Be Transfigured - Live a New Life in Christ

[Лапис Лазули]

Christmas Has to Mean Something

 

More than half of all Americans consider Christmas a “cultural experience” rather than a religious holiday. We all know at least one person, maybe even a family member, that considers Christmas just about decorations, gifts and a big family dinner. But if the God Who created the universe really became a human on this day we call Christmas, then that has to mean something. Calling God our savior is more than just a few words. If He came to save us, we have to want to be saved. If Christmas is just another day for family to gather around the dinner table, then it isn’t Christmas. Something so significant and life changing – life saving – as God becoming a baby has to mean something.

 

Sjajna beseda!

[Иван Ивковић]

Story Time with Fr Athanasios - Twas the Night before Christmas

 

Each year at the end of the Christmas Eve Vesporal Liturgy, we gather the children and read the long-time favorite before sending the children off to see Santa Claus. Christ is Born; Glorify Him!

 

[Иван Ивковић]

Two Ways of Responding to the Good News

 

When we hear the Good News of Christmas, we get to choose how we respond. We can respond as Herod the King with rage because we don’t want to give up our comforts and material way of life. We can choose to embrace the Good News as freedom from the anxiety and pressures of the worldly life or we can stand up and fight against the truth of the Church, as the crowd stood up and stoned Saint Stephen. King Herod had the chance to see the joy and freedom of the Good News of Christ’s Birth, but he couldn’t even see Christ as the coming freedom from Rome. How will you respond to the Good News of Christmas this year? Will you respond like Herod and the crowd, or sing God’s praises as the Angels? Christ is born; Glorify Him; you have been set free!

 

[Иван Ивковић]

Humility Prepares the Way for Christ

 

When the Holy Trinity was about to be revealed to the world, God did not send a king, a governor, or an emperor. He sent a man of incredible humility. John the Baptist expressed his humility by declaring, “There comes One after me who is mightier than I, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to stoop down and loose.” (Mark 1.7) He knew he was not worthy of God, but still God referred to him as the greatest woman ever to be born of a woman. (Matthew 11.11) If you want to prepare your heart and soul for Christ, consider the humility of John the Baptist.

 

[Иван Ивковић]

The Gift of Grace in Water

 

When Jesus entered the Jordan River to be baptized by John, it wasn’t He who was blessed, but creation. Ever since the beginning of time, God has given us His creation in order to glorify God and to assist us to live in Communion with Him. The Feast of Theophany celebrates the revelation of the Holy Trinity at the Baptism of Jesus Christ, and the gift of grace present in the water of the Jordan River, and by extent all of creation. This gift of grace is extended through the Great Blessing of the Waters by the Church each year during the celebration of Epiphany, and distributed throughout the Community as a blessing for all to share. (This sermon was offered during a candle lit Liturgy for Theophany, the Feast of Lights)

 

 

[Иван Ивковић]

Follow the Light

 

As the Church celebrates the Feast of Epiphany, Light has come into the world to lead us out of darkness. The problem is that the world is filled with obstacles that obscure our view of the Light, and we often find ourselves lost in the darkness. Thankfully God has provided us with His Church to help remove the distractions and obstacles so we can see the Light and follow the light. Having Light shining in the darkness only helps if we can see it, but if we don’t follow the Light of the Church we will remain in darkness and lost forever.

 

[Иван Ивковић]

To Be Made Well

 

The Church does a wonderful job teaching what we should and should not do in our daily lives. But when we fall short of the Church’s teachings, many of us are too ashamed or feel shunned, to even approach the Church in repentance. What’s worse, when we finally repent, many of us continue on our way without returning to God to thank and worship Him, and we remain sick in our sin. Whether our own shame or the shunning of others, we must fully repent and return to God to thank and worship Him. When we fully repent, then we will hear the words, “Your faith has made you well.”

 

[Иван Ивковић]

What Does it Mean to Call Yourself Orthodox?

 

Most Orthodox Christians boast proudly about being Orthodox, but many don’t fully understand what it means to be Orthodox. When we look at the healing of the blind man found in Luke 18.35-43, we can identify three characteristics that describe what it means to call yourself Orthodox.

A. We must always be aware of our surroundings.
B. We must have a proper understanding of the Holy Scriptures and the Teachings of the Church
C. Our Faith must be reflected in our life.

Unfortunately many Orthodox Christians are blind to the opportunities to receive God’s blessings, some even rejecting Holy Communion. Others allow non-Orthodox Churches to influence their understanding of the Holy Scriptures, so they cannot recognize God’s grace when they see it. And too many never allow the way they live to reflect the truth of their Orthodox Christian Faith.

