As the liturgy comes to a close, the liturgy does
not cease to stop but rather is a continuation of our life transforming our
whole being. Living liturgy is part of the calling Christians are called to
live out. Living liturgy is encompassed with entering again into time. Just
like the liturgy and the Sunday Eucharist is the separation of time (physical
time) living out our liturgy in the world is also a re-entering of time. Time
however, is paradoxical because it is the only reality of life, but also is a
nonexistent reality. It constantly breaks down our life (the past) to make it
no longer existent and it is also looks to the future which leads to death
(physical death). Time has been an “issue” many philosophers and writers have
tried to solve throughout history. However, as one is called to live out
liturgy I cannot offer a “solution”
because time is to be embraced as a living sacrifice. Here then is not a
“solution” to the “problem” but rather a gift. By perceiving time as a gift then
one can conclude and accept it freely and joyfully as it is given. If we accept
time as a gift then the solution and the problem become an irrelevant
phenomenon to our understanding of what time encompasses.
In order to appreciate time the incorporation of
liturgy must be established to see how one can live out there liturgy in the
gift of time. The respect for time through liturgy has slowly been lost to the
“spiritualization” of the believer. I hear today many people speaking non-sense
like “…if I come to liturgy right before the gospel reading I will be fine…if I
read the gospel reading when I come home then I can show up before communion
and I do not need to come for the entire liturgy”. Father Alexander echoes this
when he says that real tragedy of Christianity today is not a compromise with
the world and the progressive materialism but rather it is “spiritualization”
and the transformation into “religion”. We have “boxed” Christianity or as a
close friend of time says “packaged” Christianity into a religion. However, if
we are to understand Christianity as a religion then there is truly no hope for
us. Christianity was never intended to be the new religion. Christianity is a
way of life. Time, to the church then ceases to exist because the church is not
bond down by time. Time is arbitrary because the church stands outside of time.
Therefore, we can conclude by saying that the church and everything we do
within the church governs time and not the other way around. Time was never
meant to hold the church down. However, as time has crept into the church
people have began asking questions in relation to time and the beauty of the
church becomes diminished with such questions as “Did Christ rise on the 2nd
day or the 3rd day? Did Christ die at the 6th hour or the
9th hour? Etc”. Christ was never bound to time and through his death
he was able to conquer death and by conquering death he conquered time.
In the Jewish context of understanding time, the
Sabbath (the day of rest) was man’s participation and affirmation of the
goodness of God’s creation (cf. Gen1.25, 2.3). The seventh day was understood
as a time for relaxation and to enjoy the good of all creation within the
Jewish context of understanding the Sabbath. This explains why Jews don’t do
any type of work on this day because it would go against appreciating the good
of creation. However, this concept breaks down because how can you enjoy the
good of creation if you are not engaged in the creation itself. Father
Alexander goes on to say that in the apocalyptic writing of the prophets they
speak of an 8th day. The 8th stands outside of time
because it is not bound by the frustration and limitation of the 7th
day or the time of this world. It is out of this idea that the Christian Sunday
developed. Christ a rose one day after the Sabbath. The life that shone out of
the grave was not held bound by time and its physical realities leading to
death. The 7th day was bound by time however; the 8th day
stands outside of time. Death was not able to comprehend what was laid in the
tomb and this explains why the church chants Christ is Risen from the dead
trampling down death by death. This is why the church celebrates the Eucharist
on the Sunday because, as mentioned previously, if we understand the church to
stand outside of time and the realities of the church is what governs the
heavenly realities then time has no room in the church. The celebration within
the church is the reality of the heavenly banquet and our ascension into the
holy of holies. This explains why the early church did not have a “fixed day”
to celebrating the Eucharist. Sunday as a fixed day was not introduced until
Constantine become emperor. Before then liturgy was a celebration that took
place on any given day. The celebration was not bound to time and not being
bound to time the celebration is truly heaven on earth. The liturgy and the
Eucharist being a celebration on the eight gives all days there true meaning.
It has made the time of this world a time of end, and it also has made it a
time of beginning. If we understand that liturgy is a celebration of the eight
day then all days become how humanity is to live out it’s liturgy to the world.
