One day while walking with some children, Queen Mary was caught in a sudden shower, Quickly taking shelter on the porch of a home, she knocked on the door.  She asked to borrow an umbrella.  “I’ll send it back tomorrow,” she said. The queen had deliberately disguised herself. She had put on a hat that partly covered her face. She wore some very plain clothes. The homeowner, reluctant to give a stranger her best umbrella, offered her one she found in the attic. One rib was broken. There were several holes in it. Apologizing, she turned it over to the queen, whom she did not recognize.

 The next day she had another visitor at her door. It was a man with gold braid on his uniform and an envelope in his hand. “The queen sent me with this letter,” he said. “She also asked me to thank you personally for the loan of your umbrella.” Stunned, the woman burst into tears. “O, what an opportunity I missed. I did not give my very best.” she cried.

 Today we hear once again Christ’s story of the Last Judgment. This is the Sunday of the Last Judgment. The point of Christ’s story is simple and clear. God will judge us based on our caring service in the face of human need. The parable teaches us two basic truths concerning God’s call to service. He places this call on the life of every believer.

 The first truth we see in this parable is that God calls us to loving service. We serve a God who is described as being a loving God. The word “love,” as it is used to describe God, is not merely a good feeling that washes over us. It is not the love we see portrayed on TV or in Hollywood movies. Love is not just some “primal urge.” When the word love is used in association with God, you will always find an accompanying action. 

 God always shows His love. He does not merely say, “I love you.” But along with those words is the proof of that love. The love of God is living, and active. It is real and easily recognized. When God’s love is poured out, there is no mistaking it. St. John the Theologian said it like this in his most famous Gospel passage. “This is the way God loved the world. He gave His only-begotten Son.”

 In turn, God expects us, his children, to be loving as well. Just as we are reflections of our human parents, so, too, are we to be reflections of our heavenly Father. We are to imitate Him in our actions and attitudes. As our Father Athanasius of Alexandria has written, “God made man so that man may become as God.” The God of love calls us to loving service. It is not enough to meet together once a week and tell each other we are children of God. We are expected to live every day as His children. We are to act out our faith. Just as He is a God of giving and sacrifice, so we, too, are to give, sacrifice and serve others.

 The second truth found in this parable is that God calls us to simple service. Note the activities that Christ mentions here. Feed the hungry. Give drink to the thirsty. Show hospitality to strangers. Clothe the naked. Care for the sick. Visit the imprisoned. This parable describes acts of mercy we all can do every day. These acts do not depend on wealth, ability or intelligence. They are simple acts freely given and freely received. Any one of us could easily be involved in a number of these simple acts of kindness without stressing our time, money or strength. Christ does not tell us to fix all the world’s problems in one shot,. Rather He invites us to make a difference in a simple way: one person at a time.

 You’ll also notice that Christ equates our acts of kindness on behalf of those in need around us as acts of kindness given to Him. “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’” Dietrich Bonheoffer correctly interprets this saying of Christ. “In Jesus,” he says, “the service of God and the service of the least of the brethren were one.”

 A 19th century painting shows a long row of beggars waiting in a soup line. They are all ragged and sleazy looking. But around the head of one, barely perceptible, is a halo. One of them is Christ Himself! You may see no halo around the heads of your brothers and sisters in need. Yet to serve them is to serve Christ, for the King is hidden in them, too!

 While it is true that the type of service we are called by God to engage in is simple, that is not to say that it is without cost to us. The acts which Christ mentions in this passage all have a ring of personal compassion. They require more than simply writing a check to charity. The call of God to simple service is the call to become personally involved in the lives of those who are hurting.  It is a call to touch them with our lives.

 The story is told about man cleaning out a desk drawer. In that drawer he finds an old flashlight. It wouldn’t work. The batteries in it were badly corroded. He realized he had put the flashlight in a warm, comfortable spot. Be he also realized that the flashlight was not intended to be warm and comfortable. It was intended to give light. So it is with us. We weren’t created to be warm, safe and comfortable. You and I were made to put our lives to work. We are made to apply our patience in difficult, trying situations. We are made to let our light shine through acts of simple service.

 And so will God judge us at the Great and Awesome day of the Last Judgment.

Have you ever seen a child before a mirror for the first time?  If the child is still very small, the child will not recognize the image.  The child will enjoy seeing the other child smiling from the far side of the glass wall.  But all of a sudden, the expression on the child’s face will change.  Suddenly there is recognition.  “That’s me!”

The same thing may happen to us when we hear this familiar Gospel story.  We listen to it at first as if it were an interesting tale.  We really don’t have much to do with it.  A rather odd, but fascinating guy, this prodigal son.  No doubt this is true to life.  No doubt he is the type of person all of us have met at one time or another.  Certainly we all have some sympathy for him.

Until all of a sudden our expression changes.  “That’s me!”  Suddenly we recognize ourselves in this story.  Now we can read the whole story in the first person.  But that is the way all of Jesus’ stories work.  That is the way the whole of the Bible works.  Until we recognize ourselves among the people who walked with the Lord, we will not recognize the Lord! This prodigal son—this is the image of our own lives.  This Father—this is the image of our heavenly Father waiting for us with open arms.  Perhaps the story has become far too familiar to be so personal.   

The son asks for and is given the value of his inheritance.  The son takes the money and spends it without a thought for whose money it really is.  When he runs out, he comes to his senses and returns home.  It is a simple story.  It is so very familiar.  This over-familiarity has bred some very interesting interpretations.

