Sunday, April 5 Reflection and Bulletin

I pray you are well.
I asked Fr. Stefanos Alexopoulos to offer us the Thursday Reflection. As you will hear in his reflection, he too is distanced from the services of the Church and the Eucharist. This is because, our directives at this time, are for one Priest to serve the Divine Liturgy.

God’s blessings and my prayers are always with you and your family.

Fr. Dimitrios

Dear brothers and sisters in the Lord,

We are indeed living in unique times. COVID-19 has dramatically altered the way we live, the way we work (if we still have work), the way we interact, the way we worship. It has impacted every aspect of our life. Yet we must not lose hope! We will overcome this, pick up the broken pieces and rebuild our lives.
It is here that COVID-19 is a blessing in disguise (and I do not mean to underestimate its dramatic impact on the lives of all of us). Our current experience is an opportunity to reflect upon many things that we take for granted and possibly re-evaluate our priorities.

We are all under the “stay at home” order. While this measure drastically limits our freedom of movement, it allows for even more time with our spouse, children and family. We always complain that we do not have enough time to dedicate to the most important people in our lives. Now we do.

This is an opportunity to make up for lost time. Let us clean the house together, let us cook together, let us eat breakfast, lunch, dinner around the dining table together, let us play together, let us pray together, let us engage with one another, let us listen to one another, as a family!

The “stay at home” order also gives us the opportunity to care for our extended family, for our friends, and for our community. All we need to do is to pick up the phone and contact those that we know may need some company or just some encouragement, so that they too know that they are not forgotten. We can learn which neighbors cannot shop and we can do their grocery shopping when we go out for ours. We can coordinate as a community to help those who suffer because of the crisis. Simple acts of kindness make a huge difference.

The “stay at home” order impacts how we worship. Indeed, this Great Lent, Holy Week and Pascha will be unique in that we cannot go to church, worship as we do, nor – above all – receive Holy Communion. What are we to make of this forced “fasting” from Divine Services and Holy Communion? As a priest, this challenge is personal. How can I celebrate Holy Week and Pascha without celebrating the services, without celebrating the Divine Liturgy, without receiving Holy Communion?

I think of the shut-ins, who because of their physical illness cannot come to church. They must celebrate all these liturgical periods and feasts from home, and they receive the Eucharist only a few times a year, only if a priest is able to visit them. For them, this is their “normal,” whereas for us, this will pass.

I also think of those on merchant ships, in the armed forces, in the police force, in the fire and rescue services, in the medical profession, and many others who are at their posts or on-call when the rest of us celebrate and participate in the full liturgical cycle of our Church.

So, what can we do? Let us allow this “thirst” for the liturgical life of the Church, for our participation in the Holy Eucharist, to grow! As we attend services from home, let us pray as a family; let us light a candle and our incense burner. Let us join one another virtually, in anticipation of that joyous moment when we can meet again in our beloved churchof St. George to worship together physically.

Let us more deeply explore our Orthodox Christian faith. The best way to do that is familiarize ourselves with the liturgical texts of this liturgical season. A great resource is Ages Initiative, which provides all the liturgical texts and the liturgical order for every given day. Let us spend some time reading the hymnody of Holy Week and Pascha. As we virtually attend services, let us have the texts before us and pray with them. Let us discover the beauty, the value and the meaning of our Orthodox Christian faith through the hymns we sing and the prayers we pronounce.

Unfortunately, we will not receive the Eucharist. May we grow in that desire to unite with Christ, and may we fill that burning absence with the presence of Christ in our house church. And when that blessed time comes, may we all unite in worshiping our Lord as a community, and in participating in the Holy Eucharist being fully aware of the greatness of the Gift!

Rest assured that we will emerge from this crisis stronger! Stronger as individuals, as families, as a community! My dear brothers and sisters, stay strong! Let us never lose hope, for we have Jesus Christ!

May we seek refuge and strength in the Lord and may we bring to our lips the profound words of Psalm 22 (Septuagint):

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
² He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters,
³ He refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.
⁴ Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
⁵ You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
⁶ Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. (NRSV)

ΚΥΡΙΟΣ ποιμα?νει με κα? ο?δ?ν με ?στερ?σει.
2 ε?ς τ?πον χλ?ης, ?κε? με κατεσκ?νωσεν, ?π? ?δατος ?ναπα?σεως ?ξ?θρεψ? με,
3 τ?ν ψυχ?ν μου ?π?στρεψεν. ?δ?γησ? με ?π? τρ?βους δικαιοσ?νης ?νεκεν το? ?ν?ματος α?το?.
4 ??ν γ?ρ κα? πορευθ? ?ν μ?σ? σκι?ς θαν?του, ο? φοβηθ?σομαι κακ?, ?τι σ? μετ? ?μο? ε?· ? ρ?βδος σου κα? ? βακτηρ?ασου, α?τα? με παρεκ?λεσαν.
5 ?το?μασας ?ν?πι?ν μου τρ?πεζαν, ?ξεναντ?ας τ?ν θλιβ?ντων με· ?λ?πανας ?ν ?λα?? τ?ν κεφαλ?ν μου, κα? τ? ποτ?ρι?νσου μεθ?σκον με ?σε? κρ?τιστον.
6 κα? τ? ?λε?ς σου καταδι?ξει με π?σας τ?ς ?μ?ρας τ?ς ζω?ς μου, κα? τ? κατοικε?ν με ?ν ο?κ? Κυρ?ου ε?ςμακρ?τητα ?μερ?ν.