Beloved:
The grace of God has appeared, saving all

Here we stand, at the manger, at the answer.

We have been inundated by the negatives of the world, particularly over the last several weeks, even in the last 24 hours, but here we stand, before the answer.

In this decrepit, shoddy stable, the answer came to us. The answer came with a one way ticket. The answer, this little baby, came with a one way ticket and brought a new dawn.

The one way ticket is for God intervening, providing us with the way from darkness and sin to light and life. He came to save – Jesus – the name that means God saves. God has come to save His people that are you and me, all of us.

The one way ticket is for God who promised He would come to save, not just temporarily, or for a short time, but forever. He came to stay with us, and in us, as the answer.

This saving work, this answer continues among us. He is here, in this small parish, on a small street. He is in our big and welcoming hearts – the heart of Jesus which we reflect. He is in our community. He is in the many blessings we have received, and the struggles and work we face together. He is in the beauty of our children and the wisdom of our elders. The answer is in Him and His promises – that are for us – here and now.

The answer is among us. God is among us, with us, here to stay. Thank you Lord Jesus, thank you for this holy night. Amen.

Dear Parishioners and Friends,

If you happened to see our Christmas advertisement in the Schenectady Gazette you would note the sentiment expressed there: May His dawning break down all barriers and bring us peace.

Christmas is a recollection, a memory of what happened over 2,000 years ago, and a new dawning of that moment. In that moment 2,000 years ago we saw the incredible love our God holds for us. He withheld nothing from us, and gave Himself for our benefit. This Christmas we face the stable, and the need to reconnect, to re-realize the incredible power of God’s love. We cry out for that new dawn, and behold; it is within our grasp. Jesus didn’t come and go in the span of 33 years, from Christmas to the Ascension, but remains with us, steadfast by our side.

This Christmas we face a day that offers the new and perfect, the peaceful. We resolve to be our better selves with the help of His grace. His new dawning calls us to become the best of what Christians can be. Our Christian life, our baptismal call, is not to foster dissension or separation, but to be bearers of His new dawn each and every day. Our relationship to our Holy Church is not about religious affiliation, but about life in a community that helps us to be the new dawn of Christ every day, the light that will bring peace between people, that will break all barriers.

We have had an incredibly beautiful and blessed year in our little parish. Friends new and old have gathered to be the new dawn for each other, our neighborhood, and our wider community. In this work we continue to break down barriers and bring peace. We are that small church on a small street with a big and welcoming heart. The new dawn continues to this day, here, among us.

I wish and pray that this Christmas brings you all the joys of His new dawning. On behalf of the Parish Committee and myself, I wish you the most blessed Christmas season and look forward to seeing you as we join together to face the new dawning of Jesus into our lives and our community.

Rev. Deacon James A. Konicki

Hey, Sheep! Do I know you?

Today, our Holy Church honors the humble shepherds, the first to gaze upon Jesus and carry the message of His coming to others.

And when they saw it they made known the saying which had been told them concerning this child; and all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.

Shepherds had three key responsibilities, to tend, feed, and guard the sheep. To that end they carried quite the kit. They kept a bag made from goat skin in which they carried food and other items. They kept a sling to fight off wild animals, a rod with a knob on one end, a staff with a hook on the end, a flute for entertainment and to calm the sheep, and a cloak for warmth and to be used as bedding at night.

The most amazing relationship developed between the shepherds and their sheep, the sheep would learn to recognize and follow their shepherd’s voice.

God has used the image of the shepherd since the creation of the world. Abel, the son of Adam and Eve, was a shepherd. When Israel blessed Joseph he recalled that God had been his shepherd throughout his life.

Jesus is our Good Shepherd, and He does all those things that shepherds do. He feeds us with His body and blood. He tends to us, healing and renewing us. He guards us and protects us so that we will never die.

The key for us is that we grow in relationship with Jesus. We need to recognize His voice. That comes from reading His word, talking with Him in prayer, following His way. Doing that, we will recognize His call, His voice.

Do we know the voice of our Good Shepherd? When we hear His voice, let us all respond with “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” I will follow your way.

You want me to do what? Couldn’t we just shake hands?

