In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Spirit. Amen. We find ourselves today
in this beautiful cathedral, in this temple dedicated
to St. Seraphim of Sarov, right in the middle
of two feasts, two appearances of Christ, two
epiphanies, the first being our Lord's birth
in the flesh, and the second being something
we celebrate in a few days, the manifestation
of the Holy Trinity at Jesus' baptism by John
in the River Jordan. Incredible moments in history
to contemplate, to consider, to remember, and
to live. And I can't ignore... That only yesterday
we took down our calendars marked 2023 and hung
up the ones with 2024 printed on them. 2024 years
after these saving events. Give or take a decade.
And if your life is anything like mine, the emails
keep coming. The text messages keep dinging.
The world is asking us, demanding, really, that
we get over Christmas by now. Okay, that's nice
that you got a day with family. This year, it
seems like the greeting I got a lot in my world
outside of church was, I hope you have a meaningful
holiday. Yes, indeed, meaningful. But we have
to encourage ourselves to really think about
what meaning this has for all of us. Christ's
incarnation and ministry happened at a specific
moment in history. 500 years or so before Christ,
the people of God were carried away into exile.
And when their Babylonian oppressors were overthrown
finally by Persian overlords, some of the people
of God returned to the Holy Land. But it wasn't
the same. Alexander the Great to Herod, it's
one pagan overlord after another. The rebuilt
temple is a shadow of its former glory. There's
no son of David on the throne. Worst of all,
the presence of God doesn't return to this new
temple. In reality, you can think of the people
of God as still somehow being in exile. That
all changes. When God comes to dwell with his
people, right? That's the whole drama of the
season. Herod might be evil, but he's not dumb.
He knows that if the Messiah is born in Bethlehem
and allowed to take the reins, well then Herod
can't be the anointed one. The evil priests and
scribes know full well that if the Messiah is
made manifest by the Father and if the Spirit
of God confirms the truthfulness of his word,
Their term in office is finished. We even heard
in the pre -festal troparion today a kind of
rumbling, prepare oneftily. It's like the whole
creation knows that something big is changing.
But the strange reality of our Christian life,
brothers and sisters, is that it doesn't always
feel like it's really changed, does it? Get back
to the grind. Keep your head down. Consume your
entertainment, food, alcohol, drugs, whatever,
and your social media, of course. And while you're
at it, dear 2024, get super excited, irritable,
flustered, passionate, whatever, about the so
important election. That'll keep you occupied.
Some years ago, I did something very different
than focusing on our elections and my social
media, mostly because there wasn't great cell
phone service. But I was blessed to go on a short
pilgrimage with Bishop Daniel to Deveovo, the
women's monastery that St. Seraphim gave guidance
to from afar. It took so long to get there. I
really had to kind of pass out. of civilization.
I had to go from San Francisco to New York, New
York to Moscow, and then I had to like go, go,
go for hours through countryside, never -ending
countryside, till I got to that place. And when
we arrived, it was so clean, so pristine. Everything
tasted better there, especially the dairy and
the ice cream they made there. It was so organized.
Everything was in its place. Think of our convent
in Calistoga or here in Santa Rosa. It was like
that but much bigger. It made me really wonder,
is this what being a Christian is like? Is it
about being more organized and more peaceful
somehow on the outside? I was thinking about
this when I was rereading St. Seraphim's life
this weekend, and as I often do as a beginner
in anything ascetic, I'm particularly interested
in the beginning of his acquisition of the Holy
Spirit. When he came as a really young man, we'd
call him a kid nowadays. When he came to the
monastery, the first thing he did was, to quote
the life, Very simply, many obediences. He was
the elder's cell attendant. He toiled at making
bread and prosphora and at carpentry. He fulfilled
all his obediences with zeal and fervor as though
serving the Lord himself. The life continues.
By constant work, he guarded himself against
despondency. Akidea. This being, as he later
said himself, St. Seraphim did, the most dangerous
temptation for new monks. It is treated by prayer,
by abstaining from idle chatter, by strenuous
work, by reading the word of God, and by patience.
