2nd Building Block: Commitment – Sermon by Fr. Vasile Tudora
This also, knowing the time, that it is already time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand; therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. (Rom 13:11-13)
On my way home yesterday I saw a man, at a crossroad, holding up a sign with a simple message:”Jesus died for our sins”. He was alone; he was not holding any advertisements, he did not tried to lure anyone into his freshly built mega-worshipping facility, but he rise up high the sign above his head as you drove by, trying to make you read the message. At that moment someone in the car asked a question: what denomination is he from? And in that very second it struck me: it really doesn’t matter! The truth that he was holding up high was so universal that nothing else really is important anymore. All he was trying to tell us, as we drove by in our shiny cars, coming from the mall, in a very festive mood, was that God has sent His only Son to die on the cross for each and every one of us.
It was a really shocker for me personally, because in that second I realized how little time I spend thinking about this simple truth: Jesus died for my sins. And even more shocking is the realization of the gap that exists between this truth and my actions to honor it.
Our Christian life is based on this truth, without Christ dying on the Cross and rising from the tomb we would have no future beyond this cruel reality we call modern world. I am not saying this to ruin anyone’s holiday mood, but one day we have to realize that life is more than just an eternal celebration. Am I going too far? Think about it: we begin with the New Year celebration, in a few weeks we start preparing for Valentine day and by then we are on our way to Easter. We cruise then through the summer holidays and we found ourselves masked for Halloween. We savor the Thanksgiving turkey with the family and before we could digest it all Christmas knocks at the door; from there to the New Year is just a notch and here we go again. Don’t even think about adding all the birthday parties and Superbowls and other celebrations because I really don’t know when we get anything done with all the festal preparations.
I am exaggerating a little bit, I admit it, but it really seems that we are so committed to entertain ourselves that all the other commitments start fading away. If we truly believe in the bold truth that man was holding up yesterday, then this belief requires some serious action from our part.
We are here today talking about building, about committing to change the face of our community. Along with it however we should also commit to another renovation: a complete rebuilding of our own commitments in Christ.
We have made such a commitment to God at the time of our baptism, through the mouth of our Godfather or Godmother. They vouched that we will keep our baptismal garment white and spotless and we will uphold the ways of God. Yet ever since we keep sinning; big or small, but we shy away, day after day from our original spiritual pledge. How can this be possible, one may ask, after all Christ died for us, wouldn’t this be enough to eradicate sin from this world and make us walk the right path forever? Yes, it could be, but God does not want to take away our precious freedom, He does not want us to be his puppets, but His partners in the refashioning of the world that started at Resurrection. He does not want to do everything for us; He wants us to be a part of our own salvation by re-acknowledging our promise, a sort of an informed consent reaffirming our baptismal vows.
The problem is that we keep moving the date of this commitment like a wedding date we are not ready for. Every time we get closer to God we get colder and colder feet. “I will have time to come to Liturgy next week, I will pledge next year for the new Church, I will sing in a choir once I’ll have free some time to practice” and we can go on and on with the excuses. Procrastination is a Christian’s worst enemy. But hear what Jesus says, “In an acceptable time I heard you, and in a day of salvation, I helped you; Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation.” (2Co 6:2). Notice He didn’t say tomorrow is the day, but clearly He expresses the urgency of doing now what we already know we have to do.
We need to stop bring excuses to the dinner that we are invited by God every minute of our lives: “[…] I have bought a piece of land, […] I have bought five yoke of oxen, […] I have married a wife“(Luk 14:18-20); the excuses won’t do us any good. We have to make a commitment to God that we will live our lives according to His will and act upon it today.
The commitment does not involve only the financial pledges; it goes beyond that; it goes deep until it reaches the heart of man. This is the place we want to rebuild first; this is where our re-construction efforts should concentrate. If we don’t achieve a “broken and humble heart”, all our efforts are in vain. God does not need walls or shiny domes; He just wants a proper abode for Him in the depth of our being.
The ultimate commitment of the Orthodox Christian is a commitment to our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is known in and through His Church. The Divine Liturgy calls upon us to “commit ourselves, one another, and our whole life unto Christ our God.” We also pray, prior to receiving Holy Communion, “O Master Who loves mankind, unto you we commit our whole life and our hope.” Each of us is unique and blessed by the Holy Spirit with different gifts and vocations in life, therefore, our personal commitment to Christ will be expressed differently. Yet, this commitment should always be built upon a worship of God and a loving concern for others.
A new Church, built in the tradition of our Orthodox heritage will indeed help make us aware of this, it will create an environment that will foster the right attitude toward our relationship with God and His Creation, it will help us understand more about our life in Christ, it will bring us closer to God in a meaningful liturgical space, but it cannot guarantee our entrance into paradise. This is up to God that makes it possible, but also up to us that need to willingly accept His saving grace in humility and thanksgiving.
The commitment we are called to make today defines who we are going to be tomorrow. We may or may not build a new church on this property, but if carrying this effort we will be able to rediscover our true priorities, to come together us a community of love, to re-kindle the spark of holiness God has put in all of us from the beginning, no matter what the outcome will be, we will still be winners.