I heard an image this morning from Fr. Josiah Trenham that I wanted to share on my way in this morning. It’s one that everyone in this Church, whether you were brought into Holy Orthodoxy as a baby or whether you found it later in life, everyone here can appreciate and understand this image quite clearly.
Coming to the Orthodox Church, is like entering into an incredible castle. You come through the front doors and are in awe of the massive great room you find yourself in. Then you notice a beautiful treasure box in the center of the room, and you open it and its filled with gold tiaras, diamond rings and bracelets, gold plates, and ruby’s that shine like the rising sun.
You spend your time taking each piece out and admiring it, then placing it on the floor next to you. Then there comes a time where you get to the end of the box and feel a bit down…that is until you look in the distance and see an unlocked door that you didn’t notice before. You go into that room and it too is massive and glorious! And behold, in the center of THAT room is also a treasure chest, filled with even more treasure than the previous one!
This treasure goes on and on, and gets better and better the deeper you continue to go into the depths of the Church…no matter how long you have been in the castle, or how many treasure chests you have already opened.
The treasure chest I had an opportunity to dig deeper into this week, was the incredible poetry of the psalms…and what a treasure it is! Everyone within the sound of my voice has been exposed this poetry at some point in their life. In fact, since we opened the curtain this morning, you have heard, either in their entirety or a portion, from 10 psalms…with more to come.
We read six of them in the hours before Liturgy: Psalms 16, 24, 50, 53, 54, and 90.
Bless the Lord O My soul and Praise the Lord o my soul” Psalm 103
The Lord shall give strength to His people, the Lord shall bless his people with peace.” Psalm 28
It is good to give thanks to the lord, to sing praises to your name all most high” Psalm 91
“Arise O Lord into your rest, you and the ark of your sanctification” Psalm 131
The psalms are not only the treasure of the Church, they are also incredibly important an integral to our worship of God…to our relationship with God…to dealing with the difficulties of life…to putting the world into it’s proper order and perspective.
I want to offer am example of this reality, by focusing our attention to the beginning of the service called Matins. We do this service often during Great Lent, and also on some Saturdays during major fasts, as well as before major feasts. This service begins with what is called “The reading of the six psalms”. The reader typically comes to the center of the Church like the epistle reader does, the lights go out, and everyone stands still and listens as the reader chants the beginning of Psalm 3:
“O Lord, how many are my foes! Many are rising against me; many are saying to me, “There is no help for you in God…”
The psalms go on to speak of this battle that we wage against the enemy…a battle against the ones who deceive us, telling us that there is no hope. The enemy tells us that God isn’t in control, and that He can’t help us. The demons whisper in our ears that our lives are going to remain the same. They say that the same temptations and struggles we have day in and day out, the same illnesses, the same addictions, the same anxieties, and the same doubts about God will never be overcome.
“O Lord, how many are my foes, and with what violent hatred they hate me” we heard in the 3rd hour this morning.
We saw these same foes attacking the thoughts and minds of the disciples in the Gospel reading today. 5000 men, not counting the women and children, listening to Christ out in the middle of no where…and it was getting late. The people were hungry and needed food, so Christ commanded the disciples to feed them.
“How are we going to feed these people! We have just 5 loaves and 2 fish! What is he, crazy? “ The disciples had their doubts, even though they saw him perform so many other miracles! He healed the sick, the blind, the lame, raised people from the dead on His own authority. You would think that they wouldn’t question Him on how they were going to feed 5,000 people with just 5 loaves and two fish!
How often do we have this same sickness…these same foes attack our faith in our own lives? How many miracles do we experience every day, yet doubt still remains? Something wonderful happens, and we say from the psalms: “I will life up mine eyes to the mountains, from whence comes my help..” Thank you O Lord for the miracle you offered! I will never doubt you again! Yet shortly after we have this wonderful revelation, our focus shifts like a paralytic back down to the things of the earth…back down to the worries and troubles of the day.
Where is our faith? Aren’t we Christians? Haven’t we seen in our own parish, how the impossible becomes possible? Haven’t we heard how Christ says that if we offer our small amount of faith to Him…the size of a mustard seed…we can move mountains?
Despite their doubts, the disciples offered what faith they had. They offered the five loaves and the two fish, and the impossible became possible. The doubts disappeared. The people were fed, and so much so, that there were leftovers! St. John Chrysostom comments that leftovers show how God blessed us in abundance. Our faith in God is rewarded beyond our expectations and our needs…beyond our imagination. His love is limitless. His miracles are limitless.
“O Lord, how many are my foes! Many are rising against me; many are saying to me, “There is no help for you in God…”
We begin the six psalms by hearing about our enemies, but the best part is how those psalms end.
For your name’s sake O Lord, preserve my life. In your righteousness bring me out of trouble. In your steadfast love, cut off my enemies, and destroy all those that afflict my soul, for I am Your servant.”
This is how God champions us, and destroys our fears, our doubts, our anxieties, our worries, and all those things that afflict our souls. This is the treasure…the true treasure that we are seeking in life…and it’s found in nowhere else in the universe, but right here…but in the “mansion of the righteous”
Glory to Thee, O Lord, Glory to Thee!