Update for the week Friday, November 1, through Thursday, November 7, 2013
THIS WEEK
EASTERN STANDARD TIME – Daylight Savings Time ends this weekend - don’t forget to set your clocks back. Liturgy begins at 10:00am Eastern Standard Time this Sunday!
NEW ANNOUNCEMENTS
ANTIOCHIAN VILLAGE AT HOME - The Antiochian Village is coming to Boston! St. George West Roxbury is hosting a Village at Home on Saturday, November 16. All children and teens (ages 9 - 17) are welcome. See Greg (ghakim@gmail.com) or Hannah (hoakley18@gmail.com) for more information.
PARISH COUNCIL - The next meeting of the Parish Couyncil will be held Wednesday, November 20, at 7:30 pm
THANKSGIVING BAKE SALE - The Women's Club's annual Thanksgiving Charity Bake Sale will be held Sunday, November 24, 2013. All proceeds will benefit the Convent of Saidnaya, northwest of Damascus in Syria. Plan on purchasing all your holiday breads, pies, goodies, Syrian pastries and much more! Call Mary Ellen Mabardy @ 781-729-6303, if you can help bake and/or donate.
ST. MARY PARISH CHRISTMAS CARD - Save yourself time, let us do the work, and all proceeds will benefit the Antiochian Women Project 2013-2014: Help the Orphans of War in Syria. Let the Women’s Club send a lovely Christmas card on your behalf to our parishioners. You will receive this card with the names of parishioners, like yourself, who are wishing a Blessed Nativity and a Merry Christmas to all. Please use the request form in the Sunday bulletin, or write to St. Mary Church - Women’s Club, 8 Inman St., Cambridge, MA 02139. Make checks payable in any amount to St. Mary Women’s Club. Deadline: Sunday, December 1, 2013.
CHURCH SCHOOL CHRISTMAS PAGEANT - If you are interested in participating in the Christmas Pageant, please see Sarah Byrne-Martelli or Charlie Marge. We also need parents to assist at all rehearsals. Rehearsals will be Sundays, December 8 and 15 during coffee hour, and Saturday, December 21, 2:30-4:30 pm. The pageant will be presented Sunday, December 22, after Liturgy.
CHRISTMAS COFFEE HOUR - The Church School is looking for someone to sponsor the Christmas Coffee Hour on Sunday, December 22. Please see or e-mail Barbara if you are interested (barbara@dsaarchitects.com) or sign up on the Bulletin board outside the hall.
REMINDERS
SPAGHETTI DINNER – St. Mary's teens invite you to a spaghetti dinner on Sunday, November 10, 2013 following Liturgy. Menu will include Spaghetti, Meatballs (just before the fast!), Salad, Bread, Dessert and Coffee/Beverage. Your goodwill donation will be much appreciated. No charge for Teen SOYO members.
WOMEN'S CLUB - The next Women’s club meeting will be Tuesday, November 12 at 7:30 at the church.
ORTHODOXY ON TAP - Join other young adults for a "tall glass of truth" at the Fall 2013 installment of Orthodoxy on Tap, an outreach ministry for young adults in the Boston area. All talks will take place Wednesday evenings at 7:00 pm at Roggie's Brew and Grill at 356 Chestnut Hill Avenue, Brighton, MA. The final evening will be Wednesday, November 13, with Fr. Kerry Saravelas. For more information see https://www.stmaryorthodoxchurch.org/news/events/2013/orthodoxy-on-tap-fall-2013#sthash.lOQhfDQo.dpuf
CHURCH SCHOOL FALL LITURGY WORKSHOP - Mark your calendars: our Church School Fall Liturgy Workshop will be held Monday, November 11, 2013 (Veteran's Day), 9:30 am - 3:00 pm, with the theme: "The Bread of Life." Learn about the various ways we use bread in our liturgical life (e.g. communion, memorial service, etc.) and help us make prosphora (i.e. Holy Bread), coliva/kutya, and sweet bread. Open to all Church School students, teachers, parents, and friends. Donation: $5/child; $10/family. RSVP Doreen Bargoot (dbargoot@aol.com). Volunteers are needed!
FSJD HABITAT FOR HUMANITY – On Saturday, November 16 the Fellowship will sponsor another Habitat outing. We are looking to fill 9 open slots for St. Mary's FSJD Habitat for Humanity build team. It will be held from 9:30am-3:30pm at 65 Bradeen St, Roslindale. Cost per participant is $42, and you must sign up in advance to be part of the fun! Please contact Phil Stragalis (phil@newtonfireandflood.com ) to sign up and for further details.
PARISH COUNCIL ELECTIONS - If you are interested in serving on the Parish Council please speak to Mary Winstanley O’Connor or Fr. Antony. To be eligible to serve you must be a member of St. Mary’s for two years and in good financial standing.
SCHOLASTIC ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS - St. Mary is proud to announce that our own Tatiana Dalton, Theo Smith and Julia Shoop have been awarded 2013 Scholastic Achievement Awards by the Nicholas G. Beram Veterans Association. (Julia Shoop has also been selected by the American Arabic Benevolent Association as a recipient of their 2013 Scholastic Achievement Awards.) The Beram Awards will be presented at the 47th Annual Awards Banquet on Saturday, November 30, at the Holiday Inn, Dedham, 12:00-4:00 pm.
