St Nicholas MA II

MISSION: WHY DON'T THEY KNOW WE ARE HERE?

When  the priest returns to the altar with the holy gifts after the people have received holy communion, the congregation sings, "We have seen the true Light! We have received the heavenly Spirit! We have found the true Faith! Worshipping the undivided Trinity, who has saved us!"
This is a beautiful affirmation of the Orthodox faith and the perfect summation of the entire Liturgy, yet it often rings hollow when it is compared with the reality of parish life in our country. All too often the Light of Christ is hidden under the bushel of shallow self interest, the Holy Spirit is equated with the spirit of ethnic pride and the truth of the Faith is used as a cudgel to smash down anything  outside the formal borders of  the Orthodox Church as "heterodox" and "heretical",  no matter how beautiful and true they are in expressing the glory and majesty of God.
This combination of cold indifference, self centeredness, and the indiscriminate rejection of God's grace where it exists outside the formal boundaries of the Orthodox Church plague the Church on our continent and can be found in every jurisdiction and in virtually every parish to one degree or another (sometimes to a greater extent in one manifestation than another; for instance 'ethnic' parishes may tend to close themselves off from mission to non ethnics whereas parishes with a large number of converts sometimes tend toward 'hyper-Orthodoxy').
Thanks be to God, there are many exceptions to this sad rule; there are, indeed, thriving parishes in which people of all ethnic backgrounds work together to bring the Light of Christ into the world around them. There are within our Orthodox Church parishes both Eastern Rite and, much less well known, Western Rite, that bring the beauty of  faith alive in worship and praise as well as in the doing of good works in their local communities.
Yet, to the majority of North Americans, Orthodoxy remains a well kept secret--not because it is impossible to find anything about the Orthodox faith in print. Thanks to writers like Bishop Kallistos Ware, and the recently departed Metropolitan Anthony Bloom, and thanks also to the publication of the writings of the teachers of the Early Church, there is plenty available out there about Orthodoxy. Add to that the enormous amount of information on the internet (including detailed instructions as to how to find one's way to an Orthodox parish), and it becomes quite clear that our problem is not the lack of information. The critical factor that is missing in our mission strategy is a passionate conviction on our own part that we really and truly want to welcome newcomers among us!
Perhaps that may seem a bit shocking to some, but I am convinced that it is true and that the average newcomer is able to feel it. For a variety of reasons mentioned above, we are not really convinced ourselves that we want a huge influx of newcomers; we don't want to be like St. Vladimir, baptizing whole cities! Rather, we tell ourselves, we'd prefer "quality to quantity". (One wonders what St. Paul would say to this, never mind what our Lord Jesus Christ will have to say on the Last and Terrible Day).
And yet, the "quality not quantity" proviso does get us off the hook, doesn't it? For the ethnic crowd it means not having to fear being overwhelmed by people "not like us" who might dilute the cultural purity of the parish and overthrow treasured traditions. For the hyper-Orthodox it means not having to deal with people who might dilute the monomaniacal focus on canonical and theological purity that they would demand of every believer. A large influx of the 'worldly' would demand too much patience, long suffering  and loving-kindness in dealing with the 'weaknesses' of those kind of folks. And those folks know how we feel about them; they can tell that they really don't fit in so they don't bother coming. You see, the missions problem on this continent  isn't the lack of books about Orthodoxy; it's lack of love for those who are not already members of our communities on the part of too many Orthodox Christians in the pews. We simply don't have a strong enough desire to embrace the 'stranger' and thus we don't grow; we wither on the vine.
The answer to the question, "Why don't they know we are here?" is: We haven't cared enough to welcome them in. They come to our picnics and eat our baklava, our pirogies, our spinach pies, and listen to our ethnic bands. We let them part with their money and send them on their way until the next year; sometimes we leave our churches open for tours (come see the exotic Orthodox temple!). But beyond that we are--the vast majority of us--passive at best.
Jesus gave His disciples an active command: GO make disciples of ALL nations.... and he premised that commandment on LOVE. Unless we ACT on LOVE our mission strategy is bound to be nothing more than talk.

