Saint Seraphim of Sarov Orthodox Christian Church

Pastor's Corner

Children and the Liturgy

If you attend the Divine Liturgy, you are not to be a spectator, but a participant. Once the Divine Liturgy begins—and one should always arrive at least 10 minutes prior to the beginning—one should stand, follow the Service attentively and sing as much as one can. We also participate by making the Sign of the Cross whenever Christ, the Holy Trinity, the Theotokos, or the saints are mentioned by name. It is vital that we teach our children also how to participate in the Service—I can guarantee you that only you—the parent—can teach a child how to participate in the Liturgy, and if you neglect this—the Church will eventually lose that young person. How tragic it is to attend Divine Liturgy and see children left to themselves to play in the Narthex, on the floor, or stuck in a back corner somewhere with a pile of toys or books. This conveys a powerful message to the children that the Liturgy, and thus Orthodoxy, is for adults only, and that children are excluded.

The children have been baptized and they need to be brought into the fullness of the worship, no matter HOW DIFFICULT IT SEEMS TO BE TO DO THIS. Toddlers can be especially hard because they become easily frustrated when their movements are restricted. At first, we may be able only to keep them within arm’s reach and quiet their louder outbursts. While we have to allow them a certain latitude, we must very clearly define specific boundaries to their movements and their behavior. If no boundaries are defined, a child will ultimately wander aimlessly throughout the church until somebody stops him. The boundary will be tested, we can be assured of that, and because of this, consistency is essential. As many times as the child tries to wander, we must bring him back. Any time the child makes a loud disturbance, we must insist he be quiet. If he chooses to persist or become even louder, we must immediately take him outside and discipline him in such a way that he will connect going outside with something unpleasant. We should take note that rebellion does not always manifest itself in a noisy way. Silent sobbing and sullen disobedience are just as indicative of self-will as tantrums and just as spiritually destructive if not corrected immediately. Needless to say, if you come late to the Liturgy, and leave after Holy Communion before the Dismissal without reason, then we are teaching by example. And that’s the most powerful teaching tool there is. When in doubt, as some of our good, experienced and successful Church Parents in our Parish—and follow their example.

PRAYING FOR OTHERS AT THE LITURGY:

There have been comments in the Announcements in past years concerning the importance of the "Litany of Fervent Supplication" and the "Litany for the Catechumens" that follow the Gospel and preaching. Some of you, sadly, think of this particular section of the Divine Liturgy as the intermission or halftime bathroom break! (of course some, not all, young children need to go outside at this point, no one is arguing that). At this part of the Liturgy we pray for the sick, the travellers, those celebrating a special occasion, etc. by name. The word Fervent (meaning an ardent or extremely passionate enthusiasm) is used for this Litany, since that is to be the inner spiritual sentiment and feeling during the prayers for your brothers, sisters and those in need in any place. As a pastoral plea to you, I ask you NOT to turn this time into a mass exodus of ½ of the congregation, but to make a fervent and heartfelt plea to God to send His mercy on those for whom we are praying. Except for very young children, it seems inconceivable that so many people must really go outside during this important part of the Divine Liturgy. My, the lines at the mens and ladies rest rooms must be rather long! These Litanies are the common responsibility of the entire congregation. Listen to the opening words: "Let us ALL say with our WHOLE soul and with our WHOLE mind, let us say…Lord,, have mercy." That means ALL, not some… You’re missing out if you habitually leave and ignore this request to pray for others. –Fr. Lawrence

A Brief instruction on Preparing for Holy Communion

Briefly, how should an Orthodox Christian prepare for Communion: 1) examine oneself, as St Paul commands, before receiving—look at your sins before God, your neighbor, the Church and yourself. 2) Confess your sins before the Priest, in the Holy Mystery of Confession if you have sins. How do you know? You best find out about this before receiving Communion, so you do not receive unto damnation and unworthily. We say that we should not receive Holy Communion unless we have made a recent Confession. One can interpret “recent” in many ways, but if in doubt of its meaning, ask your priest. The Holy Synod of Bishops of the Orthodox Church in America teaches us that if we are receiving Holy Communion regularly we should be confessing at least once a month, or thereabouts. It is also normal to attend Vespers the evening before receiving Holy Communion. Please make every effort to do these things.

The document on Confession and Communion is available at the following website: www.oca.org/pages/ocaadmin/documents/holysynod/ confession.communion.html 3) Forgive everyone, ask forgiveness of those whom we may have or have offended. 4) Pray the Pre-Communion Prayers, found in the Prayer book. 5) Attend Vespers the night before receiving Holy Communion. 6) Keep a total fast from midnight (as well as the weekly Wed/ Fri abstaining from dairy and meat and the fasting seasons), unless you have medical reasons to do otherwise. 7) Always always remember that Holy Communion is a Gift to us from God, the most precious Gift upon the earth.

You may say, "this list is TOO LONG!" You may ask, “why does the Bulletin so frequently address the question of proper preparation for Holy Communion?” Why keep bringing this up? The answer is simple: Holy Communion is the "Medicine of Immortality", the "Provision for Life Eternal" the "burning coal of divinity" the very presence of Christ, in the form of bread and wine. Our reception of It is for the union with God, our co-union with ALL in the Church—our parents, here, and those gone to their eternal rest, our grandparents, the saints, the Mother of God, all of the Church for all time; It is the participation at the Mystical Supper in the Upper Room with the Holy Disciples, that SAME Supper of Holy Thursday; It is the cleansing of our sins; the illumination of our souls, and much more. If one cannot prepare for such a marvelous and mysterious mingling of God and man, then, probably, one should not dare step up to the Chalice. The very purpose of our life is linked with how seriously we take our participation in the Eucharistic feast, since the purpose of our life is to be cleansed of our sins so that we might be joined with God, and to be the "light of the world".