My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ God,
Christ is in our midst! He was, is, and ever shall be.
"Action speaks louder than words" is an age old proverb.
Oftentimes, people will say one thing and do another. A person should never boast about anything not only before but also after one has achieved it. You won't be able to work harder to achieve your next goal if you do not come out of the pride of your first achievement.
Something similar is written in the Holy Scripture. Saint James the Holy Apostles speaking about faith and works writes, "What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,' but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, 'You have faith, and I have works.' Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works" (St. James 14:1-18).
The faith that saves is a complete faith (faith and works): not just the mind believing and the tongue confessing, but the whole man trusting in the Living God. Static faith does not save. We must nurture our faith in God and love for Him through our works (our actions).
We, Orthodox clergy and faithful together, are the living Church. We are the body of Christ and He is the Head of the Church. Saint Paul writes: "For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another" (Romans 12:4-5). Our mission is one and the same, the salvation of mankind. Also Saint Paul in his first epistle to the Corinthians writes, "For in fact the body is not one member but many. If the foot should say, 'Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body,' is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear should say, 'because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,' is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? It the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. And if they were all one member, where would the body be? But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, 'I have no need of you'; not again the head to the feet, 'I have no need of you.' ... "that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored all the members rejoice with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually" (1 Cor. 12:12-27).
I pray that you will meditate on what Saint Paul wrote for us and all those fellow Christians in the future. As members of the body of Christ we have been given divine gifts, gifts that should be used for the good of all. All the members of the Church should be active and energized to do God's work here on earth. Complacency is not acceptable. Lack of interest is not acceptable. Negativism is not acceptable. Lack of love for Christ and the Church is not acceptable. Hypocrisy is not acceptable. Laziness is not acceptable. Pride and ego are not acceptable. Selfishness is not acceptable. What is acceptable is unconditional love for Christ and our Holy Orthodox Christian Church.
We are all asked to put our shoulder to the wheel and move our parish forward. We should not allow our parish to be stuck in one place indefinitely. We all need to share in the work of our local church and to support it by becoming engaged and by volunteering our services. Thus far the total responsibility of operating the church has fallen on the few volunteer members of the Parish Council and it is just not acceptable.
The parish needs volunteers for everything. Volunteers are needed for the parish ministries, for the annual Greek Festival, for fund-raising events, for visiting the sick in the hospitals and nursing facilities, for local charities, etc. We, as a parish, need to expend our horizons and have an outreach program to extend our services beyond the borders of our parish. This includes our Metropolis of Chicago and Archdiocese.
We, as a parish, cannot afford to remain inept and inert. If this happens the parish will die from within. Of course, this is not all. The Orthodox Christian members of Saint Andrew need to do their very best to learn as much as possible about what they believe, to have a prayer life, to have a sacramental life, to have philanthropic life, and to be willing to strengthen their spiritual life altogether. Only then can we, by the grace of God, become a vibrant, dynamic, strong, useful, and productive Christian community.
Thank you for listening and for your prayers.
In Christ's service,
+Father George