The Word. July/August You Are the Beloved. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth John 1:14

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1 The Word And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth John 1:14 You Are the Beloved July/August 2012 Often times the separation between our needs and our wants becomes blurred opening a great chasm of confusion underneath many of life s moments of decision. Passion, desire, and sacrifice are all extended when the experience of need is felt; however, inasmuch as we may work towards wants, the passion fails in comparison to our pursuit of need. In our process of attempting to discern needs and wants, we must first honestly examine who we are. What you need What you want is substantively built upon an understanding of who you are. If you do carpentry work, you may need a hammer If others recognize you as important, you may need a website If you have multiple cars, you may need a large garage But all of this wrong! These types of needs are established by false selfrecognition. In each of these instances, and in most instances, we establish our needs based upon understandings of who we are that are defined by what we do, what others say about us, and what we have. What we do, what others say about us, and what we have all will dissipate and ultimately stop at one point or another during our life or at some point following our death. As Christians however, we affirm eternal life that has no end, and therefore we must find our identity through a lens without such limitation. More basic and more profound than the prevalent denominators of selfidentification You are a child of God! You are beloved! With belief in the reality that you are beloved in the eyes and life of God, a clear, unadulterated understanding of life, and all of life s needs can be experienced. On the Feast Day of the Dormition of the Theotokos (August 15), in the Gospel reading (Luke 10:38-42), Jesus tells us that one thing is needed as the beloved of God, the one thing that we truly need is the experience and love of Jesus Christ! God s love is perfect and contains no limitations. It is extended to us continually and is always free. The only variable in the experience of God s love is will you recognize that you are the beloved? Once we understand who we are as God s beloved, a beautiful simplicity engulfs our lives, and each chapter, the good and the bad, can be lived with optimism and hope because we know who we are and what we need with the experience of God s love we may conquer all if God is for us, who can be against us (Romans 8:31)! Know who you are, and come to the each Sunday to fulfill your one true need! Fr. Luke O Theotokos, in giving birth you remained a virgin; in falling asleep you did not forsake the world. You have passed to life being the Mother of Life. Through your intercessions, save our souls from death. Dismissal Hymn of the Dormition

2 July/August Services & Readings Date/Time July 1 Aug 19 Aug 26 Service 4 th Sunday of Matthew 11 th Sunday of Matthew 12 th Sunday of Matthew Epistle I Corinth. 12:27-13:8 July 8 4 th Sunday of Matthew Romans 10:1-10 July 15 The Holy Fathers Titus 3:8-15 July 16 10:00 am St. Athenogenes of I Corinth. 5:9-6:11 Heracleopolis July 17 10:00 am St. Marina of Antioch Galatians 3:23-4:5 July 18 10:00 am St. Emilianos of Bulgaria July 19 10:00 am St. Macrina I Corinthians 7:12-24 I Corinthians 7:24-35 July 20 10:00 am July 22 July 26 July 27 July 29 St. Elijah, the Prophet 7 th Sunday of Matthew St. Paraskevi of Rome St. Panteleimon 8 th Sunday of Matthew James 5:10-20 Romans 15:1-7 Galatians 3:23-4:5 II Timothy 2:1-10 I Corinthians 1:10-17 Aug 5 9 th Sunday of Matthew I Corinthians 3:9-17 Aug 6 Transfiguration II Peter 1:10-19 Aug 12 Aug th Sunday of Matthew Dormition of the I Corinthians 4:9-16 Philippians 2:5-11 Theotokos I Corinthians 9:2-12 I Corinthians 15:1-11 July/August Acolyte Schedule Gospel Matthew 8:5-13 Matthew 8:28-9:1 Matthew 5:14-19 Matthew 13:10-23, 43 Mark 5:24-34 Matthew 14:35-15:11 Matthew 15:12-21 Luke 4:22-30 Matthew 9:27-35 Mark 5:24-34 John 15:17-16:2 Matthew 14:14-22 Matthew 14:22-34 Matthew 17:1-9 Matthew 17:14-23 Luke 10:38-42; 11: Matthew 18:23-35 Matthew 19:16-26 All acolytes are asked to serve in July and August. July/August Candle Duty Schedule July 1 July 8 July 15 July 22 July 29 August 5 August 12 August 19 August 26 Peter Eliades, George Georgeson, Scott Walters Alex Slenkin, George Sotiras and Tony Kosmas Chris Siefkas, Nick Livanos and Steve Rigisich Bruce Corcoran, Pete Gikkas and George Kokalis Peter Eliades, George Georgeson, Scott Walters Alex Slenkin, George Sotiras and Tony Kosmas Chris Siefkas, Nick Livanos and Steve Rigisich Bruce Corcoran, Pete Gikkas and George Kokalis Peter Eliades, George Georgeson, Scott Walters In this Issue: The Word Monthly Newsletter published by Nativity of Christ Greek Orthodox Church 1110 Highland Drive Novato, CA Phone: (415) Fax: (415) ncchurch@pacbell. net Fr. Luke Palumbis, Pastor frluke@nativityofchrist.org July/August 2012 Message from Father...1 Services & Readings...2 Acolyte and Candle Duty Schedules...2 Keep Them in Your Prayers...3 Parish Activities & Ministries...3, Stewardship...4 Summer Church Camp...5 July Calendar...6 August Calendar...7 Basketball Camp...8 Festival Thanks...9 Shower Invitation...10 Seasonal Articles...11 Sacraments & Rites

