1 Corinthians 10:28-11:7, especially vs.11:1:
"Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ."
The prayers of the Church teach us to live and worship in the same context which the Lord delivered to His disciples: "Behold, My beloved, let no fear separate you from Me; for though I suffer, it is for the sake of the world. Doubt Me not, therefore; for I came not to be served, but to serve and give Myself a Redemption for the world. If therefore, ye are My beloved, imitate Me; and he among you who wisheth to be first, let him be last, and the master be like the servant. Abide in Me, that ye may bear fruit; for I Am the Vine of life." (From the concluding "Now" of the final Aposticha of the Orthros of Great and Holy Thursday).
Do you see? The Lord our God desires that our worship of Him always be connected intimately with the daily events of our lives, with mundane existence. Our participation in the Divine worship of the Church, therefore, never should be isolated from "ourselves, each other, and our whole life." True Orthodox worship, like the finely woven cloth of a seamless robe, ought not to be ‘torn away' from our everyday occupations and the ongoing concerns of living.
In today's reading, the Apostle Paul provides three rules for connecting life and worship as the Lord desires: "do all to the glory of God (vs. 10:31), [seek] the profit of many that they may be saved (vs. 10:33), and keep the traditions just as I delivered them to you" (vs. 11:2).
The Apostle commands us to "do all to the glory of God" (vs. 31), for God is glorified by prayer, that is according to His will. As St. Theophan the Recluse says, "...the most necessary [means] is prayer, by which we must implore the Holy Spirit to pour His divine light into our hearts." And, let us commit our hearts to God, praying that He may be glorified in what we do.
St. John of the Ladder outlines a simple plan for our prayers which may be readily applied: "Let your prayer be completely simple...let us list sincere thanksgiving first on the scroll of our prayer....Do not be over-sophisticated in the words you use....Do not try to be verbose when you pray....If you feel sweetness or compunction at some word of your prayer, dwell on it...approach with great humility....Listen to the cry of Paul regarding sinners: Of whom I am chief....Prepare yourself for your set times of prayer by unceasing prayer in your soul...He who is busy with something, and continues it when the hour of prayer comes, is deceived by the demons. Those thieves aim at stealing from us one hour after another."
Next, the Apostle commands us to seek "the profit of many that they may be saved" (vs. 33), a directive, concerning which we have a warning from St. Theophan: "You must indeed love your neighbor, but your love must not cause harm to your soul....The most important thing in these actions is assisting in the salvation of your neighbors....This thirst for the salvation of your neighbors you must always have; but it must arise from your love of God, and not from ill-judged zeal." Balance is required in order not to offend through our zeal. Rather, let us set such a living example that others will be drawn to our worship, attracted by the love of God they meet in us.
Finally, St. Paul tells us "...keep the traditions just as I delivered them to you" (vs. 11:2). All our activities should be probed deeply, as St. Theophan says, "...in order to see clearly which of them are good and which are bad. We should judge them not as the world and the senses do, but as they are judged by right reason and the Holy Spirit, or by the word of the divinely inspired Scriptures, or that of the holy fathers and teachers of the Church." Tradition is to impact not only the rituals of the Church, but every facet of each one's daily living and relationships with others.
O Master, tell us of the joy of Thy salvation, and confirm us in Thy love, that even unto our last breath we may offer Thee the sacrifice of truth, praise undefiled, and glory to Thy Name.