Most of us are familiar with the story of St. Sophia and her three daughters. We know that St. Sophia’s daughters were pretty young and were martyred for the faith. We might also know that St. Sophia wasn’t technically martyred, but died at the graves of her daughters. And something I didn’t know until a few years ago was that St. Sophia purposefully trained her daughters to be prepared for martyrdom. Because they lived in a time of persecution and were Christians, St. Sophia knew that it was likely that they would be persecuted, and because she wanted her daughters to succeed in attaining their salvation, they needed to be prepared to stay true to Christ if that happened. Their upbringing was centered on Christ and the very real possibility of being martyred for him.

These days we don’t face outright persecution. We aren’t likely to face martyrdom for the sake of Christ. But we can, and should, still center our homes on Christ. And today I’m excited to talk about this, because this concept of the Christ-centered home has been on my mind for over a year now. In my self-care series, I mentioned a talk my husband and I went to with Dr. Mamalakis. Self-care for mamas was one major take-away from that talk; another was this concept of this Christ-centered home. I don’t remember the question he was answering, but he talked about how the idea that churches should be family-centered is actually wrong. Instead, he said, the church should be Christ-centered, and so should our homes.

This concept, this phrase, really stuck with me, and I wondered: What is a Christ-centered home, and what does it look like?

I asked my Instagram followers this question: What comes to mind when you hear “Christ-centered home”? Some of my followers gave beautiful answers. One follower said, “A home with a family prayer rule, a feeling that all are welcome, lots of forgiveness and grace, and visual reminders from the Church we aspire to follow.” Another said, “Remembering that Christ is in our midst at all times and thinking, ‘How should I be? What should I say? How should I act based on this reality?’ So we should pray, we should love one another, we should speak to each other with kindness.” And another said, “Prayer being a central point of life. Peace in the home. A place others want to be.” And one more said, “Representing the Divine Liturgy in the home, where it saturates each moment of the day and every fiber of the furniture.” All of these give examples of ways to think and act that make up the essence of a Christ-centered home.

To me, the Christ-centered home means a home where those living in it are striving to live as true Christians. It’s a home where every decision, action, routine, and tradition centers around Christ and the Church. It’s a home where praying, seeking the kingdom of God, and loving and serving others are always a goal and at the forefront of our minds and hearts. It is also a home filled with grace and forgiveness. Of course, that is easier said than done. It’s something that will never fully be realized. There will always be room for improvement. But there are ways we can take steps toward centering our homes on Christ. Let’s look at a few of those.

One way to have a Christ-centered home is observing the Church year as much as possible. The fullest way, of course, is to attend all the services and observe all the fasts and feasts. But that is not always possible with work or school schedules or health or energy levels. Still, the saints’ days, feast days, fasts, and feasts can be observed at home. To what degree it’s observed can be from simply acknowledging it to reading about it and having a discussion about it, to actually going to the services. I addressed this in episode three, and I talk about how this is a process. It takes time to add on the layers of fully incorporating it. But in a Christ-centered home there is always a striving to make the Church year more and more a part of everyday life.

Another way is to be part of an Orthodox Christian community. This doesn’t mean we can’t have important relationships outside of that, but it does mean that our church community is at the same level as family. They are our Christ family. They should be the ones who give us spiritual support and direction. And we are to be caring for those in our church as well. We cannot live isolated Christian lives. We must be in community together, loving and caring for each other.

A third way is having an Orthodox mindset. What do I mean by that? Well, I want you to think about that, and I will share more on that in my next episode. Some other ways are having a regular prayer life, incorporating Scripture reading, and parenting well. We’re going to look at all of these in future episodes also.

As individuals, we can easily know how to build a Christ-centered home, yet adding kids who need to learn all the behaviors, thoughts, and actions that come along with being a Christian—well, it gets tricky. In the next few episodes I’m going to share some things I’ve learned or am working on that could be building-blocks in cultivating a Christ-centered home. I certainly don’t have all the answers or do everything perfectly. I am not even the first to address this topic, as there are books on it, and many others, I am sure, who have written about it. But to that I want to share my experiences and my thoughts with you all. And I’d love to hear what a Christ-centered home means to you and how you’re trying to center your home on Christ.

Now it is time for “Things and Ings.” This is a part of the show where I share with you some things I’m loving or doing. You can find more information about anything I mention on my website, allthesethings.net, so let’s go.

Something I am reading is The Perfection of Women in Christ. It was originally given as a talk by Abbess Theologia to a university in Greece, but now it’s printed as a short book. Also, I am slowly working my way through The Hidden [Man] of the [Heart] and The Lazy Genius Way. It feels good to have finally found some more time to read.

Something I am hearing is the Search the Scriptures podcasts on Ancient Faith. I’m only over a decade behind, but I’m starting right at the beginning and about four episodes in and learning so much already.

Something I am loving is our new couch. We didn’t bring a couch with us, and we finally got one. I’m really glad to finally have a soft place to snuggle with the kids or to put my feet up at the end of the day.

I’m thinking about winter coming and how to best occupy our time together in closer quarters. Please send all your suggestions my way!

I want to leave you with one final thought. Going back to the inspiration for this podcast, Matthew 6:33, “But seek first the kingdom of God and all his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” We are to seek Christ and his righteousness first, to put Christ at the center of our lives. When we do that, naturally he becomes the center of our home, and that affects all who live in or enter it.