Pennies for Prayers-donated for Iconography-George Hambos

Archangel Michael-Katherine Sakkis

Archangel Michael-Michael Kavouklis

AFGLC Scholarships-Dr. Demetrios Halkias Scholarship

 

Introduction of Fr. John Dalrymple

 

Most of you have received, and if you have not received it, you will be receiving a letter in the mail from Parish Council President Katherine Sakkis and myself, announcing the appointment of Fr. John Dalrymple as the Provost of our Day School.  As the letter explains, our church is the only Greek Orthodox Church in the United States that has a Day School that does not have two full-time priests.  The Day School is an important ministry of the church, and in order to truly be an Orthodox Day School, it needs more full-time involvement from Orthodox clergy.  Fr. John Dalrymple was ordained a priest in 2007.  His Eminence Metropolitan Alexios recently asked that Fr. John come to St. John to get some liturgical experience as he begins his ministry.  After much discussion, thought, and most especially prayer, and after coming to realize that Fr. John has a background in business management, human resources and strategic planning, the Parish Council decided to consolidate two positions at the Day School and bring in Fr. John to serve in the newly-created position of Provost—taking on the business management, human resources, strategic planning aspects of the school, while also overseeing the Orthodox religious curriculum.  Fr. John does not replace the Headmaster—I repeat, Fr. John does not replace the Headmaster.  Rather, the roles served by the Headmaster is being redefined just as the role of the Provost is being defined, so that these two positions compliment one another, and so that Jim Larkin, our Headmaster and Fr. John, our Provost, can both serve our church and school in a way that both brings out their skills and makes the school run more efficiently and ultimately more successfully.  As an added bonus, Fr. John will be assisting me in the Divine Services of the Church, he will be assisting in some of the ministries of the church, and he will also be available to help with pastoral care—hospital visits, house blessings, confessions, etc.  His Eminence Metropolitan Alexios has given his blessings on this appointment, and wishes Fr. John to have a long tenure here, and commends our parish and our Parish Council for its great care and concern for our Day School.  Last month, the church passed a budget for 2009 and this appointment will not cause the church to go outside of the approved budget.  I ask that we open our arms to welcome Fr. John and Presbytera Maria to our community and I wish them a long and fruitful stay with us.  If there is anyone in church who has questions about the appointment of Fr. John to our school as the Provost, please do not hold court and gossip about it, please come and see me personally in the hall after church, and I will be happy to answer your questions.  Thank you.

 

 

Sermon

Sunday, December 21

How will you celebrate Christmas this year?

 

How will you celebrate Christmas this year?  This is a question many of us are pondering this morning.  I’m sure many of us will have dinners with our families, there are plans to open gifts, homes have been decorated, perhaps there is some last minute shopping to do, hopefully everyone in church this morning is planning on coming to one of our services to be celebrated this Wednesday.  Yes, most of us know how we are going to mark Christmas from a practical standpoint, but how about from a spiritual standpoint? 

 

Christmas is a point of demarcation for many of us in many ways.  This year will be my son’s third Christmas, for Presbytera and I, it will mark our 5th Christmas in Tampa, our 14th as a married couple.  Some of you will put ornaments on your trees with pictures of your children from each year of their lives.  As we sit around the Christmas dinner-table, we’ll give some thought to people who have passed away this year, as well as new people who have come into our lives. 

 

Christmas is also a time of great stress.  I’m not a doctor but I’d venture to say that if you took the blood-pressure of the average person each week of the year, it would register highest during the week before Christmas.  Stress seems to accompany Christmas right along with the trees and the stockings.  Santa Claus comes for our children while stress comes for us.  This year has been particularly stressful for many in our congregation.  The state of our economy has left some unemployed, others in fear, and has affected each of us in some way.  For some I’m sure, there doesn’t seem to be much reason to celebrate at all this Christmas. 

