January 22, 2012
Thirty-second Sunday after Pentecost
I Timothy 4:9-15: From our reading in St Paul's first letter to Timothy, we hear him exhort
Timothy to teach concerning God, the Savior of all men, and by his conduct to be an example of godliness to unbelievers.
Luke 19:1-10: In the story of Zaccheus we are reminded of why the Only-begotten Son of the
Father became incarnate: to save mankind from our sin and its consequences.
Troparion of the Resurrection: Thou didst shatter death by thy Cross; thou didst open paradise to the thief; thou didst turn the mourning of the ointment-bearing women into joy, and didst bid thine Apostles proclaim warning that thou hast risen, O Christ, granting the world Great Mercy.
Troparion of the Holy Apostle Timothy: Since thou hadst been instructed in uprightness thoroughly and wast vigilant in all things, thou wast clothed with a good conscience as befitteth one holy. Thou didst draw from the Chosen Vessel ineffable mysteries; and having kept the Faith, thou didst finish a like course, O Hieromartyr and Apostle Timothy. Intercede with Christ God that our souls be saved.
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 Presentation: Thou, O Christ God, who by your Birth, didst sanctify the Virgin's womb, and as is meet, didst bless Simeon's arms, and didst also come to save us, preserve thy fold in wars, and confirm them whom thou didst love; for thou alone art the Lover of mankind.
CALENDAR
Sunday, January 22 (Thirty-second Sunday after Pentecost)
8:50 a.m. -- Orthros
9:00 a.m. -- Christian Education
10:00 a.m. -- Divine Liturgy
12:00 p.m. -- Ladies of St. Peter
1:00 p.m. -- Young Adults
Monday, January 23
Office Closed -- Father John's Day Off
Tuesday, January 24
NO Daily Orthros
Wednesday, January 25 (Gregory the Theologian)
NO Catechism Class
6:30 p.m. -- Daily Vespers
7:30 p.m. -- Parish Council Meeting
7:30 p.m. -- Choir Practice
Thursday, January 26
NO Daily Orthros
Friday, January 27 (John Chrysostom)
NO Daily Orthros
Saturday, January 28
7:30 a.m. -- Bible Study with Breakfast
5:45 p.m. -- Ninth Hour followed by Great Vespers
Sunday, January 29 (Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost)
8:50 a.m. -- Orthros
9:00 a.m. -- Christian Education
10:00 a.m. -- Divine Liturgy
5:30 p.m. -- Youth Group
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
January 22 Morris Schelver
January 29 Jones Fahmy
February 1 (Wed. p.m.) Meadows Bakers/Mary Guy
(Feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple)
February 5 Joanna Meadows D. Roots/Dansereaus
February 12 Dansereaus Pigotts
February 18 (Sat. a.m.) D. Roots
(Saturday of the Souls – Koliva: Charlotte Algood)
February 19 Yeatts Morrises
February 26 Freundts YOUTH GROUP
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#
January 22 Brenda Baker I Tim. 4:9-15 252
January 29 Tom Willingham II Cor. 6:16-7:1 173
February 1 (Wed. p.m.) Sh. Charlotte Algood Heb. 7:7-17 371
February 5 Walt Wood II Tim. 3:10-15 258
February 12 Tom Skirtech I Cor. 6:12-20 265
February 18 (Sat. a.m.) Kh. Sharon Meadows I Cor. 10:23-26 271
February 19 Warren Strain I Cor. 8:8-9:2 273
February 26 Phillip Lasseter Rom. 13:11-14:4 279
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 remember Fr. Joseph and Kh. Joanna Bittle and their daughter Abigail in your prayers.
Please continue to pray for the health of His Grace, Bishop ANTOUN.
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 their family; 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; Georgia Buchanan, George Johns (Georgia's grandson) and his family; Dorin and Carolina Lavric and Victor (Carolina's brother); Mary Greene (Lee and Kh. Sharon's sister).
House Blessings! A sign-up sheet is available in the Fellowship Hall to sign up for your house blessing. Please schedule these as soon as possible. Everyone should have their home blessed. However, the responsibility for scheduling lies with individuals and not Father John. No house blessings will be done once Great Lent starts (February 27th this year).
Calendar Items:
* The Men of the parish meet for lunch and fellowship on the first Thursday of the month.
* We will celebrate the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple with Orthros followed by Divine Liturgy on Wednesday evening, February 1st, beginning at 6:00 p.m.
* Parish Creative Arts Festival – Saturday morning, February 4th from 9-12.
* 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 be speaking at Holy Resurrection Orthodox Church in Clinton February 14-16, 2012. More information will be available at a later date.
* The Youth Group is planning to hold their annual Cheesefare Fundraising Luncheon on Sunday, February 26th.
* 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.
Please be sure to turn in your pledge letters as soon as possible. If you did not receive one in the recent weeks, please let Kh. Sharon know.
Breakfast and Bible Study: we are continuing to meet every 2-3 weeks for Bible Study 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.
Parish Creative Arts Festival: The Christian Education classes will have a festival to work on their entries for this year's Creative Arts Festival on Saturday morning, February 4th from 9-12. There will be teaching about this year's conference theme and then time to work on the projects themselves. A Pizza lunch will be provided afterwards. Please make plans now for your children to attend.
Fasting Discipline for January
The traditional fasting (no meat, poultry, fish, eggs, dairy, wine and oil) is observed on the remaining Wednesdays and Fridays of the month.
Major Commemorations for January
January 18 Athanasios and Cyril of Alexandria
January 20 Euthymios the Great
January 25 Gregory the Theologian
January 27 John Chrysostom
January 31 Cyros and John the Unmercenary Healers
Happy Birthdays in January:
January 1 -- Dn. Richard Root
January 5 -- Sarah Anne Milnor
January 10 -- Georgia Buchanan
January 11 -- Nicholas Henderson
January 12 -- Cheryl Pigott
January 13 -- Nader Dabit
January 19 -- Saliba (Sam) Dabit
January 20 -- Alfred Katool
January 22 -- Tatiana Lavric
January 24 -- Oliver Yeatts
January 29 -- Michelle Pigott
January 30 -- Chris Dansereau
Happy Anniversaries in January:
January 10 -- Bob and Georgia Buchanan (1987)
January 17 -- Chris and Rebecca Dansereau (2009)
January 19 -- Ramzi and Jean Kafoury (2003)
Windows into Heaven: We are looking for a volunteer to take charge of the small bulletin board in the Fellowship Hall that was used in the past to display icons, hymns and information about the major feasts that occur during the year. The packets of material needed for the bulletin board are available in the church office and only need to be changed for each of the feasts as they occur. If you are interested in taking on this responsibility, please let Fr. John know.
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.
Quotable: "In the broadest of terms, one might say that Western civilization is dominated by the human mind, and 'knowing' generally takes precedence over 'being.' In the East by contrast, experience is valued over thought. Rather than the mind, it is the nous of man—described by St. Makarios as the 'eye of the heart' and identified by St. Diadochos as the 'innermost aspect of the heart'—that is considered the most important element by which a person communicates with God. This crucial element, the center of spiritual intelligence, is all but ignored in Western writings. Western philosophers actually use the word nous, but when they do so it is little more than a synonym for 'mind'."
Archimandrite. Meletios Webber, Bread and Water, Wine and
Oil: an Orthodox Christian Experience of God
Worship: Sunday, January 29, 2012 (Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost)
Scripture: II Corinthians 6:16-7:1; Matthew 15:21-28
Celebrant: Father John
Epistle Reader: Tom Willingham
Prosphora: Joneses
Coffee Hour: Fahmys