Update for the week Friday, June 22, through Thursday, June 28, 2012

THIS WEEKEND

CHURCH CLOSED – There will be no services at St. Mary (or at any other church in the diocese) this weekend. The church and church offices will be closed Thursday through Sunday, June 21-24, for the Parish Life Conference. 

PARISH LIFE CONFERENCE – This year’s Parish Life Conference, with His Grace Bishop John, will be held at The Cliff House Resort & Spa, on Shore Road in Ogunquit, Maine.  For schedule and updated information go to the conference website:  http://stgeorgenorwood.org/PLC2012/index.html

BIBLE BOWL AND ORATORICAL FESTIVAL –Theo Smith (replacing Thomas Marge, who is ill), Anthony Marge and Alex Dalton, coached by Violet Robbat, will represent St. Mary in the Bible Bowl at the Parish Life Conference on Friday evening, June 22.  Then Andrew Dalton will be our participant in the Jr. Oratorical Festival on Saturday morning.  Come and support our participants! We wish them all much success!

DIRECTIONS TO CLIFF HOUSE- Route 95 North. Cross Piscataqua Bridge into Maine, to York/Ogunquit Exit 7. North on Route 1 for 3.3 miles. Right on River Road for ½ mile, bear left on Old County Road. Left on Shore Road for approx. 3 miles.
Cliff House website: http://www.cliffhousemaine.com

NEW ANNOUNCEMENTS

SUMMER HOURS – Summer Hours at St. Mary will begin Sunday, July 1. During the summer Orthros will begin at 8:15 am, and Divine Liturgy at 9:30 am.

CLERGY SYMPOSIUM – The 17th Biennial Clergy Symposium will be held Monday through Friday, July 16-20, at the Antiochian Village Heritage and Learning Center. 

ORGANIZATIONAL SUMMER MEETINGS -  The Summer Meetings of the Antiochian Women, Fellowship of St. John the Divine, and Teen SOYO will be held Friday through Sunday, July 20-22 at Antiochian Village Heritage and Learning Center.  Note: St. Mary Church office will be closed Thursday and Friday, July 19 and 20.

NEW SKETE PILGRIMAGE–The Monastic Communities of New Skete Monastery in Cambridge, New York (www.newskete.org), invite you to their Annual Summer Festival on Saturday, August 11, 2012, between 8:30am - 6:00pm.  The day will include  Church Services, Church  Tours, Food Court,  Photo Exhibit,  Gardens, Children's Activities, Gift Shops, Guided Hike, and a Healing Service with Anointing.  This year’s guest speaker will be Dr. Kyriaki Karidoyanes Fitzgerald, Theologian and Psychologist, whose theme will be Persons in Communion: A Theology of Authentic Relationships. Information and Registration:  http://content.yudu.com/Library/A1x7fv/NewSketeAnnualPilgri/resources/index.htm?referrerUrl=http%3A%2F%2Ffree.yudu.com%2Fitem%2Fdetails%2F540613%2FNew-Skete-Annual-Pilgrimage-Program---2012 For housing arrangements and more information see Teva Regule, teva@mit.edu no later than July 29.

REMINDERS

SUMMER GREETERS NEEDED – Volunteers are needed for Sundays July:15, 22 and August: 5, 12, 19 through September 2 (Labor Day Weekend).  Please contact Buddy Mabardy at 781-729-6303 or e-mail: buddy@cjmabardy.com.  Summer Hours: Orthros: 8:15 am & Liturgy: 9:30 am.  Summer might be a GREAT time for you to start participating in this Ministry! 

APOSTLES FAST- The Apostles Fast began on Monday, June 11, and continues until The Feast of the Apostles on June 29.

ANTIOCHIAN VILLAGE CAMP – Registration and information about summer camp at the Antiochian Village can be found at http://antiochianvillage.org/camp/programs/campdates.html
A big  “Thank you” to the organizers and benefactors of St. Mary’s Antiochian Village Camp Scholarship fundraiser. The fundraiser is enabling eighteen of St. Mary's kids to attend with generous partial scholarships. You can view the daily photos for Session  3, July 15 – 27, 2012, (when our kids attend) at http://www.antiochianvillage.org/camp/memories.   The photos currently posted are from last year but they will be updated daily from July 15-27. The spiritual growth they experience at The Village returns with them to St. Mary's each fall.