Since, Father Seraphim continues, it is engendered
by pettiness of soul, negligence, and idle talk.
And this phase of being a novice, you might be
excused for assuming he kind of got through it
quickly. He was already at that point, in a sense,
the chosen one of the mother of God, as we heard
a few moments ago. She had already, in his novitiate,
as a novice, healed him from a terrible tribulation.
But he was a novice, actually, practicing, as
it were, for eight years. A time when he worked
really hard. So that word patience, well, St.
Seraphim knows what he's talking about. And that
phase of eight years. I won't recount to you
the whole life. You should all read it once a
year, though, I think, probably in preparation
for this day or for your other feast day. It's
so wonderful that you get an extra reminder if
we are busy at this time of year. It kind of
goes in chunks. He has these interesting phases.
It's like 10 years, 15 years, 8 years, stages,
different stages. And at each stage of his life,
And I take great comfort from the fact that he
has different phases, if you will, different
stages. He exercises this virtue, I think, first,
patience. And as I read that life, as I contemplate
St. Seraphim, and maybe you'll have this experience
once in a while too, there's something really
terrifying about it all. the receiving of multiple
visions of the mother of God and the saints,
the pure obedience to the abbot's commands. You
know, he's offered the position of abbot multiple
times and he turns it down humbly. And then it's
almost immediately that he asks the new abbot
something and usually doesn't get exactly what
he asked for, which is a terrifying thing to
actually not just talk about obedience and Christian
obedience, but to live it. The 15 years he spent,
one of those phases I was mentioning, in total
solitude, away from people. And then even, I
found this very moving, but in a kind of scary
sort of way, when he emerged from that 15 years
of silence, he's able to receive visitors, all
of those kinds of famous expressions we hear
about, like Christ is risen, my joy, and so forth,
happen at that moment. And he's able to see into
the hearts of those visiting him. with all of
his great love and tenderness, it's just all
so extreme. And it made me realize the difference
between the period of exile for the people of
God for all of those centuries, century after
century, waiting for the chosen, anointed Christ,
the Messiah. The difference between living and
being born and dying a few years before Christ.
and a few years after Christ, or a few centuries,
or a thousand years, or 2 ,024 years, is that
now we are no longer actually in exile. For someone
like Saint Seraphim, God was always right there,
dwelling with us. Saint Seraphim... In a very
particular way, I think this is maybe his most
impressive, to me, feat. I think a lot of the
other works that he did probably flow from this.
But it's said that he reread the entire New Testament
every single week. And I know that when I'm around
people, maybe you do this too, I start kind of
picking up verbal tics and things like that from
them. Seraphim is picking up the word of God.
week after week, that becomes his influence,
that becomes his constant companion. It got to
the point where St. Seraphim was so living as
if he was just where he was supposed to be, so
much like a Christian, like someone who actually
believes that the world is different because
of Christ's birth and theophany. that this little
slither of time between the incarnation of Christ,
his first coming, and his second and glorious
coming, becomes for St. Seraphim very small.
His visions of the mother of God, her appearings
to him, along with always the saints of the day,
I find that a fascinating detail. It was... as
if the resurrection was completely real for him.
Now, of course, it is completely real. We say
that, we believe that, we know that. But for
him, it was not just something he was thinking
about or thought about once a week, but he was
living the resurrection. I love how when our
choices are inspired by the Lord, it becomes
kind of obvious. to sometimes the most unlikely
of people. One of my favorite stories from his
life is the young child who said to one of her
friends after a quick encounter with Father Seraphim,
she said to one of the other little children,
Father Seraphim only looks like an old man. He
is really a child like us. And that, of course,
has to remind us of Christ's commandment to be
like the little children. And of course, St.
Seraphim was able to distill for us this way
of life in ways that even with our attention
deficit we can remember. He said one time, save
your souls, do not be despondent, but watchful.
Save your souls, do not be despondent, but watchful.
