We Do Not Exist in Isolation

But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they came together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, to test Him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.”   Matthew 22:34-40
There is a saying “one Christian is no Christian.” This is because Christians do not exist in isolation. To be a Christian is to be part of a community. The two greatest commandments, on which all of the law and the prophets rest, are the commandments to love God and to love our neighbor. We can’t love God and ignore our neighbor, because the two go hand in hand. And we can’t experience love without the presence of “another.” Because to love only oneself is narcissism. It is not love. Love is a choice that is extended from one to another. Even if one says he extends love towards God, there still needs to be the presence of another person, because to love God is to serve others. We do not exist as Christians in isolation.
Love is experienced in two ways. We either are giving it, or we are receiving it. One needs to exist in some “community” in order to do both. That community can be a family, a church community, a group of friends, or anywhere where two or more people exist.
We must love our neighbor. Love is a choice to serve someone else with patience and kindness, even if they don’t deserve it, especially if they don’t deserve it. We also need love from our neighbor. Everyone needs to feel loved by someone else. Not everyone has the same need. There are some that need this more than others. However, no one can survive well in isolation, without receiving love from others.
When Jesus Christ came to earth, He taught His disciples that they needed to exist in community. They weren’t expected to make the journey through life alone. They would be part of a community, where they could learn together, worship together and serve together. And they could serve both within the community (their fellow community members) and they were to serve outside of the community as well (serving complete strangers who were not part of the community).
One of the things that is supposed to occur in a community (not just in a church community, but in any community—family, group of friends, etc.) is that members of the community are both responsible for one another and accountable to one another. If a member of the community is starting to slip away, the rest of the community reins him or her back in. Members are also accountable to one another. They check in with one another.
Responsibility and accountability are also supposed to be foundational to a church community. The church community is supposed to keep itself together by being responsible for all members, to keep members together, to run to serve when one member has been wounded (by grief or loss or illness), and to add to the number of members through evangelism and outreach. The church members should also be accountable to one another, again that example of “safe and expected to be honest,” so that the environment is set where members can “bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6:2)
At the center of the church community is worship, where members gather together, as one body, to worship the Lord. While most of this section will focus on praying in smaller groups, it is central to each church community to pray as one large group, to come to God as one body to worship and praise Him. This reinforces for the entire community at one time, the purpose and the destination of life—to glorify God and serve one another as we work our way to salvation in the Kingdom of heaven. This message is not always simple to understand nor it is easy to do. However, it is easy to state and necessary to repeat, which is why the community gathers so often for worship.
As Christians, it is nearly impossible to exist without a church community. Because the church community provides instruction, accountability and encouragement to live a God-centered life. It is nearly impossible to do these things alone. If you are not a regular member of a church community, seek to change that. And if you are a regular member of a church community, continually seek to strengthen that relationship with your church community.
Christians do not exist in isolation. They exist in community. They exist in small communities like families and friend group, and they exist in larger communities, churches. Worship is the primary activity of the church community. Prayer should ideally be part of every small community. And service is how we express love in any “community” we belong to.
Lord, thank You for the “communities” to which I belong, my family, my friendships, and my church community. Help me to strengthen my bonds within each community. Help me to serve in each community with love, kindness, patience and consistency. Help me to have eyes to see members of each community that need encouragement. Help others to see when I need encouragement. Help us all to keep our eyes on You, to love You, and to express love for You in service to others. Help me to have eyes to see people who feel isolated and bring them safely into a community. Amen.
Seek constantly to strengthen your bonds with your “communities”—your family, your friendships, and your church community
By Fr. Stavros N. Akrotirianakis

The Sermon of St. John Chrysostom
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If anyone is devout and loves God,
    let him enjoy this beautiful and radiant feast.
If anyone is a grateful servant,
    let him enter rejoicing into the joy of his Lord.
If anyone has wearied themselves in fasting,
    let them now receive their fair reward.
If anyone has laboured from the first hour,
    let him today receive his just compensation.
If anyone has come at the third hour,
    let him with thanksgiving keep the feast.
If anyone has arrived at the sixth hour,
    let them have no misgivings; for they shall not be deprived.
If anyone has delayed until the ninth hour,
    let them draw near without hesitation.
If anyone has arrived even at the eleventh hour,
    let them not fear on account of their tardiness.
For the Master is gracious and receives the last even as the first;
    He gives rest to him that comes at the eleventh hour,
    just as to him who has laboured from the first.
He has mercy upon the last and cares for the first;
    to the one He gives, and to the other He is gracious.
He both honours the work and praises the intention.
Enter all of you, therefore, into the joy of your Lord, and,
    whether first or last, receive your reward.
O rich and poor, together, dance for joy!
    O you sober and you negligent, celebrate the day!
You who have fasted
    and you who have disregarded the fast, rejoice today!
The table is rich-laden: feast royally, all of you!
    The calf is fatted: let no one go away hungry!
Let all partake of the feast of faith.
    Let all receive the riches of His goodness.
Let no one lament their poverty,
    for the universal kingdom has been revealed.
Let no one mourn their transgressions,
    for pardon has shone forth from the grave.
Let no one fear death,
    for the Saviour's death has set us free.
He that was taken prisoner by death has destroyed it!
He descended into Hades and took Hades captive!
He embittered it when it tasted His flesh!
And foretelling this, Isaiah exclaimed:
    "Hades was filled with bitterness when it encountered You in the lower regions".
It was filled with bitterness, for it was abolished!
It was filled with bitterness, for it was mocked!
It was filled with bitterness, for it was purged!
It was filled with bitterness, for it was plundered!
It was filled with bitterness, for it was bound in chains!
It took a body and met God face to face!
It took earth and encountered Heaven!
It took what was seen, but fell upon what was unseen!
    O death, where is your sting?
    O Hades, where is your victory?
    Christ is risen, and you are overthrown!
    Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen!
    Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice!
    Christ is risen, and life reigns!
        Christ is risen, and not one dead remains in the grave!
For Christ, being raised from the dead,
        has become the first-fruits of them that have fallen asleep.
To Him be glory and might unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Our Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church in America has issued this excellent Encyclical on Hope in a time of tribulation..
Please read it and share it with others.
It can be found here:  An Encyclical of Hope   https://www.oca.org/holy-synod/encyclicals/encyclical-hope

