I'd like to begin by wishing everyone a blessed
New Year. It certainly may be a happy New Year,
but I think more to the point of why we are here
as Christians, may it be a blessed New Year.
I'll say a little bit about that in just a moment.
I also point out that this is the Sunday before
the Feast of Theophany, the baptism of Christ,
blessing the water, the sanctification of all
of creation in that blessing, the revelation
of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. I mean,
these are things the church... And then you have
this reading which takes you back to when Jesus
was a child being circumcised, and then all of
a sudden he's 12 years old. and he stays behind
and his parents don't know where he is. Don't
be confused about all of that. In the church,
we're seeking to know what that means. It doesn't
matter that it doesn't follow chronological order.
It's about Jesus, the Son of God, God in the
flesh. And Jesus says to his parents, don't you
know I need to be about my father's business?
He's 12. Growing in stature and in wisdom. It's
also the new year. It's good to have a fresh
beginning to the new year. We just celebrated
Christmas last Sunday. The feast of our salvation.
We heard St. Paul tell us that because we have
been born again by water, and the Holy Spirit,
we become children of God, the Father, through
that baptism. And he has sent the Holy Spirit
into our hearts and cries, Abba, dear Father,
to God, the Father, who is near us, and we say,
God is with us. So we have a fresh start as we
hit the new year. Because we've been reminded
of this incredible gift of eternal life. The
grace to restore us to the image that we have
within us of God. That's what Christmas is. Yes,
the presents are wonderful. The celebration,
everything, all of that is wonderful. It is all
part of how we celebrate this incredible day.
The grace... to restore us to the image of God
in which we were created. But we lost through
sin. Christ comes, and now we see. To make a
fresh start real, to make it real, I've entitled
my sermon, which I never do because I don't think
of things that way. Like other priests, they
always start out, I've titled my sermon today,
etc., etc. Doesn't seem like that makes any sense
to me. But I've entitled my sermon today. P .S.
I'm talking to you, O priest. This is the feast
of St. Basil the Great. Of course, every Sunday,
it's a little Pascha. It's eight days after Christmas.
So it's a commemoration of the circumcision.
I'm not going to explain what that is. I think
you probably know of Jesus Christ and his naming.
According, all of that arranged by his mother
in accordance with the tradition of the Jewish
law. Is it odd for us to celebrate the feast
of the circumcision? What does that mean to you?
Are you going to go home and meditate on that?
Think about that. What does it mean? Well, St.
Paul tells us what it means, thankfully. In him,
you are also circumcised with the circumcision
made without hands by the putting off of the
body of sin. That sinful inclination that drives
us, that gets us on a path going straight away
from God. By putting off the body of the sins
of the flesh, doesn't mean skin and bones, he
means the sinful impulses. By the circumcision
of Christ, buried with him in baptism, in which
you were also raised with him. Brothers and sisters,
this is our calling. We are raised with him through
faith, that is through faithfulness, following
Christ. In the working of God, who raised him
from the dead, we have a circumcision as Christians.
Not of the male body part, but of the inner heart.
That's the cutting away of sin. The cutting off
of the will, which is running errands for the
ego all day long. I need to remind myself. This
is why I entitled this sermon, P .S. I'm Talking
to You. to continually cut off my pride, arrogance,
entitlement, pettiness, resentment in my sins,
and hypocrisy. You know, for a Christian, the
pride that leads to hypocrisy, and that hypocrisy
is a terrible temptation, especially if you're
a priest wearing, you know, embroidered vestments.
So today, looking for a fresh start to the new
year, I ask your forgiveness. I ask forgiveness
of all of you. For my brother clergy, the altar
servers, the choir master, the singers, the readers,
the parish council, the women who work so hard,
all of you, forgive me, brothers and sisters.
I'm sorry for the misdeeds and failures before
you. Cutting away is simply not that pleasant.
St. Basil the Great, whose feast day we commemorate
today, said this, in truth, to know oneself seems
to be the hardest of all things. Not only are
I which observes external objects, does not use
the sense of sight upon itself, you can't see
yourself, but even our mind, which contemplates
intently other people's sins, is slow in the
recognition of its own defects. I don't mean
to be a downer on New Year's Day. Because repentance
is always Always an act of hope. And trust in
God's promises to transform us, to heal us, to
forgive us. It starts with remembering that God
loves us. That's Christmas. That's the Feast
of the Cross. That's Pascha. That's Dormition.
That's every feast day of every saint. God loves
us. Repentance is the change of direction, right?
It's not just feeling guilty and bad about yourself.
No, that's not going to help. It's the change
of direction, a change from living and walking
in sin to walking towards God. On Friday night,
I went to the leave -taking of Nativity at Nativity
Greek Orthodox Church to join them in their feast
day. And the preacher was Father Tom Zafaris
from Ascension Cathedral in Oakland. He spoke
about this dangerous path. continuing to walk
in sin and then to walk in repentance. He said
about walking in sin he said if I continue on
the road I'm on I'm going to get where I'm going.
That's true of repentance too. So we turn away
towards the Lord. If we continue on that road
we're going to get where we're going which is
the kingdom which is The image of God shining
within us. This is the new year. The entire world
marks the turning of the calendar. It's a fresh
start. But don't think you have all year. We
buried a number of our beloved parishioners this
year. St. Ephraim the Syrian who died in the
year 373. Just, what, six years before St. Basil
died, he said, the days pass. They fly away.
The hours run without stopping. In the headlong
rush of time, the world nears its end. We're
closer to the resurrection. Just as it is impossible
to stop and hold back running water through one's
fingers, so the life of one born of woman. cannot
remain stationary. God has determined the measure
of each person's life, and the days divide this
appointed measure into parts. Each day, imperceptibly
almost, takes part away from your life, and each
hour unrestrainedly runs along its course with
its little share. This is why I say not Happy
New Year, but a blessed new year. Happy is fine.
Happy is good. Happiness comes. Happiness goes.
It might happen. It might not happen. Are we
happy when we get everything we want? I am. Are
we happy when we manage to avoid calamities or
tragedies? Yes. But does a life free of hardship,
free of heartbreak? Render us happy? Put another
way, are we happy when we experience pleasure
and avoid pain? Well, yes. No one in their right
mind would ever wish to be unhappy. But in the
world you will have tribulation, be of good cheer,
be blessed. I have overcome the world, says the
Savior. Christmas, circumcision, the cutting
away of sin. the entering into the water of baptism,
the remembrance of that blessed day. We enter
into the Savior's peace, the blessedness that
does not come from our resolutions or from occasional
happiness. No, we start on the road and we're
going to get to where we're going. Just recall
this. I'll leave you with this thought. The Beatitudes
are full of blessings for us. The height, the
pinnacle of that, is blessed are the pure in
heart, for they shall see God. Christmas, when
we remember that we may not be bearing the image
of God as purely as we should, and we may not
be seeing God, is the time when we reach out,
perhaps to those who Are like the least of these,
my brethren. You want to see Christ? They're
out there. We can minister to those folks. You'll
see God. You'll see God in each other. If you
refuse to look at that person's sin and their
failures in the Christian life, you'll see God
right here. You'll see God in the chalice. You'll
see God when you pray in your heart. So brothers
and sisters, we rejoice today. We start fresh
on the new year. We ask for God's blessing. We
start with forgiveness from one another, repentance,
and turning on that new road. May God grant us
the vision that he promises to those who are
blessed. Amen.