Update for the week Thursday, December 1 - Thursday, December 8, 2016

THIS WEEK AT ST. MARY'S

THURSDAY, 12/1 - The Bible Study group will meet tonight - Thursday, December 1 - at 7:00 pm in the church library. For more information contact Fr. Antony (frawhj@gmail.com). The meeting after this will be two weeks later: Thursday, December 15. New members are always welcome.

SATURDAY, 12/3 - At 3:30pm on Saturday, December 3, prior to Vespers, there will be a Chant Class & Rehearsal.  Topics will be Tone 7 and the special hymns of Sts. Barbara & John of Damascus. Questions? E-mail Charlie.Marge@verizon.net.

   + Great Vespers 5:00 pm

   + The Young Adult Ministry will not meet this Saturday. Instead, everyone is urged to attend the Lessons and Carols service and potluck supper next Saturday (see Reminders, below).

SUNDAY, 12/4 – The Winter Classic 5K road race will restrict access to parking around the church and behind the Post Office.  The race starts at 9:30am.  The end of Inman St. will be closed off to accommodate runners on Massachusetts Ave. until approximately 10:30am.  Traffic will be diverted on Inman but if you advise the police officers that you are attending services at St. Mary’s they will let you down Inman to the church only (you will not be able to get onto Mass. Ave). Please plan accordingly. Log on to http://classic5k.com/winter-classic-2 to view the race route.

   + Feast of St. Nicholas. Orthros 8:45 am, Divine Liturgy 10:00 am; Church School special sermon.

   + Enquirers’ Class 9:00 am in the library (next door to Fr. Antony’s office).

   + Christmas Pageant rehearsal #1 during coffee hour

   + Parish Christmas Card deadline

THIS WEEK ELSEWHERE

SATURDAY, 12/3 - Bishop John will offer Reflections on Marriage and Our Marriage Ceremony at the Chancery, 2 Lydia's Path, Westborough, MA, on Saturday, December 3, 2016, 10:00 am – 3:00 pm.   Registration is $15 per person and includes lunch.  Make your reservation with His Grace at frjpa@aol.com.  Questions can be directed to Bishop John at 724-518-5788.  This seminar is offered especially for all recently married parishioners and for those planning to marry in 2017.  Of course, all married couples are invited - please plan to join us. 

   + Metropolitan Wind Symphony presents Holiday Pops and Sing Along on Saturday, December 3, 6:0pm-9:00pm, at St. John of Damascus Church, Dedham.  Purchase tickets online at www.stjohn.org/pops.

REMINDERS

LESSONS AND CAROLS – Join us on Saturday, December 10 from 5:00-6:30pm, for our annual Western Rite Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols. This year we are pleased to welcome guest choir Belle Voci, of Orlando Florida.

   + The service will be followed by a festive Lenten potluck supper. People whose last names begin with A-P, please bring a main dish or salad. People whose last name begins with Q-Z please bring desert. Drinks will be provided. For more information, contact Kailen Hodge, kailen.hodge@gmail.com   

   + If you can accommodate two girls from this choir the weekend of December 9-11, please contact Ashley Hodge at purpleashes@gmail.com for details. 

CHURCH SCHOOL CHRISTMAS PAGEANT - If your child is interested in participating in the Christmas Pageant this year, please see Sarah Byrne-Martelli.  We also need parents to assist at all rehearsals. Rehearsal #2:  Sunday, December 11, during coffee hour.  Dress Rehearsal:  Saturday, December. 17, 2:30 – 4:30pm. The Pageant will be Sunday, December 18 after liturgy.

PARISH COUNCIL – The next meeting of the Parish Council will be Wednesday, December 14, at 7:30pm

FOOD FOR HUNGRY PEOPLE – Our Canned Food Drive will go from October through December 31, 2016. Bring in canned goods and place them in the plastic bins in the room outside the kitchen. (Canned goods only, please.) They will be distributed to food pantries in our area.

WOMEN’S CLUB - The next meeting of the Women’s Club will be Monday, February 6, 2017 at the church. Call Marilyn (781-729-3033) or the church office (617-547-1234) if you have any questions or want to be a part of this wonderful group of Women.

