Upper Room Media Blogs

Seeing Christ in Others

By: Sarah F

Seeing Christ in others is an interesting ideology. Does it mean to perceive every individual that you come across as Christ? Is that even possible to see every individual as Christ? Some would say that there are individuals that represent the complete opposite of Christ! How then can we see Christ in them?

Each individual, regardless of whether they appear good or bad, has an innate desire for happiness. However, this yearning can only be fulfilled with Christ. Not everyone seeks the same way to fill this desire, some resort to Christ whilst others to worldly desires. Despite bearing on outward façade of contentment, internally people may be warring between themselves feeling a metaphorical sense of hunger or thirst, estrangement or nakedness, sickness and imprisonment.

In Mathew 25:35-50 Jesus says, ^{35 “}for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; ³⁶ I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.

³⁷ “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? ³⁸ When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? ³⁹ Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ ⁴⁰ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, in as much as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’

Christ is directly warning us that what we do to any individual we come across, we do to him. That is to say, regardless of the outward appearance, whether good or bad, religion or belief, parents or strangers, the way in which we treat people is a measure of how we treat Christ.

God asks of us to be filled with love in order to love and to see Him in others, however the only way to achieve this is to be filled with Him who is Love. This evident in Matthew 22:36-40

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”

³⁷ Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind’. ³⁸ This is the first and great commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself ‘.⁴⁰ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

Glory be to God, Amen

 

 

 

Hell

By: Shenouda Girgis

Talking about hell is a touchy topic and one that many people don’t delve too far into. To be honest, I didn’t know much about it before preparing for this blog. The study of hell is quite difficult to initiate- its oppressive, innately negative and lacks the lustre of delving into scripture or a juicy piece of theology. In short, studying it is a bit hard to justify. In fact, I could only nod my head in agreement in retrospect.

Imagine a person who says, “I don’t want to be friends with other people; I want to be alone,”…
they then take baby steps to sever themselves off from those around them…
and then eventually they take mammoth leaps to absolutely and decisively choose themself over all other people.
Then this is going to hell.

Said another way, the essence of sin is separation from God, the desire to achieve competency away from the divine. It is the urge to be self-sufficient, to be able to discern between good and evil apart from the Creator. Some call it self-righteousness. This is the ultimate denial of being a creature of God. Now, by correlation, sin and hell are the same thing, a separation from others and God. C.S. Lewis depicts hell in ‘The Great Divorce’ through a quiet, grey, overcast town where people keep moving further and further apart from each other.

An old saying is that one would choose ‘heaven for the climate but hell for the company’. This is a deplorable myth. Hell is boring and uneventful to the extreme. But then how can heaven be interesting or exciting if we are reclining on marshmallow clouds, dipping our golden fingers in pristine rivers and tuning our ever new silver harps? But let’s try to consider what it means for human beings to flourish. Just imagine what it would be like for yourself and for us as human beings to act together without the frictions and subtractions caused by sin. What potential? What excitement? What room for growth and prosperity? As St Paul says, “from glory to glory”; our limitations would be nullified, our potential limitless. C.S. Lewis leans forward on his Cambridge armchair and beckons, “Come further up, come further in!” (The Last Battle)

Townsville

Townsville, located in North Queensland, is currently home to 45 Coptic Orthodox students studying at James Cook University and 10 families. FOCUS JCU is a group that promotes fellowship and enables the youth to celebrate, cultivate and stay close to their Orthodox origins. The youth in Townsville gather for daily prayers as well as weekly Bible studies, yo
uth meetings, midnight praises and social outings. The words of David the Psalmist are indeed true, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” (Psalm 133:1)

As all drastic changes in life, living away from home is initially challenging but an undeniably rewarding experience. The greater sense of independence and responsibility prompts the youth to rely more on God as their Father who protects them and supplies all their needs. The youth cannot deny the significant spiritual, physical and social growth they undergo when living interstate.

Initially, when there were only a few students and families, a priest was flown up every 3-4 months to pray a mass in a hired college hall. However, over the last 4 years, God has blessed the congregation in number of ways and granted them their own church in 2012, St Mary and St George Coptic Orthodox Church. By the grace of God, the services have dramatically increased to meet the demands of the rapidly growing congregation. We are excited to announce that we have initiated discussions with builders to establish a multi-purpose function centre on church grounds for Sunday school, functions and a place of residence for priests visiting every fortnight.

Glory be to God Forever, Amen

The Holy Spirit

By: Monica Gerges

This Sunday marks the end of the Holy Fifty days after the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead; but as you are all likely aware, it also marks the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Holy Apostles and essentially, the birth of the Holy Church. The feast of the Pentecost is one of the major feasts of the Lord and although it signifies the end of the fifty gluttonous non-fasting days, it should also act as a reminder of, not only God’s abundant love for us shown through the sacrifice of His Son for our salvation but also that, as Christians, the Holy Spirit dwells and works within each of us.