God is talking with Abraham, making a covenant with him and his descendants. God says:

Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you.

A covenant is a contract. In ancient times people would sacrifice an animal as a sign of the pact they made. They would divide the animal in two, and each would walk between the two halves, sealing the deal. God had already done that with Abraham, but Abraham did not walk through the sacrificed animals, only God did in the form of a smoking fire pot and a burning torch. God promised, by Himself, to keep the deal He made with His people.

Now God is asking Abraham to make an outward sign of this deal in his flesh, and the flesh of his descendants.

It would be great if it were that simple with God. Maybe as Christians, as people of the new covenant, we should place a fish bumper sticker on our cars, or wear a gold chain with a cross. Would people know then that we are Jesus’ people, people of the covenant?

That’s unlikely. How many times do we see people carrying the outward signs of Christianity, only to disappoint by their actions? It was the same with Abraham and his descendants who carried the sign of the covenant in their flesh, but neglected to carry the sign of the covenant in their hearts.

To be truly circumcised means to carry the gospel in the way we live, talk, act, feel, treat others, pray, worship, and … well in everything we do. Yes, the outward signs of our Christianity ARE important. That is our proclamation. Our proclamation must be coupled with our witness, with hearts that live what the outward signs represent.

God is Born

He has come to give the promise of 
His mercy full and gracious. For the Word was made Incarnate,
 And in truth, has dwelt amongst us!

The miracle we have awaited has come. And now, every time I see your face, I see Jesus in you. Every night before I sleep, I know that He dwells with you. In every prayer I offer I am assured that His miracles are real in your life. Before we accepted Christ and were regenerated, He accepted us. Knowing that, I sing high praise to God who has joined us to His Son and to each other. May His everlasting presence enrich and bless you and yours at this moment, throughout the coming year, and always in every way.

Deacon Jim

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

More than two thousands years ago, in the little town of Bethlehem, the miraculous history of the joining of the God’s and humanity’s paths began. What happened in that time and place, is beautifully described in Franciszek Karpinski’s carol from XVIII century . Karpinski, the “common man’s theologian” wrote:

When God is born, no power prevails,
Our Lord in nakedness enwound.
All fire congeals, all luster pales,
Contained is He that knows no bound.
Despised, in glory comes untold,
A mortal king for aye to reign.
The Word of God in flesh behold,
Now born to share our life mundane.

What have ye Heavens o’er the earth,
That God forsook His sweet delight,
And wished to take a human birth,
To share our every toil and plight?
And He did suffer unconsoled,
And we were guilty of His pain.
The Word of God in flesh behold,
Now born to share our life mundane.

A meager shed for Him they found,
And in a manger there He lay.
What was He, and what was there ’round?
Poor shepherds, cattle, sheep and hay.
The poor had hailed Him, we are told,
Before the rich would entertain.
The Word of God in flesh behold,
Now born to share our life mundane.

’Twas then, they say, appeared the
kings, And jostled through the gathering dense.
For Him they brought their offerings:
The myrrh, and gold, and frankincense.
The frankincense, and myrrh, and gold
With rustic gifts He did retain.
The Word of God in flesh behold,
Now born to share our life mundane.

Raise now Thy hand, oh Child divine,
And bless our homeland from the Height.
By good advice and times benign,
Support her strength with Thine own might:
The hamlets, cities and the world,
Our houses, and our every gain.
The Word of God in flesh behold,
Now born to share our life mundane

God became man. The Infinite limited Himself. The King above all ages took mortal flesh, “The Word of God in flesh behold, Now born to share our life mundane.” God enters directly into human history, into each of our biographies. He did this to free us from the slavery of sin, so that we can be “born of God” again, becoming His adopted children and brothers of His Son.

I wish you all a blessed, good, peaceful, and spiritually fulfilling Christmas filled with joy. May Jesus, who is born in the Eucharist, find a worthy home in our hearts, where He is welcomed with faith and love. May He endow your families and homes generously with grace and peace. May the light of Nativity Star be for us the road sign in our journey to real happiness.

With prayers always, and not just for Christmas,

– Fr. Adam, Danuta, Rafal and Marek.

