When God Spares us from Storms

The past seven days have been stressful and confusing for our community. The constant changing path of Hurricane Ian was a rollercoaster of emotions. One day we were in the bullseye followed by all clear the next day. In the end, Saint Nicholas once again interceded for our safety to God, and God spared us another disaster.

What was good for Tarpon Springs ended up being catastrophic for our neighbors to the south in Ft Myers and Naples and other areas of Florida. Walls of water and severe winds destroyed entire neighborhoods and several have unfortunately lost their lives. It makes you think. What would have happened if the storm had come to Tarpon Springs like once predicted? We must be more than thankful. We must now be generous.

As the Gospel today challenges us, “As you wish that men would do to you, do so to them.” (Luke 6.31) Christ continues, “Love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High.” (Luke 6.35) This Gospel challenge is perfect for today’s reality.

It goes without saying that we would want others to come to our aid if we had been destroyed by Hurricane. We MUST then go to their aid, and we must never ask for anything in return. That is what the Gospel calls us to this week. Saint Nicholas has been our protector for generations. We are obligated by our love for God and Saint Nicholas to be the hope for others during disasters.

I have requested the Parish Council establish a “Hurricane Ian Relief Fund.” We ‘kicked off’ the fund on Thursday evening during our Doxology and Divine Liturgy. You will be hearing more about the relief fund in the coming days and weeks. Once our brothers and sisters in Ft Myers and Naples and other affected communities let us know the specific needs, we will be ready to help!

I invite you to consider how you will be able to help. There will be many opportunities from ‘getting dirty’ to help clean, to digging deep into your pockets to help rebuild. We will all be asked to do something, maybe more than one thing. Now is our chance to express our thanks by helping those in need, and expect nothing in return.

Στο ευαγγέλιο της Κυριακής ο Χριστός μας λέγει να αγαπάμε χωρίς να περιμένουμε να αγαπηθούμε.

Ο Χριστός επίσης μας λέγει να συμπεριφέρεστε όπως εσείς θέλετε να σας συμπεριφέρονται. Πόσο πάνσοφα λόγια! Βλέπετε αδερφοί μου σήμερα ποσό επίκαιρα είναι τα λόγια του Χριστού μας. Πόσοι και πόσοι άνθρωποι βασανίζονται μέσα σε σχεσεις περιμένοντας ανταλλάγματα. Οι σημερινές σχέσεις βασίζονται στο «Σαγαπω για να με αγαπήσεις» αν αυτό δεν γίνει τότε πάμε κάπου αλλού. Και βλέπουμε οι νέοι μας υποφερουν ψάχνοντας απεγνωσμένα μια αγάπη φτιαγμένη από ανταλλαγές, μια εικονική αγάπη, που η έννοια της προέρχεται από τη σύγχρονη κοινωνία καταναλωτισμού και ναρκισσισμού . Καταφεύγουν όλοι στους ψυχολόγους για να λύσουν τα άλυτα προβλήματα! Γιατί δεν μας αγαπάνε ,γιατί δεν μας βγαίνουν όλα όπως τα υπολογίσαμε! Η απάντηση είναι απλή:Διότι δεν μαθαμε πως να αγαπάμε. Δεν μάθαμε τι είναι αγάπη . 

Αυτό λοιπόν μας υπενθυμίζει η σημερινή ευαγγελική περικοπή όπου ο Χριστός μας λέγει :

Αγαπάτε χωρίς να περιμένετε να σας αγαπήσουν και εκεί θα νιώσετε την αγάπη . Όλοι μας έχουμε την ανάγκη να αγαπηθούμε και να μας αγαπάνε . Όμως πρέπει σε κάθε σχέση η κάθε φιλία η κάθε Γάμος να αρχίζει με την ανώτερη αγάπη αυτή που ο Χριστός μας προτείνει :Μην αγαπάς μόνο για να αγαπηθείς η γιατί σε αγαπούν ,απλά αγάπα και τότε θα Πλημμυρίσει καρδιά σου αγαπη .

Δωσε κάτι,πχ ενα κομμάτι πίτα και μη περιμένεις να σου δώσουν πίσω . Δωσε μια αγκαλιά παρηγοριάς χωρίς να περιμένεις να την πάρεις πίσω . Ο Θεός βλέπει και την ώρα ανάγκης θα σου στείλει μυριάδες αγκαλιές .

Αμην

Greetings in Christ! 

It is dually with great joy and solemnity that I write this letter following the great storm that was on our doorstep. In willful thanksgiving I pray to our Christ, God and to His Saints and our ceaseless intercessors St. Nicholas and the Archangel Michael, for guiding and protecting us unharmed through the storm. At the same time I pray for the renewal, peace, and health of our brothers and sisters in Christ who were in the path of this great thalassic storm. Our Parish has begun a relief fund from Wednesday night after the Great Doxology and Divine Liturgy that was held in thanksgiving for our deliverance. If we are at all able to provide relief both spiritual and physical in nature, to our brothers and sisters in distress, we should do so with joy so that they might be lifted up again and rejoice in Christ God.

 On Saturday the twenty fourth of September we successfully hosted the first regional GOYA event of the year. The 2022 2nd Annual  St. Nicholas GOYA Dodgeball tournament was a fantastic example of community, on a grander scale than our internal community alone. We received 100 participating Goyans at the doorstep of our cathedral in the morning. We prayed the daily orthros together, and proceeded with the sport activity in the Spanos Pappas Community Center. One thing that makes this event unique is the conscious decision to remove the barrier of parish allegiance by randomizing the teams. By doing so, the opportunity to create lasting bonds of kinship becomes plausible as we provide opportunities to see each other as brothers and sisters, friends and neighbors in Christ. Rather than competition against each other to prove superiority or capability. 

 As a side note, If we desire the latter, we have the whole world to look to, and there are no shortages of local teams to join and support to satisfy those desires. However in the church especially as in all things, everything that we do should be focused on Christ, whether it relates to the children of our community or our adults.

 This Coming Wednesday the fifth of October, we have our second Parish Ministry Night to look forward to! The first instance of this new ministry was a wonderful success, we had over 80 parishioners of all ages, representing all of our ministries. The topic of learning in September was concerning the Holy Cross. This month we will turn our attention to the Holy Protection of the Theotokos! We hope to see you at six in the evening as we begin with Great Vespers, followed by dinner, break out groups for learning and discussion, and finally dessert before ending the evening.

 Today we will have heard from the Gospel of Luke, 6:31-36. My challenge for us this week is simple: read the Gospel over as many times as you might feel necessary to absorb its message, contemplate the message and the weight they place on our own thoughts, words and deeds. Identify something that you might struggle with concerning this message, and finally make a concerted effort to adjust yourself toward Christ's teaching. The greatest enemy we have in reaching salvation in Christ is ourselves individually. The ego is often what prevents us from coming closer to Christ, and blocks us from salvation. The larger we inflate our egos, we become less sensitive to the needs of our own souls, and that of our neighbors, and quickly a jaded sense of reality consumes us. Opposing Christs call for us to become child-like, our ego prevents us from acting in God's Love. The deflation of our egos in the opposite sense allows us to see more clearly the benefit and joy of Christ’s calling for us to come closer to him as one.

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Memorials

 John Karagianis - 1 year

Eftyxia "Effie" Mitsias - 1 year

Charlyn Paskalakis - 1 year

Elias Markonios - 5 years

Demetri Costas - 20 years

John Tsangaris - 43 years

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