Interestingly, the day of Pentecost and the gift of Holy Spirit to the Apostles from God un-coincidentally falls on the day that the nation of Israel received the 10 commandments from God on Mount Sinai and manifest the establishment of their covenant with God. The incarnation and crucifixion of the Son signified the beginning of the new covenant between God and his creation which was to replace the old Mosaic covenant. However, despite the new covenant beginning at the crucifixion, I don’t believe it was truly professed to the world until the day of Pentecost and as such, its declaration should provoke us to recall what the covenant Jesus established for us truly entails – love – and since Jesus is God and God is love, I’ll let him explain:

“Greater love has no man than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” (John 15:13)

Here, Jesus explicitly explains the greatest form of love and beyond this, He shows us this great love when He is hung on the cross for each of our sakes. In any case, giving up one’s life for a friend speaks volumes but the fact that the one and only, pure and blameless God humbled himself, was incarnated and took the form of man just to lay down his life for you and I is something I find completely incomprehensible.

“You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven: for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” (Matthew 5:43-45)

Again, Jesus give an instruction and leads by example when he says “Forgive them Father for they know not what they do?” (Luke 23:34) as He was on the cross. This too is one of the greatest displays of love; Jesus’ love for those who crucified Him was so fierce that He not only asks for their forgiveness but excuses them of their sins. This is the extent of God’s love for us! He chose, by His own will, to come and save us from our sins and despite the fact that we fail to please Him time and time again His love for us never dwindles or fails. He gives us hope that, despite our weaknesses and our imperfections we are strengthened and purified through Him. And though the affliction of sin may be heavy, we will always find rest in Him.

This is the message of the new covenant established by Jesus on the cross and finally proclaimed on the day of Pentecost. For the Jews, the feast of the Pentecost commemorates the establishment of their covenant with God, but for us it signifies the replacement of one covenant with a better one – a one where salvation and eternal life is already won, where forgiveness is unbounded and love is infinite.

From the day of the ascension to the day of Pentecost, the Apostles waited in prayer and prepared themselves for the coming of the Holy Spirit. St Isaac the Syrian says:

“The power to bear Mysteries, which the humble man has received, which makes him perfect in every virtue without toil, this is the very power which the blessed apostles received in the form of fire. For its sake the Saviour commanded them not to leave Jerusalem until they should receive power from on high, that is to say, the Paraclete, which, being interpreted, is the Spirit of consolation. And this is the Spirit of divine visions. Concerning this it is said in divine Scripture: ‘Mysteries are revealed to the humble’ [Ecclus 3:19]. The humble are accounted worthy of receiving in themselves this Spirit of revelations Who teaches mysteries.”

So we see that for the Holy Spirit to truly dwell within the apostles, they had to reflect Christ in both humility and purity. Likewise, we too aim to purify and humble ourselves this Sunday in preparation for the coming of the Holy Spirit. (It’s important to mention that the Holy Spirit already dwells in those who have been baptised and the feast of the Pentecost can be considered more a resurgence of the Spirit within us.)

The Church in her wisdom has appointed for us the Prostration prayer to be prayed following the Divine Liturgy on Sunday. After the purification of our hearts by the Divine Liturgy we are physically humbled in prostration, the combination of which provides optimal conditions for the revival of the presence of the Holy Spirit within us. The prostration prayer is made up of 3 prostrations, one for each member of the Holy Trinity. This, in some ways, is comparable to the sacrament of baptism which involves 3 immersions into water, one for each member of the Holy Trinity. This similarity is significant because it is during the sacrament of baptism that the Holy Spirit comes and dwells in the individual and hence the prostration prayer itself is an imitation of the Holy sacrament of Baptist. So let us be imitations of Christ that the Holy Spirit may work in us as it did in the Holy Apostles that we may be lights unto the world.

Glory be to God forever. Amen

The Lost Sheep

By: Catherine Girgis

Have you ever felt a little out of place in social situations? Just standing there awkwardly, hoping someone will involve you in a conversation. If this is you, know that you are not alone. Although our church is filled with wonderful youth, sometimes it’s hard to fit in. You wonder whether they will even notice if you’re there or not; but this is your first mistake.

The reason for our presence in church is often lost amongst all the social aspects.

Is there ever a time where you have skipped the mass and come to church after, just to hang out with friends or attend an outing?

Ever skipped the talk at youth meeting and come for the gathering?

Many of us are guilty of forgetting the real reason we come to church – to communicate with our heavenly Father, and to gain insight into the life we should be living. If this were the real reason we were coming to church, then no matter how hard it can be to feel unwanted, we would still stay because we know we are wanted by the Lord.

Have you noticed someone just disappear from the church community? Someone you barely see anymore? Now I urge you to think, did this person ever seem uncomfortable or unwelcome? I am asking this not because I expect you to be always focusing on how others feel (although this is something we should always be aiming for) but because when people become distant, there is quite often a reason which they were trying to share but you may have missed the signs completely.

