Kissin' Jesus (a little bit about the Eastern Orthodox Christians)

First of all, I present to you a reading from the book of Matthew.  All these verses show some meaning related to my post, so please read carefully. 

That Which Defiles

15 Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, 2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!”

3 Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’[a] and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’[b] 5 But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ 6 they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. 7 You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:

8 “‘These people honor me with their lips,
    but their hearts are far from me.
9 They worship me in vain;
    their teachings are merely human rules.’[c]”

10 Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. 11 What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.”

12 Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?”

13 He replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots.14 Leave them; they are blind guides.[d] If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”

15 Peter said, “Explain the parable to us.”

16 “Are you still so dull?” Jesus asked them. 17 “Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? 18 But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. 20 These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.”

I have noticed something quite interesting when I walk into the churches of Sofia lately. On Saturday evening I walked into St. Alexander Nevsky (one of the largest Eastern Orthodox churches in the world), to do my bi-weekly honoring of the good Lord. I am unaware of English church services here so I tend to walk into a church every three or four days, light some candles and say some prayers. Sometimes just silence and serenity is all one really needs in the Lord's palaces. 

When I walk into these churches I often watch the Eastern Orthodox parishioners. One can gain a little comfort through the whole "monkey see, monkey do" element when in different environments. Saturday evening I entered the sanctuary of the church and walked toward the left-hand side, and stood between beautiful pictures of Mary and Jesus. In front of these wonderful pieces of art were candelabras, so I placed a candle in front of each picture. 

Next to me stood an older lady reciting a prayer, and lighting her candles as well. The next thing I saw is what gave me the goosebumps. This was something I had seen a few times in other churches, and once at a village gathering as well. On a small podium stood a picture of Jesus located across from the candelabras. She approached the picture and kissed it in the middle, right on the face of Jesus. I wanted to be certain of this, so I watched a gentleman do it as well. 

I walked around thinking if they are so devoted to their Lord and Savior, then why should such a task seem so strange? So as the lady, and gentleman previously did, I walked up to that picture and kissed my lord. Did it feel strange? As they say "When in Rome, do as the Romans." My interpretation of that related to this incident would be "If you love Jesus enough, then show your love to him." 

In all honesty, I can confess that I am a germa-phobe (which according to spell check is not a word). When I worked with those little children in South Korea, I was constantly washing my hands or drowning them in anti-bacterial stuff. I never have a problem with getting marker, dirt or blood on my hands. For some reason when a kid sneezes or coughs in my direction, I freak out. Sharing food was definitely not an easy task in that beautiful "culture of sharing". I still firmly believe that those people would not be as sick if they did not eat off the same fork or set of chopsticks. 

My point in saying all that is this. There are many of us germa-freaks in this world. Would the average person, or even the average anti-germ human do when asked to kiss their Lord, Jesus Christ? How many people kiss those beautiful art pieces daily? There is no telling. They probably get wiped down sometime during the week. In our world many of us are so paranoid about the little parts of life, that we sometimes ignore the important parts.

 I could just imagine Jack Nicholson's character in the movie Something's Gotta Give, as he watches the devoted followers kissing their Lord and Savior. He would probably have a special spray, or even some fancy plastic to cover the picture, so he could perform the sacred act as well. Or he would kiss hands (with rubber gloves on) and then lay his hands on the picture as his act of loyalty. For those of you who know this movie character, you are probably thinking "Nah, he'd freak out, and just leave the building." That would be the unanimous vote.

Anyway, let us remember the words of verses eight and nine in the above mentioned passage from Matthew 15: These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules. 

So it a joy to serve as an eye witness to people who do honor their Lord and Savior with not only their hearts, but their lips as well. As a well qualified germ-freak, I can say that I do not hesitate when showing my love for Jesus with my lips as these fine Eastern Orthodox have all of their lives. 

Prayer for today: Dear Lord, grant us the discipline and devotion to honor you with all of ourselves, and not just part of ourselves. Whether we are dirty, or have germs crawling around us, we remember that our priority is instilled in us through your son Jesus Christ. Love conquers all. Devotion and loyalty towards you conquers all as well. Teach us also dear God, to be open to     

experience the loyalty and devotion of your followers from other parts of our world. As students of your word, may we be able to teach others about loving you, but most importantly, be able to learn from them as well. In your son's name we pray, Amen. 

This is one of the best. . . . .

verses with a ton of real-life meaning to it. From Proverbs 18:21 - Words kill, words give life; they're either poison or fruit - you choose.

This has definitely applied to some of the recent events that have occurred here in this hostel. One of the other hostel workers, who will remain unnamed for now, has been very tired and frustrated on a daily basis. As the young Aussie Jimmy and I have been able to warm up to the 'ole man, this other person has not been able to do so. It may be that he is frustrated at staying in this hostel for so long. It may be that he does not have enough money to continue his journey to Tibet. It may be that he feels like a slave here at times to the owner, who does not appear or seem to be such a demanding person.

The words that come out of this other man's mouth have been very few lately. When words have come out of his mouth they have felt like to poison to those of us around him. We are wise enough to not let the poison of his words affect us, and we continue on with our daily routines. I do feel that prayer has helped me with Mr. Rolin, (our Russian American guest), and hope that it can help give new life to this man that I speak of.

Words of poison can come from someone who is a staff member, and someone who is also the manager or owner. Every day I have heard something about the "Fat American", who is staying in our hostel. The man of references is Mr. Rolin, who some of us had our struggles with before Sunday evening's big event (you can learn about that event sometime in the next day or so). Anyway, I have kept my mouth shut most of the time, just out of respect for the owner, Mikhail. As a man in power, I feel that an owner or manager should show respect to all guests no matter who they, or how they have acted.

 With technology as advanced as it is these days, this verse can be very effective. So remember choose your words wisely. Let them give life to others, so they can show compassion. Do not let your words be a sword in someone's side.

Prayer - Heavenly Father, help us to use our words, so they may honor you. Words of love, words of compassion, words of kindness, words of hope. Lord, give us the strength to forgive those who use their words as poison - those who may hurt us with their words that feel like that sword in our side. May you help them as well, dear God. Show them love, compassion, and kindness, through forgiveness, so that they may understand Godly love. Be with us as we give life to others through the fruits of our labor, and the fruits of our words. Amen.