September 2018 Message From Father Peter

Dear Parishioners and Friends,

Glory To Jesus Christ!  Glory Forever!

I greet you with much joy as we begin the New Church Year together.

With Summer vacation over and our children and young adults back to school, parish life now shifts to high gear. Later this month our Church School program begins and we resume our Adult Scripture Study.

As we begin the new Church Year, It is good that we celebrate the Great Feast of the Exaltation of the Precious and Live-giving Cross. Its placement by the Church at this time of the year is intentional, as it reminds us about the reality of the life in Christ. If we are truly to become Christ-like, which is the number one goal of the Orthodox Christian, then we cannot escape the Cross. We cannot expect to go through life without shouldering the crosses in life that we are given.

The beautiful part of this reality is that it is precisely through denying ourselves, taking up the Cross and following Christ, that we find true peace and joy. For as we sing at Paschal Matins, “through the Cross joy has come into all the world”

My prayer for all of the faithful of this God-protected parish is that we experience true joy in this new church year. Not the joy that is worldly and fleeting but that which manifests itself as a deep inner peace and awareness of the abiding love our Lord has for each and everyone of us. This joy can be ours if we willingly follow the teachings of our Orthodox faith and actively live it.

May this be the Church year where we experience resurgence in attendance at Divine services and the educational and social activities offered in this little Church with the big heart.

May God truly bless you and yours richly in this new Church Year.

Fr. Peter