October 23, 2011
Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost;
Apostle James brother of the Lord
Galatians 1:11-19: St. Paul defends his ministry in his letter to the Galatians, telling them of how his former way of life was changed by a direct revelation from the Lord, and of his actions immediately afterwards.
Luke 8:27-39: From the reading in St Luke, we see Jesus heal a man possessed by demons; in doing so, Jesus demonstrates His authority over His creation, even when it rebels against Him.
Troparion of the Resurrection: When thou, O immortal Life, didst humble thyself unto death, then didst thou destroy death by the brightness of thy Godhead; and when thou didst raise the bowels of the earth, then all the heavenly powers exclaimed, O Christ, thou art the Giver of life! Glory to thee, O our God!
Troparion of the Apostle James, Brother of the Lord: Since thou art a Disciple of the Lord, thou didst receive the Gospel, O righteous one, and since thou art a Martyr thou art never rejected, and since thou art a brother of God, thou art privileged, and since thou art a High Priest, it is thine to intercede. Wherefore, beseech thou Christ God to save our souls.
Troparion of the Chains of St. Peter: O Holy Apostle, Peter, thou dost preside over the Apostles by the precious chains which thou didst bear. We venerate them with faith and beseech thee that by thine intercessions we be granted the great mercy.
Kontakion of the Theotokos: O undisputed intercessor of Christians, O mediatrix, who is unrejected by the Creator, turn not away from the voice of our petitions though we be sinners; come to us in time, who cry to thee in faith, for thou art good. Hasten to us with intercessions, O Theotokos, who didst ever intercede for those who honor thee.
CALENDAR
Sunday, October 23 (Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost)
8:50 a.m. -- Orthros
9:00 a.m. -- Christian Education
10:00 a.m. -- Divine Liturgy
5:30 pm -- Youth Group
Monday, October 24
Office Closed -- Father John's Day Off
Tuesday, October 25
NO Daily Orthros
Wednesday, October 26 (Great-martyr Demetrios)
NO Catechism Class
NO Daily Vespers
Thursday, October 27
NO Daily Orthros
Friday, October 28
NO Daily Orthros
Saturday, October 29
7:30 a.m. -- Bible Study with Breakfast
5:45 p.m. -- Ninth Hour followed by Great Vespers
Sunday, October 30 (Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost)
8:50 a.m. -- Orthros
9:00 a.m. -- Christian Education
10:00 a.m. -- Divine Liturgy
4:00 p.m. -- Fall Festival at the Church
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS
Eucharist Bread …was offered by the Morrises for the Divine Liturgy today.
Please be reminded of the following:
Be very careful with the Blessed Bread when you take it after communion. Because this bread has been blessed, we should take care not to let crumbs fall on the floor. Parents, especially, please help your children to choose a small piece and treat it carefully.
Also, at the end of the liturgy, maintain a prayerful disposition during the veneration of the cross as the prayers of thanksgiving after communion are still underway. Please exchange your greetings with each other in the Fellowship Hall during Coffee Hour.
Eucharist Bread and Coffee Hour Schedule:
Eucharist Bread Coffee Hour
October 23 Morrises Schelvers
October 30 Joneses Algoods
November 5 (Sat. a.m.) D. Roots Karen Cooper
(Feast of St. Raphael of Brooklyn)
November 6 Joanna Meadows POT LUCK MEAL
Set-up: Pigotts
November 13 Meadows Fahmys
November 20 Freundts D. Roots/Dansereaus
November 20 (p.m.) Katools (Artoklasia Bread for Nativity of the Theotokos)
November 27 Dansereaus Morrises
Schedule for Epistle Readers – Page numbers refer to the Apostolos (book of the Epistles) located on the front pew. Please be sure to use this book when you read.
