BEING CHRISTIAN - BAPTISM - Part 5

"In Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh has been put off when you were circumcised by Christ, having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through your faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead."

(Colossians 2:11-12)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus

In the series, 'Being Christian' I am trying to share with you the activities that signify a Christian essence in the life of the faithful and what kind of people we might hope to become in a community where these activities are practices. With this hope in mind, we started with the most important sacrament (or a rite) by which an individual is brought to the Christian family - the Baptism.

Dear brethren, let us first recap on the last few blogs on what we covered on baptism and the deep thoughts the church associated with one of the important sacraments by which an individual was brought towards Christ Jesus. We started by understanding that baptism does not confer a special status on the baptized that marks them off from everybody else, but leads in claiming a new level of solidarity with everyone else. Just as Jesus was brought into the middle of human sufferings on a very intimate level, so also are the baptized brought into the midst of human chaos and are also those who go with Jesus into the risk and darkness. The baptized person finds not only in the middle of human suffering and muddle but also in the middle of the love and delight of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We also tried to understand that from this unique relationship, the prayer of the baptized people is a prayer that is always moving in the depths, sometimes invisibly and from places that we can seldom understand. Continuing on, let us try to understand why and how the path of the baptized person though a dangerous path is also called the path of life.

All the changes that we tried to understand in the life of a baptized person are all results from the upsurging life of the Spirit in the center of ones being, coming from the heart of God. The path is both a dangerous and life-giving for me as an individual believer - but not only for me. The other great truth about baptism is that it brings us not only in the proximity with God the Father, not only with the suffering and muddle of the human world, but with all those other people who are invited there as well. Baptism brings us into the neighborhood of other Christians; and there is no way of being a Christian without being in the neighborhood of other Christians. (It might seem like bad news for many, because other Christians can be so very difficult!) But that is what the New Testament tells us very uncompromisingly: to be with Jesus is to be where human suffering and pain are found and it is also to be with other human beings who are invited to be with Jesus. And that, says the New Testament, is a gift as well as sometimes a struggle and even an embarrassment.

It is a gift because in this community of baptized people we receive life from others' prayer and love, and we give the prayer and love that others need. We are caught up in a great economy of giving and exchanging. The solidarity that baptism brings us into, the solidarity with suffering, is a solidarity with one another as well. It is what some Christian writers have called 'co-inherence'. We are 'implicated' in one anther, our lives are interwoven. What affects one Christian affects all, what affects all affects each one. And, whether as individual Christians or as individual Christian groups and denominations, we often find that hard to believe and accept. We find it hard to accept it as a gift - yet a gift is what it is. It means that the darkness that belongs in the baptized life is never one own problem exclusively. It is shared: how it is shared is very mysterious, and yet most of us who are baptized Christians can witness in one way or another to the fact that it works.

So baptism restores a human identity that has been forgotten or overlaid. Baptism takes us to where Jesus is. It takes us therefore into closer neighbourhood with a dark and fallen world, and it takes us closer neighbourhood with others invited there. The baptized life is characterized by solidarity with those in need, and sharing with all others who believe. And it is characterized by prayerful life that courageously keeps going, even when things are difficult and uncompromising and unrewarding, simply because we cannot stop the urge to pray. Something keeps coming alive in you; never mind the results.

Through the following blogs we will try to understand the roles that are bestowed on us with baptism that we share with Christ Jesus. In the meantime, do keep me and my family in your prayers.

The blog is based on the book - "Being Christian" by Rowan Williams

BEING CHRISTIAN - BAPTISM - Part 4

"In Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh has been put off when you were circumcised by Christ, having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through your faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead."

(Colossians 2:11-12)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus

In the series, 'Being Christian' I am trying to share with you the activities that signify a Christian essence in the life of the faithful and what kind of people we might hope to become in a community where these activities are practices. With this hope in mind, we started with the most important sacrament (or a rite) by which an individual is brought to the Christian family - the Baptism.

In the previous blog we tried to understand that just as Jesus was acknowledged in the waters of Jordan as God's son, we too are given an opportunity to be acknowledged as God sons & daughters by becoming recipients of the Holy Spirit. And in so opening ourselves to the Holy Spirit, we also are to open up to the needs and requirements of the people around us. We who are baptized are to be found in the middle of the love that God has for us and in the middle of the human suffering showing to the world Gods love for them as well. The baptized person is not only in the middle of human suffering and muddle but also in the middle of the love and delight of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. That surely is one of the most extraordinary mysteries of being Christian. 

Growing out of this blessing - to be in the middle of the heart of God and being in the middle of a world of threat, suffering, sin and pain, the prayer of baptized people is going to be a prayer that is always moving in the depths, sometimes invisible - a prayer that comes from places deeper than we can really understand. St. Paul says just this in his letter to the Romans: "The Spirit helps us in our weakness... that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words" (Romans 8:26). The prayer of the baptized people is never just 'rattling off' the words at surface level. The prayer of baptized people comes from a place deeper that we can penetrate with our minds or even our feelings. Prayer in the baptized community surges up from the depths of God's own life. Or, to change the metaphor, we might say that we are carried along on a tide deeper than ourselves, welling from God's depths and the world's.

The prayer of baptized people is always growing and moving into the prayer of Jesus himself and therefore it is a prayer that may often be difficult and mysterious. It will not always be cheerful and clear, and it may not always feel as though it is going to be answered. Christians do not pray expecting to get what they ask for in any simple sense. Rather, Christians pray because they have to, because the Spirit is surging up inside them. Prayer, in other words, is more like sneezing - there comes a point where you cant's not do it. The Holy Spirit wells and surges up towards God the Father. But because of this there will be moments when, precisely because you can't help yourself, it can feel dark and unrewarding, deeply puzzling, hard to speak about.

That might be the reason why so many great Christian writers on the spiritual life have emphasized that prayer is not about feeling good. It is not abut results, or about being pleased with yourself; it is just what God does in you when you are close to Jesus. And that of course means that the path of the baptized person is a dangerous one. To be baptized is not to be in what the world thinks of as a safe place. Jesus' first disciples discovered that in the Gospels and his disciples have gone on discovering ever since.

