…To be a “co-worker in God’s service” means that we must work side-by-side with our brothers and sisters to build up God’s Kingdom. Just like a row boat in the middle of a lake, we all need to be pulling together, in the same direction, so that we can all safely reach the shore.  When one person refuses to pull the oar, or decides to paddle in a different direction, it is not only that person who is affected, but the entire boat as well. And while we are each called to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12), we must still rely on each other—our fellow “co-workers in God’s service”—to get the job done….

When we take a moment to stop and think about all of the absolutely incredible things that this bone has seen, we gain a deeper connection to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Our ties to the story of our salvation are not just the recounting of a story in a book.  They are real, physical, and can be experienced in our participation in the Divine Services.  And when parishes like ours are entrusted to care for the relics of the saints who have gone before us, our ties to that Salvation history go even deeper…and that is a blessing that not many parishes of our size can claim.

The Orthodox Faith, described perfectly by complete strangers to Christianity, who only had to enter into one Divine Liturgy to discover an escape from darkness, and an entrance into Grace, Love, and Eternity. 

From time to time, God is kind enough to show us all His presence…and the aim of all of these assurances is so that we can be transformed, and become signs of His grace, His love, and His mercy to the world…So we venerate the image of the weeping icon of Mary, because she was the first human being since Adam and Eve, to be “truly human”…because to be truly human, is to be the revelation of God to His world.”