<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0"
	xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
	xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
	xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
	xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/"
	>

<channel>
	<title>Preachers Institute&#187; fr. aris metrakos</title>
	<atom:link href="http://preachersinstitute.com/tag/fr-aris-metrakos/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://preachersinstitute.com</link>
	<description>The World&#039;s Premier Online Orthodox Christian Homiletics Resource</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:55:24 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<language>en</language>
	<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
	<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
	<generator>http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1</generator>
		<item>
		<title>Baaaad Exegesis</title>
		<link>http://preachersinstitute.com/2011/01/23/baaad-exegesis/</link>
		<comments>http://preachersinstitute.com/2011/01/23/baaad-exegesis/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 23 Jan 2011 07:27:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[About Preaching]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Metrakos, Aris Fr.]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[exegesis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fr. aris metrakos]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[goats]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sheep]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://preachersinstitute.com/?p=6623</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[by Fr. Aris Metrakos Scripture separated from its context can be confusing, misleading, and even destructive. Take the well-worn Bible college criticism of the way Orthodox and Roman Catholic faithful address their clergy, Matthew 23:9 (call no man father). The literal application of Mark 16:19 (snake-handling) is downright scary. Women&#8217;s southern summertime fashions being what [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>by Fr. Aris Metrakos</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><img class="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-6625" title="sheep_goats" src=" http://preachersinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/sheep_goats-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" />Scripture  separated from its context can be confusing, misleading,  and even  destructive. Take the well-worn Bible college criticism of the  way  Orthodox and Roman Catholic faithful address their clergy, Matthew  23:9  (call no man father). The literal application of Mark 16:19   (snake-handling) is downright scary. Women&#8217;s southern summertime   fashions being what they are, I&#8217;m grateful that no one is advocating an   exact application of Mark 9:47 (if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it   out).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The  ripping and twisting of scripture is not the sole domain of the  folks  who think that mega-churches are &#8220;non-denominational&#8221; and that the   Orthodox Church was &#8220;founded&#8221; in the 19th century with the rise of   nationalism. We Orthodox also know how to play the game of &#8220;Bible pick   and choose.&#8221; My favorite contemporary Orthodox exegetical distortion is   Luke 15:4:</p>
<blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify;">&#8220;What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one   of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go  after  the one which is lost, until he finds it?&#8221;</p>
</blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify;">America&#8217;s  Orthodox Christians look at the beautiful image of the Good  Shepherd  returning home with the lost little lamb around his neck and  say to  themselves &#8220;Let&#8217;s find all of the people who have ethnically  Orthodox  last names and get them &#8216;back&#8217; in the pews!&#8221; Behold, another  Lost Sheep  Committee is born.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">For all  of the Lost Sheep Committees that have come and gone, this is  an  evangelical paradigm that has yielded little or no fruit. Why?  Persons  with &#8220;Orthodox&#8221; last names who don&#8217;t live the life of the Church<em> do so  by choice</em>. They are sheep who have fled the flock &#8212; if they are  even  sheep at all. More importantly, Lost Sheep Committees don&#8217;t work because  they are  based on faulty exegesis. Luke 15:4 must be placed in the  broader  setting of verses four through seven:</p>
<blockquote style="text-align: justify;"><p>15:4  &#8220;What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has  lost one of them,  does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and  go after the one  which is lost, until he finds it? 15:5 And when he has  found it, he  lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 15:6 And when he comes  home, he  calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them,  Rejoice  with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.&#8217; 15:7 Just  so, I  tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who  repents  than over ninety-nine righteous persons <em>who need no repentance</em>.&#8221; (Emphasis added.)</p></blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Jesus  uses the image Luke 15:4-7 to tell us that He is the good  shepherd who  calls each human being to repentance, and to remind us that  His  redemptive ministry is focused not on maintaining the status quo of  the  righteous but on the reclamation of the fallen. If we are to follow   the words of the Lord, then we must go after the lost sheep. We just   need to make sure that we know who those lost sheep are.