It is a great privilege to know and learn about people who live in dangerous proximity to Jesus; where their witness means they are a risk in various ways. And when we get to know people in places like Zimbabwe, Sudan, Syria or Pakistan living both in the neighborhood of Jesus and in the neighborhood of great danger, we understand something of what commitment to the Christian life means, the commitment of which baptism is the sign. But we also see this when we look at the lives of the great saints whose path of contemplation has led them to deep inner desolation, loneliness and uncertainty. All this results from the upsurging  life of the Spirit in the center of our being, coming from the heart of God. Like the saints before us, we tread a dangerous path - which is also the path to life.

Stay tuned for more on the path of life in the following blog.

In the meantime, do keep me and my family in your prayers.

The blog is based on the book - "Being Christian" by Rowan Williams

BEING CHRISTIAN - BAPTISM - Part 3

"In Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh has been put off when you were circumcised by Christ, having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through your faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead."

(Colossians 2:11-12)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus

In the series, 'Being Christian' I am trying to share with you the activities that signify a Christian essence in the life of the faithful and what kind of people we might hope to become in a community where these activities are practices. With this hope in mind, we started with the most important sacrament (or a rite) by which an individual is brought to the Christian family - the Baptism.

In the previous post we tried to understand that God intended for us to grow in such love for Him and in such confidence in Him that we could rightly be called as God's sons & daughters. And Jesus Christ came down to our level so that we could be restored to the humanity that God intended, by being able to work in places where humanity is most at risk, most disordered, disfigured and needy. Christians who are meant to be in the neighborhood of Jesus, will also be found in the neighborhood of human confusion and suffering, alongside those in need. We ended with learning that baptism means being with Jesus 'in the depths': the depths of human need, including the depths of our own selves in their need - but also in the depths of God's love; in the depths where the Spirit is re-creating and refreshing human life as God meant it to be.

Sharing in the life and death of Jesus

If we believe the previous beliefs as true, baptism does not confer on us a status that marks us off from everybody else. To be able to say, 'I am baptized' is not to claim an extra dignity, let alone a sort of privilege that keeps one separate from and superior to the rest of the human race, but to claim a new level of solidarity with other people, It is to accept that to be a Christian is to be affected - one can also say contaminated - by the mess of humanity. 

It is very much a paradox. Baptism is a ceremony in which we are washed, cleansed and re-created. It is also a ceremony in which we are pushed into the middle of a human situation that may hurt us, and that will not leave us untouched or unsullied. And the gathering of the baptized people is therefore not a convocation of those who are privileged, elite and separate, but of those who have accepted what it means to be in the heart of a needy, contaminated and messy world. To put it another way, one does not go down into the waters of the Jordan without stirring up a great deal of mud!

When we are brought to be where Jesus is in baptism, we let our defenses down so as to be where He is, in the depths of human chaos. And that means letting our defenses down before God. Openness to the Spirit comes as we go with Jesus to take this risk of love and solidarity. And that is why, as we come up out of the waters of baptism with Jesus, we hear what He hears: 'This is my son, this is my daughter, this is the one who has the right to call me Father'. The Holy Spirit, says St. Paul, is always giving us the power to call God Father, and to pray Jesus' prayer (Galatians 4:6). And the baptized are those who, going with Jesus into the risk and darkness, open themselves up to receive the Spirit that allows them to call God Father. 

What else can we expect to see in the baptized? Along with an openness to human need, we will also see a corresponding openness to the Holy Spirit. In the life of the baptized people, there is a constant rediscovering, re-enacting of the Father's embrace of Jesus in the Holy Spirit. The baptized person is not only in the middle of the human suffering and muddle but also in the middle of the love and delight of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. That surely is one of the most extraordinary mysteries of being a Christian. We are in the middle of two things that are very much contradictory to each other: in the middle of the heart of God, the ecstatic joy of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit; and in the middle of a world of threat, suffering, sin and pain. And because Jesus has taken his stand right in the middle of those two realities, that is where we take ours as well. As He says, 'Where I am, there will my servant be also' (John 12:26)

To recap, in this blog we tried to understand that just as Jesus was acknowledged in the waters of Jordan as God's son, we too are given an opportunity to be acknowledged as God sons & daughters. And in opening ourselves to the Holy Spirit, we also are to open up to the needs and requirements of the people around us. We who are baptized are to be found in the middle of the love that God has for us and in the middle of the human suffering showing to the world Gods love for them as well. In the next blog we will continue on what else do we expect to see in a baptized person.

In the meantime, do keep me and my family in your prayers.

The blog is based on the book - "Being Christian" by Rowan Williams

BEING CHRISTIAN - BAPTISM - Part 2

"Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life." 

(Romans 6:3-4)

 

Dear brothers & sisters in Christ Jesus

In the series, 'Being Christian' I am trying to share with you the activities that signify a Christian essence in the life of the faithful and what kind of people we might hope to become in a community where these activities are practices. With this hope in mind, we started with the most important sacrament (or a rite) by which an individual is brought to the Christian family - the Baptism.

 

To recap, in the previous blog we understood that baptism is one of the most essential signs of being a Christian. We also understood that from early Christian years, baptism has been related to the Crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ and also how it was related to the creation history in Genesis. And through it all, we understood that baptism is a means to overcome the chaos of this life, leading to rebirth as a son or daughter of Go, just as Jesus is a son.

We stopped at a point where the ancient Church brought together powerful symbols towards baptism. Where water symbolizes rebirth: rebirth as a son or daughter of God, as Jesus himself is a son. So when the Church reflected on what baptism means, it came to view it as a kind of restoration of what it is truly to be a human. To be baptized is to recover the humanity that God first intended.

WHAT DID GOD INTEND? He intended that human beings should grow into such love for Him and such confidence in Him that they could rightly be called God's sons and daughters. We human beings have let go of that identity, abandoned it, forgotten it and corrupted it and stamped it under our very feet. 

But when Jesus arrives on the scene He restores humanity to where it should be. But that in itself means that Jesus, as He restores humanity 'from within', has to come down into the chaos of the human world. Jesus has to come down fully to our level, to where things are shapeless and meaningless, in a state of vulnerability and unprotectedness, if real humanity is to come to birth.

