Where is God?

I asked some children once where they thought that God is. One said “up in the sky.” One said “in the ground.” I then reminded them that we say in the Trisagion Prayers God is “everywhere present and fillest all things.” So, in a way, both of their answers are true, but they are not complete answers. The point is that since God is everywhere, He is not far away. He is no further away from us than the thickness or our own skin. He created all things, fills all things, and sustains all thing. So He is with us at all times. I told the Children “He is with you when you are on the playground, or when you are sitting in the car, or when you are walking down the street.” But it does beg the question, if he is so near us why do we not see him?

Of course, there was a time when people could see Him and talk with Him face to face: the incarnation. Jesus came into the world. He created the world, but then he became a part of the world while remaining uncreated. How is that possible? I explained it to the Children by analogy. Let’s say they made a city with the lego pieces, and then they pretend to be a lego person. What do you think the other lego people are going to say? Some of the lego people might say “You’re not a little kid, you’re just a piece of plastic like us!” But whereas a child can only pretend, God actually did this. He became part of His creation, and some of the people He met could not believe it, which is why they crucified Him.

We also believe that Jesus will come again, as we say in the Creed. In the meantime what do we do? We can’t see Him but He is very near us, as are the saints, angels, and demons, for as it says in Hebrews “we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses” (Heb.12:1). As we are in Divine Liturgy, singing the Thrice Holy Hymn, the saints and angels are there invisibly present with us, and participating with us in the heavenly worship. The veil between the seen and unseen parts of reality is thinner than a piece of paper. Largely because the veil is so thin, it is possible to interact with both the seen and unseen parts of reality. The Divine Liturgy is just one example. The icons not only provide visible reminders of the saints invisibly present with us, but in way the icons manifest the presence of the saints. When we stand in front of an icon of a saint it is rather like we are standing directly in front of that saint, even if we are not aware of it.

We may not be able to see the invisible part of reality right now, but it is possible to become more aware of it or at the very least to prepare ourselves for the eventual day when the veil is lifted. The biggest obstacle, however, is sin. Sin clouds our spiritual vision and it clouds our judgement. So, we must come to grips with our own sin. We must confess our sins. The more we confess, the more sin we are able to see in ourselves. Hopefully we see not only sin, but also the image of God in us. We were created in the image and likeness of God, even if that image is tarnished by sin. God gave different people different gifts. To some he gives in abundance and to others he gives a little, just as in the parable of the talents (Mt 25:14-30). But no matter how much was given to us, we must remember that they are gifts. We must not take those gifts for granted, and we must try to use them as God intended. To see ourselves clearly is to see our gifts as gifts, to see our dependence on the creator of all, to see our own sins, to see the negative effect that our sins have had on ourselves and on others around us, and to see what we really need to be doing to not sin and to fulfill God’s purpose for us to the best of our abilities. Even after all of that, there is no guarantee that a person would develop an awareness of the invisible part of reality, for even that is gift. But at the very least, our actions in this life would be carried out with a constant eye on the next life, in preparation for it.

Did Jesus die?

The short answer is yes. In the Lamentations at the Tomb during Holy Week, we sing “O Life how can’st thou die?” The hymn presents Jesus’s death on the Cross as a fact: the question is rhetorical. And yet, at the same time, the question is phrased as a contradiction. It is common for hymns in the Orthodox church to phrase “mysteries” (mysterion in Greek) as contradictions, to express the inexpressible. The purpose is to make us realize the limits of human knowledge and logic, to make us aware of a truth so deep that it cannot be completely comprehended nor explained in words. The expressions of truth in contradictions is one way that the church deals with what we call “Apophatic Theology,” theology by negation. For example, we say in the Divine Liturgy that God is Ineffable, meaning there are no words to describe him, and yet must try. We must try to explain the unexplainable in words and then we must admit that we have failed. That is basically what expressing truth in the form of a contradiction accomplishes: we see both the truth that we are trying to describe and at the same time we see that our human faculties are inadequate when it comes to understanding that truth in its full reality.

