Two Sunday before Christmas Fr. Nicholas Carr

of the Holy Spirit. Glory to Jesus Christ. This

is the second Sunday before Christmas, before

Nativity. We're almost there. And it is chosen

by the Orthodox Church to honor the holy ancestors

of Christ. It is fitting and right that we do

remember these faithful servants of God who listened

to the Lord God and did His will that a way of

salvation for all humanity might be established

and that path to sanctification, it has been

built. And the way of salvation is available

to every one of us. And the question for us all

is, will we walk upon it? In today's Gospel reading,

the Lord Jesus tells a parable of a great feast,

where many are called by the host to attend,

but they all began to make excuses. Excuses to

not attend this grand event. I have purchased

some property and must go and see it. I have

purchased five yoke of oxen, and I am going to

test them. I have married a new wife. Certainly,

none of these things has anything wrong to it,

but it did keep them from the feast. The Lord

of the feast therefore told his servant, Go out

quickly into the streets and lanes of the city

and bring in here the poor and the maimed and

the lame and the blind. And the servant did so,

and still there was more room at the feast. So

the Lord said, Go out into the highways and the

hedges and compel them to come in that my house

may be filled. And so it happened, a feast for

all those who agreed to attend. The feast represented

in this parable is God's kingdom. What a wonderful

invitation that is given to all, to you, to me,

to all of us, to eat bread in the kingdom of

God. And yet, some will choose not to go. Why?

Worldly entanglements. They're called elsewhere

by these worldly entanglements that they value

more. It could be property. It could be new fleet

trucks that you have to go get launched for your

business. It could be any issue that you would

make more important than reaching heaven. and

the kingdom of God. And this leads to the questions

each one of us must ask ourselves. Which way

am I walking? Am I headed to the great feast?

Are my life choices taking me towards heaven

or away from heaven? Are temporary worldly distractions

keeping me entangled Unable to move forward on

the narrow road of salvation and sanctification.

And today's epistle, it lays out for us some

of the things to look for in answering these

questions for ourselves. It says to avoid fornication,

uncleanness, passion, evil desire, covetousness,

which is idolatry, anger, wrath, malice. blasphemy,

filthy language, lying. And we need to look at

ourselves and see, is any of this a part of our

lives? And if so, confess it and move back to

that right path. It says we are to put off the

old man and to put on the new man. The old man

serves the passions of the flesh. the things

that call us in this world. And the new man seeks

God and walks in the Spirit. The new man humbles

himself before God, confesses his sins, repents

of past mistakes or present mistakes, asks God

for forgiveness, depends on the Lord for salvation

and sanctification, not on himself. The new man

desires to go to that great feast and says yes

to the invitation. You are invited. What is your

answer? Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk says this. The

hope which is laid up for Christians in heaven

has power to move Christians to piety and patience,

to confirm them in it with God's help. and to

turn them away from sin by which that hope is

destroyed. There is the heavenly Father's house,

and in his house are many mansions. There is

the holy city, the new Jerusalem, mentioned in

Revelation, which St. John saw, and there shall

be no night there, and they need no candle, neither

light of the sun, for the Lord God giveth them

light. There, the good things are prepared for

them that love God, which eye hath not seen,

nor ear heard, neither have entered into the

heart of man. There, God's elect see him face

to face. There, the Son of Righteousness, that

is Christ, the Son of God, is shining in his

glory. And that sun never sets. nor is he covered

with clouds, but he is always shining, enlightening,

warming, gladdening his elect, and they themselves

shine as the sun in the kingdom of their father.

There the great supper is made, at which many

that have come from the east and the west sit

with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. You are invited.

What is your answer? Have you ever worked with

string or perhaps even electronic wires? Or perhaps

with rope? And somehow, someway, it always gets

twisted up in knots and tangled. No matter how

you try to keep it. Perhaps yarn. But any of

these things, they seem to get all entangled,

and it is very, very difficult to untangle them

by pulling the lines back and forth and getting

it through to properly straighten it. Well, our

lives can be like that string. We get all entangled

because of worldly desires. and passions that

pull us in wrong directions and get us all tied

up in knots, and we don't know what to do, and

we can't seem to untie it. And when we are entangled

like that, it's difficult to walk on the narrow

path to the feast that we're invited to. But

God is ready and willing to help us untangle

those knots. All we have to do is ask. We just

need to ask and then let him do it. To say, Lord,

help me, untangle me, sanctify me, lead me to

the heavenly feast. You are invited. Let your

answer be yes and walk on that path to salvation

and sanctification and we will... We will celebrate

at that great feast if we can keep our feet on

the path trusting in God. Let us do so. Glory

to Jesus Christ.