Reader Reading Page#
October 23 Mildred Morris Gal. 1:11-19 188
(Reading for the feast of the Apostle James is same as next week)
October 30 Phillip Lasseter Gal. 1:11-19 188
November 5 (Sat. a.m.) Brenda Baker Heb. 7:26-8:3 334
November 6 Kh. Be'Be' Schelver Titus 3:8-15 193
November 13 Tom Willingham Heb. 7:26- 8:3 334
November 20 Tom Skirtech Eph. 2:4-10 202
November 27 Walt Wood Eph. 2:14 to end 207
Please be reminded that the Sacristy/Vestry which is adjacent to and behind the altar in our church is considered by the Orthodox Church to be part of the Sanctuary (Altar area) and should not be entered without the blessing of the priest for a specific purpose. If you need to speak with a member of the clergy while they are in the Sanctuary, please ask them to come to you in the nave.
Please continue to pray for the health of His Grace, Bishop ANTOUN.
Please remember Fr. Joseph and Kh. Joanna Bittle and their daughter Abigail in your prayers. Abigail, who was born prematurely and only recently came home after months in the NICU, has developed meningitis.
Please remember the following in your prayers: Maria Costas; Amy and Michael Surratt and Amy's family; Tom and Jennifer Skirtech and Jennifer's mother, Jessamine Hinkson; Warren and Sandi Strain and Warren's mother, Ouida Strain; Fr. Leo, Kh. Be'Be', Stephen and Amy, Justyn and Jeffrey; Steve, Sheryl and Stephen Chamblee; Amy and Brantley Oliver; Aidan Milnor, the Milnor family; Sam and Lamia Dabit; David Turner's mother Mary Jean.
Breakfast and Bible Study: we are continuing our Bible Study of 1st Peter. The Bible Study will meet every 2-3 weeks on Saturday morning at 7:30 a.m. with breakfast. This is open to all who are interested. Be sure to come and enjoy the fellowship.
25th Anniversary Celebration:
The Church is planning a celebration of our being received into the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese in March 1987. The weekend of May 4th-6th, 2012, has been set aside for some special events, including visits from Bishop ANTOUN and V. Rev. Fr. Jon Braun, with a celebratory banquet planned at the Mississippi Museum of Art on Saturday evening, May 5th.
The planning committee (composed of Dn. Terry, Kh. Janet, Sh. Charlotte, Brenda Baker, Elizabeth Root and Paul Katool) is working on some other projects and we need your help! An "Anniversary Book" is being compiled and will be printed and made available that weekend. It will contain, among other things, articles on the life of our church, our church's history, and photos (new and old) of church members and activities. We are asking you to look through your files and albums for pictures that can be included in the book and also in a special video presentation. These photos will of course be returned to you as soon as they are scanned, etc. We need photos of church events going back 25 years or longer – but also events and photos from recent activities – from newer church members as well as the "old heads!" These can include our chrismation weekend in '87, teen retreats, work-days, our renovation project, ladies'/men's activities, feast day celebrations, etc., etc., etc. Please put your photos in an envelope –CLEARLY LABELED WITH YOUR NAME, AND ON THE BACK OF EACH PHOTO INCLUDE YOUR NAME, DATE OF PICTURE (IF KNOWN) NAMES OF THE PEOPLE, AND WHAT THE EVENT WAS. Give these either to Deacon Terry or Kh. Janet NO LATER THAN TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 1ST.
We will also need a host of volunteers to help with various things over the next several months. If you would like to help, please contact Deacon Terry. THANK YOU!!!
Church Photo: We will be taking a group photo of the parish on Sunday, October 30th following the Divine Liturgy. This will be used as the cover for our new Directory. Also, if you have not had your individual/family photo taken, please contact Daniel Root.
Supper Clubs: Several members of the parish have expressed interest in a supper club again this year. If you would be interested in participating, please sign-up on the sheet available in the Fellowship Hall.
At the request of some of our young parents, Father John will speak on the Orthodox view of the rearing and disciplining children in the near future. This will probably take place on a Saturday morning. For those who are interested in participating in this forum, please let Father John know what dates would be best for you as soon as possible.
Calendar Items:
* The Men of the parish meet for lunch and fellowship on the first Thursday of the month.
