Cloud of Witnesses Radio
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Cloud of Witnesses Radio
Theophany Unveiled: Embracing the Holy Trinity and Mission of Light in Orthodoxy | TIO010 CWP089
Experience the spiritual richness of the Orthodox Christian tradition as we explore the Feast of Theophany, a celebration that unveils the profound mystery of the Holy Trinity. Discover how the baptism of Christ illuminates both our spiritual and physical worlds, revealing God's desire to adopt us as His children and share eternal life. This episode unpacks the gospel and epistle readings for the Sunday following Theophany, shedding light on the true nature of the Orthodox Church's evangelistic mission and dispelling common misconceptions about its outreach. Through these teachings, we emphasize the call for every believer to share this divine light with the world.
Our journey through faith continues with an inspiring tribute to St. Anthony's Parish in San Diego and its thriving 30-year legacy. From its humble beginnings as an initiative to make Orthodox worship more accessible to English speakers, this vibrant community stands as a testament to the power of inclusivity and dedication. We share insights into the parish's commitment to service, obedience, and the use of spiritual gifts, encouraging all to become living temples of God. Delve into the powerful messages of Theophany and the mission of spreading enlightenment, as we celebrate the ongoing legacy of faith that shapes both individuals and communities.
Thank you for journeying w/ the Saints with us!
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Our God is one. My dear Father Nathan, father Anthony, proto-deacon Thomas, deacon Anthony, brothers and sisters in Christ, children of God, christ is in our midst. Blessed Feast, eid Mubarak. Spraznikom Fiesta Bendita Kronio Pola. Blessed Feast, indeed, we are still celebrating the Feast of Theophany. Enjoy the Christmas tree and the poinsettias, because next time you come, next Sunday, they will not be here. We will be leaving the Feast of Theophany. Leaving the Feast of Theophany except at my house, because the Christmas tree probably will last until old calendar Christmas, because that's how long, in fact, sometimes it's old calendar, old calendar Christmas by the time we get it put away. But as we start the beginning of this new year, it is very appropriate that we have both this epistle and this gospel for us that is chosen for the Sunday after Theophany, this feast in which the manifestation of the Holy Trinity is given to us, that we glorify God, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, as revealed in this feast and especially shown in the middle panel over here on the south side of the church, and that we see in this feast those of us who have sat in darkness, especially the Gentiles, okay, have seen a great light. The God and his mercy came unto his own, and yet his own received him, not as the scriptures say in the Gospel of John, but as many as received him. To them he gave the power to become even the very children of God. God seeks to adopt us as his own and in the process of doing so, brothers and sister, he seeks to illumine us by his spiritual light. That illumination is something that is both spiritual and physical. That's why the baptism of Christ in the River Jordan that we see in this old panel of Jan Isham's and the new panel of Demetri Skolnick, we see the God-man.
Speaker 1:Jesus Christ, our second person of the Trinity, incarnate in the flesh by the power of the Holy Spirit, taking on flesh from the Virgin Mary, enters into our time and space to be able to do many things, amongst those being to unite his eternal divinity with our temporary mortality and to give us eternal life, to be able to heal even his creation that we pull down into brokenness and sickness by our own fall through Adam and Eve, and by our own continuation and descent. God brings healing to us and he seeks to give us his eternal life, but in order to do that, brothers and sisters, one of the things, of the many things he has to do for us, is he needs to enlighten us, because when you sit in darkness and we sit in fear and we feel like we have no hope, our God seeks to give us that light and that hope within ourselves. But as I've said to you before, brothers and sisters, this is not just for our own that we keep and possess. God gives these gifts to us that we would turn around and give them to others. The very work of God is evangelistic.
Speaker 1:The very worship and work and ministry of the Orthodox Church is evangelistic to the core. You know some people had criticized the Orthodox Church for not being evangelical. Well, that's because they really don't understand the Orthodox Church. Our work and our ministry has evangelism all over the place, and I'd like to point your attention especially to the epistles. So pull out your bulletin. We want to look at that really quickly. If you look at your bulletin in the epistle passage, at that really quickly, if you look at your bulletin in the Epistle passage, you know we are celebrating.
Speaker 1:We've gone into the 30th years of celebrating this parish and this parish's history, created by a group of faithful people who chose to be able to start a new parish out of our mother-slash-sister church of St George here in San Diego, which actually started out of St Spyridon's way before that. They did so with a commitment to several things, and part of their commitment was, first and foremost, and what they were asked to do by the Metropolitan. If they were going to come together, there had to be a certain group of them that were forming together, and that group that came, that they had a commitment, first and foremost, to seek to try to do the worship of the church in English, in the language, the common language of the people. That was one of the goal commitments and that's why we do almost entirely English. We throw in a few token languages on repetitions, but really everything is in English. Your service book that you get are in English, so you can follow along. The choir is singing in English so you can hear it. This is really important because we want these words, which are life-changing and powerful, to help transform us, to convict us, to assure us, to convince us, to be able to give us that light from within, both in our mind and in our heart, brothers and sisters.