But let us try to use some more words to describe Jesus’s Death and Resurrection. Jesus Himself says “I am the Way , the Truth, and the Life,” (Jn. 14:6) . Life is the opposite of death. How then could he die? Not only that, but He is the One who gives life: He is the Creator. He is Co-creator with the Father and the Holy Spirit. How then could the one who gives life die? Moreover, as God, Jesus is eternal. How could the eternal One die? Well He did, and not only did He but His death is in fact the only logical option for our salvation. We die. God’s purpose for us, however, was that we would not die. God’s purpose for us when he created us was for us to live eternally with Him. So, to resolve the problem, God became like us. God the Creator, entered into His Creation and became part of it: He became human. As a human he had to die, like us. But as God, death had no power over Him, and so He was resurrected in 3 days. The 3 day Resurrection of Jesus is contrasted with the fact the Lazarus was already dead for 4 days. After a 4 day period the body has already started to corrupt (that is the purpose of embalming). But Jesus, as God, is incorruptible, and so he was resurrected after only 3 days so that there could be no doubt that he remained incorruptible. By dying and being the Life, Jesus defeated death not only for Himself but also for us. Therefore, in the paschal Homily, St. John Chrysostom quotes St. Paul “O Death where is thy sting? O Hades where is thy victory?” (1 Cor. 15:55)

When we say that death is defeated by Jesus’s death on the Cross, we mean that Jesus’ resurrection also makes possible our own resurrection. I know of no better description of how Jesus’ Death and Resurrection makes our salvation possible than in St. Paul’s letter to the Romans, which we read for every baptism:

“Brethren, do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with Him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His. We know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the sinful body might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For he who has died is freed from sin. But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him. For we know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over Him. The death He died He died to sin, once for all, but the life He lives He lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” (Rom. 6:3-11)

By St. Paul’s impeccable logic if we share in Jesus’ death, we also share in His resurrection. We therefore will be able to live with God eternally as He originally intended. But in saying these words we have encountered many mysteries in the process. How is it possible for the Creator to become part of Creation? Yet this is exactly what happened in Jesus’ incarnation. How is it possible for the dead to be raised up? Why is death not final? Yet even before Jesus’ own death and resurrection he demonstrated the possibility of raising the dead on two occasions in the Gospels: the raising of Jairus’ daughter and the raising of Lazarus. So clearly death is not final, as hard as it is to wrap our minds around it. All of these questions touch on mysteries, and all of them are truths far deeper than what we are able to grasp in our human limitation or to explain with words. Nonetheless, we declare all of these mysteries as realities.

Vespers

On Saturday our church will be doing Vespers for the first time in quite a while. Vespers is usually not as well attended as Divine Liturgy even in larger churches. Partly that may be because of the schedules people have. Some people may have work schedules that make it difficult to attend any services outside of Divine Liturgy on Sundays. But it may also be because Vespers does not include the Eucharist, nor does it usually include a Gospel reading or a Sermon. When there are readings for Vespers, they are usually from the old testament. So, in this post I would like to take a look at Vespers is, and why it is important to try to attend Vespers.

First, what is Vespers? Vespers is a daily service, the first service of the liturgical day, and is supposed to occur at sunset. It may seem strange to us westerners that the evening is the beginning of the day, but it is biblical. In Genesis it says “And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day,” (Gen 1:5). So the tradition that the evening is the beginning of the day actually has Jewish roots, and this tradition continued in the early church, and is maintained to this day by the Orthodox Church. So, for example Vespers on Saturday is called “Great Vespers,” and during that evening service we sing the hymns for Divine Liturgy on Sunday because it is the same liturgical day. That is why if you go onto the OCA website to look for the liturgical texts for Great Vespers on March 27th (Saturday), you actually need to look at texts for March 28th (Sunday).

