kingdom – Upper Room Media Blogs

Upside Down Kingdom

By Monica

Originally seen on Becoming Fully Alive blog site, March 21, 2016

‘Do you fast? Give me proof of it by your works. If you see a poor man take pity on him…’ St John Chrysostom
As Orthodox believers are called to practice what we believe. If Orthodoxy means the ‘correct belief’ than Orthopraxy means ‘correct practice.’ This correct practice involves preaching by using our hands to serve. It means clearing the stench of economic division with the air of reconciliation. It means doing more than theorising. It means acknowledging the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit in the Church, and walking humbly – and boldly – into the thick darkness, so that we might proclaim freedom to the captives, and demand justice for the oppressed.

The thing about social justice is that it’s not “elsewhere,” it is here and it is a part of us. It is healing the wounds that we have created in the body of Christ. It is breaking every barrier that stops us being gathered together into the arms of Christ.

“How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!” (Luke 13:34)

Would you do honour to Christ’s body? Neglect Him not when naked; do not while here you honour Him with silken garments, neglect Him perishing without of cold and nakedness. For He that said, “This is my body,” and by His word confirmed the fact, This same said, “You saw me hungered, and fed me not;” and, “Inasmuch as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me (Matthew 25:42- 45).” For this indeed needs not coverings, but a pure soul; but that requires much attention.
-St. John Chrysostom Homily 50 on Matthew

In the story of Lazarus and the rich man (Luke 16:19-31), the rich man saw poverty and suffering around him, but he chose apathy. Maybe, he, like the priest who passed by the man in the story of the good Samaritan, was on his way to church or some service. Busying himself, he forgets to act justly. He forgets he is made for justice. Maybe in serving at the table of the Lord, we have forgotten to serve the table of the poor.

“When His table indeed is full of golden cups, but He perishes with hunger? First fill Him, being a hungered, and then abundantly deck out His table also. Do you make Him a cup of gold, while you give Him not a cup of cold water? And what is the profit? Do you furnish His table with cloths bespangled with gold, while to Himself you afford not even the necessary covering? And what good comes of it? For tell me, should you see one at a loss for necessary food, and omit appeasing his hunger, while you first overlaid his table with silver; would he indeed thank you, and not rather be indignant?” -St John Chrysostom, Homily 50 Matthew

The thing about social justice is that it is forgotten. We forget that working towards social justice is what it means to celebrate the liturgy on the streets.
When seeking the kingdom of heaven, let us remember that in the parable of the pearl, the pearl was not found in the clouds but amongst the dirt, hidden under rocks and soil (Matthew 13: 45-46). It takes getting your hands dirty to get it out; hidden behind the poor, the broken, the marginalised.

Do you desire greatness this lent, and in your spiritual life?

Jesus redefined it:

“he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves. For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as the One who serves.” (Luke 22:26-27)

We serve a God of an upside-down Kingdom where the meek will inherit, where those who serve are greater than those who sit on thrones, there is strength through weakness, exaltation through humility, receiving through giving, freedom from servitude.

Is this not the fast that I have chosen:
To loosen the bonds of wickedness,
To undo the heavy burdens,
To let the oppressed go free,
And that you break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry.
Isaiah 58:6

O Lord Jesus,
Let your upside-down kingdom come
Help us fast from injustice
Keep our eyes wide open to suffering
Help us flee from apathy

This post is dedicated to a friend in Jordan

Original blog available at- https://becomingfullyalive.com/upside-down-kingdom/

No Adults Allowed

No Adults Allowed

Adapted from a sermon by Fr Yacoub Magdy

Passage Matthew 18:1-9

The Lord makes a condition to be accepted into the kingdom of heaven – to become like little children. He further emphasises His point saying, “Assuredly, I say to you…”

We will by no means enter the Kingdom of Heaven unless we are first converted into little children (Matthew 18:2). It is not optional, it is a necessity. We must convert ourselves to the status of little children if we wish to enter the Kingdom.

There are some places that write children cannot enter, or there are age restrictions. In the Kingdom of Heaven, the restriction is the opposite – no adults allowed. Big heads and high positions have no place in the Kingdom.

For this reason, we must be converted, we must come back. The word return comes from the Greek word, metanoia, meaning to repent. To repent is to become a child once more and return to your Father’s arms.

For any servants of our church that gets married, I encourage them to invite their Sunday School kids to their wedding. Don’t follow the world that restricts children. In the church, we love to see children in the church and treating it like their own home. These are the angels we imitate to be accepted by God.

Many of the teachings of our Lord converted standard practices. Everyone thought that the rich were the blessed ones. In the famous sermon on the Mount, Jesus flips this around with the first beatitude that says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” The standards the world holds dear are different to the standards of our Lord. Now in the 21^st century, we accept this command, but think of those that heard it for the first time more than 2000 years ago. How could the poor be blessed? How could a child be the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?