Speaker 1:And then another commitment was for the founders of this parish and we have one of the founders, we have some of the founders here, several of the founders still here with us, thanks be to God and that was that, regardless of who came in the doors of the church, all were welcome as long as they wanted to bring themselves into conformity to Christ and his holy church. Did not matter the race, did not matter the ethnicity, did not matter where they came from spiritually, whether they had a Christian background or not, as long as they were willing to embrace Christ in the Orthodox understanding and embrace the church and bring themselves conformity to it. It didn't matter the background. When I look out and I see the congregation we have today and that has really, really come to fruition, thanks be to God because that represents what this country is, that represents what this city is and very thankful for that commitment of our founders. Another thing of the commitment of the founders and I say this in the new year because we're starting out the new year but we have a lot of new people with us and even some new visitors as of today and that was the understanding that we would also have as a parish be obedient to the bishop and to the bishop's representative, the priests, and so I'm thankful this community has lived that out faithfully.
Speaker 1:But also another strong commitment, brothers and sisters, was a commitment of tithing, of giving a percentage. Ten percent is what they were asked to give at the very beginning, and all of those families did that, if you can imagine. And on top of that they were all asked to become members of the Order of St Ignatius. So they had not only tithing but an additional that they chose to do that and they did. And for many years St Anthony's had the highest percentage of members of the Order of St Ignatius because they were all members of the Order of St Ignatius in order to start this mission. But they stepped up to that challenge, brothers and sisters, 30 years ago, and we are the recipients of that work that was begun back then.
Speaker 1:Those goals and dreams are coming into fruition, brothers and sisters, and so we are called those of us who are new to St Anthony's, to look at what they had been challenged to do and to pick up their banner that they had unfolded for Christ and his holy heavenly kingdom in this time and space, to pick that up and carry that for as long as it need be until the Lord comes. Some of those founders have gone on to be with the Lord, okay, and they will be like the saints we will see on the walls very soon. They are part of that cloud of witnesses before God whoever makes intercession and prayers for us? But we have our work to do here and now. Still part of that cloud of witnesses before God whoever makes intercession and prayers for us? But we have our work to do here and now. Still, we haven't joined them in the stadium yet. We're here on the field still doing the work. And part of that work, brothers and sisters, we see in the epistle.
Speaker 1:It's very clear when St Paul's talking to the Ephesians, he says grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ's gifts. God knows what we need and what he's going to give to me is going to be different than what he's going to give to you. What he'll give to my wife is going to be different than he's going to give to my daughters. That's just the way it is. He creates us as unique beings and he's able to work with that. We as humans have a little bit harder time to deal with that, but that's why we're trying to see others the way and ourselves the way God sees us, and work with that. And it says he gave gifts to men.
Speaker 1:What are the gifts that he's given to us, brothers and sisters? He's given us spiritual gifts in order that we not take them and covet them and hide them away and put them under a bushel and enjoy them all ourselves. He gives us those gifts that we may continue to serve him. And, brothers, how do we serve him? We serve him by glorifying God in everything we try to do with our bodies. We speak with our mouths, we think with our minds and we feel with our heart. That's what our Lord wants us to bring us into conformity. That's a lifelong process. I know that because I'm not there yet. I'm striving to still keep to do that. But what we're asked to do is to be able to take those gifts, and our concrete way of showing our love to God is by loving the people who are around us.
Speaker 1:Remember the words of Jesus to Saint Peter after his resurrection. Peter after his resurrection, when Jesus asked three times Peter, do you love me? And the response that Peter gives is Lord, you know, I love you. And each one he becomes a little bit more panicky because he's like why does the Lord keep asking this question? It's to undo, of course, the three denials, but it's also to make it very clear when Jesus says, feed my sheep, it means minister to my people. If we love the Lord, we will show it by loving our neighbor as ourselves. That's the gospel message. And, of course, first and foremost, the closest neighbor you have is your wife and your husband, your children, the people you live and the place you live with. It's your coworkers, it's those you go to school with, those are your neighbors that you live. Your literal, physical neighbors are there.