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Who the Lost Sheep Aren&#8217;t</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Igor  Czht came to the United Stated from Slobovia when he was in his  early  twenties. After spending a couple of years working for his cousin  in  Chowderland, USA at the Chowderland House of Pottery (Slobovians are   renowned pottery makers), Igor moved south to Countryland, USA. Twenty   years after arriving in America, he operates the lucrative Countryland   House of Pottery. He spends Saturday evenings consuming copious amounts   of Slobovian brandy and playing cards and passes his Sundays fishing on   his pontoon boat. He last sat through Liturgy two years ago, when his   mother was visiting from the old country.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">When Igor is asked why he doesn&#8217;t come to church, he answers with no hesitation: &#8220;They&#8217;re too judgmental.&#8221;</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">&#8220;But the priest, Father Boris, is energetic and hard working.&#8221;</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">&#8220;He&#8217;s the worst. He hates all Slobovians.&#8221;</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">&#8220;Have you talked to him?&#8221;</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">&#8220;I don&#8217;t need to. I&#8217;ve heard all about him at the Slobovian Men&#8217;s Club.&#8221;</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">&#8220;But  Father Boris&#8217; dad was Slobovian and he speaks the language. He  even  co-authored the book &#8220;Slobovian Pottery and the Major Feasts of the   Church.&#8221;</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">&#8220;Look,&#8221; says Igor. I don&#8217;t need to go to no gee-dee church to be no gee-dee Christian.&#8221;</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Igor  might be described as a certain four-legged animal with three  letters  in its name, but he is certainly no lost sheep. He has never  been part  of the flock and has no recognition of his need for  repentance. Yet,  Orthodox churches around the country spend countless  hours wringing  their hands over the fact that the Igors of the world  could care less  about the Church.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Am I  saying that Igor doesn&#8217;t deserve a phone call, card, or a visit?  Of  course not. But wasting too much of the parish resources on getting   Igor &#8220;back&#8221; in Church is irresponsible. Worse than Igor&#8217;s not   participating in the life of the community would be Igor&#8217;s hanging   around the parish with the destructive attitude that he harbors. Instead   of reclaiming a lost sheep for Christ, the parish would be  deliberately  introducing a disease into the flock.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Who the Lost Sheep Might Be</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Panagiotis  and Panagiota Pappas moved to Countryland three months  ago. For a long  time they had no idea that there was an Orthodox parish  in their new  city. The Slobovian parish has a one line listing in the  white pages  and their website has been under construction since the days  of  dial-up. When Panagiota finally found the number for the parish,   someone answered the phone &#8220;Slobovian Church.&#8221;</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Undaunted,  she and Panagiotis drove to Liturgy the following Sunday.  They drove  past the church the first time (the sign is three feet by  three feet).  Then they drove around the block twice trying to find the  entrance into  the parking lot. After walking into the narthex, they were  shown which  were the &#8220;one-dollar&#8221; and which were the &#8220;five-dollar&#8221;  candles. After  the Liturgy, the priest made a point of welcoming &#8220;Mr.  and Mrs.  Panagiotis&#8221; and invited them to come next door for coffee  hour-where no  one spoke to them.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The  Pappas&#8217; are sheep in search of a flock. Meeting their needs  requires  only a little more money and a little less parochialism.  Instead of  placing their light under a bushel, the Slobovian parish  needs to spend  some money on a decent phonebook ad and Web presence.  Dare I say it?  Even an occasional radio spot would be nice.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Get  some signage that helps people find the church. Do something  about the  parking lot traffic flow. At least pretend to be happy to see  visitors.  And please, please, please stop calling yourself the  &#8220;Slobovian  Church.&#8221;</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Who the Lost Sheep Are</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Jane  and John Whitebread live in a 2800 square-foot house in a gated   community. Both are educated and have good jobs. Jane was raised   Baptist, but hasn&#8217;t set foot in church for years. John&#8217;s folks were   never part of a faith community.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The  Whitebreads work hard. Like most Americans, they enjoy creature   comforts that antiquity&#8217;s royalty couldn&#8217;t even dream about. John goes   through a bottle of scotch per week, and Jane is into retail therapy.   Weeknights they fall asleep on the couch and love seat watching cable   news. Saturday evenings are spent having gin and tonics with the   neighbors.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">They  wake up with headaches Sunday morning. John stumbles out to the  curb  and retrieves the Sunday paper. A pot of coffee and a crossword  puzzle  later it&#8217;s time to think about mowing the lawn and getting caught  up on  the laundry.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Meanwhile,  the Whitebread kids carry out their Sunday morning ritual.  Their  13-year-old son IM&#8217;s his friends while checking out porn sites.  Their  nine-year-old daughter is glued to the TV. The six-year old plays  video  games.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Jane  and John feel like something is missing in their lives. They  wonder if  it might be religion, but abandon the idea. They can&#8217;t relate  to the  fundamentalists that are always preaching to them at PTA and   neighborhood association meetings. They think preachers in golf shirts   and khakis look silly. Pithy church signs, services that start at 4:48   p.m., simplistic answers to complex questions, and moral stances that   seem to accommodate society&#8217;s trends leave John and Jane cold.</p>
<blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify;">&#8220;Isn&#8217;t   there a religion that offers a set of practices and beliefs that doesn&#8217;t   require you to throw out half your brain or agree that gay marriage is  a  necessary step in cultural evolution?&#8221; they wonder.</p>
</blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The  Whitebreads are America&#8217;s lost sheep. They don&#8217;t even know it,  but  they&#8217;re the reason that God became man. They have a life of comfort   that is anything but abundant. What will we Orthodox do to help them out   of their stupor and into the light of the Kingdom? This is the  defining  question for American Orthodoxy.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">I don&#8217;t  pretend to know the answer to this question. But I do know  that  fulfilling the Great Commission means that we must stop squandering  our  time and energy on going after ornery pottery makers and start  going  after the real lost sheep. Along the way we might want to make   ourselves more visible and accessible.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">And if a  visitor wants to pay one dollar for a five dollar candle,  it&#8217;s cool.  The church pays less than a quarter for them in the first  place.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/articles6/MetrakosExegesis.php" target="_blank">Source</a></p>
<p style='text-align:left'>&copy; 2011, <a href='http://preachersinstitute.com'>admin</a>. All rights reserved. </p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://preachersinstitute.com/2011/01/23/baaad-exegesis/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Let’s Get Real About Priestly Indiscretion</title>
		<link>http://preachersinstitute.com/2010/12/11/let%e2%80%99s-get-real-about-priestly-indiscretion/</link>
		<comments>http://preachersinstitute.com/2010/12/11/let%e2%80%99s-get-real-about-priestly-indiscretion/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 11 Dec 2010 07:35:05 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[About Preaching]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Metrakos, Aris Fr.]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[christian]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Church]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[clergy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fr. aris metrakos]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[orthodox]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[priest]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[seminarian]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[seminary]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sin]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://preachersinstitute.com/?p=6273</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[by Fr. Aris Metrakos This article contains excellent advice for anyone contemplating the priesthood or discerning a vocation in the Orthodox Church (or any &#8216;church&#8217; for that matter). Fr. Aris nails it. Aren&#8217;t we disgusted with the shocking number of high-profile cases of priests engaged in pedophilia, homosexual activity, and adultery? Some excuse this behavior [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>by Fr. Aris Metrakos</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><em><span style="color: #800000;"><img class="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-6358" title="priestbook" src=" http://preachersinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/priestbook-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" />This article contains excellent advice for anyone contemplating the priesthood or discerning a vocation in the Orthodox Church (or any &#8216;church&#8217; for that matter).</span> <span style="color: #800000;">Fr. Aris nails it.</span></em></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Aren&#8217;t we disgusted with the shocking number of high-profile cases of  priests engaged in pedophilia, homosexual activity, and adultery? Some  excuse this behavior with the platitudes &#8220;a sin is a sin&#8221; and &#8220;we are  all sinners.&#8221; Uh, excuse me?</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Persons who say &#8220;a sin is a sin&#8221; don&#8217;t live in the real world. My  wife is more than forgiving when I snap at her for no reason. I don&#8217;t  think that she would be that charitable if I were to come home smelling  of another woman&#8217;s perfume.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">I concede that we are all sinners, but clergy relinquish the right to  even think of engaging in certain classes of sin. When a priest sins  sexually he damages the Church the way that crooked judges, lawyers, and  police officers damage the legal system. How can anyone not understand  this?</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Looking back on my seminary years, nobody ever told me that I  shouldn&#8217;t put my hand on an altar boy&#8217;s private parts, leave my wife for  a man, or go to bed with someone other than my wife. Come to think of  it, they didn&#8217;t tell me not to eat yellow snow, either. The faculty  assumed that we all knew better.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">There&#8217;s a saying about the word <em>assume</em>. If you don&#8217;t know  it, ask somebody who served in the military to explain it to you. So,  rather than assume that seminarians and young clergy know right from  wrong with regard to sexual matters, here are some essential rules of  behavior for those preparing for and serving in the priesthood:</p>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
<li>If you are delaying ordination until you find <em>Miss Right</em>, then be  willing to wait for the appropriate woman to come into your life.  Rushing into marriage with the wrong person is like voluntarily  infecting yourself with an incurable illness. Ask any married person &#8212;  our spouse will either make us or break us. The priesthood poses enough  difficulties without having the millstone of the wrong wife around your  neck.</li>
