When we expanded the parish church in 2006 Bishop Peter gave us a choice of relics that we could place in the foundation. In the end we settled on Great Martyr Demtrius. Vladyka explained that whichever saints we chose we would need to serve the Divine Services for that saint annually. The commemoration of Great Martyr Demetrius falls on November 8 each year, and November 8 this year is this coming Thursday. Please join us as your personal schedule allows!

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Speaking of Expanding our Worship Space

We are packed into our present worship space. The parish council has been discussing this at length and how we can get the new church project started as soon as possible. More on that is coming soon and we think it is important that you understand that we are concerned about this and about how we move forward. We will move forward! Not in 10 years. Not in 5. Hopefully in 1 year. Maybe in 2. We will discuss this at the annual meeting on March 19 in some detail and hope to have an actionable plan fully in place by the end of that meeting. In the mean time, you can help. A lot. By moving forward. Physically. Closer to the front of the worship space. Often we are packed right to the back doors on Sunday – but sometimes there is 10 feet of open space in the front. We appreciate that the parable of the Publican and the Pharisee has made such an impression our parishioners (read here if this reference isn’t clear to you). But we need you to move forward. You. The people who read this email. Not someone else. PEOPLE ARE LEAVING ON SUNDAY BECAUSE THERE IS NO SPACE FOR THEM TO STAND. But there is room. But we can’t expect those who are visiting to stand in the front. If they did that we would probably even judge them for being a little pretentious. So those of us who are regular parishioners need to push themselves (figuratively and literally) to get to the front of the church. Please. Otherwise people will show up, not be able to physically get into the worship space and leave. It happens every Sunday. LET’S MAKE SURE THIS NEVER HAPPENS AGAIN!

Fr. Gregory