Each year as we celebrate Thanksgiving, I’m always reminded how I go through most of the year taking for granted how thankful I should be to God. This year with the day before Thanksgiving being the Feast of the Entrance of the Theotokos in the Temple it really hit home about not being thankful. Without Joachim and Anna presenting their daughter in the Temple, the “wheels” would not have continued in motion for God to become Incarnate. We owe grateful thanks to Joachim and Anna!

Well……I lived up to my words from our Annual Meeting yesterday! Here I am writing again! We had our Annual Parish meeting yesterday and I am so excited that one of the exercises at the meeting was to hear from folks what our next big projects are. Too often, meetings focus on what we did (that’s good), but we don’t focus enough on what we do next. Our focus for 2008 will be the Eucharist and Communication. Thank you Lord, for communicating Your love for us each day! Now it’s off to Chicago for more meetings…..

Someone in my previous parish taped the Divine Liturgy on Pascha and then gave it to one of the shut-ins of the parish. Later that week as I visited the shut-in, she told me she had listened to the tape and began to compliment me on giving such a wonderful sermon. Of course my pride and ego love to hear something like that, but I had to ‘fess up to her: the sermon was St. John Chrysostom’s Paschal Homily! I guess the preaching of the “golden-mouthed” has stood the test of time!

I made a promise to start writing again with the beginning of the Church New Year….and here it goes! These are VERY random thoughts: 1) How come we as human beings tend to, very often, make things more complicated than they really are? I’m assuming I’ll struggle to find that answer until my final days here on earth. 2) Say a prayer for the newly-departed Joseph. Joe was a parishioner of mine in my first parish who just passed away yesterday. He had Parkinson’s disease. Joe converted to Orthodoxy very late in life (with the strong urgings of a certain priest’s wife!) and finished his time here on earth with all of his family and church friends present with him. He was a good, hard-working man, and I can’t help but think we need more like him. 3) Tonight we begin the cycle of services for the consecration of St. George Serbian Church here in the KC area. I’m still not aware what Saints’ relics will be in the Altar, but I’m always struck at a Liturgy of the powerful connection there is in celebrating the Liturgy literally on the top of the earthly remains of a saint. I know they intercede for us constantly!

One of the central themes of our readings from St. Gregory of Nazianzus on Paedagogus recently has been giving ourselves to God.  Here is a way of doing that: When something unexpected happens (good or bad), don’t ask God: “Why me?” or “How come right now? I’ve got so many other things happening!” Just say: “Let Your will be done!” And then, take a deep breath, and move on. It might be helpful if I would pay attention to what I just wrote more often! By giving ourselves to God, we are also trusting in His Holy Will and not giving ourselves to our un-holy wills. Didn’t I read somewhere “In God we trust?”