The Messenger October 2020 _______________________________________________________________________
St. Thomas Orthodox Church 1100 Jones St. - PO Box 1042 – Sioux City, Iowa 51102 (712) 258-7166 – info@stthomassiouxcity.org www.stthomassiouxcity.org
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Our Mission St. Thomas Orthodox Church is a community of Christians who proclaim the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as handed down by the Apostles. We are committed to bringing the Light of Christ to all of Siouxland in thought, word, and deed. At St. Thomas Orthodox Church, you will find Holy Orthodoxy—ancient and alive. ___________________________________________________________________________________ Weekly Schedule Orthros and Divine Liturgy Sundays at 9:00 a.m. Vespers Wednesdays at 6:00 p.m. Great Vespers Saturdays at 6:00 p.m. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Birthdays October 6 Linda Courey 10 Jeff Stevens 10 Josh Stevens 20 Kathy Jacobs 21 Nitya Virippil 29 Patti Abdo 2
On Stewardship When we give to the Church, thinking of it as a charitable organization to which we belong, we might rightly ask, “How much does the Church need? Can I see a financial statement? I want to know how the money is spent, and how much people are paid, before I commit to a stewardship pledge.” When we give to God from the first fruits of our labor as an act of gratitude in worship, might we look up toward the heavens and ask, “God, how much do you need? How are you going to spend my money?” Would you agree that such questions seem rather inappropriate? Whose money is my money anyway? Where did I get my money? Is it really mine? What is a steward anyway? Why do we call it stewardship? A steward is a person who manages another’s property; one who administers anything as the agent of another; a person who has charge of the household of another. As a Christian, would it be fair to ask, “Is it my money, or is it God’s money?” We know the answer, but rarely think of our money as God’s money. We rarely think of ourselves as stewards of God’s money, God’s property, God’s assets. The formula for stewardship giving is not based on the Church’s budget, it’s based on the Biblical principle of tithing from the first fruits of our labor. “The first of the first fruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the Lord thy God” (Exodus 23:19). It needs to be sacrificial—a sacrifice of praise, a sacrifice of faith, a sacrifice of love, a testimony of our priorities in life. What is the biblical understanding of “first fruits?” It is a tenth of our income, called a tithe. If we are not used to worshiping God with the first fruits of our labor, ten percent may seem like a lot, maybe too much, like “I can’t afford that.” We should be reminded, however, that one hundred percent of our income comes from God, and belongs to God, and we are the stewards of His money, and He commands that we only return ten percent. What bank would issue a loan and only ask that ten percent be paid back? What’s more, God promises to “pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.” (Malachi 3:10) My father taught me to tithe at an early age. I had two brothers, and my father would divide the tithe between himself, my mother, and us three sons, and put them into offering envelopes that we would carry with us to Sunday School on Sunday mornings. I learned, whether consciously or unconsciously at a young age, that I was not to go to Church empty-handed. Instead, I was to go prepared to worship God with the tithe, as an act of gratitude and thanksgiving for His watch care over my life. Even after I left home and went to college, got married and began to raise a family, I never stopped tithing; it had become a part of my life in Christ. Even during difficult financial crises, I would continue to tithe, believing that God would take care of me and my family. I honestly believe that when we tithe, God multiplies the ninety percent to go further than if I had kept the whole hundred percent for myself. Do you remember the story of the multiplication of the five loaves and the two fish? Do you believe that really happened? I do. And I believe that just as the five thousand ate and were filled, with food left over, that our gracious Lord will multiply that ninety percent when we offer ten percent back to Him, in such a way that we cannot understand, to stretch farther than the one hundred percent would have gone. Ask yourself: “Is my family budget tight? Is my business hurting? Am I worshiping God with a tithe? Fr. Richard Ballew of blessed memory taught me that there is an invisible string extending from my heart to my wallet in my hip pocket. It reminded me of this passage from Christ’s Sermon on the Mount: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19–21). Let us take this passage and apply it to the principle of tithing, realizing that our hearts are intricately tied to our money. Sometimes we may wonder, as a church community, why we aren’t growing, why we aren’t vibrant, why we seem to be stuck in a rut, why people are unhappy, why we can’t do what needs to be done with the church facilities, why we can’t have a full-time pastor. 3