A major step in the realm of time is the Christian
year. What I mean by this is the Christian calendar. Christians have specific
holidays they celebrate throughout a calendar year such as Pascha, the Nativity
and Pentecost to name a few. Many see these as a time to rest. Others might see
them as a time to develop their business. Unfortunately, the joy of the feast
is slowly being forgotten in our modern times. Feast on the pedestrian level
means joy. But as critical thinking people we never think of feast as being
joyful. How can we be joyful when so many people suffer? The responses back is
why has society made something to be enjoyed and lived out by its beauty and
joy so serious? People have associated the feast of joy with the “serious
problems” of society and by doing this have reduced what the feasts of the Lord
truly mean. What happens next is scary because the celebrations now cease to be
our greatest source for generating power and is viewed as no more than a less
antiquated decoration of religion. As Father Alexander says: “It is used as a
kind of "audio-visual” aid in religious education, but it is neither a
root of Christian life and action, nor a "goal” toward which they are
oriented. Page 53”. To understand the function of a feast within time we must know
how they were brought into being. They were first preached and taught at a time
when cultures celebrated feast organically and were an essential part to their
world view and way of life. A feast for the man of the past was not a break but
rather it was life for the human individual and the entire community. The
culture accepted the feast and all its joys which became freedom for the
community. Sadly, we have forgotten this true joy because Christianity has
turned everything based on labor and rest. Father Alexander sums this idea up
when he says: “Christianity made it impossible simply to rejoice in the natural
cycles—in harvests and new moons. Because it relegated the perfection of joy to
the inaccessible future—as the goal and end of all work—it made all human life
an "effort,” a "work.” Page 54-55”. However, Christianity was the
revelation of true joy and thus the gift of a genuine feast. This joy is real
simply because it does not depend on anything from the world. This joy is pure
because it is not the reward of anything within us. This joy then becomes the
greatest gift the church can offer to anyone who comes to the church. Father
Alexander says its best: “And being pure gift, this joy has a
transforming power, the only really transforming power in this world.
It is the "seal” of the Holy Spirit on the life of the Church—on its
faith, hope and love. Page 55”.
Through the cross joy came into the world. Joy was
then given to the church that the church might be a witness to the world and
transform it by this joy. This is the main function of the feats within the
church and their meaning belonging to time. To look at two feasts, Pasha and
Pentecost, we see how they developed through time. The historical commemoration
is of the resurrection and bestowing of the Holy Spirit in both feasts. Is that
all we remember them for? The early church adopted the Jewish feasts of
Passover and Pentecost not to remind us of the resurrection and the bestowing
of the Holy Spirit (because the resurrection and bestowing of the Holy Spirit
are constantly to be lived out within the church and are not held down by one
day of the year) but rather they were the announcement of the experience of
time and of life in time, in which the church is the fulfillment. We know that
these feasts are celebrated at a time when the first fruits of nature are grown
out (spring). This shows how the feasts are the coming back to life from the
death of winter. The feats are the expressions of joy about life. Thus Easter
is not a commemoration of an event but rather the fulfillment of time, of real
time itself. Easter is the celebration and fulfillment of time through history,
expectation and the natural order. All of these factors that make time
culminate in the Pascha celebration of the resurrection of our Lord. On Easter
night the explanation is given as the procession (in an Orthodox Church)
proceeds through the church as the chanters chant Christ is Risen. They true
joy of time culminates in the gathered community chanting Christ is Risen which
is more beautiful than any other “joy” the world fools us with. This is why
Easter is called the sacrament of time. The joy given, the light that
transforms, is to become the ultimate meaning of all time, thus transforming
the year into a Christian year not based on dates and celebrations but rather
on entering the fullness of time.
The daily cycles of services has been abandoned
however, it is not the restoration of the services that must unite us in Christ
but rather what is meant to be rediscovered is the relation of the church and
of the individual Christian to the time of the day the relation which was the
theme, the content of the daily service. Contrary to when the day starts for
society in the church the daily cycle of prayers begins with vespers in the
evening. This goes back to how the church through the end is the new beginning
and out of death we have been restored to life. Time is growth but it is only
at the end can we discern the direction of the growth to see its fruits. It was
at the “end of the day” that God saw his creation and creation was good. This
is why liturgy on major feat days would begin late in the evening and go into
the new day. The way vespers begins in the church serves a very important role
to all of us. Our day is shaped either by good or bad, happy or sad or any
other emotion. Our day will either determine the mood we are in or will be in
the next few days. However, the vesperal service does not begin with an
examination of the day. It begins at the beginning, the rediscovery of the
thanksgiving of God’s creation to us. The church takes us to that evening in
which man was created by God and in seeing his eyes creating us we saw God’s
love begin given to his creation. Hence why not only the vesperal service
begins with the “thanksgiving prayer” but any service within the Orthodox
Church begins with the thanksgiving prayer. (Let us give thanks to the
beneficent and merciful God…). If this is how we are to understanding the start
of the service we must also see that it was Christ who restored the broken
image of Adam. This is why Christ is given the name the New Adam. I the old
Adam was rejected and lost but am made new in the Eucharistic life in Jesus
Christ. Lastly, if the church is in Christ, its act is to always given in
thanksgiving, returning the world to God. (Your own of your own we offer to
you, on behalf of all and for all-St. John Chrysostom Liturgy taken from the
Anaphora prayer). Through the realization of our broken nature and being
sinners in front of God the climax of the vesperal service is chanted by the
chanters (O Gladsome light of the holy glory of the immortal father). The one
coming into the world has come and revealed the true light which shines and
comprehends the darkness (cf. John 1.1-5). If everything know is transformed in
Christ we must begin to transform our lives in the image and likeness of Christ.