<li>If you have sexual fantasies about anything other than a woman, get  help. If these ideas persist, choose a different career.</li>
<li>If your heterosexual fantasies occupy as much of your time as they  did when you were 15, see an experienced confessor. If you are married  and have persistent sexual fantasies about anyone other than your wife,  again, see the confessor.</li>
<li>If your marriage needs fixing, then go to counseling. If counseling  doesn&#8217;t work, you have three options: separation, divorce, or &#8220;gutting  it out.&#8221; Finding a mistress is not an acceptable alternative.</li>
<li>Appearances matter. Don&#8217;t put yourself in situations where your  integrity can be challenged. Don&#8217;t stay in the same room with children  when no other adults are present. Don&#8217;t go swimming with anybody other  than other clergy, and certainly not with minors. Don&#8217;t meet repeatedly  for one-on-one counseling sessions with the same person outside of  normal office hours. Don&#8217;t meet with a long-time female friend in a  hotel room when you are together at a conference. Don&#8217;t give rides to a  woman or a child unless other people are in the car.</li>
<li>It&#8217;s not too late until it&#8217;s too late. If you are counseling a woman  and you are attracted to her, send her to another priest. If you are  about to walk into the bedroom of a person who is not your wife, walk  away. If you are kissing someone other than your wife &#8212; stop, and get  on the phone with a priest-friend whom you can trust.</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify;">All sexual misconduct is unjustifiable. Some child abusers excuse  themselves because they were victims of abuse. Yet plenty of adult  survivors of molestations go on to have normal sex lives. Get help. And  before you put your hand where it doesn&#8217;t belong, remember how bad it  felt when it was done to you.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">And all sexual misconduct deserves the maximum penalty. When persons  on the bench, in the bar, or with a badge undermine the legal system  they get locked up for a long time; they are held to a higher standard.  Priests who are pedophiles, homosexual predators, and adulterers need to  be defrocked &#8212; not only to send a message but to protect the Church  and her members. Some of them need jail time too.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">And why give a wolf in shepherd&#8217;s clothing a second chance to ravage  the flock? Maybe an adulterous pastor who had one occasion of adultery  could be given a second &#8212; and last &#8212; chance, but only after plenty of  counseling and a transfer to the other side of the continent. The rest  need to be removed.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The second century <a rel="external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Charalampe" target="_blank">priest-martyr Haralambos</a> was dragged by his beard through the streets because he refused to deny  Christ. In the 21st century, clerics drag the good name of the  priesthood and the Church through the tabloids and the evening news.  Sexual sin among the clergy must stop.</p>
<p style='text-align:left'>&copy; 2010 &#8211; 2011, <a href='http://preachersinstitute.com'>admin</a>. All rights reserved. </p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://preachersinstitute.com/2010/12/11/let%e2%80%99s-get-real-about-priestly-indiscretion/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>8</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Brother, Can You Spare A Paradigm?</title>
		<link>http://preachersinstitute.com/2009/06/10/brother-can-you-spare-a-paradigm/</link>
		<comments>http://preachersinstitute.com/2009/06/10/brother-can-you-spare-a-paradigm/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 11 Jun 2009 04:01:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Fr. John A. Peck</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Metrakos, Aris Fr.]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sermon Resources]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[america]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ceo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[chaplain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cruise director]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fr. aris metrakos]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mission]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[museum curator]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[priest]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[shaman]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://preachersinstitute.com/?p=408</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[by Fr. Aris Metrakos This essay was first published June 30, 2006 on Orthodoxytoday.org, and not only uncovers the dangers of old paradigms of priestly identity, but also reveals the only one of value in the Church. We reproduce it here with permission. Is it time to retire &#8220;paradigm shift?&#8221; This overwrought cliché is used [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>by Fr. Aris Metrakos</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><em><span style="color: #800000;">This essay was first published June 30, 2006 on <a title="Orthodoxy Today" href="http://orthodoxytoday.org" target="_blank">Orthodoxytoday.org</a>, and not only uncovers the dangers of old paradigms of priestly identity, but also reveals the only one of value in the Church. We reproduce it here with permission.</span></em></p>
