Educate with the desire to seek the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness

The time to learn more about our Orthodox Faith is at hand. The clergy and the staff prayerfully consider how to keep the attendance steady. This often times results in more programs that are new, more meetings, and more exasperation for all.

To alleviate this occurrence it is suggested to consider “the forgotten tools” that we Orthodox already have. These tools are the services of the daily liturgical cycle. It seems that before we immerse ourselves in daily cycle of services we try to come up with new ideas in how to communicate God’s word to our people. We engage in gathering all kinds of teaching techniques from secular educators. In doing so, we trap ourselves in the very thing we are trying to change, i.e. secularism.

The Divine Liturgy -the center of our life- is the greatest “tool” given to us by God to bring the reality of His presence into our life. Here from the very beginning, the gathered people are told what the destination of the service is, i.e. “…the Kingdom of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit...” Through the Liturgy, Christ offers Himself as food, and He teaches and leads His flock into the Kingdom of God. What we need is to implement the fundamentals that have always been enjoyed by the Church, i.e. the daily prayer life and active participation in the Liturgy. There is no better teaching tool than the Divine Liturgy of the Holy Orthodox Church.

Of course, it is imperative then to educate ourselves first in order to educate others. The Holy Fathers lived lives filled with the Holy Spirit, they received the best education of their time, and they were aware of the secular ideas that challenged the Christian world view. To follow the example of the Holy Fathers in transforming the world and elevating it to the level of the Church, we have to know our Orthodox Faith and Tradition. Our theology and Faith have to penetrate deep into our minds and hearts. Once the Faith finds deeps roots in our minds and hearts, it will naturally manifest itself in everything we do. This way Orthodoxy becomes a way of life and we become Christian educators in a full sense of the word.

While the Liturgy remains the center of our lives, the home is the primary place for giving and receiving Christian education. This means that parents are primary educators, and not the Sunday school teachers. Parents should never stop praying for their children; they should never stop talking to God and the Theotokos about their children. Good Orthodox parents always strive to learn how effectively communicate love, self-esteem, respect, and the truths of our Faith to their children. What children learn about Orthodox Christian faith at home will serve as a foundation for the rest of their lives.

In addition to home education, every community or parish activity becomes the manifestation of the Holy Spirit and unity with God or the lack thereof. This places a great responsibility on all the members of a parish. We all learn and we all teach.

In our Christian Education efforts, we are never alone. God aids us beginning at our baptism by supplying us with the grace of the Holy Spirit.

God and Church have to have priority in our lives. We need to make every effort in bringing our children to church regularly, but most especially to the Divine Liturgy. The services of the Holy Orthodox Church are great “teaching tools”. It is imperative to explain the meaning of each service as well as to encourage active participation.

Our Orthodox Church, aside from the Bible, has great spiritual wisdom deposited in the writings of the Holy Fathers, Her sacred history, Lives of saints, hymnography, etc. All we have to do is to dig deep with only one desire, which is to seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and lead others towards it.

Protopresbyter Bratso Krsic