Fr. Vladimir Anderson

The following is abridged from a talk given at the St. Herman Winter Pilgrimage by Fr. Deacon Vladimir Anderson of the St. John the Alms giver Mission in Willits California.

True Christianity is really aweful! And we should be “aweful”Christians… that is, full of awe. How many of us, though, can really say that we live as we should, in awe before God? Let us examine a few aspects of the Christian life and see how we ought to be living.

Stand in awe and sin not (Ps. 4:4)

Each Sunday, you begin the week as you always do, with a special invitation from God Himself to a banquet. What is your response? Had you been invited to attend Great Britain’s Royal Wedding and reception last summer, wouldn’t you have jumped at the chance, al- lowing nothing to stop you? How much more important is the Liturgy, for it is a banquet with the King of kings.

As you stand in Church during the Liturgy, do you realize that there are countless angles present? What would happen if you could see them? What would you do if you saw tongues of fire descend upon the Holy Gifts when the priest called down the Holy Spirit to change the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ? Or if, when you approached the altar for Holy Communion, you actually saw the Body and Blood of our Lord not as bread and wine, but as His visible Body and Blood? Do you think you could receive Communion and ten minutes later find your mind wandering to the clothes someone was wearing?

What is your attitude toward the Mystery of Confession? Do you stand in fear and trembling before God and confess all your sins? Or are you like Adam, trying to hide from God? How very foolish Don’t you realize that God sees and knows your innermost thoughts? If you could only step aside and see yourself standing there in nice clothes, yet covered with the horrid filth of sin. And there, through the Mystery of Confession, you have the chance to wash it all away!

It is not just Sundays in which you come in contact with God’s kingdom, but through out every minute of every day. You always have a guardian angel with you who tries to help you in your battle against evil. Do you acknowledge his help, or do you drag him to Saturday night parties, to bars or “R” rated movies? What would you say to your guardian angel each night if he appeared to you and asked why, when he led your steps one way, you went the other?

There are many holy objects in our daily lives which God has given to us in His love. The sign of the Cross, for example, is full of incredible power. And yet, when eating at a restaurant you make the sign of the Cross so hurriedly (are you embarrassed?) that anyone would think you were merely brushing aside a fly. Holy Water also has the power to make demons tremble. Do you drink it each morning as you should? And the Bible, which contains the very words of our Saviour… do you read it daily and try to let the words enter your life? What about icons? Do you venerate only those which you consider to be in the “correct”- ancient Byzantine style? But what of the many examples of wonderworking icons whose style some people would consider “un-orthodox,” “tainted with modernism”? All icons should be reverenced; God has not set up anyone as an icon “expert”.

We say we believe, yet in our lives we often treat our encounters with Holiness as casual occurrences. Do we have to verify the spiritual with our physical senses before we are willing to be filled with awe? Are we like St. Thomas? Must we need to see tongues of fire, angels, “signs and wonders” before we believe? Divine revelation has already shown them to be true, and we have Faith. Let us therefore put our faith into action and stand before God and His sacred objects with our minds and hearts full of awe towards Him and His great Kingdom.