We Are a Church of Refuge

In 1988 we were a typical Greek Orthodox Church, comprised mostly of immigrant Greeks and their children and grandchildren, Greek-Americans, and spouses of Greek-Americans. But all that changed the following year. In the fall of 1989 we received our first refugees from Ethiopia. All of a sudden we had Africans at the Liturgy. Many in our community stepped forward to help the new arrivals get settled and familiar with life in their new home. In the months and years that followed, many families arrived from Ethiopia and Eritrea and markedly transformed our church community. They were joined by large numbers of people from Albania in the 1990’s, after the fall of communism. We also welcomed people from other East European countries, especially Romania and Bosnia – though the Bosnian Serbs have their own church in Biddeford and no longer attend our church.

In addition to these immigrant groups, our church is open to all who seek refuge from a society that is often brutal in its inhumanity. They have found in Holy Trinity a church community that embraces them. People find spiritual depth to counter the superficiality they encounter in their daily lives. People find here a serious approach to the gospel of Jesus Christ, instead of the trivial entertainment that characterizes so many churches. They find here a community that is non-judgmental and open to healing the wounds of life. We are not perfect, and we struggle every day to deepen our commitment to the gospel of Jesus Christ, but clearly many people have found something here in our midst that they don’t find elsewhere.

We are a simple people. Most of our church members don’t go around spewing Bible verses. Perhaps many of us don’t even know many Gospel verses to show off. But the grace of God has touched many hearts and minds in our community, and they are doing the work of Christ without even knowing that they are living the Gospel. They are like the ones in the Parable of the Sheep and Goats who are surprised when Jesus tells them:

‘I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you did it to me.’  (Matthew 25:35-40)

We are a church of refuge. Refuge from the inhumanity so often encountered in society; refuge from trivial versions of Christianity; refuge for people coming as refugees to our state – refugees from wars and poverty in other lands, and refugees from less humane states in our country.

But we were a church of refuge even before 1989. Many of us came to this country as refugees from poverty in Greece. Many of our parishioners escaped from communism in Albania in the waning days of the Second World War and after! By God’s grace we always were a church of refuge. By God’s grace we became even more a church of refuge in more recent decades. And we continue to be such a church. Our doors will be open to any Ukrainian refugees that come to our state. Our doors are open to people fleeing from violence and drug addiction in our own land. We are a church of refuge and we thank God for this grace that has been given to us. We pray that we will continue to be faithful to his high calling.