This suggests that the new humanity that is created around Jesus is not a humanity that we are familiar with, that is a humanity that is successful and is in control of things, but a humanity that can reach out its hand from the depths of chaos, to be touched by the hand of God. And that means that if we ask the question 'Where might you expect to find the baptized?' one possible answer is, 'In the neighborhood of chaos'. It means you might expect to find Christian people near to those places where humanity is most at risk, where humanity is most disordered, disfigured and needy. Christians will be found in the neighborhood of Jesus - but Jesus is found in the neighborhood of human confusion and suffering, defenselessly alongside those in need. If baptized is being led to where Jesus is, then being baptized is being led towards the chaos and the neediness of a humanity that has forgotten its own destiny.

We might also add that we may also expect the baptized Christian to be somewhere near, somewhere in touch with, the chaos in his or her own life - because we all of us live not just with a chaos outside ourselves but with a quite a lot of inhumanity and muddle inside us. A baptized Christian ought to be somebody who is not afraid of looking with honesty at that chaos inside, as well as being where humanity is at risk, outside.

So baptism means being with Jesus 'in the depths': the depths of human need, including the depths of our own selves in their need - but also in the depths of God's love; in the depths where the Spirit is re-creating and refreshing human life as God meant it to be.

As we stop here for today, let is reflect in what it means to be a baptized Christian. In the Orthodox tradition, the days before trimphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem and Good Friday is marked by events where Jesus heals a lot of people around Him. He is also found at a graveside resurrecting His friend Lazarus. Through my walk in the Great Lent, this is a question that kept me thinking, where am I in this fallen humanity and what is my role. As we look towards the Ascension and the Pentecost, where do we want to be found? To be in the midst of success or in the midst of human chaos?

 

The blog was written on the basis of the book "Being Christian" written by Rowan Williams. 

Do keep me and my family in your prayers.

 

BEING CHRISTIAN -- BAPTISM - Part 1

"Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life." 

(Romans 6:3-4)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus

Wishing you all a blessed feast of Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ

We have now completed one week after the celebration of the resurrection of our Lord and defeating death on the cross (many of my Orthodox brethren around the world are right now preparing for the same), and during this blessed period while I was reminiscing on the reason for baptism and its importance in the Christian life, I was struck by the similarity it bears to the death of Jesus Christ and His resurrection. 

Jesus speaks of the suffering and death that lies ahead of him as a 'baptism' he is going to endure (Mark 10:38). That is, He speaks as if His going towards suffering and death were a kind of immersion in something, being drowned or swamped in something. He says that he has an 'immersion' to go through, and until it is completed he will be frustrated and his work will be incomplete (Luke 12:50). So it seems that from the very beginning, baptism as a ritual for joining the Christian community was associated with the idea of going down into the darkness of Jesus' suffering and death, being 'swamped' by the reality of what Jesus endured. St. Paul speaks of being baptized 'into' the death of Christ (Romans 6:3). 

We are, so to speak, 'dropped' into that mysterious event which Christians commemorate on Good Friday, and more regularly, in the breaking of bread at every Holy Eucharist.

Out of the depths

As the ancient Church began to reflect more on this in the early Christian centuries, as it began to shape its liturgy and art, another set of association were developed.

In the story of Jesus' baptism, He goes down into the water of the river Jordan, and as He comes up out of the water the Holy Spirit descends upon Him in the form of a dove and a voice speaks from heaven: 'You are my Son' (Luke 3:22). Reflecting on that incident, the early Christians soon began to make connections with another story involving water and the Spirit. In the book of Genesis, at the very beginning of creation, we read that there was a watery chaos. And over that watery chaos there was the Holy Spirit hovering or a great wind blowing.

First there is chaos, then there is the wind of God's Spirit; and out of the watery chaos comes the world. And God says, 'This is good.' The water and the Spirit and the voice: we can see why the early Christian fathers began to associate the event of baptism with exactly that image which St. Paul uses for the Christian life - new creation.

So the beginning of Christian life is a new beginning of God's creative work. And just as Jesus came up out of the water, receiving the Holy Spirit and hearing the voice of the Father, so for the newly baptized Christian the voice of God says, 'You are my son/daughter', as that individual begins his or her new life in association with Jesus.

In the icons reflecting the baptism of Jesus, we can usually see Jesus up to His neck in the water, while below, sitting under the waves, are the river gods of the old world, representing the chaos that is being overcome. So from early on baptism has been bringing powerful symbols around itself. Water and rebirth: rebirth as a son or daughter of God, as Jesus Himself is a son; chaos moving into order as the wind of God blows upon it.

As the Church reflected on what baptism means, it is not surprising when it came to view baptism as a restoration of what it is to be truly human. To be baptized is to recover the humanity that God first intended. What did God intend?

To understand what did God intend from his most prized creation, stay tuned to the blogs.

To do a brief recap, we understand that baptism is one of the most essential signs of being a Christian. We understood that from early Christian years, baptism has been related to the Crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ and also how it was related to the creation history in Genesis. And through it all, we understood that baptism is a means to overcome the chaos of this life, leading to rebirth as a son or daughter of Go, just as Jesus is a son.

The above blog has been taken from the book - "Being Christian" by Rowan Williams

Being Christian - Introduction

Christ is risen! Indeed, He is risen! (Khristós Anésti! Alithós Anésti!)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus
A very blessed season of Resurrection of our Lord Jesus greetings to one and all.
As I was pondering on the topic that I would like to take up as blog post, I thought it would be best to learn the essential elements of any Christian life. The thoughts that I'll be sharing as blogs will be representations from a recent book that I have been reading - "Being Christian" by Rowan Williams. Hoping that these thoughts will be helpful for you as it has been for me.
What are the essential elements of the Christian life? I'm not thinking of in terms of individuals leading wonderful lives, but just in terms of those simple and recognizable things that make us realize that we are a part of Christian community. The blogs are written to help us think about four of the most obvious of these things: baptism, Bible, Eucharist and prayer.

