Almost two millennia before Christ lived a wealthy man who was respected for his piety and faith in God. When he reached the age of seventy-nine, God permitted a number of trials and tribulations to befall him. In one day he lost all his possessions and his children. He became ill and his body suffered great afflictions. He was tempted by Satan, but through all the trials and tribulations he remained steadfast in faith and obedience to God. The man's name was- JOB!
In the Old Testament we read about the life of Job in the book that is attributed to him. Job is the icon of patience and perseverance. We learn to deal with life's many pressures by contemplating the experiences of Job. We recognize a man who stays focused on God rather than on his own suffering. He does not turn away in moments of weakness but endures the struggles of life. Job's integrity as a faithful steward of God remains intact.
The Fathers of the Church call Job "a true man" who was "patient" with God. They speak of the sufferings of Job as being illogical according to human reasoning but comprehend this in the respect and faith given to God's wisdom. St. John Chysostom writes"... Job had a zeal for sincere actions; that is why the text says he was 'godly and true'."
If we believe that we come into the world with nothing and leave this world with nothing, then we must admit that all we have during our life time belongs to someone else who entrusted it to us to manage to the best of our ability. That somebody is God to Whom everything belongs!
When Job was stripped of his family, his position, and his possessions, he did not choose to blame God, but said,"Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return; the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord" (Job 1:21). Job believed that it was God Who took all these things away from him. Rather than challenging God by desiring to know the reason why all this has befallen him, he thanks God and praises Him: "... blessed be the name of the Lord." This is his consolation it was as the Lord had willed! St. John Chysostom explains:"Why has He decided it in this way?...When He made me rich, I did not seek to know why He had given me riches, and I no more seek to know now why He has taken them away from me. For did He give them to me because I deserved them? Did I receive them in exchange for my good intentions then? He had decided to give, and He did it; He has decided to take back, and He has done it. It is the sign of a godly spirit to entrust everything to the will of God and ask for neither an accounting nor explanations."
The Book of Job deals with our relationship with God. It puts life into a perspective that is of paramount importance for the Orthodox Christian steward. When we think that everything we possess in this world is our treasure, we just need to turn to Job to realize that this life is temporal, and it is life eternal that we must seek. Job distinguishes himself by his patience, love, and trust in our Heavenly Father. Read the Book of Job and learn how he faced many of the same issues we deal with today. As St. Hesychius wrote concerning Job: "Only patience can save- only she can fulfill the pressing need; it is with help that we re-establish the righteousness of the soul and of thoughts. Because she is the turnkey for the kingdom of heaven; she has also established the gateway to it according to the words of Paul: 'pursue what is good...rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks' (1 Thes 5:15-18).
A Reminder: As we near the end of our parish fiscal year, don't forget to send in the remainder of your Stewardship Pledge if it is still outstanding. On behalf of the Parish Board I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who participated in our parish stewardship program for the past year. Everyone in the State of Michigan has been hit hard because of the economic recession. However, your faithfulness, your dedication and your priority for making God number One in your life has kept St. Demetrius Church a vibrant, active, and worshipping community! Thank you so much for prayerfully and financially supporting our parish! Soon you will be receiving your Stewardship Pledge Card for 2010; please fill in your stewardship pledge card and send them in by November 14, 2009, in order for the Board to make next year's budget. Again, thank you! -Fr. Dusan Koprivica
Another Reminder: It is wonderful that we continue to pray for one another during the Divine Liturgy! I take these prayers seriously, as I offer the names to God in intercession. Adding more names to the list after Liturgy has begun and bringing them into the altar, is a distraction for me and for all who are worshipping. Please try to have the names of the people I need to pray for that day listed before Liturgy begins which is 9:30 am. You can leave a message on the Church phone if you know you cannot make it in time. Otherwise we will include those names for the following week. Thank you for your consideration on this matter, and continue to pray for one another! -Fr. Dusan
Parish Outreach: During the Month of October, St. Demetrius Church and the Sisterhood will be collecting donations for the "Book Angels" program. We will collect money to purchase "Scholastic Books" (New books that are greatly discounted in price) for the underprivileged children in our community. This is the first time we will try this out and partner with an elementary school. Our goal is to purchase a book for every kindergartener and first grader at Vandercook Elementary School, where Diane McQuillan is principal. We will do a special collection at Coffee Hour on October 25th, and present our donation on St. Demetrius Day October 26th. Please make checks to St. Demetrius Church; memo: BOOK ANGELS.