A lot of people like to play the blame game as to why these people have strayed, but the important thing to note, is that as Christians we are called to search for the lost sheep, not place blame for why they are lost in the first place. If we are being totally honest with ourselves, there are two parties to blame for our youth going astray – us and them.

I know how difficult it can be to feel left out and unwanted, but this is where we are blinded by the world.

We are never truly left out or unwanted in church because it is the house of God – the One and Only who is always seeking you out, who will never make you feel like a burden or unwanted, but quite the opposite.

He so desperately wants us and yet we, when we feel left out among our earthly friends, leave the only One who we truly know always wants our company, by avoiding the church completely. Look at it this way, when you love a group of people and you don’t feel this love back, it hurts. But this is what we are always doing to our Heavenly Father – no matter how great we may think we are, we are human. We sin, and sin is both unloving and rejecting of the love we most definitely don’t deserve.

I urge you, no matter how left out you feel to come to Christ and you will feel a love like no other – one that never fades. No matter how unchristian you may think the Christians around you are, come to Christ for He is perfect and the One we should be aiming for.

To those of you who feel comfortable in the social life of the church, this is a blessing which you should not take for granted, but I ask you this – do you think Christ would be happy that you are the stumbling block which leads people astray?

This may seem harsh to say but if we are being truthful, most of the time this is the case. I know it seems unreasonable to always be worrying about who is left out and who feels unwelcome, but this is precisely what Christ wants us to do. I can guarantee you it will be much more enjoyable to be in the company of friends; but we are we really called to live a life of comfort, or rather a life of sacrifice?

I tell you this not so that you serve without love, because if you serve without love it would be better not to serve at all. People who initially feel left out, will not feel more welcome but rather more of a burden, if we serve without love. I urge you instead to truly show interest in this person, and truly try to make them feel comfortable. Introduce them to others, include them in your conversations – after all Christ came for the sick, and we must follow in His footsteps and truly serve those in need.

So if you are feeling excluded – pray that the Lord may give you the comfort of His inclusive family, and that you may feel His love always. And if you feel included – pray that the Lord may give you the wisdom to be able to serve those who don’t, so that you may partake in His world, and truly be a part of His family.

Glory be to God, Amen

Ascension

By Mina Shehata

Little attention is given to the ascension of Christ. It is often overshadowed by the Incarnation, Death, and Resurrection of Christ, and eclipsed by the present workings and future Second Coming of Christ. Celebrated in our ravenous post-“seyami” (fasting) agenda after the Feast of the Resurrection, it typically comes and goes and we are still munching on our Tim Tams; planning how to best gluttonize ourselves in our final days of non-fasting…

Saint Augustine of Hippo once said:

“the ascension is a festival which confirms the grace of all the festivals together, without which the profitableness of every festival would have perished. For unless the Saviour had ascended into heaven, his Nativity would have come to nothing … and his Passion would have born no fruit for us, and his most holy Resurrection would have been useless.”

Hold up. Let’s re-read that again.

Is St Augustine really saying that without the Ascension, Christ’s birth and death are “nothing” and “useless”?!

Clearly, there’s a dichotomy between the way we treat this major feast, and the way the Church views it!

Before we begin exploring it, I pose the question, “How many days after the Resurrection did the Ascension occur?”

“40 days… that’s a no brainer!” would be the typical response.

But are you sure?

Let’s explore.

Three passages of Scripture (John, Luke and Acts) best express this historic event.

John 20: 17-26 (set on the day of the Resurrection) states:

“Jesus said to her [Mary Magdalene], “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God… Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.”

Interestingly, the word “ascend” is used in the present tense. Was Christ at that very moment in the process of His ascension, with Mary Magdalene retaining Him?

Bearing in mind that Thomas was not with the disciples when Christ appeared to them, let’s continue reading:

“And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!”

More questions rouse interest. Where was Jesus in these eight days? Wasn’t He ascending a week ago? Why does Christ permit Thomas to touch Him, but not Mary as He is “ascending”? Is it because Christ had already ascended by the time Thomas met Him?

So I’m praying that these questions made you go back and re-read the passage (bonus points if you opened up the chapter!). Although we can’t adequately address any of these questions just yet, we get the impression that John almost portrays Christ as ascending on the VERY day of the Resurrection.

As strange as this sounds, this unity between the Resurrection and Ascension is not as foreign to our Church as you might think. Up until the 4^th century, the early Church celebrated the Resurrection and Ascension as one feast (that’s right, for approximately 300 years!). In fact, the entire 50 days between the Resurrection of Christ and the Pentecost was the celebration of both the Resurrection and Ascension feasts. The early Church saw these events as one process and one movement for our salvation.

