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2 THE SHEPHERD • FEBRUARY 2023 • SAINT SPYRIDON GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH OF SAN DIEGO Greek Festival Planning has Begun! Once again, it is time for festival planning to begin. We need faithful volunteers to join us so we can begin the planning process and establish our 2023 Festival Steering Committee. We have so many who are enthusiastic about holding a great Greek Festival this summer, where we will welcome the San Diego community into our home to share our faith, our traditions, and our hospitality. As always, we need to get the entire community involved so please spread the word to all your friends and family. Please join us on Wednesday, February 15th at 6:30pm in the Church Hall so we can begin to plan the festival that we would like to host this year. See you there! As this month closes and another one begins, I have been at a loss for words to write to you. In the pass of activity, my mind has been a blur and in the words we have heard over the month I pray there is something for all. In the lessons we hear year in and year out, we are reminded of the “power of yet.” We have heard the stories many times, “YET” there is always more to learn. The power of yet is a reminder that in our walk we are never “there” but on a continual pursuit of being like Him. At the beginning of the month, we heard the story of Doubting Thomas. (John 20:24-29.) Thomas reminded us that despite his need to see to believe, in his time of doubt he stayed and gave Jesus the opportunity to come to him. When He appeared to his disciples, Je- sus offered them peace. In His word, “peace be with you,” He gave them affirmation that their faith in Him was the way. He contin- ues to remind us that “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.” (John 20:29) We are often reminded that our Spiritual Life is a journey, yet we harbor a notion of be- ing there. We sometimes forget the struggle to get there is our challenge. We struggle to love, to forgive, and to serve perfectly be- cause we are imperfect. Yet, our faith gives us the strength to continue to struggle. In our toil, we need to continue to act upon our be- liefs as our faith is distracted by the activities of daily life, by our doubts and desires, and by the clacking of tongues. We also heard the lesson of the Ten Lepers. (Luke 17: 12-19) The reading continues to ring with me as we continue to emerge from the isolation of the pandemic. There is a deeper message beyond the fact that Christ healed ten lepers. The ten lepers came to Je- sus, from their isolation with a request to be healed. The lesson reminds us that the lepers were not healed immediately, but were di- rected to go to their priest and were healed as they walked back to their faith. The les- son also reminds us that of the ten who were healed, only one returned to give thanks to the Lord. To the one who returned to give thanks, Jesus said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.” Like the leper, it is our faith that will make us well. This last Sunday we heard the lesson of Zac- chaeus, the sinner who climbed the tree to bear witness to Christ. (Luke 19: 1-10) In his message, Jesus tells Zacchaeus that Today is the day of change! In his sermon, Deacon Michael reminded us of “Table Fellowship,” where we don’t just gather but we gather intimately in His name to do His work. We are reminded that if we repent and open our hearts, He will enter them immediately. I was also reminded that as one of His sheep, while I long to see you, I am not calling you to come to His flock, but that it is Him, our Great Shepherd, who is calling us all to be in fellowship and to do as He has directed us, to love God with our whole heart and to love one another, to support and up lift each oth- er, and to forgive one another as He forgives us. I leave you with the joy I experienced this past month in seeing our our faith in action. I witnessed the baptism of two young adults who searched for and found truth in our Or- thodox Faith. I witnessed a father moved to tears during the blessing of his third child blessed in our Orthodox Faith. And I wit- nessed the heart felt sorrow in the passing of Manny Pegas, a life well-lived in our Or- thodox Faith - may his memory be eternal! The events reminded me, that in the cycle of life our faith is always here for us and in the Body of Christ we can always find renewed strength as we walk together. I hope and pray that if you find yourself in the wilderness of isolation, you know He is here for you and that we are here to help as we continue our walk together. Many Blessings, Jim Gilpin Parish Council President FROM THE PARISH COUNCIL PRESIDENT continues 3 We resumed our hybrid meetings both in person at St. Spyridon’s and via Zoom in Jan- uary, and we will continue to meet this way through the next few months up until Holy Week. In the book we are studying, St. Paul’s Epistle to the Hebrews, we now read and hear famil- iar scripture passages with new understand- ings about the presence, role, and example of faith that we must develop as Christians. In Ch. 12 of Hebrews St. Paul encourages his audience and even us today to “run with endurance the race that is set before us, look- ing unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Heb. 12:1-2) This continues the two themes of this Epistle – understanding Who Christ is and how those who are “baptized in Christ must put on Christ.” This is a great help and reminder for us after we have celebrated the Great Feasts of the Nativity and the The- ophany and are now entering the Triodion period and moving towards Lent. The passage above helps us to understand what this “Faith” is that our Savior exem- plifies and fulfills. In the previous chapter, St. Paul teaches about “Faith’s Hope” using examples from the Old Testament: the faith of Abel and Noah, of Abraham and Joseph, of Moses and Joshua. This reminds us that Christ also taught his disciples how to un- derstand the Holy Scriptures in the light of His Incarnation and Passion. So, in this way, we see the faith of Abel, the first “shepherd of sheep” “who brought a sacrifice from the firstborn of his flock” and offered it to God. Our Church Fathers emphasize that Abel “had a good and discerning heart” unlike his brother Cain who also offered a sacrifice but “not rightly” or with true belief. We are in- vited also to observe the faith of Abraham, his obedience and trust in God to leave his homeland to not only bring him to a better place, but even in his old age to find the ful- filment of God’s promise for him to be the father of all nations. Or the faith of Joseph abandoned by his brothers, taken captive into Egypt and then to be reunited and rec- onciled and save his family from famine and starvation. What examples these people are even in times of hardship, difficulties, and obstacles, in times of not knowing what will happen, hoping in something distant, un- seen, without fully understanding what it all means, and yet not losing hope, but continu- ally trusting in God’s power and will to fulfill all things for the good. So we ask ourselves WOMEN WORD OF THE Greek Festi v aL san dieGo’s oriGinaL