The week started with great promise but like most things the wheels quickly came off the wagon.
Monday is usually the day I take as, if we can call it that, a day off. Laundry, house cleaning and the like all take place on this day. But this week I had a couple of appointments and still managed to get the household chores done.
Tuesday I recorded an interview with Kevin Allen for his program the Illumined Heart I think the show will run in February and spoke about the Orthodox Position on the death penalty.
Wednesday I did a fill in at the Holy Trinity Nursing Home. This place is amazing. Run by the Eastern Orthodox Management Organization it is an outgrowth of the Pan Orthodox spirit we share here in Worcester County. Each Wednesday Divine Liturgy is celebrated and one of the priests, usually from the 4 parishes in Worcester serve. On occasion I get the call to fill in and this Wednesday was my day. However due to a schedule miss hap there were two of us there. Always nice to serve Liturgy with another priest.
Wednesday night we finished our book study on the book The Shack. This is a great book and I am sure it will be a spiritual classic one day. The message is one of Trust, Love and Forgiveness a message we all can and should not only listen too but practice. About 8 of us have been meeting for the past few weeks reading and discussing the book. Not written from an Orthodox position but it gives a great opportunity to discuss the Orthodox position on many issues. Next up is the book For the Life of the World
Thursday we served our monthly Community Meal here at the Parish Hall. We started this about a year ago and I have blogged on this meal before but this is one of the best ministries we have here at the Church. Each month we prepare and serve a hot nutritious meal to about 70 people free of charge. Southbridge is a Town hit hard by the economic downturn and it is really starting to show. But the meal is for more than just the working poor. This meal brings people of all spectrum together with the idea of building community. You might see a CEO and a homeless person sitting at the same table breaking bread and sharing in fellowship. This has truly been a blessing to our little Church.
After the meal I was off to Town Hall for a meeting of the Southbridge Historic Commission that I have the honor to be the Chairman of. On the way home I notice a helicopter circling above the downtown area with the search light on obviously looking for someone. The next day I learned that 2 men is Clown masks held up the corner store and pistol whipped the guy that owns the place. I fear this is another sign of the harsh economy and how it has affected life here in Southbridge. The most interesting thing is that neither the Southbridge Evening News or the Worcester Telegram (the two local news papers) had any mention of this, I hope that does not mean this has become common place!
Last night after Vespers was out monthly Coffee House. This is always a great time of worship and fellowship. We bring a local Christian music group to the hall for some fun, food, and fellowship. I wish we could draw more of a crowd but God knows who needs to come and one thing I have learned in ministry is success is not about numbers it is about changed lives. If we are not changing lives then we are not doing our job.
So now I am preparing for Liturgy and the week ahead, Christmas on Saturday! I am working on two essays for the Blog, one on the Orthodox position on the Rapture and the other will be a surprise, more to me than you I would suspect!
Get to Church today, and have a good week!
Which "Orthodox" position on the death penalty did you take?