The epistle for today from St. Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians, chapter 5, verses 8 to 19 urges us to “try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord” and to seek to “understand what the will of the Lord is” in our lives. Last Sunday Father Gregory was speaking about “the new relationship[s], not based on flesh and blood but upon the gift of the Holy Spirit who makes of us all children of God” and about how we must “live out that faith in our relationships with each other, thereby drawing more and more people into the circle of God’s forgiving love.” OK. So now the question is: How do we live out our faith in Christ in our relationships? How do we understand what the will of the Lord is for each of our lives? There is an expression that sums up the situation: “Now, the rubber hits the road!” In other words, the car tires are moving quickly, the journey has started [Urnn. . . sound of car moving away]. Let’s do it. Let’s live out our faith in the Lord.

First, let me state clearly. I have no idea what the will of God is for you in your life. I have enough difficulty figuring out what the will of God is for my life; and I would not presume to suggest what the will of God is for your life. But I do know that God has a purpose for each of us, that He will steadily guide us into those purposes, and that He will empower us to achieve those unique purposes for each of our lives. Theodoret, a native of Antioch and a fifth century bishop, wrote about these verses from Ephesians: “You share in the Word. You have received the grace of the Holy Spirit. Now you are able to discern what is pleasing to God.” Theodoret was not a saint of the Church, but the words that he addressed to his own people in the fifth century certainly apply to each of us in this church today: “You share in the Word. You have received the grace of the Holy Spirit. Now you are able to discern what is pleasing to God.” Note that it is YOU who discern what is pleasing to God for YOUR life. You have to develop your own judgment about how to please God.

Although God has His unique purposes for each of our lives, we are all built up as Christians by the experiences that we share together—baptism, prayer both at church and at home, reading the Bible, receiving Holy Communion at the Divine Liturgy. A fourth century Church Father known as Ambrosiaster has written of this passage in Ephesians, and I quote: “From the abundance of his holiness and goodness it is possible to know what works delight God. In His holiness we are purified. In His mercy we are brought to full and perfect righteousness.” In other words, by our participation in and our commitment to the Christian life, “we are purified.” We are purified by drawing closer to the holiness of God. It’s like when you jump into the water in a swimming pool or at the seaside. Children, what happens when you jump in the water?  Right, you get wet. It’s the same experience with holiness. If you jump into the life of trusting and worshiping God, by that decision to jump you make yourself spiritually wet—you get covered with holiness. Sometimes you can even see that holiness in someone’s eyes.

OK, children, so after you’ve jumped into a swimming pool and swum for a while, how do you feel. . . Right! Cold but full of life. Holiness, like jumping into a swimming pool, is an invigorating experience—a time of fresh life, energy and health. St. Paul says in Ephesians, Chapter 4 verses 23 and 24, you are “renewed in the spirit of your minds;” and you “put on the new nature.” Origen tells us that, and I quote: “There is a spirit proper to your mind. When your mind is detoxified and expels confusions, the spirit of your mind renews you by taking up its dwelling with you [end of quote].” That’s what we are seeking—the detoxification of our minds. Now usually, we talk about being detoxified in the sense of removing some harmful substance, like alcohol or drugs, from our bodies. However, St. Paul and Origen are suggesting that we should remove from our minds the confusions of the world, the tendency to live only on the basis of self-interest. Only then will we be able to “put on the new nature” of becoming centred on Christ.

Last week at the Divine Liturgy for the Entry of the Mother of God into the Temple, Father Gregory preached about how perfection was possible, both for the Mother of God and for us, how “salvation lies within the reach of us all,” because “the tragedy of the Fall does not compromise our ability to seek God and find Him, to know God and love Him, to relate to God and serve Him.” Now, at times in my own life, I have felt, and perhaps you have felt this, too: I’m no mystic. I am not someone who is completely devoted to meditation and prayer in an attempt to achieve direct communication with and knowledge of God as the ultimate reality. I hope to be one with God, but my life is also caught up with my responsibilities to my family, my work, my reaching out to serve others, and my reading, to learn more about life and about the Church and about God.

Now, the Church Father Ambrosiaster has an unusual insight about understanding the will of the Lord. He writes: “Do what you have to do with moderation. This is the will of the Lord. Do not allow commotion and din or discord with bad feelings [that is, disagreement, failure to get on with each other] to give rise to estrangement [that is, breaking away from a previously friendly relationship].” In other words, finding the will of God for each of our lives does not require us to change our lives completely. We should do what we have do with moderation. We don’t have to become mystics. We don’t have to arrive 15 minute early for every church service—just being on time is enough.

To conclude, to find the will of God for our lives each of us do have to pray and to discern, to pray to the Lord and to listen to what He is saying to us. That is unlikely to mean we will hear a voice telling us precisely what we should do in our lives. We might, but we are more likely to find that if we immerse ourselves, if we dip ourselves, into the holiness of God, we will become calm and holy. If we seek the Lord, He will find us, because He loves us and reaches out to us. If we seek the Lord, He will find us.

And so we ascribe as is justly due all might, majesty, dominion, power and praise to God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, always now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Father Emmanuel Kahn