ARCHDIOCESE SCHOLARSHIPS – In order to download scholarship applications and information available through our Archdiocese, log on to http://www.antiochian.org/scholarships(note corrected link).

VACATION CHURCH SCHOOL 2012 St. Mary Church, 535 Salisbury St., Worcester, will offer Vacation Church School for Grades K – 7, Tuesday through Friday, August 14 – 17.  Theme:  Our God-Bearing Fathers.  Registration:  $40 per child (includes ticket for Tornadoes Picnic & Game);  Adult Ticket: $25.  For more information,  contact Greg Abdulah 724-518-6811; abdulah.g@gmail.com 

VACATION CHURCH SCHOOL 2012 St. George Church, West Roxbury will offer Vacation Church School, Tuesday through Friday, August 21 – 24, for Pre-School (at least 3 yrs. old AND potty trained)  through 4th Grade.  Theme:  Heroes of the Bible. There will be lessons, crafts, playtime, singing and fun!  Snack provided each morning.  Registration Donation:  $15/1 child; $20/2 children; $25/3 children. Volunteers are needed.  Contact Elisabeth: Elisabeth@stgeorgeofboston.org or call 617-323-0323.

MEN’S WEEKEND –  There will be an Orthodox Men's Get-Away Weekend September 21-23, 2012, at The Saint Methodios Faith and Heritage Center - 329 Camp Merrimac Road Contoocook, NH 03229 (www.boston.goarch.org/faith_heritage_center.html), sponsored by  St. Stephen's Orthodox Church (www.stsoc.org).  Guest Speakers will be  Fr. Michael Keiser and Fr. Kenneth DeVoie, both of the Department of Missions & Evangelism for the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of North America, and others TBA. Cost:  $189.00  (2 night stay, all meals, snacks and use of recreational facilities).  For more information & to register, contact Jeff St. Jean at  jeffstjean11@verizon.net

REGULAR REMINDERS

COFFEE HOUR SIGNUP – A signup sheet for coffee hours is posted on the bulletin board outside the coat room.  There are plenty of dates to choose from after Pascha – sign up now for the date you will sponsor the coffee hour!

 

DONATE VIA eGIVE– Did you know that you can make your donations to St. Mary through eGive, and have no more envelopes or checks to worry about?   If you have not yet set up an account, you can do it at www.egive-usa.com, or contact Charlie Marge (marge@alum.mit.edu) for help. The Recipient Organization is “St. Mary’s Orthodox Church.”

STREAMING VIDEO – St. Mary’s Church services are broadcast live each week through an internet video stream.  If you can't attend a service in person or want to share this ministry with a friend or loved one, the live stream can be viewed at www.stmaryorthodoxchurch.org/live  during regularly scheduled service times (see the schedule of services below or online).  If you have questions or comments about this ministry please contact us at live@stmaryorthodoxchurch.org.

VIDEO STREAMING FOR EVENTS – Now you can video stream your wedding or baptism live from St. Mary’s to friends and family who can't attend your event in person.  The cost for Event Video Streaming is $150 for members, $300 for non-members, and includes a password- protected viewing page and setup and breakdown of the streaming service for your event by a trained staff member.   You can also get a copy of your streamed event on CD: $50 for members, $100 for non-members. Fees are payable to the church. Streaming is subject to staff availability. For general questions on the video streaming ministry or event streaming, please contact live@stmaryorthodoxchurch.org.  To schedule your event and/or request Event Video Streaming, please contact the Church Office.

PROTECT YOUR VALUABLES – Please do not leave valuables unattended in the Church Hall or Coat Room.

FIRST IN, LAST OUT – Please do not park in the small lot behind the church unless you intend to stay through the end of coffee hour. The only way out is the single lane driveway.  Please pull all the way in to the parking space, and please do not block the driveway – if the lot is full, you can park on the street.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR SERVICE

There are a number of ways you can help the Church, your fellow worshippers and those in need.  Consider serving in one of these ways:

BE A GREETER - The Parish Council is continuing the Greeter Program, similar to other churches, to greet and aid parishioners, guests and visitors into the Church each Sunday.  As a Greeter, you will welcome people into the Church and help to direct visitors upstairs to the Liturgy, as well as keeping an eye on the Vestibule, hallways and entrance ways during church, arriving at Church at 9:45 am.  Greeting time ends when Communion starts.  We need volunteers.  If you would like to be a Greeter, a Sign-Up Sheet is posted on the Church Bulletin Board.  If you have any questions, please contact Buddy by e-mail buddy@cjmabardy.comor call him at 781-729-6303. “I was a stranger, and you invited me in………”   (Matthew 25:35)

