Weekly Newsletter for the week Friday, December 4, through Thursday, December 10, 2009
THIS WEEKEND
NATIVITY FAST - The Nativity Fast continues, in preparation for the Great Feast of the Nativity of Christ on December 25. On Wednesdays during the fast there is a Paraklesis service at 6:30 pm, and Fridays an Akathist to our Sweetest Lord Jesus at 7:00 pm
Saturday
FRANK SCHAEFFER TO SPEAK - Frank Schaeffer, best-selling author of Keeping Faith and Crazy for God, a frequent commentator on MSNBC and other news outlets and contributor to The Huffington Post, will be speaking here at St. Mary this Saturday, December 5, 2009. His talk, which promises to be both witty and provocative, will be entitled "Can Christianity Be Saved from the Christians?"
Great Vespers will begin at 5:30 pm, followed by the lecture at 7:00 pm in the Church Hall. For more information about Mr. Schaeffer and his latest book, see https://www.stmaryorthodoxchurch.org/newsevents/2009-frankschaeffer.php.
FELLOWSHIP PROVIDING REFRESHMENTS - Members and friends of the Fellowship of St. John the Divine are requested to bring beverages and snacks for the Frank Schaeffer lecture. Last names A-E, please bring beverages; last names F-O, please bring non-desert snacks (chips, humus, veggies, etc.); last names P-Z, please bring desert-type stuff (cookies, fruits, nuts).
Sunday
ST. NICHOLAS CELEBRATION - After Communion, children should leave their shoes by the Bengarri and return to the front rows of the Church for a special St. Nicholas Day Message, followed by St. Nicholas Festivities and then Pageant rehearsal.
ST. MARY CHRISTMAS CARD - Save yourself time, let us do the work and have all proceeds benefit Antiochian Women's new Project 2009/2010: The Convent of St. Thekla at Antiochian Village. 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. Use the order form in the Sunday Bulletin. Deadline is this Sunday, December 6, 2009.
MESSIAH - If you ordered tickets, join friends from St. Mary's for the Handel and Haydn Society's annual performance of Handel's Messiah this Sunday afternoon, December 6, at 3:00 p.m. We will carpool to Symphony Hall after Liturgy and have lunch together before the concert. See Melissa Nassiff during Coffee Hour to arrange transportation.
NEW ANNOUNCEMENTS
SYRIAN LEBANESE WOMEN'S CLUB CHRISTMAS CARD - The Syrian Lebanese Women's Club of Greater Boston asks for your continued support in donating to its annual Christmas card. Your name will appear in the Christmas card, which will be mailed on behalf of the organization. If you would like your name to appear, providing Christmas greetings to your family and friends, please forward your name to Mary Winstanley O'Connor at moconnor@koilaw.com or mail her your name or family name as you would like it to appear. Please send your donation to Mary O'Connor at 781 Concord Turnpike, Arlington, MA 02476. Your listing in the Christmas card is by donation. All names must be received on or before December 8, 2009. In the event you have any questions, please call Mary at (617) 523-1010.
REMINDERS
LESSONS AND CAROLS - The Fellowship of St. John the Divine cordially invites you to a service of prayers, scripture readings and Christmas Carols - Western Rite Evensong with Lessons and Carols - next Saturday, December 12, 2009 (snow date: Saturday, December 19, 2009) at 5:00 pm. A festive Lenten Pot Luck Supper will follow - last names A-P please bring a main dish or salad, Q-Z please bring dessert. For more information, contact Tiffany Conroy, PhD, at trattus1@gmail.com
WOMEN'S CLUB CHRISTMAS OUTING - Join us for the Reagle Players' 40th Anniversary Season Christmas Show: "It's Christmas Time!" with featured singer Sarah Pfisterer, leading Broadway entertainer, next Sunday, December 13, 2009 at 4:00 pm in Waltham, MA. See MaryEllen Mabardy if questions, or call 781-729-6303. Information about the show can be found at http://www.reagleplayers.com/current.html
PARISH COUNCIL ELECTION - Ballots have been mailed out to all eligible parishioners, and are to be returned no later than Tuesday, December 15, 2009.
CHURCH RESTORATION PROJECT - We are about to embark on another phase of restoration of the church. This next phase, which will focus on the exterior of the church including work on the foundation, roofing, siding, and exterior trim, will begin in Spring 2010. More details to follow - please see Raymond Sayeg or Mary Winstanley O'Connor about contributing to this restoration project.
FOOD FOR HUNGRY PEOPLE - Canned Food Drive continues through December 27, 2009. Bring in 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 three days, and 37 million people in America need our help!
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:
PARTICIPATION
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 reader and six people to hold cloths and baskets. If you would like to read the Epistle or assist during the 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 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.org or 617-547-1234.
VOLUNTEERING
Holy Resurrection Open Doors - The Holy Resurrection Open Door Meal Ministry in Allston needs volunteers every Monday evening (there is a special need in the summer). The official hours of the project are 4:30 pm-7:30 pm, but it is fine to come anytime and leave any time. Best times would be 5:30-5:45 to 7:15-7:30 pm. You can serve meals, coffee and tea to the people who arrive for dinner (6-7 pm) or just stay behind the scenes doing set-up and clean-up. It is a very rewarding, hands-on, face-to-face way to serve the community with (mostly) other Orthodox Christians-we even chant the Our Father together before the meal begins. Church info can be found at http://hrocboston.org. Questions? Please contact Liz Straghalis at liztutella@gmail.com phone 617-974-5005, or Tiffany Conroy at trattus1@gmail.com.
St Paul's Food Pantry - Two to four volunteers help each week in the food pantry at St Paul 's Roman Catholic Church in Harvard Square , Saturday mornings from 9:30-11:45. If you are interested in helping, please contact Christian Alcala at cmalcala1989@yahoo.com, or (617) 876-5684.
