“Let’s meet up on the roof of the Church in 15 minutes.” This is what my friends would whisper to each other after receiving Holy Communion. We were in Jr. High, and we had a weekly club that met on the roof of the Church every Sunday during Sunday School. It was easy to access. The new Sunday school classroom was built with an outside staircase that was about six inches from the roof of the shorter neighboring building. It made for a great way for us Jr. High kids to get up on the roof and hold our weekly meetings. We were always looking for ways to get out of Sunday School and sometimes Church. Our goal was to get kicked out of Sunday School for talking or being a distraction to others. Sometimes we would all coordinate going to the restroom at the same time and then head up to the roof of the administration building, which was relatively flat. Once up there, we picked a spot where we were out of sight from parishioners. We talked, told jokes, and just wasted time until Sunday School let out. We had a good run for a couple of years without any parents knowing the Sunday Roof Club was even meeting up there. As the months went by, we became more and more daring about our activities on the roof. Eventually, one of us fell off the roof and the Sunday Roof Club came to a dramatic end. I still remember it as if it were yesterday. A good friend slipped when we were goofing around, he caught the edge of the roof for just a second or two, and then he dropped twelve feet to the pavement in the courtyard of St. Katherine’s. We rushed down to help him, ran to get an adult, and were frightened by our friend’s dazed look. The boy that fell had a concussion and broke blood vessels in his head. The ambulance came and there was intense commotion at our usually peaceful Church. The Sunday Roof Club was no longer a secret, and we were all totally freaked out and knew we were in serious trouble. It is hard for me to recall how many adults from Church scolded us on that day, but as I look back, I’m sure it was about half the congregation; scoldings in both English and Greek. If that was not enough, the Roof Top club members were sent to the Priest’s office. It was on that day that our secret club was shut down and the Priest requested an escort walk us to Sunday School following Communion for the remainder of the year. To make sure we were attentive and had good behavior in class, the Priest asked the Sunday School teachers to give a behavior update to our parents every Sunday following Church. My parents made it abundantly clear, if I caused distractions in Sun-day school, other privileges would be taken away. The gig was up …. and the learning about our faith began.

When my peers and I became adults, I did not think I would encounter other Orthodox Christians looking for ways to get out of Church or avoid learning the faith. Yet, distractions and the search for justifiable excuses to keep us from our Church and growing in our faith seemed to be more prevalent as I got older. It is not as obvious as five Jr. High boys hanging out on the roof of a Church during class time, but it’s there and it’s quite clever. The dis-tractions and excuses we give our-selves to keep us from our personal prayer time, community prayer, weekly sermons, and study of the Bible comes in many different forms. We tend to make our lives as busy as we can and then when we feel overwhelmed, we use our Sunday mornings as personal time. We justify it by saying, “I just need a break from Church.” Justifications we make are: “I’m an Orthodox Christian and believe in God, but my family is so busy with work and our sched-ule is so full, we just have no time for Church.” “My lifestyle doesn’t leave time for Church.” “I am a believer but don’t really need to attend Church.” Jesus talked about this in the Parable of the Sower when the seeds couldn’t take root because of life’s distractions; “All too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life, the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things, so no fruit is produced.”
(Mark 4:19) The temptation of giving into distractions is so clever that we do not even realize when we are doing it. We arrive at church and forget the purpose of truly at-tending Divine Liturgy. Instead, we turn to our tasks to keep ourselves busy and give the excuse to ourselves that Church needs me to do this. Prepping for weekly ministry events and programs, focusing on who’s counting the collections, logistics, socializing, taking attendance on which of your friends are missing, are just a few of the things that distract us. We all get sucked into a modern adult version of the Sunday Roof Club. We might not be hanging out on the roof of the church, but we’re lingering in the halls, or our thoughts are in other places, distracting us from the opportunity to be in the presence of our Lord and actively participate in Divine Liturgy. Jesus explained to Martha while Mary sat at the Lord’s feet that focusing on being in the presence of Christ was more important than being anxious about serving her guest. “But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.” And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:40-42)

We need God in our lives now more than ever before. We are all thirsty for God’s peace and for Him to heal us and help each of us in our life’s journey. The world around us is pulling us away from our Church family and from God’s goodness. We are called to God and His Church to pray with one another, to hear the Word of God, to receive the sacraments and to hear the homily. That is the whole purpose of our being at Church on Sunday, to fill our lives with God’s goodness before we go back out into the world filled with temptations. Just like we forget to eat and don’t get enough sleep when we are busy and overwhelmed, we sometimes do the same thing to ourselves concerning our Church life. Sometimes we don’t take the time to receive that which satisfies our thirst, heals us and comforts us. That which comes from God as a gift given freely to us. Yet, we know all along, we just can’t do it with-out God. Christ told us this; “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:4-5)

Sunday Divine Liturgy is for our benefit. All of us need to feed our souls, our minds, and our bodies each week. The other 6 days of the week leave us thirsty and hungry for something that can bring us peace, comfort, healing, and rejuvenation. We need Christ; we need to let Him in.