We now have the proper context to talk about the second question “Why is it important to attend Vespers?” There is more than one reason. I will talk about two different aspects. First, the music and readings for Vespers during the year collectively reveal a lot about Orthodox Christian theology. Sure we sing the Troparion and Kontakion for the day during Divine Liturgy, but most of what we sing in Vespers is not in the Liturgy. For example, this Sunday is the 2nd Sunday of Lent on which we commemorate St. Gregory Palamas. During Vespers on Saturday we sing:

How shall we who dwell on earth praise the holy bishop? He is the Church’s teacher, the herald of the Uncreated Light, the initiate of the Trinity’s heavenly mysteries, the adornment of the monastic life, renowned alike in action and contemplation, the pride of Thessalonica; And now he dwells in heaven with the great and glorious martyr Demetrius, whose relics flow with holy oil.

We see a fair amount of detail about who St. Gregory Palamas was and what he taught. We hear that he was a Bishop from Thessalonica who taught about the Uncreated Light, and we are also introduced to the fact that the relics of the martyr Demetrius flow with holy oil. The Troparion and Kontakion for St. Gregory Palamas sung on Sunday reveal much less detail: not a word of the Uncreated Light, and no mention of St. Demetrius and his myrrh streaming relics. Of course, a person hearing about the Uncreated Light might want to know more about what that is, and about the teaching of St. Gregory Palamas. There is a link on our resources page to a YouTube video by Metropolitan Kallistos Ware about St. Gregory Palamas. The resources page also has links to the podcasts by Fr. Thomas Hopko, and one of the episodes of “Speaking the Truth in Love” is on St. Gregoray Palamas. Both are highly recommended. So, of course, if one wants to know more about the things that show up in the hymns sung at Vespers there are often many resources available for learning more.

When Vespers has readings from the old testament, there is always a very particular purpose behind them. On the road to Emmaus, Jesus explains to His disciples the Old Testament references to Him (Lk 24:13-35). Even hints about the Resurrection or about the Theotokos, the Virgin Mary, can be found in the Old Testament, and often these exact passages from the Old Testament are read during Vespers on relevant days. Over the course of a whole year the scripture readings and the hymns collectively build a detailed picture of Orthodox Christian Theology. A person attending vespers, and paying attention to the hymns and the readings will come away with a much deeper understanding of what Orthodox Christians believe.

The second aspect I would like to address as a reason for attending Vespers — and as many of the services in the daily cycle as possible — is that it helps maintain a rhythm of Christian life. When you are just starting to do something regularly, sometimes it can take an extra initial effort. If you allow long periods of time to go in between, then that extra effort must be exerted over and over again, and it is very hard to get anywhere. But if we can build some inertia, then we do not need to keep exerting the extra effort, and everything becomes much easier. If we are only in church on Sunday, then there are six days in between. But it we are in church on both Saturday and Sunday, there are only five days in between, and the extra time in church is helpful for developing more momentum.

Most people these days are not able to attend daily services. I was lucky though. When I was in Jerusalem for my postdoctoral studies I lived at the Monastery of Mary Magdalene on the Mount of Olives. Every day I would wake up and go to the morning service. I would then go down to the refectory for breakfast. Then I would change out of my church clothes and walk to Dasmascus Gate where I would take a tram and bus to the Givat Ram campus. This trip took about an hour, so I would plan ahead and leave campus at such time that I could expect to get back for Vigil (a combination of Vespers and Matins). That was my life for basically a whole year, and I miss it. But unless you live in or very near to a monastery, it is usually not possible to participate in services on a daily basis. No matter what, Christians are expected to pray daily. Saying the Trisagion prayers in the morning and the Lord’s Prayer is a good start, as is saying a prayer before each meal.

It is a mistake to think that we can just go to the services but not pray outside the services, and likewise it is a mistake to think that we can just pray at home and not go to the services: the two go hand in hand. Christians must do both. The services are like a metronome setting the rhythm, but prayer outside of services is needed to maintain the rhythm. When we develop the rhythm of Christian life, our life is transformed. Thus the more services we can attend and the more we pray outside of the services the more we are benefited. Great Lent has many extra services to offer including the Canon of St. Andrew and the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts. So at the present time, regardless of our current level of engagement, we have the opportunity to increase our efforts and strengthen our spiritual rhythm. If you are not currently attending Vespers regularly, it is worth it to try to fit Vespers into your schedule, and if you are in the Oneonta area we would be glad to see you this Saturday.