~Fragments for Friday~
Every Friday, our dear friend Fr. Steven of the OCA in Cincinnati, with whom my family has been friends with for years and whose wife I love dearly, sends out his “Fragments for Friday”. I thought I would share Fr.’s words with my fellow readers as we all embark on a new school year and church year. This is a particulary important to me and my family as we begin so many firsts this September and we want to get it right and especially important is the need to do everything with prayer and making time to be less busy and more aware of our limit time on this earth and our relationship with Christ and His Church.
Dear Fathers, Parish Faithful & Friends in Christ,
We are still within the first week of the Church New Year which began on September 1. Today, this is at best a relatively minor commemoration that can flow right by with hardly any notice at all. It is difficult to say how well it is even observed on the parish level. The actual date has its source in the calendar of the Roman Empire that was “converted” to the Christian Faith in the fourth century. The date is thus somewhat arbitrary, even though the Jewish new year also began in September, though with a moveable date. Yet, we should be very cautious about ignoring or dismissing September 1 as yet another ancient custom that is essentially social/political in its origins. The Church’s festal cycle is built around this date, as the first major Feast Day of the liturgical year is on September 8, the Nativity of the Theotokos. It is her birth that will prepare us for the Incarnation, so we immediately understand how this Feast is a “beginning” of our annual commemoration of the saving events of the Gospel, thus complementing the beginning of the church new year and giving it direction.
In addition to inaugurating the festal cycle, though, we need to avail ourselves of any opportunity for a new beginning. This always gives us a sense of hope and renewal: now I can “start over” and get it right! With that understanding, the church new year is like a gift from God, a blessed opportunity to renew our lives in the Church which ultimately means renewing our commitment to Christ and the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. We can re-orient ourselves and our lives as ecclesial and eucharistic beings, shaking off the “garments of skin” of rampant consumerism. We already experience this sense of a new beginning quite tangibly with the “back to school” atmosphere that either characterizes our homes or neighborhoods. Driving to church now in the mornings, the sidewalks are busy with the students on their way to the high school right in our neighborhood. The whole atmosphere has changed.
Students from first grade to the university level need to be prepared so that they begin the new semester effectively. On their own, or with parental supervision, they may have “check lists” to ensure that everything is in order: school supplies, books, class schedules, calculators, laptops, a new wardrobe(!), etc. A good beginning – based on preparation – holds out the promise for a good semester if only it can be sustained. An unprepared beginning only promises a chronic feeling of being behind and “catching up.” Christ was addressed as “Rabbi” during His ministry. As the Teacher, the Church becomes something of a “school” in which we are taught the mysteries of the Kingdom of God. Is it possible to also think in terms of a spiritual or ecclesial “check list” for the beginning of the church new year? Are we prepared for the liturgical cycle that will lead us into the ”mystery of Christ?” If not, that same uneasy feeling of falling behind in the liturgical and personal cycle of prayer, fasting and almsgiving may overcome us. What are some of the potential items on that ecclesial/spiritual check list? The following comes to mind:
+ The reading of the Scriptures with regularity
+ Thoughtful preparation for receiving the Eucharist
+ A consistent Rule of Prayer to be used on a daily basis
+ Observing the fasting discipline of the Church
+ Sacramental Confession of sins with some regularity
+ Embracing some of the parish ministries
+ Commitment to the Lord’s day before all else
+ Awareness and participation in the Church’s liturgical and festal cycles
+ Commitment of children to the parish Church School program
+ Honest assessment of charitable giving
This “check list,” of course, must be put into the deeper context of loving God and neighbor before all else according to the teachings of Christ. Otherwise, we may hold true to the “form” of religion, but lack its true substance. However, with the best of intentions, it is that pervasive sense of being “busy” that serves too often to distract us from the “one thing needful.” The word “busy” characterizes our daily vocabulary perhaps more than any other, because it accurately describes our daily lifestyle. According to Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, the word busy means: 1) engaged in action; 2) full of activity; 3) foolishly or intrusively active; 4) full of distracting detail. We all know what the word means, and the simple phrase, “I am so busy,” usually implies “I am too busy.” Yet, “too busy” for what? For God? Church? Relationships with others? For the very practices and disciplines outlined above on our spiritual check list?
I do not doubt for one moment everyone’s sincere confession of being terribly busy. It is inescapably woven into the fabric of our society. To the point that we feel guilty when we are not “busy!” That would imply “non-productivity” which in turn has a dangerous whiff of meaninglessness hovering around it. Yet, the endless drone of our busyness has its consequences: We unintentionally justify placing God on the margins of our lives, by our unremitting “commitment” to being busy. We pacify our uneasy conscience by assuring ourselves that when we are less busy, we will then turn to God. The sad irony in all of this is the simple fact that the busier we are, the more we need God! As busy Christians, we need to pray consistently and carefully so that we do not wander far from the “rock” which is Christ in our busyness. Being busy, therefore, acts to drive us away from God, and that is the real carrier of the malaise of meaninglessness.
If we could only get “busy” about God – which means getting serious about God – then we can go a long way in at least balancing the demands of daily life with the presence of God. It is not impossible. For Orthodox Christians, we have the Church calender, rich with Scripture, saints, and festal commemorations. That Church calender indicates yet another New Year by the grace of God; a new beginning with the opportunity to put God first – where He belongs according to Christ. Will an honest assessment of our lives and the things that make them so busy allow for giving some time back to God? Can we afford not to make that assessment before we run out of time?