We say to ourselves, “We need help. We need financial assistance. Why doesn’t somebody help us? Why doesn’t the big church down the way help us? Why doesn’t the Archdiocese help us?” A priest once announced to his congregation, “I have wonderful news. We have all the money we need!” The faithful breathed a sigh of relief with great joy. “But,” he said, “there is bad news… That money is in your wallet.” Do we really need help? Do we really need financial assistance? Is no one truly willing to help? We have all the money we need; we just need to worship God with our first fruits. I once had a conversation with man who insisted that the key to Church growth in his community was a full-time priest, and a beautiful new church building. “I know people will come and join the church if we have those two things” he said. I responded, “It’s kind of like the baseball movie Field of Dreams, right? If you build it, they will come.” He said, “Exactly.” I responded again – “I have a different formula: If we tithe, God will build it, and they will come.” He didn’t like that, because he wasn’t tithing and didn’t want to tithe. He wanted someone else to worship God with their money. Here’s another formula: If we tithe, not if he tithes, or a few people tithe, but if we tithe. God certainly looks into every individual’s heart, but he also looks into the corporate heart of a community. Have you ever heard the phrase “God is no respecter of persons”? In this particular application, I would say that God will not respect just if a few people tithe, but he is looking for the widow’s mite as well. He is looking for a corporate action, a corporate agreement, a corporate act of worship, adoration, and trust. As a member of the Department of Missions and Evangelism for over twenty years, I have often been asked, “What is the key to church growth?” I don’t know if there is any one key, but I do know where to begin. Church growth begins with a tithing community. The act of receiving the tithes and offerings of the people should be a prominent feature in our worship services. The Baby Boomer generation got rid of the formality of “passing the plate” during worship services when they created the Jesus Movement churches. This preference for just having an offering box tucked away at the entrance in the back of the church has been adopted by many Christian denominations and even many Orthodox Churches. How can we teach tithing as an act of worship in gratitude to God when the collection of such tithes and offerings is hidden and finds no place in the Liturgy? Have you ever heard it said, “out of sight, out of mind”? In my opinion, we need to give in the Divine Liturgy visibly and physically as a part of the “work of the people,” an act of worship to the living God. Not only will God take care of our parish if we commit ourselves to this spiritual discipline, but we will also be able to take care of our Mother, the Church, on the Archdiocese level, with the overflow of God’s blessing. Is it not appropriate that as our mother (the Archdiocese) cares for our spiritual nurture, we would in turn, care for her material needs? She is our mother. Shall we get down to brass tacks? Fr. Peter Gillquist of blessed memory was once asked, “Should I tithe on my gross income or my net income?” Fr. Peter responded, “Which one do you want God to bless?” Enough said. Maybe beginning to tithe ten percent is just too big of a leap. If so, why not get there with baby steps? What if I were to commit to a plan to tithe one percent this month, two percent next month, three percent the following month, and so on, until ten months later I was really tithing the whole ten percent? We can do this. Remember God’s promise. Remember the feeding of the five thousand. Remember this saving commandment and offer God’s own of God’s own in behalf of all and for all. Fr. John Finley, Chairman Department of Missions & Evanglism Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese 4
In Memoriam Remembering those who reposed during the month of October Christos Nassif, Mary Corey, Joyce Murad, Anna Palmolea, Mercherd Headid, Kathryn David, Selma Yanney, Abraham S. Abdouch, Salom Rizk, Habooba Hanna, Mike O. Gebran, George Ellis, Alexander Shuminsky, Mary D. Ellis, Abraham Jacobs, Margaret G. Abdo, Clarence David, Thomas T. Corey, Eli L. Skaff, Charles A. Risk, Mahlon H. Headid, Rose Murad Johnson, Mable Frangia Nimmer, Edwin F. Nassif, Francis Hanna, Sarah J. Gosen, Pauline C. Kivlighn, Freda (Melham) Homsey, Arnold F. Larsen, Jennie Marie Mulneaux, Sophie Skaff, Selma M. Corey, Michael Skaff Sr., Ronald L. Counter, George Kazos. _______________________________________________________________________________
Ladies Club We have not been able to have a formal meeting, but we’re getting closer. We did give $1,000 to the NAB project. You can always go to the Antiochian Women of North America’s website to see what is going on in other areas and when they will be having talks or discussions. We pray God puts a healing arm over this country. God bless us and keep us all safe. Keep reading your Bible and helping each other. ________________________________________________________________________________
Sunday School We will begin Sunday School in person on October 11. We will start at 9:15 am, and parents can go to Orthros. The middle school/high school will meet in the church Hall. The elementary class will meet in the big Sunday School room. These locations will allow for adequate social distancing. Please contact Erica to confirm your child in Sunday School so we can be sure to have the right supplies. _________________________________________________________________________________
SOYO On October 3rd, SOYO will meet at the church for a DOWAMA event including a speaker, breakout groups and games. Please make sure you have registered. A link was also sent out for teens to participate in a nationwide Orthodox pen pal program. Check with your teens and make sure they’ve told you about all these things.