3 Parish Activities & Ministries Philoptochos Scholarship Recipient This year we had a donation from the Perivolaris family towards a college scholarship. Congratulations to Ilija Medan, this year s recipient. Our best wishes go out to Ilija and all of our other college students. Our chapter would like to thank the Perivolaris family for their continued generous support. Coffee Hour For the month of June, we would like to thank the Weeks and Lendaris families and their friends for hosting such a beautiful luncheon in memory of Stacey Week and George Lendaris mother, Evelyn Lendaris. We will do our best to have a fellowship hour this summer. If there will be no fellowship hour, we will have Father Luke make an announcement. If you are interested in hosting this summer, or any other time, please check the sign-up sheet posted on the entry bulletin board in the hall entrance or contact Debbie Kokalis. Pennies & Prayers Keep bringing in your Pennies & Prayers canisters! Every little penny counts in helping support the missions in our own Metropolis. Just leave your canister in the Narthex, and they will be picked up and counted. Thank you very much for your support. Philoptochos Luncheon I would like to thank all the members who attended the June luncheon, and for all the wonderful food items and wine contributions. It was a beautiful day, and we all enjoyed visiting with each other. Father Luke even talked George Kokalis into taking him out on the bay for a little boat ride. Looking forward to future luncheon meetings. Summer Activities Please join us for a San Francisco outing to see Beach Blanket Babylon on Sunday, July 29th. We will be purchasing the Rear Cabaret tickets, which are located in the rear section of the main floor. Seats are first come first served in each section, so it s necessary for us to arrive at least 30 to 45 minutes early in order to get the best choice seating in our section. The cost per ticket is $48 plus a ticket fee of $4. The show will start at 5:00 pm and lasts for approximately 90 minutes. Afterwards, for whomever is interested in continuing the evening, we will be going out for dinner. This is always a fun outing, and we encourage anyone who is interested to attend. We will set up carpools since parking can be challenging. Please contact Debbie Kokalis, or debsplaygr@comcast. net for further information. We should order our tickets as soon as possible as this is a popular event. Our next outing will be Holy Assumption Monastery, in Calistoga, on Saturday, August 4th. We will meet at church at 10:00 am and carpool to the monastery. At 11:00 am we will go on a tour of the monastery, attend a sixth hour service (which lasts approximately 15 minutes), have lunch and then Mother Melania will give a small lecture. We should be back around 3:00 pm. If you would like to join us, please contact Debbie Kokalis, Work Party During Lent this year it was brought to our attention that the only time the Narthex and church receives a thorough cleaning is before Easter. The janitor does clean, but only on the surface, and a more thorough cleaning needs to be done. Therefore, we would like to get into the habit of giving the church and Narthex an extra cleaning at least three times per year, April, August and December. It 3 shouldn t take more than an hour or two. This August will be four months since it was last cleaned so it should be done again. Please join us on August 11th at 9:00 am for our first work party. Cleaning supplies will be provided. Hope to see you there! Dates to Remember Jul 29 Beach Blanket Babylon Aug 4 Visit to Holy Assumption Monastery in Calistoga Aug 11 Work Party to Clean Narthex Aug 19 Baby Shower for Pres. Eleni Sep TBD Board meeting Nativity Youth Camps We are excited to offer two youth camps at Nativity this summer: Nativity Basketball Camp & Nativity Summer Church Camp! Please find the registration form for Basketball Camp on page 8 and the registration form for Summer Church Camp on page 5 in this issue of The Word. Please return the completed appropriate form(s) to the church office ASAP so that we may make all appropriate preparations. Deadline for Basketball Camp registration is Monday, July 2, and for Summer Church Camp is Monday, July 9. KEEP THEM IN YOUR PRAYERS Please use this list to pray for members of our parish who are sick or in need of God s care. Mary Camamis Alexandra Edrich Fr. Haralambos Fox James Kolyvas From time to time, we may remove names that have been on the list for awhile. If you feel a name should remain on the list, or if you would like a new name placed on the list, please contact the church office.

