Be Transfigured Ministries

This Bible Study was originally LIVE STREAM via YouTube on Wednesday, December 16, 2015.

More than half of all Americans consider Christmas a “cultural experience” rather than a religious holiday. We all know at least one person, maybe even a family member, that considers Christmas just about decorations, gifts and a big family dinner. But if the God Who created the universe really became a human on this day we call Christmas, then that has to mean something. Calling God our savior is more than just a few words. If He came to save us, we have to want to be saved. If Christmas is just another day for family to gather around the dinner table, then it isn’t Christmas. Something so significant and life changing – life saving – as God becoming a baby has to mean something.

When most people read the Old Testament, they read with the belief they are reading about the saved people of God. If the Old Testament is a story about God saving His people from death, the story is a failure since every human being, righteous and sinful with the exception of Elias and Enoch, dies in the Old Testament. But if the Old Testament is the story of the SAVIOR rather than the saved, it is a great success. The Old Testament is a story about how God, just in the nick of time, provides a savior to continue the human race, so He can enter into His Creation at Christmas. The entire Old Testament is the story of the lineage of Jesus Christ and not the lineage of the Saved. This is why on the Sunday before Christmas, the Church reads the genealogy of Jesus Christ as written in the Gospel According to Matthew. When we read the Old Testament in this way, we are better prepared to greet Him at Christmas as our Savior. God has saved us from the materialism of the world and all the fallen passions. Although we will still die like those of the Old Testament, God has something better for us when He returns. Although we still struggle like those of the Old Testament, God has something better for us when He returns.

In the Parable of the Great Banquet found in the Gospel of Luke 14.16-24, Jesus warns us of the result of excuses. When we continue to come up with excuses why we can’t attend Church, or why we can’t live the life of the Church which is meant to prepare us for heaven, then we will find ourselves left out. The life of the Church has only one purpose, to prepare us for heaven. It doesn’t matter if our name is on the membership list in the Church office, if we make excuses and don’t accept God’s invitation to attend the banquet known as the Divine Liturgy. If we live a life filled with excuses about church when we are alive, the chances are much greater that we will continue to make excuses when God reminds us that heaven is ready and waiting for us. It won’t make any difference when we claim our name is on the invitation list, it will be too late.

This Bible study was originally LIVE STREAM on Wednesday, December 9, 2015, in Florence, SC

It seems like the holiday season is one of the most difficult times to follow the life of the Church. Around every turn our society is urging us to turn away from following the life of the Church in favor of secular parties and materialism. With the burden of Christmas shopping, laying out decorations, attending holiday parties at work or in the neighborhood, most people are just happy Christmas is over, once it finally arrives. Attending Divine Liturgy is nothing more than an obligatory punctuation mark to an over-scheduled, over-hyped and over-worked season. An all the while the Church expects us to prepare for Christmas with fasting, prayer, reading the Scriptures, helping the poor, going for Holy Confession. We have a choice. We can either obey the Church, with her two thousand year history of experience and grace, or we can obey the society and look at the expectations of the Church with ridicule. The choice is yours.

This Bible study was originally LIVE STREAM via YouTube on Wednesday, December 2, 2015, from Florence, SC.

Look around at any family gathering and you will no doubt see children acting like their parents. Parents often look at their children with pride as they “see themselves” in their children because children often reflect their parents. In fact each of us reflects what is most important in our hearts. Like the rich man in the Gospel (Luke 18.18-27) our heart can also be cold and greedy and turned away from the love of God. A quick look at news coverage during the Thanksgiving Holiday, and we can see the priorities of many in our society. Shopping malls are filled with angry and sometimes violent shoppers grabbing for that discounted product, while their brothers and sisters are living in the streets with nothing to eat. The world can be a dark and lonely place, and for those lost in the darkness, just a glimpse of light can bring hope for a better tomorrow. As Saint Paul said, “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.” (Ephesians 5.8) As Orthodox Christians we have an opportunity to reflect the Light of Christ for those lost in the darkness, and bring hope that there is Way out of the darkness. We have an opportunity to reflect the Light of Christ so others will see the Light and follow the Light to the Church. If we indeed are children of light, then we should reflect our Father’s Light.

This Bible Study was originally LIVE STREAM via YouTube on Wednesday, November 18, 2015, from Florence, SC.

The Church is filled with them; people who live sinful lives and then arrive Sunday morning acting like angels. It turns many people off from “religion” and even more from attending Church on Sunday mornings. It is common to hear the excuse, “I have no intention of changing my behavior, so instead of being a hypocrite I just stay home.” What if everyone in Church wasn’t a hypocrite but an addict? What if instead of enjoying their sinful lives, people in Church on Sunday morning awoke every day committing to the Lord they would change, but by NOON had already fallen into their old habits? What if everyone were addicted to sin? And then.....what if YOU understood YOU weren’t better than anyone else, and addicted to sin just like everyone else. You could finally be a love your neighbor as yourself.