New Years Day 2023

I'd like to begin by wishing everyone a blessed

New Year. It certainly may be a happy New Year,

but I think more to the point of why we are here

as Christians, may it be a blessed New Year.

I'll say a little bit about that in just a moment.

I also point out that this is the Sunday before

the Feast of Theophany, the baptism of Christ,

blessing the water, the sanctification of all

of creation in that blessing, the revelation

of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. I mean,

these are things the church... And then you have

this reading which takes you back to when Jesus

was a child being circumcised, and then all of

a sudden he's 12 years old. and he stays behind

and his parents don't know where he is. Don't

be confused about all of that. In the church,

we're seeking to know what that means. It doesn't

matter that it doesn't follow chronological order.

It's about Jesus, the Son of God, God in the

flesh. And Jesus says to his parents, don't you

know I need to be about my father's business?

He's 12. Growing in stature and in wisdom. It's

also the new year. It's good to have a fresh

beginning to the new year. We just celebrated

Christmas last Sunday. The feast of our salvation.

We heard St. Paul tell us that because we have

been born again by water, and the Holy Spirit,

we become children of God, the Father, through

that baptism. And he has sent the Holy Spirit

into our hearts and cries, Abba, dear Father,

to God, the Father, who is near us, and we say,

God is with us. So we have a fresh start as we

hit the new year. Because we've been reminded

of this incredible gift of eternal life. The

grace to restore us to the image that we have

within us of God. That's what Christmas is. Yes,

the presents are wonderful. The celebration,

everything, all of that is wonderful. It is all

part of how we celebrate this incredible day.

The grace... to restore us to the image of God

in which we were created. But we lost through

sin. Christ comes, and now we see. To make a

fresh start real, to make it real, I've entitled

my sermon, which I never do because I don't think

of things that way. Like other priests, they

always start out, I've titled my sermon today,

etc., etc. Doesn't seem like that makes any sense

to me. But I've entitled my sermon today. P .S.

I'm talking to you, O priest. This is the feast

of St. Basil the Great. Of course, every Sunday,

it's a little Pascha. It's eight days after Christmas.

So it's a commemoration of the circumcision.

I'm not going to explain what that is. I think

you probably know of Jesus Christ and his naming.

According, all of that arranged by his mother

in accordance with the tradition of the Jewish

law. Is it odd for us to celebrate the feast

of the circumcision? What does that mean to you?

Are you going to go home and meditate on that?

Think about that. What does it mean? Well, St.

Paul tells us what it means, thankfully. In him,

you are also circumcised with the circumcision

made without hands by the putting off of the

body of sin. That sinful inclination that drives

us, that gets us on a path going straight away

from God. By putting off the body of the sins

of the flesh, doesn't mean skin and bones, he

means the sinful impulses. By the circumcision

of Christ, buried with him in baptism, in which

you were also raised with him. Brothers and sisters,

this is our calling. We are raised with him through

faith, that is through faithfulness, following

Christ. In the working of God, who raised him

from the dead, we have a circumcision as Christians.

Not of the male body part, but of the inner heart.

That's the cutting away of sin. The cutting off

of the will, which is running errands for the

ego all day long. I need to remind myself. This

is why I entitled this sermon, P .S. I'm Talking

to You. to continually cut off my pride, arrogance,

entitlement, pettiness, resentment in my sins,

and hypocrisy. You know, for a Christian, the

pride that leads to hypocrisy, and that hypocrisy

is a terrible temptation, especially if you're

a priest wearing, you know, embroidered vestments.

So today, looking for a fresh start to the new

year, I ask your forgiveness. I ask forgiveness

of all of you. For my brother clergy, the altar

servers, the choir master, the singers, the readers,

the parish council, the women who work so hard,

all of you, forgive me, brothers and sisters.

I'm sorry for the misdeeds and failures before

you. Cutting away is simply not that pleasant.

St. Basil the Great, whose feast day we commemorate

today, said this, in truth, to know oneself seems

to be the hardest of all things. Not only are

I which observes external objects, does not use

the sense of sight upon itself, you can't see

yourself, but even our mind, which contemplates

intently other people's sins, is slow in the

recognition of its own defects. I don't mean

to be a downer on New Year's Day. Because repentance

is always Always an act of hope. And trust in

God's promises to transform us, to heal us, to

forgive us. It starts with remembering that God

loves us. That's Christmas. That's the Feast

of the Cross. That's Pascha. That's Dormition.

That's every feast day of every saint. God loves

us. Repentance is the change of direction, right?

It's not just feeling guilty and bad about yourself.

No, that's not going to help. It's the change

of direction, a change from living and walking

in sin to walking towards God. On Friday night,

I went to the leave -taking of Nativity at Nativity

Greek Orthodox Church to join them in their feast

day. And the preacher was Father Tom Zafaris

from Ascension Cathedral in Oakland. He spoke

about this dangerous path. continuing to walk

in sin and then to walk in repentance. He said

about walking in sin he said if I continue on

the road I'm on I'm going to get where I'm going.

That's true of repentance too. So we turn away

towards the Lord. If we continue on that road

we're going to get where we're going which is

the kingdom which is The image of God shining

within us. This is the new year. The entire world

marks the turning of the calendar. It's a fresh

start. But don't think you have all year. We

buried a number of our beloved parishioners this

year. St. Ephraim the Syrian who died in the

year 373. Just, what, six years before St. Basil

died, he said, the days pass. They fly away.

The hours run without stopping. In the headlong

rush of time, the world nears its end. We're

closer to the resurrection. Just as it is impossible

to stop and hold back running water through one's

fingers, so the life of one born of woman. cannot

remain stationary. God has determined the measure

of each person's life, and the days divide this

appointed measure into parts. Each day, imperceptibly

almost, takes part away from your life, and each

hour unrestrainedly runs along its course with

its little share. This is why I say not Happy

New Year, but a blessed new year. Happy is fine.

Happy is good. Happiness comes. Happiness goes.

It might happen. It might not happen. Are we

happy when we get everything we want? I am. Are

we happy when we manage to avoid calamities or

tragedies? Yes. But does a life free of hardship,

free of heartbreak? Render us happy? Put another

way, are we happy when we experience pleasure

and avoid pain? Well, yes. No one in their right

mind would ever wish to be unhappy. But in the

world you will have tribulation, be of good cheer,

be blessed. I have overcome the world, says the

Savior. Christmas, circumcision, the cutting

away of sin. the entering into the water of baptism,

the remembrance of that blessed day. We enter

into the Savior's peace, the blessedness that

does not come from our resolutions or from occasional

happiness. No, we start on the road and we're

going to get to where we're going. Just recall

this. I'll leave you with this thought. The Beatitudes

are full of blessings for us. The height, the

pinnacle of that, is blessed are the pure in

heart, for they shall see God. Christmas, when

we remember that we may not be bearing the image

of God as purely as we should, and we may not

be seeing God, is the time when we reach out,

perhaps to those who Are like the least of these,

my brethren. You want to see Christ? They're

out there. We can minister to those folks. You'll

see God. You'll see God in each other. If you

refuse to look at that person's sin and their

failures in the Christian life, you'll see God

right here. You'll see God in the chalice. You'll

see God when you pray in your heart. So brothers

and sisters, we rejoice today. We start fresh

on the new year. We ask for God's blessing. We

start with forgiveness from one another, repentance,

and turning on that new road. May God grant us

the vision that he promises to those who are

blessed. Amen.