Give alms of thy substance; and when thou givest alms, let not thine eye be envious, neither turn thy face from any poor, and the face of God shall not be turned away from thee.
If thou hast abundance give alms accordingly: if thou have but a little, be not afraid to give according to that little:
For thou layest up a good treasure for thyself against the day of necessity.
Because that alms do deliver from death, and suffereth not to come into darkness.
For alms is a good gift unto all that give it in the sight of the most High.
- Tobit 4:7-11

Prayer is good with fasting and alms and righteousness. A little with righteousness is better than much with unrighteousness. It is better to give alms than to lay up gold:
For alms doth deliver from death, and shall purge away all sin. Those that exercise alms and righteousness shall be filled with life:
But they that sin are enemies to their own life.
- Tobit 12:8-10

 The Holy Archangel Raphael appeared to Tobit and aided him and his family in various ways. This icon has symbols in the corners which recall Tobit’s story.

Tobias was Tobit’s son. Tobias’ dog that accompanied him on the journey is on the upper left, The fish that nearly ate Tobias, but instead was eaten by him, and whose organs were used to deliver Sarah from the demon and Tobit from blindness is on the upper right. An eye representing Tobit’s sight that was restored is on the lower left. A bag of coins representing the treasure that was recovered is on the lower right. Tobit is a wonderful tale of stewardship, faith and doubt, romance and an ecology that encompasses the seen and unseen worlds in time and eternity. it is in Tobit that we learn that Raphael is one of the seven Angels who bear the prayers of the saints to the throne of God.

This icon is by the hand of Nick Papas of Houston, TX, and is avaiable from www.comeandseeicons.com

Lately there have been a lot of deaths among friends and family of those we serve. One man has lost eight family members in the last couple of months, half to violence; the latest was his 19 year old grandson, caught in the crossfire of a drive-by shooting. So many of these end up cremated and disposed of by the city, because their families are too poor to afford a place to bury them. The average burial plot in Philadelphia costs $6,000. For years, I have been grieved whenever I have thought of indignity piled upon indignity for the homeless whom I have known, and for those grieving their passing; to have their bodies incinerated by the city and disposed of like so much refuse. I am sure the city tries to deal with this with as much respect and dignity as they can muster. There is probably a plot somewhere where the “cremains” are somberly placed. They do what they can afford to do. I am not faulting them.

When we started The King’s Jubilee, the intention was not that it was just going to be about feeding homeless people on one or two nights a week. We had a vision to make a much larger impact. We wanted to protect or introduce greenspace in the city. One of the fundamental causes for homelessness and disintegration of society is our disconnection from the natural cycle of things; sowing and reaping; composted leaves feeding flowers and vegetables; life from death; hard work produces beauty and bounty. I have fallen in love with idea of restoring native habitats. I think if we involve some of these broken, beat up people in an enterprise of restoring acreage to native plants and tend it to keep it in a good balance to propagate itself and attract natural pollinators, birds, insect, butterflies, it has the potential for great healing. If we do this in a context of worship and prayer to God and a community of love and respect for one another, it has the potential to be revolutionary.

In early October, Bishop THOMAS told me to dream big for The King’s Jubilee. What would we do, if we could buy a facility and staff it, even if it cost a million or a million and a half dollars? That question has had me pretty tense and basically stumped until this last Thursday. It was Thursday that the ideas of the last three paragraphs finally collided in my careenium. (Most people spell this “cranium.”) I called Nick Papas to share my idea with him. I envision a cemetery where we can bury all of the abandoned poor in Philadelphia, in traditional fashion. Modern embalming is contrary to the canons of the church and dishonoring to the body and polluting to the earth, so we would not use that. We would use traditional myrrh. We would use colorful, handcrafted, grave markers. The property would be entirely planted in native plants and would help support itself by also serving as a nursery and educational resource for native plants. We would hire homeless people to tend the grounds. If possible, a shop would be added adjacent or on premises to build simple coffins and fabricate vaults, if they are required. The homeless would be trained in work skills and life skills working alongside staff and volunteers in landscaping, gravemarker fabricating, coffin building, tree pruning, grave digging, snow removal in the winter, etc. Friendships would be forged. Connections would be made. When the time is right, they could transition to employment in the wider community making room for someone else.

Thursday evening I shared my idea with Deacon Herman Acker, on the road to and from Phila. He said, “How could anyone be against such a thing?” We were excited, but at the same time I thought, what is the likelihood that there is any ground where we could do such a thing in or near Philadelphia? We think it would be a high impact ministry for the Orthodox Church. Who are these strange people who would take such care to bury people whose own families abandoned while they were alive? Who are these strange Christians who even bury the poor, Muslim dead? What kind of ministry turns around to bring such beauty to a city that has tried to chase it out for a quarter of a century? It could be the start of something big.

When I got home, I did a simple computer search. On the second page of results was an amazing thing. It is a derelict cemetery partly in Philadelphia that needs a non-profit org. to take over its operation. It is the largest cemetery in Pennsylvania with 380 acres. We are going down to see it on Monday. Pray! I spoke with Bishop THOMAS about it this afternoon. He likes the concept. He said he didn’t think the million dollars in start up money was the biggest hurdle. It sounds crazy, but I agree. Pray! We need to have our ducks in a row as to how to properly manage this. Please pray for wisdom. Several of us are going to visit it on Monday. We plan on meeting some of the concerned neighbors next Saturday. Pray!

Until the Bishop comes through with the big donor, we still need money to keep laying the groundwork for the dream. Please use the Donate button or mail a check. May God bless you!

