Update for the week Friday, June 21, through Thursday, June 27, 2013
THIS WEEK
BIBLE STUDY – The Bible Study at St. Mary, sponsored by the Fellowship of St. John the Divine, meets every other Thursday and is based on a lecture series originally broadcast on Ancient Faith Radio. Join us at 7:00 pm this Thursday, June 20, in the church library, for a discussion of Patristic Interpretation (http://orthodoxbiblestudy.info/patristic-interpretation-part-1 and http://orthodoxbiblestudy.info/patristic-interpretation-part-2). For more information contact Marianna Sayeg (mksayeg@gmail.com) or Fr. Antony (frawhj@gmail.com). New members are always welcome!
VESPERS – Great Vespers will be held this Saturday, June 22, at 5:00 pm.
SUNDAY SERVICES – Services at St. Mary begin at 8:45 am with Orthros, followed by Divine Liturgy at 10:00 am, through this Sunday, June 23. No services will be held at St. Mary on June 30 (see Parish Life Conference, below), and during July and August we change to Summer Hours – Orthros: 8:15 am, and Liturgy: 9:30 am.
NEW ANNOUNCEMENTS
ORATORICAL FESTIVAL and BIBLE BOWL – Come to the Parish Life Conference - Theo Smith will represent St. Mary in the Oratorical Festival on Thursday, June 27, at 8:00 pm. Then Thomas and Anthony Marge and Thais and Tycho Traumann-Davis will compete in the Bible Bowl on Friday, June 28, at 8:00 pm. Come and support our participants. We wish them all much success!
HELP GIVE SHOES TO CHILDREN IN NEED –FOCUS North America and the Antiochian Women of the Archdiocese are working with a major American shoe company to distribute thousands of pairs of shoes to economically disadvantaged children in Boston and other large cities throughout the US. Volunteers are needed to help sort, organize, and distribute these shoes and other items. Your efforts are essential to the program’s success! For more information or to volunteer, please contact our own Kailen Hodge, the FOCUS “Operation Lace Up” coordinator in our area, at 857-277-8323 or Kailen.Hodge@gmail.com. Information can also be found on the web at www.FOCUSna.org/LaceUp
REMINDERS
PARISH LIFE CONFERENCE – The 2013 Parish Life Conference for our diocese will be held next week, June 27 – 30, 2013, at the Wyndham Hotel, 123 Old River Rd, in Andover, MA, hosted by St. George Church, Lowell. The schedule of events can be found at http://www.saintgeorgelowell.org/events.html. Note: NO services will be held at St. Mary next weekend. Vespers on Saturday will be held in the hotel at 5:00 pm, and Divine Liturgy on Sunday will be at 10:00 am.
To register please go to: https://www.antiochianevents.org/event/96, or to St. George’s website: http://www.saintgeorgelowell.org. Please feel free to e-mail the Chairperson, Soraya or Co-Chair, +Rt. Rev. Fr. Leonard at: LowellPLC2013@gmail.com. Book your hotel rooms at: http://www.wyndham.com/groupevents2013/BOSAM_STGEORGE/main.wnt.
GREETERS NEEDED – We’re still looking for Summer Greeters – please help out! Volunteers are needed for these Sundays: August 11, 18, 25, and September 1. 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. Arrive at Church 15 minutes before Liturgy. Greeting time ends when Communion starts. Please contact Buddy Mabardy at 781-729-6303 or e-mail: buddy@cjmabardy.com. Summer Hours are: Orthros: 8:15 am, and Liturgy: 9:30 am. Summer might be a GREAT time for you to start participating in this Ministry!
ARCHDIOCESE CONVENTION – The 2013 national convention of the Antiochian Archdiocese will be held July 21-28 in Houston TX, hosted by St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church. For information and registration see http://www.achouston2013.com.
TANGLEWOOD OUTING – Join your music-loving friends from St. Mary’s as we carpool out to Tanglewood after Liturgy on Sunday, July 28. We’ll picnic on the lawn and listen to music by Dvorak (Carnival Overture and New World Symphony) and Prokofiev (Piano Concerto), with pianist Garrick Ohlsson. (For more information see http://www.bso.org/Performance/Detail/48875) The concert starts at 2:30; lawn tickets are $19.00 (pay at the door). Bring lawn chairs if you want them, and picnic food for yourself and to share. For more information and to let us know you're coming, especially if you'll need a ride, contact Melissa Nassiff by email (mnassiff@gmail.com) or phone (508 877-7483).
PARISH SECRETARY – Marilyn Robbat will be out of the office during the summer months of June, July and August. Barbara Shoop will be filling in for her during this time. If you need any assistance, please do not hesitate to call Barbara in the office at 617-547-1234.