* Father John will be in Little Rock, AR October 24-26 for the Lower MS Valley Deanery Clergy Retreat, hosted this year by Holy Trinity Orthodox Church in Little Rock.
* A Fall Festival is scheduled here at the church next Sunday afternoon, October 30th from 4:00-6:00 p.m. Be sure to come for the fun and fellowship.
* We will be serving our next meal at the Stewpot in Jackson on November 19th.
* His Grace, Bishop ANTOUN will be at St. Andrew Orthodox Church in Pensacola the weekend of December 4th to consecrate their church. Father John and others from our parish plan to attend.
* The Annual Deanery Youth Retreat will be held on February 10-12, 2012 at John W. Kyle State Park in Sardis. Joel and Sarah Finley will be addressing the topic of the Culture of Dating. More information will be available as the time draws near.
* Father Thomas Hopko will speaking at Holy Resurrection Orthodox Church in Clinton February 14-16, 2012. More information will be available at a later date.
* His Grace, Bishop ANTOUN will be here the weekend of May 6, 2012 to help us celebrate our 25th anniversary as a parish. The planning committee is working very hard to make our celebration a memorable one. There will be an evening event at the MS Museum of Art on Saturday, May 6th. Other events are being planned and more information will be available in the coming months.
Fasting Discipline for October
In October the traditional fasting (no meat, poultry, fish, eggs, dairy, wine and oil) is observed on all Wednesdays and Fridays of the month.
Major Commemorations for October
October 23 Apostle James the Brother of the Lord
October 26 Great-martyr Demetrios
If you are the last to leave the building, please make sure that the heating and cooling unit in the Fellowship Hall is turned off.
Happy Birthdays in October:
October 1 -- Emily Parker
October 3 -- Reader Basil Baker
October 4 -- Rod Parker
October 7 -- Glenn Morris
October 8 -- Brantley Oliver
October 10 -- Phillip Lasseter
October 16 -- Jesse Milnor
October 17 -- Max Baker
October 20 -- Anna Kathryn Stewart
October 23 -- Anne Habeeb
October 24 -- Jean Kafoury
October 25 -- Kathy Willingham
October 28 -- Lamia Dabit
-- Mona Fahmy
-- Desi Roehner
October 29 -- Kh. Be'Be' Schelver
Happy Anniversaries in October:
October 17 -- Phillip and Nikki Lasseter (#2!)
October 18 -- Oliver and Laura Yeatts (#3!)
October 22 -- Walter and Charlotte Wood (#28!)
Quotable: "A fourth man says: 'I am confessing before God. What need is there for me to go to the priest?'
…God has ordained the priest to administer the Holy Sacraments so that we can receive through them the heavenly all-saving grace. Confession is a sacrament, too. If you confess before God, you are doing well, because you are moving your conscience, remembering your sins, and maybe even shedding tears for them. Yet you do not receive God's grace of forgiveness through all that. As when you sit and think how, during the never-ending day of the Heavenly Kingdom, those who have pleased God partake of the unfathomable-for-us heavenly Communion, you do not partake in reality, no matter how moved you may be by your thought, until you accept visible Holy Communion; so, too, until you go to the priest to whom Jesus Christ Himself has given the power to bind and loose, no matter how much you confess before God, you do not receive forgiveness for your sins, because God Himself has condescended to say to the priest: whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them (John 20:23)."
Archimandrite Seraphim Aleksiev
Bright Sadness: A 40 Day Lenten Journey to Pascha: In our bookstore, we have 15 copies of a book prepared by Sh. Myrna Martin of St. Ignatius Orthodox Church in Franklin, TN. It contains meal plans and quotations for all days during Great Lent. The cost of the book is $15, with ALL proceeds going to the Hogar Raphael, the orphanage in Guatemala supported by our church. Great idea for Christmas gifts, etc!!
Worship: Sunday, October 30, 2011 (Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost)
Scripture: Galatians 1:11-19; Luke 16:19-31
Celebrant: Father John
Epistle Reader: Phillip Lasseter
Prosphora: Joneses
Coffee Hour: Algoods