Christians are received into full membership of the Church by having water poured or sprinkled over them (or, in some traditions, being fully immersed); Christians read the Bible; Christians gather to share bread and wine in memory of the death and Resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth; and Christians pray. Though there is a huge and bewildering variety in Christian thinking and practice about all kinds of things, these four basic activities have remained constant and indispensable for majority of those who call themselves Christians.
In the following blogs, we shall be looking at what those activities tell us about the essence of Christian life, and what kind of people we might hope to become in a community where these things are done.
Kindly keep me and my family and our ministry in your prayers.

THE PATH OF SALVATION - Introduction

Christ is risen! Indeed He is risen!

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus 

Wishing one and all a very blessed and happy Easter (Pascha). I have decided to read some writings of our Holy Fathers and coincidentally my hands came upon a book written by a father from the Russian Orthodox Church - St. Theophan the Recluse. This series of my blogs will be from one of his books - The Path of Salvation. 

We all understand that our life on earth is a sojourn towards our Heavenly Kingdom and the main task on this way to salvation is to live in the spirit of Christ. But it is very difficult to answer all the questions and so it is very much necessary to explain nearly every step of this way. 

Man's final goal is communion with God, and the way to this goal lies through faith in Christ, together with constantly keeping His commandments with the assistance of God's grace. 

It is very easy for a person to say that "This is the way! Follow it!" But how is one to follow this path? Mostly because people have no desire to move in this direction. Their souls, pulled by one passion or another, stubbornly refuses every gentle invitation and every call. The soul alerts its gaze from God and does not want to look at Him. The law of Christ does not conform to the soul's liking. The soul does not even have disposition even to hear this law. 

Therefore, the questions that will be addressed through these blogs are:

1. How does one reach the point where the desire in born to move towards God by way of Christ?
2. What does one do so that the Law imprints itself, not just a ink on paper, but as the Spirit of the Living God imprints itself on the living flesh of the heart? 
3. How can a man act according to this Law willingly and unconstrainedly, not as though like a burden, but proceeding from his deepest nature? 

If someone has turned towards God, and has come to love His Law, is this enough to ensure the success of the journey? Will the journey be successful merely because we desire it? No.

In addition to the desire, it is necessary to have the strength and the ability to act, that is active wisdom or the practical knowledge of how to act (praxis). Whoever enters this true way of pleasing God, whoever begins with the help of grace to strive towards God in the way of Christ's Law, will inevitably be threatened by the danger of losing his way at the crossroads, of going astray and perishing while under the illusion that he is working out his salvation. These crossroads are unavoidable because of our sinful inclinations and the disorder of our faculties, even in those who have accepted Christ. These sinful inclinations and disordered faculties are capable of presenting things to a man in a false light, and deceiving and destroying the man.

Moreover, there is flattery from Satan, who is reluctant to leave his victims. Whenever a person goes to the light of Christ, he pursues him and sets every manner of trap in order to catch him again. He prowls like a lion waiting for its prey. Hence, the spiritual traveler who already has the desire to follow the way to the Lord must be informed of all the possible deviations, so that he may be warned beforehand, may see the dangers that are to be encountered, and may learn how to avoid them. 

These unavoidable things, which are encountered on the way to salvation and are common for everyone, require special guiding principles that are indispensable for the Christian life. These principles define how to acquire the saving desire for communion with God, the fervent desire to remain in communion with Him, and how to come to God safely through all the crossroads that must be negotiated on the way and at every stage on the way. In other words, how to begin to live the Christian life and how, having begun, to perfect oneself in it. 

These guiding principles must take the man who is separated from God, turn him towards God, and then being him into God's Presence. They must show to the man the practical development of the Christian life in all its manifestations and levels, from its very beginning to the end. That is how the Christian life germinates, develops, and becomes mature. In other words, we must give an account of the unfolding of the active life for every Christian, to show how he must act in every possible case so that he may stand firm in his calling. 

When comparing the gradual growth of plants to that of a Christian, the growth of the plant is easy and unconstrained, while it is not so with a Christian. He rather has a hard struggle with himself, intense and sorrowful, and he must dispose his faculties towards things which they have no natural inclination. Just like a warrior, he must win every inch of land, even his own, from his enemies by means of warfare. He must use the two-edged sword of self-constraint and self-coercion. And finally, after long hours of hard labor and exertions, Christian principles emerge victorious, reducing without oppression. These principles bestow upon man the bliss of those who are pure in heart, so that the man can see God in himself in the most sincere communion with Him. 

Such is the condition in us of the Christian life. It has three stages, which we can describe as follows :

1. Turning to God, which is conversation 
2. Purification or self-amendment, and 
3. Sanctification.

In the first stage, a man turns from darkness to light, from the reign of Satan to God. In the second, he cleanses the dwelling Chamber of his heart from every impurity, in order to receive Christ, the Lord, who is coming to him. In the third, the Lord comes, makes His home in the heart of a man and sups with him. This is the state of blessed communion with God-the goal of all ascetic labors and endeavors. 

To show the way to salvation means that we describe all these things and define the rules which govern this operation. Full guidance in this matter takes a man on the crossroads of sin, leads him through the fiery way of cleansing, and raises him up to the highest pitch of spiritual perfection attainable, to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. 

In other words, this guidance must show us:

1. How Christian life begins in us 
2. How it is perfected - that is, how it grows and is strengthened, and 
3. How the Christian life appears in its full perfection.

As we start this journey of writing and reading, I ask you all to keep me and my writing in your prayers. May this series enlighten us and help us to walk on the way to salvation. 

Your brother in Christ

Prepare O Bethlehem - King Herod and the Holy Innocents

Herod was filled with alarm 

When he saw the righteous wisemen. 

Overcome by fury, 

He determined when the child was born 

Mothers were robbed of their infants:

Their tender lives were reaped as a bitter harvest. 

Milk stopped flowing and breasts dried up 

Great was the suffering! 

Therefore assemble in holy fear, O faithful, 

To worship the birth of Christ! 

- Stikhera for Ninth Hour of the Royal Hours of Christmas 

(Byzantine Orthodox Church)

Christ is born! Glorify Him!

