In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Today we are singing as we do on this Feast of the Descent of the Holy Spirit: “As many as have been baptised into Christ have put on Christ” (Galatians 3:27). When we are singing this, we are saying how we are living, and what is the reality of our life as Orthodox Christians.

To be an Orthodox Christian is not just like joining a club or being a member of a club. It’s a way of life. The way of the Orthodox Christian is to have “put on Christ”. So, when we are living our lives, our lives are supposed to be reflecting Christ. In order to reflect Christ, we have to know WHO HE IS, ourselves. Our lives have to be all intertwined with the Lord, somehow. The Lord said that He is the “light of the world”, and we who are participating in Him will have the same light, and life. He meant it. This is not just some sort of abstract statement. When He said that out of us will come “rivers of living water”, He was not making an abstract statement.

The Saviour does not make abstract statements. The Saviour is very straightforward, and practical in His words of life. So when He says something, He says what He means directly. You can tell that many Orthodox cultures really have understood this by the way people, themselves, speak. Orthodox people from our inherited Orthodox cultures normally will say directly what they mean. They don’t usually “pussyfoot around” like Canadians do. Canadians pussyfoot around here, and around there, making these circular motions in-and-out, just “beating around the bush”. They say: Well, maybe this, and maybe that, and around and around they go. This beating around the bush, and this sort of circular motion has been pointed out to me by many Orthodox Christians as resembling the shape of a circus. This beating around the bush that we Canadians have the habit of doing, is, in fact, reflecting the behaviour of you-know-who-down-below, Big Red. The father-of-lies is what he was called by the Saviour, Himself (cf. John 8:44). Mr. father-of-lies, Big Red, goes around and says: Maybe this, and maybe that, but not straight down the middle saying what is truly the case. The Lord always says straightly what is the truth of things. It’s good for us that we can grow into this honesty, this straightforwardness, and this truth because, of course, Jesus Christ is the Truth.

An example of the “cuckooness” of the society in which we live is that our society is now saying that there are all sorts of truths. There’s a truth for you, and a truth for me, and a truth for someone else. Even philosophically, and logically, this is “out to lunch”. When we are talking about truth, there can only be one Truth about anything. The one Truth about all of life, all of existence is Jesus Christ, Himself, who says: “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life” (John 14:6).

On this Feast, the Grace of the Holy Spirit is poured out on the Disciples, and Apostles. They are going around speaking all sorts of languages that they never learned. The Holy Spirit comes down upon them like tongues of fire with the sound of rushing wind, and the Disciples, and Apostles are filled with the Grace of the Holy Spirit. They go out onto the street, speaking these different languages, and the people who had gathered from all over the Empire hear the Apostles (who had never learned these languages) speaking about the greatness of God, and His wonderful works.

What does this mean? It means that the Truth of the Lord, the Truth of life, the Truth of hope, the Truth of the Kingdom of God – that Truth is for everyone. It is not just for the Jewish people. It is for everyone. The Saviour has clearly indicated this to us by His life. The Apostle Paul proclaims this, also, at the end of the Acts of the Apostles which we read yesterday (cf. Acts 28:28).

The problem that the Jewish people had was that because they were so persecuted, and oppressed one way or another, they closed in on themselves. They kept the Truth that they had learned from God (the Ten Commandments, and so forth), but they kept it inside, whereas the Lord had been telling them all along that they must shine with this Truth, and share it. However, they had difficulty sharing it, and in the end they were protecting it, and not sharing it. What’s occurring here today is the breaking down of those walls. The love of God spreads out to everyone. The Apostle Paul said that this word is going to the Gentiles because the Gentiles (that’s us, non-Jewish people) are going to receive it (cf. Acts 28:28). We have received the truth about the love of God, and the truth about Him, who is the Truth, our Saviour, Jesus Christ.

However, it is really important that we Orthodox Christians, here, now, in Canada, remember this same lesson. We have been falling into this trap of closing in on ourselves because people outside don’t understand us very well, and they are hard on us. They have definitely been hard on us for 100 years and more in Canada. But so – were we easy on Jesus Christ, Himself? Were we, human beings, easy on Him? The Lord could say to us: “Cry Me a river”, but He doesn’t, because He is merciful. Instead, He keeps leading us gently and carefully, helping us come to our senses.

Today I said the prayer from the Psalms which the bishop always has to say at this service: Lord, Lord, look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine which Your right hand planted, and establish it (cf. Psalm 79:15). This really means: Make it grow. The bishop is asking God to water this plant, and make it grow. I said this prayer from the Psalms today in many languages because we are reflecting many languages, and many heritages here. People have come from all sorts of different Orthodox cultures. At the same time, we cannot (and the Lord will not let us) stay closed in on ourselves. We must share this hope that is ours. We must share it with people around us. We must do, and be good to people around us. We must be joyful around people, and encourage people around us with the hope in which we have been baptised. We say that we are Orthodox Christians. People look at us, and say to themselves: So, you are supposed to be serious Christians – all right – I’ll test you, and see how serious you are. They “give us the gears” to see how serious we are about the Orthodox Christian way, and to see why it is different from everything else around that is so disappointing, and disheartening. They say: Why should I treat you any differently or expect anything better from you since I’ve been disappointed by so many?

It is because we have been baptised into Christ; we have put on Christ, and we have received the Grace of the Holy Spirit that we are going to be able to live in the way that the Lord wants us to live, and to shine with the light of His love, His joy, and His hope. We will be able to help people around us just by being who we are (and not bashing them over the head with a Bible), but just being who we are – participants in Christ. When we come into the presence of other people, we spread joy. We spread life. We spread hope, even if they don’t wake up, and come and be part of us, Orthodox Christians. People are stubborn, and even if they don’t wake up, and come and be part of us, at the same time our existence, living this love, this joy, and this hope, will help them. It will give encouragement to them. Some of them will come to us by our being faithful Christians, faithfully showing Christ, and His love to them.

However, even if they don’t come to us, at least they will know that there is light shining in the world. Maybe they will, themselves, in the difficult lives all human being have to live, be able to carry on with a little bit more determination than they would have had if they hadn’t encountered in us the love of Jesus Christ. As Orthodox Christians, wherever we go, because we are baptised into Christ, because we have put on Christ, and have been given the Grace of the all-holy Spirit, no-one can meet us without meeting Christ, too.

People will measure Christ by us, so it’s important that we Orthodox Christians be faithful. We have to keep turning to the Saviour, and to His love every day not only asking Him for the strength to continue, but also giving thanks to Him for the love that He continually pours out on us. Brothers, and sisters, on this day when we are celebrating the Descent of the Holy Spirit, let us give thanks to God sincerely from our hearts that He has poured out this same Holy Spirit on us. Even if we are not given the gift of speaking all these languages, maybe we have been given the gift to show love. We have been made participants in Him through the Grace of the Holy Spirit. We can, in Him, by the Grace of the Holy Spirit, live a life that is productive, healthy, life-giving, joyful, bright, strong, and even powerful.

Let us ask the Lord to give us renewed Grace this morning so that we can truly be faithful to Him, truly shine with His light, and in the course of our lives glorify Him, our Saviour, Jesus Christ, together with His Father, who is from everlasting, and His all-holy, gracious, and life-giving Spirit, now, and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

† Archdiocese of Canada - Orthodox Church in America