PRISON MINISTRY: Please donate unwanted past issues of Orthodox magazines such as The Word, OCMC or other periodicals to prison ministry to hand out to inmates. Please remove any personal mailing address for security purposes and give them to Mitrophan Chin.
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 EDITING HELP WANTED – We are looking for volunteers to assist with some basic video editing to post the sermons and lectures from St. Mary's online. If you have experience with digital video editing, please let Jamil Samara or Erick Straghalis know you are interested in helping by emailing live@stmaryorthodoxchurch.org.
PHOTOGRAPHERS AND GRAPHIC DESIGNERS WANTED – Are you a photographer or a graphic designer and want to share your talents with St. Mary Church and her ministries? We are looking to get you involved to help photograph the divine services and events and to design promotional material for events and programs at our parish. Please contact Jamil Samara at webmaster@stmaryorthodoxchurch.org with any questions and to let him know that you are interested in getting more involved.
PARKING RESTRICTIONS – Please do not park in the Church parking lot if you need to leave quickly after church. Cars parked there will be staying until the end of coffee hour.
Additionally, do not park beyond the sign that prohibits parking at the corner of Inman Street and Bishop Allen Drive. (An orange cone will be placed in that No Parking area.) It is difficult for large vehicles to turn the corner if cars are parked there. Failure to heed this warning may result in the City preventing parishioners from parking on Inman Street. Your cooperation is appreciated.
And remember, there is no parishioner parking in the church parking lot Monday through Friday until after 6:00 pm.
THIS SUNDAY'S VOLUNTEERS
COFFEE HOUR: Azeb Mitiku and family
LITURGICAL SCHEDULE FOR THIS WEEK
Saturday, June 22: Great Vespers 5:00 pm
Sunday, June 23, Holy Pentecost: Matins 8:45 am; Divine Liturgy 10:00 am, followed by Kneeling Vespers
SCRIPTURE READINGS for Sunday, June 23:
Epistle: Acts of the Apostles 2:1-11
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. …” we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God."
Gospel: John 7:37-8:12
On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and proclaimed, "If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, 'Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.'" Now this he said about the Spirit, which those who believed in him were to receive; for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. … Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
LOOKING AHEAD
Thursday - Sunday, June 27- 30: Church and office closed – Parish Life Conference (Wyndham Hotel, Andover, MA) – no services at St. Mary
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, June 27, 28, and 29: Vespers at Wyndham Hotel in Andover
Sunday, June 30: Matins and Confessions 9:00 am, Hierarchical Divine Liturgy 10:00 am
Saturday, July 6: No Vespers at St. Mary
Sunday, July 7: Summer hours begin: Orthros 8:15 AM, Divine Liturgy 9:30 AM
Sunday, July 14: Orthros 8:15 AM, Divine Liturgy 9:30 AM
Sunday, July 21: Orthros 8:15 AM, Divine Liturgy 9:30 AM
Saturday, July 27: No Vespers at St. Mary
Sunday, July 28: Orthros 8:15 AM, Divine Liturgy 9:30 AM
REFLECTIONS
Wherever the Holy Spirit finds a man of clay, He turns him into a man of gold.
-St. John Chrysostom
The Lord has given the Holy Spirit upon the earth, and in whomsoever He dwells, that one feels paradise within himself. You might say: why hasn't this happened to me? Because you have not given yourself over to the will of God, but you live according to yourself. Look at the one who loves his own will. He never has peace in himself and is always displeased with something. But whoever has given himself over to God's will perfectly has pure prayer. His soul loves the Lord, and everything is acceptable and good to him.
- St. Silouan the Athonite
Theosis means so relying on divine grace that we live in God and he in us. Orthodoxy affirms the indwelling of the triune Godhead within Christians in an intensely realistic fashion: in the divine energies, God himself – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (John 14:16-17, 23) – dwells and works within humans, enabling them to become increasingly like him. This indwelling occupies the entire person, body and soul. As God created humans to participate in both realms, and as he made them his image-bearers in both body and soul, so he intended that his likeness pervade both the immaterial and the material components of human beings.
- James R. Payton, Jr., Light from the Christian East
The Holy Spirit, out of compassion for our weakness, comes to us even when we are impure. And if He finds our intellect truly praying to Him, He enters it and puts to flight the whole array of thoughts and ideas circling within it, and He arouses it to a longing for spiritual prayer.
- Evagrios the Solitary
If the power of the Holy Spirit breathes upon the afflicted mind, forthwith what was done bodily for the people of Israel takes place with us spiritually. For it is written, “But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea” (Exodus 14:29). For the waters overflow those whom the active business of this world confounds with perturbation of mind. But he who is sustained in mind by the grace of the Holy Spirit passes through the waters because in the midst of crowds of people he so proceeds along his way as not to sink the head of his mind beneath the active business of the world.
- St. Gregory the Great