danced in the breeze and also supplied us with ample willow fishing poles. The Willow sticks had plenty of flexibility in them just in case we latched onto a big fish. She would tie the catgut thread onto the willow and attach a hook to the thread with a special knot, one that would hold firmly. We always had fun and caught fish, mostly sun perch. I also usually caught a tree branch or two and found that this behavior also continued later in life as I hung many a fishing lure on a tree branch or on the living flesh of a fishing companion. Nothing says you are hooked better than a triple hook attached to somewhere to your hide!  

Maybe there should be a sense of fear or a fair warning to go fishing with me or at least it would it be a good idea to be very alert as my aim of casting has probably become even less accurate. The fishermen in the Gospel reading this morning were not so accurate either (Luke 5:1-11), they had fished all night and not caught a thing but our Lord filled their nets and then asked them to come and fish in His waters for the salvation of the world. And that they did! You too should put away your nets, fishing rods, tools and laptops and spend time casting His nets into the stream of life. There are plenty of hungry souls needing to be fed!

Don’t hesitate do go fishing for our Lord. As He clearly stated: “On this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18) St. Barsanuphius writes: Having God, fear nothing, but cast all of your care upon Him, and He will take care of you. Believe undoubtingly, and God will help you according to His mercy. (St. Barsanuphius the Great, Instructions, 166)

Back when I didn’t know our Lord I was skeptical of being caught in the net of church-going folks promising something that seemed not true to me or at least not yet. My life reeked of free-will but finally and after escaping many a hook and net I willingly decided to seek a life in our Lord. Many attempts had been made and folks didn’t give up, they kept fishing. They cared! That’s why Jesus calls it fishing instead of catching! He will provide you with everything you need when you are filling His nets and building His church. And the mighty gates of hell will be plundered by Christ in us. The gates of hell cannot block this army of His fishermen from sharing the Love of Christ. He is Triumphant. “Cease being afraid; from henceforth thou shalt be taking men alive.” [Lk. 5:10]

GO FISHING!

 

 

Fr. Gabriel Weller 10-6-2019

S-P-A-N-D-E-X

I have heard over the years that when it is nearing time for a wedding, folks fast and try to lose some weight. This is a routine we all do so we will fit our fatter-selves into our wedding garments, less carbs, more fruit, more exercise! Even scientist have developed a fabric to help us with this problem called Lycra or Spandex. We find this fabric woven in to a lot of our clothing these days to allow for weight fluctuation or fat redistribution!

In the parable this morning, the king was angry first in that the chosen people did not come. This wedding was not a priority for them; they obviously were not truly his friends. The king then invited more people, anybody! Folks did come but one man came wearing his filthy Wal-Mart spandex shopping attire instead of a festive wedding garment, he probably had not even bathed! He did not make an effort to prepare himself for this wedding and banquet. The king cast this man out into the outer darkness. [Mt. 22:13] Saint Gregory the Great comments: “It is correctly said that this man is to be cast forth into the darkness, the outer one. We call blindness of heart inner darkness, and the everlasting night of condemnation outer darkness. The condemned are cast into outer, not inner, darkness, because one who fell willingly into blindness of heart in this life will be cast forth unwillingly into the night of condemnation in the next.” [Ib., 350, 351.]

We heard: “The kingdom of the heavens hath been likened to a man, a king, who made wedding festivities for his son. [Mt. 22:2] A great banquet has been prepared for you today by your great King, have you prepared? We hear from Saint Chrysostom: “Great is the punishment for those who have been idle, indifferent, and lazy. For even as those who showed insolence and gave injury by not coming, so also dost thou by thus reclining with a life corrupted. For the meaning of filthy garments is this: to depart hence having an unclean life.” [Ib., P.G. 58:681, 682 (cols. 650, 651).]

Many folks today tell me they are Orthodox but they do not come to the wedding banquet, they always have more important plans! Maybe these folks are more of a friend of the world than they are a true friend of our beckoning King? And when you are consumed with the world you are deathly bloated and in need of Spandex! Where is there any room left for God?  Shower off your earthly dirt in confession and repentance, prepare your heart by reading the pre-communion prayers, prepare your soul by fasting, and cloth yourself in a garment fitting for a great banquet with our King, and most of all, come! You have been invited and He is expecting you to be here!


