THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME TO PROCLAIM GOOD NEWS

THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME TO PROCLAIM GOOD NEWS Fr Luke A Veronis Imagine living in a small town where everyone knows one another. You know someone for 30 years, someone you’ve grown up with. You think of him as a good man, maybe even a special man. He’s kind and loving to all. He’s an encourager who is always building people up. He sees the beauty in everyone he meets. You may think of him as one of the most special people you’ve ever known. He is humble, meek, compassionate, loving, kind, grace-filled. He is a man seeking and living out the truth of God. Yet, there’s something unusual about him. For a Jewish man, he is 30 years old and unmarried. He goes off on his own at times, maybe for long periods all by himself up in the mountains, all night long in prayer. He’s different from everyone else. Yet, he’s a wonderful God-fearing man. This time, however, you notice the man is gone for an extended period of time. Actually, you haven’t seen him for more than a month. And suddenly, he shows up in town, on the Sabbath day, and comes to the synagogue. Something seems different about Him. Something has changed. He’s exuding a light that emanates from deep within. In the synagogue, the rabbi notices the man and asks him if he would offer the reading and give a word to the people. This wasn’t unusual for a Jewish man in the synagogue. So, Jesus stands up, takes the Holy Scrolls, and opens them to the writings of Isaiah. He reads: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." As all the eyes of the people looked upon Jesus, He simply says, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” People slowly reflect on what he is saying and then realize, Jesus is not simply talking about Isaiah and his description of the coming Messiah, the Anointed One of whom God promised will come and proclaim Good News to the poor. Jesus proclaims that HE is the Messiah and this Good News begins here and now, in their hearing! After living 30 years of a humble, quiet life in Nazareth, a town of ill repute, Jesus proclaims that the time has arrived to reveal Himself to the world; the moment that all of Israel has waited for throughout its history has come! The Messianic promise of the prophets is fulfilled in Jesus as He begins his public ministry! Good News to the poor. Release to those held captive, whether in chains or whether in their heart and mind through their addictions and other passions. He, who is the Light of the World, offers sight to all those who are blind, including those of us who are blinded by their egocentric passions and ignorance. The Christ came to set free all those who feel oppressed, and to announce the new year of the Lord. That's Good News! This is what our faith is all about! Good News for each one of us and for the world at large! Now, I want all of us in this Church to pay attention and take care of these words Jesus Christ proclaims and incarnates at the beginning of our ministry. I want us to think about who we are as Christ’s Church, the People of God. Jesus calls us, the Church, to continue His ministry in the world. The Lord gives us the responsibility and privilege to proclaim Good News to a world just as confused and lost as the world 2000 years ago. Today on September 1, we begin the New Church Year. We specifically read this passage from Isaiah, and from the Gospel of Luke, to remind us of who God is, who we are, and what we are called to do as the Body of Christ. We, the Church, are ambassadors of Jesus Christ to our own Church Family, to the people in Webster, in Central MA and Northeast CT, and to the world at large! Yet, how do we, as a Church, proclaim Good News within our church and to the world around us? Of course, within our Church Family we proclaim the Good News through our worship and the liturgical cycle of the year. We proclaim the Good News through our education programs – from Bible Studies, retreats and adult classes to our youth and young adult ministry. We proclaim the Good News through the love and fellowship we experience within our Church Family each week, as we support and bless one another. But what do we do to reach out to the world? And can we do more than what we’re already doing? As we begin another New Church Year, I want us to reflect on how well we are proclaiming this Good News! At a local level .     We bless 60-80 people each month from the larger Webster community who come to our Living Bread Luncheon. This is not simply a delicious meal but more importantly, we offer a warm, welcoming, and loving community to mostly elderly people who may be a bit lonely. Many of them show up two hours before our meal begins simply because they love warm and welcoming spirit of our Church and the fellowship they find here. ·      We recently collected baby supplies for Your Options Medical and gave $1000 to this pregnancy center ·      With the beginning of another new school year, we gave 100 backpacks with school supplies to students at Park Ave Elementary School, Webster Middle School, and to Southbridge Elementary School through FOCUS (Fellowship of Orthodox Christians United to Serve) North America. ·      We will give out 75 baskets, turkeys and gifts cards to families in need at Thanksgiving, and will give out $2000 in gift cards during the Christmas season. ·      We offer our hall to the Triton AA meeting every Sunday night, where 50-80 people gather to find support and a path toward sobriety, and we invite a local girl scout troupe to use our classrooms each week. ·      Monthly we offer support to single mothers and other in need through our AGAPE Fund. ·      And our most recent initiative, led by Harry Kofidis, is to begin a weekly prison ministry in a female prison. So, if any of you are interested in this, please talk with him. But what else can and should we be doing as the people of God, to proclaim the Good News of our Lord Jesus Christ? What other creative initiatives can we come up with to be present in and reach out to our local community, through philanthropy and evangelism, and get involved as ambassadors of Christ to the world. I want each of you to think of how you personally can get involved and what you would like to do. At a national and global level, our Church tries to share the Good News through various Orthodox ministries ·      We build a home for a family in need through Project Mexico. We took 24 people this past summer and have taken more than 170 people over the years to build 11 homes. ·      A beautiful fruit of Project Mexico has been the youth who have served as summer interns and then even as longer missionaries. This past summer we had three from our church serve as summer interns overseeing 27 home builds. And our church has supported my daughter, Theodora, in her 17 month service at Saint Innocent Orphanage ·      Every October we collect 50 boxes of supplies, food, and aid that we send to Saint Innocent Orphanage to support the ninos there ·      And most recently our Church organized and raised $35,000 to build a much needed multi-purpose room for the boys at the Project Mexico ranch. ·      We support various OCMC and Project Mexico missionaries, who you can see on our weekly prayer list ·      Through our AGAPE Fund, we recently paid school fees for a child of a priest in Uganda, bought a motorcycle for another African priest, and support a school in Kenya. ·      We send support to the IOCC for the Gaza crisis, to St. Basil’s Academy, and other national ministries of the Archdiocese. ·      And in November we will welcome Bishop Neofitos of Kenya to learn about his ministry there and see how we will be able to support him in his work. I share all this to simply make us aware of how we, as the Church, are trying to share the Good News of our Lord Jesus to the world around us. And of course, our Philoptochos Society supports other ministries and charities through their philanthropic work! Yet, I don’t want us to be content with what we do or where we’re at. I want us to think creatively about what else we can do? How can each of one of you get more deeply involved whether locally or globally, with your financial support as well as with your time and talents? Whenever you support our Church through your stewardship and through the AGAPE fund, this is the type of work through which we share the Good News of our Lord to the world around us. To be the church means to follow and imitate Jesus Christ and continue His ministry. We are His hands and feet. Our Church and each one of us is His ambassadors in the world. Let each of us think of how we can get more involved and engaged in all we do, creatively thinking of new ministries and ways of bringing the Good News of our Lord Jesus to the world! The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, Jesus proclaimed. And that same Spirit of the Lord is upon us, so that we also will proclaims His Good News in numerous and various ways to the world outside!