Before you dismiss this connection as fastidious, let’s turn to Luke’s account^] (Lk 24: 13- 52):

“13 Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day [day of Resurrection] to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem… So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. 16 But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him… Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight…33 So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, “Peace to you.”… 50 And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. 51 Now it came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven. 52 And they worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, 53 and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God. Amen.”

Note, that the events of this passage all occur in the same day! Analogously to John’s account, Luke says that the Resurrection was on the same day as the Ascension – it’s just made more explicitly!

Lastly, let’s examine our final account of the ascension, Acts 1: 1-9.

“The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, 2 until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, 3 to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God… Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.

Here we read of the renowned 40 days. It’s worthwhile remembering that the book of Acts was written by Luke, the author of the gospel of Luke (whom we just read our second passage from). So how can Luke in his gospel say that Christ ascended the very day of his Resurrection, while in Acts it says it occurred 40 days later? It’s the same author?!

How do we reconcile all of this?

Is there a contradiction?

No!

Father Daniel Fanous insists that in reality we’re looking at three different events that illustrate the active continual process of the Ascension. What does that mean?

When Christ tells Mary Magdalene that “I’m ascending to my father” it’s truly because He ascends then. When Christ meets Thomas eight days later, He truly descends before then to meet and strengthen our “doubting” brother Thomas. This ascending and descending process continues throughout the 40 days – almost as if Christ is bringing the grace of Heaven to earth, and earth to Heaven; paving the way for humanity to partake of Him. And at the end of the 40 days, Christ ascends for the final and complete ascension.

St John Chrysostom comments on this final ascension on the fortieth day, saying:

“On this day all mankind was restored to God, the long warfare and prolonged estrangement was ended”.

Quite often we believe that the resurrection was the summit and completion of salvation, however St John Chrysostom points out that this was a process that was completed at the Ascension. Thus, the Ascension does something drastic for us; it marks the entrance of resurrected humanity in Heaven.

We see that while the incarnation meant the self-humiliation, self-renunciation, and self-abnegation (Phil. 2:5-11) of Christ, the ascension into heaven was the removal of these restricting factors and the resumption of that fullness of glory before the Incarnation. The Ascension was undoubtedly an important event in the life of Christ marking the conclusion of His earthly ministry, and the opportunity for the permanent descent of the Holy Spirit for all humanity thereafter.

St John Chrysostom continues:

“We are not worthy of even earthly dignity, but we now ascend with Christ to a Heavenly Kingdom…we in Him are also raised to Heaven”.

Coupled with verses such as John 14:3, “I [Christ] go and prepare a place for you [disciples]”, Christ illustrates that not only does His ascension highlight His divine status, but by extension allows and invites us to join and partake of Him in this glory.

St Cyril of Alexandria beautifully summarises the Ascension in:

“Having blessed them and gone ahead a little, he was carried up into Heaven so that he might share the Father’s throne even with the flesh that was united to Him”

No discussion of the Ascension is complete without realizing its ties to us here and now, that is, in the Eucharist. For in the Liturgy, the Church with Jesus becomes a community of ascension and oblation, sharing in His heavenly offering to the Father, and manifesting the Spirit who reorganizes created reality around Him. It is in the Eucharist that we witness what actually happened in the Ascension – namely the entire cosmos becoming fundamentally reordered, sanctified and taken up to Heaven to God the Father in Christ.

Taken as a whole, the prayer of the Church is therefore a continual ascent of man towards intimacy with God, a procession upwards in the steps of Jesus the Forerunner, towards the Father. This ascension culminates in the divinization of human nature, not only in the life beyond but here and now. The climax of this divinization is the Eucharistic communion in which we partake of God Himself as he transforms us through this union with Himself.

This mystery of ascending to God can be experienced here and now! Cease this opportunity! Turn to Him with repentance. Don’t forget that!

May we always “lift up our hearts” to the Lord earnestly.

Glory be to God.

Appendix

This pattern of ascending and descending is not novel to the student of the Old Testament. Throughout the Bible we see this underlying motif e.g. Adam and Eve living in an open horizon of divine blessings in the Garden of Eden, however because of their disobedience they were cast out and lived with their progeny in the plains below, in the “land of sepulture” (as referred to by St Irenaeus). A single righteous man through God rescued a wicked nation on the spiritual decline, by being carried in the ark “high above the earth” (Gen 7:17) for forty days. Abram is called from Ur of Chaldees into the hills of Canaan for the renewal of a divine promise for only many generations later to go down to the plains of the Nile to suffer there in Egypt for centuries in servitude. Brought out again by the mighty hand of God having passed through the deep of the Red Sea on dry ground, Moses ascends to the peak of the mountain to the glory of God. Down below the people dance round their golden fertility god, and waste away in the desert. Not until Yahweh establishes on Mount Zion the throne of David, does it begin to seem that the cherubim might at last drop their guard, for Eden to reappear: “Lift up your heads, O you gates be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in” (Ps 2). The story continues: David covets Bathsheba from the vantage point of the palace’s rooftop garden, ending with the sack of Jerusalem by the Babylonians and a return to the floodplains of Shinar. Afterwards under the benevolent Persian regime, a tiny pilgrimage led by Nehemiah ascends Zion once more to restore the walls of Jerusalem and its temple to Yahweh. Then comes a man, the new Adam, the new humanity, who humbles and empties Himself to the extent of taking on our flesh, so that He could complete what was promised long ago. He is seen “coming with the clouds of heaven” (Mark 14:62) to eventually be “seated at the right hand side of the Father” (Mark 16:19)[1].

