Holy Trinity in Lewiston Wake Up! 

We Are One Family in Christ!

 

     The power and unity is when many act as one and change their strength from the simple to the profound.  As children we learn that breaking one twig is easy, and yet when many twigs are put together, we do not have the strength to break them.   When we act together in the body of Christ we have Christ’s amazing strength; Christ’s amazing power and ability.  But when we argue and position, demand and force, we are not acting in unity but in division.  In this division, the devil desires and uses it to destroy us.

 

     When we have our festival, our fundraisers, or our societies, they are meant to support the worship and community of our parish and be a Christian example to the community at large. They are to lead us all in unity to Christ Himself.  These activities are not ends in and of themselves but are supporting the True Purpose of Christ’s Church.   When we first re-established our festival after many years, many enduring comments were uttered of how positive we all truly felt as a community working together, enjoying each other, working together towards a Godly purpose and feeling the true sense of a community.  As a Philanthropic arm of our Church, when the Ladies Society touches the lives of a needy family saving them from hardship, and a divine purpose is felt and because a family in need feels  the power of our community in Christ.

 

The opposite is true when a person honest and true tries to contribute and yet is met with resistance or criticism; not of love but harshness, and the whole body of Christ suffers.  Good intentions and triumphs of the best plans are not enough to justify the destruction of the even one soul in our parish. Not One Soul!  As your priest, I have had to enter the role of damage control too many times and I realize that the parish itself suffers;  the very good things we intend to do can at times become harmful.

 

So what is the solution as Christ would give us to strengthen our unity and drive the devils pursuits back from the sacred ground of our church?

 

We must realize Christ’s presence in all our actions and do everything with prayer!!!

 

We must give each other the benefit of the doubt an endless amount of times.  We must stop attacking people’s integrity by assuming they are ill intended.  I am blessed to say that in all people I have encountered in this parish, everyone intends for the best for the church despite at times ill actions.

 

We must work towards helping and supporting each other’s goals in Christ. Is the raising of money for a project better than the feeding of the poor? Does the correct procedure in an event supersede a person’s need to be heard?   Would fundraising supersede prayer, or prayer neglect our daily needs?  We must open our hearts to Christ in each other and hear what their person needs and wants, and do our best to support them in their Christ driven goals.

 

We must always act in the love of Christ.  The truth can be said in many ways; we can have opinions and differ and still be expressing love.   Differences in opinions are opportunities for dialog and will only become problems when love ceases.  People can disagree with us all the time, but we must always express love for them maintaining the unity of Christ despite the disagreement.

 

We must be humble and peaceful. If the majority of people disagree with what we think, we must prayerfully yield.  We must frown upon people’s abilities to micromanage capable people, and we should not assume we are the only capable ones in our thoughts and words.

 

Allow for fun and joy.  God is Joy, and all work for Him can be done with the Joy of the company of each other.

 

We must pray and live the life of Christ.  Would we dare be like Him; could we?  Could we realize that the devil is the only true enemy we have?  Could we be willing to become more that we are by reaching out to Christ?  If we do, we are unified in a purpose that brings us to the profoundness of Christ.  The Unity of Christ.  The Life of Christ.

 

When many act as one, the power and unity changes their strength from the simple to the profound.  People acting together have done amazing things in history.  People acting in division have torn apart incredible blessings.  We can move the mountains that block our way, as long as it is Christ who travels with us.  The communion of the Saints is also here and now.  Our prayerful loving mindset will be our change, Christ will be our guide and unity in Christ will be ours to fight the good fight , to accomplish the greatest of tasks,  to be with God together as one.  After all there is no other way that leads to God Himself.

 

In Christ’s Love,

 

Fr Ted Toppses