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St. Thomas on the Internet Until now, the main presence of the parish on the Internet has been our Web site at https://stthomassiouxcity.org but, over the next few weeks, you’ll see some major changes happening there as we overhaul the site. While it’s being renovated, you can still stay updated by visiting our various social media pages: Facebook page: Siouxland Orthodox Group: Instagram: SoundCloud: Twitter: YouTube:
https://www.facebook.com/St.ThomasOrthodoxChurchSC/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/689850188457371/ https://www.instagram.com/sathorch/ https://soundcloud.com/sathorch https://twitter.com/sathorch https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIkvjWIH3zMELHkelZ36kRA
Your personalized parish Web site can be found at https://stthomassiouxcity.churchtrac.com/
Let Us Attend! The following are the current guidelines under which we have permission from Bp. BASIL to gather for in-person worship: •
No more than ⅓ capacity at any service: for us, this is 75 individuals.
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Social distancing (6 feet) must be maintained between family units (defined as anyone living in your household).
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Social distancing must be maintained when entering and exiting the building and when lining up to receive Communion.
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Please be sure to wear your mask when entering and leaving the church, entering and leaving your pew, and approaching and returning from receiving Communion. Hand sanitizer is available in the narthex.
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If you’re ill, do not attend. If you are in a high-risk group, please consider carefully whether you should attend.
We want everyone who can to attend services but we also do not want anyone to feel pressured to return before they’re comfortable doing so. Thank you for your cooperation!
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Meditation 2 Timothy 3:10-15 Endurance Not a philosophy, but a calling St. Timothy was a young spiritual son of St. Paul, who placed him as the head of a local Christian community. St. Paul wrote to Timothy, encouraging him as he served in his first parish. “All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. But evil men and imposters will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived” (2 Timothy 3:12-13). St. Paul revealed three insights about endurance. First, he emphasized communion as a path to spiritual strength, reminding Timothy to pay attention to how he had endured persecutions (vv. 10, 11). The Christian life isn’t a philosophy, but a calling to be lived. We manifest this Christian life in real relationships and lean on our Christian friends in times of trial. When we read the lives of saints and deepen our connections with our brothers and sisters in Christ who are faithful in trials, we are given strength to endure. The second quality that contributes to a steadfast faith is the discernment to see the difference between truth and deception. Finally, Paul tells Timothy to keep doing what he’s always done and to stay on the path (v. 14). When we follow the scriptures and faithful people who’ve gone before us, we’ll be planted firmly in the soil of the truth. We know what is true, and more importantly, we know who is Truth. If we don’t deviate from the wisdom given to us, we will have the strength to endure. Today: Whatever you face today can be approached with confidence through the strength of God’s grace. Be it illness, emotional heartache, even the consequences of your own mistakes, you can stand firm in the truth and live in the light that has been shed in our lives through Christ Jesus our Lord. Fr. Barnabas Powell
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How You Can Support the Ministry of The Order of St. Ignatius of Antioch
Let no man's place, or dignity, or riches, puff him up; and let no man's low condition or poverty abase him. For the chief points are faith towards God, hope towards Christ, the enjoyment of those good things for which we look, and love towards God and our neighbor. - Saint Ignatius of Antioch
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