We must now become the icons of Christ and see Christ in everyone.
Now as the next day approaches the church sets up
for us the meaning of the light having to come into the world to comprehend all
darkness. Unlike vespers which speaks of the creation matins looks at the fall.
In the joy of the fullness of time the church declares her joy that God is the
Lord, and she begins to organize life around God. As the sun begins to rise in
the morning we recite the prologue of John which reminds us of the light which
comprehends the darkness of the world. For centuries we have preached to the
people who are always in a rush that the rush as no meaning, yet accept it-and
your reward will be eternal rest. But God revealed and does not offer eternal
rest but eternal life. God reveals this eternal life in the midst of time and
the meaning and goal of its secret. Thus, time and our work in it is the
sacrament of the world to come, culminating in liturgy and the fulfillment of
the ascension. It is when we have reached the end of the worlds self
sufficiency that it begins again for us as the material of the sacrament that
we are to fulfill in Christ (page 65). This is how and why Christ is the
beginning and the end (alpha and omega cf. Rev 21.5-6).
A few quotes from chapter three:
Before we gain the right to
dispose of the old "symbols” we must understand that the real tragedy of
Christianity is not its "compromise” with the world and progressive
"materialism,” but on the contrary, its "spiritualization” and
transformation into "religion.” Page 48
In the
Jewish religious experience Sabbath, the seventh day, has a tremendous
importance: it is the participation by man in, and his affirmation of, the goodness
of God’s creation. "And God saw it was good. . . . And God blessed the
seventh day, and sanctified it: because in it he had rested from all his work
which God created and made” (Gn. 1:25, 2 :3). Page 50.
Christ rose from the dead on the first
day after Sabbath. The life that shone forth from the grave was beyond the
inescapable limitations of "seven,” of time that leads to death. It was
thus the beginning of a new life and of a new time. It was truly the eighth and
the first day and it became the day of the Church. The risen Christ, according
to the fourth Gospel, appeared to His disciples on the first day (Jn. 20:19)
and then "after eight days” (20:26). Page 51.
It did
not interrupt time with a "timeless” mystical ecstasy. It was not a
"break” in an otherwise meaningless sequence of days and nights. By
remaining one of the ordinary days, and yet by revealing itself through the
Eucharist as the eighth and first day, it gave all days their true meaning. It
made the time of this world a time of the end, and it made it also the time of
the beginning. Page 52.
Consciously
or subconsciously Christians have accepted the whole ethos of our joyless and
business-minded culture. They believe that the only way to be taken
"seriously” by the "serious”—that is, by modern man—is to be serious,
and, therefore, to reduce to a symbolic "minimum” what in the past was so
tremendously central in the life of the Church—the joy of a feast. The modern
world has relegated joy to the category of "fun” and "relaxation.” It
is justified and permissible on our "time off” ; it is a concession, a
compromise. Page 53.
Time
always points to a feast, to a joy, which by itself it cannot give or realize.
So needful of meaning, time becomes the very form and image of meaninglessness.
Page 57.
Time
itself is now measured by the rhythm of the end and the beginning, of the end
transformed into beginning, of the beginning announcing the fulfillment. The
Church is in time and its life in this world is fasting, that is, a life of
effort, sacrifice, self-denial and dying. The Church’s very mission is to
become all things to all men. But how could the Church fulfill this mission,
how could it be the salvation of the world, if it were not, first of all and
above everything else, the divine gift of Joy, the fragrance of the Holy
Spirit, the presence here in time of the feast of the Kingdom? Page 59.
For
centuries we have preached to the hurrying people: your daily rush has no
meaning, yet accept it—and you will be rewarded in another world by an eternal
rest. But God revealed and offers us eternal Life and not eternal rest. And God
revealed this eternal Life in the midst of time—and of its rush—as its secret
meaning and goal. And thus he made time, and our work in it, into the sacrament
of the world to come, the liturgy of fulfillment and ascension. It is when we
have reached the very end of the world’s self-sufficiency that it begins again
for us as the material of the sacrament that we are to fulfill in Christ. Page
65.
No comments:
Post a Comment