Author: ramez

Lord Teach Us To Pray Part 1

Lord, Teach Us To Pray 

Part 1

by Andrew Boutros 

On a random Tuesday in July, 2011, I received a phone call from my dad telling me to book a flight and go to Kenya. I had no idea where Kenya was on the map nor what people do in Kenya. But I decided to go with the idea since I love traveling, little did I know that this mission trip would be the first of many more trips and would be a new milestone in my relationship with God.

I was 19 years old in my junior year of college with no major, no purpose and no goals in life. I landed in Kenya August 11th, 2011 not knowing anyone or anything about mission work. The first two days were extremely rough for me since the schedule I had to follow was a very rigorous one. Waking up at 7am to do my quiet time (reading the Bible), then prayer then Bible study followed by breakfast for 45 minutes. Then we would go out and preach and do outreach from 10 am to 4 pm, come back have lunch then two hours of free time followed by prayers, Bible study and a small prayer meeting before we sleep!

That was way too much for me since I didn’t have a lot of knowledge or any knowledge about the Bible at that time and my prayer life was on hold during the first two years of college. I had so many questions about the Bible and God, but I was never given a satisfying answer, so I was just Christian by name more of an agnostic, believing that God exits but having no relationship whatsoever with Him.

On August 13th, 2011 I had my first very fight with God, I was so mad because I felt so useless in the first 2 days in my mission trip, everyone around me seemed to know what they were doing or what to preach EXCEPT me, they had a different kind of joy and zeal for Christ. So, that night I prayed and told Him “God I want this kind of joy that they have, I want you to change my life because I’m sick of the life I’ve been living. Lastly God, if you allowed this change to happen in me, I want people to see Christ in me the rest of my life.”

The 20 days that I spent in Kenya after that became very different and marked the beginning of a new phase and a new lifestyle. The change that happened in me was more of a mindset change that eventually led to my behaviors to be changed. I started waking up early to do my quiet time and ask questions if I didn’t understand anything. I started praying very small prayers asking Him to teach me how to preach, how to read His word, how to talk to Him, and how to maintain this joy. By the end of the 23 days I spent there He made it clear for me that this is the new lifestyle He wanted me to live. BUT it all started with that very first fight with God, that one prayer on August 13th, 2011. God literally held my hands as a Father holds his child’s hand and taught me how to talk to Him, how to listen to Him, and how to follow Him one step at a time. I never understood the meaning of praying the Agpya prayers, I used to be always distracted during liturgy because I never understood the depth or the meaning of the prayer, but He taught me slowly and carefully.

Sometimes the starting point can be overwhelming. What do I say when I stand in prayer? What do I do for 2 hours at the liturgy? We need to understand the difference between all these various types of prayers and the different levels of prayers as well. The church fathers explain to us that there are three levels of prayers;

  • Prayers of the mouth
  • Prayers of the min
  • Prayers of the heart.

Prayers of the mouth are the first level of prayer where we recite the words of prayers without understanding the words, experiencing the depth, or meditating on it. This is the level we all start with when we are learning how to pray, you could be at church and just reciting the hymns with the congregation but not necessarily understanding every word that you say.

The second level of prayer is the prayer of the mind where you step up the game and start meditating on the words you are saying. You are stopping at some words during your prayer time and meditating on these words even if it’s for few minutes.

Then the last level of prayer is the prayer of the heart where you let your mouth, mind, and heart be fully engaged while praying. So, you move from the memorization or recitation level to experiencing more depth and warmth in prayer that you forget yourself, you forget your own needs and requests and you are fully immersed in God’s heart.

Throughout our spiritual journey here on earth we typically fluctuate between the three levels, but our aim should always be the prayer of the heart where every part of us is fully occupied with Jesus. If we understand the different levels of prayers and set it as our aim to reach the prayer of the heart, then it eases our way to understand and practice the different types of prayers.

The two main types of prayers are the formal prayers and the conversational prayers. The formal prayers are the prayers that the church has set for us to reach this union with God such as the liturgical prayers and the Agpya prayers. While the conversational prayers are the heart to heart prayers that you say to God anytime. One analogy that will make it easier to understand these levels and types of prayers and makes it application easy is the seed and tree analogy. If you want to plant a tree, it all starts by throwing a seed in the ground. You need to have patience, right amount of sun light, good soil, right quantity of water every day, and someone to take care of it. So remember that when you start developing your prayer life God will take you through the same journey this tiny seed goes through until it becomes a huge tree that becomes a shelter to many birds and you too will grow a become a giant in the faith and will be a shelter to many people and guide them to Christ. Your heart is the ground and you already have the seed in your heart so pray today that He starts the development process in your heart so you can reach this union with Him.

Magnifying the Lord

Magnifying the Lord

 Transcribed sermon by Fr Daniel Fanous

Reference: Luke 1:39-56

Throughout the Coptic month of Kiahk, the church prepares us for the upcoming Nativity. After Archangel Gabriel announces to St Mary the birth of Christ, he tells her that Elizabeth, her cousin, will also conceive. Immediately, St Mary visits Elizabeth to help her through the final stages of her pregnancy.

