WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.359
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and

00:00:02.359 --> 00:00:05.940
of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Glory to Jesus Christ.

00:00:06.360 --> 00:00:09.580
Glory to God. The thoughts that I want to share

00:00:09.580 --> 00:00:16.339
with you this morning are about prayer. As Orthodox,

00:00:16.719 --> 00:00:19.719
we know there are two types of prayer for all

00:00:19.719 --> 00:00:23.359
Christians and all peoples. Public liturgical

00:00:23.359 --> 00:00:28.440
prayer and so -called private prayer. And it's

00:00:28.440 --> 00:00:32.320
a private prayer that I want to focus on. I think

00:00:32.320 --> 00:00:35.179
some of the temptations for Christians and people

00:00:35.179 --> 00:00:38.200
in general is to think of prayer as something

00:00:38.200 --> 00:00:41.960
that, well, that's what we do when we go to the

00:00:41.960 --> 00:00:44.740
church or the synagogue or something. But prayer

00:00:44.740 --> 00:00:48.500
should be characteristic of each and every day

00:00:48.500 --> 00:00:52.979
in our life, saying private prayers, coming into

00:00:52.979 --> 00:01:00.490
communion with God in prayer. Prayer for me and

00:01:00.490 --> 00:01:04.370
for all of you, we're all beginners. We are all

00:01:04.370 --> 00:01:10.209
novices in prayer. Nobody is, even the best prayers,

00:01:10.209 --> 00:01:13.730
so to speak, will say that they are just beginners

00:01:13.730 --> 00:01:17.150
in prayer. Indeed, many of the fathers refer

00:01:17.150 --> 00:01:22.189
to the church as a school of learning to be in

00:01:22.189 --> 00:01:27.829
communion with God. One of my morning prayers

00:01:27.829 --> 00:01:32.310
is to say the prayer of the Optina elders. The

00:01:32.310 --> 00:01:36.209
Optina elders was a group of Russian monks in

00:01:36.209 --> 00:01:41.829
the 18th, 19th century monastery of Optina. And

00:01:41.829 --> 00:01:45.109
the one phrase in there that I really try and

00:01:45.109 --> 00:01:49.549
focus on every time I read it and say to myself

00:01:49.549 --> 00:01:57.879
is we say, Lord, teach me. to pray, to hope,

00:01:58.079 --> 00:02:04.900
to believe, to love, to endure, and to forgive.

00:02:05.680 --> 00:02:11.379
Teach me to do all of these things. There are

00:02:11.379 --> 00:02:14.379
four types of prayer. We praise God, we adore

00:02:14.379 --> 00:02:22.120
him, we thank him for his many benefits, we admit

00:02:22.120 --> 00:02:26.860
our sorrow and our sinfulness, Admit we express

00:02:26.860 --> 00:02:31.120
our repentance. Then, of course, the one that

00:02:31.120 --> 00:02:34.060
we more readily, I think, identify with this

00:02:34.060 --> 00:02:38.919
prayer is petition, asking God for certain favors

00:02:38.919 --> 00:02:44.360
and blessings in our life. What's important for

00:02:44.360 --> 00:02:50.180
us in our private prayers is regularity. At least

00:02:50.180 --> 00:02:54.560
every day we should say some type of prayer.

00:02:55.039 --> 00:03:02.139
In our rich liturgical repertoire, we have morning

00:03:02.139 --> 00:03:08.740
and evening prayers. Excellent. And I think also

00:03:08.740 --> 00:03:15.000
for married couples and for families should pray

00:03:15.000 --> 00:03:19.280
together. Say some kind of prayer together. Even

00:03:19.280 --> 00:03:23.060
if it's only the Our Father. Or say some of the

00:03:23.060 --> 00:03:27.400
morning and evening prayers. Family that prays

00:03:27.400 --> 00:03:31.280
together stays together, as the old saying is.

