S A I N T P E T E R T H E A P O S T L E C H U R C H April 2017 1 Messenger April Calendar Page 7 Thoughts on Great Lent Father Pavel Velikanov Page 3 April 2017 Stewardship 2017 Stewardship Sunday for 2017 on November 13... Page 6 Preparing for Pascha Father John Breck Page 1 Monthly Newsletter of St. Peter the Apostle Church. Fresno California Issue No. 4 / Vol. 30 / April 2017 Parish Activities… Amazon Smile, Pascha Flowers, Spring … Page 4 Preparing for Pascha ARCHPRIEST JOHN BRECK Orthodox Christianity calls us to live on two different but intimately relat- ed levels. One is the level of daily ex- perience: life in family and on the job, paying bills and doing the shopping, cutting the grass and getting the kids to their various activities. It is also life marked by anxiety in a world of war and political upheaval, of poverty and violence. It is a life that for many peo- ple has been aptly described as “nasty, brutish and short.” Yet there is another level, another reality that can radically transform our daily routine and even the tenor of the world around us. It is the level of our faith, where celebration of the Paschal mystery turns every Sunday and feast day into the First and Eighth Day of the New Creation, en- abling us to participate already here and now in the coming glory of the Kingdom of God. This second level, this other realm or dimension of our life, is one of prayer and silent meditation, of life-giving communion, of joyous celebration, and of healing, recon- ciling love. A major reason for the Lenten journey is to equip us for the spiritual warfare necessary to hold these two levels together. As problems and tensions mount in our person- al and collective life, we are constantly tempted to focus on one level or the other. Either we give in to the secular- izing pressures of the society we live in and pay mere lip- service to the faith, power and au- thority of Orthodox Christianity; or we reject the reality of this world by seeking solace in the esthetically beautiful worship of a comfortable church of our own making. Either of these choices merely deepens the compartmentalization of our life and activity. And we wonder why the ex- perience of Sunday morning seems to have so little to do with the reali- ties and urgencies of Monday. As we move further through the Lenten fast—in a world of conTlict, brutality and injustice—it is impor- tant to remember what Scripture and the entire Tradition tell us about this world. Although the fact is hard- ly reTlected in the morning’s head- lines, the world was created, and is constantly being recreated, by the God of love and mercy, whose deep- est desire is to lead everyone, includ- ing ourselves, to the perfection and joy of eternal communion in the life of the Holy Trinity. This is a world where people of faith can behold the hand of God in everyday miracles of forgiveness and reconcilia- tion; and in more astounding miracles of unexpected healings, weeping icons, and self-sacriTice. Bulletin Board… Pascha Baskets, Festival Silent… Page 5
Transcript
S A I N T P E T E R T H E A P O S T L E C H U R C H
April 2017 "1
MessengerApril Calendar
Page 7
Thoughts on Great Lent Father Pavel Velikanov
Page 3
April 2017
Stewardship 2017 Stewardship Sunday for 2017 on November 13...
Page 6
SunMon
TueWed
ThuFri
Sat
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11
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25
12
3
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30
VBS 9:00 AM - Noon
Vespers 7:00 PM
No Liturgy
Liturgy - 10:00 AM
Church School registration!
Church Meeting - Noon
Liturgy / C.S. 10:00 AM
40 Day Memorial for
gDebra Lombard
Church School Opening Day!
Liturgy / C.S. 10:00 AM
No Vespers
Altar Servers Training
Session at 3:45 PM
Vespers 5:00 PM
Vespers 5:00 PM
Vespers 7:00 PMLiturgy 9:00 AM
6th Hour Prayers - Noon
6th Hour Prayers - Noon
Vespers 7:00 PM
Liturgy 9:00 AM
Liturgy 9:00 AM
Vespers 7:00 PM
Elevation of
the Cross
Labor Day
Nativity of the
Theotokos
Beheading of
St. John
Diocese Days Weekend
St. Steven's Cathedral in Alhambra
Preparing for Pascha Father John Breck
Page 1
Monthly Newsletter of St. Peter the Apostle Church. Fresno California Issue No. 4 / Vol. 30 / April 2017Parish Activities… Amazon Smile, Pascha Flowers, Spring …
Parish activities... S.H.A.R.E.S. Cards changes:Last year, Save Mart converted to eScrip for their non-profit fundraising program. To enroll, go to Save Mart’s website www.savemart.com/shares/ and select St. Peter Serbian Orthodox Church as your charity. You will have an option of a phone number, credit/debit card or both. If you pay cash or by check for your gro-ceries, you can type in your phone number or give it to the cashier. If you buy your groceries using credit cards you can add your card number as well as a phone number. Your purchase is automatically credit-ed to St. Peter’s. Once you sign up with e-Scrip though Save Mart then you are automatically regis-tered with all of the e-Scrip participating merchants and online stores.Another way to support our Scholarship Fund is through Amazon Smile. Remember, always start at smile.amazon.com and Amazon will donate 0.5% of the price of your eligible AmazonSmile purchases. Se-lect “Serbian Orthodox Church of St Peter” as your charity. It is very simple and easy!Also, remember that you can donate directly to the Scholarship Fund at any time. All donations are greatly appreciated!
