St. Nicholas Orthodox Church
Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese
9100 Youree Drive, Shreveport, LA 71115
Christ Is In Our Midst: State of Communion Address

Each year at the annual parish meeting, Fr. Daniel gives a "State of Communion" address. Here is this year's address:

Fr. Daniel’s “State of Communion” Address – January 12, 2014

During this week following the feast of the Theophany, one of the Scripture verses that the Church gives us to ponder stands out as a fitting motto for any Christian. In John 3:30, as St. John the Baptist speaks of the fact that he is not the Messiah, but rather the servant and forerunner of the Christ, he says, “He must increase, but I must decrease.”

This is a statement of what should be our goal – both the goal of each of us personally, and the goal of our parish as a whole. In this brief sentence is summarized the spiritual struggle of the Christian life and the victory over sin that Christ desires to see in each of us. “He must increase”: this means that Christ must become everything for us. His life must become our life. His will must become our will. We are called to proclaim Him with every word and every action. But this is only possible if what is not of Christ, what is foreign to Him, what is against Him – in other words what is sinful in us – is cast aside. Here we encounter the beautiful humility of true Christian life: “I must decrease.” Rather than trampling on others by insisting on my will, trying to get the last word in to prove I’m more important, and crowding out the Holy Spirit from my life by my oversized ego, I must learn to say “Thy will be done.” The glorious possibility here is that I could learn to rejoice in taking the second place behind others, which means to take utter satisfaction in being loved by God rather than looking for some way to boost myself. As we “decrease” in this way – in other words, as our ego shrinks, we will discover the true peace of God and the joy of His Kingdom. We will delight in being His children, find rest in Him, and not be so anxious and fearful. And we will discover who we truly are! This is all from “decreasing” the ego, and increasing Christ in our lives.

This is true for each of us, and it’s true for our community as a whole. We are called indeed to be mature as a parish community. Becoming mature is a process! It takes each of us doing what we can to apply this principle that “He must increase but I must decrease.” If each of us will do that – if we will make even a very imperfect effort to do that – our parish will move towards greater maturity by leaps and bounds! This is what I desire to see in our community, what I desire for myself and for each of you.

There are many practical ways in which we can move towards this goal. First of all, though, since everything in the Christian life begins and ends with prayer, we have to seek the gift of growth and maturity through prayer. So let us ask for that, and let us also pray for one another! One simple act that we can do that is an exercise in decreasing ourselves and increasing others is to pray for others. In the past I have encouraged everyone to pray for the other members of the community. And I would challenge you once again to use your parish directory to pray for your brothers and sisters by name on a regular basis.

Along with our prayer, we make our little offerings to God of whatever we have to offer. Here we come to consideration of our plans and goals for the coming year and beyond. Truly our life in Christ is an adventure, and there is no end to the exciting possibilities that lie ahead for us – if we are willing to accept the challenges that lie in our path. As a brief word of warning before I say more about the adventures ahead, I would remind you of our Lord’s words to Martha in St. John’s Gospel. When she was irritated that her sister was not helping her, the Lord said, “Martha, Martha, you are careful and troubled about many things; one thing is needful, and Mary has chosen that good part that shall not be taken away from her.” This is a warning for us always to keep our priorities straight, and also not to worry about what others are doing. The Church exists to be the Body of Christ, and our first priority is to worship God, and after that to serve others in love. We can’t ever let our various projects and goals become bigger in our hearts and minds than simply loving God and loving our neighbor.

Having said that, we know that it is possible for us to keep our hearts and minds attuned to the voice of the Lord through prayer, and to prayerfully move forward with making plans and taking steps that are in harmony with God’s will.

To that end, I would ask you to prayerfully consider the following plans and goals:

- Paying off our mortgage and moving ahead with plans for our Temple. A beautiful Temple glorifies God, draws our minds to heaven, and attracts those in search of the Orthodox Faith. We are less than 4 years away from making our last mortgage payment, but I believe we can find ways to make that happen even sooner. It is also time for us to begin planning our permanent Temple through the formation of a building committee. In addition, there are other significant ways that we can continue to beautify and develop our property in the meantime.

- Establishing several committees or teams for more effectively accomplishing the ministries of the Church. These would include teams that would address needs within the parish, as well as those who would seek ways to reach others outside St. Nicholas. Some examples of teams that we might form include:

Outreach– for identifying and helping those with particular needs within and without the parish

Communications – for updating online and other sources of information about the parish

Hospitality– for welcoming newcomers and encouraging fellowship opportunities

Garden and Grounds – for planning and maintaining landscaping, picnic area, playground, etc.

Altar and Vestments – for helping to provide and repair vestments, covers, etc.

Library and Bookstore – for maintaining and developing educational materials and bookstore

 

- Holding an International Festival. We have begun considering – more as an outreach opportunity than as a fundraiser – plans for an international festival, hosted at the church. If there are people willing to begin planning this, we might consider a date next fall.

Finally, we are entering our 20th year since St. Nicholas began as a mission. It would be fitting to celebrate this milestone in a significant way, and it is time to begin planning whatever celebration we would like to have, possibly a year from now.

I want to thank each of you for your contributions to the life of St. Nicholas, and especially those who have gone above and beyond to serve in the parish, including our Parish Council officers and members, our choir and chanters, our Sunday School teachers, our altar servers, those who have painted, weeded, cleaned, cooked, hosted, planned, run errands, ordered things and made things for the church, and much, much more. The unsung heroine of most Orthodox parishes is the Presvytera, and I want to say how deeply grateful I am for all that Presvytera Maria does to support me and the parish.

I also want to ask each of you, once again, to forgive me for anything I may have done to offend you, and for all my shortcomings and failures as a priest and as a person. I ask for your prayers, and I assure you of my prayers for you. May the Lord enable us together to grow into the “measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,” as we learn to apply the principle, “He must increase, but I must decrease.”

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