ORATORICAL FESTIVAL JUDGES’ CHOICE DIMITRI SHADID, DIOCESE OF WICHITA AND MID-AMERICA
HIS HAND IS MUCH BIGGER
A young boy went to the local store with his mother. The shop owner, a kindly man, passed him a large jar of jellybeans and invited him to help himself to a handful. Uncharacteristically, the boy held back. So the shop owner pulled out a handful for him. When outside, the boy’s mother asked why he had suddenly been so shy and wouldn’t take a handful of jellybeans when offered. The boy replied, “Because his hand is much bigger than mine.” God’s hands shaped the earth and brought order to chaos. We can never forget that God will always provide for us, and that His plan for us is greater than anything we could ever imagine. He has given us free will so that we can have the choice either to let His hand guide us, or to let the ways of the world determine our path. It is for this reason that in so many of our services, we ask for strength “to commend ourselves and each other and our whole life unto Christ our God.” This is what Adam and Eve failed to do. God had given them the whole of the Garden of Eden and only asked one thing in return – that they be obedient. Instead of listening to the C reator and Benefactor Who desires their complete well
being, they chose to listen to the deceiver who only seeks their downfall. This reminds me of myself with my parents. They continuously provide for me and only ask that I obey them. Yet I still disobey from time to time. Both God and the devil seek our obedience, one for life and eternal joy, the latter for death and permanent destruction. Like a blazing fire turning into struggling embers, the image of God was present in humanity, but the likeness had been greatly diminished. We lost the likeness by constantly walking away from God and into sin. As we hear in an ode of the Funeral Service, When in the beginning, Thou did create man after Thine own image and likeness, Thou did set him in Paradise to reign over Thy creatures. But when beguiled by the malice of the devil, he tasted of the food, he became a transgressor of Thy commandment. For which cause, O Lord, Thou did condemn him to return again unto the earth whence he was taken, and to entreat repose (St. John of Damascus, 7th Idiomela of the Funeral Service).
The Word
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