CANNED FOOD DRIVE – The annual FOOD FOR HUNGRY PEOPLE Canned Food Drive will be held October through December, 2013. Bring in your canned goods to the Church and place them in the large, blue plastic containers outside the Church Office – they will be distributed to local food pantries in our area. 42 pounds of food will feed a family of four for 3 days - since 1984 we have collected over 3 million pounds of food!
COFFEE HOUR CHANGES – Before you leave after coffee hour, please put away your own chair and help put away the table. As you know, "many hands make light work!”
From now on, if no one volunteers to provide a coffee hour there will be no coffee hour that Sunday. There are a few empty Sundays still - please get a few friends together and sign up right away! (Signup sheet is on the bulletin board downstairs.)
E-GIVE – Two new donation categories have been added under St. Mary's eGive account:
“Antiochian Solidarity Day for Syrian Relief: Sep 15” - which you can use if you missed the special archdiocese collection on September 15, or if you want to give more; and
“Antiochian Village Fundraiser: October 5” - which you can use to pay for your tickets to the banquet/fundraiser in celebration of Fr. Antony's anniversary, or if you want to contribute more to the fund to help St. Mary kids go to camp at the Village.
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 – If you do not sing in the choir, or chant, serve in the Altar or at the Bengarri, and are not a Church School teacher, please consider serving the Church as a Greeter! Greeters arrive 15 minutes before Liturgy, get a Greeter Name Tag from the Bengarri, pin it on and greet visitors/parishioners at the Church Entrance and direct them upstairs to the Church, or to the cloakroom or restrooms. Greeting time ends when Communion starts. Send your name and e-mail address to Buddy Mabardy: buddymabardy@cjmabardy.com or phone him 781-729-6303.
LITURGICAL SERVICE – Each Sunday, members of the congregation are needed to read the Epistle and assist during Communion by holding the Communion Cloths. All Orthodox Christians in the Parish are welcome and encouraged to participate. We usually need one Epistle reader and four people to hold the cloths. 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 monthly Cornerstone), or ask Marilyn at secretary@stmaryorthodoxchurch.org or 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.
Also - please donate unwanted past issues of Orthodox magazines such as The Word, OCMC or other periodicals to our prison ministry to hand out to inmates. Please remove any personal mailing address for security purposes and give them to Mitrophan Chin.
Our own Deacon Jeff Smith can be heard in a recent interview with Ancient Faith Radio at http://www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/features/prison_ministry_awareness_sunday1
VIDEO EDITING – Volunteers are wanted to assist with video editing of sermons and lectures. 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 - email live@stmaryorthodoxchurch.org.
PHOTOGRAPHERS AND GRAPHIC DESIGNERS – Are you a photographer or a graphic designer? Would you be willing to share your talents with St. Mary Church and her ministries? We are looking for you 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.
"As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me," says our Lord.
THIS WEEK'S VOLUNTEERS
Greeter: Andrew Bargoot
Coffee Hour: Mary Woldemichael
Note: Before you leave after coffee hour, please put away your own chair and help put away the table. Thank you!
LITURGICAL SCHEDULE FOR THIS WEEK
Saturday, November 2: Great Vespers 5:00 pm
Sunday, November 3: Daylight Savings Time ends. Orthros 8:45 am, Enquirers' class 9:00 am, Divine Liturgy 10:00 am; Church School lesson 6
SCRIPTURE READINGS for Sunday, November 3:
Epistle: St. Paul's Second Letter to the Corinthians 11:31-33; 12:1-9
... if I wish to boast, I shall not be a fool, for I shall be speaking the truth. But I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me. And to keep me from being too elated by the abundance of revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to harass me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I besought the Lord about this, that it should leave me; but he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Gospel: Luke 16:19-31
The Lord said, "There was a rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, full of sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table; moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried; and in Hades, being in torment ... he said, '... I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house, for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.' But Abraham said, 'They have Moses, and the prophets; let them hear them.' And he said, 'No, father Abraham; but if some one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.' He said to them, 'If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if some one should rise from the dead.'"
LOOKING AHEAD
Saturday, November 9: No Vespers
Saturday, November 11: Church School Retreat: “The Bread of Life”, 9:00am
Friday, November 15: Nativity fast begins
Wednesday, November 20: Evening Liturgy for the Presentation of the Theotokos in the Temple 6:30 pm
Wednesday, November 27: Paraclesis Service 6:30 p.m.
Saturday, November 30: No Vespers
REFLECTIONS
Those who are suffering in hell, are suffering in being scourged by love.... It is totally false to think that the sinners in hell are deprived of God’s love. Love is a child of the knowledge of truth, and is unquestionably given commonly to all. But love’s power acts in two ways: it torments sinners, while at the same time it delights those who have lived in accord with it.
- Saint Isaac the Syrian
God does not punish man for his sins and sinfulness in this life, or even in the life to come. We forge our own destiny. That which we call "hell" is our own creation. We may experience it already in this life and, by our own choices, experience the fullness of it in the age to come.
- Archbishop Lazar Puhalo, "The Neurobiology of Sin"
You do wrong to everyone you could help but fail to help.
- Basil of Caesarea
… God teaches you to be as merciful to those in need as He is merciful to you. It is dangerous and sinful to ignore the voice of God, to remain unrepentant and unimproved during times of hardship, to fail to thank God, or not to help others when you have plenty. Even more ruinous is to do the opposite of that to which God is leading us: to grumble and become embittered in difficult circumstances or to forget God and live only for pleasure in fortunate surroundings.
- St. Innocent of Irkutsk, The Way Into the Kingdom of Heaven