So the son returns home.  What will he say to his Father?  “Father, I grew more mature in the far country.  Father, I have grown up now.  I have suffered and paid for all my sins.  I have accepted the risk of life and have become a man.  Now you must take me in.  I am at the end of my resources!”  Is that the way the lost son will speak when he come to his Father?  That’s the spin modern society would put on this story.

Today’s pop culture would invent a new end to the story.  The “new” ending would have the prodigal son sending his brother out to the far country so the brother could “grow up.”  Today’s pop culture would say it was good for the lost son to be lost for awhile.  It was good for him to sow some wild oats.  It was good for him to sin.  After all, a person has to go through this kind of thing.  One must have the courage to renounce God, today’s pop culture says.  That is so that one can be accepted by God afterward.  The son simply has to experience the fullness of life at both ends of the spectrum.

But Jesus’ parable says nothing of this.  What did the son say to his Father?  Simply this: “I have sinned against heaven and against you.”  The fact that the lost son was taken back is not because the son became more mature.  He was accepted back solely by the grace and love of God.  No one, anywhere, anytime, has any claim on God whatsoever.  It is a matter of being surprised and grabbed by God.  It is the amazing mystery that God seeks the lost.  It is the gracious mystery that heaven rejoices over one sinner that repents.  (And not over ninety-nine who have become more mature.)

God, forgiving?  God, giving an opportunity for a new start?  “No way!’ says our popular culture. Most everyone outside the Church sees God as Someone sitting up there and finding punishments for the wrongs we do. After all, pop culture says that “God” is only another word for retribution and law.  All that might be true, if it were just anyone telling us a story about a father.

But this is not just “anybody” telling the story. This is Christ Himself speaking.  And He is not merely telling us about any father.  Christ is not telling us about an alleged heaven that may be open to sinners. Christ came to earth to show us this loving and merciful Father. In Christ, the kingdom of the Father is actually in the midst of us.  He eats with sinners.  He seeks out the lost.  He is there when all others have deserted and death is our only friend.  He is the light that shines in the darkness.  He is the very voice of His Father’s heart that says, “Come home.  You can come home!”

The ultimate theme of this story, then, is not the prodigal son.  The story has been poorly titled for hundreds of years.  The story is about the loving Father.  It is about the Father who finds us.  The story is not finally about our faithlessness.  It is about God’s faithfulness.

And this is also the reason why the joyful sounds of festivity ring out from this story.  Wherever forgiveness is proclaimed there is joy and festive garments.  We must read and hear this Gospel story as it was really meant to be: good news!  It is news so good we could never have thought it up ourselves.  It is news that would stagger us if we were hearing it for the first time.  For everything about God is completely different from what we and our pop culture could possibly spin.  It is news that God has sent His Son to us and is inviting us to share in an unspeakable joy. 

The ultimate secret of this story is this.  There is a homecoming for us all, because there is a home.

There is a story of a priest who dies and is standing in line, waiting outside of heaven. He is standing there patiently, wearing his best cassock and cross.  In line just ahead of him is a guy wearing sunglasses, a loud shirt, leather jacket, and blue jeans. The priest thinks to himself, “Thank God that isn’t me. I mean, I may be dead but at least I know how to dress for that ultimate meeting with my Maker.”
 
When the two men finally make it to the front of the line St. Peter speaks to the man in the loud shirt.  “Who are you so that I may know whether or not to admit you into the Kingdom of Heaven?” The man says, “I am Joe Cohen. I am a cab driver from New York City.”  St. Peter then consults his list. When he looks up he smiles at the taxi driver.  “Take this silken robe and golden staff and enter into the kingdom of heaven.” The taxi driver puts on his robe and takes his staff and enters into heaven.  The priest then gets really excited. If a lowly cab driver from such a God forsaken place like New York City gets a silken robe and golden staff, what could be in store for a priest?

It was finally the priest’s turn.  He stood up straight and walked toward St. Peter. Then in his best preaching voice, he booms out “I am the Right Reverend Protopresbyter Joseph, pastor at St. Mary’s Church for the last 43 years.”  St. Peter then consults his list again. When he looks up this time he simply hands the preacher a plain cotton robe and wooden staff.  “You may enter the kingdom of heaven.”
 
The priest is angry. He has been a faithful disciple all these years.  Now that he stands for his eternal reward he gets what is seemingly a slap in the face. “Just a minute,” the priest says to St. Peter. “That man was a taxi driver. I was a faithful priest. He gets a silken robe and golden staff and I get this? Where is the justice in this?”  “Sir,” says  St. Peter, “here we work on results. During your 43 years at St. Mary’s Church, when you preached, people slept. When he drove his cab, people prayed.”

We have heard this Gospel reading of the Pharisee and Publican on this first pre-Lent Sunday for many years.  We tend to accept this story, even though it isn’t really the way we live our lives. Whenever we read this story we do so with a judging eye on the Pharisee. Perhaps that was Jesus’ point. Still we look at the Pharisee as the bad guy in the story and the tax collector as the good guy and that is at least a bit unfortunate.

A Pharisee was a member of the Jewish faith.  But he was not just any member of the Jewish faith. Pharisees were set apart from everyone else. They were not members of the priesthood but instead were lay folks. They were zealous about keeping the faith, particularly in matters of the law. They wanted to keep the Scriptures, the oral law, and the traditions of the Hebrew faith pure. They were the pious people of their time. They attended every Bible study and sought to obey every law down to the minutest detail. They wanted above all to be faithful. Pharisees knew how to pray. In fact they applied themselves to the art of prayer.