Pascha Flowers:Soon Holy Week and Pascha will be here. Offering envelopes for your donations to help offset the cost of flowers to decorate Christ's Tomb and the church for Pascha are available at the candle stand in the Narthex of the church. Your generosity will be greatly appreciated! We thank you and pray that you experience a rewarding and fruitful Lenten season and celebration of our Lord's Holy Pascha.
Lenten Confessions: Everyone is expected to receive the sacrament of Holy Confession during the Lenten season. Confessions are heard following vespers on Saturday evenings, before Presanctified Liturgies from 4:30-5:30 p.m. or by ap-pointment with Father George. The last time Confes-sions will be heard is Holy Tuesday after the 7:00 p.m. Bridegroom Matins. Prepare yourselves early! Thank you in advance for your understanding and coopera-tion.
Preparing the church for Pascha:Volunteers are needed to clean the liturgical and altaritems for Holy Week and Pascha. We will meet at 9:30a.m. on Tuesday, April 11. Cleaning supplies are pro-vided. Come and help out for a couple of hours!
Vigil at Christ's Tomb:Once again a sign-up sheet will be located in the narthex of the church for our tradition of keeping vigil at our Lord’s Tomb. Parishioners are encouraged toparticipate in this very spiritually moving practice of reading from the Book of Psalms and the Acts of the Apostles. Reading at the tomb will begin after the3:00 p.m. Vesper Service on Holy Friday and will con-tinue until the start of Nocturns at 11:00 p.m. on Holy Saturday. We need a volunteer to be responsible for coordinating the schedule and unlocking and locking the church. Please see Father George if you can help with this task.
Bright Monday Pan-Orthodox Liturgy:On Bright Monday, April 17 the Paschal Liturgy willbe celebrated at 10:00 a.m. at St. Peter's. We will gatherwith the clergy and parishioners from St. George Greek Orthodox Church and St. Mary Magdalene Or-thodox Church in Merced. Following the Liturgy all are welcome to join in fellowship at the Yosemite Falls Café: 4020 North Cedar Avenue, (at Dakota) Fresno.
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Pascha Baskets: Parishioners are welcome to keep the tradition of bringing Pascha Baskets, which will be blessed after the Paschal Liturgy, and also after Paschal Vespers, lat-er that morning. Please place your baskets on the ta-bles in the hallway between the church and social hall.
These baskets traditionally are prepared with many of the foods from which we've been fasting from during Great Lent. There are several foods tradi-tionally included in the basket. These are: a yeast bread, a bitter herb, wine, cheese, meat, butter, salt, and a red egg or eggs.
Palm Sunday Vespers & Children’s Procession Saturday, April 8 at 5:00 p.m. Children's confessions at the end of the service. All children are encouraged to participate!The Youth Choir will be singing during the Palm Sunday Liturgy on April 9!
This year we will be awarding scholarships to our graduating High School seniors who plan to continue their education at either a college/university or trade school. Eligibility for scholarships are based on church and church school participation as well
as academics and community service. All appli-cants must have a parent or grandparent/guardian who is currently a pledged steward of St. Peter Church. Please contact Father George or Jim Ward to apply. Applications will be available after April 15. The deadline to submit your application is June 15. Scholarships will be awarded at our Petrovdan Luncheon on July 9, 2017.
Parents, please let Father George know if your son or daughter will be graduating fro High School or College and send in a short bio of their education, future plans along with a photo for the Messenger.. Email: [email protected]. We will be honoring all graduates on May 21.
Tutors:April 2 Jim Ward ./ Vera Naden April 9 Jonathan Hart / Natalie SidelApril 16 Andrej Romanenko / Tim PennyApril 23 Jim Ward ./ Vera Naden April 30 Jonathan Hart / Natalie Sidel
