Saint Nicholas Orthodox Church

Our Completed Church!

Go to this post from my daughter's excellent "Mommy blog": http://momology.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-church.html

The First Liturgy, May 31/ June 13 2010,
Two days after we attained our long sought after occupancy permit. We only had time to hang iconostasis icons. The mood was festive, the liturgy prayerful, the acoustics excellent, the children excited, and the hall is already too small!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/saint-nicholas/sets/72157624278380102/show/

This is what we we fighting for tonight. We submitted a request to the city to be allowed to put up a "living fence" of Nellie R Stevens Hollies around the inside perimeter of our property instead of building a concrete fence, which was FAR beyond our means.

Tonight, the Planning and Zoning Commission of the city of McKinney accepted our request!

Many people in the parish have been directly involved in persuading the city to accept our request, and literally people from all over the country have been praying for us for several weeks.

Our prayers and efforts with prayer have been answered, and we will be installing the hedge tomorrow. There is a good chance that the city will approve everything this week, and our first vigil and liturgy will be this weekend. In any case, we will soon be in our new home.

Thanks to all that have supported us – by your encouragement, prayers and alms.

Your support has meant the world to me, as the building process has had many disappointments and "impossibilities". We will no doubt have many more, as we get into our temple with many friends, and little money, and at the moment little energy – but with God's help we will have enough of that soon enough.

Nellie R Stevens winter berries

"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:  (20)  But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:  (21)  For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." (Mat 6:19-21)

We are building a temple for one purpose only – the facilitate the laying up of treasure in Heaven. The parish temple is a critical part of the life of the parish.

If we do not pray together, frequently. with compunction and theological correctness, we are nothing, no matter what else we think we are. All the services, and especially, preeminently (but never alone, that is the only service ever celebrated!) the celebration of Divine Liturgy and the partaking of the "bread from Heaven" is the lifeblood of the parish family.

Our temple is important,and has been quite costly in terms of worldly measurements. There have been many delays, difficulties, and problems that can only be understood as part of the attacks of the spirits of the air. We are now enduring another attack. Although human thieves stole our air conditioning units in the dead of night yesterday, we must see the spiritual ramifications of this act of defilement. The thieves defiled themselves by their breaking of God's law, and may God have mercy on them, and lead them to amend their lives.

How will we react to this stunning setback? To answer correctly, we need only remember why we are building the temple. It is for the salvation of our souls, and as we are growing in holiness, the temple will be a place that will shine to the community, and many others will be warmed by our light, and its light. We are building the temple primarily to pray, and to preach the Gospel, by our words and actions.

Let's do this! . We have Paschal Vespers tonight. EVERYONE who is able should come to pray together. We will sing "Christ is risen", and "Let God arise", and we will be changed in some invisible, holy way. We should gather as a people tonight, to worship God, and to beseech His help.

There are practical concerns too, but they are much less important. We have reported the theft to the police. Most likely it is drug related. The thieves will trash the units and attempt to sell the copper. We may have another unit in place today, with security measures. Our insurance may cover some of the cost, but we have a high deductible. Our builder may have some insurance. The additional security measures will come our of our pocket.

This is a time of extreme need for us, as a people, since we have no funds available. Will we react to this setback as Christians do, or will we merely be angry, or passively disappointed?

Perhaps someone reading this will wish to give us alms to help. I am certainly hoping this is the case, and am reaching out to all our friends – those in the community and those many hundreds of thousands (over a half million people last year) who read our blog and website. We need monetary help.

We as a people must be worthy of this help, by doing everything to save our souls, and therefore, having the capacity and ability to reach out to others, and be a light that is set on a table in McKinney.

Paschal Vespers, tonight, in Dallas, 7:15 PM

Wed – Paschal Liturgy: 6 AM

Wed Vigil for the Annunciation 7 PM

Thu Annunciation Liturgy 8 AM

At this point, we still think we will be moving Thursday, and be in the new temple this weekend.

Contact Deacon Nicholas (treasurer) or Fr Seraphim if you wish to be a founding benefactor to our temple.

seraphim@orthodox.net

npark153@gmail.com

Priest Seraphim Holland

We have had many delays in getting the parking lot done, including weather, expense, the city requirements and availability of contractors. Finally, today, we are pouring the parking lot and sidewalks (which belong to the city of McKinney, but we are privileged to pay for).

After Lazarus Saturday Liturgy I went over to see progress on the pour with Michael Daum, and was thrilled to also see some real artistry in the stone and stucco work. The pictures, which are pretty bad because I could not even see the screen because of the bright sun, and shot "blind" show some progress on the parking lot and stucco and stone work.

We will not come even close to getting in by Pascha, but I can say with confidence that our first liturgy will include the singing of "Christ is risen"!

Source:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/saint-nicholas/sets/72157623590313281/

March 3/16 2010. Fifth Tuesday of Great Lent.

Dear Friends of St. Nicholas Orthodox Church,

          Reaching the final stages of our building project, St. Nicholas has encountered unexpectedly high costs for the completion of the landscaping required by the city of McKinney.

          We have received a quote of $35,000: $7,600 for the installation of the required sprinkler system, $11,000 for the required trees and plants (the city has specified exactly what we must plant), and $15,000 for soil, fertilizer, grass and tree/plant installation.

          This quote is about $20,000 higher than we expected, and these costs will prevent us from moving into our new facility – if we spend every dime we have available, we still will be far short. This is a critical time, and we need help.

          If there are any potential benefactors with landscaping experience who can help us out through reduced-fee or pro bono service, we would be very grateful! We may be able to supply some unskilled labor. Please contact us as soon as possible if you are able to help, or know someone whom you can get us in contact with.

Of course, we are in severe need at this time, and cash donations are also much appreciated. We are also open to loans with very favorable terms that we can afford.

You would be a founding benefactor of our parish if you help us in any way, and all that we are able to give to you we will give – all founding benefactors are in perpetual dyptichs that are passed from rector to rector – you will be remembered by name in the Divine Liturgy.

Yours in Christ,

Priest Seraphim Holland

Rector

Pictures from yesterday. Priming is done. They are painting today. If the weather holds, the parking lot will be poured next week, and the outside stone will be on in 1 1/2 weeks. We are getting very close. The church sounds really good!