LITURGICAL SERVICE - Each Sunday, members of the congregation are needed to read the Epistle and assist during Communion by holding the Communion Cloths and Holy Bread Baskets.  All Orthodox Christians in the Parish are welcome and encouraged to participate. We usually need one Epistle  and six people to hold cloths and baskets.  If you would like to read the Epistle or assist during Communion, please contact Jeff Wasilko, 781-820-0882, jeffw@smoe.org

COFFEE HOUR – People are needed every week to provide coffee, juice and cookies, or more if desired, and set it up Sunday morning. To sign up for an available Sunday, please put your name on the new signup sheet on the bulletin board outside the Hall or call Marilyn Robbat in the Parish Office and she will write your name in. If you need any help with figuring out what to bring or do, check the list below the signup sheet (also printed in the Bulletin), or ask Marilyn at secretary@stmaryorthodoxchurch.orgor 617-547-1234.

PRISON MINISTRY – If you would like to find out more about Prison Ministry at St. Mary’s Church, please subscribe to our mailing list at http://groups.google.com/group/ocpm-concord

"As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me," says our Lord.

LITURGICAL SCHEDULE FOR THIS WEEK

Thursday-Sunday, June 21-24:  Parish Life Conference at the Cliff House, Ogunquit, ME (No services at St. Mary, and church offices will be closed.)

Saturday, June 23:  No Vespers at St. Mary; Vespers at Parish Life Conference 5:00 pm

Sunday, June 24:  No Liturgy at St. Mary; Hierarchical Divine Liturgy at Parish Life Conference 10:00 am (Matins 9:00 am)

SCRIPTURE READINGSfor Sunday, June 24, Nativity of the Forerunner John the Baptist
Epistle: St. Paul's Letter to the Romans 13:11-14:4
Brethren, salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed; the night is far gone, the day is at hand. Let us then cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; …put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

Gospel: Luke 1:1-25, 57-68, 76, 80
… the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth; for he will be great before the Lord, and he shall drink no wine nor strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. …. And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying, "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people. And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways." And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness till the day of his manifestation to Israel.

LOOKING AHEAD

Friday, June 29:  Feast of Ss. Peter & Paul, the Apostles - No services at St. Mary

Saturday, June 30:  No Vespers at St. Mary

Sunday, July 1:  Summer Hours begin - Orthros 8:15 am, Divine Liturgy 9:30 am

INSIGHT

Just as God grants a share of light impartially to everyone, so His followers should send forth a ray of love equally brilliant for all alike; for, whenever love falls short, hatred entirely supplants it. But if, as John says, “God is love,” the devil is necessarily hatred. Consequently, as he who has love has God, so he who has hate nurtures the devil within himself.
   - St. Basil the Great

Neither crusades against the modern world nor flight nor prostration before it will change its course, but simply interior illumination enlightened by the light that enlightens all coming into the world.
   - Elisabeth Behr-Sigel

No one knows what he himself is made of, except his own spirit within him, yet there is still some part of him which remains hidden even from his own spirit; but you, Lord, know everything about a human being because you have made him...Let me, then, confess what I know about myself, and confess too what I do not know, because what I know of myself I know only because you shed light on me, and what I do not know I shall remain ignorant about until my darkness becomes like bright noon before your face.
   - St. Augustine

Make me whole, O Lord, and I will become whole! Oh only wise and merciful Physician, I beseech Thy benevolence: heal the wounds of my soul and enlighten the eyes of my mind that I may understand my place in Thine eternal design! And inasmuch as my heart and mind have been disfigured, may Thy grace repair them, for it is as true salt. … O Giver of light! Fulfill my supplications and grant me Thy gifts according to my prayer; impart to my heart just one drop of Thy grace, that the flame of Thy love may begin to burn in my heart; and, like a fire, may it consume evil thoughts like thorns and thistles!
Give me all this in abundance; grant it to me as God unto man, as the King to His subjects, and increase it as a kind Father.
   - St. Ephraim the Syrian