There is much that could be said of a pregnant woman that rushes to the aid of another with no consideration of her own comfort. Elizabeth greets her saying, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!” 

We now see that the first person that recognised Christ incarnate was a woman; Elizabeth. Mary responds and says, “My soul magnifies the Lord, And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed. For He who is mighty has done great things for me, And holy is His name. And His mercies on those who fear.”

What does it mean to magnify the Lord? How can any one of us make God smaller or larger? Origen contemplates on this saying,

Now if the Lord could neither receive increase or decrease, what is this that Mary speaks of, My soul magnifies the Lord? But if I consider that the Lord our Saviour is the image of the invisible God, and that the soul is created according to His image, so as to be an image of an image, then I shall see plainly, that as after the manner of those who are accustomed to paint images, each one of us forming his soul after the image of Christ, makes it great or little, base or noble, after the likeness of the original; so when I have made my soul great in thought, word, and deed, the image of God is made great, and the Lord Himself, whose image it is, is magnified in my soul.

If you look at the early icons of creation, you find that Christ, the Word of God, is creating while casting breath into man. When you look into the face of Adam, it is identical to the face of Christ. Adam is created as an image of God. As such, we are called for Christ to dwell in us.

The words of St Mary are testament to the image of Christ becoming perfectly clear in her soul that she reveals Christ. My soul magnifies the Lord when Christ is in focus. God so loved the world that He fashioned for Himself a dwelling place in the heart of man. God creates men in the image of Christ so that Christ could be in us, and transform us.

How was St Mary able to magnify the Lord? “For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant.” God looked upon her humility and magnified Himself in her lowliness. What she then sees in her own soul is remarkable as she says, “For He who is mighty has done great things for me, And holy is His name. And His mercy is on those who fear Him.” 

God’s mercy is a form of healing. The word “fear” is often misunderstood. We know that perfect love casts out all fear (1 John 4:18), but there is another kind of fear. The Greek translation in this case is phobia, which is to flee from something. This translation of fear is only found one other time in the Bible (Revelation 11), and again, used to reveal God’s mercy. The Lord’s mercy brings healing, and salvation. In this sense, it means to recognize or to perceive the dignity of God.

When I stand before Him, I realize I am a creature and He is my Creator. When I stand before Him, I cannot possibly be mighty, sitting on my own throne. I see myself relative to His greatness. I cannot possibly be rich, or proud, or stuck in the imagination of my own heart, when I am before the living God. God could not respect the dignity in any of these cases as they do not need, nor strive, for mercy, and thus could not magnify the Lord beyond the magnification of their own egos. St Anthony the Great once said, “know yourself, and you will know God.” If we truly knew ourselves and our weakness, we would know to stand in desperate need for God.

It is impossible for us to recognise our need for a Saviour if we don’t first see that we cannot attain salvation on our own. It is impossible for a physician to heal someone that doesn’t think that they are sick. It is impossible for me to magnify Christ in my soul if I don’t first see that I need Him.

An extremely wise professor went to a monk and said, “I would love to learn from you, teach me about wisdom.”

The monk sits down and heats up some water to make tea for them both. He begins to pour the tea and tea begins to rise until the cup is full, but he doesn’t stop pouring even when it is overflowing and burns the hand of the professor holding the cup. The professor tries to stop him saying, “What are you doing? You’re getting hot tea everywhere.”

The monk responds, “And this exactly why I can’t teach you anything. You cannot fill what is already full.”

This is exactly what St Mary is saying. How can one who is mighty on their own throne bow before the throne of God? Or how can the rich beg for any more than they have? Their souls are so full that there is no place for Christ to dwell. For Christ to increase, we must decrease. We can’t magnify Him in our souls when our souls are full of ourselves. This is why Christ loves the humble, for the humble are searching for Him that they may be filled with His mercy. To those who were full of themselves, Christ was almost indifferent. To those that were humble, His heart was moved to compassion for their sakes, for in their humility, their soul magnified the Lord.

Let us strive to be transparent, to recognise our need, and to come to Him desperately so that He may fill us with every good thing. May we learn to strive for the contrary positives that St Mary puts forth so that we are exalted when we are lowly, filled when we are hungry, and helped when we remember His mercies.

Find your Moment

Find your Moment

Transcribed sermon by Fr Daniel Fanous

Passage: Luke 1:5-20

Zechariah was an interesting figure. Our Lord Christ at another point in the gospel mentions somebody by the name of Zechariah the son of Berekiah who was murdered between the horns of the altar and the temple (Matthew 23:35). This was somebody that was murdered literally as he was holding onto the altar.

Origen, one of the early church fathers said that perhaps this was Zechariah of our story today. It is theorised that when Herod went to kill all the infants under the age of two, Zechariah was unwilling to give up his son, John the Baptist and so instead, Herod had him murdered between the temple and the alter.

But what is the story of his son?

Zechariah was a priest of the Aaronic priesthood. The Aaronic priests were the descendants of Aaron. For almost a thousand years, there was a generational priesthood. No one became priest unless they were part of this specific family, there were no other ways into the priesthood.