DONATIONS
Food and Clothing - Holy Resurrection in Allston takes donations of non-perishable food items and clothing to distribute at the Open Door Ministry on Monday evenings. You can bring your donations by on Monday nights between 4:30 pm and 7:30 pm or contact Tiffany Conroy, trattus1@gmail.com, for more information.
- St. Paul 's Food Pantry in Harvard Square , where volunteers from St. Mary help every Saturday, depends upon regular donations of canned and packaged foods. To help, contact Christian Alcala at cmalcala1989@yahoo.com, or (617) 876-5684.
Monetary Contributions - The Agape Canister Program is an Orthodox non-profit development program of the Orthodox Christian Mission Center . It is dedicated to meeting the needs of children, families, and communities throughout the world, regardless of race, color, or creed. All funds collected by the Agape Canister Program are earmarked for medical care and clinics, water wells, agricultural development, food and clothing, support personnel (e.g. doctors, nurses, teachers), the construction of schools, and the education of indigenous people in their own communities. Please contribute each Sunday - A clear plastic box is on the Bengarri.
"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
FOOD PANTRY
December 5: Eric Ayoub
LITURGICAL SERVICE
Sunday, December 6: St. Nicholas Festivities (upstairs)
COFFEE HOUR
Sunday, December 6:
LITURGICAL SCHEDULE FOR THIS WEEK
Friday, December 4: Akathist 7:00 pm
Saturday, December 5: Great Vespers 5:30 pm, followed by Frank Schaeffer talk
Sunday, December 6, Feast of St. Nicholas: Orthros 8:45 am; Divine Liturgy 10:00 am; Church School lesson in the Sanctuary with St. Nicholas festivities; Pageant rehearsal 2
SCRIPTURE READINGS for December 6:
Epistle: St. Paul's Letter to the Hebrews 13:17-21
Brethren, obey your leaders and submit to them; for they are keeping watch over your souls, as men who will have to give account. Let them do this joyfully, and not sadly, for that would be of no advantage to you. Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a clear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things. I urge you the more earnestly to do this in order that I may be restored to you the sooner. Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do His will, working in you that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Gospel: Luke 13:10-17
At that time, Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years; she was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. And when Jesus saw her, he called her and said to her, "Woman, you are freed from your infirmity." And he laid his hands upon her, and immediately she was made straight, and she praised God. But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the sabbath, said to the people, "There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be healed, and not on the sabbath day." Then the Lord answered him, "You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to water it? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?" As he said this, all his adversaries were put to shame; and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him.
Wednesday, December 9: Paraclesis 6:30
LOOKING AHEAD
Friday, December 11: Akathist 7:00 pm
Saturday, December 12: Western Rite Evensong with Lessons and Carols 5:00 pm, followed by Lenten Pot Luck Supper
Sunday, December 13: Orthros 8:45 am; Divine Liturgy 10:00 am; Church School lesson 9; Christmas Pageant dress rehearsal during coffee hour
Wednesday, December 16: Paraclesis 6:30 pm
Friday, December 18: Akathist 7:00 pm
Sunday, December 20: Orthros 8:45 am; Divine Liturgy 10:00 am; Church School Christmas Pageant and Festivities
Wednesday, December 23: Paraclesis 6:30 pm
Thursday, December 24: Royal Hours for the Nativity 9:00 am; Vesperal Liturgy of St. Basil 11:00 am; Orthros 6:30 pm; Divine Liturgy for the Nativity 8:00 pm
Friday, December 25, Feast of the Nativity of our Lord: No services at St. Mary
INSIGHT
You were revealed to your flock as a measure of faith. You were the image of humility and a teacher of self-control. Because of your humble life, heaven was opened to you. Because of your poverty, spiritual riches were granted to you. O holy Bishop Nicholas we cry out to you: Pray to Christ our God that our souls may be saved.
- Troparion of St. Nicholas
Jesus Christ, being meek and humble of heart, never strove for adulation but directed all toward the glory of His Father. We also must not parade ourselves or seek recognition. For instance, do you help your neighbors, do you give alms, do you live more piously than those around you, are you wiser than your friends, or are you in some way above others? Do not brag about it. Remember that all your praiseworthy attributes are not yours but gifts of God. Yours are the weaknesses, mistakes and sins.
- St. Innocent of Irkutsk, Indication of the Way Into the Kingdom of Heaven
Rejoice at every opportunity of showing kindness to your neighbor as a true Christian who strives to store up as many good works as possible, especially the treasures of love. Do not rejoice when others show you kindness and love - consider yourself unworthy of it; but rejoice when an occasion presents itself for you to show love. Show love simply, without any deviation into cunning thoughts, without any trivial, worldly, covetous calculations, remembering that love is God Himself. Remember that He sees all your ways, sees all the thoughts and movements of your heart.
- Saint John of Kronstadt, My Life in Christ
Let us contemplate with faith the mystery of the divine incarnation and in all simplicity let us simply praise Him who in His great generosity became man for us. For who, relying on the power of rational demonstration, can explain how the conception of the divine Logos took place? How was flesh generated without seed? How was there an engendering without loss of maidenhood? How did a mother after giving birth remain a virgin? How did He who was supremely perfect develop as He grew up (cf. Luke 2:52)? How was He who was pure baptized? How did He who was hungry give sustenance (cf. Matt. 4:2; 14:14-21)? How did He who was weary impart strength (cf. John 4:6)? How did He who suffered dispense healing? How did He who was dying bestow life? And, to put the most important last, how did God become man?...Faith alone can embrace these mysteries, for it is faith that makes real for us things beyond intellect and reason (cf. Heb. 11:1).
- St. Maximos the Confessor