<p>Is it time to retire &#8220;paradigm shift?&#8221;</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">This overwrought cliché is used to describe everything from new laundry soap to the wireless mouse. Even worse, religious types have taken a liking to it. Clergy and lay leaders are convinced if they could just figure out how to shift their paradigm, the pews and offering trays would overflow. (Do we really need to sit through one more mission statement formulation?)<span id="more-408"></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The late physicist Thomas Kuhn coined the term to describe how scientific thought advances. A paradigm shift occurs when a radically new way of framing a problem makes all previous methodologies obsolete. Newtonian physics replaced the Aristotelian model of the universe, for example. Relativity, quantum physics, and string theory trumped Sir Isaac and company.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Kuhn would wince at how people use the term today. Putting crumbled instead of block feta cheese on the salad at the Greek Festival is not a paradigm shift. Shifting correspondence from snail mail to email is.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">If we are going to use the term, let&#8217;s use it correctly. I propose a true paradigm shift in the way Orthodox priests in America conduct their ministry. It will sound the death knell for the ways some priests have served in America in the past century. If we can&#8217;t adjust to the paradigm shift, we&#8217;ll end up like meteorologists tracking a hurricane using only algebra.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">First let&#8217;s dispense with some of the traditional paradigms priests use.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #800000;"><em>The Priest as Shaman</em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">This style of ministry imparts good feelings through invocation and ritual. The Shaman&#8217;s parishioners don&#8217;t recognize that the ministry of the priest finds its source and end in the priesthood of Jesus Christ. Grace, forgiveness, redemption, sanctification and other dynamics of the Christian life seldom penetrate conscious awareness. Instead, the warm fuzzies that accompany ceremony, or the recollection of a childhood hymn and the like fill the void. No real depth here but some emotion might be felt.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">A popular shamanic practice is waiting to receive the light at Pascha (Easter). The parishioners arrive fifteen minutes before midnight, light their candles, and scurry home five minutes later making sure their candle does not go out before they get home. (Bad luck you know.) Never mind the Gospel and Eucharist in the service that follows.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Sometimes hospital visits have a witch-doctor feel. The patient may just barely understand that the Great Physician works through the hands of doctors and nurses. He has no understanding of the power imparted by the Eucharist and Unction. Instead, the pastoral visit is regarded as part of the incomprehensible dance of life in the hospital. (If you don&#8217;t think that people don&#8217;t hold magical beliefs about hospital visits, think about how many times you have heard the words: &#8220;Don&#8217;t let the priest visit Papou (Granddad). He will think he&#8217;s dying.&#8221;)</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Shamanic parishes have their own social rites. One important ritual is the coffee hour handshake. The shaman is obligated to recognize and shake the hand of every person in the social hall. If he misses a few, they complain all week. That he just stood before the people on behalf of God and before God on behalf of the people and that he proclaimed the Gospel, offered the Eucharist, taught through the sermon, and read the prayers doesn&#8217;t matter.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Who is to blame here, the tribesmen or tribal elder? Both. Too many priests are comfortable with the role of village medium. It&#8217;s easy. We feel important when we sing &#8220;Come Receive the Light&#8221; at Pascha while ignoring that those who come to receive it value their candle more than Christ. We walk into the hospital room with the presence of a Darth Vader. Some of us even look like Jabba the Hut. Paltry teaching and a muting of the offense of the Cross is our legacy. We prefer instead to stride confidently into the social hall after Sunday Liturgy coveting those important words: &#8220;Nice speech, Faddah.&#8221;</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">&#8220;Priest as shaman&#8221; is a dangerous paradigm because it encourages a cult of personality within the parish. It divorces liturgy from pastoral duty. The grace that can be imparted by preaching and sacrament dries up. It hovers perilously close to the unforgivable sin: blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #800000;"><em>The Priest as Cruise Director</em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Remember &#8220;Love Boat?&#8221; Remember the chirpy cruise director? She scampered about with that ever-present smile making sure all the passengers were sufficiently entertained. Parishes have a cruise director. He&#8217;s called the pastor.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The cruise director has one over-arching responsibility: keep the parish calendar and personal date-book filled. The scheduled event is not as important as the fact that something has been scheduled. In this paradigm a trip to, say, the country to see the changing colors in autumn is as important as a weekday Divine Liturgy. Cruise directors become anxious when the schedule is empty.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Why the flurry of activity? First, many parishioners love it. They feel somehow that the sacraments are insufficient, and that worship isn&#8217;t stimulating enough. &#8220;Can&#8217;t we have water aerobics and a support groups for persons recovering from knee surgery, like the other churches do?&#8221; they ask.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Moreover, a full program makes us feel like we are doing something, even when we expect others to do it. Several years ago I asked, &#8220;Should our parish have weekly Saturday evening vespers?&#8221; Four out of five respondents said &#8220;yes.&#8221; Then I asked, &#8220;Would you attend Saturday evening Vespers?&#8221; Four out of five said &#8220;no.