The story of King Herod and the death of the holy innocents stands out grimly in the birth narratives of Jesus Christ. While Herod is never seen in crèche scenes and he seldom is represented in Parish tableaus, he is mentioned in the birth narrative. While Herod is not formally commemorated on the Church calendar, we do remember the martyrdom of the holy innocents in Bethlehem on the first Sunday after Christmas. I'm 2015, we remembered them on Dec 27. This post and the coming couple of posts are delayed as I was busy with my secular work and did not get time to write on these topics.

King Herod was King Herod the Great, the father of the Herodian dynasty and the father of Herod Antipas, who killed John the Baptist and assisted Pontius Pilate in condemning Jesus to death (Luke 9:7, 23:6-7). The Scriptures offer little information about King Herod except that he was the King of the Jews. The Jewish historian Josephus tells us that Herod was an ambitious politician and a strong leader. He was alive when Julius Caesar was killed, and befriended Mark Anthony. Herod was later summoned to Rome to receive the title "King of the Jews", and he returned to Jerusalem as their King. By the time of the birth of Jesus, the Roman Empire controlled most of the known world around the Mediterranean and was organized into smaller kingdoms. Herod, the King of Judea, was unpopular with many Jews because he was a foreigner and only part Jewish. Although Matthew does not tell us directly, it is likely that any news about a newborn King would not be welcomed by Herod or his followers. The mere mention of a newborn "king" would cause anxiety in most people, and especially to someone as the unpopular Herod.

Herod told the wise men that he too wanted to visit the Christ child (Matthew 2:7-8). Joseph, after being alerted in a dream, took Mary and the infant Jesus and fled to Egypt, where they remained until the angel told them to return to Nazareth.

Herod, in a rage, had all the make children who were two years old or younger killed so that he could kill the baby Jesus.According to Matthew, this fulfills a prophesy in Jeremiah,

"A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they were no more. This says the Lord: 'Keep your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears; for your work shall be rewarded says the Lord, and they shall come back from the land of the enemy. There is hope for your future, says the Lord, and your children shall come back to their own country'" (Jeremiah 31:15).

Jeremiah speaks of the exile of the northern tribes and uses the example of Rachel weeping for her children who were taken away.

The story of Herod and the Holy innocents is strikingly similar to the beginning of the Exodus story. In Exodus, Pharaoh wanted all the male babies killed because the Israelites were over populating Egypt. Yet, we know that Moses was miraculously saved, ironically, by Pharaoh's daughter (Exodus 2:1-6).

Moses survived this ordeal, and he later became the leader in the house of Pharaoh. He eventually led the people on their exodus journey, and died just before they entered the promised land (Deuteronomy 34).

Herod went after the baby Jesus as soon as he heard from the Magi that they saw a star in the East. The Magi refer to Jesus as a king, a title which is used again and again throughout the New Testament. In the beginning of the Gospel of John, Nathaniel says of Jesus, "Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!" (John 1:49). Later in the same Gospel, Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea, refers to Jesus as King, although in order to mock Him (John 18:33-38).

Throughout the Scriptures, other people affirm that Jesus is a king, but Jesus never referred to Himself as a king. In His passion narrative, Luke tells us that some from the crowd told Pilate that Jesus called Himself a king and forbade people from paying tribute to Caesar. This would be considered an act of rebellion, because all Roman citizens had to pay their taxes and honor Caesar as the Roman Emperor (Luke 23:1-5). Yet, Jesus never stirred up a rebellion against the Romans nor did He forbid people to pay their taxes. Actually, the opposite is true, on one occasion, He told His disciples to render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's (Matthew 22:21).

While Jesus never sought political authority and power, He frequently spoke about His Father's Kingdom. His parables describing the kingdom of God show a different Kingdom from what people assumed. He used everyday images, such as a mustard seeds, yeast and a camel through an eye of a needle, to show that God worked in ways unknown to man. As the prophet Isaiah says, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways" (Isaiah 55:8). Jesus taught about the kingdom of heaven throughout most of His ministry. Yet, at the end of His life, it is ironic that this peaceful, loving, Jewish carpenter was sentenced to death for the charges of blasphemy and treason, for supposedly calling Himself a king and rebelling against Rome. All four Gospels mention that there was a sign on the cross which read "Jesus King of the Jews," and the Gospel of John emphasizes that this was written in Greek, Latin and Hebrew (John 19:20).

Herod's attempt to kill Jesus' life in the beginning of the Gospel foreshadowed what is to come, since at nearly every step, there were opponents of Jesus and His ministry. Throughout the Scriptures, the Pharisees, Scribes, and Jewish leaders seek to destroy Jesus and put Him to death (read Matthew 21:45-46). Likewise, even Judas, one of His own disciples, betrays Him, and Peter, His favorite disciple, denies Him three times! So, we should not be surprised that Jesus was in danger even from the very beginning of His life. Yet, Jesus managed to perform meant miracles and proclaim the Kingdom of God to the people, and some did hear and accept the Gospel, the same Gospel that is proclaimed to us. Unfortunately, there are still people who do not want the Gospel to grow and, therefore, they try to prevent it from growing. However, the Gospel is continually preached throughout the world and is under the power of God Himself who gives the growth. Our job is to stay out of His way and allow Him to keep planting those seeds of the Kingdom.

Prepare O Bethlehem - The Inn, The Cave, The Purpose & The Message

Today heaven and earth are united for Christ is born

Today God has come to earth and man ascends to heaven

Today, God who by nature cannot be seen,

Is seen in the flesh for our sake.

Let us glorify Him, crying:

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace!

Thy coming has brought peace to us:

Glory to Thee, our Savior!

- Stikhera on the Litya Great Compline for Christmas

(Eastern Orthodox Church)

And she gave birth to her first born Son and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes and laid Him in a manger because there was no place for them in the inn. Luke 2:7

Dear Brothers & Sisters in Christ Jesus

As we celebrate the feast of Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ, I would love to share some thoughts that have been in my mind. This is my Christmas message to you all for this year. The message might seem quite long, but I assure you that you will surely enjoy the read.