Over this period of time, every son that was born into this family became a priest so over the course of thousands of years, there would have been thousands of priests. The worship in Israel was very different to how it is now, there weren’t multiple churches or synagogues, there was only one temple in Jerusalem and so, there wasn’t enough room for the priests to perform the sacrifices.

They divided them into 24 orders, each order would take one week a year. Then each order would take one week and of the seven days of the week, there would still be hundreds of priests allocated to a certain day. They would then cast lots to determine which priests were worthy of praying on that day. This meant that offering incense was a once in a lifetime gift. On this day, Zechariah was given his moment.

Zechariah and Elizabeth were both, “righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless” (Luke 1:6). BUT they were barren. They were unable to have children.  Their infertility had nothing to do with their sin as they was wrongly inferred by the people.

It is one of the most painful things to see someone that cannot have a child. It’s easy then to think that any kind of barrenness, whether physical emotional or spiritual, is a punishment of some kind. But here we see that it wasn’t, instead, it was part of God’s plan.

This is not to say that anyone who is barren will eventually have a child. But regardless God still has a plan. His plan may not be our plan, but He always has a plan. Any kind of failure or barrenness, whatever the cause, was always part of God’s plan, but only if we hold on to God.

When we look back to Zechariah, he was well advanced in years, well beyond the time of children, while his wife was postmenopausal. For many years, they tried for a child, they laid their lives before God walking blamelessly and obeying the commandments. At their age, there was no hope left to hold on to. The much easier scenario would have been to walk away from the God that seemingly ignored their prayers.

It would have been extremely easy for them to think that God doesn’t exist. He didn’t stick to their plan and He didn’t give them the desires of their heart. After this suffering that lasted many years, after this total loss of hope, Zechariah’s moment came.

His lot came, after he had lost all hope and thought there was no chance of conceiving a child. His lot was taken and his once in lifetime chance came for him to go to Jerusalem to worship. Zechariah lived Hebron; Hebron is about 30 kilometres south of Jerusalem. Roughly the distance between Cronulla to the middle of Sydney CBD.

Zechariah could have easily thought in this moment, what is the point? He served his entire life, yet his one request was not answered by God. Instead, he took his moment. Each one of us in our lives will have a series of moments. Some quiet moments, some very subtle moments, some of them very, very dramatic moments. God at certain points in our lives will reach into our lives and touch us. Sometimes when we expect other times when we don’t expect it.

Perhaps then like Zechariah, God has left us barren. Our lives have not gone according to our plans. But still God reaches out and touches us. And in these moments, we must respond. It may be simply an awakening to sin – a realisation of something I have done, something I’m doing is afflicting me and obstructing my spiritual life. It may be a gentle niggling feeling that I’ve been avoiding confession. It may be a moment of inexplicable joy that I received joy that God touches my heart during prayer or when I listen to a word or when I’m in church.

It may be an awareness that something is far greater than me. It may be an overwhelming sense that God wants me to do something. When you feel these moments, your lot has been cast.  Your moment has come. How then do we react to these moments?

Do we ignore? Do we push it? Do we continue to distract ourselves so we don’t hear it? We must understand these are our moments.

We must discern these moments and cease them before they pass. There was a lady that came who had left the church for a long time that came for a baptism. After the baptism she to me to say goodbye. And as she came up to me, she tried to rush away from me and she began to cry.

I said, “are you alright?”

She replied, “No, no, it’s just something in my eye.”

I said, “Okay, that’s fine, something always goes in my eyes as well.”

And then she left. I messaged her after and I said to her, “There wasn’t something in your eye, is everything alright?”

She replied, “Sometimes whatever happens in church, I just miss it. And I thought you know; this is the chance. This is the chance.”

She didn’t come to church and I didn’t see her there again, but she had a moment. She walked into church and she felt something deeply touched her, but she ignored it. Her moment came, and we can only pray that God gives her many more moments.

The opposite scenario presented itself when I met a young monk in Egypt. He told me that he never entered a church his entire life. He had nothing to do with church, but that wasn’t because he had anything against God, he just didn’t know Him, and was never exposed to church.

One day, a friend of his invited him to play soccer, and the soccer field happened to be in the field of the church. As he walked into the church’s gates thinking only of soccer, a priest walked past him and the priest must’ve mistaken him for someone else, walked to him and said, “I have missed you so much,” and gave him a big hug. In that moment, he began to cry, and he didn’t know why. He said that in that moment it was the first time he felt he had a father. That was all it took, and from then on, he attended every church service for a year and then entered the monastery.

St Anthony the Great heard one verse – “If you would be perfect, give up all you have and follow Me,” and that was enough. He paid attention to his moment. He left and became the greatest monk of the church.

Zechariah had more reason than all of us to ignore his moment. He was a priest, he was blameless, he walked righteously, he obeyed the commandments, and yet for 40 years his prayer was ignored. Despite all logic, he walked 30 kilometres across hill country to Jerusalem, where unbeknown to him, he would receive his moment.

