Glory be to Jesus Christ!
Just a few things:
1. Divine Liturgy: Hearing of confessions and the reading of the hours at 9:30 a.m. Divine Liturgy at 10:00 a.m.
2. There will be no Divine Liturgy at Holy Cross on Sunday, July 18. Divine Liturgy will be at the Holy Trinity Metropolitan’s Cathedral on Main St. Greeting of the Bishops will be at 9:30. Divine Liturgy at 10:00 a.m.
3. Annual Gardenton Pilgrimage to St. Michael’s Historical Church, July 24th, 2010.
9:00 Confession
9:15 Procession
9:30 Greeting of Hierarchs
10:00 Hierarchical Divine Liturgy
4. You must be the change you want to see in the world. Mahatma Gandhi
This coming week, from July 12-18, will be the 22nd Sobor of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada. It is our national conference that meets every five years. Clergy and delegates from all across Canada will be coming to Winnipeg to do two things:
1. Discuss what has been accomplished since 2005.
2. Set the course for the next five years of the Holy Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada.
Resolutions will reviewed from the past Sobor and we will try and determine if they have provided positive change, provided positive growth, etc. New resolutions will be put forward to continue the continued existence and more importantly the continued growth of our Holy Church. As always, at the heart of these resolutions and ensuing discussions will be, “what do we have to change?”
We must remember one thing: The Church is perfect for it is the body of Christ. Trying to change the Church is like trying to change Christ and we all know what happens when we try and transform Christ into something He is not. It does not work. “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” When we try and change Christ, when we try and “water” Him down so that it is more convenient to be a Christian, we do such an injustice to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Christ never watered down His love for us. Christ never watered down His sacrifice on the Cross for us. Never watered down his forgiveness for us. His love, His forgiveness, His mercy effected change.
Those that will attend this Sobor will hear talk about change. Change in leadership, in the direction of the Church. I will tell you this now, if we have the glory of God as our one true goal in life, the Church is doing just fine. It does not need to change. If we do not have that as our goal we, as members of the Church, must be willing to change.
To those that read this and will be attending the Sobor as clergy or as lay delegates, you will hear a lot about change. Always remember, you must be the change you want to see in your Church.
Answer to last week’s question:
In John’s Gospel Jesus gave Himself a name by saying “I am…” seven times. What was the sixth name? THE WAY THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE
This week’s question:
In John’s Gospel Jesus gave Himself a name by saying “I am…” seven times. What was the SEVENTH name?
See you in church.
In Christ,
Fr. Evan
