In the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Glory to Jesus Christ. Glory forever.

Today we celebrate the memory of one of the great martyrs of the church, Demetrius of Thessalonica. He was one who was raised in secret as a Christian in the time of great persecution in the early days of the church. He was sent by the Roman emperor to govern a city, and he was ordered to kill any Christian that he found there.

Instead, Demetrius announced himself as a Christian, protected the Christians of the city, and used all his resources to help the poor and the needy. And having done all this, when the terrible wrathful army of Emperor Maximian—the one that had sent him to persecute and kill all the Christians—now came to Thessalonica to do the work himself and take vengeance on Demetrius, well, so naturally what we would expect is that Demetrius, as a powerful military leader, would raise up an army to fight the army of Emperor Maximian and defeats them in battle, right? No.

No, that's not at all what he does, even though that's what we might think today is what Christians ought to do when confronted with persecution. Instead, what he does is hand himself over to Maximian so that he would be killed.

And in doing this, being a witness—a martyr, that's what the word "martyr" actually means: a witness of the Gospel, one who is willing to proclaim the gospel even if it costs one's life—by his witness, Demetrius defeated that army that had been sent to crush the Christian faith. But killing Demetrius only spread that faith.

The body of St. Demetrius was found to be incorrupt. The place where he was laid was made into a shrine. And from his tomb even to our own day, there is a stream of healing myrrh that the faithful may receive as a blessing in their life and a confirmation of our faith in the power of God that we believe in along with the great martyrs.

And so, we see how it is that the witness of a martyr works great power—that the very persecution, the power used against these saints, is what is turned against them. It reveals their weakness because they cannot crush faith itself. The power of Christ remains.

So often, brothers and sisters, we are defeated in our own lives when confronted with this kind of temptation, this kind of challenge of persecution. We are bullied into silence or accepting of what we know to be wrong.

The fact is that the Gospel is a stumbling block and always has been. This is not unusual in our own day that it is a stumbling block. As we heard from the gospel today, Jesus told his disciples, "If the world hates me, it will hate you also." The world—as in this sense meaning all those who refuse to follow the life-giving God, who have set themselves in rebellion against their true King—the world we cannot be loyal to. We cannot place our trust in it. We cannot imagine that if we somehow bargain and compromise and make arrangements that the world will just leave us to our own devices.

There will come a point when we have to choose. We will find in the example of St. Demetrius again, one who was raised in secret as a Christian, there comes a time when the world comes for you and demands: either bow down and deny the true God, follow lies, or stand up, take courage, and speak the truth and place your trust in a living God.

St. Demetrius again is a great martyr, one of the most spectacular examples of Christian witness that we have in the whole life of the church. But we can think also of a way of witness that is perhaps—well, it's literally closer to home.

Tomorrow we commemorate St. Olga of Kwethluk, Alaska, newly canonized in our church. We celebrated this at the All-American Council back in July. And tomorrow is the first time that we are celebrating her feast day after her canonization, the day of her repose. Here we have the example of a humble priest's wife in a little village in what we would say is a remote corner of Alaska, forgotten by most of the world, seen as unimportant.

But St. Olga showed us that faithfulness doesn't have to be spectacular. It can be quiet—humbly sharing love where it is needed, seeking out the needy and serving, bringing healing and peace to those who are wounded, and doing without complaints, without protest, the hard work of daily life, loving God with all her heart and loving her neighbor as herself. Exactly what Jesus has told us to do.

Brothers and sisters, each of us in a like manner is called to love God, to love one another in service to the gospel of Jesus Christ. And we may be confronted with a great test. And in that case we have the example of the great martyr Demetrius to inspire us, to protect us, and to lead us in the way of truth. Or for sure we will find smaller tests—seemingly smaller but in fact just as important—the challenge to attend to the least of these that the Lord cares for, to attend to the small things in life where we need to be faithful in order to truly love God and his people.

But in all cases, we need courage and determination to live out our faith and our love.

The Apostle Paul in the Epistle to Timothy that we heard today reminds us that all of us are called upon to endure hardships for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He speaks of soldiers on campaign who cannot please themselves but have to be faithful and focused on their duty, not allowing themselves to be distracted. He speaks of athletes who complete the contest so they may earn the crown of the contest. He speaks even of farmers who, having worked hard, are the first to enjoy the fruits of the harvest.

But in each case, an example of willingly, freely, determinedly enduring the hardships as they come—even when it's persecution, even when it seems impossible to endure, beyond our strength—because we are reminded in the Gospel that Jesus has promised us that he will send to us the Helper, the one who proceeds from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who will testify, provide for us, and will give us exactly what it is that we need: the strength, the words even, to witness to the truth of the Gospel when the time comes that demands it.

And so we will be enabled to be true witnesses of the power and love of Christ in our own lives to the glory of God the Father. Amen.

Glory to Jesus Christ. Glory forever.