He drew near to God, and God drew near to him, as He revealed His plans that Elizabeth’s barrenness was only for a period to prepare the way for the birth of John the Baptist. While this is not God’s plan for everybody, God always has a plan. He has a plan for you and me, but in the right moment.

Zechariah almost missed his moment, but the nine months of muteness that followed was almost God’s way of forcing him to reflect upon this moment. God wanted him to discern, to stop, to think, to reflect, to perceive the gravity of that moment. When your moment comes, don’t ignore it, but come to God so that He may move your heart.

Finding God’s Will in Humility

Finding God’s Will in Humility

Transcribed sermon by Fr Samuel Fanous

Passage: Luke 1:26-38

What is God’s will and how do I accept His will in my life? The story of the Annunciation of the birth of Jesus Christ to Saint Mary is a beautiful and practical answer to this question that many of us have asked. God could have chosen a multitude of ways to send His Son to the earth, yet He chose St Mary, of all the billions of people. The Annunciation gospel gives us a glimpse into why she was the greatest of all time.

The Archangel Gabriel greets her saying, “Rejoice, highly favoured one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!” (Luke 1:28)

What a greeting this was! Saint Mary lived in the temple so we can presume that she lived and breathed the Scriptures. At the appearance of the angel with a greeting as such, surely she would have known that big news was coming.

When the angel appeared to Gideon in the Old Testament to tell him that he would conquer an army of ten thousand with 300 men, he said, “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valour”(Judges 6:12). In the seemingly impossible, the assurance of this phrase was more than enough. Again, when God spoke to Moses to guide the Israelites out of the Egypt, He greets him saying, “I will certainly be with you” (Exodus 3:12).

In this moment, St Mary would have known that when the phrase, “the Lord is with you,”is used that a great mission and a great honour is to come, but this is not without suffering. St Mary was troubled at this greeting, she was twelve years old and spent her life praying in the temple and expected to live the rest of her life similarly.

The angel is now telling her that God has more planned for her. In her supreme humility, Mary is troubled because she can’t see how something so great will be achieved by someone so insignificant. Sometimes, we exercise false humility when we turn down a service because we’re not worthy, or we don’t think we’re good enough. This is very different to what St Mary says for her humility was sincere. She was troubled internally by the great responsibility but she knew that it was not her who was achieving this great act, but God.

She could have said, “No, I can’t do it, this is too much for me. I’m just a sinful person, how can I carry Jesus Christ?”But St Mary did not look to herself, she looked to God. It was not a matter of her unworthiness but God’s worthiness. She was not the one enacting the miracle but God was. She was simply the vessel, and that is the greatest display of humility that we hear when she says, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.”

The first step to humility is recognising that no one is worthy. If there is any good within us, we don’t deny it but attribute it to the goodness of God. If I’m smart, I know that God gave me intelligence. If I’m good looking, I know that it was God that created me that way. Humility is not to say that I am the worst person and there is nothing good in me – that is all lip service. True humility is knowing that anything we have cannot be ascribed to ourselves. It can only be ascribed to God.

St Mary asks a question that may sound like she is doubting what the angel is saying when she says, “How can this be since I do not know a man?”

Zachariah asks a similar question, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years,”and is rebuked and made mute until the birth of his son, but St Mary is praised. There is a subtle difference however, Zachariah’s question is almost asking the angel to prove himself, while Mary is asking how it will happen. Mary is saying, “I believe you, explain it to me, if I have taken a vow of virginity, how shall I fall pregnant?”

Mary was filled with faith, which Zachariah was lacking. Her faith was one of the reasons why she was the greatest that ever lived. She placed her trust completely in the Lord, and we see glimpses of St Mary as an enigma in the gospel. Later when the wise men and shepherds come to Bethlehem to see Jesus, St Mary doesn’t say much, but ponders these things in her heart. Her entire life was devoted to serving God, with very little thought into the part she played. Many of our own problems stem from the fact that we are firmly attached to our own will. God cannot penetrate a heart that is insistent on its own will. God gave us freewill and will not fight us for what’s best for us, we need to want His will above our own.

No matter what happened to St Mary, she pondered these things in her heart and said, “let it be according to Your Word.” She may not have understood what was happening but that was not a concern, for she was the clay in the Potter’s hand. No one could accomplish the will of God quite like St Mary, for she was the most obedient in existence.

How did she attain such faith and obedience? Because she had spent her life in the temple, pondering the Word of God. She lived with Jesus, the Son God for 30 years, she experienced Him and she pondered His words in her heart.

We live differently. We live outside the Word God. We live outside of a relationship with God and we have agendas that we are trying to complete. For some, it’s their career, for others it’s their lifestyle, their happiness or their families. We all have an agenda and when God’s will presents itself before me, I am forced to make a decision – will I follow God’s will or will I follow my own?

When you’ve lived your entire life satisfying your own will, it becomes nearly impossible to choose God’s will rather than your own will. For example, I know that it is God’s will for me to live in harmony with others and harbour no hatred in my heart, but there may be a grudge that I’m holding against someone. For as long as that grudge stands, I choose to put God’s will aside for my own.

