Hello,
I went to a Coptic Church in the UK this weekend, and the priest gave this sermon saying:
we should NOT be attached to any spiritual leader, but rather than love his personality, we should love Christ's personality.
He went on to say that many priests fall in the trap of attracting people to God because they are "cool" rather than showing the Lord through their personalities.
What does everyone think about this?
I think this is a good topic of discussion.
I know we love the priest(s) or bishops, and u all know who my dearest bishops are, but apparently, it is dangerous to be attached to them and it is not wise for them make you love them personally.
Comments
What is dangerous is when we create little personality cults around our priests and bishops, listening to their advice not out of humility and love for God, but merely because we "like" the way they act or talk.
pp4m
personally i think it is important to "catch" the people and bind them by any way....for som it is good that they get "bound" by a priest...with the time they will get "bound" to the church more...i was so...first i was "bound" to the bishop...now i really got bound to the church....so sometimes it is good what they are doing....so bout the other thing that the priest get bigheaded...they belong to the judgement of god...its not on us to say something....
pp4m
No no.... NO!
This priest gave the most amazing sermon.
What he said was, or how his sermon started was by talking about John the Baptist: John was baptising people with water; he said to his disciples that there was one that comes before him that he himself is not worthy to tie the laces of his sandals. John continues later on and says "I must decrease so that he must increase".
John was doing the WORK of Christ. He was preparing the way for The Christ. But he directed those who followed him to Christ, NOT to himself. He wasnt trying to start a cult nor his own sect. He preferred those he preached to to follow Jesus.
Again, with servants/priests etc in the Church, this priest was saying that the priest should decrease so that Jesus Christ can increase. But what happens is they don't.
I totally CATEGORICALLY disagree with Aripsalin. No: we bring people to Church because we evangelise Christ. PERIOD. NOT because somehow "we're fun", or "our church is fun" - we have let Christ be the light not our egos, nor personalities.
The priest was very clear, and I can write u his exact words.
he stated as a priest, one has to worry not to attract people to himelf but to Christ
becasue it can come to a point were the person would go to church and talk with the priest
only because he's friends and adores the priest...not for Christ.
This is of course wrong because at this point Christ becomes secondary, which of course isn't acceptable.
Excellent advice. The example of John the Baptist is a good one. Our Lord Himself always stressed that He acted in the name of the Father, and He called us to obedience to God.
Personality cults are a danger in many religions - but it is notable that in the Orthodox Church this has been less of a problem. Right worship means focussing on Him whom the angels worship.
In Christ,
John
when i first read this i thought of work or servants at church....eventhough we are individuals we represent a body above us and when we discuss our values or beliefs we bring forth our christian beliefs and our faith in christ. church servants are servants of christ but i think its inevitable not too become attached to priests as they are the fore front and they represent what our church believes. John the baptist is an excellent example but i think as long as we emphasis our doings and work to christ...i dont see any concern with loving the priest as another individual
mmmm.......interesting..........
when i first read this i thought of work or servants at church....eventhough we are individuals we represent a body above us and when we discuss our values or beliefs we bring forth our christian beliefs and our faith in christ. church servants are servants of christ but i think its inevitable not too become attached to priests as they are the fore front and they represent what our church believes. John the baptist is an excellent example but i think as long as we emphasis our doings and work to christ...i dont see any concern with loving the priest as another individual
Kerestina,
In fact it does also involve servants. What abouna said was "EVen church servants, they shouldnt make their class "love" them; by making their personalities appeal to the children.. on the contrary, they should be guides, directing the children to Christ, NOT their personalities".
He went on to say that as the head of SundaySchool in Egypt, from the beginning of the new year, he arranged a new sunday school schedule, and placed the teachers in certain classes. One particular teacher came up to him, screaming, and said "Hey! Why did you take me away from my class! THey are attached to ME!!!" The priest said "I took you away from them, because of that reason: that they are attached to YOU!!!" Not Christ!! Its for that reason that you can no longer serve them".
I never realised the importance of this until this priest talked about it.
i agree it is important
but is it feasible? can we really refrain from attachment???
Its not just attachment, but its more a question of refraining from being a blind disciple of a priest/sunday school teacher, or even a bishop. These are servants of the Church, their role is to lead u to Christ, not their personalities. Sure, they are human, and to love them and love them as humans is great, but what i noticed is that they shouldnt interefere in your relationship with Christ. They should guide you to Christ, NOT their personalities.
The priest who gave me a hard time, it all started because we werent part of his "followers". He wanted to interefere in our lives to a very very personal degree. Its scary. At first, i thought it wasnt a problem, then after hearing this sermon, i realised its not something from God.
This priest talks and brags about himself so much. At 1st, i didnt care, but after this sermon, i see this as something dangerous. A senior deacon even told me that this priest talks about himself a lot to evangelise: if people knew he was a doctor, they'd feel more confident in confessing to him. LOL... that's the exact OPPOSITE attitude the priest in London was talking about in his sermon.
i think thats a must for priests...........but for church servants??? we will always form favourites and young kids need stability and someone they can look up to as their role model
No Kerestina, The role model is NOT you, it should be Christ. Don't be that role model. Why should kids look up to u for?? Why not teach them that Christ should be their role model?? Placing yourself as a role model for kids is the EXACT same problem. Its centering around YOUR personality; the kids will love you, and not know Christ. WHat if they see you doing something wrong (like arguing with me!? lol) what impression will they have? ? Will they say to themselves: "Oh.. look, look at the God of Kerestina.. I cannot respect that... " - they'll be disturbed.
If i see Christ in you, and u put yourself in a position where u want to be my role model, what happens when u sin? What happens to the image of Christ? The relationship a child has with Christ should be independent of you.