20th Week After Pentecost v Wednesday 

 

 

  Today-s readings, followed by a few small pastoral and personal
thoughts. 

 

   Philippians 2:24-30   But I trust in the Lord that I also myself
shall come shortly. 25 Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you
Epaphroditus, my brother, and companion in labour, and fellowsoldier,
but your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants. 26 For he longed
after you all, and was full of heaviness, because that ye had heard that
he had been sick. 27 For indeed he was sick nigh unto death: but God had
mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have
sorrow upon sorrow. 28 I sent him therefore the more carefully, that,
when ye see him again, ye may rejoice, and that I may be the less
sorrowful. 29 Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness; and
hold such in reputation: 30 Because for the work of Christ he was nigh
unto death, not regarding his life, to supply your lack of service
toward me.

 

   Luke 6:46-7:1   And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things
which I say? 47 Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and
doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: 48 He is like a man
which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a
rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that
house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. 49 But he
that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation
built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat
vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was
great. 1 Now when he had ended all his sayings in the audience of the
people, he entered into Capernaum.

 

 

  Luke 6:46 And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which
I say?

 

  ? Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the
kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in
heaven.¦  (Mat 7:21)

 

  You have heard many times that all dogma is moral. We believe in God,
only if, in acknowledging Him, we obey Him. It is useless and
destructive to the soul to believe in God without obedience v the demons
also believe! It would be good for us if every time we say ?Lord¦, we
evaluate how much we are living according to Whom we speak of.  EVERT
TIME we say ?Lord, Lord¦, we must evaluate whether or not we are also
confessing Him with our deeds. 

 

 

  Luke 6:47-48 Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth
them, I will shew you to whom he is like: 48 He is like a man which
built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and
when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and
could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock.

 

  It takes great effort and perseverance to ?dig deep¦. A deep
foundation will stand, and a shallow one will eventually be broken. This
deep digging includes the searching of the scriptures, to understand the
depth of the profundity of their meaning, and also the searching of the
conscience. Of course, the rock upon which we build is Christ: 

 

  ? For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is
Jesus Christ.¦ (1Cor 3:11)

 

  ? Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that
all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; 
(2)  And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;  (3) 
And did all eat the same spiritual meat;  (4)  And did all drink the
same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that
followed them: and that Rock was Christ.¦ 1Cor 10:1-4

  

 

  At our present time, as we are beginning to actually build our new
temple (after months of prayer, planning and fund raising),  these words
remind me of our present efforts. As your pastor, despite my own
limitations, I have attempted to make the foundation of our church to be
the rock that is Christ. I am not speaking of  the concrete that will be
poured this week or next, but the spiritual life of our community.
Without spirit, the body is dead. Without effort and perseverance in our
personal lives, we cannot expect God to bless our corporate lives in St
Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church. 

 

  I question myself daily, whether I am ?digging deep¦, and helping to
provide a deep foundation for my small flock. I hope that you do this
also. This ?digging¦ consists of daily prayer for all of you, the
searching of the scriptures, and my personal effort to be a better
person. Everything we do privately affects our community corporately. If
I do not pray with so much attention on a certain day, I weaken our
community. The same is true for everyone in the community. Our fasting,
and prayer, and efforts to follow the commandments are both personal and
corporate. 

 

  The most important change I have made since we have begun seriously to
talk of building has been to have a  weekday Divine liturgy. We began
this custom the week after Nativity this year, and have not failed to
celebrate a Divine Liturgy at least once during the week (on Wednesday
at the beginning, now on Thursday).  Since then, with the one exception
of when I was serving at our Diocesan Cathedral in Des Plaines, IL, for
their patronal feast. Of course, at that liturgy, I made sure to
commemorate everyone in the proskimidie. 

 

  We must continue to do all we can to make our building project
successful . It will not end when temple is finished. The building we
are doing is to build up the body of Christ. A new temple is critical to
our success, but more critical is our personal involvement in the life
of Christ. If we struggle spiritually, we will succeed physically and
financially.  

 

 

  Priest Seraphim Oct 16/29 2008