Pastor: Fr John Vazquez | (518) 462-0579 |
fatherjohnvazquez@gmail.com
Friday, September 6th—8am—Orthros and Divine Liturgy
Saturday, September 7th—5pm—Great Vespers w/Bible Study to follow. Join us as we continue to study the Gospel of Mattew
Sunday, September 8th—9am—Orthros and Divine Liturgy—BAPTISM OF MASON GRADY TO FOLLOW LITURGY—all are welcome
Monday, September 9th—8:15am—Coffee with the Fathers at Alias Coffee on N. Pearl St in Albany
Tuesday, September 10th—6pm—Dabke Practice for Festival of Nations
Wednesday, September 11th—6pm—Paraklesis of St George
Friday, September 13th—6pm—Great Vespers for the ELEVATION OF THE CROSS
Saturday, September 14th—8am—Orthros and Divine Liturgy for the ELEVATION OF THE CROSS
Sunday, September 15th—9am—Orthros and Divine Liturgy—Memorial for Wahib Barbera to follow Liturgy
Tuesday, September 17th—6pm—Dabke Practice for Festival of Nations
Wednesday, September 18th—6pm—Paraklesis of St George
Friday, September 20th—8am—Orthros and Divine Liturgy
Saturday, September 21st—9am—U.N.I.T.E. Teen Outing—Hiking in the Adirondacks
Sunday, September 22nd—9am—Orthros and Divine Liturgy—Memorial for Scott and Chris Seavey to follow Liturgy and PARISH COUNCIL MEETING
Sunday, September 29th—9am—Orthros and Divine Liturgy—Memorial for Bassir Rezek to follow Liturgy
Sermon—THE ECCLESIASTICAL NEW YEAR
Luke 4.16-22
The Poor, Brokenhearted, Captive, Blind and Oppressed
This week we had the blessing of hearing Deacon Basil Vazquez from St Matthew's in North Royalton, OH give the sermon of the reading from Luke chapter 4. This reading is appointed to be read in the Church for the Church New—which was yesterday September 1st.
Deacon Basil pointed us to the book of Isaiah where the words our Lord read came from when He entered the synagogue on that day.
We were guided toward understanding that the words were addressed to us today in that WE are:
The poor when we admit our need for our Lord
The brokenhearted when we mourn over the condition that we find ourselves in and in the condition of the world around us
The captive who find ourselves unable to escape the iron bonds of sin
The blind who are blinded when we refuse to humble ourselves
The oppressed who are constantly harassed by the devil and his demons
That is a lot to handle BUT we need to read only a little further for the Good News which is our Lord has been sent to proclaim release to the captive, recovery of sight to the blind and to set at liberty those who are oppressed.
Deacon Basil encouraged us to three action steps:
First: to be humble and admit that we need God...admit that we need a savior for God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble (1 Pt 5.5)
Second: Connect yourself to the Church which is the place where we receive the grace of God and therefore the place where we receive healing. We connect ourselves through doing the things the Church asks us to do like, prayer, fasting, reading the scripture, coming to the services.
Third: Help others. When we help others we find encouragement and purpose because we are moving outside of ourselves and our own selfish desires.
As we move into this new Church year I challenge each of you to take a step to grow in your faith.
Read the Bible more and come to bible study when you can; come to Church more—just come to 1 extra service per month if you can; give more if you can—to others and the Church; pray more—we all can do this.
I pray for a blessed and fruitful year full of blessings for each of you.