Speaker 1:I don't know if you heard the story. In the wildfires that were going up, the actor James Wood knew about his neighbor, was trying to find out his neighbor, who was an elderly man that had dementia, there in Pacific Palisades. He was trying to get a hold of the son because he didn't know if his neighbor was there or not. And got a hold of the son because he had heard word from a caretaker that the father was still in the hospital, but he wanted confirmation of that. This is how he took care of the neighbors. This is a major actor, this person who's next door to him is not a famous actor in any way, shape or form, but he knew them for years living in that place and so what he did? He persevered to get a hold of the son, finally, who was back east and said is your dad still in the hospital? And they said no, he was released today and so he's trying to communicate to people. Okay, you need to go in and find him. He's in the house. And they went and opened the door and called around and they said there's nobody there. And he says no, no, you don't understand, he has dementia. There's nobody there. And he says no, no, you don't understand, he has dementia. He ends up going to a special room and there he sits for a period of time. You need to go in and find that room. And, sure enough, they went in and they found him there.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's the kind of neighborly love we're talking about, brothers and sisters. This is the extent that we do over and over again to help the people in our lives that are with us, and God gives us that ability to do so in the ministries we have in the church. Now, first and foremost, I have to put a plug for this. Brothers and sisters, if you haven't filled out your pledge card and your membership especially all those who are catechumens and those who are members you need to do so. If you've changed any addresses or emails, especially, we need to have this information here. Okay, this is really really critical that we get this. Even if you're not, if you're wanting to become a catechumen, it's a good thing to fill it out, and also, we want you to be able to give as you can.
Speaker 1:But the commitment of this community is that a 10% tithe is what has been done. Now this community has, incredibly, as we've grown, the stewardship has grown. We are twice the budget, I believe, than when I first took over, which is amazing, and we saw from the bulletin you see that we had a $10,000 surplus. But I would put a little plug in that we need to continue to increase our giving, because there were four families the last year and the year before that gave, on top of their 10%, $15,000 each to help for our second priest's salary and that helped us out. But if we took away that amount, this last year's salary, we would have been $45,000 in debt as opposed to $10,000 surplus that we have. So we still have some work to do, brothers and sisters, in our tithing of our gifts that God has given to us, but also the other thing that we strive to do, and I once again salute this community. I'm so thankful for this community for stepping up to that stewardship but also stepping up to the commitment to ministry.
Speaker 1:I'm going to have our Proto-Deacon Tom come and speak to some of our newly illumined and our catechumens and some that are interested in becoming Orthodox and anyone else who is new to the community, to have him come and speak on one of the Saturday afternoons from 3 to 5, to be able to talk about what it was like when they were starting this community and if you were one of the members of that original family, you were all on ministry teams and you were on multiple ministry teams. After Pascha and the place where they were renting one of the stories I'm going to take a little bit of thunder Father John Braun was good to be able to say that his beloved bride, shemasa Zanetta, and Father John would be there after the Pascha service in the early morning ironing out the wax on the floor. All right, the priest and the deacon's wife were there picking up the wax so that when we handed over the rental building, you know they wouldn't be upset at the community at the time. This is just one small example. I am thankful for the ministries Some of you, by the way, who aren't even catechumens have jumped.
Speaker 1:Jumped in to help. Jumped in to help with the agape, jumped in when you see we need to put the things away. But we have a lot of ministries that are here and if you just pull out your bulletin you can even see. You can even see in the announcements. We have there the pro-life ministry, which helps to take care of those who are seeking to come into the world, to get them safely into the world. We have the focus ministry that helps take care of some of our needy that are in the world but need some help. And then we have even but that might be mentioned in the bulletin. I don't think so. But the other one also is, for example, our burial ministry, which seeks to take care of those people who are coming to the end of their life. So we're trying to take care and do the ministry for one another of this community and to the people outside at large, from the womb to the tomb and everything in between, from serving in the altar, to helping to usher, to be part of the welcoming team, to be able to help to serve in the choir, to be on the parish council.
Speaker 1:If you look in the epistle, where it ends up saying that our Lord has ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things and the gifts that he's given to some are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry.
Speaker 1:And what's the purpose of this ministry, brothers and sisters? It's to build us up, to bring us to the maturity of faith. It is to help save us. We are here to help in God's work of saving one another and to enlighten us that, when we go out, this temple filled with the glory and the beauty of the Lord remains here. It doesn't go out to the world, but we, becoming the living temple of God, being sanctified and transformed in this place, go out into the world to be the light that the world desperately needs to see. The scriptures remind us let your light so shine before men that they see your good works and give glory to God, the Father in heaven. This is our calling, brothers and sisters, at this Feast of Theophany, where our Lord has enlightened the world and enlightens us that we would be the light to the world for him as well. In the name of the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit, amen. Blessed Feast.
Speaker 2:When thou O Lord was baptized in the Jordan, worship of the Trinity was made manifest. The Trinity was made manifest, for the voice of the Father bore witness to thee. Calling thee, his beloved son and the spirit in the likeness of a dove. Confirmed the truth of his word.