“Gather My People Home”
The 2008 Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America’s Clergy-Laity Congress uttered a profound and urgent theme: “Gather My People Home.” The impact of this theme is felt when we understand the ‘who,’ ‘how,’ and ‘what’ involved. Let’s examine this simple, yet powerful theme one word at a time. . .
“MY” – it is inferred in this statement that God Himself is the speaker (reference Zephaniah 3:20), therefore, ‘my’ is a reference to God.
“PEOPLE” – grammatically, the people referred to are God’s people, not a segmented, or selected group of individuals, but all of mankind.
“HOME” – eschatologically this refers to the Kingdom of God (reference John 14:2), and in the present time in which we live, it refers to the Church (reference 1 Timothy 3:15), which is a manifestation and experience of the heavenly Kingdom on earth, through the sacraments.
“GATHER” – Initiating this theme is the verb ‘gather,’ which commands an action to take place. The action is to go out and bring together God’s people by leading them to His Church.
“My People Home” is relatively easy to understand, however, the true dynamism of the statement is found in the initial verb, ‘Gather.’ In this statement, God is commanding whoever hears the statement. Therefore, the thousands in attendance at the Clergy-Laity Congress, together with the hundreds of Basilian readers, the thousands of Saint Basil website viewers, and all those who have read scripture have been commanded by God Himself to “gather,”— go out and inspire others to come to the House of the Lord…Church!
His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios highlighted four distinct groupings of God’s people who need special attention in our effort of gathering:
1) Non-Practicing Orthodox Christians
2) Those who intermarried into the Orthodox Christian Church and are not engaged.
3) Youth
4) The Un-Churched; those who do not attend any church and have no particular religious affiliation
Think for a moment…do you know anyone in any of these four categories?…perhaps even yourself? Now think of yourself as an instrument and tool of God, whose purpose is to “gather God’s people to Church.”
There are many aspects of community life at Saint Basil’s, which you may use to (re)introduce one of God’s children to His Home: Saint Basil Family Night, Bible Study, Catechism Classes, 20’s/30’s, 40’s/50’s, Youth Programs to name of a few — not to mention the Divine Liturgy itself!
As a community of faithful, let us not simply allow this theme application to the 2008 Archdiocese Clergy-Laity Congress, but let us apply it to the life of the Saint Basil community and the life of each and every one of us as individual Christian pilgrims!
God has commanded you, will you respond?
+Fr Luke Palumbis