St John Chrysostom once said that the poor don’t need the rich but the rich need the poor. I cannot arrive to the Kingdom without dealing with the poor. The poor do not need the rich because they have God to cater for their needs.

To the servants, I plead that you do not use the language of leadership. There are many courses under the title of, leadership. Our Lord Jesus Christ never claimed to be a leader but called Himself a Servant. In Sunday school, we use the title of, servant. We do not have leaders. Christ made it clear that if you want to be first, you must serve; “whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:26-28).

When St Augustine was bishop, he looked to those whom he served, he prayed, “Your servants, Lord, are my masters.” If we do not appreciate the weak, the poor and the children, then we have missed all of Christ’s teaching and we can have no share with Him.

When Christ washed His disciples’ feet, St Peter was astonished. How could the King of kings wash his feet? The Lord rebuked him and said it was a must; he could not be a part of Christ’s body unless Christ washed his feet; “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me” (John 13:8). The principle is in that the higher bows before the lower; the adults bow before the children. The concept lies within strength and weakness. But Christ teaches us that if we are not weak, we cannot receive strength from God. St Paul famously says, “Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Corinthians 12:9). The most powerful Hand of the Lord will rest upon the one who declares their own weakness.

“Who is the greatest in heaven,” was a question asked by the disciples that came about from the way they would sit around Christ. On the right hand of the King would sit the greatest, and the lesser moving around in a circle, till the least would sit on the left-hand side of Christ. The Lord didn’t like this concept and made it very clear that this kind of teaching was of the world and not of God. The one that is greatest is the one that bows before others. My location is at the feet of those whom I serve. If any servant accepts the service without putting themselves at the feet of those whom they serve, then they have no share with the Lord.

We learn from the kids whom we serve. We learn simplicity, we learn faith that does not waver, we learn to trust without question, we learn humility from the least of these. Children accept orders when they are given. Be careful not to grow too high in your own self-worth. In the ordination of a monk to a bishop, the monk to be ordained is carried in by two stronger monks and bishops, one on either side. Historically, the bishops would try to escape this role. They escape because of the longer journey that befalls them from the rank of bishop to come down to a child.

The higher the position, the longer the journey, for the Kingdom of Heaven only has places reserved for the children. Never let your position in the church elevate your status in your mind to anything above a child. Understand how valuable the little children are and how valuable their prayers are in the eyes of the Lord. When you need something from the Lord, let the little children intercede on your behalf and see the power of their prayers. When they pray, they pray honestly and in full faith of the God they are praying to. Let us learn from them and become like little children so that we may inherit the Kingdom of Heaven.

Many Mansions

Many Mansions

Adapted from a sermon by Fr Samuel Fanous

The Gospel provides us with a lovely image of death. Christ says “In my Father’s house there are many mansions.” This imagery is sometimes lost because he said this to poor fisherman, rather than the rich. Thus, it was something glorious for the people present. He gave them the perfect image of death. He said that everything that you longed for in life will be received at death. You will have it in the Father’s kingdom.

If we reflect on Christ’s references to death, most of them are joyful and positive. Very few are negative. The Kingdom of Heaven will be a glorious place. Christ attempts to inform the people that the Kingdom of God is a happy experience.

When people think about John’s Revelation, people think of the apocalypse and horror. But that in fact was not John’s focus. Rather, he aimed to provide a message of comfort to those who were in persecution. Upon close analysis, although it has scary imagery and judgements towards Rome and evildoers, it was a message of comfort to the believers.

“God will wipe away every tear.”

These are all messages of comfort. The messages of fear are those opposed to God. They are told to be fearful, the persecutors, the Jews. To His own people, he provides a message of hope, that there will be many mansions and will live comfort. Christ was portraying the perfect image for the people present during His sermon.

However, nowadays there is a changed perception towards death. One filled with fear and anxiety. Perhaps this is due to the ambiguity surrounding death. The unbelievers fear this greatly as they have no clue what to expect. What will happen after death? Where do we go? Thus, they choose to spend life not thinking about death, to focus on the present and ignore what is to inevitably come. However, we should not follow in this train of thought. We should be prepared. We must think of death often to come to the realisation that we should not fear death. What are we truly afraid of? Death is the gateway to Heaven. Why should we fear entering Christ’s Kingdom?

The day is coming for all of us. No one is exempt from encountering death. No matter a day from now or 50 years from now, it will come. To encounter that day in tranquillity and joy, we must change how we live today. If today was your last day on earth, what would you do? You must continually prepare yourself. That day will come, but will you be prepared?

? Full sermon ?

Do I qualify for the Kingdom of Heaven?

Do I qualify for the Kingdom of Heaven?

