St. Mary e-Newsletter for Friday, October 30, 2020
PRAYER AND WORSHIP
Every Sunday Orthros is at 8:45am, followed by Divine Liturgy at 10:00am. Members of St. Mary’s laity may attend Sunday services in rotation, with appropriate physical distancing throughout the nave.
Please visit our church webpage under “News,” “COVID-19 Safety
Directives and Policies” (https://www.stmaryorthodoxchurch.org/news/covid19safety) to review the procedures for attendance.
All the Divine Services held in St. Mary’s Church can also be seen live-streamed at www.stmaryorthodoxchurch.org/live or www.facebook.com/stmarycambridge or www.youtube.com/stmarycambridge
Monday–Saturday you can join Morning Prayers on Zoom with James & Brooke Wilcox. They write: “Morning Prayer has now become part of our daily routine, where we are joyfully able to participate with others in the St Mary’s community. And thanks to the power of the internet, and the influence of other participants, we now have people joining us each morning from Chile, Arizona, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Florida, New York City and other portions of Massachusetts as well. We are always happy to add more!”
We run morning prayers for 15 minutes each morning, Monday through Saturday, beginning at 8:45am: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/377381275 password: 28052020
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Sound System
We are currently raising $15,000 to replace key elements of our sound system that are breaking. This project will improve the quality and reliability of both the in-person and live stream experiences. We have already received $7,000 towards our goal, and more has been pledged. You can donate to this effort by going to our Sound System Donation page: https://www.stmaryorthodoxchurch.org/audio-upgrades
Parish Council Elections
If you are interested in serving on the Parish Council please speak to Mary Winstanley O’Connor or Fr. Antony by this Sunday, November 1. You can get in touch with Mary at moconnor@koilaw.com or (617)523-1010,ext 223. To be eligible to serve you must be a member of St. Mary’s for two years and in good financial standing.
Great Vespers
On the first Saturday of every month we have a Vespers service at 5:00pm. The EventBrite link for Great Vespers for the Archangels on Saturday, November 7 will be:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/great-vespers-for-the-archangels-tickets-126548880107
Password is 0815
Free Lecture
Fr. Michael Plekon, who gave the Fr. John von Holzhausen lecture at St. Mary a few years ago, will be giving the annual lecture of the Orthodox Theological Society in America in honor of Georges Florovsky. His lecture, a webinar entitled “Community as Church, Church as Community: Death and Resurrection in the Parish Today,” will be delivered on Friday, November 13, at 7:30pm. Registration is free and open to the public: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_-Wa3hCnpTDCXusfHpdO_AQ
Parish Christmas Card
Let the Women's Club send a lovely Christmas card on your behalf to our parishioners. Save yourself time, let us do the work, and have all proceeds benefit the Antiochian Women's Project 2020: Building a New Cathedral at Antiochian Village. You will receive this card with the names of parishioners, like yourself, who are wishing a Blessed Nativity and a Merry Christmas to all. You can use the form in the Sunday bulletin or simply write us a note, telling us how you want your name to appear on the card, and send it with a check in any amount payable to St. Mary Women’s Club. Mail them to St. Mary Church - Women’s Club, 8 Inman St., Cambridge MA 02139. Deadline: Sunday, November 29.
Church School
Please email Deno at takles67@yahoo.com if you would like to register your child for church school. It’s not too late! Children who were registered last year have their registration rolled over to this year. We have a full staff who have already begun work. We are grateful to God and the parish for providing just what we need.
Enquirers Class
The St. Ignatius Catechetical course – Enquirers’ Class - is currently postponed due to illness.
Orthodoxy 102
Orthodoxy 102 is an adult education class designed for Christians who have spent many years in the Orthodox church, but have never had any formal teaching on the theology and liturgical structure of Eastern Christianity. This is the second year the class is being offered. It will meet weekly to journey through the structure of the Divine Liturgy, while taking an in-depth look at Scripture, the Ecumenical Councils, our iconography, and the meaning and application of Orthodox theology. If you would like more information or want to join, please email drjamesis@gmail.com (or introduce yourself to Subdeacon James on any Sunday following the liturgy, if you’re there in person). The class begins at 7:00pm every Monday on Zoom.
People Helping People
A number of parishioners have made known their desire to help people who need assistance. The church office is keeping a list of volunteers. Call the office if you would like your name added to the list of volunteers. There can’t be too many.
If you know of anyone who needs any sort of help call the church office (617) 547-1234 to make the connection. Remember, many people are ashamed/afraid to ask for help. Keep your eyes and ears open and ask about needs with kind concern.
REFLECTION
… God teaches you to be as merciful to those in need as He is merciful to you. It is dangerous and sinful to ignore the voice of God, to remain unrepentant and unimproved during times of hardship, to fail to thank God, or not to help others when you have plenty. Even more ruinous is to do the opposite of that to which God is leading us: to grumble and become embittered in difficult circumstances or to forget God and live only for pleasure in fortunate surroundings.
- St. Innocent of Irkutsk, The Way Into the Kingdom of Heaven
...without love the works of virtue are not praiseworthy or profitable to the man who practices them, and the same is true of love without works. St. Paul makes this fully clear with reference to works when he writes to the Corinthians, 'If I do this and that, but have no love, it profits me nothing' (cf. I Cor. 13:1-3); and with reference to love the disciple especially beloved by Christ writes, 'Let us not love in word or tongue but in action and truth' (I John 3:18).
- St. Gregory Palamas
The more a person loves God, the more he loves other people. He loves them with holiness, respect and refinement, as images of God. … We must have Love; even if they do us the greatest harm, we must love them. We will be able to enter Paradise only with love.
- Elder Amphilochios Makris
If we refuse to love, then we have also chosen to reject God’s love. The anxiety we feel when we face those we will not love is the direct result of our personal rejection of God’s love in our lives.
- V. Rev. Antony Hughes, Sermon from May 4, 2008