How to Survive and Remain Yourself in “A Brave New World”

Adults/Family: 

“…Some are trying to ignore what is going on; many don’t really notice this because they are too busy earning their daily bread; others look at the future with terror and can hardly imagine their place in it. Including us the faithful—both those who are used to seeing the end of the world in any crisis and those who are far from this way of thinking but understand the spirit of the time and analyze current events.

However, it seems to me that this difficult period should be that of reappraising and reconsidering our lives and thinking more about what really matters and what is really precious in life. We must do it because it is vital!

Why have we been put off balance? What alarms us in these predictions and their fulfilment?…

Man was not only made by God but also for God; it is in communion with and in the life in God that he finds his true mission, the fullness of being, something we call happiness—something we all strive for and can’t achieve in any other way. It is the relationship with our Creator, Who loves us more than anybody else, Who is so close to us and from Whom we are often tragically so far, Who is the only treasure that nobody and nothing can take away from us—neither external changes, nor algorithms and robots, nor the antichrist and his servants, nor death itself. Only we can deprive ourselves of it by our vain and dissipated lives, filled with material concerns, subjected to passions and, therefore, sinful….”

Preschool/Elementary:

What Matters Most: God and Us

 “As human beings, we live our lives and then, when we get older, as our bodies slowly lose their physical strength and we die. Sometimes people even die while they are still young, at the height of their physical strength. However, at the moment of death, our souls will fly like a bird to God in eternity. They go where there is no time, where no one will ever die again. There, Jesus Christ greets us, and all people who love each other remain together forever, like children in the home of their Heavenly Father. In Heaven, there will be no boredom, hurt, or pain. There is only endless joy, action life, love, and progress towards perfection. This happiness, however, is only revealed to those who do not have evil thoughts in their hearts. Evil cannot enter the Kingdom of Christ.

Have you ever  noticed that when you do something unkind, even if no one else knows about it, your heart gets heavy and your joy disappears? Something inside you makes you want to admit what you did and ask forgiveness. When you finally make up your mind and do it, your heart becomes light and peaceful as if a weight fell from you. If you talk to Christ in prayer and try not to do things that are wrong, your soul will feel that lightness more and more over time. The closer we are to Him, the more joy we have in our hearts and the more happiness in our lives.

Here on the earth, the devil is still active. He may have been defeated and lost his former power but he is still evil and cunning. Our faith in Jesus Christ deprives him of his power over us. All the evil that Satan or mankind has sown in the world will eventually be overcome by God’s goodness. In eternity, we will understand many things that are unclear to us now and will find the answers to our unanswered questions.”

{Excerpted from the book God (pp 30-31) by Vladimir Luchaninov in the Orthodoxy for Children Series published by Exaltation Press}

Middle/High School:

Read this parable from a church saint, “The Three Friends“

“…Even though this is not one of Jesus’ parables, nevertheless it is full of wisdom characteristic of the fullness of spirit possessed by our church saints. So let us see what is the meaning behind the different people and details of this parable…”

As you are reading the story, keep these questions in mind:

I wonder what friends the man loved very much. I wonder what ‘hearing’ the man had to attend. What kind of friend would only give him something material but not go with him for support? What kind of friend would only go to the door with him but not go inside and stand by him? What kind of friend would accompany him inside? How can we get this third kind of friend/what do we need to do? What kind of things can we do today and every day to get this kind of friend? Considering we will all go to the same ‘hearing’ the man went to, write down some concrete things that you will you do in your own life to get the third kind of friend in the name of Jesus Christ and, most importantly, commit yourself to doing them!