{"id":4139,"date":"2019-07-06T11:36:37","date_gmt":"2019-07-06T17:36:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stannagocutah.org\/?p=4139"},"modified":"2019-07-06T11:36:38","modified_gmt":"2019-07-06T17:36:38","slug":"pastoral-letter-november-26-2017-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-3-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stannagocutah.org\/?p=4139","title":{"rendered":"Pastoral Letter July 7, 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Let us pray to the Lord. Almighty God and Creator, You are the Father of all people on the earth. Guide, I pray, all the nations and their leaders in the ways of justice and peace. Protect us from the evils of injustice, prejudice, exploitation, conflict and war. Help us to put away mistrust, bitterness and hatred. Teach us to cease the storing and using of implements of war. Lead us to find peace, respect and freedom. Unite us in the making and sharing of tools of peace against ignorance, poverty, disease and oppression. Grant that we may grow in harmony and friendship as brothers and sisters created in Your image. These things we ask In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Now and Forever and unto the ages of ages, amen.<\/p>An Orthodox Christian Prayer for Peace<\/em><\/strong><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Happy Independence Day for our most blessed United States of America!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As\n many of you may know, I just returned, along with 14 other people \nattached to our parish from a Home Building Mission Trip to Project \nMexico. We planned out trip with the good people of the Church of the \nResurrection in Castro Valley, CA, and we were subsequently paired with \nthem on the building sight. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over\n all, there were just over one hundred builders last week and we \ncompleted, by God\u2019s grace, four homes for four deserving families. Each \nof us started with an uneven building sight. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On\n Day One: we leveled the ground. Created a framework for the pad, hand \nmixed 35 batches of concrete and smoothed out the surface of the \nfoundation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On\n Day Two: we erected the prefabricated metal walls. We attached the \nroof, bolted the walls to the foundation and wrapped the entire \nstructure in tarpaper and chicken wire. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On\n Day Three: We hand mixed and applied the first coat of stucco, attached\n the ceiling boards and installed the windows and front door. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On\n Day Four: We hand mixed and applied the second coat of stucco, applied \nthe flashing and drip guards to the eves of the house and roof, painted \nthe exterior (orange, per the home-owner\u2019s choice), blessed the home and\n presented the family with the very first key to their very first front \ndoor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\n week we spent in Mexico was filled with prayer, hymns, fellowship, \nexhaustion, bugs, love, and mutual respect for the people that live \nsouth of our border. Ours was a mission of peace and dignity. I believe \nthat our mission was accomplished. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our\n plane touched down in Salt Lake City just last night. We were all happy\n to be back for the Fourth of July. On more than one occasion, I have \nbeen out of the country on Independence Day. It is a surreal feeling to \nbe sure, walking the streets of Greece, Guatemala of France, seeing the \nworld go by without a care or thought of our independence from the \nCrown. No banners, no red, white and blue, no fireworks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For me, it was important to be home today. I did not want to spend another 4th of July under the shadow of the flag of a different nation. Why? Because of the immense gratitude I feel for our country. I am thankful for grandparents who sought out a better life for me, well before they ever knew me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\n am thankful for a nation that would allow us the opportunity to worship\n God in our way, identify Him through our traditions and seek Him out \nthrough our doctrine. Orthodoxy came to America from many other lands. \nYet, together with the creeds and confessions of all other people, we \nstand in our houses of worship and give glory to God, respecting the \nright to believe that others\u2019 also hold dear. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On\n our trip, we saw immense poverty. We didn\u2019t just see it from the window\n of a passing van. We entered into it. We worked to combat it. We fought\n it head on and wrestled with its realities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But\n upon the faces of the impoverished, was joy and radiant light. You \nwould not believe the dignity and grace of the single mother who now \noccupies the house we built. Almost every day, she was present on the \nbuilding sight with her two, young daughters. She held her head high and\n smiled and looked everyone directly in the eye. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She was happy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\n guy that almost crashed into me on his bike was happy. The people \ndriving by our building sight were happy. The father of the new occupant\n was proud, and grateful, and helpful and happy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed,\n there is much in the news today about the people who are literally \ndying, attempting to escape that poverty, and find security across our \nboarder. We encountered people who are proud of their nation, proud of \nwhat little they own, thankful for our attachment to their lives and \nhumble before God in permitting all this to happen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mexico,\n in large part, is a poor country. Ours is a rich and powerful country. \nToday, we give thanks for our Nation from its very inception. Thirteen \nsmall colonies gave rise to all we enjoy. And there is much, much, much \nthat we enjoy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So\n today, on our Day of Independence, I offer up the above prayer because \nit is a prayer for peace. We have treasure, we have security, we have \ningenuity, we have might, we have prominence. But very seriously, we \nneed peace. We need peace at home and we need peace abroad. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

God Bless America.
God Bless Us All. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With Grateful Love in Christ,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fr. Anthony Savas<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Let us pray to the Lord. Almighty God and Creator, You are the Father of all people on the earth. Guide, I pray, all the nations and their leaders in the ways of justice and peace. Protect us from the evils of injustice, prejudice, exploitation, conflict and war. Help us to put away mistrust, bitterness […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pastoral-letter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stannagocutah.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stannagocutah.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stannagocutah.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stannagocutah.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stannagocutah.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4139"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stannagocutah.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4139\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4140,"href":"https:\/\/stannagocutah.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4139\/revisions\/4140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stannagocutah.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stannagocutah.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stannagocutah.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}