[1] Farrow, Douglas. Ascension Theology. London: T & T Clark, 2011. Print.

Tools for prayer

By: Dina Abdelmalek

When asked what virtue requires the greatest effort, one of the desert fathers answered and said “I think there is no labour greater than that of prayer to God. For every time a man wants to pray, his enemies, the demons, want to prevent him, for they know that it is only by turning him from prayer that they can hinder his journey. Whatever good work a man undertakes, if he perseveres in it, he will attain rest. But prayer is warfare to the last breath.”

I don’t know about you, but when I read that, it was quite comforting! I’m glad that the heavies also struggled with prayer. There are so many times where I just don’t feel like praying, or when I do, I don’t know what to say, or I get distracted, but as I read what the church fathers had to say on prayer, I found out that that was okay! We’re meant to struggle, but we have to force ourselves to pray. In fact, The Holy Fathers say that prayer with force is higher than prayer unforced!

Thankfully, we have many tools for prayer and so I’m going to write about a few.

Tool 1. Preparation

Although we seem to make preparations for every other task, we do not prepare for prayer. We take up prayer with our hearts and minds unprepared, with our thoughts and feelings scattered. We need to prepare for prayer! Preparation is a critical tool for success in our prayers. It is the beginning of prayer and “a good beginning is half the work”.

To prepare for prayer we should firstly designate a prayer space, a space free from all distractions. St Theophan then suggests standing for a moment, or kneeling before our prayer space and striving in this time to focus our thoughts and to call to mind the One to Whom we are praying. As we stand before Him, we need to awaken in our souls a sense of reverent awe, having a conviction that God is looking at us, that he is looking at our mind and at our hearts, and that His reward is in His hand.

During this time, we need to reject any sort of resentment we hold in our hearts “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him…” Mark 11:25. We need to detach our hearts from the world, to allow it to be lifted to God through our prayers.

Finally, we need to re-establish our sense of spiritual need, to remember our helplessness and our weakness: were it not for God and His infinite grace, we would most definitely be lost. This will force us to cry out to God in our prayers. We won’t put prayer off, we won’t let our thoughts slide so easily and we won’t let ourselves be distracted, but rather we’ll be pouring ourselves before God.

Tool 2. The Bible-The Psalms

There is no doubt that the Bible is one of the greatest tools in our prayer life. One way we can use the Bible is through the book of psalms. The book of psalms is such a beautiful treasure, in it we find a fit form of divinely inspired words to use in our prayers to address God on each and every one of life’s occasions, words both of repentance and of praise, of thankfulness and of petition, of sorrow and of joy. This makes the psalms one of the BEST tools for prayer. For we can take the words of the psalms upon our lips claiming them as our own. We can offer the words of the psalms to God as our own heart’s utterance, just as though we ourselves have made them up.

The church in its infinite wisdom has given us the Agpeya- a book of prayers compiled nearly entirely from the psalms. When we don’t read it hurriedly, when we pay attention to every word and we let the meaning of each word pierce our hearts, it transforms our prayer life. For example, in psalm 51, when we read “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin” we should let those words pierce our hearts, trying to really feel our sins, our stains and having felt our dirtiness we should then cry out to God in prayer to cleanse us.

Tool 3. The Bible-Bible stories

“The study of words should give place to an immediate dialogue with the living Word himself”- Bishop Kallistos Ware

Another way the Bible is used as a tool for prayer is when we use the stories in the Bible in our prayer. Let me explain myself by giving you a couple of simple examples. When we read the story of the Samaritan woman in John 4, we read “But He NEEDED to go through Samaria”. Jesus elected to go directly through Samaria. So basically, Jesus sought the Samaritan woman out! He sat at Jacob’s Well and waited for her to come for water, knowing that she would. We can use this story when we stand before God in prayer, we can say to Him “Lord, You sought after the Samaritan woman and enlightened her mind, seek after me also, seek after me and enlighten my mind”. In Mark 9:24, when we read the father of the mute child cry out to God “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief”, we shouldn’t just read over that and continue with the rest of the chapter, we should lift up our hearts as we read those words and cry out to God to also help our unbelief and to continue to do so whenever we pray.