Today we have grown accustomed to thinking negatively of them as soon as we hear their name. However, the Pharisees were highly respected and looked up to in the Israelite world. They were the leaders of the synagogue.  I think that it is important that we see them as honored members of the Jewish community if we are to fully understand this parable. The Pharisees were the good guys. They were the best of the best in Jewish society.

On the other hand was the tax collector. This is, without question, the other end of the spectrum. A tax collector would have been seen by the community as the worst of the worst of Jews maybe even lower. Tax collectors, in the Scriptures, were Jews who worked for the ruling Roman authorities. They were considered both thieves and traitors. They were thieves because they were known for collecting more taxes than was owed and pocketing the difference. Then they were considered traitors because they served the hated Romans.

All of that, and yet somehow, some way, the Church, has turned the tables and made the good guy the bad guy and the bad guy the good guy. It is easy enough to see. After all, Jesus wants us to identify with the penitent prayer of the tax collector.  He wants us to reject the proud, arrogant prayer of the Pharisee. 

But the key is the first part of the Pharisee’s prayer.  “Thank you, God,” he prays, that I am not like other men.”  In secret, we all want to be Pharisees.  We want to be upstanding church members.  We want people to look at us as faithful Orthodox.  In fact, if we look deeply into our hearts, we may hear the same prayer.  “Thank you, God, that I am not like others: drug addicts, murderers, robbers, single mothers, protestants” or any other characters we don’t want to like.  In other words, we secretly like saying, “Thank God that’s not me.”   But, in truth, it is me.  It is us.  We all have our share in making this world the way it is.

Just like us, the people who are out there, people who make us uncomfortable, are sinners, too.  They, as well as us, need to bow down before the icon of Christ in confession.  “I confess to God Almighty…all my sins and transgressions.”  We can strive to be good Orthodox.  Let us work at being outstanding members of our mission.  Pray often.  Prepare for the Great Fast. But never, ever, stand in judgment of another. 

Look again at the world around us.  May we not say, “Thank God that’s not me.”  Rather, with the publican, say, “In your loving kindness, O Lord, forgive me for that which I have done to help make this world the way it is.”

There were some present at that very time who told him of the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered thus? I tell you, No.  But unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen upon whom the tower in Silo'am fell and killed them. Do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, No.  But unless you repent you will all likewise perish." And he told this parable. "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard.  He came seeking fruit on it and found none. And he said to the vinedresser, `Lo, these three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?' And he answered him. `Let it alone, sir, this year also, till I dig about it and put on manure. And if it bears fruit next year, well and good.  But if not, you can cut it down.'"  (Luke 13:1-9)

Several years ago I saw a rather humorous piece of TV news.  The video was of goats running wild all over the PA Turnpike.  A trailer filled with goats had overturned as a result of an accident.  The goats it was carrying scattered.  It was somewhat comical to watch PA State Police chasing and wrestling these goats down.  That image is contrasted to the images in the news this week.  These images are all too familiar.  Whole families were wandering aimlessly in the midst of destruction beyond belief. It is Haiti. People with no food, no water, nowhere to go.  Dead bodies lay in the street and in the rubble rotting.  This while totally unscrupulous looters were running off into the same rubble.  What we are seeing is surely another tragedy.

The ancient Greeks seemed to ponder long and hard on what they called “tragedy.”  I speak about the goats on the PA Turnpike for a reason.  The English word “tragedy” comes from a Greek word.  That word is “tragos” – it means “goat.”  Goats are commonly associated with stubbornness, mischief, and even damnation (as in Jesus’ story of the separation of sheep from goats at the Last Judgment).   Tragedy seems always with us: 9/11; tsunami; Katrina; Haiti. 

The questions arise every time.  Why did this happen?  Do these victims deserve this? Why does this continue to happen?  I come to you this day not with answers to these questions.  I cannot probe the mind of God for answers.   But there are many who cannot live without answers. They are well meaning individuals but are highly impatient. They would rather have a simple answer than no answer at all. And so, they are carried away by the first answer that blows in the wind. 

Remember what some of the most prominent religious sages said when 9/11 happened. “God is judging America. God is punishing America. The crashing towers of New York City is God’s wake up call.” And many of us simply accepted these explanations. 
This is not new. Bad things happened 2000 years ago when Christ was walking the face of the earth, too.  Two such tragedies were the slaughter of innocent Jews while they were offering their sacrifices in Jerusalem.  This and the unfortunate deaths that occurred when the tower of Siloam fell.  Why were innocent people treated like this?  Were they being punished for their sins? 

Christ’s answer to that was simple.   He reminds us that the sin of these victims is no greater than your sin or mine.  If the victims of these tragedies died because of their sin, certainly you and I would be among them.  And we would not be standing here talking about how sinful they were.

Maybe these people died because they were at the wrong place at the wrong time.  No, Jesus says, that is not why these people died.  In fact, Jesus is telling his hearers, don’t ask “Why?”  That is the wrong question.  When  we ask the wrong questions, we are going to naturally come up with the wrong answers.  Let us leave the question “why” to others who think themselves wiser than we are.  Today, let us follow the lead of of Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ.

