PARISH VOICES

We are blessed to live in a Christian church that is so full and rich with tradition. Christ initiated and taught us how to live, walk, pray, and worship Him through His words which are visible in the written word of the Bible and His directives to His close followers. The Apostles continued Christ's teachings through speaking and writing to those in their travels. The teachings grew from the original followers to other people around the world throughout the centuries.

Sunday, January 11, 2026 — We shared a glorious afternoon celebrating our post Theophany Blessing of the Waters at the Edmonds Waterfront. Congrats to Titus who was the first to retrieve the Cross and all those who took the Polar Plunge into the blessed waters of the Puget Sound!

It is our cherished tradition to have our homes blessed with the water sanctified on Holy Theophany. Fr. Tom will be visiting parish homes from January 6 through the end of the month, leading a prayer service and blessing each house with this life-giving water. Why We Bless Our Homes We bless houses for the same reason we bless anything—to restore that particular thing to its correct purpose. When we bless something, we reclaim it for God and restore it as a means of communio

I am humbled that our Holy Orthodox Church clearly proclaims that God's great gift was not a philosophy, a code of ethics, or a new age way to look at life, but His gift was God Himself, Jesus Christ! One of the pearls in the book Daily Meditations and Prayers for the Christmas Advent Fast and Epiphany by Harakas and Coniaris is the following: Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea. But where is Bethlehem? Did the Son of God come to be born in a tiny hamlet in far-away Palesti

Sunday, January 4, 2026 — We shared a beautiful Sunday celebrating the new year and St. Basil, whose feast day is January 1st, A big thanks to Lisa Galvin who lovingly baked our huge and delicious New Year’s Vasilopita! Congratulations to Erica Strauss who was blessed to be recipient of the lucky coin!

For the past 15 years I've worked in technology, learning new tools and software that promise to help us work smarter, not harder. Yet I've also seen how these same tools, if left unprotected, can make us work harder and even cause us to lose something far more precious than data - our true identity. Last month we heard a presentation on Unseen Intruders reminding us how quickly artificial intelligence (AI) has become part of our daily lives. When ChatGPT launched three year

On the Sunday before the Nativity of Christ, we read the Gospel of St. Matthew 1:1-25, which traces the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. It's always a powerful thing when our Church reminds us that we come from a lineage that goes all the way back to Adam and Eve. As we celebrate Christmas, we need to be reminded where our roots are, where we're from, and who we are. The world is telling you so many things about who you need to be. We hear, "j

It's that time of year again! Need I say more? The stores are already decked out for the dark days of December making them a beautiful sight to the eyes. How many Christmas songs come to mind about the holidays - snowfall, holly, Christmas trees, reindeer and jingle bells. An exciting time for many. It also brings about a pressure to do it right, provide the best Christmas for the family and be joyful doing it all. For others, it is a time of mourning as they remember loved o

A few years back, a friend was talking to me and used the phrase, "Middle-aged people like us." It was one of those phrases that made me stop listening to whatever else he was talking about. I looked around and noted that only the two of us were present. I realized with shock that my friend thought that I was middle-aged. I received a second shock when it occurred to me that my friend was right. I suppose another indicator that I am aging happens when I'm around teenagers...

St. Paul challenges us to practice giving thanks to God, and our beloved St. Anthony's words implore us to have a peaceful and contented mind! We are called to filter the negative thoughts and to resist focusing on what is wrong with the world, what is broken in life, what needs fixing, and make time to cultivate a grateful heart. One way that helps cultivate a grateful heart is to recite the amazing prayers of the Akathist Hymn "Glory to God for All Things."