St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church

St. John Orthodox Church

The Eternal Today

by

Epitaphios

 

Dear Beloved in Christ,

In the words of the hymn from last night and from the Royal Hours service this morning, “Today, He who suspended the earth in the waters is suspended on a cross. … The Bridegroom of the Church is fixed with nails to the cross.”

Today is the day. Today our Lord gives His great sacrifice so that we can be saved. Today the Blameless One, the spotless Lamb, is offered on behalf of a sinful people.

In the hymns of Holy Week, the word “today” is repeated numerous times, inviting us to step out of a chronological way of thinking. The hymns are not saying, “2,000 years ago,” nor are they saying that we should relive these events as a remembrance. They are boldly asserting that the events of our Lord’s passion, though bounded by time, are also eternal. Jesus Christ is “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” He is “the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.”

Today the Church invites us, as temporal, created beings bounded by time and space, to enter into the eternal, unending life of God, Who perpetually sacrifices Himself for us. I am one of those who crucified the Christ. I am the disciple who denied and betrayed Him. Yet I am also one of the faithful who goes to the Lord’s tomb early on the third day.

This is the reality of the eternal “today” spoken of in the hymns. Today you are invited to participate in that reality. Come to the services!

In Christ,

Father Matthew

PS Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick offered a powerful homily this past Sunday regarding our time of quarantine called, “This Holy Week is Not Okay.” I highly recommend reading this!

 

About Fr. Matthew Swehla

Father Matthew was born in Modesto, California. He grew up attending the Lutheran church, until his father, formerly a Lutheran pastor, became disillusioned by the direction of the national church and left the ministry. A few years later his family visited the Orthodox cathedral of St. John Maximovich in San Francisco—on a whim because of a Russian exchange student they were hosting—and began their journey to Orthodoxy. Father Matthew entered the Church, along with his immediate family, when he was 15 years old.

As a young college graduate, Fr. Matthew attended an Orthodox College Conference at St. Nicholas Ranch, where he renewed his acquaintance with, Annie Nieuwsma. The two knew right away that they were meant to be together and married in 2003.

After working in several professions—in journalism, restaurant fine dining, and commercial real estate development—Father Matthew was called to the priesthood. He entered Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in 2009, along with Presvytera Annie and their first three children. He received his M.Div. degree in May 2013. Fr. Matthew’s first parish assignment was St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he was ordained to the Holy Priesthood on September 8, 2013 and served for four years as the second priest.

In 2017, Father Matthew was assigned as the proistamenos (presiding priest) of St. John the Baptist in Beaverton.

Father Matthew and Presvytera Annie have seven children: Dimas (married to Jessica), Débora (married to Nathaniel), Thomas, Peter, Nicholas, Joseph and Maria.