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Pastoral Letters

Pastoral Letter December 31, 2017

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Christ is Born!
Glorify Him!

I fervently pray that the joy and warmth of the Nativity filled your homes and your hearts with Christ’s love. He has entered into our world and our human condition in order that we may enter into His Kingdom and eternal life. God and man are indiscernibly intertwined from above and mutually existent from below. We are one, as He is Three. The lines are now blurred between the Creator and the created in that the Creator, Himself has taken on flesh and dwells among us. God is great and human kind is redeemed. Christmas stories of sugar plumbs and elves and blizzards are mere ornaments on the Tree of Truth: Jesus Christ, born of a virgin, crucified for our salvation, resurrected from the tomb, coming again to judge the living and the dead. Merry Christmas!

Now, but a few days past the celebration of the Nativity, we fast-forward our doctrinal attention, some thirty years after His mysterious Birth. Next week, we celebrate His Baptism. His Epiphany. Our Theophany; when the Trinitarian God is experienced and witnessed in all glory. When Christ, now a grown man, steps into the waters of the Jordan, all material reality is transformed and enlightened. In His birth, He became One with man. In His Baptism, He becomes One with creation. Even the Waters recognized Him, as the flow of the Jordan River reversed its flow in the presense of Jesus.

God, in His mercy, and the Church, in Her wisdom, grants us the sustaining opportunity to participate in the miraculous powers of Theophany. The Blessing of the Waters services in the Orthodox Church are the continuing reality of God’s revelation of physical transformation through enlightenment, sacredness and holiness. As we participate in these services, and have our homes blessed with the Waters of Sanctification; the Waters of Christ’s holy Baptism, we participate in the perpetual regeneration of transfigured life.

Through the Baptism of Christ, the Trinity is reveled to us.
Through the Baptism of Christ, darkness is replaced by luminous guides.
Through the Baptism of Christ, the environment becomes sacred and connected to our very salvation.
Through the Baptism of Christ, He reveals the way in which we become cleansed, purified and born of the Spirit.
Through the Baptism of Christ, water sustains the eternal soul, not only the temporal flesh.
Through the Baptism of Christ, we receive countless blessings of healing, wellness and sanctification.

Christmas has passed. The anticipation of the New Year is upon us, as we celebrate the Circumcision of our Lord on January 1st. Next Saturday, January 6th is Holy Theophany and the Great Blessing of the Waters. There are no prayers, authored from the collective heart of Orthodox Christianity, more powerfully written than those of Holy Theophany. Please review the schedule of services that anticipate and celebrated this sacred Feast. Holy Theophany is a gift. A gift from above. A gift to be treasured. A gift that illumines. A gift that sustains.

With Much Love in Christ,
Fr. Anthony

I look forward to seeing everyone for our Family Night Pre New Year’s Eve Party, this evening, Friday, December 29th at 7:00 pm in the Fellowship Hall. Fun for everyone! The Ball will drop at 10:00 pm (midnight in New York) to symbolically usher in the New Year! Happy New Year’s Eve-Eve-Eve!

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Bulletins

Weekly Bulletin for December 31, 2017

Weekly Bulletin for December 31, 2017
House Blessing Form 2018

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Homilies

Services for Sunday, December 17, 2017

Categories
Pastoral Letters

Pastoral Letter December 17, 2017

“For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.” (Isaiah 9:6-7)

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

As you will no doubt notice, this week’s Sunday Bulletin is actually a two-week Bulletin. Those who produce and edit our Sunday Bulletin, namely Michael Petrogeorge and Goldie Karpakis spend a great deal of time in the creation of our parish’s primary means of communication. In an effort to alleviate this responsibility during the week before Christmas, we offer this extended version so that they can place their attention in other areas. Let us take this opportunity to bless and thank them for the continued and significant responsibility of doing the Sunday Bulletin.

As we pour into the contents of a two-week Bulletin, especially at this time of year, you’ll see that there is allot in there. Tons of activities, meetings, services, social gatherings and youth activities. In other words, there is much to anticipate when we contemplate a two-week span of December activities.