Fr. Gabriel Weller 9-22-2019

SECURITY BREACH

I have always been fascinated with technology. I enjoy that ever-changing part of my job in the electronic security business. Electronic security has many levels and normally the more money you spend, the higher amount of security you have. Higher levels of security are necessary if you are protecting something of great value or you are in an area with a lot of crime. I can remember a time when even at our home when we didn’t lock the door but now we even plant thorny bushes around accessible windows and bolt lock the doors, arm our professionally installed electronic security system and wave good-bye to my surveillance cameras as I leave the house!

The man in the parable this morning wanted to protect his vineyard. It is a vineyard of great value and lacking nothing. (Matt 21:33-42) He planted a hedge around it to keep the wild animals from destroying his vines and I can picture the wall of greenery and thorns in my mind. We don’t know what type of a hedge our Lord is referring too but Blessed Theophylact abstractly describes this great wall as the Law given to Moses. Saint Ambrose then writes: “Isaiah clearly stated that the vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel [Is. 5:7]. Who else but God founded this vineyard?” [Ib., Bk. IX, § 23.]

God has also given us a vineyard to labor in, lacking nothing! We gentiles have been grafted onto His life-saving vine. It is truly a treasure beyond measure. St. Paul writes: “For I speak to you Gentiles…if the root is holy, so are the branches.  And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.” (Romans 11:13,16-18)

We wild gentile branches need plenty of water, pruning, protection from the cold and wild animals, fertilizing and many willing workers. The church is His vineyard and we have been given everything necessary for an enormous harvest. As King David says: ‘Perfect for Thyself this vine which Thy right hand did plant’ [Ps. 79(80):15, 16(14, 15)]. We do not want to be wicked vine-keepers neglecting this most precious gift. We want to nurture ourselves and protect that which is holy through transforming our freedom in the world to a freedom from death and decay.  

A security breach happens when we fail to protect His vineyard and some of our plants die to the frost of coldness of heart, lacking to love each other as Christ loves us! Some vines are ripped from the fertile soil by wild beasts of worldly seduction and self-satisfaction. Some of His fruit are baked in the heat, thirsting for His nourishing Word but yet our Bibles remained closed, gathering dust and we then make excuses not to come to church. We neglect to stomp out all of our passions that act like wretched insects devouring our greenery. It is a necessary process to perfect His vine so that it will yield a heavy crop, protecting it with a divine rampart of protection. There of course is a great expense for this high level of protection, you have to surrender your life and all that you are. You then have to enlist in His army of prayer warriors and be diligent with the time you have left seeking first the Kingdom of heaven! And remember, “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.” (Matt 7:19-20)

Fr. Gabriel Weller 9-15-2019

BLUE RIBBON

At the recent county fair, there are several buildings dedicated to house the blue ribbon award winning pickles, pies, quilts, sewing, photographs, paintings, pigs, cattle, chickens, woodworking, you name it!! Folks from all around the area bring their best animal, works or crafts to the fair to compete with their neighbors to see who has entered the most prized works and will be judged the most perfect! These folks worked hard to achieve their blue ribbon.

We heard in the Gospel this morning about an even greater prize: “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” [Mt. 19:16] The rich young man asks our Lord if he is doing enough to be awarded the ultimate prize of heaven. There is a difference being a rich man rather than a good steward. Blessed Theophylact makes a clear distinction between thetwo. A rich man is one who has funds, and properties, and lands, and houses, and he gives to no one. He steals: He is a thief, because he is stealing from the poor. A steward is a person who has substance also. He has money; He might have land and have houses, but he also has mercy and shares his riches with the poor. Then he is a good steward of his wealth.

The young man had virtues and a strong inclination to abide by the law and he had worked hard. But he also had a love of things more than his love for God. He did not understand that everything he had is God’s and seemed to covet his possessions! There is certainly not a thing wrong with having wealth, but there is a thing wrong with being stingy!  If we chose to be comfortable and have all kinds of toys but we chose not to tithe our church and help the poor and those suffering from tragedies, we will briefly enjoy the wealth of the world but our soul will sink in the depth of poverty where the worms never cease. (Mark 9:48)

Some of us also struggle with attachment to things. We over extend our budgets in pursuit of material things we believe will bring us happiness and starve the poor and the needy and only give what is left-over to our church and His ministry. We have trained ourselves to serve an idol, a demi-god which is increasing our vanity in the world and making our salvation harder to obtain. We have become rich with stuff but lost the ultimate prize! Sometimes we get so obsessed with stuff and that buzz we get when we purchase something; it seems almost as an award for ourselves, for our efforts. Some of these demi-gods of stuff consume our precious time as well replacing our prayer time with hell. The thief uses our attachment to things to get his foot wedged squarely in the door as an unwanted intruder, ready to harm us and our families and steal our salvation!