In the wake of tragedy it is not so important that we know why.  It is exceedingly important that we know “What now.” In the wake of tragedy the real question is: “What are we going to do?” How is the tragedy going to change our lives? There may be any number of ways that tragedy might change our lives. Tragedy might make us bitter. Tragedy might fill us with fear. Tragedy might immobilize us. But Jesus prefers a different kind of affect. Jesus wants tragedy to bring about a positive change in our lives.  He speaks clearly of repentance.  He speaks of turning around, of change.

So Jesus follows his statements about repentance with a story. The story is about the lack of fruitfulness in a fig tree.  The orchard owner plants a fig tree and nurtures it. After three years the tree has failed to produce. So the farmer tells his caretaker to cut it down.  But the caretaker pleads for one more year, and one more year is granted. 

Thus, today, in the wake of the tragedy of earthquake in Haiti instead of asking the question “why,” ask: What am I going to do? What am I going to do with the realization that it was not me who was in that storm? What am I going to do with the wonderful fact that I am still alive, still healthy? What am I going to do with the wonderful gifts offered to me by our great God? 

For He is the one who walks in vineyard of our lives.  He says to us  simply:  “I give you today to live.  What will you do with it?”

Today, and now three times in the last month, we have served the Mystery of Holy Chrismation. In Holy Orthodoxy, Chrismation and Baptism go together. The usual order is that an infant, a baby, is Baptized and Chrismated at the same time. We have had adult converts. Their Baptisms took place several years before Chrismation. But in God’s eyes, and the eyes of the Church, that in between time is as nothing. When these adults, Kathryn, Daniel and Robert were Chrismated, it is as if they were just Baptized. And now has come the sealing of it in Holy Chrismation.  That is, they, as we, are sealed with the Holy Spirit. What does it mean to be sealed by the Holy Spirit?

There are a lot of documents that are of no value without a seal: a diploma, a deed, a will, a title, a building plan. These and other documents are useless unless they have a seal. A notary uses his or her seal to validate documents. When I went to the University of Pennsylvania as a doctoral student, I had to have a student ID card made. It had my signature and my picture on it. However, until validated, meaning that my tuition was paid, it was useless. When it was usable, it would have a sticker attached that said, "Validated."  That is what our Baptism and Chrismation is and does.  It is God’s stamp. It is God’s seal. It is God’s validation. What does this seal mean?

The Greek word for seal means to confirm, to ratify.  The same Spirit that sealed Christ also seals us. To be sealed by God in the Holy Spirit is a powerful thing!  When the prodigal son came back home, his father reinstated him as a son. He had a robe, a ring and sandals brought by his servants to be given to this son. This story is about you and me. Before you and I were Baptized and Chrismated, we were prodigal sons and daughters. Now we have received the robe, ring and sandals.

First, the robe is given to cover our shame. When Adam and Eve sinned, they realized that they were naked. The robe can be thought of as clothing of grace. It was not until the prodigal son came home that he was clothed in a robe. When the prodigal son came home, he was truly repentant. For him the robe showed that he was truly a son, a child of his father. When a person is baptized in Holy Orthodoxy, a white robe is placed upon him or her. He or she now truly becomes a child of God.

Secondly, the ring was also a symbol of rank. On the ring was a seal. When the father gave the prodigal son a ring, the son’s dignity was restored. The son had now his own identity.  He was his Father’s son once again, and could prove it!

Baptism and Chrismation are a lot like a wedding ring. They are symbols of a new way of life. It has been said that Baptism is to the Christian faith what the wedding ring is to a marriage. Like the wedding ring, baptism draws a mark on the ground between the past and the future. Like the wedding ring, it says, "From this day forward, and forever, I stand with God.”

Like marriage, Baptism involves a relationship. Baptism marks the point at which we began to follow Christ in His Church. Baptism also marks the point at which we say to God, "From this day forward, and forever, I stand with you”. Just as in marriage, two become one flesh, in Baptism, we become united with God’s Spirit. Baptism is God’s way of saying that He has not given up on us.

Thirdly, for the prodigal son the sandals given him at his return showed the son’s new status. Slaves did not normally were shoes. Only true members of the family do. The prodigal son had been fully restored!

Now, why did the father of the prodigal son give him a robe, a ring and sandals? He did so to impress that he was indeed the Father’s son. That is exactly what God does through His Holy Spirit in our Baptism and Chrismation. God confirms and impresses upon us that we are his sons and daughters, who have been given our spiritual dignity. That dignity is ours because we have been Baptized into the likeness of His only begotten son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The father of the prodigal son gave him all that he needed so that he could feel secure that he was truly a son. That is what God does in our Baptism and Chrismation. It is as if God gives us a robe, a ring and sandals. He does so that we too, can have the security that we are His adopted sons and daughters. God now owns us, once again.

To be God’s property mean that we are owned by God. There is a powerful story about an English missionary who died in the early part of the 20th century. Right after his death, his former neighbors broke into his house and started carrying away his possessions. The English Consul was notified. Since there was no lock on the door of the missionary’s house, the Consul pasted a piece of paper across it. To that piece of paper, he affixed the seal of England. The looters did not dare break the seal. Now the property belonged to one of the world’s most powerful nations.  For a Christian to be sealed in Baptism and Chrismation means that we are God’s property!

To be sealed as God’s property means that nothing can touch you. "Now it is God who makes us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us. He set his seal of ownership on us. He has put his Spirit in our hearts, guaranteeing what is to come"  This is what Paul says to the Corinthians.  To Timothy he says, "Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you. Guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.”  Kathryn, Daniel and Robert – God has given you the strength so to do!