In the name of the Father and of Son and of the Holy Spirit. When the temple guard, the soldiers who used to keep order in the House of God, were sent by the temple authorities to seize the Lord, they returned without success, as they had not been able to lay hands on Him. When sternly asked: “Why did you not bring Him back with you?” - they replied: “No one every spoke like this Man.” There was power in the words of Christ the Savior. But that power was not there in the words of His disciples, because the force that spoke through Him was divine, while human weakness alone spoke through them. Even when the disciples had seen the Resurrected One with their own eyes, they bid in fear, locking their doors. Despite everything, they did not believe. They doubted, even when they saw Him on the mountain in Galilee, as the Evangelist Matthew tells us. Some worshipped Him, but others doubted, believing it to be a ghost.
A few weeks later, on the feast of Pentecost, everything changed. Less than a month had passed since the Lord had died at the place of the skull, in full view of everyone, and then risen again, showing Himself to be faithful and true. Suddenly there was a great noise of troubled voices—and Christ’s disciples came out of the house and bore witness to the Risen Christ in front of a whole crowd of people. Everything in them had changed: their fear, timidity and confused speech had gone, as if they had never existed. They spoke so that everyone could understand, even visitors from distant lands who did not know the language well. Their words were now reaching everyone. Why? What was happening? They were able to bear witness because the divine power of the Lord had descended on them not in a human way, not through flesh and blood, but directly through the Holy Spirit; so they could openly say: “This Jesus, God has raised from the dead, whereof, we are all witnesses.”
This is an important saying, which we should take to our hearts, like those witnesses. Every Christian is a witness for God. Think for a moment what a witness is in our ordinary life. In court, a witness must describe truthfully what he has seen and heard and tell what he really knows honestly and truly. There are false witnesses and slanderers, but a true witness speaks only the truth—and not just the truth, but a truth that he knows well personally. So the power of Christian witness lies in what we say about the Lord whom we know, about the grace we have experienced, the blessing that is ours and the faith which is in our hearts. If we do not have that Spirit, that power, then we are bad disciples.
The apostles said: “He has been raised by God and we are the witnesses thereof’ - because they knew it, they had seen it with their own eyes and had experienced it. But what about us? When we pray to the Lord after taking Holy Communion, do we not touch Him? All true faith is contact with the Lord, but once there has been living contact with God, with the Risen Christ who has saved us, it means we can honestly and courageously witness to the world about our hope, our consolation and our joy.
Our joy to the Lord, who loves the world, trying to save each man and seeking every soul that has erred. We do not say this just because of reports by others. We ourselves must be witnessed of His Spirit and His power. Let us pray today for the most important thing of all – that the Spirit of the Lord, which is promised to us, to each one of us, should come to us and touch our hearts. Then we shall say, not in vain, but out of the experience of our hearts, that we know our Lord and have known the touch of the Spirit of Christ and of God. Then we shall have the right to say: “Yes, we know Him, Whom we have loved, Who has loved us, saved us and given us the gift of eternal life.” To Him we all cry: “Heavenly King, Comforter, Spirit of Truth, come and make your home in us.” Amen.
Archpriest Alexander Men was a great Russian Orthodox missionary and theologian who proclaimed Christ by his word, life and his martyrdom in 1990.
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His Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah Archbishop of Washington Metropolitan of All America and Canada |
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