Sunday, December 8, 2024
24th Sunday after Pentecost: Martyrs of Africa
Today’s Readings:
Epistle: Epistle: Ephesians 2:14-22
Gospel: Luke 17:12-19
Schedule of Services:
-Panikheda for Nellie’s parents, Tamara (17 yrs.) and Anatol (47 yrs.), Sat. Dec. 14 at 3:40pm.
Saturday, December 14th, Great Vespers at 4pm.
Sunday, December 15th, Divine Liturgy at 10am. Hours begin at 9:40am.
Announcements:
-Thank you to the Bartosh’s for hosting coffee hour today.
-Thank you to those of you who helped us quickly collect monies towards helping the Diocese of Alaska. We collected $570 in one day! Thank you!-In the back of the church, are Distinguished Diocesan Benefactor forms.
-Also, thank you to all who stayed to decorate the church for Christmas, and thank you to Brendan for delivering the gifts to the seminarian families.
-Please take one and consider making a personal donation for the strengthening of our Diocese’s ministry programs. You will see that you can earmark your donation to a specific cause. They are then to be mailed to the Chancery. Thank you for your considerations!
-There is a sign up on the refrigerator of parishioners' significant dates. Feel free to add your information.
-The Sisterhood is selling chocolate covered pretzels as a fundraiser. Please see Andrea Burns, if you would like more info. Delivery will be Dec. 22. All proceeds will go to finishing the wall in the classroom.
-There is a parish council meeting today.
-Spirit of Orthodoxy Concerts are scheduled for December. Brendan Allatta will be singing in these concerts. For those who would like to attend,
here are the venues and dates: Concert - Holy Spirit Orthodox Church, Wantage NJ—Friday, December 13 - 7:30PM, and Concert - Holy Trinity Orthodox Church, Yonkers NY—Sunday, December 15 - 4:30PM. The flyers are posted downstairs on the bulletin board.
-On Christmas Eve, at 4:30pm, we will gather for the Holy Supper before Compline/Matins. For Holy Supper, we will break bread together, eat Lenten dishes, share reading the Nativity stories of Christ, and sing Christmas hymns. Please consider signing up for a dish to bring. The list is posted on the refrigerator downstairs. We had a very nice gathering last year. This is a beautiful opportunity to get into the “Christmas spirit” and enjoy memorable fellowship together, and pass on something blessed to remember for everyone.
-Don’t forget the needy. ShopRite gift cards or non-perishable foods are greatly appreciated.
Additional Announcements from the Diocese:
1) Giving Tuesday, December 3, 2024. "On this Giving Tuesday, we invite you to join the Diocese of New York and New Jersey in advancing our "Vision for Our Future" by becoming a Distinguished Diocesan Benefactor (DDB). Since its establishment in 2011 by Archbishop Michael, the DDB program has been a cornerstone of support for the vital ministries that keep our Church thriving and growing." The DDB is short $70,000 of its 2024 goal.
2) The Choir of Holy Trinity Orthodox Church of East Meadow will present its Annual Christmas Concert at 7:00 PM on Saturday, December 7, featuring choral music of the Orthodox Church and traditional carols from both East and West. It will be also livestreamed on https://www.facebook.com/htocem. Refreshments will follow the concert. Admission and refreshments are both free of charge. Vespers (evening prayer) will be held at 6:00 PM. The church is located at 369 Green Avenue, East Meadow. For more information, call 516-483-3649, email htocem@gmail.com, or visit Facebook or www.htocem.org.
3) Blüthner School of Music in Hoboken, proudly announces its upcoming Christmas Gala Concert, December 20th at SS. Peter & Paul Church, Jersey City, NJ. (Flier with details posted downstairs.)
Prayers for:
Departed: Julia, Edna, Michel, Irene, Anatol, Tamara Living: Dilara, Kaylee, Vera, Garrett, Galina, Sandy, Stephanie and Forrest, Robert, Marie, Fernando, Michael, Bernard, Mark, Gerald, David, Robert, Steven, Stephen, Michele; Metropolitan Onuphry and the faithful of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church; the suffering people and innocent victims of the Ukrainian/Russian war and those being persecuted; and the suffering victims of the war in Israel and Palestine.
Words for the Day:
The Lord wants us to love one another. Here is freedom: in love for God and neighbor. In this freedom, there is equality. In earthly orders, there may not be equality, but this is not important for the soul. Not everyone can be a king, not everyone a patriarch or a boss. But in any position it is possible to love God and to please Him, and only this is important. And whoever loves God more on earth will be in greater glory in His Kingdom.
(St. Silouan the Athonite, Writings, VI.23)
The chief end of our life is to live in communion with God. To this end the Son of God became incarnate, in order to return us to this divine communion, which was lost by the fall into sin. Through Jesus Christ, the Son of God, we enter into communion with the Father and thus attain our purpose.
(St. Theophan the Recluse, Letters to various people, 24)
Next Week’s Readings:
Epistle: Colossians 3:4-11. Brethren, When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. 5 Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, 7 in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them. 8 But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, 10 and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, 11 where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.
Gospel: Luke 14:16-24. And Christ told this parable, “A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, 17 and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, ‘Come, for all things are now ready.’ 18 But they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused.’ 19 And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them. I ask you to have me excused.’ 20 Still another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ 21 So that servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.’ 22 And the servant said, ‘Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.’ 23 Then the master said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. 24 For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.’ ”
