From the Desk of Fr. Simeon

Mom and Pop and the soul/sole savin' shop

Once again I find myself trying to put into words what I hear Panteli (our Parish Council President) trying to express: After a recent Wednesday Evening Presanctified Liturgy and our simple Lenten Meal with teaching/reflection, Panteli said that he wished he could express with words what it is he experienced. Words fall short, but the image of the Mom and Pop shop stuck in my head. To some degree, what he experienced in our little "Mom and Pop" Church is what I experience (and am blessed with) when I go to his Mom and Pop Shoe Shop. You go for one thing, but in the process you get so much more! I go to his shop to have him save my soles. This usually entails resoling my Birkenstocks. Years ago now, when I first met him and asked him what he does, Panteli answered, "I'll save your sole!" Well, that's exactly what he does on a regular basis. But, when I go to the shop I get so much more. There is usually a warm hug and greeting from Mom (Aspasia) and then there is the ongoing interaction with the whole host of Characters who frequent the shop. Most precious is the young Vietnamese girl whose family runs the water shop a few doors down. She calls things as they are. She has Panteli's number... she'll tell me exactly what he's been up to. I go for, perhaps, one thing, but am blessed by all I experience.
So too, now, with our "Mom and Pop" Church. We only have the time and resources to do the most needful thing; that which is for the Salvation of our souls. But, in the process of doing what is most needful, we are blessed by such a richness of interaction and experience that the words just fall short. We get to know and support each other as individuals in a way that's simply impossible in the "Big Box Stores". Sure, the big "stores" offer more stuff, but in the Mom and Pop world, individual craftsmanship and personal interaction still reign.

So, when it comes to "working out our salvation with fear and trembling", especially during these final saving days of Lent and Holy Week, we thank God for these blessed, saving opportunities to Worship and also interact "in Spirit and in Truth". We thank God for this little Mom and Pop Shop specializing in the salvation of our souls and enriching us to the very depth of our being. We "seek first His Kingdom" and find, sure enough, "all these things are added" unto us.

So, in the final days of this saving season, as we live in rapt anticipation of our Lord's saving Death, Resurrection and coming in Glory, by His grace we declare: Mom and Pop St. Gregory's, the soul-saving shop... Open for business! "Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!", say that to the Management this season and you receive the kiss of peace for free!

Mom and Pop and AIG?

So, how do we support the Mom and Pop Shop? It's as easy as A.I.G. Not to worry, this is the AIG of our "eternal life insurance", not the economic near failure we're hearing about daily in the news.

A = Let us attend! We've got to bring both our soles and our souls on a regular basis for the Master Craftsman, our Lord and Savior, to do His work on (and in) us. If you've missed the Lenten Services, take note below, you've got plenty of Holy Week ahead (Service Morning and Night... 3 times Holy Friday).

I = Invest of your very self. Take the opportunities that attendance gives you: Worship, Prepare and receive regularly, break bread with your brothers and sisters and grow in love and knowledge with them. I'm inserting a Pledge Card for those who have yet to invest in this most practical way, but most of all, He wants your heart and soul.

G = "Gather my people to my home!" This was the theme of our last Clergy-Lay Congress and our Archbishop Demetrius has expounded on this ever since. If we are attending and investing, then the evidence of this in our lives (Christ in our midst) will become more and more evident in our daily lives. Our friends and our family will want to know where we've had our "work done". Our growth in knowledge is in order to give "a good defense for the hope that is within us". Most of all, INVITE them to His "shop". Simply put, we must live in Christ and be prepared so say, "Come and see!" to all who wonder why.

So beloved: After you "come and see" just come and be, come and allow His fruit to grow in us. Christ is Risen and He's waiting for us to show this in our A.I.G., our eternal insurance portfolio. The backing on this one is much superior to anything a human government could provide. The "Pop" whose Kingdom I'm asking you to invest in is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. His gathering is forever and ever and it starts right here, right now. Amen.

In the meantime, if He should delay, might I humbly suggest... Holy Week!
Welcome the Newcomer and the Stranger: "Welcome Home" to Linda Cardinal Chrismated before Christmas. Come and participate in the Baptism and Chrismation of Mona Mills on the Eve of Palm Sunday, after Vespers. Welcome our new Catechumens Nina, Ryan and Georgia's Grandchildren and Great Grandchildren. Welcome the "strangers and sojourners": I spoke at So. Cal. Christian College today (3/26), and I think we'll be having company... come to Vespers!

From the Desk of Fr. Simeon

Mom and Pop and the soul/sole savin' shop

Mom and Pop and AIG?

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