&#8221;</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">A priest&#8217;s insecurities contribute to the dysfunction too. We are a goods and services society. We measure a person&#8217;s value by how much they produce. &#8220;What good or service do I provide?&#8221; frets the priest. &#8220;Salvation? That&#8217;s so vague. Besides, what if the Gospel really is just the &#8216;Jesus story?&#8217; I&#8217;ve got it! I&#8217;ll stay as busy as possible. That way people can see how important and indispensable I am. Who knows? Maybe if they see how hard I work, they&#8217;ll give me a raise next year!&#8221;</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The priest as cruise director paradigm slowly poisons a parish and the priest. It reduces church life to entertainment and commits the priest to a course of service empty of meaning. Parishioners become like grade-schoolers addicted to video games; they can&#8217;t get enough stimulation no matter how busy they become. The priest becomes a bizarre hybrid of dancing bear and precocious four year-old dragged out before the dinner guests to spell &#8220;antidisestablishmentarianism.&#8221; No matter how many strokes and free cookies he receives, his lack of faith will gradually cause death by spiritual starvation.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #800000;"><em>The Priest as CEO</em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Some priests are meeting guys. They structure the administration of their parishes so that there are at least three weekly meetings to attend. They love these meetings. There are committee members to be spoken down to, decisions to be vetoed, and bold proclamations to be declared. When these priests feel a meeting deficit, they get appointed to the board of the local soup kitchen to find more opportunities to review minutes and budgets, follow agendas, call the question, and go into executive session.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The CEO priest fancies himself a power broker. There are the &#8220;meetings after the meetings,&#8221; the business lunches, the rounds of golf, and the urgent cell phone calls. Oblivious to the fact that the First Baptist Church has more members in its dodge ball league than he has congregants, Father CEO fails to see that in the eyes of the greater community he has all the prestige of the mayor of Chernobyl.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Some communities like CEO priests. &#8220;Father&#8217;s a take charge guy. He cuts to the chase. He gets it done.&#8221; Translation: &#8220;Father validates my excessive needs for power.&#8221; CEO priests like this paradigm because it creates an illusion of control, masking the reality that most of parish ministry exceeds the management skills of anyone but God. Besides, what other mountains are left to climb after winning the prestigious &#8220;Church History Award&#8221; at seminary? Where can you go after becoming a Protopresbyter? Why not become the satrap of the local Orthodox province?</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The perils of this paradigm lie in the nature of boardroom politics. A confrontation across a conference table is the antithesis of the intimacy between confessor and penitent. The hours spent in meetings displace liturgical or educational events on the parish calendar. A pastor in power is a perverse parody of the servant leadership that Jesus modeled for us.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #800000;"><em>The Priest as Museum Curator</em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Many of our non-Orthodox brethren regard the local Orthodox congregation as a convenient place to go to learn about icons, enharmonic scales, and other curiosities of a past era. Our processions, vestments, and incense fascinate them. When all is said and done however, no Orthodox ritual could ever take the place of preachers dressed in business casual, power point slides, and $100,000 sound systems in their eyes.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">I&#8217;d be offended that many folks view us as a living museum except that we priests often cultivate this perception. What else could anyone conclude after encountering clergy who are mesmerized by the minutia of Church music, bewitched by Byzantium, or enraptured with Mother Russia?</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">While this paradigm may seem harmless on the surface, deep down it&#8217;s corrosive. The Museum Curator is not aware that what we teach and preach is absolutely true: God became man, dwelt among us, was crucified for our salvation, rose from the dead, and reigns supreme in heaven while still in our midst. Instead, the Gospel is reduced to adornment; an artifact from a past era safely ensconced in a gold plated and jeweled box.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Priestly callings come in all varieties. Maybe you became a priest because that&#8217;s what your mother told you to do. Perhaps it was the nice things people said when you mentioned that you might be going to seminary. Or was it because you thought all the vestments and stuff in the altar were really spiffy?</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Now here you are, ordained. Since you&#8217;re not sure if the Gospel is true or not, you search for a higher purpose. If you were a liberal Protestant you could go into pastoral counseling or open a soup kitchen. But you&#8217;re Orthodox so you chose the &#8220;Orthodox&#8221; option. You begin preaching about the need to preserve our nationalistic and cultural roots. Instead of retreats, your parish hosts seminars with titles like &#8220;Philanthropy in the Age of Peter the Great.&#8221; You show up at your child&#8217;s middle school graduation decked out in a cassock and pectoral cross.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Sermons are easier now. People used to feel uncomfortable when you preached about things like &#8220;There is neither Greek nor Jew, slave nor free, male nor female.&#8221; They really squirmed when you mentioned, &#8220;Thou shalt not commit adultery.