If there is no such thing as “secularism” (see my previous article), then how are we to live? If God is “everywhere present and filling all things,” how are we to spend our time in the day? It is possible to be distracted by such questions, to wonder whether Christians need to construct an alternative culture or to absent themselves into holy enclaves. Such a strategy, for the most part, is to miss the point. We are not being told that the culture is “secular,” therefore we must do something different. In my previous article I noted that there is no such thing as secular – this includes the culture itself. “Secularism” is nothing more than a false concept, a lie we tell ourselves as we ignore the Reality that permeates and upholds all of creation. It does not matter who invented the lie. Neither is it our task to erase the lie and build a “better” world. It is for us to live – to live rightly.
St. Paul gave instructions to Christians – at a time and place in which the culture was hostile to the gospel. The nature of his instructions apply to us as well:
Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering;bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” (Col. 3:12–17)
There is an oft-quoted passage from one of St. Basil’s letters that echo in great detail the instructions of St. Paul. They come in a passage where the saint is discussing how to “pray without ceasing.”
Prayer is a petition sent by the faithful to God for the acquisition of some good. The petition doesn’t necessarily have to be sent in words, and I don’t think that God needs us to remind Him in words of our desires, for He knows what’s good for us, even if we don’t ask Him for it.
It’s not necessary to pray with articulation of the words—it’s better to replenish the power of prayer with the free will of the soul and virtuous deeds that would extend throughout our lives. Whether therefore ye eat, says the Apostle, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31). When you sit down at the table, pray; when you take your bread to eat, give thanks to Him Who gave it to you; when you strengthen the weakness of the flesh with wine, remember Him Who gave you this gift for the gladdening of the heart and the weakening of diseases. When you eat your fill, don’t forget about your Benefactor; when you put on a robe, give thanks to Him Who gave it to you; when you put on your outer garment, may your love for God multiply, for Him Who gave us a garment suitable for winter and summer—a garment that preserves our life and covers our shame.
When the day has passed, thank Him Who gave us the sun to serve our daily affairs; Him Who gave us fire to enlighten the night and to serve our other daily needs.
May the night give you other reasons for prayer. When you raise your eyes to Heaven and behold the beauty of the stars, pray to the Lord of what you have seen and worship God, the all-surpassing Master of the universe, Who created all things with wisdom. When you see that all living things have sunk into sleep, again worship Him Who allowed us, against our will, to suspend work for sleep, to rest a little and thereby renew our strength for further work.
Don’t allow your whole night to be devoted to sleep; don’t make half your life useless by allowing yourself to sleep, but divide the night between sleep and prayer. Even dreams give you the opportunity to think about faith. Most of the time images in our dreams are echoes of our concerns during the day. What concerns we have during the day we also have in our dreams.
By doing so, you will pray without ceasing. Don’t pray with words alone, but by uniting your whole life to God, and your life will be an unceasing and continuous prayer.
Our “head space” is under assault day and night by the great forces of modernity – primarily driven by a consumerist world. Nothing in that constant messaging is geared towards nurturing beauty, goodness, or truth (except the forms that can be bought and sold). We do well to limit our exposure, though it is unreasonable to expect ourselves to do more than that. It is not the absence of such messaging that is beneficial. Rather, it is the filling of our minds and hearts with the things that belong to God. Whenever that fails, we simply pick ourselves up and begin again.
The Russian writer, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, when asked about the terrible evils of the Soviet Gulag, and other nightmarish manifestations of modernity, offered a very simple explanation of all that had befallen our world: “We forgot God.” I would add to that the observation that every time we remember God, we allow ourselves to step into the truth of our existence. The secular delusion disappears.
Our minds have been so trained in imagining the world as bifuracted – “this belongs to God, that does not” – that we frequently have a hard time seeing His presence in all things. As I sit typing on my laptop, nothing about it seems particularly “religious.” I should add that “religious” is as much a “lie” as the notion of “secular.” My laptop just is. The scriptures tell us, “In Him we live, and move, and have our being.” (Acts 17:28). God Himself is the “only truly existing One.” That my laptop is, is immediately an affirmation of the God who gives us (and everything) existence. And, for that, we can give thanks.
And so we move through our day – giving thanks always and for all things – singing and making melody in our hearts to the Lord.
He-Who-Is is blessed, always and forever.
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