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Drodzy Bracia i Siostry

Ponad dwa tysiÄ…ce lat temu, w maÅ‚ym miasteczku Betlejem zaczęła siÄ™ cudowna historia skrzyżowania dróg Boga i czÅ‚owieka. To co siÄ™ tam wydarzyÅ‚o przepiÄ™knie i zarazem “prostym teologicznym” jÄ™zykiem ukazuje XVIII-wieczna kolÄ™dÄ… Franciszka Karpinskiego:

Bóg się rodzi, moc truchleje,
Pan niebiosów obnażony!
Ogień krzepnie, blask ciemnieje,
Ma granice Nieskończony.
Wzgardzony, okryty chwałą,
Śmiertelny Król nad wiekami!
A Słowo Ciałem się stało
I mieszkało między nami.

Cóż niebo, masz nad ziemiany?
Bóg porzucił szczęście Twoje,
Wszedł między lud ukochany,
DzielÄ…c z nim trudy i znoje.
Niemało cierpiał, niemało,
Żeśmy byli winni sami,
A Słowo Ciałem się stało
I mieszkało między nami.

W nędznej szopie urodzony,
Żłób Mu za kolebkę dano!
Cóż jest czym był otoczony?
Bydło, pasterze i siano.
Ubodzy, was to spotkało
Witać Go przed bogaczami!
A Słowo Ciałem się stało
I mieszkało między nami.

Potem królowie widziani
Cisną się między prostotą,
NiosÄ…c dary Panu w dani:
Mirrę, kadzidło i złoto.
Bóstwo to razem zmieszało
Z wieśniaczymi ofiarami.
A Słowo Ciałem się stało
I mieszkało między nami.

Podnieś rękę, Boże Dziecię,
Błogosław Ojczyznę miłą!
W dobrych radach, w dobrym bycie
Wspieraj jej siłę swą siłą.
Dom nasz i majętność całą,
I wszystkie wioski z miastami.
A Słowo Ciałem się stało
I mieszkało między nami.

Bóg staÅ‚ siÄ™ czÅ‚owiekiem. NieskoÅ„czony ograniczyÅ‚ samego siebie, Król nad wiekami przyjÄ…Å‚ Å›miertelne ciaÅ‚o, “SÅ‚owo CiaÅ‚em siÄ™ staÅ‚o i mieszkaÅ‚o miÄ™dzy nami.” Bóg bezpoÅ›rednio wkroczyÅ‚ w dzieje ludzkoÅ›ci, w życiorys każdego z nas, aby nas wyzwolić z niewoli grzechu, abyÅ›my na nowo „z Boga siÄ™ narodzili”, stali siÄ™ braćmi Jego Syna i Jego przybranymi dziećmi.

Życzę Wam wszystkim błogosławionych, dobrych, spokojnych i pełnych duchowej radości świąt Bożego Narodzenia. Niechaj rodzący się podczas Eucharystii Jezus znajdzie godne mieszkanie w naszych sercach, gdzie zostanie przyjęty z wiarą i miłością. Niech Wasze rodziny i domy obdarzy hojnie łaską i pokojem. A światło Gwiazdy Betlejemskiej niech będzie znakiem na naszym szlaku do prawdziwego szczęścia.

Oby i nas poprowadziła Tamta Gwiazda.
Bo tylko ona niesie w sobie Światło.
Bo tylko ona przynosi NadziejÄ™.
Bo tylko ona zapowiada Miłość.
Ona przypomina, że Bóg znowu chce być Emmanuelem – Bogiem z nami!
Oby nie zabrakło dla Niego miejsca.
Bo tylko dzięki Niemu nasze życie może stać się piękne,
a nasz świat bardziej ludzki.
Tylko tam, gdzie rodzi się Bóg,
tylko tam rodzi się człowiek:
ten inny, bardziej ludzki, wrażliwy, niosący w sobie Obraz i Podobieństwo.
O to prośmy przy betlejemskim żłóbku!
(ks. Wacław Buryła)

Z modlitewnÄ… pamiÄ™ciÄ… – nie tylko w Å›wiÄ™ta Bożego Narodzenia

– ks. Adam wraz z żonÄ… Danuta oraz synami RafaÅ‚em i Markiem