Tool 4. The Bible- God’s promises

Another way the Bible is used as a tool for prayer is by reiterating before God the words of His promises. The church fathers say it is difficult for a man to enter upon a fervent and true prayer with God without doing so. Again, I’ll give an example of what I mean: In Mathew 11:28 Christ says “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” So when we do find ourselves weary and weighed down, we can come to God and say “Lord, You said to come to You when we are heavy laden and You will give us rest, I’m tired, give me rest, give me the rest that You promised”.

Tool 5. Simplicity

The final tool for prayer is to pray simply. Sometimes we feel like we need to make our prayers long, and so we talk excessively in our prayers not realizing that it is better to pray little but often! One of my favourite quotes on prayer is by Elder Macarius of Optina, he says “Pray Simply. Do not expect to find in your heart any remarkable gift of prayer. Consider yourself unworthy of it-then you will find peace. Use the empty, cold dryness of your prayer as food for your humility. Repeat constantly: “I am not worthy, Lord, I am not worthy!” But say it calmly, without agitation. This humble prayer will be acceptable to God. So we need to pray in all simplicity and remember that “One word-from the publican sufficed to placate God, and a single utterance saved the thief” -St John Climacus

I’ll end by saying that true prayer will never be achieved by human efforts alone. In the words of St. Macarius of Egypt: “Prayer is a gift of God, an act of divine grace. Therefore, in your prayer for all other things, do not forget to pray too about prayer.”

 

Whom are you Seeking?

By: Andro Bosse

You have been serving the house of the Lord for a long time.
But have you been serving the Lord of the house?

Christianity is a faith characterised by preaching, but you can say it was spread more through role-models than sermons and teachings. Growing up in the church, we were always told that you cannot call yourself a Christian if you do not serve – if you do not have some sort of service. We read in 1 Corinthians 8:1 “love edifies” so we know that service is not only limited to formal roles and teaching; it is strongly connected to love and therefore all of us are invited to this life of serving.

Friedrich Nietzsche, a famous philosopher, once stated “If you want me to believe in your Redeemer, then you’ve got to look a lot more redeemed.” How you might ask? Fr. Bishoy Kamel once said, “People don’t need to hear about Christ any more, they have heard enough. They rather need to see Christ in us.” If we love someone, the best way to honour them is to use their example. Many people love Pope Kyrillos VI yet very few follow his example, his life of discipline and self-denial. We are called to be servants in the example of the true Servant Christ as St. John of Kronstadt says, “the Lord has become everything for you, and so you must become everything for the Lord.”

Many of us have heard or experienced the huge blessings that come from serving. Yet can service itself be a hindrance to the spiritual life? One of the spiritual fathers said, “You spent your whole life serving the Lord’s house, when will you serve the Lord of the house?” What does this mean? Do we sometimes miss the aim? In Hebrews 3:3 we read the verse “He who built the house has more honour than the house.” Notice that both of the above references do not condemn the service pertaining to the Lord, yet they point to the true purpose of the service – the Lord of the house. This reminds us of Mary and Martha and the war of busyness which fought Martha, with Christ eventually telling her “You are worried and troubled about many things; but one thing is needed.” – Luke 10:41, and this still exists to this present time where we do the same thing. We are sometimes like the Shulamite woman who used to say, “my beloved is mine and I am his.” (Songs 2:16). Yet when she matured in her spirituality she reversed the role, she said, “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine.” (Songs 6:3). We belong to the Lord of the House – the House of the Lord does not belong to us.

So what does God really want? One of the fathers says that everything we do, should be “in Him, through Him, with Him and for Him – the aim is Christ” Fr. Daoud Lamei in one of his sermons jokingly suggested that the Samaritan woman could easily have been a Coptic woman, she asked Him silly questions – ‘Should we worship on this mountain or over there?’ The same with us, “Are these biscuits fasting or not? If I can’t fast until 2pm can I fast until 12pm.” These questions miss that the aim of everything we do is to attain the one-on-one relationship with Him as the Lord responds to her; “the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.” The Lord also in Isaiah 66 hints to us what He is really seeking from serving Him when He says, “Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest? For all those things My hand has made, and all those things exist,” says the Lord. “But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word.” It’s as if the Lord is telling us that ‘there is nothing you can do that I cannot do, everything is Mine – I just want you and your heart.” The Lord also says to one of the kings of Judah “because your heart was tender…” (2 Kings 22:18). How cool is that, the criteria with God is simply a tender heart.