&#8221; But now that your homilies cover hot topics like &#8220;The power and diversity of the participle in Koine Greek,&#8221; no one complains anymore. Some of the eyes in the congregation might glaze over but enough people say privately &#8220;Father, you should teach at the seminary&#8221; that you&#8217;ll never stray again.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The Museum Curator paradigm provides a gutless way out of the corner of doubt into which too many church-types have painted themselves. Belief in the crucified and risen Lord can be optional when we confuse the Church and her interesting history, intricate rubrics, and complex music with the Great Commission. But this style of ministry leads to the slow rot of the Church. Museums house things that are dead. The Church is the Body of Christ vivified by the Holy Spirit. Let the dead bury their dead.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #800000;"><em>The Priest as Chaplain</em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Of all of the obsolete paradigms of priestly ministry, the Priest as Chaplain is the most appealing. Here the parish priest dutifully tends his flock by visiting the sick, celebrating the services, and maintaining the parish programs. What could be wrong with this?</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Nothing, if we still lived in a Christian society. Back in the fictitious &#8220;old country&#8221; of Slobovia (which is 90% Orthodox), the local priest devotes all of his time to &#8220;meeting the needs&#8221; of the thousands within walking distance of his church. Even when Slobovians immigrated to the New World the Chaplain paradigm worked. Back then the parish was the epicenter of Slobovian life.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Not today. Declining Slobovian-American birth rates and increasing intermarriage means the parishes are shrinking. Slobovian emigration has slowed to a trickle, and those who come are so secularized that they are indifferent to the Church. Slobovian parishes in the South boast of increased memberships but their gains come at the expense of parishes in the Rust Belt and Northeast Corridor.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The logical outcome to this paradigm is extinction. As comfortable and familiar as Priest as Chaplain might be, its day has come and gone.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #800000;"><em>A New American Orthodox Priestly Paradigm: <strong>The Mission Priest</strong></em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The old paradigms had a certain albeit meager utility. They worked as long as the surrounding culture remained basically Christian. They don&#8217;t work anymore. The time has come to return the priesthood to how it was first practiced &#8211; in a hostile culture, with wisdom, and concrete and authentic encounter with Christ.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Becoming a Mission Priest begins with a change in governing values. Mission Priests don&#8217;t confuse faith in the Gospel with a soft assent to its social principles or moral utility. Rather, they know the veracity of the Gospel through first-hand experience. For many, faith was strengthened when they changed careers and entered seminary. Enduring the patronizing and petty atmosphere of &#8220;theological school&#8221; clarified the eyes of their soul. Facing down and even defeating parish antagonists and persecutors revealed the strength of the Gospel and cemented their conviction once and for all.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Knowing the Gospel to be true, Mission Priests hold to the imperative that the Gospel must be preached to all people. They recognize that their time on earth is limited and regard each day as an opportunity to bring others closer to Christ. Their witness is not confrontational or manipulative because they know that Jesus is most powerful when He is most humble &#8211; as His crucifixion attests. They humble themselves in the presence of others so that the light of Christ might fill their words.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Mission Priests are men of prayer. Their days begin and end with prayer. Their life is filled with it. One important prayer they pray is for the spiritual growth of their parishioners and the numerical growth of the Church.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Recognizing that a large part of parish administration involves the three C&#8217;s &#8212; calendar, cash, and communication &#8212; they ask themselves three questions when the calendar needs an event, the budget needs to be planned, and the bulletin needs to be written:</p>
<ol style="text-align: justify;">
<li>Will these things help my flock know Christ better?</li>
<li>Will they add to the numbers of my flock?</li>
<li>Will they lead us into helping the least of our brethren?</li>
</ol>
<p style="text-align: justify;">They ask the same questions when planning their personal calendars.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The Mission Priest is a linguist. When it is necessary to feed his sheep in a foreign language, he does so. In some cases this means developing fluency in Greek or Serbian or Russian. That Greek or Serbian or Russian priest might even find himself studying Slobovian when immigrants from Slobovia fill his city. When the neighborhood around the parish begins to change, it might mean learning Spanish or Cambodian.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">In all instances the Mission Priest must have an absolute mastery of English. We live and work in America. There is a difference between &#8220;abyss&#8221; and &#8220;abbess.&#8221; Speaking English also includes situational awareness. You don&#8217;t preach with an affected JFK-esque accent in Dothan, Alabama and you don&#8217;t say &#8220;y&#8217;all&#8221; in South Boston. Summer camp sermons should avoid words like &#8220;hypostasis,&#8221; while the vocative case of &#8220;dude&#8221; is never used at banquets.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Mission Priests are fearful. They fear losing their communion with God by being caught up in the things of this world. They worry about losing their courage in the coercion and compromise of ecclesiastical politics.