At this point I’m not going to finish my thoughts on the Divine Liturgy but, rather, diverge for a short time on a topic that has come to my attention through my discussions with our deacon-to-be, Leonard. I truly believe that it fits in at this point since I have concluded my thoughts on the special portion of our Liturgy which is called the Anaphora – the act of remembering what Our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ established as worship of God before His death.

My conversation with Len focused on sacrifice. As we all know, the Church considers what we do during the Divine Liturgy as a spiritual and unbloody sacrifice. At the Last Supper Jesus revealed to us how to worship God and made it also possible that He would be with us forever.

As Len and I talked, my thoughts began to flow and I would like to share them with you. I do not present them as Church doctrine but, rather, as Priest Wayne’s humble thoughts on the subject. I think they are relevant.

I would begin this with my thoughts about worship. It is defined as: great honor and reverence paid to someone or something regarded as sacred. Also as religious ceremonies or services in which one expresses such honor and reverence, great love and admiration. It is also defined as an action to pay great honor and reverence.

Humans have, from the beginning of time, sensed that there is a being that is greater than humankind and that it is necessary to recognize that being and show that being honor. The reasons have varied through time but, initially, honor was shown to that being in order to gain the good favor of that being and to encourage that being to look favorably upon humankind.

This honor was shown by taking the best which humans had and destroying it so that no others could have the benefit of it. This included offering and destroying first fruits, the young and unblemished of flocks and even young virgins. The key to the honor that was paid was to offer the gift and then destroy it. The gift was always external to the humans offering it and was always what humans thought was the very best of what they had. The voluntary destruction of the gift was important since it meant that humans no longer had the benefit of the gift and this would honor the one perceived as more powerful.                     (To be continued)