Dear Holy Apostles Family,
Where are we and where do we go from here?
This year, I am guided by the powerful message found in James 5:13-15 "Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray…. and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. "
Our own Metropolitan Gerasimos has asked our parish at Holy Apostles to lead a ministry focused on Family Wellness. In his own words, "The intent of the Family Wellness Ministry initiative is to strengthen the marriages and family lives of our faithful and our clergy."
Recognizing the abundance of professional talent and high quality pastoral guidance in family counseling we have available to us, His Eminence has requested that Holy Apostles be one of the first parishes in the diocese to develop and offer local and regional programs as a ministry resource to strengthen and support families.
His Eminence’s prayer is OUR vision: The Holy Apostles Greek Orthodox Church Family Wellness ministry initiative exists to strengthen and develop families into healthy, resilient, and supported members of our Church and the world.
Guided by the timeless truth of our Orthodox faith, the enduring witness of our Church Fathers, and the eternal life-giving and heart-healing gospel of Jesus Christ, we endeavor to be a parish community "acquiring the Spirit of God" and sharing it by offering resources to help, educate, and empower all Orthodox members to authentically grow in their personal relationships with God and one another.
Our hope is to learn and share good communication techniques in relationships (marriage, parenting, friendship), develop and practice conflict resolution, and to understand and participate in the sacraments for healing and sustenance in the trials of life—all while standing together through prayer and the love of God to address the challenges faced by families in the 21st Century.
The opportunity to launch this ministry can allow a change of perspective for all of us and move our church to the next level of our ladder of growth. Consider the words of St. Seraphim of Sarov:
"They {the priests} tell you: ‘go to church, observe the commandments, do good. That is the goal of your Christian life.’ They did not speak as they should have. Prayer, fasting, vigils, and all other Christian works, however excellent they might be, do not in themselves constitute the goal of the Christian life; they are but indispensable means of attaining that end. The true end of the Christian life is the acquisition of the Spirit of God…of the grace of the Holy Spirit."
What does it mean to perform or act from your Orthodox faith, today? Now more than ever, the truths of our Fathers and their prayers can illuminate our path so that we enact their wisdom to re-form our lives. As we offer our community to Christ for transformation in the building of new relationships, their words can guide and inspire us. Listen to their wisdom:
"The essence of the spiritual life, the life in Christ, consists in the transformation of soul and body and their translation into the sphere of the Spirit, that is, in the spiritualization of soul and body." (St. Theophane the Recluse)
"Good health and an abundance of necessities keep the soul free and independent, and capable of making good use of what is at hand." (St. Clement of Alexandria)
"Attend to yourself so that you may be attentive to God." (St. Basil the Great)
"In creating man God implanted in him something divine—a certain faculty, warmer and more luminous than a spark—to illumine the mind and show what is good and what is bad. This is called conscience and it is the natural law." (St. Dorotheos of Gaza)
"The word of God is not only special nourishment, it is also a weapon." (St. Evagrius)
"Pray without ceasing." (1 Thessalonians 5:17)
"Enlightened, man reaches the eternal heights…And even without being in heaven, he cooperates with the heavenly kingdom powers in their unceasing song; while on earth, he, like an angel, leads every creature to God." (St. Gregory Palamas)
I am excited and honored to be part of such an important service to our Orthodox Christian community here in the Northwest. Our Church has many individuals and couples with a tremendous amount of talent who, with proper training, can play a crucial role in assisting families in need.
Our parish can come together with a Family Wellness focus to embrace Orthodox Christian families meeting the everyday challenges of marriage, parenting, financial stress, personal spiritual growth, and achieving balance between personal and professional life.
I am confident that as we develop teams and programs to implement this initiative, as we evaluate feedback and ask for your perspectives, that we can co-create a way forward that inspires each of us to share our spiritual gifts. We are all called, to love God and our neighbor in new and powerful ways and I look forward to your input and participation. Stay tuned for a simple survey as we begin to set and shape our course!
May our Family Wellness Ministry at Holy Apostles be blessed!
