Monday, March 9, 2009

The Second Week

And so we begin the second week of Great Lent. Yesterday afternoon Orthodoxy Sunday Vesper Service was held at our Church. There were 13 Priests and close to 200 people in attendance. It was a very impressive service!

As we settle in to this second week of Lent, the fast will most likely begin to get a little more difficult. As I talked about in my sermon yesterday, it seems like Lent truly beings sometime this second week, when we face perhaps our first true test of our resolve to hold to our fast. Hopefully at that moment we will realize that Great Lent is not so much about what we are giving up, or fasting from, or even the sacrifice we make. Great Lent becomes an opportunity, an opportunity to examine the priorities in our life.

All of us have priorities in our lives. Mostly likely we would list them as family, job, friend and so on. Lent allows us to think about where God fits in that list, if He is even on it in the first place. Oftentimes, people say to me that they don't understand why the Church wants to take up so much of our time, that it is hard to find time to balance our regular life with Church. First, Church has to be a part of our regular life. It can't be something outside of our lives that we just participate in once in a while. And second, the Church doesn't really ask all that much of us.

Lets look at time for a moment. Studies suggest that most people sleep 6-8 hours a night. That leaves at least 16 hours of time awake. Out of that we can eliminate 9 hours for work (adding in travel) so we are left with 7 hours. Take another 2 hours out for dinner preparation and eating together as a family (a vital practice of family life!) Now we have 5 hours left. Probably one of those hours was in the morning before work and the other 4 are in the evening before bed. We might even eliminate another 2 hours in the evening for those who have children and need to spend time with them and put them to bed. 

So, what does the Church ask of us? That we pray, morning and night. A light rule of prayer to begin a prayer life with might take us 10-15 minutes in the morning and evening. That is only 20-30 minutes out of the 5 hours we have left over after all is said and done in our day. If we could simply find the time to set aside 10-15 minutes each morning and evening, we could truly begin to prioritize our lives the way they should be.

The Church also asks us to make an effort to avoid sin, to be kind and compassionate to those around us. This takes no time at all, in fact it probably takes more time for us to figure out how to be mad at people and get back at them than it does to simply pray.

The Church doesn't ask much of us, just that we live a Christian way of life, a life of love and prayer. Let this week of Great Lent be about priorities for you. Examine you life and see where God fits. If we can pray, if we can make the effort life a Christian life, the God will find a place at the top of our list of priorities.

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