Everyone (and I Mean Everyone) Is Welcome!

We were made for communion. We weren't made for loneliness. But the remedy of loneliness means taking seriously the generosity and love of God

Christ is Born!

The New York Times recently had an article talking about the statement of the US Surgeon General concerning the very real societal epidemic of loneliness in our country (See "We Have Become a Lonely Nation" NYT 30 April 2023) In the article the Surgeon General rightly sees loneliness as a health problem leading to all kinds of difficulties. Loneliness is, indeed, both a spiritual and physical problem in our culture. Of course, we've known this instinctively. We were made to have relationships. We were made to be in communion.

But why? Why does the human person need community and companionship?

Because that's the way we were made. God made us in His image, and He knows Himself as "Persons in Communion." You've heard me say this over and over again. What is truly encouraging is seeing even our sadly secular society discover this wisdom because of the very negative effects of loneliness on the physical health of people! So, the remedy is first to identify what creates loneliness and what the traits that foster loneliness are. There are many answers to these questions. But there is no doubt that the evil one wants to foster division among us perpetually until we reduce the "acceptable" people down to our lonely selves!

Look at our lesson today in Acts 10:44-48; 11:1-10:

In those days, while Peter was still saying this, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. And the believers from among the circumcised who came with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles. For they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared, "Can any one forbid water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?" And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to remain for some days. Now the apostles and the brethren who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying, "Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?" But Peter began and explained to them in order: "I was in the city of Joppa praying; and in a trance I saw a vision, something descending, like a great sheet, let down from heaven by four corners; and it came down to me. Looking at it closely I observed animals and beasts of prey and reptiles and birds of the air. And I heard a voice saying to me, 'Rise, Peter; kill and eat.' But I said, 'No, Lord; for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth.' But the voice answered a second time from heaven, 'What God has cleansed you must not call common.' This happened three times, and all was drawn up again into heaven."

St. Peter is explaining to the folks back in Jerusalem who are really upset with him about preaching to the first Gentile convert, the Roman centurion Cornelius. The Jewish leaders of the new Christian  Church are upset that Peter, a Jew, has associated with Gentiles. Can it be that God intends to make Gentiles followers of Jesus? Could it really be true that Christ is meant for everyone, not just a "special" race of people? Can we really embrace folks so different than us and call them "brothers?" We'll see.

Not 4 years before this event with Cornelius, in the upper room on the Day of Pentecost, St. Peter and the 120 disciples gathered there in obedience to the Lord's command and received the promised Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost! When the Holy Spirit was given to them, the disciples of Jesus were filled with confidence, and even the ability to speak to all the people gathered there in Jerusalem for the Feast of Pentecost in their native languages so everyone would understand- telegraphed God's intentions to make the Christian Faith available to anybody and everybody. This has such present-day applications when some would restrict Orthodoxy to this or that particular cultural experience. The truth is Orthodoxy should belong to everybody, or eventually it won't belong to anybody!

And now, that same Holy Spirit was doing the same thing with these Gentiles! What further proof did St. Peter need that God was no respecter of persons but accepts everyone and anyone who longs to know Him? God reveals what He never made a secret in the first place - He intends everyone, no matter their race or background - to be together in His Church! God, through His Living Word - Jesus, intends to make all of us one family, not destroying our distinctive personalities, but helping us integrate all these wonderful differences into a beautiful picture of our common human race!

As we move toward the end of the Nativity Feast and towards the Theophany of our Lord Jesus in the waters of baptism, we are invited, once again, by the wisdom of the Church, to confront this way of living meant to transform us! And we neglect or dismiss this central message at our own peril. The very power of God's extension to every person, no matter what language they speak, what nationality they have, or what color their skin, is meant to heal something very broken in us humans. Our treasured heritages, those precious memories, practices, recipes, memories, are all good UNTIL they become sick with the false idea of superiority and pride. What is meant to be cherished becomes sick with tribalism and prejudice. How ugly is what was supposed to be a strength when it descends into the illness of the soul? This is precisely why the Faith follows the heart of our loving God. We break down the sickness of prejudice through the cherishing of our distinctive WITHOUT ever allowing these distinctions to become walls. In allowing the grace to make us generous with the treasure of our Orthodox Faith, we become like the God Who came to save us all!

Today, are you able to help all the folks around you who are spiritually hungry for the fullness of the faith ready to receive it and embrace it? What are the barriers in your heart, your head, and even your community to be the conduit of God's Good News to "whosoever will" so that everyone has a chance to know a real Normal Orthodox Life?

P.S. Be ready, Zabulon; prepare yourself, O Nephthalim. River Jordan, stay your course and skip for gladness to receive the Sovereign Master, Who comes now to be baptized. O Adam, be glad with our first mother, Eve; hide not as you did of old in Paradise. Seeing you naked, He has appeared now to clothe you in the first robe again. Christ has appeared, for He truly wills to renew all creation.