Today we celebrate the forty-fifth anniversary of the building of the church. Every Sunday we commemorate in our prayers those who built this holy temple, saying: “remember, O Lord, also those who built this holy temple and those who preceded us in service in it”.
The anniversary today is not merely a commemoration of what was done forty-five years ago, but a summoning of it. Today, with this celebration, we try to summon the reason that drove them to build the church, which is that they might gather together around the Lord and around the holy cup. When our forebears gathered to build this temple of stone, in that moment when they gathered together, the Church was founded in Edmonton. Did not Jesus say “where two or three are gathered in My name, I am in their midst”? In that moment Christ came to be among them as a community, and they became the Church; and because they became the Church they were able to build this building. And thus you can realize your dream if you believe that you are the Church.
Their dream was great relative to five families who wished to build a large building, but they dreamed a dream as great as the greatness of the God they believed in, and realized their dream through Him. Neither the frost of exile nor the scarcity of means deterred them, because the fire of faith was stronger in their hearts. In order to complete their journey and be faithful to the dream, we must dream like them a great dream; to be faithful to our forebears who built means to dream like them a dream that reflects the greatness of our God.
I ask you today: what is your dream in this parish? That we establish a nursery for our children? Then let our dream be greater! That we establish a school that reflects our values? Then let it be greater still! That we launch great projects and institutions that serve our coming generations in this exile? Yes, let us make our dreams without limits. Whoever wants to climb to the top of the mountain first dreams of grasping the moon. Some will say this is a mad dream, and my dear ones, only the mad realize their dreams because they believe them; only they change history. Had the apostles been rational by human standards, they would have remained fishermen on the shore of Tiberias with torn nets; and because they possessed the audacity to dream, they changed the history of the world.
I know that many fear dreaming; they ask with a kind of anxiety: where are the tools and where is the funding? And we are sometimes weighed down by daily worries, and the bills weary us. Those who fear dreaming are wearied and bound by reality. Some may say: “what you ask of us is impossible!” … And yes, by our human measures and material calculations, it is entirely impossible! But does not this very thing call us to think and believe that our God is the God of impossibilities?
We must not fear nor be troubled, nor say this is too great for us; it may be too great for our capacities, but nothing is great and nothing is impossible for our God if we believe in Him. He is the one who turned five families in exile into this parish pulsing with life. When Metropolitan Philip asked Uncle George Salloum: how did you build the church while you have no debts? He said to him: with blessing. The God of blessing who was with them is the very one who guides our steps today.
Today we do not want to set a ceiling or limits to our dreams, but we want to build and strive, and God gives the growth. Let us place two mites in the box of our shared dreams, and trust that the God of impossibilities will overflow with blessing to defy every bitter reality. On our way toward the great dream, we will achieve together many unexpected accomplishments, step by step.
Today, as we light the forty-fifth candle in the life of our parish, let us not ask what our capabilities are, but ask with me: shall we dare to dream together? Let the answer be yes. God, the God of impossibilities, will bless our answer, and from it make the miracle of tomorrow. Dream, and your dreams will teach you how to realize them.
Amen