It’s time to reset what we think “normal” is. For too long we have reduced a Normal Orthodox Life to merely going through the motions. Our parish family has recently done a very thorough and difficult Strategic Planning Initiative where we worked hard over the past few months to take a serious and honest look at our Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats, and what we discovered is we are doing several things right in our parish community, BUT we also have some weaknesses that invited us to reassess what we think a Nornal Orthodox life is really all about.
Down below, I’ll share with you what we came up with as our WHY statement and our Mission Statement. It was all about resetting what we consider a “Nornmal Orthodox Life.”
One area where we’ve set the bar entirely too low in too many Orthodox homes and parishes is understanding how our Orthodox Faith is supposed to practice radical generosity. It’s the reason why at the very center of our Divine Liturgy is the Eucharist. We all know that the word “Eucharist” comes from the Greek word for “thank you.” At the very center of our worship of God, the very center of our theology, and at the very heart of what it means to be Orthodox is the charism of Generosity. God is generous with us in that He has given us His Only Son! God generously provides for us and loves us more than anything else. God is so generous that He gives us everlasting life, and we will only be able to truly enjoy His generosity by becoming generous just like Him!
Look at our lesson today in Luke 8:1-3:
At that time Jesus went on through cities and villages, preaching and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with him, and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their means.
The Lord and His disciples were about doing what they were called to do: bringing Good News about the kingdom of God. Surrounding them were their traveling companions who believed in their mission so much that they provided for the disciples’ needs “out of their means.” Of course, you know what that means, don’t you? Yeah, they paid for everything the Lord and His disciples needed to keep doing the ministry they were doing. They gave FROM gratitude and not merely to need!
We must remember, dear ones, that seeing the need and offering sentiments while withholding the remedy is only half of Christianity. It is so very good that we feel compassion, sympathy, and even empathy for those in need, but that is just the “narthex” of faith. If we stop there a dangerous pattern gets set in our lives. We fail to see ourselves as God’s hands and feet in the earth. St. Paul calls us the Body of Christ. We are His continued physical presence in the world and we are how He Provides! After all, each week God feeds us with the precious Eucharist. He takes our work, our “means” of Bread and Wine; bread we have mixed, kneaded, shaped, sealed, and baked; and He fills up our work, our “means” with Himself and “provides” for our salvation. That’s what God does with all the offerings we bring to Him to provide for the work of the faith! That’s why being stingy creates such a small soul in a man! It is only giving from gratitude that liberates me from the smallness of giving based on my needs and sets me free to give from a heart grateful to God for all He has given me!
This liberty of giving from gratitude means I release my control over my possessions as if they were “my” property. I release the delusionary idea that I am in control of my life. No, my life was given to me and now I am called to mimic the generosity of God, My Creator, and LifeGiver. He gave, running the risk that those who received would misuse His gifts, but He gave anyway because He loved me. Now I am called to give of myself based, not on some arbitrary standard but on the standard of God’s generosity!
Saints Eulampius and Eulampia were brother and sister. And they lived at the beginning of the 4th century AD. St. Eulampius was a young man with all his life before him and when he read that Roman Emperor Maximian had ordered all Christians in the Empire killed, he was prepared for what was to come. He was arrested and brought before the local authorities and accused of being a Christian. Eulampius confessed this to be true and then was subjected to severe torture in an attempt to get him to renounce Christ. During the torture, St. Eulampius asked to be taken to a pagan temple nearby. When the authorities heard this they were very happy supposing the young man was ready to abandon Christ and sacrifice to the pagan gods. When Eulampius was brought before the statue of the Roman god Mars, he immediately cried out “In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I command you to fall to the floor and crumble into dust!” The state of the false god immediately crashed to the ground and was destroyed! All the people who witnessed this became convinced that Jesus was the true God. All in all, St. Eulampius and his sister Eulampia and 200 converts to the Faith died rather than give up the greatest Treasure of all!
Today, are you willing to so value your Faith so that it actually transforms even how you spend your money and your time? Our community decided we are going to take the next 2-3 years and work on becoming a truly transformational parish. We decided our WHY was -To welcome all on a transformational journey to a life of purpose and salvation. Our Mission Statement was that our Community is a welcoming family who develops intentional Orthodox Christians through worship, education, outreach, and service. All of this was meant to reset what we will now consider a Normal Orthodox Life for us all. Are you ready to come with us on this journey?
P.S. To the wise Eulampius and brave Eulampia with him, to those siblings in the flesh and Martyrs valiant in courage, we now offer praise and honor, for with the power of Him that dies on the Cross, they have shamed and vanquished all the tyrants’ schemes; for they are the Martyrs’ glory and their rejoicing and boast.
Thank you to all the New Supporters and the New Readers of our Daily Devotional! Keep visiting FaithEncouraged.Org for all the new posts and the new videos!
