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PLAN AHEAD RIGHTLY by Fr Andrew George PLAN AHEAD RIGHTLY We live in challenging times on many fronts. A key one in December is our approach and attitude to Christmas, many Orthodox people treat it very differently than they do Easter. What do I mean? As a priest I notice great attentiveness to our Orthodox preparatory practices and disciplines during Great Lent but see modest levels of this as concerns our 40 day Christmas Lenten Season. In our Orthodox tradition, we have a 40 day preparation season before Christmas which begins November 15 and is intensified from December 13. This season of preparation stresses fasting and almsgiving, but it also should be used as a time to shop and wrap and not wait to the last couple of days which exhaust us and make us edgy and also becomes an excuse to miss Liturgy at Christmas because "we are not ready" or we are "too tired." We hear continually throughout December of this and that Christmas Party. In essence it is pre-celebrating Christmas. Our tradition is that you prepare for a feast, first through fasting. Fasting includes not just the foods we eat, but also our social activities. There is such a focus in early December for holding parties that it is to the extreme - very contradictory to our Orthodox approach. The traditional office Christmas parties aren't terrible in and of themselves for they are often held in the spirit of showing appreciation to people, but why must they be in early December when the demands on our time are so strained? In our tradition the "party time" is from December 25 onward for 12 days when there is no fasting, not even on Wednesday or Friday. Add to this the Christmas Eve parties during the exact time of church services. I have never heard of an Easter Eve party conflicting with church - no one would think of doing that, but why this stress on Christmas Eve parties? Again, I repeat, Christmas is a 12 Day Holiday, can't we pick one of those 12 days and not the exact time of services? If it needs be on Christmas Eve, can't it be after the service and not during the service? We all know well that commercialism is at its highest at Christmas time. It is not bad to give gifts, for after all, Christ's Birth was a gift to us. We also have the wise men's gifts to Him. The problem comes when we only stress the gifts and in particular we only think about the gifts that we will receive. Even the concept of "exchanging gifts" is a bit weird when you think of our Lord's teachings........"it is more blessed to give than to receive." We should not give a gift expecting to receive one back. Sincerity is important in giving gifts, not quantity. Add to this thought that some people never even give a "Christmas Gift" to the Church….you would think the Church should be on our "Gift List" if we are rightly living Christmas. Innocently we do the wrong things because of the atmosphere and environment in which we live.we are Easterners living in a Western environment and so it is that some of us have taken on the "Western style" of celebrating Christmas instead of our Eastern style; yet for Easter (PASCHA) just about all of us live it in our Eastern pattern. Why can't more of us begin to do this for Christmas as well? If you set your mind on it, you can do it. I urge each of you to prepare for and to live Christmas in the true Orthodox spirit…fast first, avoid early parties, be at Christmas Liturgy and prepare for Communion, THEN celebrate with your families and friends, in fact celebrate for 12days! Fr. Andrew George Annunciation Church - Cranston, RI Sermon Archive Advent - Plan Ahead Rightly - Fr. Andrew A Culture Obsessed With Food - Douglas Cramer Advent - St. Joseph - Fr. Andrew Advent - A Mixed Bad - Fr. Andrew Building Bridges - Fr. Andrew The Importance of Restitution - Fr. Andrew Declare How Much - Fr. Andrew Being Truely Thankful - Fr. Andrew Wheat or Hay - Which are you offering the King? - Jim Petrou |
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Cranston, RI 02920Phone (401) 942-4188Fax (401) 942-3020office@annunciationri.org
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