Stewardship and Living Stones: A homily

March 15, 2015 marked the middle of the 2015 Orthodox Great Lent period.

The St. Athanasius Orthodox Church in Arlington, MA, celebrated the Sunday of the Holy Cross in combination with Stewardship Sunday. In support of this event, the parish council asked me to offer a homily on the subject of Stewardship. I spoke on 'Stewardship and Living Stones' reflecting on the Church being an institution build of 'Living Stones' representing each one of the people that offer themselves in service.

You are invited to read the complete speech here.

I explained the reason for the tittle of my speech in these final sentences:

" At the end of each year, my 5th grade students make a Church made of picture blocks displaying faces of students and people from our community. It is a project that they love making especially as it hangs in the classroom for the entire next year! We call it the living stones projects. It reminds us that our St. Athanasius Church and our community are made and held together by the lives, actions, devotion and service of person, families, and clergy that are responsible and concerned caretakers of Christ's Church.

If your personal living stone is missing from our Church, or is not cemented securely with the others, make a commitment today to add it. Make a commitment to hold up your end of the bargain for all the great things that our loving God has bestowed in your life so that when the time of accounting comes you can hear Him calling you into His Kingdom as a 'good and faithful servant'. "