God’s will be for me to spend time with Him in prayer, but that conflicts with my desire for sleep and my fatigue. So again, God’s will must be put to one side. There’s a conflict in our hearts night and day between my will and God’s will, and every time I give in to my own will, I am making it stronger. I entrench it further and it becomes more and more to see clearly.

If God asks you for something, surrender yourself to His will, just like St Mary who didn’t know what was to come. If you are called to serve, surrender yourself to His will and do it not because you are great, but because you are simply a vessel that will carry greatness.

So how do we know God’s will? Do we expect that we’re going to get a letter from Heaven to say take this job, or marry this girl? It will never happen that way. We can only know God’s will in our life when we subject ourselves to His will in the small things.

When you don’t want to pray and you pray anyway that is subjecting yourself to God’s will, or when you don’t want to fast, or serve, or forgive, and you do it anyway, you strengthen the will of God in the little things. God’s will then grow in your life and it becomes easy to recognize that the steps you are taking are in line with God’s will. If you’ve lived your own will your whole life but then want to get married, how will you ever know, if you have not lived God’s will?

Let us learn to live our lives like St Mary, as a vessel for the Master’s use so that His will becomes clear in my life in the little things so that the big things are under His control entirely.

The Rich Young Ruler

The Rich Young Ruler

Adapted from a sermon by Fr Sam Fanous

Passage: Matthew 19:16-22

“Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.””– Matthew 19:21

In the eyes of the community, this rich, young ruler was probably a righteous person. He was probably respected and honoured. When he heard Jesus teaching about eternal life, it sparked his interest. He saw all the righteous deeds he was doing, but was not entirely sure if it was enough to inherit eternal life.

So he went to Jesus and asked, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” (Matthew 19:16)

This tells us that he is serious and honest about his spiritual life. He was like most of us coming to church on Sunday. Hopefully, we ask ourselves similar questions;

Am I going to go to heaven?  

If I die today, where will I be?

To this question, Jesus went back to basics – keep the commandments.

To the young ruler who had kept the commandments since his youth, he was probably satisfied with this answer.

But then Jesus drops a bombshell, for He knew there was one thing missing in his life. Jesus acknowledges that he had many positive attributes, but the one thing he lacked outweighed all else. It wasn’t a simple tweak he needed, but he lacked it completely.

Without this essential component, all he did meant nothing. He could not imagine parting with his possessions which meant his eternity had been lost.

He went away sorrowful for the possessions he could not part with. We never hear the name of this person and we never find out if he returned. It almost seems unfair that Jesus watched him leave and didn’t try to call him back. There was no compromises, His commandment is clear – “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”

There was nothing more that Christ could do for him. For Christ knew “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” (Matthew 19:24).

The disciples heard this and were confused at the number of rich yet righteous people that would miss out on the Kingdom of Heaven. For it is impossible for someone who relies on riches to enter the Kingdom.

What does this all mean to us today? For some of us, there may be something we hold in our hears that stops us from getting closer to God, something we can’t seem to shake off. Whether it be our desire for success, money, an impure relationship, or just laziness. This may be the one thing we lack that will stop us from entering the Kingdom.

If you feel in your heart that there is one person that you can’t forgive, even if you are completely in the right and they’re completely in the wrong which is almost never the case, then that is a massive boulder in your heart that Christ cannot work around. The hatred and the bitterness you are holding on to is comparable to the young ruler and his possessions.

He trusted in his riches, just like some people trust in their bitterness and cling so tightly to the point where it destroys them. Christ cannot fix a person that trusts in their false riches more than anything else.

The young ruler had no sin, but he loved his possessions more than he loved Christ. We do not inherit eternal life for bad things we did not do. The absence of bad does not make us good. At best, it makes us neutral and we know what God thinks of lukewarm faith; “because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of Mymouth” – Revelations 3:16

There needs to be more. There needs to be a relationship and there needs to be love. Whatever boulder that prevents love from reaching my heart needs to be overcome if I want to inherit the Kingdom. For the rich young ruler, his love of possessions outweighed his love for God. But Jesus tells him to sell everything and realise that God is enough. If we love anything more than we love God, we must get rid before we can even start loving God.

The lack of love that I suffer is not because of a sin that I am struggling with, it is that I don’t love God enough. Sins are symptoms of my lack of love, if I want to be made well, I must first address the underlying cause.

We see a very similar story at the house of Mary and Martha. Martha is busy preparing food and stressing at the amount of work there is to do, while her sister is sitting down, doing seemingly nothing at Christ’s feet. Martha complains to Jesus saying, ““Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.”(Luke 10:40)

Jesus turns to her in a very surprising way. He doesn’t say, “yes Mary, help your sister,” He says, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”(Luke 10:42)

And what was the one needed thing that Mary chose? To sit at Christ’s feet. Both were great disciples of Christ, but Martha was distracted while Mary had her priorities in order. She sat at Christ’s feet and ignored everything else around her.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that we come to church and forget our families and our responsibilities, but we take it in context. Christ is priority number one and nothing can outweigh time spent at His feet.

