Epistle. Ephesians 6:10-17. Summary: There is evil battling against us. God gives us protection – put on the full armor of God!
Gospel. St. Luke 12:16-21. Summary: Get outside your comfort zone and use your gifts to the glory of God.
Three points:
First Point: Know Your Enemy.
This is a difficult world full of very real dangers; but it can be managed. We can, should, and must still live with joy and contentment. Grounded on the rock of Christ – we are immune from the shifting sand that draws so many down. We should never leave that rock.
- We must keep perspective. We need discernment – not Facebook, politicians, terrorists, or the news – to tell us what the real dangers are in our lives. It’s fine to know about all the wickedness that goes on across the globe, but it’s not fine to let it pull us from the calm that is in Christ.
- We must know who our real enemies are. If we don’t do that, our responses will be ineffective at keeping ourselves and loved ones safe. St. Paul – no naïve or pampered dreamer – warns us that our primary battle is not physical, but spiritual. If we look at the things that really hurt us, we will recognize that he is right. Incidences of violence are like Rorschach tests of our spiritual maturity. Too often, we allow our emotions to misdiagnose the enemy.
- Knowing that our battles are primarily spiritual, we have to make our spiritual selves more resilient. St. Paul calls this “putting on the whole armor of God.” Orthodox practices are designed to make us invulnerable to spiritual harm – and to heal us while we develop that incredible super power. Nativity Lent is a great time to work on that resilience.
Second Point:
I shared our bishop’s epistle for the Nativity Fast with you. It is an exhortation to use this time of fasting, charity, and good will, to prepare for the celebration of the coming of Christ so that he might be reborn in the mangers of our souls. The practices of the Nativity Fast are ignored by too many Orthodox Christians. The fasting, the sacrificial giving (yes, gift-giving is part of this, but it’s also a time to give more to the Church and charity), extra Bible study, and the focus on cheerfulness, are at least as important as office parties and shopping. We need to be intentional when we decide which traditions – the traditions of the Nativity Fast and the traditions (the often wonderful traditions) of Western Christmas are sacrificed for the other.
Third Point:
Christ is warning us in the Gospel that every day should be lived in the knowledge that it might be our last, and that we shouldn’t hang on to things that keep us from loving Him and our neighbor.
- The most obvious example is our riches. God has taught us what to do with the money we have. Part of it goes to expenses, but the first part goes to Him and another goes to helping others. In America, and surveys show that we Orthodox are among the worst at this, we fill up our budgets with expenses and then figure out what we can afford to give to God and charity. If I were to encourage you to tithe – you would panic because there isn’t room in your budget; but if you had started tithing from your youth up, there would be. Our life has been spent building up financial obligations. Our checkbooks show the history of the way we have accumulated bills and are witnesses to our priorities. It’s time to plant that tree. Let’s use this time to start giving God more than our left-overs.
- But the most interesting example of holding onto things too long is the many other things that too many people take to their graves. Here I am thinking of toxic things like grudges and jealousy and hard-heartedness. These don’t just make our time on earth miserable, they tell God that this is what we really value. We cannot build up storehouses of sin. Let’s tear those things down and let the tears of confession and repentance heal the ground of our hearts that they have contaminated.