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With all the negatives and changes that came with the covid-19 pandemic, we need to rejoice for the blessings that are occurring. One is those who are seeking and find the true faith in this troubled time. St. Mark is blessed to have encountered such a couple. The newly illumined Paisios and Mary realized that their new age and eastern spiritual beliefs were lacking. This was heightened by the Covid-19 pandemic. In their search, Christianity came to the forefront. But which branch would be the one to follow? In the Orthodox church they saw the opportunity to be able to live a deep and fulfilling faith. As Paisios mentioned, “we would be able to have a personal and loving relationship with God”.  Due to the Covid-19 shutdown, contact was made by email. When the restrictions eased, in person contact was made. This lead to catechism classes. The end result was a glorious autumn day at the lake. The only downside, was the wind gusts and that the lake was at a 50 year low level, meaning a good hike to find deeper water.  Paisios and Mary were baptized and chrismated, Glory to God! 
May God grant many years to the newly illumined servants.

We are moving forward on reopening services as per Provincial and Archdiocese Guidelines. Due to the limited space, attendance will be limited. Please call before attending to ensure that we have room for the services. 
We will continue to steam online via YouTube.
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We will be doing live online videos on YouTube for services during the Covid-19 shutdown. Live streaming will begin about 10 minutes before services start. Click on the link below to check to see if we started the service. Currently that is a typika service on Sunday morning.

Please click the link below to find us on YouTube(only good for Online Services): 
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiXXafVSj-sA9Gxoqg65D1w

To understand the various liturgical particularities of the Lenten period, we must remember that they express and convey to us the spiritual meaning of Lent and are related to the central idea of Lent, to its function in the liturgical life of the Church. It is the idea of repentance. In the teaching of the Orthodox Church however, repentance means much more than a mere enumeration of sins and transgressions to the priest. Confession and absolution are but the result, the fruit, the "climax" of true repentance. And, before this result can be reached, become truly valid and meaningful, one must make a spiritual effort, go through a long period of preparation and purification. Repentance, in the Orthodox acceptance of this word, means a deep, radical reevaluation of our whole life, of all our ideas, judgments, worries, mutual relations, etc. It applies not only to some "bad actions," but to the whole of life, and is a Christian judgment passed on it, on its basic presuppositions. At every moment of our life, but especially during Lent, the Church invites us to concentrate our attention on the ultimate values and goals, to measure ourselves by the criteria of Christian teaching, to contemplate our existence in its relation to God. This is repentance and it consists therefore, before everything else, in the acquisition of the Spirit of repentance, i.e., of a special state of mind, a special disposition of our conscience and spiritual vision.
The Lenten worship is thus a school of repentance. It teaches us what is repentance and how to acquire the spirit of repentance. It prepares us for and leads us to the spiritual regeneration, without which "absolution" remains meaningless. It is, in short, both teaching about repentance and the way of repentance. And, since there can be no real Christian life without repentance, without this constant "reevaluation" of life, the Lenten worship is an essential part of the liturgical tradition of the Church. The neglect of it, its reduction to a few purely formal obligations and customs, the deformation of its basic rules constitute one of the major deficiencies of our Church life today.

​Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann

​Wow are we really 30 years old? Was it only 30 years ago that Archmandrite Alexander Pihach celebrated the first liturgy.
Have we reached that coming of age? But we have so much left to do.
Well let's start off with a celebration liturgy giving thanks to God for all that He has done for us.
Of course you can't celebrate without your father there, so we joined in with Vladyka Irenee.
Also con-celebrating was:
Father Rodion Luciuk, rector, Father Cosmin Vint (Romanian Archdiocese),
Protodeacon Jesse Issac, and Deacon Ken Gaber (Romanian Archdiocese).