THE INN

In the Nativity story, a woman who was about to give birth to a child, and her betrothed, went from inn to inn, asking for lodging and help. There was no room in any inn.  But even more poignant, there was no room in anyone’s heart to extend charity and help to a woman at her moment of delivery.  How could a city so filled with people not have had even one room, even one bit of charity for someone in need?  Never mind that this woman was not just anyone, but God’s chosen vessel for our salvation.

In the Mexican culture, there is a Christmas-time tradition called Las Posadas.  In this tradition, a couple dressed up as Mary and Joseph go from home to home, asking if there is any room at “the inn”.  Each home takes on the role of an inn in Bethlehem.  They are rebuffed each time until they reach the home that has been designated as “the inn,” at which point they are allowed in and a celebration ensues.

Imagine your heart as an inn—there are lots of rooms in it as there would be at an inn.  At many inns, there are economy rooms, rooms with a view, rooms with a balcony, perhaps even a penthouse, or top floor room.   Some rooms are more expensive and more lavish, others more simple.

The inn of your heart is similar.  There are things in life, like relationships or family, that tug at our heart strings, and they often get the biggest rooms at the inn of our hearts.  Careers get large rooms as well. Material possessions occupy space.  So do our friends.   Hobbies and things that bring us joy have a place, perhaps a smaller room, but there is still a place for them.  Friday nights out with friends, Saturdays in front of the TV watching sports, the Sunday afternoon barbecue, they all find accommodations.   Hopefully one’s heart is big enough that there is a room for charity.  The question for today is which room does the Lord get in your heart?  Is it the biggest one?  Or the economy room?  Is there a room for prayer? Worship? Charity?  Are these rooms well-kept or in need of a remodel?

If your heart or your life is like an inn in Bethlehem, is there room in your inn for the Lord, or have all the spaces been filled with other things?  In order to have Christ in your life, there needs to be not only room in “your inn,” but the committed Christian offers Christ the best room, the first portion, of your life. The committed Christian has a rooms for charity, for prayer, for scripture reading, for obedience to the commandments.  As we journey through Advent and prepare to celebrate the Nativity, it is a good time to clean the rooms of your heart and of your life, to make sure there is room for Christ in them.

Because just as they do at Las Posadas in Mexico, Christ comes to knock on the door of your heart every day.  Do we turn Him away, saying there is no room at the inn, that all the rooms have been filled with other “things”?  Or do we welcome Him with joy?  Do we give Him the economy room?  Or do we give Him the biggest and the best?  Spend some time today evaluating how you spend your time.  And reflect seriously on which rooms Christ occupies in the inn of your heart.  Just like they upgrade rooms at hotels for special guests, consider giving an upgrade in your heart to Christ, the most special guest of all.

THE CAVE

In every Nativity story that we have heard or every Icon that we see which shows the scene in Bethlehem, we know that when Mary and Joseph searched for a place to stay and help, they are told that there are no rooms available. They are, however, told that there is a stable out back and are shown to a stable where the animals are kept, where Jesus is born and laid in a manger. Every Nativity scene appearing under every Christmas tree shows a barn with straw roof and wooden walls with Jesus lying in the manger.

Yet, every Orthodox icon shows Jesus Christ incarnate in a cave, in the desert, outside of Bethlehem. Why a cave? Why not the traditionally depicted stable or barn?

We are not told in scripture whether the birth took place in a barn or a cave, only that there was no room in the inn.  There are two reasons that a cave is shown in Orthodox icons, rather than a barn.  The first is actually historical.  At the time of the Nativity, animals were not kept sheltered in wooden barns, but in caves and recesses in the hills.  The second is symbolic—the cave that is shown in the icons is traditionally surrounded by sharp and steep rocks, which represent the cruel world into which Jesus was Incarnate.  The space inside the cave looks peaceful and welcoming.  The cave represents heaven.  It is a peaceful respite from the world.

There is an icon that shows the cave, with the manger and the baby Jesus, with just the animals surrounding the manger and the star overhead. The theme of this icon is “Creation worships the Creator.”  The significance of the feast of the Nativity is that the Creator came to live with His creation.  And not only was there no room in any inn, but there was no room in any place made by human hands to hold the Creator of those hands.  So, the Creator came to be part of His creation in a cave He Himself created.

In the last reflection, it was mentioned that in icons, the manger is depicted symbolically as a tomb.  Historically, the manger was the wooden trough from where the animals were eating.  Most likely it would have been filled with hay, which horses were eating.  Again, there was no bed made by human beings that could hold the Creator.  So, He was laid on straw, in wood that He created.  His birth also reflects the most humble of beginnings.  And it begins a ministry where Jesus would tell His followers:  “Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.  For the Son of man also came not to be served but to serve.”  (Mark 10: 43-45)

The cave reflects peace, surrounded by danger.  The manger shows humility.  Later on, when we discuss how all of creation worshiped and brought gifts to the Creator in its midst, we will note that the earth itself worshiped the Creator, and for a gift, the earth offered a cave.

For today, examine peace and humility in your life.  Does your life favor what is grandiose or simple?  Are you more boastful or humble?  If the cave reflects peace surrounded by danger, are you able to find inner peace in a life that is continually dangerous?  Or have you succumbed to the dangers of the world?  Today’s verse is an important reminder of what is truly important—the virtues of peace and humility will go a long way in helping you grow as a Christian this Advent and far beyond it.

THE PURPOSE

If you look closely at many icons of the Nativity, you will notice that the manger is not a straw-filled wooden trough as we see in most Nativity displays around town.  Rather, it resembles a casket or tiny tomb.  The swaddling bands are not like the large cloth that we swaddle our children with, but rather are the burials band used to bind the bodies of the dead.  Why do the icons depict this?  It’s to make clear from the beginning the purpose of the Incarnation of Christ.  His purpose in coming to be among us was to die for our sins.  It all leads to the Cross and the Tomb.  This is the reason Christ came to earth.  This is the reason God incarnated His Only-Begotten Son.

When you enroll in high school or college, what year do they label your class?  It’s the year you are scheduled to graduate.  I entered college for my masters in 2010.  I went in as the class of 2012, which ended up being the year I finished.  And why do schools label classes by the year they finish, rather than the year they start?  Because when you go to school, the purpose for your attendance is in order to finish.  So, even from the first day of school, the focus is on the last.  Sure, the journey is long, and fun, and important, but the focus of the journey is its end, not the journey itself, certainly not the beginning of it. is the reason God incarnated His Only-Begotten Son

.