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">And they are moral. Nothing damages the credibility of the message more than a messenger who is sexually perverted or chemically dependent. Morality also means telling the truth about the rules articulated in the Bible and the Canons. Jesus dined with harlots and tax collectors but he never condoned their behavior.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Finally, the Mission Priest refuses to conform to false expectations of a priestly personality type imposed by others. God has called him &#8212; not the Parish Council, not a benefactor, not his boyhood parish priest, not even the Bishop. And God made us different. Each priest has a distinct role and service in the Church. In the end, only God may judge his faithfulness.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Parish priests need to change or else go the way of the IBM Selectric. Being a Shaman, Cruise Director, CEO, Museum Curator, or Chaplain doesn&#8217;t cut it anymore. We need a true paradigm shift. We need prayerful servants in whom the Good News of Jesus Christ rests deep.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">For Orthodoxy in America, the era of the <em>Mission Priest</em> has arrived.</p>
<p><em><span style="color: #800000;">Fr. Aris P. Metrakos is the pastor of <a title="Holy Trinity Church" href="http://holytrinitysf.org" target="_blank">Holy Trinity Church</a> in San Francisco, CA. </span></em></p>
<p style='text-align:left'>&copy; 2009, <a href='http://preachersinstitute.com'>Fr. John A. Peck</a>. All rights reserved. </p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://preachersinstitute.com/2009/06/10/brother-can-you-spare-a-paradigm/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Fear and Loathing in Preaching</title>
		<link>http://preachersinstitute.com/2009/05/15/fear-and-loathing-in-preaching/</link>
		<comments>http://preachersinstitute.com/2009/05/15/fear-and-loathing-in-preaching/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 16 May 2009 02:31:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Fr. John A. Peck</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Metrakos, Aris Fr.]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sermon Resources]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fr. aris metrakos]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[homiletics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hunter S. Thompson]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[orthodoxytoday.org]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[preaching]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[priesthood]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sermon]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://preachersinstitute.com/?p=17</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The following has been excerpted from an article by Fr. Aris Metrakos,  entitled, On The Priesthood, and published in 2002 by Orthodoxytoday.org. The more we pray, the better we preach. Why? Because it frees the Holy Spirit to guide the thoughts and words of the homilist. At the same time, preparing and delivering sermons is [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="entry">
<div class="snap_preview">
<p>The following has been excerpted from an article by Fr. Aris Metrakos,  entitled,<strong> <a title="On The Priesthood" rel="#someid0" href="http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/articles7/MetrakosPriesthood.php" target="_blank">On The Priesthood</a></strong>, and published in 2002 by <em><strong><a title="Orthodoxy Today" rel="#someid1" href="http://orthodoxytoday.org/" target="_blank">Orthodoxytoday.org</a></strong></em>.</p>
<blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The more we pray, the better we preach. Why? Because it frees the Holy Spirit to guide the thoughts and words of the homilist. At the same time, preparing and delivering sermons is a skill that requires attention, perspiration, and revision. There are very few natural born preachers. Most good preachers just make it look effortless because they work hard preparing their sermons.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">There are a variety of approaches to sermon preparation and delivery. Write it out and read it. Write it out and memorize it. Write it out and reduce it to an outline and use the outline when preaching. Write it out, reduce it to outline and memorize the outline. Write an outline and refer to the outline and notes as necessary in delivering the sermon. Write only an outline and commit it to memory.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">It is never acceptable to show up and just start talking. This is especially true when preaching in a language that is not our mother tongue — no matter how well we think we speak that second language. Stream of consciousness worked for Hunter S. Thompson. For the rest of us, it only creates fear and loathing in the hearts of our listeners.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Preachers should record their sermons and listen to them. This helps us spot the linguistic quirks (rushing, not letting a period be a cadence, filler words such as “you know,” etc.) that keep our message from reaching the congregation.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Why all this attention to preaching? Is it to keep from being embarrassed? To look good? To gain favor? To justify a pay raise?</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">No. In the words of an older, much wiser priest, “When we preach, we are telling a group of people we love something that will save their lives.”</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">That’s why the craft of homiletics deserves so much attention.</p>
</blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<p style='text-align:left'>&copy; 2009, <a href='http://preachersinstitute.com'>Fr. John A. Peck</a>. All rights reserved. </p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://preachersinstitute.com/2009/05/15/fear-and-loathing-in-preaching/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
	</channel>
</rss>