A Prayer For the Dead

Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend the souls of thy servants, NN., and beseech Thee to grant them rest in the place of thy rest, where all thy blessed Saints repose, and where the light of thy countenance shineth forever. And I beseech Thee also to grant that our present lives may be godly, sober, and blameless, that, we too may be made worthy to enter into thy heavenly Kingdom with those we love but see no longer: for Thou art the Resurrection, and the Life, and the Repose of thy departed servants, O Christ our God, and unto Thee we ascribe glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.

I have always considered what we do Sacramental. We will not ask permission. One does not ask permission to exercise a basic human right. As soon as one asks permission, one has given up one’s rights and acknowledged the government has the authority to treat it as a privilege, not a right.
It is a basic human right to act compassionately toward ones’ brothers and sisters. We have a basic human right of freedom of religion. This is not just freedom of worship that the Soviet Union guaranteed, but freedom to practice our religion. We have a religion of feeding the homeless and hungry, wherever we find them.
It is sacramental to share food with the least of these for in so doing we have shared it with Christ. This is true even for atheists. In Jesus’ account of the Judgment, everyone was surprised.
The city has no right to inspect the home kitchens of people preparing food for a church potluck dinner. They have no right to enter the sacristies of our churches where the elements are prepared for the Eucharistic Feast. They have no right to inspect our homes where we lovingly prepare food to share with our sisters and brothers.

Grace, peace and love,

Cranford Joseph Coulter

for The King’s Jubilee

–Sally O’Brien

• It is needed now more than ever.
• Volunteers came forward to make soup every other Tuesday.
• This ministry is the one thing in my life that I am sure I am supposed to be doing.

Lately, with health issues and various conflicts, and having just enough money to get home on fumes only because I haven’t paid the mortgage yet, some days I have been so discouraged that I felt like quitting even this. Then I had a night like I did on Thursday. We had enough blankets and Ugly Quilts for everyone who wanted them. Morris discussed Isaiah 5:8 with me. Tom was sober. Anthony had a good report from his computer class at Phila. Community College. There a were lot of “thank you”s and “praise God”s.

Those of you who support this ministry with your prayers, your sandwiches and your money should have a tear of joy in your eye about now. Thank you! Praise God for you. We need more like you.

Please use the “Donate” button to make a donation via Paypal now, while you are thinking about it.

Tournament honors for closest to the pin on the 8th hole went to Diker; winning a bottle of Ouzo for his efforts. Victor Cifree ”the gluten free kid” of Staten Island, New York, won the award for the longest drive as he hit it pretty well, and was the only golfer to keep his ball in the fairway on the 13th hole. He won a tub of Hummus donated by Costco,  but no bread to go with it.

Tournament committee members Burke, Psomiadis, Mike Cook and Dave Kelly are planning to make the event bigger and better in 2012. They are hoping that some of our best local golfers like Phil and Jack Morrash, Raj Kyriakos, and lefty Steve Gozur will be part of the field next year.  In addition, Psomiadis will be attempting to make contact with Tiger Wood’s agent and Burke will try to recruit fellow Hibernians Padraig Harrington and Rory McElroy  to help promote the event.

We feel that the root cause of homelessness is the break down of the family. When families are strong, it seems there is always room for one more. Almost every Thursday night of the year we are out serving a meal on the street, so at Thanksgiving, we are careful to spend time with our families. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. The most important thing you can do to fight homelessness this Thanksgiving is to do your best to have a loving and memorable day with your loved ones. Hopefully  your family includes some who can’t be with their’s as well.

We don’t take pictures of the people we serve. We do not make merchandise of them as objects of pity. We treat them with respect. We have come to truly respect and love many of them. Apparently telling this doesn’t loosen the purse strings as effectively as printing a picture of a toothless old man in shabby clothes receiving a steaming hot cup of soup from a smiling, clean volunteer. Sorry.

They still need help. We still need your money to help them. Will it help if I tell you some of them will pray for you? Some of them will.

Last Thursday, we gave turkeys to two of the men who have moved into apartments. After we served on the street, we dropped off 17 turkeys from St. Philip’s Turkeys ‘R’ Us drive to Revs. Joses & Chantal St. Phard at their home for them to distribute at The Word In Action International Ministries. Today, I brought two fresh turkeys and two more frozen turkeys down to TWIA Ministries along with several boxes of food and some grocery store gift cards for them to distribute. Today, they were expecting over 300 families in their north Philadelphia neighborhood to show up looking for food for Thanksgiving.

We will be serving dinner on the street on Tuesday Nov. 29 and then every Thursday until Holy Thursday, and the last Tuesday of each month, as well. We thank God and each of you who support us with sandwiches, turkeys, toiletries, money, etc., and prayer. If we are given more, we will be able to do more. We do not have a reserve. You do not give alms for them to sit in a bank. You give them. We give them. It’s simple.

Have a blessed and Happy Thanksgiving!

‎”Let us not overlook Him here, hungry, in order that He Himself may feed us there. Here let us clothe Him, that He may not send us forth naked from the safe refuge with Him. If we give Him to drink here, we shall not say with the rich man: ‘Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool our tongues’ (Luke 16:24). If here we receive Him into our homes, there He will prepare many mansions for us. If we go to Him when He is in prison, He Himself will free us also from our bonds. If, when He is a stranger, we take Him in, He will not look down upon us as strangers when we are in the Kingdom of heaven, but will give to us a share in the heavenly City. If we visit Him when He is sick, He Himself will quickly free us also from our infirmities.” – St John Chrysostom