We remember the profit Malachi saying: “Bring the entire tithe into the storehouse so that there may be food in my temple. Test me in this matter,” says the Lord who rules over all, “to see if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until there is no room for it all. (Malachi 3:10) And also our Lord’s parable in St. Luke: And he spoke a parable to them, saying, “The land of a certain rich man produced well. “And he was considering within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, because I have no room where I shall gather together my fruit?’ “And he said, ‘This will I do: I will take down my storehouses and build greater ones; and there will I gather together all my produce and my good things. “‘And I will say to my soul, “Soul, thou hast many good things being laid up for many years; be taking thy rest; eat, drink, and be merry.”’ “But God said to him, ‘Fool, this night they demand thy soul from thee; and what thou didst prepare, for whom shall it be?’ “Thus is the one who treasureth up for himself, and is not rich toward God.” [Lk 12:16-21]

So where is that line of division that separates putting away for our future retirement and being a poor steward? The ability to define the difference between ownership and stewardship is one of the hardest lessons to understand. Each and every one of us is unique and has been given free will of all of God’s creation. But our time here is limited and everything here is on loan from the Creator. Give Him His tithe and prove that you can be a good steward of talents and He will increase you. Our tithe is our best offering first, our blue ribbon achievement, with total trust in He who created it all, and we will always have enough for our families and for our future. And in that pursuit with our very best effort and His abundant grace we remember: “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” [Mt. 19:26]

 

Fr. Gabriel Weller 9-7-2019

MUSTARD SEED

Faith, where is it when you need it? Or maybe, we do not use faith enough and have forgotten where we left it lay. It seems when the title waves of life crash ashore, I look for anything to cling onto and I often find faith when I realize just how powerless I am in the midst of a fierce storm. Where do you find your faith?  Saint Bede: “Blessed St. Jude advises us to build ourselves up on the foundation of our holy faith, so to join ourselves as living stones to the house of God which is the Church.” [Jude 20.] [Commentary on Jude, 251.] 

A Belorussian Monk once said: “You Americans, you talk about miracles like you don’t believe in God!” We seem to want an instant way out of the trap we are caught in without daily practicing fasting and prayer without daily seeking God! Saint Bede the Venerable writes: “In the love of God we need to have true faith and the purity of good actions, for without faith it is impossible to please God, and faith without works is dead [Jas. 2:26].”

Faith springs from our soul if we are in a healthy relationship with God. The first commandment is first and foremost “I am the Lord thy God…. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”  Pray, fast, worship, commune and seek God, putting God first in all things. Faith comes from that steady communication with our Creator and God and energizes our faith through prayer and obedience. All of our paths in life, seeing, thinking, believing, choosing and our actions, are distorted when we break that chain of communication. James 2:24:”Ye see then that by works a man is justified and not by faith only”. Blessed Theophylact defines that scripture as: “When he says, ‘by works,’ he does not mean by the law, such as circumcision and such things, but works of virtue, righteousness, and the like.” [P.G. 125:335A (col. 1161).]

Our warmth and love toward God become clearer and stronger as we pray and worship together. Our faith becomes a living faith, a spiritual force that breaks through the normal disciplines of religious life when we act as a servant in His name, for His glory. With God providing the guidance and power for us, His creation, the possibilities are immense as long as we continue to be prayerful and follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit which feed and nourish our dry thirsting mustard seed. God gives us living faith, miracle faith, “mountain moving” faith! The kind of faith that provides us with clarity to see the mountain in us that needs to be moved. The mountain preventing us from surrendering all that we are for all that He is!

