[This past Sunday was both “Ukrainian Sunday” and “Bring a Friend to Church Day”, so I began by helping them understand why our parish celebrates its roots.]

Welcome to guests.  Ukrainian Sunday: reaffirmation of roots and the way that Christianity has worked through the culture of Rus’-Ukraine to bless her people and evangelize the world.  Because we are called to be Christians in all our activities (family life, community life, work, play, etc.), there is no such thing as a “generic” Christianity or of a Christianity without a folk or local flavor.  Orthodoxy blessed and shaped the culture of Rus’ Ukraine for over a millennium; the resulting culture attests and witnesses to the joy of Christian life and the transformative power His Body and Blood. 

As visitors to our parish and to our homes, you may notice some of our Ukrainian customs and traditions:  the unique melodies & hymns, pysanky, embroidery, delicious foods, icons of special saints, our golden domes, iconostasis, and so on.  And while the attention is easily drawn to such things, we want you to realize that they are not to be celebrated in of themselves (despite their beauty), but to be seen as the fruits, flowers, and blossoms of our faith as it has grown from the rich soil of Rus’-Ukraine.  When we learn the old melodies; how to paint pysanky, embroider, pinch verynyky, and roll holobchi; and [when we] continue to worship in the traditional Orthodox manner; we are not trying to preserve something that might otherwise be lost (after all, we are not museum curators) but continuing a mode of life that sanctified those who have gone before us, sanctifies us through our participation, and (Lord willing) will continue to sanctify those who follow after us.  To go back to the analogy of the rich soil; these flowers and blossoms can be picked and enjoyed anywhere, but it is here in the garden that you can really enjoy their beauty and fragrance.  [and, FWIW, we have found that the American potatoes that we grow here do just fine in Varenyky, it seems that the soil here is rich as well, for this community has thrived here].  

We are very happy that you have come to worship with us.  Even though some of the things that we do seem quite foreign, everything is an expression of our Christian faith; and I hope that you find your own faith reaffirmed and strengthened through our common prayer.  [I strongly encourage you to stay afterwards for Church School and coffee hour; and to ask questions and offer your observations with us then.]

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Today is the Sunday of St. Mary; the last week of Lent (kind of).  St. Mary is a tremendous example to us: like so many of us today, she lived according to her pleasure.  She was a promiscuous and hedonistic profligate.  But then she repented, offered her life to Christ, and was was perfected in Him.  There is a lesson there for us.  [described how she could not get into the Church]  Her way of life kept her from entering… ours does, too. 

We can only fully embrace and enjoy the Paschal Resurrection through repentance.  You can only repent if you see yourself as sinful; you can only receive healing if you recognize that you are ill.   The challenge is that while everyone is sinful (and everyone is ill); very few admit it.  We are good at seeing other sins, but very bad at seeing our own.  Lent.  St. Ephraim’s prayer.  Great Canon of St. Andrew.  Holy Week.  All designed to teach us true introspection; to see ourselves in the True Light of Christ.  To see our sins so that we can dig them out.  Some Christians mistakenly believe that Christ came to make us better; that He gave us the Church to make us nicer.  This kind of half-truth is very dangerous. 

The point of all this is not to take us as we are and improve us (i.e. make us more patient, kind, peaceful, stronger, more truthful, etc.): the point is to make us perfect.  And while part of this obviously involves improving the atrophied image of God within us, it also involves something much more painful: identifying those things within us that cripple us and thwart our development.  Do you want to be made well?  Do you want to become perfect?  Then repent.  It is true that God loves us as we are, but as our loving Father, He also wants us to grow up; to mature; to become responsible adults.  Something that our world has almost forgotten is that adults are more than just big children.  Our sin, our irresponsibility, and our refusal to see the world as it really is keeps us from obtaining lasting joy and perfection.

Lent is almost over; if we are not careful, we will completely miss the opportunity it offers.  Lent is our course on repentance, preparing us to participate more fully in the Resurrection.  [Example of taking Organic Chemistry and doing everything except taking it seriously… not prepared for the final… actually fell asleep: failed the class.]  We can’t let this happen to us now: we must take Lent seriously if we are to learn its lessons, if we are to learn repentance.  Sure, this same course will be offered it again next year, but what makes us think we will take it more seriously then … and who is to say that we will even be around for it?

The Pascha of Our Lord will be here in just two weeks.  If this brings anything but a smile to your face and joy to your heart, then repent now. Because if we cannot enjoy the Pascha of Our Lord now, in 2009, who is to say that we will enjoy it when its promise is fulfilled at Our Lord’s second and glorious coming.  Repent now.

“Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him to the Gentiles; and they will mock Him, and scourge Him, and spit on Him, and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again.”

“Enter, You Faithful into the Resurrection”