Greek Festival

For those of you who live in the Greensboro, NC area, the Greek Festival at the Dormition of the Theotokos Greek Orthodox Church will be Friday September 14th through Sunday September 16th. For specific times, see the church website here. It’s a great time of becoming acquainted with various aspects of Greek culture – food, music, dancing, art, and worship. As one who believes that American culture is fairly vacuous in comparison to older traditional cultures like that of the Greeks, I have often found the beauty of Greek culture to create a measure of jealousy in me, such that I understand why a Protestant might jump ship and head to the Orthodox Church. (Yet the truth of Scripture has kept me from making such a leap.) So check it out, and be sure to take the tour of the church while you’re there.

In honor of the festival, let me share one of my favourite prayers from A Manual of Eastern Orthodox Prayers. It is entitled “Prayer for the Acceptance of God’s Will”, and is attributed to Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow:

O LORD, I know not what to ask of thee. Thou alone knowest what are my true needs. Thou lovest me more than I myself know how to love. Help me to see my real needs which are concealed from me. I dare not ask either a cross or consolation. I can only wait on thee. My heart is open to thee. Visit and help me, for thy great mercy’s sake. Strike me and heal me, cast me down and raise me up. I worship in silence thy holy will and thine inscrutable ways. I offer myself as a sacrifice to thee. I put all my trust in thee. I have no other desire than to fulfil thy will. Teach me how to pray. Pray thou thyself in me. Amen.