Well you might ask, what is wrong if I serve the House of the Lord? Especially if I serve it ‘heartily to the Lord and not to man.’ Is that not a good thing? Well the answer is yes, it is a very good thing. Even the Lord Himself served the House, when He overturned the tables of the money changers it was said, “Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up.” Also in Acts 6 we find men who ‘were full of the Holy Spirit” serving tables. I think the difference is that this service came as a result of knowing Him, it came after being filled with Him. I remember when one of the priests here at St Mark’s church was being ordained, he said one piece of advice he received was that his time should be split 2 to 1 – every hour of service should be accompanied with two hours of prayer/personal spiritual time. So it is knowing Him, not necessarily knowing about Him. It is a scary thought that the disciples who spent 3 years with Him did not know Him. On the night of His betrayal they all fled and left Him knowing not that He could bring “legions of angels” to protect Him. When the soldiers came to Him with a crowd having soldiers and clubs, He said to them, “Whom are you seeking?” Let this question be for all of us when we serve, ‘whom are you seeking?’ I was fortunate to have spent some few years studying interstate with a big group of youth. During this time, I can really say that I knew them very well, yet with the Lord how is it that we spend all this time in His house and still do not know Him? The Lord says this verse to His disciples but I feel like He is also speaking to us; “Do you not yet perceive nor understand? Is your heart still hardened? Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? (Mark 8:17).

I love the ministry of John the Baptist and how he was commissioned by the Lord. When the people said to him ‘who are you?’ he knew who he was! He quoted to them an Old Testament verse about himself! “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness…” (Isaiah 40:3). He was chosen by the Lord of the house for a specific role, he did not serve on his own accord. How about us? Do we serve on our own accord? Look at Pope Kyrillos VI who ran away from everything who said “I would have loved to live as a stranger on the earth”, the motto of his life which he used to hang on his door; “forsake worldly pleasures, and God will love you. Renounce what people possess in their hands, and people will love you.” So we see that even letting go of ‘self-appointed’ service which we may be doing to fill a void of boredom or to feel good about our self, we see that when we give it up then the Lord really chases us with His will, with true service. The desert fathers used to advise their children saying, “Refuse any virtue which the devil offers with the intention of destroying another virtue which you have, and say to them,

‘This virtue is good, but for the sake of God I do not want it.’“

One time I asked one of the well-known servants in the Church to help MC a certain church event. He declined, and his response was very touching; “I have had enough taking credit for services I am not involved in.”

St. Seraphim of Sarov says, “the true aim of our Christian life consists of the acquisition of the Holy Spirit of God. As for fasts, and vigils, and prayer, and almsgiving, and every good deed done for Christ’s sake, they are only means of acquiring the Holy Spirit of God. Mark my words, only good deeds done for Christ’s sake brings us the fruits of the Holy Spirit. All that is not done for Christ’s sake, even though it be good, brings neither reward in the future life nor the grace of God in this life.” One of the common phrases that the prophets used to say was, “as the Lord lives, before whom I stand.” They knew whom they served. It should be the same with us. Let us not count it as a day lived or as service if there was no encounter with the Lord. Let us remember that the Lord can say to us, “I do not know you.” (Luke 13:27). Also the devil can mock us by saying, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?” (Acts 19:15).

The question is, how do we know if we serve the Lord of the House? The answer is if we have a desire to spend time with Him alone. Pope Shenouda III says, “It is amazing how many people prefer service more than prayer. And reading more than prayer. And contemplation more than prayer. And attending religious gatherings more than prayer. That is why they fail in their relationship with God. They therefore pray, read, have a service and attend their meetings, but are separated from God. There is no relationship.” So our prayer life should be our service to Him. A servant once answered someone who asked him; “How long have you been preparing for this sermon?” And he answered “40 years”, i.e. all his personal experiences during the past 40 years of his life. So we see that what we do in our rooms in private affects the thousands around us, this is how we serve the Lord of the House. On the contrary if we, like Jonah the prophet and the older brother in the story of the prodigal son, become upset when others come back to God or when they find favour in the eyes of God, then how can we say that we truly serve Him? We need to pray with King David, “Enlarge my heart” (Psalm 119:32) & with Sir Francis Drake; “Disturb us O Lord when we are so comfortable with ourselves.”

In conclusion it is good to mention that this topic needs wisdom and discretion along with our confession father. Yet it is safe to say that the best way to serve the Lord of the House is to know Him and to be fixed with Him. When we know Him we know love (because God is love), we know wisdom, we know everything. Let us remember that the most powerful people living in the world today are the ones who can move the hand of God in prayer, when they pray, God listens to them. It is interesting to note that St. Augustine mentions that a priest lying on his sick bed, may be more effective in his service than with all his preaching. With this in mind, let us pray and aspire to be like this and let us say with Pope Kyrillos VI, “Let us disappear so that God can become manifested in His glory.”

 

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“Dying Daily through the Resurrection”

By: Sherry Mikhail

Christ is Risen! Trampling down death by His death!

“I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.” (1 Corinthians 15:31) First let us start by noting that this verse does not say “I die daily in times of fasting” or “in times of want” it just says “daily”. Thus, there is no limitation to the time dedicated to this calling.