We just need a mustard seed of faith and with our practice and His grace we can overcome death. Listen to the words of our Savior: “Because of your unbelief. For verily I say to you, if ye have faith as a grain of mustard, ye shall say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it shall move; and nothing shall be impossible to you.”  [Mt. 17:20] And even human life begins with a tiny seed, even much smaller than the size of a mustard seed and do you see the enormous possibilities that tiny seed creates. Do you see what gigantic possibilities you have with the tiny seed He planted in you? Our Lord and Savior began His life’s ministry as a tiny seed and look and see what He did with His opportunity, and His death gave abundant life and spread more seeds of God’s love and salvation to all the world. (John 12:24)

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia expressed his conviction earlier this week that believers shouldn’t cease to be Orthodox when they go to work and when they return to their families. And especially when they find themselves in conflict situations that test their loyalty to the Lord. He says if believers stay Orthodox in these situations their lives will change for the better.

“And this is possible only if we live a genuine religious life. If we, having got a feel for the ascent to Mount Tabor during the service and step down into this world, continue to bear in our minds and hearts the memory of these wonderful moments of presence in the church, communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ and contact with the grace of God, then our faith will be actualized, and become living and effective. And we will gain the ability to solve our life problems – both large and small— family, social, state, all that is important for a person. If we solve these problems on the basis of our Christian calling, relying on our faith, strengthened by the power of the grace of God, then our world will change. We ourselves will change, and by our faith, we will undoubtedly have the hope of realizing a genuine and real meeting with the Lord and the Savior in that transfigured world, which everyone will enter at the end of their earthly life.” (Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia in the sermon for the holiday of the Transfiguration of the Savior on August 19, 2019)

 

 

 

 

Fr. Gabriel Weller 8-25-2019

TAGGED

Many years ago I attended a weekend men’s retreat back when I was a protestant. I was encouraged to attend by my pastor Don Skinner. He knew I was struggling and life had been beating up on me. I was reluctant but thirsty for our Lord because something in life needed to change, so I went. I was a very inward man, hiding behind my pain. I kept my guard up to protect my heart and had felt a huge distrust for folks. Everyone seemed to have a selfish agenda, is that love?

Father John Moses was serving as a Methodist pastor at a local church in Mt. Crawford and was the spiritual director for that weekend retreat. It was then that I met him. He was an open book and jokester and I soon lowered my guard just enough for him to give me glimpse of what I was thirsting for. Fr. John had a taste of Orthodoxy when he was studying Methodism in England and baptized into ROCOR soon after this weekend men’s retreat.

Many years later being dissatisfied with Protestantism I too became Orthodox and I traveled a good bit with him on mission trips and spiritual retreats. Fr. John would be napping, telling jokes or on the phone with someone seeking his help as I navigated him on his missions. As we traveled up and down the bland highways of asphalt, concrete and steel the roads were dull and dreary. Every now and then as we traveled under a bridge we would notice someone had tagged or spray painted something onto all that dullness. It may say “Class of 1980” or “Bigfoot Lives” or maybe even tagged by a gang member”PG-13” or whatever they identify as. Now rest assured I am not encouraging defacing public property in anyway but I am drawing attention to the bright colorful paint that pierced through all that blandness.

Back at that weekend retreat while binding my wounds and trying to blend into the wall, I met Fr. John. He joked with me and showed me warmth. And when I lowered my guard just a wee-little bit, he tagged me like bright spray paint on a dull concrete wall. And the words he wrote were: “I LOVE YOU”. He didn’t say it from his mouth; it came noetically from his soul, I sensed it, it seemed foreign. I immediately challenged it because what I had experienced of love thus far as a man caused concern for the safety of my heart and I also certainly didn’t deserve God’s love either. But you see the LOVE he was sharing with me was a perfect kind of LOVE that can come only from God. We humans are broken and wounded and struggle to love as our Creator Loves. God’s LOVE is perfect and Fr. John has some to share.

Archpriest John wasn’t a perfect man, he struggled just like you and I. And as a child he was severely abused, as a young parent he struggled with his children’s illnesses, as a shepherd he loved deeply and selfishly struggled and wept as folks moved or left the church, and in these later days he struggled with his own infirmities hiding most of his struggles from all of us. But every day he prayed. He prayed for all of us, day after day. And he worked on his salvation day after day, amidst the storms of life!