MISSION: IT’S NOT ALL ABOUT US

When our Lord commanded His disciples to go in turn and, " make disciples of  all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all the things" that he had commanded them, (Matthew 28:19-20), He was giving the primary mission commandment to the whole Church for all ages.
This commandment applies in every parish and mission throughout the world in all times and places, no matter what the situation we find ourselves in. Too often, we think of mission as being the province of certain dedicated young priests and their families, (or of monks and nuns, or perhaps other individuals who have a "special calling") who go to exotic places far away to convert non Christians to the Orthodox faith. Or, perhaps, we think of mission as something that is done in parts of the world where there are few Orthodox parishes--again by dedicated priests and laity who have a "special calling". Seldom do we think of it as the on going work of each and every member of each and every parish--whether large or small--whether "ethnic" or "convert", well off or struggling to get by. Mission is, by definition the common work of the Church
But, mission is most definitely NOT about us!
That will seem to be a strange thing to state if our goal is parish growth. But think about it, when we talk about ourselves (at least most of the time) we are speaking selfishly, we are turned inward and not out to others. If our goal is to grow so that we may simply fill space, increase the budget, survive for another few decades, then we do not have a true missionary consciousness.
Real mission is grounded in an intense love for God, in a burning desire to preach the gospel of salvation, in the hope of bringing people to the truth of Jesus Christ and His Church. Thus, it can never be self centered. The missionary drive is focused on the need of others.
And herein lies a great paradox.
When our focus turns outward--away from ourselves--we are blessed.
This past month we have raised over $700 for the Orthodox Christian Mission Center to support the missionary work of a priest (we hope, in Albania). We raised the money from among ourselves in a series of collections after the Divine Liturgy with the idea that if we share what we have in our 'weakness' for the sake of others in even greater need, God will bless our own call to mission here at home. Fifty dollars a month will go to help support a priest carry out his call to bring men, women, and children to the Light of Christ in His holy, Orthodox Church. It is such a small amount of money here in America, but overseas it will go far in helping a priest and his family pay for housing and food for an entire month!
Our parish is small and 'weak' compared to so many others, but our life in Christ is not measured in numbers. It is measured in the commitment we have to the gospel of Jesus Christ--not only here in Southbridge, Massachusetts, but everywhere on the face of the earth.
I am convinced that God will see our commitment, that He will see our love for His Church everywhere, that he will bless and give growth to the mission of the priest and parish that will receive our small offering and that He will bless us too--with  true growth. We must certainly pray that our growth will include increased membership, but for the same reason we will pray for the growth of the parish we will be helping to support overseas--not because it will help us 'survive', but because it will spread the good news of salvation in Christ.
One of the most beautiful things that will emerge from the outreach we have undertaken will be our mutual prayers for one another, our mutual consciousness of the true catholicity of the Church, our mutual love for one another and concern for the well being of our communities of faith.
It really isn't about us. It isn't about money. It isn't about more people in the pews. Its all about love. It is about the love of God, Who  is Love. And it is that love that gives growth and life to all who seek Him and His Kingdom.
When we discover this, we discover the heart of what it means to be true missionaries.

MISSION IN THE "BEST OF TIMES AND THE WORST OF TIMES"

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way--in short, the period was so far like the present period......." (Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities)
In my years as an Orthodox priest I have heard many people bemoan the terrible condition of the world today--especially its moral depravity. I've even given a sermon or two of my own on the topic! I've noticed that there is a very strong tendency among converts (and I am one of them) to seek out in Orthodoxy a fortress against what they perceive is the ever growing theological and moral caving in to modern secularism on the part of Western Christianity.
In other words, we perceive this to be the 'worst of times' in the 'City of the West' so we are running 'East'! The West has forsaken its roots and given into godless worldliness! Or, even worse, the end times are upon us!
No one in the Orthodox Church would deny that some elements, indeed many elements in Western Christian theology have become problematic in recent years but not everywhere and not at all times. Besides, our issue as Orthodox is not about keeping house for others; it’s about building the Church's mission.
For all the times I've heard that we live in the worst of times, I can never recall once having heard anyone say that we live in the best of times. No doubt such a person would be incredibly naive, but no more so than those who would dream of living in 19th century Russia (as anyone who has read Chekhov's enlightening accounts of Russian 'popular' religion in those days or the writings of Fr. Elchaninov would know). Nor would a person who would proclaim today to be the best of times be any less naive than those who would delight to live in the Byzantine Empire where 95% of the population was crushed by Imperial taxes and many welcomed Arab and Turkish conquerors as liberators from oppression!
The point of all this is to say that the times we live in whatever they are, are always "the best of times and the worst of times". The unique mission of the Orthodox Church--which we believe to be the "True Faith"--is that it addresses the world in both contexts; at its best and at its worst. Orthodoxy sees the world in all its original beauty and in all the beauty to which it shall be restored in the Final Resurrection. We are utterly convinced of Christ's victory over Death and Hades. At the same time we are perfectly realistic about the vast destruction that sin, death, and the devil have visited upon the created order. The resolution of this paradox is expressed in every Divine Liturgy, in every Baptism, and throughout the year in the course of the Liturgical Cycle.
Orthodoxy is an experiential faith. One comes to Church and experiences the Liturgy, hears the gospel, the sermon, receives the holy communion. The faithful struggle to keep the fasts--especially the Great Fast of Lent and to enter into the increased cycle of prayer and worship of that Holy Season. We begin and end our days with prayer, pray a grace over every meal and in general live a life of the "consciousness of God".
Looking at the world from this perspective, it is difficult to constantly be decrying it as a place of woe and wickedness for it is indeed, full of the grace of the Lord. At the same time, it would be equally difficult to put on rose tinted glasses and fail to see the suffering and evil around us and not be moved to act to alleviate it through prayer, good works, and civic virtue.
In the end, though, there are no negatives. As Orthodox we are left with no time, no space in our hearts or minds for useless condemnations (for such are generally useless--they neither convert the sinner nor enlighten the virtuous), rather we are motivated to convert ourselves, to act rightly (as models of goodness, mercy, and love) to preach the gospel in word and deed and to invite people into our communities to "Come and see!"
Orthodoxy, in the end, is the New Jerusalem, the "City of Peace", where the "peace which passes understanding" may be given and where the turmoil of this world may be put aside ( this is what we mean when we speak of 'laying aside all earthly cares' in the Cherubimic Hymn). This promise is constantly renewed in every generation. One does not have to hearken back to another age (Byzantium or 19th century Russia) to have it. Its available right here in America. Its available in the English language, in terms that any American with an open heart and the desire to know God can understand. Far from requiring us to reject and scorn others for their mistakes, it requires us only to desire to embrace the Truth with Love. Orthodoxy is about being positive, seeking the beautiful and true, finding what is good and lovely and seeking to share it with all people. If that is our truest desire it will effect such a change in our own hearts and minds and attitudes that we will attract others and our own "city" will grow mightily.