During the Holy Pascha Week, the Church teaches us to delve intensely into communal Pascha prayers consisting of readings, prayer and praise. It’s a time for contemplation and for sharing in the sufferings of Christ, eventually leading to the Cross. The Great Lent is the long lead up to this one, Holy week that the church highly anticipates from year to year. And so, we live this week spending every moment sitting under the Cross of Christ whilst seeing the church dressed in black; hearing the Word through the Old Testament prophecies and their precise fulfilment in the Gospels; tasting as we partake of the Eucharist on Holy Thursday; smelling the incense and worshipping via prostrations and strict fasting. By the end of the week, we are finally met with the Glorious feast of the Resurrection of Christ, or rather, our own Resurrection in Christ as we are fully transformed.

Death was defeated on the Cross, and manifested in the new life of the Resurrection. “Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” (Romans 6:4)

On the Glorious feast of the Resurrection, we are transformed as we continue with the presence of the Church in us. For the following 50 days, the church is draped in white, the hymns sung are joyful, and the church ceases from fasting and prostrations. A festive procession for the Resurrection takes place on each day leading to Pentecost. And so, all year round the Orthodox Church, in its wisdom, engages us as a whole person in worship through our senses.

Although the church radiates joyfulness in the Resurrection and most noticeably when fasting has ceased, we often overlook our continued need to be fed spiritually. In saying this, let’s not forget the Lord’s prayer; “Give us this day our daily bread” referring here to the ‘Bread of Life’ that is, Christ and His Kingdom.

To be Christ-like means to die on the Cross. Let us die with Him. Dying to all that is of this world in order not to hear His rebuke “get thee behind me, Satan!” (Luke 4:8)

Some things that we have learnt from the journey of Great Lent and Holy week can be extended into the Holy 50 days with adjustments to suit the joyful spirit the Church has set out for us. Just because we have ceased fasting for the coming season does not mean that we may begin to succumb to our laziness. One such exercise that could help may be that when we step into the church, just as we did during Holy Week, we can attempt to free our minds and to enter church with clear goals set so that we may be focused in our prayers. More so, we may continue to bring our problems to the altar, leaving it there knowing confidently that the Lord will take care of it.

Our laziness may be due to another issue. It could be because of the way we consume food, which plays a huge role in our lives, with the Church identifying this in the way it prescribes fasting. Therefore, it is ideal to still consider our eating habits. Continuing to eat reasonable portions is an excellent idea because, let’s not deny it, gluttony is still a sin. We need to be eating according to what our body and health accepts, keeping in mind any health restrictions keeping us from consuming certain foods. We are still called to be both reasonable and sensible in taking care of our bodies. “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). It is likewise valid to add that “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4)

The Church doesn’t call us to ‘take a break’ from Sunday Liturgies or other spiritual activities otherwise the church itself would’ve taken a few weeks off. The church continues again on Easter Monday commemorating The Road to Emmaus where “He was made known to them in the breaking of Bread” (Luke 24:35). So, let us commune with the Life-Giving Body and Blood of our Risen Lord, who through our union with Him and through the light of His knowledge abides in us and grants us eternal life.

As we can recall, there is a lot of emphasis on the Sunday’s of Lent, but in fact it is still important to understand that the Sunday Gospels during the Holy 50 days are also highly relevant. The first Sunday after the Resurrection, ‘Thomas Sunday’, is so significant that it is considered as one of the Minor Feasts of the Lord unlike any other Sunday in the year (besides Palm Sunday being a Major Feast). Likewise, the Sunday readings during this period are commonly referred to as the “I ams…”, in other words, Christ reveals that His Person is the life, way, truth, water, bread etc. For example, “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35); “the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:13); “I am the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6); “I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness.” (Jn. 12:46).

Furthermore, as mentioned previously, the church does not call any of us to idleness during this season; it is therefore the best idea to keep on reading our bibles and praying from our Agpeyas daily. How else do we enjoy the Resurrection if we do not die daily with Him only to rise again as we wake up every morning in prayer and thanksgiving?

How then can we say that the best proof of the Resurrection is the living Church if we do not immerse ourselves in the teachings and practices the Church is setting out for us? If time allows, let us also pick up a good spiritual book that can further our eagerness to live the resurrection.

“And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty.” (1 Corinthians 15:14). St John Chrysostom says the following; ‘Although what followed in due course would have been, “but if Christ is not risen, you fight against things evident, and against so many prophets, and the truth of facts;” nevertheless he states what is much more fearful to them: “then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty.” For he wishes to shake thoroughly their mind: “we have lost all,” says he, “all is over, if He is not risen.” See how great is the mystery of the economy? For thus: if after death He could not rise again, neither is sin loosed nor death taken away nor the curse removed. Yea, and not only have we preached in vain, but you also have believed in vain.’

Let us be joyful in Christ in a way that cannot be taken from us! Let our soul be joyful in the Heavenly Bridegroom and say with the Shulamite of the Song of Solomon, “I am my beloved’s and my beloved’s mine…When I found the one I love, I held him and would not let him go, until I had brought him to the house of my mother and into the chamber of her who conceived me (the Church).” (Song of Solomon 6:3, 3:4)