While we’ve made Christmas into a time of gifts, dinners, families, shopping and stress, this is not how Christmas was intended to be celebrated at all.  Most of us know the words to the Christmas Carol, “Silent Night, Holy Night, all is calm, all is bright.”  Most of us, however, cannot remember the last time we had a silent night, a holy night, where all was calm, everything was looking bright.  And so now we come to the real meaning of Christmas—St. Athanasios wrote these immortal words in the 4th Century—“At the Incarnation, at the Nativity, God became a man, so man can become like God.”  The Creator came to live with His creation.  The one who put the stars in the heavens was worshipped by a star. 

 

We know the importance of Easter.  Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose from the dead in order to pay the debt of our sins and open the path to paradise for everyone who believes and whose life reflects that believe.  The icon of the Resurrection, which we see so prominently in our church, shows the Lord not bursting through the grave like Superman, but rather going and rescuing all those who fall through sin to death, beginning with Adam and Eve and continuing with all those people who have righteously sought after God, from the beginning of time up until now. 

 

Second in importance only to the Resurrection, is the feast the Nativity, the occasion in history when God incarnated His Son, Jesus Christ, to come to the earth for the specific purpose of dying for our sins.  The Incarnation is much more than the birth of the baby Jesus.  The Incarnation is an act of great humility, where Christ, who existed forever with the Father and the Spirit, who with the Father and the Spirit co-created the world, came to live amongst His creation.  Without the Incarnation of the Son of God in the flesh, there would be no Crucifixion, no Resurrection, no hope for salvation.  So the Incarnation is an event of cosmic proportions.  In fact, the entire Universe stopped, in order to worship the Creator in its midst—The Icon of the Nativity, also seen prominently in our church, shows all of the creation present to glorify the Incarnate God—the earth is represented by the cave.  The heavens represented by the star.  The rich and famous represented by the Magi.  The poor and unknown by the shepherds.  The Angels, the multitude of the heavenly hosts, fills the sky with hymns of praise.  Even the animals bow their heads in the presence of their creator.  A simple carpenter is entrusted as the guardian of the Lord.  And a young maiden, no more than 14 or 15 years old, history tells us, is given the greatest honor that can be, to carry the Lord within her womb.

 

And so the feast of the Nativity calls upon us to be present as well, with the worship of the Angels, with the patience of the Magi, with the wonder of the shepherds, with the trust of Joseph, with the faith of Mary.  Nowhere in the icon of the Nativity do we see the stressed out city of Bethlehem, where there was not one room at an inn for a woman in labor to be delivered, where there was not one eye looking to the night-time sky to see the angels, where there was not one heart aware of the miracle taking place on that Christmas night. 

 

The elements of Christmas—worship, patience, wonder, trust, and faith—these are elements of the Christian life that should be present all year round.  They are not just reserved for Christmas.  And when the last present has been opened, when the leftovers are finally gone, when the tree has been taken down and put away, we shouldn’t put away the joy of Christmas until next year.  Worship, patience, wonder, trust and faith and joy should be celebrated in each human heart every day of the year.  Ironically, Christmas is part of every Liturgy all year round.  For when Holy Communion is prepared, the first hymn that is recited by the priest is a hymn of Christmas, reminding himself and the faithful that the elements of Christmas—worship, patience, wonder, trust, faith and joy—are part of Orthodox Christianity at all times. 

 