In a recent television movie a talented teenage Country-Western Singer left home to pursue her singing career.  In so doing became estranged from her father, for she left in spite of his protests. Even after she became one of the most popular Country Western singers in the nation, there was no relationship with her father.

Years passed.  The father attempted to make contact with her.  Not knowing how to call her the father even had to send a letter to his daughter telling her that her mother had died. When the father finally came to see the daughter, in a panic she left a note and fled.  The note said she did not want to see him.

 Then one day as she rode on a bus, she sat next to an old man, with a long beard, and a large hat. From the dark glasses it was clear that he was blind. During a horrendous snow storm, the bus became lodged in a snow bank.  There was no rescue in sight. The singer began to shake.  The old man asked her what was wrong. She said that she was a diabetic.  In her rush she had forgotten her insulin. The man responded by telling her that he was a diabetic, too, and that diabetes was the cause of his blindness. He then told her not to worry because he had insulin with him, enough for both of them. Against her protests he insisted that she use the injection.

They both fell asleep on the bus, with her head on his shoulder as they awaited a rescue. When help finally came, the singer, who was feeling much better, tried to awaken the old man. She discovered that he was dead.  She noticed his insulin case.  There had only been enough insulin for one person. The old man shared what he had, and it cost him his life.

 Later the truth was discovered. The man who had saved her life and had lost his life for her sake, was her very own father.  She had not recognized him. This man, in the end, gave everything he had so that his daughter could be saved.

 At Creation God created a perfect order. By our sin, disobedience, bad choices, and behavior we caused dis-order. In spite of the alienation that we caused He sent the Patriarchs and Prophets to help us return into the order He had planned for us. When we ignored and rejected His Prophets, He came into the world Himself as an infant.  He was born of a Virgin and placed in a manger in a strange town. God took on flesh in order to make us one with Him. In the movie, if the father had totally rejected the daughter, she would have died. He could have said, “It serves her right. I wrote her. I tried to visit her. I called her. She chose to reject me. Now she has to live with the consequences.”  If God the Father had totally rejected us because we have rejected Him and His plan for us, then we would be dead this day. But He sent His only begotten son.

 He was looking for us. He took the first step when really since we were the ones who broke the relationship. He could have insisted that we take the first step. In gratitude for even being born, we should have taken the first step. But we did not. He did. God took on flesh and dwelt among us. He came to transform our nature. He came to give us life that sin was rapidly taking away. He did not come with trumpets playing to announce His arrival. He came in the most humble of circumstances, so that in discovering Him we might be transformed.

 And so, how do we live transformed lives? We do so by learning to forgive each other, forgiving even those who have broken our hearts. We do so by reducing blame. For if blame for bad behavior were the basis for cutting someone out of our lives, God would have cut us out years ago. We are transformed by praying first before trying to get back at someone who has offended us.  For we have regularly offended God. We are transformed by looking for Christ in this broken world, for it was into this broken world that Christ was born.

 The world wants to see Christ. And in some small or large way, someone each of us knows needs to see Christ shining through us. For the Christ who wishes to be born in you is also the only One who can save your life.

 Today, the Sunday that falls between December 11-17, we call the Sunday of the Holy Forefathers. The Church Fathers appointed the memory of the Patriarch Abraham and his descendants to be observed this day. It was Abraham, our Father, who left all to follow the call of God.  God told him to pack up everything and move from his family’s home.  Where would Abraham move? God said, “To a place I will tell you.”  So, not knowing where he was going, Abraham did as God told him. The place was the Promised Land. It was the very land where Christ Himself was born, died and rose from the dead. In our Holy Forefathers, we have become, like Christ, sons and daughters of Abraham. Abraham’s unflinching obedience brought him to the Promised Land. Christ’s unflinching obedience brings us to our own Promised Land – an eternal life with the Holy Trinity.

 Hear a word for Christmas from an 8th century Desert Father, Cosmas of Maiuma .  Christ incarnate makes me worthy of God. Christ humbled for me, raises me high. Christ, the giver of life, suffering in human nature, frees me from the passions. And so, I sing a hymn of thanksgiving, to Him who is glorified. Christ crucified raises me high. Christ who is slain makes me rise again with Him. Christ gives me life. And so, clapping my hands with joy, I sing to the Saviour a hymn of victory, to Him who is glorified.

19 days to Christmas. So much to do and so little time. In the midst of the holiday preparation, today we stop. Today is the Feast day of St. Nicholas. For many it is so hard to believe St. Nicholas is real. The world around us has turned him into a made up character. They have given him the name Santa Claus. But this man Nicholas was real. He actually lived and died. I am talking, of course, of none other than Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker, the Bishop of Myra.
 
What is it about Saint Nicholas that puts him at the top of the list of Saints? Next to St. John the Forerunner and the Holy Theotokos herself, only St. Nicholas has a day of the week during which he is honored.  Every week of the year on Thursday, the service to St. Nicholas is sung in the churches.

The stories of St. Nicholas are many. There is the story of the saint providing money for three women in distress. They were to be sold as slaves if their father did not raise enough funds for their dowry. Up on the housetop, St. Nicholas dropped gold coins down the chimney to save them. There is the story of the restoring to life of three boys. They were being pickled during a time of great famine. They were to be sold for food. The holy Saint while walking through the woods came by the butcher’s inn and restored the boys to health. There is the story of the Saint with Bishop Arius. Arius refused to believe that Jesus Christ was both God and human. It was said that St. Nicholas slapped Bishop Arius across the face because Bishop Arius insulted Christ.