I have money, but if I lose it, I am still happy because I have the one thing that can never be taken away. I have Christ, and He is sufficient for all my needs. Just as Job said when all was taken away from him, “Naked I came from the womb, and naked I shall return, the Lord has given and the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord.” (Job 1:21)

This is true love that Christ asks from us. St Isaac the Syrian used to describe the presence of God as drunkenness. Being in His presence is euphoric. It is not striving not to do bad things, but striving to experience God.

Why am I in this? What is my purpose? My purpose is to use each day to experience the love of God, which far outweighs a rule book based faith designed to stop me from doing the wrong thing.

Full sermon: https://subspla.sh/8qc8r6t

My Strength

My Strength

by Marcus Mikhail

If God is for me who can be against me?
I know I can trust Him in every difficulty
With life and all its ups and downs,
I rely on Him and His strength through all my hours

Life is hard; I need to be tough
But God makes it easier with His love
Nothing will phase me; nothing will make me cease living,
Because I continue in the Lord and never stop striving

Times can be awful and it feels like He’s not there,
But I trust in His promises that show His unconditional care
They say life is a merry go round with its ups and downs and sometimes round and round
With God, all I see is that His grace does truly abound

I pray, Lord, that You continue to help me fight in this life
And look towards my eternal destination, free from trouble and strife
I can’t wait for that day; I can’t wait to finally be with You
Oh dear, Lord, how I thank You that I know this to be true!

You died for me on the Cross and forgave me of my sin
You consumed it with holy fire and threw it all in the bin
You took my place; I should have been the one that died,
But it was You who took the beatings and the shame, and made the church Your bride

I am convinced that nothing can separate us from the Love of God (Romans 8:38-39)
It gives me such peace to know that His love is so broad
He know the plans He has for me, plans to prosper and not to harm (Jeremiah 29:11)
What have I to fear, why should I be in alarm?

The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call in Truth (Psalm 145:18)
Especially now in my youth I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Philippians 4:13)
He has won my battle and granted me victory And we know that God works to the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28)
This is true encouragement when life is dim

Cast all your cares on Him for He cares for you (1 Peter 5:7)
He’ll be with us always till this life is through
My peace I leave with you not as the world gives to you (John 14:27)
I find it hard to believe people try to get through life in all the things they do

I have swept away your offences like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist (Isaiah 44:22)
Oh the joy of knowing that your greatness is so Bliss!
His word is so rich no other book has such power You can get relief when life gets sour
I thank my God, my Lord, my Rock For helping me through the storms, and it wasn’t just by luck

David’s Secret

David’s Secret

by Marcus Mikhail

What was your secret, David? Where did you find peace?
What gave you comfort in distress, so your joy would only increase?
I long to have peace, just as you did
I long for the darkest times of my life to be over, and have what my Saviour bid

What was your secret, David? How did you become a man after God’s own heart?
What an honour, what a privilege to know nothing could tear you apart
You began venting, letting all your emotions out
And it turned into praises where you did shout

I long for your strength and God’s gentle voice
I feel as if He isn’t there or perhaps it’s my choice
I long for His love and embrace
I long for His compassion; His grace

I walk in this life going from strife to strife
Every corner I turn almost costs me my life
I feel so empty, so cold, so dark
Where are You, Lord? Don’t you know your son, Mark?

I’ve asked this question many a time and I still don’t have the full answer
Is it because I don’t trust Him enough, or maybe a cancer?
A cancer that destroys the body, not physical in nature
It wreaks havoc in the soul and causes me to think I’m a failure

Lord hear my prayer, this is my plea
I want my life to be whole and to live free
My life is not perfect but that was never the aim
Help me imitate Your son, David, and the great man he became

Peace

Peace

by Mark Anton

Peace – no, we’re not talking about throwing up those deuces, but the “My peace I leave with you” and the “in the world you will have tribulation but take heart for I have overcome the world” kind of peace.

In other words, we’re talking about the true and lasting peace that ‘transcends all understanding, guarding our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus’(Philippians 4:7).

So what is this peace? Why is it so important and where can we find it?

St Augustine was a man who once indulged in all the world had to offer and despite all his experiences and endeavours in the world, he famously concluded that “our hearts are restless until they find their rest in You,”

St Isaac the Syrian also echoed this when he said that “in all the paths that men walk in the world, they do not attain peace until they draw nigh to hope in God.”

St Augustine and St Isaacaccurately diagnosed the yearning for inner peace that we all have inside of us and the only place we can find it.Said another way, there are many things the world has to offer us, and they can often appear to promise us peace and rest, but they will fail to deliver because the source of true and lasting peace is God alone.

The Lord Himself spoke of this type of peace when he told his disciples about the coming of the Holy Spirit. He spoke of His imminent departure and then encouraged His disciples not to be troubled or afraid because He will provide the true and lasting peace that is different from the peace the world knows:

“Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid” (John 14:27).

