Saint John's Eastern Orthodox Church
1101 Bell Street, Amarillo, Texas, 79106 (806) 355-0683
Message from Father David
......Arise o sleeper, and arise from the dead and Christ
shall give you Light...
Ephesians 5 v.17
"Brief Encounters" and "Unwanted Conversations"....Reflections
needed for January and February
In this season of the Orthodox Church, as it is established in
America, we find ourselves that "brief encounters and "unwanted
conversations" happen quite frequently.
It turns out we who are seeking peace, tranquility, wholeness, a
sense of satisfaction and a joyful celebration.. have challenges!
The challenge is darkness of mood and shadow thoughts that can
disrupt us in the midst of the progress of our lives. Temptation?
Distraction? Preoccupation?
In reflecting on the progress we have made, and the progress dreamed
about for the future a "something" in the present stuns us, captures
our attention, moves us in a negative way. This "something" grates
us! Not fostering greatness or success.
Our heart, the seat and "tabernacle" of our soul shrivels and
becomes smaller than the generosity felt just a split-second before.
The positive "something " lost is the sense of being a servant of
good, We want good to flourish. This is our 'brief encounter"...a
reluctance, a hesitation. that can open horizons not imagined. A
"'newness" strange but exciting that disrupts the
normal requires us to pause, give thanks, evaluate and to change
aspects of our perception.
This becomes the "unwanted conversation" that we can have with
ourselves and need not be avoided for it is the gift of this season.
The gold, the incense, the myrrh ...the precious gift of goodness,
the spirit of prayer rising, the healing of wounds...the gifts of
the Magi brought from the East, the Orient. Holding onto the Gifts,
let us return to and carry them lightly! Preparing ourselves for the
other "unwanted conversations".
These new yet familiar preoccupations.....Cnn, Espn, Fox News, the
mail..cards, catalogs ,the Globe News, pleas of all sorts Oxfam,
IOCC, OCMC, and a Church mailing such as this one.
These "brief encounters" lay siege to our best laid plans to remain
in the "flow". The gift of the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth. We
have been created to "be beautiful sons and daughters "of God. The
Master we invoke in the trisagion of the many Orthodox services of
this season of December, not only January and February.
As a reminder.. may we become serious about the "four-day round" of
Liturgical services of the Nativity and also the Theophany that
needs to be planned for. In this year the Triodion (3 week
preparation) of Pascha begins early in February.
We can lend ourselves in the realization of the full worth of
Christ's humility of his Nativity just past. The present feast of
his revelation in baptism by our patron, John the Baptist and
Forerunner accompanied by the voice of the Father, "this is my
Beloved Son,...hear you Him,,"
Then most importantly the Paschal season where He suffers
humiliation by His chosen people who choose to crucify Him and
ignore the immortality won for us by His trampling down death by his
death bringing life to the whole world.
These indelible "brief encounters" and "unwanted conversations" are
upon us this January and February. May we devote ourselves and one
another to these moments and the wonders which we can have revealed
to us again in this present and miraculous time where we
respond...."He is and ever shall Be..'
Also, on the Sundays when Fr. David is not present we have Bible Study at 11:00 am, with the church opening earlier so that we may all enter and prepare ourselves through prayer and meditations.
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