Perhaps St. Nicholas is so loved by all because he lived out that which is at the heart of our Christian faith. He had the ability to give, to give, and to give some more. To love, to love, and to love some more. And to care, to care, and to care some more. Now this Holy Saint was a wealthy man. But he knew that true wealth was to give away all that he could. Nicholas gave his all to the Church. He stood firm in the faith even when threatened with torture and death.  He is truly a saint to be held before us to follow. He truly is a saint to lead us to Christ.

It is fashionable these days to condemn the commercialization of Christmas. You know when you hear religious carols played in the mall while hundreds rush about spending money they don’t have. Someone recently wrote, "I feel like Christmas has become nothing more than the greatest gimmick for corporations to make millions at this time of the year." Be that as it may, know this. Whether anyone realizes it or not the world is celebrating the birth of Christ. The commercial ways of doing it may not be the way we want it to. But the reality is this. You cannot take Christ out of Christmas.  It is St. Nicholas himself who helps us understand.
 
After all, could not Santa Claus help us in our celebrations? Let’s put him in his proper place.  I might like to see a separate celebration of Saint Nicholas Day.  Make this day, December 6, a national, a world-wide holiday. In fact, this is the case in many places of the world.  Today is a day set aside for service, in the tradition of the Great Saint. The greatest lesson would be to act like St. Nicholas himself. You don't need a white beard, a red suit or a bag of toys. What you need is a giving a heart, a loving soul and a willingness to share. You need a willingness to share your faith, your hopes, your dreams. You need a willingness to share with those in need. For St. Nicholas all people were and are the loving children of one God.

So let's not let the tradition of St. Nicholas falter. Let us restore it with great enthusiasm. Let us embrace the celebration of Christmas with a restored reality. Yes let us do so even with those who want to change Christmas into some sort of winter celebration or Yuletide festival. Let us help them realize that the image that they hold up as the most secular – Santa Claus—belongs to our Orthodox family. Let us not be shy about it. Let's proclaim it aloud. Let's share it with our children and grandchildren. Let's not have one child not know that the reality is that Santa Claus is our Saint Nicholas.

For the Holy Saint is truly a patron saint for all of us. He is patron of Russia, of Aberdeen, Scotland, of Greece, of seafarers,  of pawnbrokers with their symbol of three balls, of children. St. Nicholas is Patron of our own God-saved Diocese. Holy St. Nicholas is Patron of so many things. He is, however, Patron of all Christians who give: who give gifts, give self, give love. He is Patron of all who seek to be more like Christ and to show His love in our world.
May we be faithful, as St. Nicholas was faithful. May we take time at this Christmas and every Christmas to share with our family, friends and children the true story behind Santa Claus.

Columnist David Lawrence Dewey writes this. “I believe we have lost the true meaning of Christmas. That is because we have fallen into the corporate gift buying trap. Is there wrong with buying gifts? No, I don't believe so. But what is wrong is what we feel when we are buying gifts. Are we buying the gift to impress someone? Or are we buying the gift because we think it will bring a smile on someone’s face? Or are we buying a gift because it is the latest, newest gadget to come down the pike. (And I must get this for someone to impress them). What we care about is not the person, but our own self ego when we are buying. These may sound like harsh judgmental words. But I truly feel that is why Christmas has lost its true meaning. We have forgotten Christ. Maybe it is about time that we put Christ back into our Christmas”

But I say to you. Remember that Christ has never left Christmas.  Let us put St. Nicholas back into Christmas, and let him lead us to the Christ who is already there!

A recently fired professional football coach once made this comment. "There are two types of coaches in the NFL. Those that have been fired, and those that will be fired." We could also say this in regard to our Holy Gospel for today. There are two types of people in the world. Those who are hurting, and those who will be hurting. We can’t escape it. Neither can we avoid it. At some time or another, we’ll all hurt. Even being Orthodox does not give you an exemption from hurting.

In today’s Gospel we read of a woman who was hurting.  She was crippled.  She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. She had had this condition for eighteen years. Medically, it was probably a fusion of the spinal bones. What a terrible disease! Every aspect of her life had to be affected. Her hurting and bondage is symbolic of all of our hurts and needs.

This woman, to me, is one of the most powerful pictures of faith in all the New Testament. She has been in this condition for 18 years! If she had been going to the synagogue every Sabbath for those 18 years, she had attended some 1,000 services there. She had been sick for 18 years. She had not been healed. But still she believes in God! She prays. But even when it seems like God isn’t going to answer the way she wants, she remains faithful. She comes to the services, in spite of the fact that no one would think a thing about her if she did not. She had suffered for years while seemingly God had only watched. And still she remained faithful!

What does that say to the mentality that abounds today! If we have a headache, we run to the medicine bottle and knock ourselves out. She was bent double, yet she came to the house of God to worship! We allow the slightest bump in the road of life to derail us and cause us to want to throw in the towel. She persisted in her faith, even when life didn’t go her way. She did so because she loved the Lord her God! I think she continued to be faithful because she knew that God knew best. I think she still believed in her heart that God would one day answer her prayer for healing. I think she knew the truth that God was worthy of her worship, whether He healed her or not! She loved Him and she would worship Him in spite of the obstacles she faced. She was committed to the Lord!

