Update for the week Thursday, October 24, through Thursday, October 31, 2013
THIS WEEK
BIBLE STUDY – The Bible Study at St. Mary, sponsored by the Fellowship of St. John the Divine, meets every other Thursday in the church library. Fr.. Antony will join us at 7:00 pm this Thursday, October 24, for a special discussion of the topic “Ancestral vs. Original Sin,” growing out of our study of the early chapters of Genesis. Resources for this discussion include the article, Ancestral vs. Original Sin by Fr. Antony (https://www.stmaryorthodoxchurch.org/orthodoxy/articles/ancestral_versus_original_sin) and the podcast on St. Augustine & St. Jerome (http://orthodoxbiblestudy.info/st-augustine-and-st-jerome/) in the Orthodox Bible Study series. For more information contact Marianna Sayeg (mksayeg@gmail.com) or Fr. Antony (frawhj@gmail.com). New members are always welcome.
FALL DELEGATES MEETING – The Fall General Assembly Meeting of delegates from the Fellowship of St. John the Divine, Teen SOYO and Antiochian Women will be held here at St. Mary Church, this Saturday, October 26, which is the Feast of St. Demetrios. Hierarchical Divine Liturgy with Bishop JOHN at 9:00 am, meetings at 10:30 am. All are welcome!
YOUTH MONTH – October is Youth Month throughout the Archdiocese. The teens will be helping out with Liturgical Service each Sunday. Please see Greg or Hannah if you would like to participate. This week is your last chance!
HARVEST COFFEE HOUR - The Church School parents will be hosting the Harvest Coffee Hour this Sunday, October 27. We need parent volunteers to bring in food items (baked goods, cheese/crackers, and fruit). Please see Barbara Shoop to volunteer, or call the Church office.
COME SEE THE MESSIAH! - Join friends from St. Mary’s for the Handel and Haydn Society’s annual performance of Handel’s Messiah, on Sunday afternoon, December 1, at 3:00 pm. Tickets are just $20 – we get their group rate. We will carpool to Symphony Hall after Liturgy and have lunch together before the concert. Those who have done this before have thoroughly enjoyed it - not only do we hear a world-class orchestra and chorus with famous soloists singing glorious words (taken directly from the Bible), but we also have an opportunity to spend time getting to know some fellow parishioners we normally may not encounter. Good seats go fast - please contact Melissa Nassiff at mnassiff@gmail.com by this Sunday, October 27 (note revised deadline), or order your own tickets online at http://www.handelandhaydn.org
NEW ANNOUNCEMENTS
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 first was Wednesday, October 23; the second will be next Wednesday, October 30, with Fr. Jason Roll; and 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
WOMEN'S CLUB - The next Women’s club meeting will be Tuesday, November 12 at 7:30 at the church.
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.
SEMINARIAN – Our new Seminarian this year is James Honeycut. Please welcome him and his wife Julie to St. Mary.
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.
ENQUIRERS’ CLASS - The St. Ignatius Catechetical Group (Enquirers’ Class) meets every Sunday at 9:00 am in the library, next door to Fr. Antony’s office. The group is for non-Orthodox adults who are interested in exploring the Christian Faith as it has been – and continues to be – understood, preached, and lived by members of the Holy Orthodox Church, who descend from the early Christian community of Antioch where “the disciples were for the first time called Christians” (Acts 11:26). Bob Kowalik will be teaching the group, using materials developed and piloted by St. Mary catechist emeritus David Vermette. If you would like to participate, please talk to Bob during coffee hour; or get in touch by phone 617-889-3436 or e-mail r.kowalik@comcast.net.
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!
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: Paul Nahass
Coffee Hour: Church School parents – Harvest Coffee Hour
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, October 26: Great Vespers 5:00 pm
Sunday, October 27: Orthros 8:45 am, Enquirers' class 9:00 am, Divine Liturgy 10:00 am; Church School lesson 5; Harvest Coffee Hour
SCRIPTURE READINGS for Sunday, October 27:
Epistle: St. Paul's Second Letter to the Corinthians 9:6-11
Brethren, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must do as he has made up his mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that you may always have enough of everything and may provide in abundance for every good work. As it is written, "He scatters abroad, he gives to the poor; his righteousness endures for ever." He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your resources and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way for great generosity, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.
Gospel: Luke 8:41-56
At that time, there came to Jesus a man named Jairus, who was a ruler of the synagogue; and falling at Jesus' feet he besought him to come to his house, for he had an only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she was dying. As he went, the people pressed round him. And a woman who had had a flow of blood for twelve years and had spent all her living upon physicians and could not be healed by anyone, came up behind him, and touched the fringe of his garment; and immediately her flow of blood ceased...
LOOKING AHEAD
Saturday, November 2: Great Vespers 5:00 pm
Sunday, November 3: Orthros 8:45 am, Enquirers' class 9:00 am, Divine Liturgy 10:00 am; Church School lesson 6
Saturday, November 9: No Vespers
Saturday, November 11: Church School Retreat: “The Bread of Life”, 9:00am
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
The Incarnation of the Word, and His assumption of human nature, took place for the overthrow of death and destruction and of that envy nourished against us by the wicked serpent, who was the first cause of evil. This is plainly proved to us by the facts themselves. And so He set free the daughter of Abraham from her protracted sickness, calling out and saying, "Woman, you are freed from your infirmity." A speech most worthy of God, and full of supernatural power, for with the kingly inclination of His will He drives away the disease. And He also lays His hands upon her and immediately, it says, she was made straight. And from this, too, it is possible to see that His holy flesh bore in it the power and activity of God.
- St. Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on the Gospel of Saint Luke
Come ye blind, and without money receive lights! Come ye lame, and receive your feet! Ye deaf and dumb, receive your voice! Come thou also whose hand is cut off; the maimed also shall receive his hands. It is the Son of the Creator Whose treasure-houses are filled with all manner of helps. Let him that is without eyeballs come to Him that makes clay and changes it, that makes flesh, that enlightens eyes.
- St. Ephraim of Syria, Hymns and Homilies
Everyone is in the Lord's power, and Christ is all things to us. If you desire to heal your wounds, he is your doctor; if you are on fire with fever, he is your fountain; if you are burdened with iniquity, he is your justification; if you need help, he is your strength; if you fear death, he is your life; if you desire heaven, he is your way; if you are fleeing from darkness, he is your light; if you are seeking food, he is your nourishment: Taste and see that the Lord is good. Happy is the man who takes refuge in him.
- St. Ambrose of Milan
O Lord Jesus Christ our God, who didst heal the leper, give sight to the blind, cause the deaf to hear, cease the hemorrhage of the faithful woman, sent away the fever of the son of the centurion, cast out demons, give speech to the mute, restore the man with the withered hand, and taught the lame to walk; through the intercessions of the Theotokos and all Thy saints do now pour out Thy loving mercy on Thy servant [name]. Protect him with Thy holy angels from every adverse power, and raise him up from pain and sickness so that he may once again sing to Thee with his tongue, praise Thee with his whole heart, and with his entire being glorify Thee, together with Thy Father who is from ever-lasting, and Thine all-good and life-giving Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.
- A prayer for healing