 

[Иван Ивковић]

Climb Above the Crowd

 

We each have something that gets between us and God. We each have a crowd that stops us from seeing God. I’m not talking about people specifically, but the temptations and life-stress that preoccupy our attention. We spend so much time planning the small things in life; we forget the importance of making a plan to see God. The Orthodox way of life helps us to climb above the crowd of obstacles and challenges. The Church life is our plan.

 

 

[Иван Ивковић]

Don’t Bury the Church

 

In the Parable of the Talents, we learn that God has given each member of the Church resources according to our ability. He has given us the Church with the expectation that we each would make full use of the Church’s way of life so we could grow closer to Him. The Divine Liturgy, blessing services, Holy Confession and the other Sacraments, prayer, Holy Scriptures, and more are each meant to help us increase in our relationship with our Lord. Unfortunately, most of us choose not to use the resources the Church has. We depend simply upon our ‘membership’ in the Church as if having been given the resources is enough. Most of us choose to bury the Church rather than increase. Most of us become the wicked lazy servant who was cast into the outer darkness, rather than the good and faithful servant invited into heaven. But that can all change today.

 

[Иван Ивковић]

Satisfied with Whatever God Gives to us

 

It has happened to all of us before. We ask God for something, and we don’t hear an answer. We ask again and again. Finally...we hear His answer and the answer sounds like He said, “NO!” Frustrated, we sulk in a corner wondering why God gives everyone else what THEY ask for, but when it comes to what WE want, He always says, “NO!” In the story of the Canaanite Woman in Matthew 15.21-28, we see a woman who seems to be struggling with the same problem. She asks God over and over again to heal her daughter until she finally hears Him say, “It is not fair to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.” The difference is that this woman didn’t sulk, and she didn’t accuse God of giving everyone something that she deserved. The Canaanite Woman had deep faith and a deeper humility that allowed her to be satisfied with whatever God gave to her, and her daughter was healed from the moment she reached that pure faith.

 

[Иван Ивковић]

Starving with the Pigs

 

As we come closer to Great Lent, the Church offers us the Parable of the Prodigal Son as inspiration for us to embrace a genuine repentance in our heart. The story of two brothers, both selfish but only one experienced the love the father by repenting. When we remain in our sin refusing to admit that we need to change our life and return to God, we will remain lost and starving with the pigs. Even when we remain loyal to the father, in Church every Sunday, if our loyalty is not with love, we will not be able to experience the love of God. The blessing comes the moment we admit that our life needs changing and we choose the return to God. At that moment God welcomes us home and restores us whole to His Kingdom.

 

[Иван Ивковић]

Do You See God?

 

When the Son of Man comes in His glory, He will judge not your actions, but whether or not see God in the least of His brothers. (Matthew 25.31-46) Our Lord makes it clear that when we are able to see God in every human being including the lowest of the low will be welcomed into Heaven. Every human being in created in the Image of God, even if it has been clouded by sin. Our responsibility as faithful Christians is to be able and willing to see through sin and seek out the Image of God, and look past the sins of others. With the coming of Great Lent in just a few days, the Church offers us an opportunity to repent from our own sin through prayer and fasting, so that we can feed the lowest of the low who hunger for God. Judgment is coming, and the question God will ask is, “Do you See God?” What will your answer be?

 

[Иван Ивковић]

You Don’t Have to Make it Up

 

It has become very popular to make up your own religion by accepting one belief and rejecting another, or following one practice but inventing a new individual custom to follow. There is a better way. For centuries holy men and women, righteous figures of the Old and New Testament, have been following a way of life established by God, and they “were well attested for their faith.” (Hebrews 11.39) The way of life Christ has given His Church, the Orthodox Way of Life, has been tried and tested, defended and perfected, for centuries, so we could receive this Holy Tradition today. This is the faith of the Orthodox that is celebrated on the Sunday of Orthodoxy. God became man, so that man could be united to God. This is the truth the Church has defended in Holy Icons and our way of life. And that belief has consequences. Do you believe? Then follow the Church. Do you want to follow Christ? Then follow the way of life He has already given to us in His Church. You don’t have to make it up.

 

 

[Иван Ивковић]

We Need the Church

 

As human beings we sometimes feel paralyzed without help. We sometimes feel we can’t possibly reach Christ. At that moment it helps to always remember we have the Church to help us. Just as the paralytic whose friends lifted him over the wall so he could reach Christ (Mark 2.1-12), the members of the Church have been given to us to help us in those moments we can’t do it alone. If the paralytic had been alone, he would have remained outside the house and never reached Christ. We can’t reach Christ without the Church, as we profess in the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed. We believe in One Holy Catholic and Apostolic CHURCH, and just as the paralytic needed his friends, we need the Church.