In his Nativity message on Luke 24, HH Pope Shenouda III explains the different types of peace that every person needs in their life – peace with God, peace with people and peace of the heart – and that we cannot attain true inner peace unless we learn to trust in God. That is, if we place our lives in our own hands or the hands of other people, we will always be troubled, but if we believe that our lives are in God’s hands, we will find rest.

Those who trust in God and His planning for their lives are not troubled or restless and exude a peace that is tangible and visible.

To have peace with God is to live a life of righteousness and, conversely, when our relationship with God is shaken, we lose our inner peace which is the result of sin and distancing ourselves from God. He who lives in peace with God will naturally live in peace with others, and those who have attained true peace reflect this in their interactions with others – they bear with patience and will pardon and forgive others.

Our Lord Jesus is the Prince of Peace, and the source of peace Himself. In Christ’s life, we have the shining example of peace. Not only did our Lord live a life of non-violence, and exemplify peace in the external sense of the word, but He also gave those around Him rest and comfort. St Anatoly of Optina said that wherever God is there is peace and that where there is everything ruinous, proud and hostile, there is the devil. We know that in the world we will have tribulations (John 16:33), and so peace does not mean to be in a place where there are no external disturbances but rather to be amid all those things and still have peace in our hearts.

We have the Holy Spirit dwelling inside of us, and so like the disciples sitting in the upper room, we too can hope in God for true peace during our difficulties.

Self Control

Self Control

by Marc Bastawrous 

There was once a city in a land surrounded by a number of smaller cities and kingdoms. It was a city of wide avenues and little, quiet places to sit and eat. A city to stop and relax as people passed through during their travels across this vast land. There were the villages on the outskirts, where the original inhabitants of the grand city resided. The rest was parks and wild spaces, a chance to walk among nature or enjoy the trails on carriages or horseback. Yet perhaps the most beautiful thing about the city was the river that flowed through the length of the city, crossing the bridges, and terminating at a large body of water that faced the castle at the city’s centre. It was this river that filled its citizens with pride and those of neighbouring cities with envy.

One night, the prince overlooking the city was awoken from his sleep by a loud commotion outside his room. Within moments, his door was broken down and men with torches and forks were standing over his bed. “We have come to take the city – it is ours!” they all exclaimed with ferocious elation. The prince, still in shock and fearful of his life, mustered a response and replied, “but, how did you break into the city?” The apparent leader of the pack, scoffing in his direction answered, “my good sir, we did not need to break in, your city has no walls.”

It’s an interesting little story about a famous city called “I-Just-Made-It-Up” – but what does this city have anything to do with ‘Self-Control’?

The answer? Everything.

This is the exact picture that King Solomon painted when he wrote about self-control in Proverbs 25:28.

“Whoever has no rule over his own spirit
Is like a city broken down, without walls.”

And in another translation:

“Like a city that is open, and without any walls surrounding it,  is a man who cannot refrain his own spirit from speaking.”

 The reason this picture of self-control is so extreme is to emphasise its importance in our spiritual lives – or rather, our livesin general. For starters, in our daily lives, we constantly deceive ourselves into thinking we are in control proclaiming proudly things such as:

“I will not eat that donut.”

“I will not be distracted by social media while I try and complete this assignment/work task.”

“I will not honk at that person who cut me off.”

“I will not commit that one repeated sin I have been struggling so long to shake off.”

And many others, but you get the idea.

Biblically, the idea of self-control is prominent to say the absolute least. Indeed, in St Paul’s letter to the Galatians, it is the climactic fruit of the Spirit. The one he chooses to leave them with right at the end.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.” (Gal 5:22-23)

In his first letter to the Corinthians, St Paul warns those without self-control to marry saying:

“If they cannot exercise self-control, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.” (1 Cor. 7:9)

In fact, I would go as far to say that the idea of self-control formed the centre of St Paul’s thinking regarding the spiritual struggle which he addresses in Romans 7, saying:

“For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.  For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.” (Rom 7:15-20)

The picture he paints is one we are so accustomed to. It is so easy for us to fall into this repeated sin we have tried so long to shake off. However, even though ee try so hard to do good, we always seem to fall short. We fall short of praying at night when we come home tired from work. We fall short of loving our family and friends when they’ve done something to hurt us. We fall short of waking up early to attend the liturgy from the beginning, even though we prepared so well for it the night before. We fall short of helping our neighbour who is in need because well, “when have they ever done anything for me?” We are so used to falling short of being in control of our lives. So then, what is the solution?

When St Paul asked this very same question, before he had even given himself a chance to ponder it, he already knew the answer.

“O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Rom 7:24-25)

Through Christ. Christ is the only one who can save us from the wretchedness that is a lack of self-control. And so, our focus then should not be on achieving self-control. True control of self is to submit and allow ourselves to be Christ-controlled.

If we admit to him our weakness and give ourselves to the path He has made for us, only then will we become free of this struggle for self-control. True freedom is found in surrender.

And now, if we look back to our verse in Proverbs, we will discover something interesting. In the original Hebrew, the verse is not translated, ‘man is likea city.’ The word ‘like’ in the original Hebrew is absent – and so, the verse translated is:

“Whoever has no rule over his own spirit
Is a city broken down, without walls.”