Now what happens when we actually find ourselves
being a little less watchful in our lives? and
maybe a little more despondent. Perhaps in this
darkness that the earth is kind of in right now,
you or someone you love or someone you know or
you can just kind of get a sense of somebody
around you is feeling a little down. Maybe someone
you love, maybe you yourself today are having
a little trouble really believing all of the
good news that is shared with us. I know at least
for me, I hear all the time around this time
of year, like we're singing, you know, Christ
is born, glorify him. When the Lord was baptized
in the Jordan, and yet sometimes people are in
like their worst state of just kind of not feeling
it or something. It's interesting when St. Seraphim
talks about his acquisition of the Holy Spirit,
about the acquisition of the Holy Spirit for
all of us. We really get the sense when we kind
of distill it and maybe I'm putting my own words
around it because that's the simplest thing for
me to think about. He kind of makes the point
that you're either in the Holy Spirit or what's
the opposite? You're in the kind of captivity
of the evil one. And he makes the point that
we can go back and forth so quickly. And I think
we know that. One minute, even in this liturgy,
I can be totally focused on the word of God.
And another moment can be thinking about a little
distraction over here or a little bit of pride
over there or a little bit of just like, I wonder
which emails I should answer this afternoon when
this is all over and I'm home. It happens so
quickly. Holy Spirit, not Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit,
devil. So why? would I bring that up? Partly
because I think we need to remind ourselves that
that's normal. Not normal in the sense of that's
what we want. Not normal in the sense of that's
how it should be. Not normal in the sense that
I should stay exactly as kind of wishy -washy
my whole life with God's help. But because I
don't want any of us, myself included, to get
down and to think, none of this really applies
to me. I'm just going to do a few commandments
as best I can, and that's the best I have to
give. No, think back to St. Seraphim. He had
phases of life. He had growth at every phase
of life. Just because I'm 45 doesn't mean I'm
always going to be this way. I can still keep
growing. I have to be focused on growing in Christ,
in that Holy Spirit captivating me. Somehow even,
it seems like such a strange word, Father Tom
Hopko said maybe we should say attaining the
Holy Spirit instead of acquiring the Holy Spirit.
But somehow, can I attain the Holy Spirit? Maybe
not flipping and flopping every few seconds,
but maybe more steadily with more growth. And
I think that's the beautiful thing about having
a feast day like this. When we have a feast day,
when we come together, travel from wherever,
whether it's our home parish or from more of
a distance, when we come to the church and there's
flowers and the singing is elevated and the serving
is more, there's more celebrants and we're kind
of like... taking off of work maybe or school
to be here. Why do all that if it's really just
a day -to -day struggle? And I think the point
is when we do something like this, like a feast
day of St. Seraphim, we're sort of saying that
this day belongs to the Holy Spirit. Does that
mean yesterday or tomorrow don't belong to the
Holy Spirit? I'm not saying that. But I am inviting
you not to focus on either yesterday or tomorrow.
The Lord himself says tomorrow will take care
of itself. That's easy to hear and sometimes
hard to practice. But in a feast day, we can
say for these two hours, for this day, I am going
to be here. I am going to try to grow in the
Holy Spirit. We are claiming it. We are naming
this day for Christ's Holy One. this holy priest
and monk seraphim. We are saying that today is
a day I'm intentionally living in the Holy Spirit
as best as I can. I'm just going to say never
mind to tomorrow or never mind to yesterday.
All I have right now is today, the now of God,
that newness of God. And even if I have trouble
most of the time living like that, even if most
of the time I'm worried about the future, even
if most of the time I'm worried about other things,
I'm going to claim this moment and try to kind
of hear the Word of God, try to live like somebody
that really listened to the Word of God all the
time. Let us embrace our Holy Father, Seraphim.
Let's maybe catch on to his coattails a little
bit. Maybe I don't feel ready to grow today,
but if I can at least believe that humans can
do this, that this is something available, that
it was something completely available to Father
Seraphim, that means it's totally available to
you and to me. Let's at least strive for that.
claim today make this offering of our praise
and thanksgiving as holy as we possibly can.
Amen.