Day 21

Jesus said to His Disciples, “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of Mine that bears no fruit, He takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already made clean by the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the Vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If a man does not abide in Me, he is cast forth as a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. John 15:1-10 (From the First Gospel on Holy Thursday Evening)

Today was a unique day. As we are all aware, we have been asked to stay home as much as possible to help halt the spread of the current pandemic. For this reason, Divine Liturgies all over were served, if they were served at all, behind “closed doors”, with the faithful asked to stay home.

I use the word unique because today was very different from what I expected. Yes, I expected an empty Church…and I expected to be depressed about it. And I was, at least for a while.

I mentioned in my sermon (you can’t imagine how strange it was to preach to an empty Church!) that as I did the service of Proskomedia (preparing the bread and wine for Liturgy) it was strange not to hear the Church come alive. The door opening and closing, the muted greetings that people exchanged, the sound of candles being lit. This was a bit depressing. But at the start of Liturgy, everything changed. As I chanted the opening exclamation, I could feel the prayers of all of you.

And the reason for that is…we are not alone. No, we are not in an ideal situation right now and have no idea how long it will last. But even if we aren’t physically connected, we are spiritually connected. And not just during a live streamed Divine service. We are spiritually connected every time we pray, every time we think about each other.

Rest assured that I think about and pray for each and every one of you every day. Not just now, when we are separated, but every day. If we can find some good to this situation, a silver lining if you will, it is that I imagine that you are praying for, and thinking about each other more than you usually do.

At some point all of this will end and we will be back to worshiping together once more. When that day comes, I hope we will continue to pray and remember each other. That we will still feel the joy and comfort that was shown in the comments on the Liturgy video. The joy and comfort on the faces of the children who participated in our “virtual” church school.

Until that time remember…God is with us!

In Christ

Fr. David