00:03:31.740 --> 00:03:37.180
And one thing that we've been doing, well, later

00:03:37.180 --> 00:03:40.460
in our life, is saying some of the Psalms every

00:03:40.460 --> 00:03:46.000
day. And I say a few verses. and then my matushka

00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:49.199
says a few verses, and we alternate back and

00:03:49.199 --> 00:03:52.139
forth like that. So that's a practice that we

00:03:52.139 --> 00:03:57.460
found very inspiring, if nothing else, and it

00:03:57.460 --> 00:04:00.680
gives us more and more familiarity with the Psalms,

00:04:00.680 --> 00:04:04.460
which is really the Old Testament prayer book,

00:04:04.680 --> 00:04:09.199
expressing all different types of human emotions

00:04:09.199 --> 00:04:14.599
and needs. So I urge you especially to have familiarity

00:04:14.599 --> 00:04:22.240
with and pray the Psalms. Also, in addition to

00:04:22.240 --> 00:04:26.220
the prayers from a prayer book, scripture reading.

00:04:26.339 --> 00:04:31.360
That's a prayer. Every day we have an epistle

00:04:31.360 --> 00:04:35.240
and a gospel. You can look them up on the OCA

00:04:35.240 --> 00:04:38.529
website or look at your church calendar. and

00:04:38.529 --> 00:04:42.870
see what the daily readings are. The OCA website

00:04:42.870 --> 00:04:46.990
also has the lives of the saints for that particular

00:04:46.990 --> 00:04:55.529
day. That's worth looking into. Daily and regularity.

00:04:57.670 --> 00:05:05.129
Also, what tradition calls Lectio Divina, or

00:05:05.129 --> 00:05:10.339
spiritual reading. To get a book, whether it

00:05:10.339 --> 00:05:16.839
is a life of a saint or reading about one of

00:05:16.839 --> 00:05:21.860
the books of the scriptures, we have a whole,

00:05:22.139 --> 00:05:25.000
you've got a library and all kinds of books in

00:05:25.000 --> 00:05:28.019
the bookstore. I mean, there's no lack of information

00:05:28.019 --> 00:05:31.720
that's available to us for spiritual reading,

00:05:31.939 --> 00:05:35.600
especially during Lent. I think this is the point

00:05:35.600 --> 00:05:38.990
here. that we're coming up to that period of

00:05:38.990 --> 00:05:43.870
Lent. And Lent is a time when I think we should

00:05:43.870 --> 00:05:49.569
do something over and above what we have been

00:05:49.569 --> 00:05:53.410
doing. So of all the things that I've mentioned,

00:05:53.490 --> 00:05:57.009
the possibilities, I imagine, well, to be honest

00:05:57.009 --> 00:06:00.290
with you, I don't do every day each one of those

00:06:00.290 --> 00:06:05.269
things. Many of you have even less available

00:06:05.269 --> 00:06:09.279
time. than I as a retired person have. You have

00:06:09.279 --> 00:06:12.160
got to go to work, you've got to raise your family,

00:06:12.560 --> 00:06:16.600
you've got to help cook meals, whatever it might

00:06:16.600 --> 00:06:21.939
be. But these are possibilities that are open

00:06:21.939 --> 00:06:25.680
to us. And I would urge you very strongly of

00:06:25.680 --> 00:06:30.180
the things that I've mentioned, if you do one

00:06:30.180 --> 00:06:34.720
or two, or even if you do none of them, Pick

00:06:34.720 --> 00:06:40.240
out something that you want to do more to be

00:06:40.240 --> 00:06:43.220
in communion with God. And don't do it just during

00:06:43.220 --> 00:06:46.699
Lent. Have it a practice that you begin during

00:06:46.699 --> 00:06:49.899
Lent and you're faithful and consistent with

00:06:49.899 --> 00:06:54.639
that even after Lent. I'll tell you what I'm

00:06:54.639 --> 00:06:58.459
doing, and I thought of this a couple of days

00:06:58.459 --> 00:07:02.889
ago, and I'm going to... actually make it a focus

00:07:02.889 --> 00:07:06.790
of the Thursday evening Bible study. I'm going

00:07:06.790 --> 00:07:11.990
to read the book of Jeremiah, which is preeminently

00:07:11.990 --> 00:07:19.029
a prophecy book of prayer and repentance, because

00:07:19.029 --> 00:07:23.129
Jeremiah was called by God to speak on his behalf.

