Urgency for Salvation

Lately you turn on the news station and you are bombarded with warnings and images of what some believe to be the imminent invasion of Ukraine by Russia. I don’t know whether it is imminent or not, but I do know there is a sense of urgency in the air about to handle the aggression. This blog is not about Ukraine to be clear. It about having a sense of urgency for our salvation.

Take a moment and read today’s Epistle reading from Saint John First Universal Letter to the Church, and you will understand my thought process. We have just completed the first week of the Triodion, and after yesterday’s call to repentance like the Prodigal Son, the Church wants us to have a sense of urgency. As Christians we have forgotten this sense of urgency when it comes to our salvation. I suspect because the opening verses of today’s reading have not come to fruition. 2,000 years must not have been the last hour, or so we thought.

Brethren, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come; therefore we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out, that it might be plain that they all are not of us. But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all know that I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and know that no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father. He who confesses the Son has the Father also. Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is what he has promised us, eternal life. I write this to you about those who would deceive you; but the anointing which you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that any one should teach you; as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie, just as it has taught you, abide in him. And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that every one who does right is born of him. See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now; it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And every one who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. Every one who commits sin is guilty of lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him sins; no one who sins has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. He who does right is righteous, as he is righteous. He who commits sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. – 1st John 2.18-29, 3.1-8

The ancient Church lived with the urgency that Christ was going to return at any moment. Language of the last hour was common not only in Saint John’s letter but also Saint Paul and even the prayers of the Church. Unfortunately, after more than 2,000 years we seem to think either God is not going to return for us, or He is coming much later than we originally expected, so we have time.

I get that we have become casual in our faith due to what we think are unfulfilled expectations. What I do not understand is the situation in which we have become more obsessed with not offending the devil and his followers, than whether our lazy behavior offends God. When I celebrate baptisms, I instruct the godparents to “blow and spit” upon the devil. This is in the service as part of our rejection of the devil. For years I have said, “Not like that fake Greek ftou ftou spit. Spit on the devil like you are trying your best to offend him. If you hate the devil, spit on him.” I always amazes me how uncomfortable people are when I instruct them to spit like they mean it.

I can only imagine it is because we have lost our sense of urgency. Too often baptisms, and the other sacraments of the Church, have been treated as mere ritual either to make grandparents happy, or to hedge our bets and ‘at least’ check all the boxes. Go back and read my blog on the “The Wrong Tree” and you’ll see what I think about at least logic. In the meantime, our soul is suffering from a lack of closeness to God.

As we continue our journey through the Triodion, our journey to Pascha, I invite you to establish a sense of urgency for your salvation. Even if Christ does not come before next year, we must live as if we will go to him at any moment. Have the sense of urgency that was expressed in the Prodigal Son when he “came to himself” and chose to immediately return to his father. It isn’t too late, but we are in the last hour, so don’t delay.