Sixth Sunday after Pascha – Sunday of the Man Born Blind, Tone 5; the Transfer of the Relics (1087) of Our Holy Father Nicholas the Wonderworker from Myra to Bari; Holy Prophet Isaiah (8th c. BC); Holy Martyr Christopher (249-51)
Acts 16:16-34; Hebrews 13:17-21; John 9:1-38; Luke 6:17-23
Polyeleos Feast
Read John 9:1-38
Christ is risen! Truly, He is risen!
After being healed from his blindness the man who was born blind must go through challenges and with each challenge his understanding of Jesus deepens. Notice the progression of the names he uses to describe Jesus.
Something similar happened in our parish. We would often mention how we have to begin LIVE-STREAMING our services. It was mentioned as a great outreach, especially to all of our elderly parishioners in senior and nursing homes. We tried it a few times and then stopped. There was no energy for it. And then this PANDEMIC came. This crisis came. We had no one in church. It was a curse but maybe also a blessing. This new unprecedented situation just forced us, pushed us into working on this live-streaming. We also worked on improving the quality of the streaming. Both our parishioners and non-parishioners have benefited from this new option. I also know that we are reaching out to people we don’t even know.
One thing I know is that this live-streaming in our parish is here to stay. It has become a new normal for us. God sometimes ALLOWS CRISES in our world, taking us out of our comfort zone, in order for us to begin doing what He wants us to do.