We: God and I

On this past Sunday we celebrated the Great Feast of Pentecost. This should always be a joyous occasion for us Christians. But in this past year we have seen too much sorrow, suffering and death. This past month we witnessed the terrible terrorist attack on our young people in Orlando, Florida. Too many think and feel that this period of war in our nation and crisis in our communities has caused people to feel a sense of darkness and isolation. Without God this could be an accurate definition of the human condition of our nation.

The novelist Thomas Wolfe described the human situation without God accurately when he wrote: “Naked and alone we come into exile. In her dark womb we did not know our mother’s face, from the prison of her flesh have we come into the unspeakable…prison of this earth…Which of us is not forever a stranger and alone?”

“A stranger and alone.”

But we are not “by ourselves”, we are not “strangers and afraid in a world we never made.” For God has acted to break the isolation. He has acted to bridge the gap between God and man. The “gap” was sin. The “bridge” is the cross. “God so loved the world that He (reached out to us) gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him might not perish but have life everlasting.” Now we know God. Now He has drawn near to us in Christ. Now He has broken down the dividing wall of hostility. Now He has spoken to us in Christ. He is the One Who quiets our loneliness, bridges our separateness and calms our deep down restlessness. He came to make His home not merely in Bethlehem or Nazareth or Jerusalem but in each one of us. “Abide in me and I in you,” He says. “If anyone loves God, he will keep His commandments, and my Father will love him, and we will come and make our home in him,” said Jesus. He came to change the lonesome “I” of man’s isolation into the glorious “We” of man’s partnership with God.

St. Paul lived a “we” life. He testified, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” No Christian ever achieves his full potential or uses his full strength, unless he appropriates the power of God, unless he lives a “we” life in Christ. Because he lived a “we” life with Jesus, St. Paul was able to say, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ Who lives in me” (Gal. 2.20).

“How can you face life victoriously?” someone asked a Christian.
“Through prayer,” he replied.
“What do you mean by prayer?”
The Christian replied, “Long ago I was so troubled about a lot of things that I almost got sick over it. I prayed to the Lord and He finally answered me. This is what He said, ‘Listen, son, there is nothing that you and I can’t handle together!”’

Jesus said, “Take my yoke upon you…for my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matt. 11:29-30.) A yoke is built for two: you on one side, and Jesus on the other. The result is a lighter burden.

The alcoholic who is being restored through AA leads a “we” life. He has learned to say, “I cannot overcome drinking, Lord…but You and I: we can!”
How is it possible to live this We life?

The answer is that you’ve got to be connected. Nothing gets anywhere until it is connected. This became very apparent last week when we had our power outage on the east side of town. I was not connected to my computer when the power went out. I was not connected to my telephone when the power went out. I was not connected to power box until I could find a candle to go downstairs and find my power box. I was not connected to my car, when I realized without electricity I was not going to get my garage door open. I became aware how powerful electricity is in our life.

However, there is no greater source of power than God. We connect with that power through faith and prayer. Faith is like the link on the freight car that connects with the locomotive. Prayer is not only conversation with God; it is hearing the knock of Jesus on the door of our soul and opening to let Him in. It is prayer that God the Holy Spirit may come to dwell in us with His wisdom and power. We connect by feeding on the Bread of Life—God’s word—each day we read His personal letter to us, the Holy Bible.

Prayer, personal and corporate; the word of God; by participating in our church services and sacraments and by working with others—these are just some of the ways we become connected with God to live the WE life. In this time of national crisis and sorrow in our community, as Christians we no longer have to ever feel alone. We may now say with St. Paul, “It is no longer I who live but Christ Who lives in me. The life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God Who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Definitely a We Life!

In Christ,

Fr. John

Parish News

Upcoming Fundraiser

We will be participating in International Day on July 9th. We are utilizing the same menu as we did last year. To accommodate the food items and the bake items, we will be running two spots and will need lots of extra hands and help.

The fundraising committee will be calling and recruiting parishioners for this event. We will need people for food prep, transportation of food to Bunning Park, to set up, clean up and work the booth. There is a schedule included for prep and work assignments, please think about how you can help!

Kitchen Project

As most of you know the kitchen is complete. We are still in need of donations to rebuild our construction fund as the project has drawn it down to a very low level. This account is used for emergency major expenses and beefing it back up enables us to handle those expenses.

Church Maintenance

We sincerely need some help with church maintenance. The work load is out running the “Georges”. Please contact George Pryich and let him know how you can help!

We also need help with the church yard. Monika Gaviotis is going to be unavailable for the majority of the summer. If you have a talent in this area, please step up!

The workload is too large for just a minute few people to try and handle. As a team we can conquer the task. We succeeded over and over again in our little parish because of our camaraderie in tackling tasks. We have spent a great deal of money and time on our beautiful church. It would sincerely be a shame to allow it to fall into disrepair. We are truly blessed with our beautiful church and all the hard work that has gone into it!

For the Good of the Parish

Below is a letter from Metropolitan Isaiah of Denver that Father John asked to be included in this bulletin.