But even the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
I was glad when they said unto me, let us go
up to the house of the Lord. And I said, excuse
my voice, it comes and goes. And I said, where
is this house? And they said, Santa Rosa. I said,
well, that's great. St. Seraphim's Cathedral
and Church and Parish. I love that parish. And
I told St. Nicholas, where I was up in Portland,
I told one of the parishioners that. She said,
oh, I went there in the late 1950s. Protection
of the Holy Virgin. And she said, there was just
three of us. We were passing through. We came
to church on Sunday. And there was only the priest
there. He couldn't even do liturgy except that
we came. And so he did liturgy. And it was this
little church. It was surrounded by golden fields.
The way she remembers it, there was nothing else
there but this little church. And so the priest
was both the celebrant and he was the choir.
He did everything. And they had liturgy, and
she just remembered that very fondly. And then
this parish and this community has continued
to grow from that church to this church. Father
Lawrence mentioned last week the consecration.
Which we remember. I was in San Francisco at
the time. And I was here for that. So even though
I'm new here. I feel like. It's like coming home.
To this parish that grows. And that is so. So.
I would say. Spirit filled. I've never been in
a parish. That didn't have the Holy Spirit. In
the smallest. most struggling parish, you still
sometimes audibly hear the Spirit groaning through
the choir. So the Spirit is present one way or
another. But in this, and in this gospel text
which we heard today, and also in the epistle
where Paul is talking about sharing blessings,
that we are reminded that in this context, we
are taught to bless. We are taught how to bless
and how to bless specifically. Specific blessings
are given to us through the gifts that God has
given us to use them together. A specific blessing
is the reader, the choir, those who cook, those
who greet. People are blessed to unify the parish
and we all work together and we learn to bless
one another. We learn to forgive one another's
sins. And in the gospel text we heard today,
Jesus said, which is easier, to say your sins
are forgiven or to say pick up your bed and walk?
And Jesus, in this situation, he did the harder
thing in healing the man with palsy, but he asks
us to do the easier thing, to forgive one another,
to learn to bless one another. to receive blessings
and to act upon them. And I say this not as instruction,
but as recognition that this is the kind of parish
community that is here. This is what has built
this church and this community gradually over
the years. A few days ago, if you read along
with the gospel text on the daily readings, Last,
I believe it was Wednesday the 29th or 30th or
I don't know. It was midweek. It was that we
were going through the gospel of Matthew chapter
13. And Jesus said the kingdom of heaven is like
a mustard seed. The littlest seed, which is what
I think that church sounded like that our parishioner
visited in the late 50s. The littlest seed. And
yet it grows into a large bush and birds land
in it. And this is what we see here. It is a
work that has begun and a work that has much
more to grow. Much more to, many more people
to reach. And while we are doing the work of
the church, we too are being perfected. So let
us have confidence in this, that Jesus Christ,
who has begun a good work in us, has the power
to bring it to completion. Glory to Jesus Christ.