St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church has (finally!) moved to McKinney, Texas!
It took us about 2.5 years since we first purchased the land to build this new temple. Lots of prayers, worries (we’re human!), red tape, construction, meetings, inspections… And we’re finally in!!!
Last night was the first Vigil service and today – the first Divine Liturgy in our new temple in McKinney, TX. I’ve made some video clips of parts of our service.
CHRIST IS RISEN!!!
This year I celebrated Pascha (Easter) in Moscow, Russia.
Here’s a glimpse of the Paschal midnight service that I went to last night (11:30 PM – 3:30 AM)
There were SO many people that when the Paschal matins started at the entrance to the church and everybody “on this end” was singing “Christ is risen”, the ‘leftover’ procession that hadn’t even left the church yet was still singing “Thy resurrection O Christ Savior”! There are microphones inside the church, so that people who cannot get inside (which is a common situation) can hear and follow the service, but this time the situation completely turned around! 
It was such a remarkable feeling when hundreds of people around you were replying “Truly He is risen” or singing “I believe…” or “Our Father” – truly “with one voice and one heart”!
But I missed our Texas parish warm family atmosphere and our usual
Pascha-baskets sharing after the service. Here in Moscow everybody
just went home. I hope we don’t lose our welcoming family atmosphere when we start growing our parish in McKinney!
Something happened though in this big Moscow church that was very moving to me. I was lingering in the church, getting ready to go home, but not really wanting to leave… And then a young man with a long beard came over to me and said “Christ is risen!” and gave me a little Russian chocolate bar “Alyonka”. I said, “Truly, He is risen” and we exchanged the usual Russian “three kisses”. It was so sweet! There were hundreds of people in that church! Most of them didn’t know each other and probably will never see each other again. And he just walked over to someone he didn’t know and will never see again (me) and gave me a little piece of “brotherly love and kindness”!
It moved me so much and at the same time caught me completely unprepared! I didn’t have anything to give him in exchange, and then he just mixed with the crowd and was gone. I didn’t even ask what his name was! So on the way back home I could only pray, “Lord have mercy on Thy servant… whose name Thou knowest… who gave me the chocolate bar!”
For some reason the Gospel episode came to mind, when Jesus said about the woman who wiped His feet with her hair, that whenever these events will be told, that woman will also always be remembered. I’ll remember this young man and his simple and genuine act of kindnes to someone he didn’t even know! It was seemingly a “trifle of a thing”, but what a difference it made to me! It also made me think how often we miss opportunities like this – to bring a little bit of sunshine into someone’s life, with as little as a friendly smile or a kind word, or a little ‘token’ gift like that. I scribbled a ‘note to self’ on that in my soul’s notebook.
Here are a couple of pictures I took today.
You can hardly see the bench under the snow. Imagine when it all starts melting…… That’s what spring in Russia is like!
Here’s a short video taken from my Moscow apartment, in reply to a question from an OBA friend of mine who was asking, “Is it really that snowy in Russia?”
A quiet family Christmas at Mama Jeanette’s.
Just YouTube’d this song on an impulse. It was used as a theme song for the Mexican ‘telenovela’ David and I got quite addicted to – “Piel de Otoño”. Unfortunately it ended (I learned that, unlike American soap operas, Mexican telenovelas do have an end! ) and I miss the song now!
I just made this short clip with a new service I discovered – Animoto.
It can even upload it to YouTube for you. Neat-o-keeno!
Today David and I watched a great documentary called “The Case for a Creator”. It describes the investigation of a journalist that started out as an attempt to prove (with the help of various modern sciences) that God did NOT exist… but ended with something totally different and unexpected for the journalist himself.
Today OBA turned 3 years old. (Yesterday I turned 3 + 40). Today is also Thanksgiving… lots of memories to cherish, lots of blessings to count, lots to give thanks for.
Here’ s a slideshow I made two years ago for OBA’s 1 year anniversary:
Something I read at church today stuck with me:
“He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.” (From Apostle Paul’s 2nd Epistle to the Corinthians)
That’s exactly the kind of frame of mind that prevails in the OBA community. And that was exactly the kind of atmosphere that touched me to the core in the program that was OBA’s predecessor. I visited the forum for that program… was spellbound by the genuine and sincere willingness to help others, putting others first, really caring about others, humility, generosity, respect, trust, friendship… with Dave Gray leading by example every single day. I spent at least several hours reading that forum up and down and and back up again… and I could never leave it. I wanted to be “one of them”. I just couldn’t help but want to live up to this high standard, be a better person… Isn’t this how we (Christians) are supposed to live our life? The unique online business community Dave has built has certainly been a school of Christian life in many ways and on many levels to me.
That’s why I seem so “addicted” to OBA. Even though we are a mixed group of folks of all sorts of cultures and backgrounds, we try to do our best to “give cheerfully” and “sow bountifully”. We strive to build our own business by helping others, and there is something very edifying, encouraging, humbling and uplifting about it – all at the same time. It is the best business for anyone to whom Apostle Paul’s words above are not just words on paper, but an inspiring call to the way of life.