.  We, like this woman, continually need to be feeding ourselves with holiness. And that is because we’re constantly feeding ourselves with the unholiness of the world.  So we must do something to change that situation.  If we do not meditate upon holy things, we won’t become holy. The purpose of our gathering together as Orthodox Christians is to worship.  It is to expect God to do something to us by partaking of His Holy Mysteries.  It is to have enlightenment.  It is to have the medicine of immortality within us. But, this faithful woman, bent over for 18 years, did not question.  She just came to church faithfully.

And one Sabbath day in that synagogue, it is Christ who is teaching. The woman appeared in the synagogue as usual. Our Lord sees her. He calls to her. This had to be noticed by the crowd as unusual. After all women at that time were generally ignored. Why then did Christ take notice of her? Why did he make a point to respond to her need immediately and publicly? In New Testament times women, lepers, prostitutes, tax collectors, and widows were the most oppressed, ignored, hurting, and hopeless of people.  Yet these are the very people to whom Jesus ministered most often and most powerfully.

Have you ever felt that God does not take personal interest in us petty humans? Perhaps there are many things that you are going through.  Maybe you feel your prayers are unanswered. Luke’s Gospel speaks plainly to this. We have a Lord who notices the hurting. We have a Lord who has compassion on the burdened. And who is Christ to the hurting and burdened today?  It is us. It is you and me. We are the Body of Christ in the world today. As His followers we have the responsibility to do just as Christ did! We cannot ignore the hurting or be unresponsive to the sorrowful and troubled. We pray, of course, for those who are hurting, troubled, sick or in pain. But simply praying, though powerful and helpful, is not enough. Visiting, serving, helping hurting people should be our first priority in life.
As Luke’s story continues we see that Jesus had strong words for those who ignored hurting people. The local religious leader was more focused on religious rules and maintaining the order of service than in ministering to hurting people. He had no joy, no praise, and no relief at this woman’s healing. Jesus was greatly angered by this uncaring, indifferent response.

After all, our Lord came to this earth for the purpose of straightening out crookedness.  John the Forerunner quotes the Holy Prophet Isaiah. “The voice of him that cries in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.  Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:”  The Forerunner predicted it, and Christ made it so. Again, we find the promise on the lips of the Holy Prophet Isaiah. Speaking of Christ, he says this. “And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.”

 Only God can make that which is crooked straight.  “And Jesus laid his hands on her.  And immediately she was made straight.  And she praised God.”  The prophecy of Isaiah was fulfilled.  The woman was healed.  Because she was in church – no matter what!

“But God said to him, `Fool! This night your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."

 The Fathers tell us that our life is not lengthened by an abundance of possessions in the material world.  It is, therefore, foolish for us to concern ourselves with getting them.  And perhaps, they tell us, it is even more foolish to hold on to them. All too often, we waste time and energy worrying about “stuff.” 

Our Lord knew the very questions we ask ourselves.  “What shall I eat?  What shall I drink? What shall I wear?” Of course, if we have nothing, these questions take on a different meaning. The person who is starving asks, “What shall I eat?” But that is a different question when we have things in abundance. The poor ask the same questions as do the rich.  But they do so with a different reason, and to a different end. We see this in the parable from the Gospel of St. Luke today.

 The rich man in Jesus’ story makes several mistakes. First, he worries. He worries not that he will lose his “stuff.”  He worries because he’s go too much! He has had an abundant harvest. He worries about how he will enjoy it.  And he worries about how he will protect it.  Second mistake: he takes the credit for God’s blessing.  Listen to what he says.  He talks about “my fruits” and “my goods.”  He does not take into account that God is the provider of all.  Third mistake: he makes plans for a long life.  Now, to be sure, this man has no assurance of a long life.  He simply says to himself, “Eat, drink, and be merry.”  He ignores the reality that too much food and too much drink usually leads us to indulge other passions as well.  Thus such indulgence makes our offenses even greater than before.

 Let it be said plainly. We are all rich in material goods.  We dwell in a land that is the symbol of prosperity. America is the symbol of wealth and consumption. Despite the facts of recent economic woes – we are still in abundance. We see that most when we compare our styles of life to billions in the world. The rich man in the parable looked at his fields, and his harvest.  He decided he needed bigger barns to store his wealth. How often do we check on the value of our property and investments? The rich man decided he could do better.  He was sure he could get more.  The more he could get, the more he thought he could live a life of comfort and ease.

 Let us ask ourselves today.  What is it I am working for?  How many hours do I spend going about the business of making money?  For what purpose?  To what end?

 Again, let it be plainly said.  Money is not evil.  Food and drink and clothing and shelter are all necessary. But when was the last time you stopped to give thanks to God for blessing you and protecting you? Think of the skills each of us uses to obtain our daily bread, and the other things we need to live.  Did not God give us these abilities? And did not God give us the opportunities? What do we do with the material things we possess? Do we remember those in need?  Do we give alms to help them? Our Father among the Saints, John Chrysostom is very clear. "God has invested capital with you. It is not your property. It is a loan by him. This loan is made to give you opportunity to exercise mercy to those who are in need."

 Where should the rich man in today’s parable have stored his abundance? The Fathers say of this rich man, that he had no need to build bigger barns. He could have stored his surplus grain, the Fathers say, in the bellies of the poor.  Not only would it have been safer there, but then he would not have had the need to build.  Neither would he have to worry about fire, or theft, or decay affecting his riches.  And, when it came time for him to give an account of his life, he need not worry that he had neglected others.  He would have been merciful to them, as God had been merciful to him. Then the angels would not have had to come to him to take his life from him.  He was, after all, reluctant to give up his life. After all, he loved this world and its pleasures so much. Instead, he would have already given his life into the hands of God.  And he would have departed this life willingly, in order to be with God. This is same God who so richly had blessed him to begin with.

