Sunday, June 26

Scripture Lesson for this week                                         Regional All Saints– Tone 1           

Epistle: Rom 2:10-16                                                 Gospel: Matt 4:18-23

 

Scripture Lesson for next week                 3^rd Sunday after Pentecost – Tone 2           

Epistle: Rom 5:1-10                                                   Gospel: 6:22-23

 

BIRTHDAYS: Jim Waltenberger (26), Gregory Watts (30)

ANNOUNCEMENTS:  

• Balkan Food Festival: Today after Liturgy, a sample tasting of the foods (made by Popadia Kim, Annie Fry, & Joanne Karos) for the Balkan Food Festival will be held.  Please have a taste and offer your comments to Khouria Victoria or Annie Fry.
• Annual Church Picnic: The Annual Church Picnic will be held on September 11, 2011.  The Church Board is looking for a person or persons interested in chairing this wonderful event.  Please contact Annie Fry (330-328-5393) or any other board member to volunteer.  This event already draws a great group of volunteers to help, but we need someone to organize al of us.
• Courtyard Beautification Project: A landscape design plan was crafted for our courtyard.  We need your help in funding this project!  The goal of the project is to add beauty to the courtyard, not only for parish members to enjoy, upon entering the church, but also for those patrons who rent the banquet hall, to enjoy, when an event is held.  Please see the beautiful design hanging downstairs and we encourage each parish family member to sign up to donate a plant that will be put into the courtyard.  The planting will be done on Saturday July 16th and Sunday July 17th.  We are also seeking strong volunteers to help Rich with the plantings on this weekend.  Please let Rich know if you can volunteer your time and muscles J Each plant on the list is quite affordable, so please do what you can to sign up for one of the plants.  Checks for the plants should be made out to "St. Thomas" and in the memo line of your check, please note "courtyard planting donation".  If you have any questions, please see Stacey or Richard Zahoranski.   
• E-mail addresses, cell phone numbers and other updated contact information is needed: The Board is working on an updated membership and 'friends of the parish' directory. We are mostly seeking out e-mail addresses from everyone, so that we can communicate with parish family members more frequently and more efficiently!  Please see a Board Member to give your e-mail address and updated contact information, if you haven't done so already 
•  St. Thomas Youth: We are still seeking committee chair and members for the Youth Committee.  Please see a Board Member if you are interested helping to make a difference in the lives of our young children at St. Thomas.  
• 2011 Christmas Pageant and 2012 Lenten "LOCK-IN" and Retreat: The Board would like to have the Youth of St. Thomas put on a 2011 Christmas Pageant this year, and would also like to host a fun 2012 Lenten Retreat and Lock-in too!  This would be for all St. Thomas youth and for any other children from our community who are interested.  If we gather a good committee, and start planning really early, we can make this happen for our children.  Our children are the future of St. Thomas!!! Please volunteer your time for these important events, for the future of St. Thomas!!  Please contact Stacey Zahoranski if you are interested in helping with either event!  Call Stacey at 330-819-0486 cell phone or Stacey.zahoranski@wfadvisors.com.

SUNDAY, June 12^th, 2011

Dorothy Frengou: Memory of Lazo & Kathy.

Sophia Kostoff: Health of Grandfather George Copetas.

 

Holy Pentecost

Scripture Lesson for this week                                                 Holy Pentecost – Tone 7            

Epistle: Acts 2:1-11                                              Gospel: John 7:37-52, 8:12

 

Scripture Lesson for next week                                                   All Saints – Tone 8            

Epistle: Heb 11:33-12:2                  Gospel: Matt 10:32-33, 37-38; 19:27-30

 

BIRTHDAYS: Nikola Kabaivanoff (15), Dan Machar (17)

 

ANNIVERSARYS: George & Frances Petroff (13)

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS:  

·         Vespers:  Vespers will resume this Saturday, June 18^th.  