Adapted from a sermon by Fr Antonios Kaldas

If we look at Tuesday Morning of Pascha, the last Gospel introduces the theme of two different kinds of people who relate to God. We hear Jesus talking about the end of the world and He asks, “Who will be on my left and who will be on my right.”

The criteria Jesus gave for who will be on His left and who will be on His right says, “I was hungry, and you fed Me, I was sick, and you visited me, I was naked, and you clothed Me” (Matthew 25:36).

The gospel tells us it’s hard to judge who will be where. When we look at those who Jesus speaks to at the end of the world, do you think it would be easy to tell who fed the hungry, who visited the sick and who clothed the naked and who didn’t? When you look around yourself and look at other people in your day to day life, do you know who feeds the hungry? Do you know who has visited the sick? Do you know who has clothed the naked? Chances are, those that do, aren’t walking around boasting about it. We simply, do not know.

The Gospels of Wednesday help us to try and understand how a person qualifies to be at the right hand of Jesus. Not so that we can look at the people around us and say, “you’re going to heaven,” it is so we can look at ourselves and determine if we qualify for the Kingdom of Heaven. The first hour of the Gospels is about the marriage banquet, here there are two types of people, those are invited to the wedding feast and refuse and those who rejoice to attend the wedding feast of Christ.

The second Gospel was the coming of Christ, here we see two types of people again. Two men in the field, one to be taken and one to be left. “Watch their fall because you do not know what hour the Lord is coming” – which one of them qualifies for heaven?

The third Gospel speaks of the two groups of virgins. The five foolish virgins on the left – they weren’t ready and the five wise virgins – they were ready. The fourth Gospel then talks about the hypocrisy of the scribes and pharisees.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, ³⁰saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ ³¹Thus you witness against yourselves.” (Matthew 23:29-31)

These are the people who think they’re going to heaven.

I give God my 5 minutes of prayer, I pay my tithes. What do I have in my life that is important enough for me to rush my prayer? What is more important than giving God my attention when I speak to him? Our prayers tell us something about our relationship with God, our prayers in itself give us a glimpse of which group we fall into.

There are people who believe that God created us to love Him and there are people that believe we create God to love us. The first group says, I exist for God. God is the one who made me, without God I would not exist, He wants me to experience the Joy of love. Therefore, all I do is for God and anybody else. Then there is the other group where, they make up a god in their image and their likeness. He is a god that is kind and merciful and doesn’t mind the sins I am committing. They never feel they have any problems. The problem is, they haven’t met the real God.

We have to be awfully careful to not create our ‘fantasy’ god. The god who will give me everything I want. A god who must make my life very successful. We can’t lead our real God into what we want Him to do.

In the famous words of C.S Lewis, “He is not a tame lion.” We must not think he will come and lick our hands; He has a mind of His own. We are His servants, that is why we say “thy will be done” when we pray Our Father. There are no footnotes at the bottom of Our Father saying, “but let my will be Your will. Please Lord want what I want. Please Lord give me what I want.”

We must deal with the real God, not this fantasy god.

Judas, created a fantasy god. He created a fantasy Jesus. Judas didn’t like it when he had to face the real Jesus, the real Jesus, didn’t approve of his greediness. Ask yourself this question, “Are my thoughts, my motivations, my actions, my words motivated by care for myself or are they motivated by genuine and sincere care for God and my neighbour?”

In recent times, the Church has been tainted with Western ideas. We think of our relationship with God ultimately as standing before a judge. A judge in a “legal” sense where He has a law, He has witnesses of what we’ve done. If we’ve broken the law, we take our punishment. If we haven’t, we will meet Him in heaven.

The Orthodox view has a different emphasis. Those who are going to go to Heaven are those who live in Heaven on earth. It’s not going to be a matter of getting there and having your accounts checked. If we start to live in Heaven on earth, when we get to meet Jesus and ask “Lord, can I please go to heaven,” His answer will be “No, because you’re already in heaven”.

What does it mean to live in Heaven on earth? It is to live united with God while we’re here on earth. Heaven is not defined by a location or characteristic, it is defined by the presence of God.

We can create our own hell on earth by turning away from God. By turning into ourselves and not to God, we turn away from Our God who is everywhere. God has said to us, your soul and your heart is free, God does not force Himself upon us or into our heart. This is why in oneself; we can turn away from God. We become selfish and self-centred. The person who lives in hell on earth, goes up and stands in front of Christ and says “no, I don’t want to be with you. I prefer myself.” And Christ would say “okay, I won’t force you.”

So, as it turns out, it is not God who decides where we go. We choose ourselves. This is the free choice God has given to every one of us. The choices we make in our lives, makes us who we are in the end.

Let us ask ourselves:

Who am I? What kind of person am I? Who is the real person I am that nobody sees? Have I met with the real God, or am I dealing with my fantasy god?

“Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world”
Matthew 25:34

? Full Sermon ?

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