For the last several days I can’t get this word out of my head. Yes, I have been walking around saying, “complicated.” Why? No, I am not losing my mind, but denial is the first sign of losing your mind, so I guess I am not sure (I may be losing it). Actually, I have not been strolling around, chanting the word, “complicated,” the entire thought has been, “It isn’t that complicated.” You see, things are beginning to make a lot of sense in the way they are unfolding and shaping up in our Community. What may have once been considered “complicated,” isn’t anymore.
As a young Priest I am faced with an awesome task (young or old, just being a Priest is an awesome task), the task of “building a Church.” When studying at the Seminary and pondering our future assignments, my classmates and I shared the idea that, “we didn’t want to build Churches.” We figured that the generations of Priests before us were responsible for that task, we were preparing to build programs and fill those Churches. When arriving to St. Demetrios in August of 2004, after catching my breath, the first thing I did was ask, “How much do we owe?” I figured I had to find a certain amount of funds and the task of building would begin. That was the task I considered to be “complicated.”
But, one afternoon in the form of an email I realized that it wasn’t complicated. I received an email from a member of our Youth group asking if we could start a Teenage Bible Study. She was having a difficult time understanding scripture and wanted to be guided in her approach to the Gospels. Later, that same week, an Altar Boy waited for me after Divine Liturgy to share with me the following thought, he said, “Father, I feel satisfied when I serve in here. I feel like I am a part of something and that my contribution means something.”
Raising funds to construct a Church or building programs, it is all the same, and it isn’t complicated. You see, I got lost in the translation of the term “Church.” I was focused on a structure, walls, icons, floors, pews, stain-glassed windows, etc. The meaning of “Build a Church” complicated my thoughts and I lost focus of that starry-eyed vision I had back at Seminary with my classmates. Building programs, is building a Church!
What good will it do us if we build the most beautiful Church in all of Southern California, if we have no one to pray in it we have nothing! What good is it to emphasize the style of icons, if no one knows how to pray before them, then what good is it? What good will it be to build a parking lot, if there are no programs, no one need to park there!
Sure we need the funds to build, but money is not the end all. Capital is a means to the end, not the end! The end is salvation in Christ! The end is inheriting the Kingdom! The end is closing our eyes for the final time and hearing our Lord say, “Well done good and faithful servant, enter into thy Kingdom!”
When we leave this earth in hopes of spending eternity with our Lord, the only thing we leave behind is a memory of ourselves. What is it we want to be remembered for? Legacy is an important aspect of our being. We all want to be remembered for something. The establishment of a Byzantine Orthodox Church on Santa Rosa Road is a good legacy, but an even better one is answering the call to serve our Lord. We are blessed as a community to have the opportunity to build a Church, but how even more blessed we are to have Teens in our Community expressing a desire to study scripture and to show their desire to serve!
We can build the biggest and best Church in all of California, people can come from all over the world just to light a candle in our Church and to say a prayer, but if the Church walls are not filled with Christ-loving people, why would they come? I desire that new structure, I am filled with anticipation and excitement to build. St. Paul urges the Philippians to “fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself (Phil. 2:2-3).”
There is an awesome task placed before us and the opportunity is great! Constructing a church is “complicated,” but building one is simple, as long as we abide by St. Paul’s instruction to the Ephesians, “walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Eph 4: 2-3).” Each of us should look deep within ourselves and try to uncover the items that we consider “complicated” when it comes to the future of our Community. The solution to that concern is serving Christ and becoming faithful Christians, willingly offering our time, talents and treasures.
When each of us has departed this life, leaving behind the structure on Santa Rosa Road, how will the generations that follow us consider our mark? Will we be remembered for our taste in architecture, or that we were faithful Christians? Speaking strictly for myself, I want to be remembered for helping people on their walk with Christ and His Church, rather than a memorable walk into a Church.
Regardless of how complicated or simple issues may seem in life, Christ’s love has a way to shine brightly on every aspect of it. May each of us consider ways that we can more faithfully serve our Lord, His Church, and His People. It is my truest desire to have a structure on Santa Rosa Road in which we can glorify God, but even more so to have it filled with people willingly offering themselves to magnify that GLORY!
