6th Sunday after Pentecost Fr. David Lowell

But even the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,

I was glad when they said unto me, let us go

up to the house of the Lord. And I said, excuse

my voice, it comes and goes. And I said, where

is this house? And they said, Santa Rosa. I said,

well, that's great. St. Seraphim's Cathedral

and Church and Parish. I love that parish. And

I told St. Nicholas, where I was up in Portland,

I told one of the parishioners that. She said,

oh, I went there in the late 1950s. Protection

of the Holy Virgin. And she said, there was just

three of us. We were passing through. We came

to church on Sunday. And there was only the priest

there. He couldn't even do liturgy except that

we came. And so he did liturgy. And it was this

little church. It was surrounded by golden fields.

The way she remembers it, there was nothing else

there but this little church. And so the priest

was both the celebrant and he was the choir.

He did everything. And they had liturgy, and

she just remembered that very fondly. And then

this parish and this community has continued

to grow from that church to this church. Father

Lawrence mentioned last week the consecration.

Which we remember. I was in San Francisco at

the time. And I was here for that. So even though

I'm new here. I feel like. It's like coming home.

To this parish that grows. And that is so. So.

I would say. Spirit filled. I've never been in

a parish. That didn't have the Holy Spirit. In

the smallest. most struggling parish, you still

sometimes audibly hear the Spirit groaning through

the choir. So the Spirit is present one way or

another. But in this, and in this gospel text

which we heard today, and also in the epistle

where Paul is talking about sharing blessings,

that we are reminded that in this context, we

are taught to bless. We are taught how to bless

and how to bless specifically. Specific blessings

are given to us through the gifts that God has

given us to use them together. A specific blessing

is the reader, the choir, those who cook, those

who greet. People are blessed to unify the parish

and we all work together and we learn to bless

one another. We learn to forgive one another's

sins. And in the gospel text we heard today,

Jesus said, which is easier, to say your sins

are forgiven or to say pick up your bed and walk?

And Jesus, in this situation, he did the harder

thing in healing the man with palsy, but he asks

us to do the easier thing, to forgive one another,

to learn to bless one another. to receive blessings

and to act upon them. And I say this not as instruction,

but as recognition that this is the kind of parish

community that is here. This is what has built

this church and this community gradually over

the years. A few days ago, if you read along

with the gospel text on the daily readings, Last,

I believe it was Wednesday the 29th or 30th or

I don't know. It was midweek. It was that we

were going through the gospel of Matthew chapter

Matthew 13 · chapter mention

13. And Jesus said the kingdom of heaven is like

a mustard seed. The littlest seed, which is what

I think that church sounded like that our parishioner

visited in the late 50s. The littlest seed. And

yet it grows into a large bush and birds land

in it. And this is what we see here. It is a

work that has begun and a work that has much

more to grow. Much more to, many more people

to reach. And while we are doing the work of

the church, we too are being perfected. So let

us have confidence in this, that Jesus Christ,

who has begun a good work in us, has the power

to bring it to completion. Glory to Jesus Christ.