As I look around this room and across the world of social media I can clearly see many other folks with Fr. John’s brilliant spray paint tagged on their hearts as well. And perhaps there are some folks still safely hiding behind darkness and afraid to trust. That darkness is a cancer that will rob you of your precious time here on this Earth. Fr. John didn’t know the exact time of his repose. He was walking into the kitchen with the TV remote in his hand and probably heading to the fridge to get a Diet Coke. But if you hear or read these words you still have time! Come to the Lord in repentance and allow the Great Physician to cut that deathly painful cancer away that is keeping you from LOVING others as a true servant and that darkness that is separating you from the warm chalice that contains the most precious healing body and blood of our Risen Lord, the Great Physician.   

Our church is a hospital full of broken and wounded people including me; I am still working on my own healing. At Holy Myyrhbearers we lift each other up and practice serving one another. And here at our infirmary we have plenty of beds available. We have available beds in the emergency room, in the psych ward and plenty of vacancy in the maternity ward as well! I don’t know whatever it is that is keeping you away, I don’t know what ugly dreary roads you have been traveling down or whatever it is that you are ashamed of and hiding behind, or what raw cancer is eating away at your salvation. But I do know that if you hear or read these words, you still have some time. Don’t wait, come. Won’t you come! We will be praying and waiting! When you let go completely and surrender your life and all of your will to the one who formed you in His hands and breathed His breath of life into you, it is then that you too will experience true LOVE and be able to share it, just like Fr. John!

 

Fr. Gabriel Weller 7-28-2019

Plenty of Time

This past week Matushka and I were able to get out of town for a short bit and spend some time away from all of life’s troubles and distractions.  We were blessed to get to spend a day on the beach, my wife’s happy place. Friends had been telling me that we should take a break and get out of town, a time to get away from all the responsibilities we have shouldered, a time to take a breath and an opportunity to take time for our marriage, team Weller!

Time is such a precious thing for us. I think it is the most valuable choice our Creator has given us and we have total free reign how we choose to spend it. As we took some time to walk on the shoreline in the splendor of His creation, we noticed that the tide had washed up a large amount of shell fragments. There were all shapes, sizes and colors but all the shells were small pieces of what they once were. I guess they too had been caught in the essence of time, losing control and being tossed to and fro and spit out of the ocean and onto the shore. Time was up for them as they continue to fragment and now find themselves out of the water and baking in the hot sun.

As I reflect upon the readings this morning time comes to my mind again. I bet these two Gentiles that were fiercely possessed wish they had some of their lost time back. The demon possessed men in the Gospel of Saint Matthew had lost control and the demons were calling the shots and occupying their life. “What have we to do with Thee, Jesus, Son of God? Art Thou come here to torment us before the time?” [Mt. 8:29] St. John Chrysostom enlightens us that the demons were speaking of the final judgment, they thought they had more time to torment these helpless men, it was way too soon for their confrontation with Christ! (The Gospel of Matthew, Homily 28.2) We don’t know how these two men came to be enslaved to the demons but by the teachings of the church that had obviously not taken time to know God and to make His priorities their preferences.

It seems that the further we get away from the church in our inattention and listlessness, the less aware we are of our vulnerabilities. St. Sebastian said it like this: “If you continue to drowse, you will imperceptibly (unnoticeably) fall under the influence of the evil spirits.” (St. Sebastian Dabovich) You see, our precious time has limits! St. Macarius the Great explains it this way: “When the soul of a man departs from the body, a certain great mystery is there enacted. If a person is under the guilt of sin, bands of demons and fallen angels approach along with the powers of darkness which capture the soul and drag it as a captive to their place. No one should be surprised by this fact. For if, while a man lived in this life, he was subject to them and was their obedient slave, how much more, when he leaves this world, is he captured and controlled by them?” (St. Macarius the Great, The Fifty Spiritual Homilies, Homily 22)

I know that some of us have been crushed and fragmented by the currents and crashing waves in life but I pray that before we too are out of time, we can come back to the Omnipotent Potter and surrender to Him all of our broken pieces that have washed up on the shoreline. “Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand,” Thus saith the LORD. (Jeremiah 18:6) For only He can restore life and free us from all of this bondage if we only surrender to Him our most precious time!

Fr. Gabriel Weller 7-21-2019