We are the magnificent city with a flowing river, created by God to be a light amongst the nations. If we are to protect the city from vandals, we must build a strong wall, and that wall, is Christ. Though your heart may be the prince residing over the city, we must invite Him to be King. And if we surrender to His command, He will guard our kingdom and give his beloved city, the rest he yearns.

Meekness

Meekness

by Natalie Hanna 

Holding a newborn is not an easy task. If it’s your first time the mother will likely serve you a set of instructions and special conditions, if she could, she definitely would make you sign a liability contract- but somehow, someway, just by instinct, even the clueless know you have to handle a baby with precision and care.

If I ask you to recall your childhood trauma’s, I’m sure you’ll have quite a few stories to share, but amongst them is likely a look, or a whisper from your father after a traitorous act you dared to commit in public or directly after being told against. And surely you know from your time on earth that the ability to truly comfort a broken person is a SKILL only few have mastered- I bet you’re thinking of that one person who did that for you, pretty incredible that you were able to laugh at the end of the conversation aye?

Now think back to the last time you watched a talent show, is there not always a likeable quality about someone who performs brilliantly but still doesn’t know how good they are? Or do you prefer the nuisance that may also be talented but strides it each chance they get- I thought not.

When we witness someone handle a situation which deserves anger and gnashing of teeth with due care and diligence, overcoming it without overselling it, we are impressed- be it on a minor scale such as avoiding road rage, or on a major scale such as Paralympic Champions.

The overlooked qualities underlying these overlooked situations, and the focus of my discussion today are gentleness and meekness. I know, I too was itching to write strength. Interesting that gentleness and meekness can be demonstrated in conjunction with strength when they are often stereotyped as contradictory. When visualised through situations it may be evidenced that one’s alibility to compose themselves in gentleness, amidst chaos, and to maintain grounding in success is are admirable and difficult traits which form the foundation of more recognised traits such as strength and endurance.

C.S Lewis states in his book “Mere Christianity” that “the real job of every moral teacher is to keep on bringing us back, time after time, to the old simple principles which we are all so anxious not to see”, and I agree. I believe Jesus through His story, and through His message to us in the Bible came to clarify the things we already know to be good, but do not always recognise and adapt into our lives. And what better way to do that then to live among us, but act beyond our realm?

The king of kings and lord of lords chose to enter the world as a child – like you and me. But no, that would be a lie- that won’t cut it, our God likes a grand entrance, an entrance that would haunt generations and puzzle royalty for centuries to come.

Our God chose a manger, alongside animals and hay. What your mother, and mine would see as a story of dismay, He came to say, hey! There’s no good in display, flashy lights and a highway, for that won’t stay. Downplay, lift your eyes and pray- and that, that will never go away. And the Lord who sees in His secret place, He will reward us abundantly.

In case that wasn’t enough the vessel of his entrance, His mother and ours, St Mary was nothing but a handmaiden, a common girl with no apparent speciality or education. Our standards for high-end service would likely exclude her, but our God chose her. Likely, because she did all she could with the little she had, showing no pride or sympathy towards herself. And“henceforth, all generations shall call her blessed”(Luke 1: 48).

But our Father knew we were thick and needed more a hint, so this wasn’t his only grand entrance. At 30 years of age when Jesus began his formal mission, Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey. He had a bit of a reputation by this stage and it was time to stride it, so he chose his best donkey and a set of Palm leaves.  I don’t know about you but when it’s my birthday, or even if I attend a party I often think of my best outfit, but our King did not want that. He wanted the poor to empathize and the rich to recognise, that impact can still be made when you minimize, the show. Instead, He let His actions shine through.

Christians can easily recall the instances when Jesus intentionally lost his temper, at the fig tree and at the temple. This is because there were so very few of them. In all instances Christ remained gentle. He was gentle dealing with the Sinner woman when there was reason not to, he was gentle in asserting knowledge when traditions were broken and He continues to be gentle with us as He was with His disciples when they misunderstood parables and could not see solutions, explaining things via other means.

Through these situations we are able to see that gentleness and meekness is not reticence, compliance or lack of strength. Jesus did not shy away from persecution, arrests or floggings.Jesus was confident, persuasive, even confrontational at times, yet gentle because he used his powers for the greater Good. The same holds for us.  The gentle can be assertive, but they do not assert themselves. We can be strong and assertive, yet gentle if we leverage power not to assert self, but to promote the cause of God or the needy.

Through this, we are illuminated to the fact that true demonstration of meekness and gentleness is not a question is not how strong we are, but howwe use our strength. A silent strength which does not parade itself but rather promotes Good unapologetically. And it is in my view one of the most difficult challenges one can encounter.

But through Christ’s story, and many in the Bible, we are taught how- and furthermore, we already know it. In the back of our minds and enshrined in our conscious with admiration, fragility and restoration, we appreciate it. The harder end now, is to truly balance and apply it. I speak to myself more than anyone else – Be conscious, be diligent and best of luck!