Our Christian life is the same. God’s purpose in putting us here is so we can GRADUATE from this life, into eternal life.  No one can get to heaven if they haven’t lived on earth.  Just like no one can graduate from college if they never spend a day in school.  So, every day of our life, there should be a thought given to eternal life.  This is why we hear at every Divine Liturgy (and in the daily vespers), a petition that speaks to us of “A Christian end to our lives, peaceful without shame and suffering and a good defense before the awesome judgment seat of Christ,” so that this thought of our destination inspires how we spend our present journey.

So, take some time every day, whether it is Christmas, or Advent, or the middle of summer, to work on your salvation, think about where you are headed for eternal life.  So many people plan for retirement, but not for eternity.  Spend time each day through prayer, meditation on scripture, obedience to the commandments and charity towards others.  Spend a lifetime doing that and you will be in good shape for that accounting at the awesome judgment seat of Christ.

The Resurrection couldn’t happen without the Nativity.  However, the Nativity without the Resurrection would make Christ into an incredible teacher and healer, but not our Savior.   An incredible life without Christ is just that, an incredible life that will one day come to an end.  A life with Christ and a life in Christ is like going to school—you will be there for a while, you will even make good memories and have good times, but one day you will graduate to something bigger and better.

The purpose of Christ’s Incarnation is apparent from the Nativity.  God’s purpose for our life is apparent from our birth as well! to the dangers of the world?  Today’s verse is an important reminder of what is truly important—the virtues of peace and humility will go a long way in helping you grow as a Christian this Advent and far beyond it.

Before Your birth, O Lord, the hosts of angels already perceived the mystery.  They were struck with wonder and trembled, for though You adorn the heavens with stars, You are now well-pleased to be born as a Babe.  You hold the ends of the earth in Your hands, but now You are laid in a manger of dumb beasts.  Yet all these things fulfilled Your saving plan, by which Your compassion was revealed to us.  Christ of great mercy, glory to You!

So, take some time every day, whether it is Christmas, or Advent, or the middle of summer, to work on your salvation, think about where you are headed for eternal life.  So many people plan for retirement, but not for eternity.  Spend time each day through prayer, meditation on scripture, obedience to the commandments and charity towards others.  Spend a lifetime doing that and you will be in good shape for that accounting at the awesome judgment seat of Christ.

The Resurrection couldn’t happen without the Nativity.  However, the Nativity without the Resurrection would make Christ into an incredible teacher and healer, but not our Savior.   An incredible life without Christ is just that, an incredible life that will one day come to an end.  A life with Christ and a life in Christ is like going to school—you will be there for a while, you will even make good memories and have good times, but one day you will graduate to something bigger and better.

The purpose of Christ’s Incarnation is apparent from the Nativity.  God’s purpose for our life is apparent from our birth as well! to the dangers of the world?  Today’s verse is an important reminder of what is truly important—the virtues of peace and humility will go a long way in helping you grow as a Christian this Advent and far beyond it.

THE MESSAGE

I’m sure during the period of the census in Bethlehem, there were people from all walks of life, all economic classes.  There were well-to-do people who got the most expensive rooms in the most expensive inns, who rode the best donkeys and camels.  With so many people descending on Bethlehem for the census, there were undoubtedly parties and family gatherings, reunions of friends, loud music, dancing and good food.

The shepherds were among the poorest of the people.  They were not part of the Bethlehem social scene.  Their work was done around the clock, in anonymity, with little compensation.  I’m sure very few parents of the time dreamed for their children to be shepherds.

Yet, God chose these “poor shepherds” (the First Noel) to hear the good news.  He chose to bless the shepherds to hear a multitude of the heavenly angels singing God’s praises.  And when the Shepherds told people what they had heard and seen, in a sense, He chose them to become the first “evangelists,” the first to share the good news.

Why these Shepherds?  First, the message of Christ is for all people.  He didn’t take it to the high and mighty, but to the lowly.  Christ’s Nativity inaugurated the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, but He “reigns” with humility.  So the message was given first to the most humble of people, simple shepherds.  This is good news indeed, because the message of Christ IS for everyone.  And that does not include only every socio-economic level.  It includes every spiritual level:

If you’ve memorized the Christmas story or can’t remember most of the details, Christ’s message is for you.

If you read the Bible every day, or have never read it before, Christ’s message is for you!

If you pray every day, or if you’ve never said a genuine prayer, Christ’s message is for you!

If Christ is the focus of your life, or if you are just starting your relationship with Him, Christ’s message is for you!

Ok, so what is the message?  The answer comes from the shepherds as well.  One of the ways Christ reveals Himself is as “the Good Shepherd.”  In John 10: 11-15, we read:

Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd.  The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.  He who is a hireling and not a shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming and leave the sheep and flees; and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.  He flees because he is a hireling and cares nothing for the sheep.  I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me, as the Father know me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.”

Jesus uses this image because all Christians are like a flock of sheep.  Jesus is our Shepherd.  Jesus protects the flock from “wolves” and all harm.  When one sheep is lost, like a good shepherd, He goes in search of the lost sheep.  Most important, like a good shepherd keeps his flock together until they get safely to their pen at the end of the day, Jesus keeps His flock together and provides for our safety until we reach the permanent safety of heaven at the end of our lives.

I hope that the images sticking in your mind are not the loud and raucous parties of Bethlehem, but the peace of the cave and the safety of the pen.  For many people, if you asked them where do you want to end up—a cave, a pen or a party—the answer most certainly would be the party.  The message of Christ is that we want to end up in the cave and safely in the pen.  It is in humility that we experience Christ.  The message is for everyone! 

Dear brethren, this Christmas, let us give room for Christ in our inns called life, welcoming Him to dwell in us. Let our hearts be like the cave where peace dwells.Wishing you all a very blessed Christmas.

Prepare O Bethlehem - Magi From the East

The wise men, kings from Persia

Perceived without any doubt 

That Thou was born on earth, O Heavenly King. 