 Brothers and sisters, we are rich in material possessions. Let us not be like this rich man. Let us instead give thanks to God for all that He has given us.  Let us seek to use what He has given to glorify Him.  Let us use what He has given us to care for His people. Let us give from the abundance we have received to support the work of the Church. Let us give from the abundance to help those in need. Let us use wisely the time and resources, which God has entrusted unto us, to the glory of God, and the salvation of our souls.

 On this Stewardship Sunday, we receive with thanks the financial pledges of support of our membership for 2010. We thank God for the ongoing financial support. We thank God for the sacrifices you and others have made for the past twelve years to keep this mission going. May your generosity not be forgotten. May God bless you that you may live in peace and joy that your pledges may be fulfilled.

The story of the Good Samaritan has to be one of the most familiar in the entire Bible.  I am sure we have all heard the story many times.  I’m sure we’ve heard many sermons based on the story.  Most of those sermons surely had the same application.  We are to try to be like the Good Samaritan.  We are to regard any human being in need as our neighbor.  All neighbors have a rightful claim on our concern and compassion. 

 Now, to be sure, that is the central point of the story.  But today I would like to focus our attention on another person in the story.  This person is often neglected.  It is the man who lies by the side of the road.  He is beaten, helpless.  He is totally dependent on the care which somebody else must extend to him. 

 In this story, it is obvious that the Samaritan is the “good guy.”  He’s the guy we’re supposed to identify with.  The priest and the Levite are the “bad guys.”  Thus our attention is usually drawn away from the helpless, pathetic figure lying wounded by the side of the road.  There seems not much to prompt us to identify with him.

 Let’s think about him for a moment.  Let’s think about what it means to be on the receiving end of help.  For every person who cares for another, there is someone who is being cared for.  It is said that it is easier to receive help than to give it.  Let me suggest that it is very hard to be dependent on help that comes from outside of us.

 Now don’t get me wrong.  I will be the last to want to slight caregivers.  I have been in the full-time position of care giver myself for many years. This includes not only being a Priest, but a counselor, therapist and psychiatric technician as well. In my years as a caregiver, I have often thought about what it would be like to be on the receiving end of a Good Samaritan’s care.  We don’t often identify with such people.  But I am sure that there are people sitting here today who are hurting.  They are wounded, lying along the roadside of life. They are in need of a Good Samaritan and his or her care giving.

 And if there are such persons among us today, we have come upon part of the problem.  Most of the time, if we are hurting, we try to keep our wounds hidden.  We’ve been taught to cover them up with a smile and a stiff upper lip.  We have been taught to solve our own problems.  We’re not to burden others.

 We have been taught to identify with winners, with success, with the strong.  You know, “pull yourself up by your own bootstraps!” Yet no one is a winner all the time.  Everyone needs to be cared for.  Everyone is dependent.  How can we be that way gracefully--with dignity?  It is great to be adult, grown up, responsible for ourselves completely.  But in a way we are not more than a tiny little child.  We are totally dependent and completely vulnerable to the shocks of life and death.  There are times when each of us yearns for arms around us.  We want at times to know someone is there, if only to listen.

 But it is hard to open ourselves to receive help.  That is more true in our “winning is the only thing” society.  It seems degrading to admit that we are unable to solve our own problems by ourselves.  We feel ashamed.  We feel like real losers.  We have not reached that level of self-sufficiency which has been our lifelong goal. We have been taught that we must be winners, or we are next to worthless.  Therefore any losses we sustain must be borne silently and alone.  After all, we don’t want anyone else to know we don’t have it all together.  We don’t want them to see that we are hurting.  We don’t want them to see that we are vulnerable.  They might think we are losers.

 This is often accompanied by a shaky view of Christianity.  We get the idea that being a good Christian means never being found lying in the ditch.  The feeling we get is that we have less than adequate faith if we need help.  We measure our worth by how well we handle life.  If we are strong and successful, we must be good Christians.  If we are beaten down, somehow our value before God is at risk if not lost completely.
 
With that view it becomes very hard to ask for help.  All that we have and are flows from God.  All of life comes as a free gift of God.  Our value is not dependent on who we are, what we do, or how well we handle life’s problems.  We are children of God.  Our life and worth were determined when God became human in Jesus Christ.  Jesus is the Good Samaritan who does the caring – for us. 

We begin the Nativity fast today. This time of preparation for the Holy Nativity of our Lord is a gift.  It is a gift given to remind us of the care that God has given us.  God got involved.  He got involved with us.  He sent His most valuable resource, His Son Christ, our Lord, in our time of need. During these next weeks it will be easy for us to forget that and focus on our selves, our wants, our pleasures.  It will be a temptation to forget Christ just because the rest of the world wants us to.  Don’t fall into the temptation. 

 If today’s story of the Good Samaritan is to mean anything for us this Nativity fast time, let it be this.  That we remember how God through Christ got involved with our eternal salvation.  That we sacrifice our own personal wants and pleasures to be involved with Christ and His Church.  That we remember our time is short.  Christ is coming.  He will soon be here.  Let Him find us as close to Him as we can get.