But for the moment, let’s not talk about Christmas throughout the year, and focus on the celebration of Christmas this week.  I said earlier that Christmas is a point of demarcation for many of us.  It is a time of stress, unfortunately, for many of us.  And for all of us, it should be a time of worship, reflection, and renewal.  Gifts, Santa Claus, dinner and decorations are not supposed to be at the center of Christmas—Christ is at the center of Christmas.  So here are a few ideas to having a more meaningful Christmas this year:  First and foremost, come to church and worship—Most of us are focused on the “Christmas liturgy” on Wednesday evening at 7:00 p.m.  This is the “main” service of Christmas.  It will have the most attendance.  It will also be the service that most closely resembles the Liturgy we celebrate each Sunday.  There are, however, three other services this week, prior to the Wednesday evening service.  And I want to encourage you to attend at least one of them, because I bet the majority of us have never attended any of the three. They are different and they are special. The Royal Hours will be held Tuesday morning from 9:30-11:00 in whatever natural light that day provides.  The Royal Hours is a solemn service of prayers, Psalms and Prophecies foretelling the coming of Christ. There is no Communion, not much movement, I often think of this service resembling the quiet countryside outside of Bethlehem, with the shepherds waiting in stillness watching their flocks. The second service is the Vesperal Liturgy to be held on Wednesday from 9-11 a.m.  This service consists of Psalms and hymns of Christmas, 8 Old Testament Readings foretelling of the Coming of Christ, the Gospel of Christmas and the more ancient Liturgy of St. Basil the Great, which is celebrated 10 times each year.  This will also be celebrated by whatever natural light the day provides.  And finally, Wednesday evening, before the Divine Liturgy at 7:00 p.m., the church will be open for prayer beginning at 5:00 p.m.  The Orthros or Matins of Christmas will be chanted from 5:30-7:00 p.m. by candlelight, in both English and Greek.  While the Liturgy of Christmas Eve will afford us the opportunity to sing the more well-known hymns of Christmas, and hear the choir sing Christmas carols, these three other services provide a more quiet and reflective mood in the church.  And so I hope you will try to come to at least one other service in addition to the Wednesday evening Liturgy.  Many of you keep the vigil on Christmas, coming to church for silent prayer, for the matins and then stay for the Liturgy—and I’ve been told that for many, this was the most powerful experience of the year in our church, even moreso than Holy Week.

 

So, first and foremost, come to worship.  Secondly, prepare to receive Holy Communion.  This means give some real thought to Holy Communion on Christmas Eve and the day before.  It means don’t rush around on Christmas Eve stressing out, don’t spend the day in front of the television.  Spend the day in prayer, pick up the Bible and read the beginning of each Gospel, each account of the Christmas story.  Fast.  Put aside the Christmas candy for a few days. 

 

Third, put aside some time for a personal “silent night, holy night, where all is calm.”  Your silent night need not be in the middle of the night.  It might be in the middle of the day, while your children are out playing, or napping.  Or maybe first thing in the morning, before anyone gets up in your house. Or come to church at 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday before the services.  Spend some time reflecting on your Christian life.  Many of us write Christmas cards to family and friends.  How about writing a card to Christ this Christmas—what would you say to Him, about your life at this moment?  Write a card to Christ this Christmas, write Him a letter from your heart.  Read it to Him on your knees in front of your icons, and put that letter somewhere special.  And re-read at least once a month, on your knees, in front of your icons.

And finally, for those who don’t know what to buy for people this Christmas, for those whose economic situation is especially tight, who worry there won’t be enough money to pay the credit card bill for Christmas gifts next month, here is a great gift idea.  The best gifts I have ever received are not material things, but letters people have written to me over the years, with heartfelt expressions in them.  Gifts of food get eaten.  Gifts of clothes are worn and then thrown out.  Trinkets go on the shelf and collect dust.  But letters are saved and read on bad days.  I’ve saved everyone one of them in a file I call “things to read on a bad day.”  Every year, I try to write many personal letters to co-workers, parishioners and friends to let them know what they mean in my life.  So, if you aren’t sure what to buy your spouse, write them a letter, tell them what they mean to you.  This works with parents, grandparents, friends, co-workers, anybody.  And it’s really the best gift you can get for someone, a gift from your heart.

 

So, as we mark another Christmas this year, let’s do it with worship, with Holy Communion, with preparation, with reflection, and with meaning.  Take a few days off from busy Bethlehem and be quiet like the shepherds, patient like the Magi, praise God like the Angels, follow the star, be loyal like Joseph, be faithful like Mary, rejoice like the whole Creation.  Christ is born!  Glorify Him!  Merry Christmas!