TEEN SOYO CD - Grace Shining Forth, a new music CD featuring Teen SOYO members in attendance at the Sacred Music Institute’s Youth Music Ministry (YMM), is available for order now in the SOYO Shop https://TeenSOYO.org/Shop .  Shipping will be in December 2016.  Also available for digital download on CDBaby.com later in December 2016. More information here: https://teensoyo.org/Music/

AABA VILLAGE - Applications are available for Market Value, Tax Credit and Section 8 apartments in AABA Village in West Roxbury.   Please call Tom Chapman or Dorothy McNerny at 617-325-1913 and an application will be mailed out.

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:

Greeter: 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. To volunteer contact Buddy Mabardy at 781-729-6303 or e-mail: buddy@cjmabardy.com, or call the church office at 617-547-1234

Liturgical Service – Epistle: The Epistle is read each Sunday by a volunteer parishioner. To volunteer please contact Jeff Wasilko, jeffw@smoe.org

Liturgical Service – Procession: Church School children or parishioners carry the candles, icon, and bread baskets in the Great Procession. For information about this ministry contact Teva Regule at teva@mit.edu

Liturgical Service – Communion: Volunteers are needed every Sunday to hold the Communion cloths and the Holy Bread baskets during Communion. To volunteer please contact Jeff Wasilko, 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 contact Linda Arnold, our Coffee Hour volunteer coordinator at MMarmee52@aol.com or 978-270-0346, or Barbara Shoop in the Parish Office at secretary@stmaryorthodoxchurch.org or 617-547-1234. 

Prison Ministry: For information about the Prison Ministry at St. Mary you can subscribe to our mailing list at http://groups.google.com/group/ocpm-concord. If you are interested in helping with this ministry, talk with Fr. Antony or Deacon Jeff. Another way to help is to donate Orthodox books, icon cards, and magazines (for security, please remove any personal mailing address) – Mitrophan Chin collects these to share with the inmates.

Hospitality Group: St. Mary's Donald D. Fiore Hospitality Group sponsors various events to welcome visitors and newcomers and to foster a spirit of fellowship and caring among all the people who worship here. To join us or to find out more, contact any of our officers: Diana Yousef, President dymartinek@gmail.com, Michael Decerbo, Treasurer michaeldecerbo@gmail.com, Socrates Deligeorges, Head Chef dr.socrates@gmail.com, or Melissa Nassiff, eNewsletter editor mnassiff@gmail.com,

Choir: The St. Mary Church Choir is open to individuals interested in making a commitment to sing each Sunday at Divine Liturgy. Please feel free to join them and/or introduce yourself to the director, Michelle Mabardy, any Sunday after Liturgy.

Rides To Church For College Students: If you live near a college or university and are able to offer a ride to and from St. Mary Church for a student, or if you are a student in need of a ride, contact St. Mary’s Young Adult Ministry at 617-564-3344 or rides@stmaryorthodoxchurch.org to sign up or to learn more!

REFLECTION

The one who is perfect in love and has reached the summit of detachment knows no distinction between one's own and another's, between faithful and unfaithful, between slave and freeman, or indeed between male and female. But having risen above the tyranny of the passions and looking to the one nature of men he regards all equally and is equally disposed toward all. For in him there is neither Greek nor Jew, neither male nor female, neither slave nor freeman, but Christ is everything and in everything.

   - Maximus the Confessor 

The law was not given only for the Jews, nor was it solely for their sake that God sent the prophets, though it was to the Jews that they were sent and by the Jews that they were persecuted. The law and the prophets were a sacred school of the knowledge of God and the conduct of the spiritual life for the whole world.

   - St. Athanasius the Great, On the Incarnation 

The nature of things is measured by the interior disposition of the soul; that is, the kind of person one is will determine what he thinks of others. He who has attained to genuine prayer and love no longer puts things into categories. He does not separate the righteous from sinners, but loves all equally, and does not judge them, just as God gives the sun to shine and the rain to fall both on the just and the unjust.

   - St. Nikitas Stethatos, from the Philokalia