Drawn by the light of a star, they hurried to Bethlehem. 

They offered Thee acceptable gifts:

Gold, myrrh, and frankincense. 

They fell down before Thee and worshipped Thee, 

Seeing Thee, the timeless One, 

Lying in the cave as an infant. 

- An immature translation of Mashiha Jaatham Cheytha and Tharaka Porasile, 

two hymns sung during the service of the Nativity of Jesus.

St. Matthew tells us that wise men from the East came beating gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh for the Christ child. In the medieval period, the tradition developed that there were three wise men whose names were Melchior, Casper and Balthasar. They later became subjects for the Christmas song "We Three Kings", which is often sung at Christmas tableaus and plays. Over a period of time, stories developed about the magi and their journeys. Some stories say that originally there were four wise men who came to see Jesus, however, along the way, one got lost. After many years of traveling, searching for the baby Jesus, the wise man found his way to Jerusalem. In Jerusalem, he heard about a man who was being crucified that day, it was Jesus. 

Matthew does not specify the names of the wise men, nor does he mention that there are three, but only that wise men came from the East (Matthew 2:1-3, 10-12).The only details we have about the wise men are that they came seeking to worship the baby Jesus and that they saw the stat in the East, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy (Matthew 2:10). The fact that they are from the "east" and that they are "wise men" suggests that they are sages or astrologers from a Gentile background. In the ancient world, the sage or wise man, sometimes called a seer, was an adviser to the king or emperor. These people were the educated elite and were familiar with astrology as well as the natural sciences, literature and culture. Wise men or magi were usually connected with the royal palace.

Matthew also tells us that these wise men brought gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. These items may seem like strange gifts for a newborn child, but they have a specific function within the birth story and the Gospel narrative as a whole. Myrrh is very similar to a heavy perfume and was very expensive, only the wealthy could afford it. Myrrh was frequently used for preparing bodies for burial. We know from the four Gospels that the women came to the tomb in order to anoint Jesus' body (Mark 16:1. See also Luke 24:1 and John 19:39). In the Orthodox tradition these women are known as the myrrh bearing women.

Likewise, both gold and frankincense were also expensive materials and are frequently used in the ancient world. Gold, of course, was used by the wealthy in society, and frankincense is a type of incense which was burned as a fragrant offering as we hear at every Vesper service: "I call upon Thee, O Lord; make haste to me! Give ear to my voice, when I call to Thee! Let my prayer be counted as incense before Thee, and the lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice!" (Psalm 141:2). The appearance of the magi at the birth story echoes an important passage in Isaiah, where he describes that all nations will come together in order to bow down and pay homage to the Lord Almighty. They will bring gold and incense to the Lord:

Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you and His glory will be seen upon you. And nations shall come to your light, and Kings to the brightness of your rising. Lift up your eyes round about, and see, they all gather together, they come to you; your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters shall be carried in the arms. Then you shall see and be radiant, your heart shall thrill and rejoice; because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, the wealth of the nations shall come to you. A multitude of camels shall cover you, the young camels of Midian and Epaph; all those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord. Ask the flocks of Nebaioth shall minister to you; they come in my altar, and I will glorify my glorious house.  (Isaiah 60:1-7)

The appearance of the wise men remind us that this birth is unlike other births, because the child is going to be the Savior of the World: "He will be great, and He will be called the Son of the Most High: and the Lord God will give to Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of His Kingdom there will be no end" (Luke 1:32-33). Thus, the gift of salvation is announced to both the Jews, who are represented in the birth story by the shepherds in the fields, and to the Gentiles, who are represented by the magi. Both the shepherds and the magi accept the invitation to see the Christ child, and both pay homage to Him. Matthew's birth story reminds us that the good news of salvation is offered to all peoples, or as Isaiah says, all nations. Hopefully, all nations will accept this wonderful invitation and view down to God's beloved Son Jesus.

John Hopkins Jr’s well known carol, “We Three Kings” narrates the giving of the gifts in first person. “Born a King on Bethlehem’s plain, gold I bring to crown him again, King forever, ceasing never, over us all to reign.” “Frankincense to offer have I; incense owns a Deity nigh; prayer and praising, voices raising, worshiping God on high.” “Myrrh is mine; its bitter perfume breathes a life of gathering gloom; sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying, sealed in the stone-cold tomb.” The gifts were given precisely to indicate who Jesus Christ, Immanuel—“God With Us”—was and is and shall be.

Gold was given as a regal gift. It is the sign of Jesus’ kingship. Later, we would all come to realize that his Kingdom is not an earthly one, located in a geographical promised land, but that he came to rule over a fallen-but-restored-through-him re-creation, or re-capitulation of the Cosmos.

Frankincense was offered for his divinity. Early Christians often refused to pinch a bit of incense onto the charcoal for the Emperor—thereby rejecting imperial claims to divinity, and were martyred as a result. Incense is only offered to God—the main reason why we still offer it to him in every single church service, following Psalm 140/141: “Let my prayer arise in thy sight as incense, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.”

Myrrh was placed at his feet to foreshadow his death on the Cross for the life of the world. Whereas every single person on the planet earth was created in order to live—the gift of God—only Jesus was born to die. And there is great and providential irony in this: we mortals were born to live and move and have our being without ceasing, but the Pre-eternal, ever-existing Word of God—he who hung the earth upon the waters—was born to hang on the cross!And following his death-by-crucifixion, he was taken down from this Tree of Life, and his body was wrapped in swaddling clothes once again, and anointed for burial with the fragrant myrrh, as was brought to him at his birth. Oh divine redemption!

Royalty, divinity, and death. These were the gifts offered as signs of the essence of Jesus Christ. As we celebrate the feast, adoring him, let us also enflesh the call of this ancient hymn and prayer:

Increase in us the talent of good deeds, that we may offer Thee fitting gifts: instead of gold, myrrh, and frankincense, we offer the service of loving hearts, praising the Giver of all good gifts who has come to be born of the virgin and child of God.

In the Ancient Christian Tradition we greet one another with a call and response:

Christ is Born!

Glorify Him!