00:07:23.170 --> 00:07:26.009
That's what a prophet is, not foretelling the

00:07:26.009 --> 00:07:32.240
future, but to speak on behalf of God. Yet he

00:07:32.240 --> 00:07:36.000
called the Jewish people to repentance. In his

00:07:36.000 --> 00:07:38.779
book of Jeremiah, and then he also is the author

00:07:38.779 --> 00:07:40.939
of the book that comes right after Jeremiah,

00:07:41.259 --> 00:07:45.339
which is the Lamentations. So he called the people

00:07:45.339 --> 00:07:50.279
to repentance. Why? Because of the imminent danger

00:07:50.279 --> 00:07:56.259
of the Babylonian Assyrian army. They were poised

00:07:56.259 --> 00:07:59.910
to come in from the north. and attack Israel.

00:08:00.230 --> 00:08:04.589
So he told the Hebrew people, return to the Lord

00:08:04.589 --> 00:08:09.550
your God. Be close to him. Make your sacrifices

00:08:09.550 --> 00:08:14.350
from the heart. Circumcise your heart, not your

00:08:14.350 --> 00:08:18.829
flesh. All this kind of vivid imagery is in the

00:08:18.829 --> 00:08:23.250
book of Jeremiah. But as we know, it really wasn't

00:08:23.250 --> 00:08:30.519
100 % successful because The Assyrians and Babylonians

00:08:30.519 --> 00:08:34.559
did come in from the north. They sacked Jerusalem.

00:08:35.960 --> 00:08:40.639
They tore down the temple that Solomon had built.

00:08:41.320 --> 00:08:45.840
And then as their trophy of war, they took off

00:08:45.840 --> 00:08:50.460
with the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark of the

00:08:50.460 --> 00:08:53.639
Covenant, symbol of God's presence among his

00:08:53.639 --> 00:08:57.039
people. So they took off with that and it's...

00:08:57.899 --> 00:09:03.580
Never been seen before until Harrison Ford found

00:09:03.580 --> 00:09:08.779
it 20 or so years ago. Interesting movie. Good

00:09:08.779 --> 00:09:12.519
points and bad points. But that was a symbol

00:09:12.519 --> 00:09:15.700
of God's presence. And so all the Hebrew prophets

00:09:15.700 --> 00:09:19.220
are calling you, change your ways, repent. The

00:09:19.220 --> 00:09:23.279
message is not something new. It is an age -old

00:09:23.279 --> 00:09:28.340
message. Precisely because people... who want

00:09:28.340 --> 00:09:32.220
to be in communion with God occasionally slack

00:09:32.220 --> 00:09:39.580
off. So it's a time to refocus our life, to make

00:09:39.580 --> 00:09:44.500
God even more central to our life, individually,

00:09:44.620 --> 00:09:50.620
as couples, and as family. Not only during Lent,

00:09:50.639 --> 00:09:55.340
not only attending church services, I think for

00:09:55.340 --> 00:10:01.879
Orthodox, we have such a rich liturgical life,

00:10:02.120 --> 00:10:04.960
and of course you could say that really for all

00:10:04.960 --> 00:10:10.539
Christians or all Jews, that praying is something

00:10:10.539 --> 00:10:14.200
we do in church. No, no, no, no, no. That's one

00:10:14.200 --> 00:10:18.820
aspect. Our church prayer and our private prayer

00:10:18.820 --> 00:10:24.840
go hand in hand as means for us to... express

00:10:24.840 --> 00:10:28.860
our love for God, and to come in closer and closer

00:10:28.860 --> 00:10:33.779
communion with him. So let us make these plans,

00:10:34.059 --> 00:10:38.559
these objectives, part of our time as we prepare

00:10:38.559 --> 00:10:43.059
for Lent, during Lent, and for the rest of our

00:10:43.059 --> 00:10:44.340
lives. Amen.