December 2009

To the Orthodox Faithful,

Greetings in the Great and Glorious name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

It is raining outside on this post-Thanksgiving/pre-Christmas day.  It is a wonderful reminder of the necessity of less than convenient moments in our lives essential for our spiritual growth.  A wise man once gratefully observed, "thank you for the minor inconveniences in life designed to make me more Christ-like."  Amen.  Selah.

Sadly, all too many allow the rain to dampen their spirits, to discourage them and possibly others.  They fail to neither appreciate the past nor ascertain the potential of the future.  They just feel wet.  As a reminder this past October, God sent us a wet and rainy day on the first day of our Festival.  Ah, but the second day was absolutely glorious.  Perhaps it was just even more so, because the day before had not been what we expected.

At this time in our country, people continue to lose jobs, homes are being vacated and hunger is on a rapid rise.  These are the rainy days of life.  For anyone who has ever lost a job, or faced foreclosure or been hungry they remember and rather than judge their fellow man are able to understand the pain and frustration.

Yes, we have much for which to be thankful.  In my three and a half years at this parish, I have seen 1) the number of stewards increase from 53 to 111, 2) a building expansion and parking lot, 3) our principal being reduced by nearly $4000 a month, 4) numerous people choosing to come to Orthodoxy and others that are interested, 5) Catechetical School and Greek School that continue to maintain their weekly numbers.   All of these things we did not always have and sometimes it looked like they would never be a reality.  But the Son has appeared and at Christmas, we observe that time when God took on flesh to live among us, to experience our rainy days in our that he could give us eternal riches and all of His blessings.

We do not have to wait until eternity.  He gives us those blessings in this life as well, if we choose to accept.  Of course, that is the entire reason for the season, the reason we gather on Sunday and the very reason we exist: this great gift of His Son, Jesus Christ!

Merry Christmas!

Christougenna!

Fr. James