July 2024
Dear Beloved in the Lord,
Over this past year we have gone through a full calendar of our life in the Church. We have kept the Fasts and we have celebrated the Feasts. Our first service together was the Feast of the Transfiguration of our Lord. Christ reveals to His disciples and therefore to all of us the Uncreated Light that brings Light and Life to the World. Having then gone through the Fast, we celebrated the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos. The Mother of God, being the first of us to experience the Resurrection of the Body from the dead. This is our hope, that we too, have this great potential to be more honorable than the Cherubim and more glorious beyond compare than the Seraphim! We went on to begin our Church Calendar year with the first Great Feast being the Nativity of the Mother of God. Born out of the humility and prayer of her holy parents we celebrate the birth of one through whom the Savior of the world will come forth. Not long after that Feast we commemorate the Exaltation of the Cross. This Feast reminds us that it is the Cross of Christ that leads us into the battle against our enemies, which are sin, the devil, and death. It is through the voluntary offering of sacrificial love that God Himself offers to us where the cross is transformed from an instrument of death to an instrument of life and life more abundant. Continuing on through the Feast of the Protection of the Theotokos and the Feast of the Holy Angels we arrive at the Nativity Fast. An opportunity to slow down our lives and give our attention back to the things that are beyond the temporal and material. To set aside earthly cares and strive to prepare ourselves for the coming of God Himself into the world as one of us. We then join together in this blessed Feast and welcome God condescending to us as a babe born in a cave and laid in a manger. Even the angels gaze upon this event with amazement and wonder! This Festal time leads up to the Great Feast of our Lord’s Theophany. The revelation of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Christ shows us the way in which we too can enter into this blessed communion of the Holy Trinity through baptism. We then move on to the Feast of the Meeting of our Lord in the Temple. The righteous Symeon and Anna recognize our Lord as a babe and see in Him the One Who is come into the world to enlighten the world and bring it salvation.
Having gone through this Festal time we then enter into the Great Fast. An opportunity to reset out lives, our priorities, and the disposition of our heart towards the things of God. We take a moment within it to celebrate the Annunciation of the Theotokos. We celebrate the raising of Lazarus, the entrance of our Lord into Jerusalem and then stay with our Lord as He goes through His Passion, Crucifixion, and on to His Bright and Glorious Resurrection! Finally, we continue on in the celebration of the Holy Ascension of our Lord (our patronal Feast) and then on to the coming of the Holy Spirit on the Feast of Pentecost! We, by the power of the Holy Spirit, now have what is necessary for us to be who God created us to be.
The depth of our life in the Church is inexhaustible and certainly there is more that can be discussed. It is a gift to enter this life to the extent that we can and allow God to shape us and form us more and more into His image and likeness. It is a gift and a blessing to do this with each of you. May God guide and bless us and strengthen us as we all continue in this good life that He has bestowed upon through and in the Church! With love in Christ, Fr. Benjamin
Over this past year we have gone through a full calendar of our life in the Church. We have kept the Fasts and we have celebrated the Feasts. Our first service together was the Feast of the Transfiguration of our Lord. Christ reveals to His disciples and therefore to all of us the Uncreated Light that brings Light and Life to the World. Having then gone through the Fast, we celebrated the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos. The Mother of God, being the first of us to experience the Resurrection of the Body from the dead. This is our hope, that we too, have this great potential to be more honorable than the Cherubim and more glorious beyond compare than the Seraphim! We went on to begin our Church Calendar year with the first Great Feast being the Nativity of the Mother of God. Born out of the humility and prayer of her holy parents we celebrate the birth of one through whom the Savior of the world will come forth. Not long after that Feast we commemorate the Exaltation of the Cross. This Feast reminds us that it is the Cross of Christ that leads us into the battle against our enemies, which are sin, the devil, and death. It is through the voluntary offering of sacrificial love that God Himself offers to us where the cross is transformed from an instrument of death to an instrument of life and life more abundant. Continuing on through the Feast of the Protection of the Theotokos and the Feast of the Holy Angels we arrive at the Nativity Fast. An opportunity to slow down our lives and give our attention back to the things that are beyond the temporal and material. To set aside earthly cares and strive to prepare ourselves for the coming of God Himself into the world as one of us. We then join together in this blessed Feast and welcome God condescending to us as a babe born in a cave and laid in a manger. Even the angels gaze upon this event with amazement and wonder! This Festal time leads up to the Great Feast of our Lord’s Theophany. The revelation of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Christ shows us the way in which we too can enter into this blessed communion of the Holy Trinity through baptism. We then move on to the Feast of the Meeting of our Lord in the Temple. The righteous Symeon and Anna recognize our Lord as a babe and see in Him the One Who is come into the world to enlighten the world and bring it salvation.
Having gone through this Festal time we then enter into the Great Fast. An opportunity to reset out lives, our priorities, and the disposition of our heart towards the things of God. We take a moment within it to celebrate the Annunciation of the Theotokos. We celebrate the raising of Lazarus, the entrance of our Lord into Jerusalem and then stay with our Lord as He goes through His Passion, Crucifixion, and on to His Bright and Glorious Resurrection! Finally, we continue on in the celebration of the Holy Ascension of our Lord (our patronal Feast) and then on to the coming of the Holy Spirit on the Feast of Pentecost! We, by the power of the Holy Spirit, now have what is necessary for us to be who God created us to be.
The depth of our life in the Church is inexhaustible and certainly there is more that can be discussed. It is a gift to enter this life to the extent that we can and allow God to shape us and form us more and more into His image and likeness. It is a gift and a blessing to do this with each of you. May God guide and bless us and strengthen us as we all continue in this good life that He has bestowed upon through and in the Church! With love in Christ, Fr. Benjamin