There are immediate joys, such as our annual Pet Blessing that will take place this Saturday, December 16th at 3:00 pm in the church parking lot (lightheartedly by the fire hydrant). Our Children’s Christmas Program is this Sunday, followed by a GOYA Ice Skating Outing and Christmas Party. Our Women’s Ministry Team will distribute gift baskets to our shut-ins, including blankets that were crafted by our parish youth. The schedule of services for the Nativity, and Theophany have been repeatedly published so that you can anticipate, and prayerfully plan ahead, how many services you can attend in preparation for, and in celebration of, our Lord’s Birth and Baptism. Anticipation is the definitive element during this time of year.

As adults, we anticipate and work towards the dizzying amount of responsibilities which come with the Holiday Season. Your days are shorter and your “to-do” list is longer. There is no escaping this present-day circumstance.

And children, our precious little ones are engrossed completely in anticipating the joys, the sights, the smells, the sounds, the traditions, the gifts and the magic that comes with Christmas morning. To be sure, much of this anticipation is filled with the Season’s secular contributions. Nevertheless, their excitement fuels our own childlike wonderment and nostalgic recollections, as we harken back to our own impatience and…anticipation. Don’t lose that innocence and youthful perspective. Don’t outgrow the feelings of anticipation for Christmas.

However, I invite you to look back even further than your own childhood, as you contemplate the eagerness of anticipated gifts. I call you back past the experiences of even your parents, grand parents and all your ancestry.

Anticipate Christmas. Anticipate Christ. Anticipate Christ like Isaiah the Prophet.

For centuries, the anticipation of the Messiah was filled with the same, arguably much more suspense, and expectation as what Santa will leave under the tree and place in our stockings. We once looked to the future, with great excitement, looking for comfort, council and salvation. We looked past the horizon for a King. We awaited God’s interaction.

In the event of the Nativity, we received the fulfilment to our anticipation.

And in the days before St. Nicholas took on new responsibilities, a new red suit, a new mode of transportation, a new North-Pole address, a new work force, new magical powers, added pounds, imposters in malls and the executive responsibility of the toy manufacturing industry, the Christian heart contemplated the anticipation of what His birth means to the world.

With the Incarnation of the Word, we now anticipate eternal life, salvation in the Lord, a re-admittance into Paradise and a place in His Kingdom.

The Prophet Isaiah, in the above-referenced passage speaks of anticipation in the ultimate sense. Let us use a Sunday Bulletin that is twice as big, and covers twice the normal time-span to be reminded that we are a people who are active in God’s presence, and anticipate the fullness of His Resurrection and the Light which illumines all of creation.

In the spirit of anticipation, I use this forum to wish you a Merry Christmas and a joyful Nativity. I invite you to experience the fullness of the season by participating in as many services as possible. Yes, this is a busy time of year. But I absolutely guarantee, that if your focus your anticipation in the right direction, your experience of spiritual fulfillment will be exponentially rewarded and increased.

Recapture the magic. Christ is to be Born! Glorify Him!

The zeal of the Lord of hosts HAS performed this!

With Much Love in Christ,
Fr. Anthony

Categories
Bulletins

Weekly Bulletin for December 17, 2017

Weekly Bulletin for December 17, 2017

Categories
Pastoral Letters

Pastoral Letter December 10, 2017

This Week, we warmly and enthusiastically welcome His Eminence Metropolitan Isaiah of Denver and Dn. Paul Zaharas, Metropolis Chancellor. This weekend, please join us in worship for:

The Conception of the Theotokos by St. Anna (A Parish Feast)
Saturday, December 9th
Orthros, 9:30 am
Divine Liturgy, 10:30 am

Resurrectional Great Vespers
Saturday, December 9th
5:00 pm
His Eminence Presiding

Hierarchical Divine Liturgy
Sunday, December 10th
Orthros, 9:15 am
Divine Liturgy, 10:15 am
His Eminence Celebrating

This is a blessed and important weekend in the spiritual life of the community. Come, let us greet and receive the blessing from our beloved Hierarch, Shepherd and Father.

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Bulletins

Weekly Bulletin for December 10, 2017

Weekly Bulletin for December 10, 2017

Categories
Homilies

Services for Sunday, December 3, 2017