·         Pentecost: This week is a fast free week due to Pentecost. Feel free to eat all the meat you wish this Wednesday and Friday. J 

 

 

 The Feast of Pentecost, also known as Trinity Sunday, is always celebrated 50 days after Pascha, the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. The word "pentecost" in Greek literally means "fifty." At Pentecost, the disciples received the gift of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, in the form of fiery tongues. This outpouring of the Spirit fulfilled the promise that Christ had made to His disciples while He was still with them. This Spirit was the third person of the Holy Trinity, the Comforter, who would lead them into the fullness of the Truth concerning God, and would be for them their primary gift from God for their ministry. As Orthodox Christians we each receive the seal of the Holy Spirit when we are chrismated into the Faith. This is our personal Pentecost. This feast reminds us of our apostolic calling as baptized and chrismated members of the Church—to spread the Gospel in word and deed wherever we happen to find ourselves in the world.

 

The main passage from the New Testament for this feast is taken from the Acts of the Apostles, which is read as the Epistle during the Divine Liturgy. The Gospel reading, taken from the words of Jesus which He spoke while the Jews were celebrating the feast of the Tabernacles, serves as a commentary on the Epistle. After summoning those who would follow Him and promising them the coming of the Holy Spirit, a debate ensued about Who Jesus really was. Was He a prophet? Was He the promised Messiah? Many in the crowd that day were hoping that He was the Messiah Who would lead them out of Roman occupation to political independence and freedom. However, Jesus Christ's mission was not one of political freedom fighter. He is God incarnate and brings freedom to liberate humanity from sin, the devil, and death. We are called to witness our faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Master of our lives, in the midst of a world that may strongly disapprove and even persecute us for our convictions. Yet, we remain steadfast, praying that those who desire to know the Light will be brought to Him through the living light of the Gospel shining in our hearts, and will find in our words the living water of the Spirit.

Sunday, June 5

Scripture Lesson for this week                Holy Fathers First Ecumenical Council– Tone 6             

Epistle: Acts 20:16-18, 28-36                                        Gospel: John 17: 1-13

 

Scripture Lesson for next week                                        Holy Pentecost – Tone 7            

Epistle: Acts 2:1-11                                           Gospel: John 7:37-52, 8:12

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS:  

·         Memorial/Coffee Hour: Jim & Robin Waltenberger will be having a memorial service in memory of Jim's father, Donald on his 40 days of Falling Asleep in the Lord. They are also sponsoring coffee hour. Memory Eternal!

·         Monthly Lecture: Today after a short coffee hour we will have our monthly lecture over "What does God want?"

·         No Vespers: There will be no vespers next Saturday, June 11. Vespers will return the following Saturday.

 

SUNDAY, May 29^th, 2011

Sofi Kimevski: Memory of father-in-law Vangil Kimevski.

Mary Perch: Memory of father Vangil Kimevski.

Pascha Donations

Angelo & Mary Nicoloff

SUNDAY, May 29^th, 2011

Candles                                                $                47.00

Collection Tray                                                      75.00

Weekly Envelopes                                            1,405.00

Pascha                                                                    25.00

Donations                                                               35.00

________________________________________

                                         TOTAL      $           1,587.00

The story of the Ascension of our Lord, celebrated as one of the Twelve Great Feasts of the Church, is found in the book of the Acts of the Apostles 1:3-11. It is also mentioned in the Gospels of Mark (16:19) and Luke (24:50-53). The moment of the Ascension is told in one sentence: "He was lifted up before their eyes in a cloud which took Him from their sight" (Acts 1:9). Christ made His last appearance on earth, forty days after His Resurrection from the dead. The Acts of the Apostles states that the disciples were in Jerusalem. Jesus appeared before them and commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the "Promise of the Father". He stated, "You shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now" (Acts 1:5).

After Jesus gave these instructions, He led the disciples to the Mount of Olives. Here, He commissioned them to be His witnesses "in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth" (Acts 1:8). It is also at this time that the disciples were directed by Christ to "go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19). Jesus also told them that He would be with them always, "even to the end of the world" (Matthew 28:20). As the disciples watched, Jesus lifted up His hands, blessed them, and then was taken up out of their sight (Luke 24:51; Acts 1:9). Two angels appeared to them and asked them why they were gazing into heaven. Then one of the angels said, "This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you have seen Him going into heaven" (Acts 1:11).