The Value of Commemoration

Holy Trinity Cathedral - Chicago


My wife and I drove up to Chicago this week - for business and to visit with family. During the six hour drive we listened to CDs from a collection of Hits of the 60's and 70's.

The sound system in the rented vehicle was tremendous and it was like hearing those very familiar songs in a new, fresh way. The music evoked not only nostalgic memories but also the deep emotions associated with those memories. The music brought us out of the passing sequence of time and into the timelessness of the experience of those moments.

Last monday (Jan.16th), was Martin Luther King's birthday. Lots of radio stations played segments of some of his greatest speeches. People that had known him recounted stories and celebrated the impact of his life which ended so prematurely and tragically. Hearing his words once again, brought him out of time and into the present moment. We need to hear his words today just as much as we needed to hear them back in the '60s.

This experience of timelessness is why traditions are so valued in the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Every day is significant.

Because of God's manifestation as Christ, the Word, the material world has become renewed and restored to its sacred state as God's "good" creation. Even time itself has been redeemed.

In the tradition of the ancient christian church every day commemorates the life of a saint or martyr of the past. This is the origin of holidays in our culture. "Holy Days" - where we remember the past and draw the impact of that past experience into the present.

Every Sunday morning Orthodox Christians celebrate the Divine Liturgy, in the same manner as it has been celebrated since the founding of the Church. Not as an empty ritual, but to evoke through all the senses the experience of the presence of Christ in the world.

"To everything there is a season,
A time for every purpose under heaven:
A time to be born,
And a time to die;
A time to plant,
And a time to pluck what is planted;
A time to kill,
And a time to heal;
A time to break down,
And a time to build up;
A time to weep,
And a time to laugh;
A time to mourn,
And a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones,
And a time to gather stones;
A time to embrace,
And a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to gain,
And a time to lose;
A time to keep,
And a time to throw away;
A time to tear,
And a time to sew;
A time to keep silence,
And a time to speak;
A time to love,
And a time to hate;
A time of war,
And a time of peace."

- Ecclesiastes 3:1-8