"Elizaveta Iurievna Kuzmina-Karavaeva Skobtsova, later known as Mother Maria, was a Russian Orthodox religious thinker, poet and artist. Her multi-faceted legacy includes articles, poems, art, and drama. In the 1910s she was part of the literary milieu of St. Petersburg and was a member of the Socialist Revolutionary Party. She fled Russia soon after the Bolsheviks' takeover and lived in Paris, where she became a nun. In 1935, she participated in organizing the so-called Orthodox Action, which was designed to help Russian immigrants in France. She and her fellow-workers from Orthodox Action opened a house for homeless and sick immigrants in Paris. During the Nazi occupation of the city, the house was transformed into a refuge for Jews and displaced persons. Mother Maria and her son were arrested by the Gestapo in 1943 and died in the Ravensbruck camp in Germany. Mother Maria's selfless devotion to people and her death as a martyr will never be forgotten. In 2004, the Holy Synod confirmed the glorification of Mother Maria." - from Columbia University Libraries Special Collection link

Laying Down Our Life for Another

"We know, that Christ taught us to lay down our soul for another,  -- herein this laying down of soul, this surrendering away of it is also that, which makes man poor in spirit." - Mother Maria of Paris

Mother taught us to follow the command of Christ by laying down our life for others.  She told us this would enable us to fulfill yet another command, to be poor of spirit.

Instead, we often find ourselves in the position of passing judgment on others.  It is easier to condemn others than to lay down your own life for them.

Think of the countless souls who lean over to each other and whisper when a beggar enters their church.  Or what about when an African-American, Asian, Indian, or Hispanic person comes to pray.  How many church members have something to say about anyone who is different than them?  And I don't mean something nice to say.

I am saddened that the world is filled with folks who only look at skin.  I am saddened that so many refuse to look into the heart of differences and discover the beauty of dappled diversity.

Many people have scars that keep them from being able to look deeper.  These scars can be healed.  Many do not have scars and are just living on the fuel of mass fear and hysteria.  This is just plain wrong.

I think that church leaders need to really take a firm stand to eradicate prejudice and "isms" from churches. When will a prophetic figure arise and throw people out of churches - people who take this most fundamental "human" principal (namely the equality of ALL God's children) and use it as a device of division?

When will that happen? When will someone stand tall and say things that upset the-old-white-guard in christianity?

We have seen a lot of chaos in our own lives that disturbs me to my core. First, when we cared for babies with AIDs. Next in the mixing of "races" in our family and home. People have said and done things that hurt us - because we opened our lives to others.

Christians should be paving the way for the rest of the world to follow. Instead, old men and women of "faith" continue to sit in the back rows and pews whispering about any form of difference that walks into their congregations. Let's get riled up.

This is not acceptable.  This is not CHURCH.


We are called to lay down our lives for another, not to lay down their lives for us.



Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)