4 Parish Activities & Ministries Gyros Booth Marin County Fair Beginning Saturday, June 30th we will once again sell our delectable Grecian delights to the patrons of the Marin County Fair. There s still a lot of planning and work to be done, but nothing is more important than your commitment to lend a helping hand. We are going with an online sign-up this year to help you when building your favorite gyro assembly line. Remember it was Aeschylus who said, God lends a helping hand to the man who tries hard. Please be generous with your time and come enjoy the kefi during this summer celebration. To view the sign up, go to: go/30e0548aaa92aa64- marin/ Signing up is easy with the new online Signup Genius. Here s a summary of instructions to get you started: You can create an account when you sign up and you will automatically receive notifications and reminders regarding the Gyro booth If you prefer not to create an account, you just add your name and phone number to the shift you choose by clicking on Sign up button and choosing I don t want an account. I ll just enter my name. Then you enter your name and please enter your cell number in the My Comment box If you prefer not to do either of the above, you can send a message to Kimon Daifotis (kimdaifotis@yahoo. com) and he can add you to your chosen shift, no problem! Please note that shifts are not filled until there are 10 volunteers. Any shift that still has a Sign up button still needs help! There are still a lot of available shifts and we encourage you to sign up today... please don t wait to sign up at the last minute. A lot of time is being spent preparing for this event, to streamline it and make it as easy as possible for the volunteers. For more information, please contact Effie Fourakis or Kimon Daifotis. HOPE/JOY It s been a great first year for HOPE and JOY! We are having no formal events this summer. Please have your children participate in our parish summer camps (Basketball and Vacation Church School) to continue the fellowship. Please watch for an in late August or early September about our first HOPE/JOY social and service project of the new school year! If you have an idea for an outing, gathering or activity for our kids or a talent/ skill/project to share, please contact Christina cthomatos@ yahoo.com or Thank you for your committment to helping make a successful youth group experience for our pre-k through 6th graders! Do You Have That App? For those of us blessed and cursed with smartphones, apps are a big deal! Check out the app produced by our Archdiocese, available to both iphone & Android users Daily Readings is available in both free and paid versions Stewardship Campaign Thank You We thank those listed on this page, as well as the others previously listed, for their response to the 2012 Stewardship Campaign Stewardship Update June 25, 2012 Stewardship Commitments Received between 5/24/12 and 6/25/12 Keith & Karry Bryan Antoni Mavrantonis Katina Pantazes Nick & Vasiliki Tzafopoulos Number of Commitment Cards Received 247 Total Amount Committed $181,508 Gather My People to My Home Come and See Budgeted Goal $225,000 4

5 N A T I V I T Y O F C H R I S T Summer G R E E K O R T H O D O X C H U R C H CHURCH CAMP July GROWING ORTHODOXY THROUGH LITURGY, FELLOWSHIP & FUN! z Learn & Live the Liturgy z The theme of the 2012 Nativity of Christ Summer Church Camp is the. Liturgical prayer, sessions including lessons & arts & crafts, and fun will all be centered on the Liturgy and its importance in our lives -- both in and out of the Church! 10:00 am DAILY SCHEDULE Daily Liturgy Each day of Nativity Summer Church Camp, we will begin with the celebration of the on the soleas. The campers will sing the entire service with assistance, and by the following Sunday, actively participate in the singing of the! nnn 10:45 am Snack 11:00 am Session I 11:45 am Games 12:30 pm Lunch 1:00 pm Session II 1:45 pm Discussion with Father Luke 2:00 pm Dismissal $20/camper Registration Please return to church office by Monday, July 9, 2012 Camper(s) Name & Age & Shirt Size: Parent(s) Name: & Phone #: please return to the church office with payment made out to Nativity of Christ Greek Orthodox Church 5

6 NATIVITY OF CHRIST C H U R C H C A L E N D A R SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY July th Sunday of Matthew Clergy/Laity Congress July 1-5, 2012 Phoenix, Arizona JULY th Sunday of Matthew 9 Marin County Fair - Gyro Booth June 30 - July Nativity of Christ Youth Basketball Camp 1:00-4:00 pm July Baptism 11:00 am Sunday of the Holy Fathers Sunday School Teachers retreat 12 noon - 2:00 pm 7 th Sunday of Matthew St. Markella Chian Society Picnic Following Liturgy St. Athenogenes 10:00 am St. Marina 10:00 am 18 St. Emilianos 10:00 am 19 Nativity of Christ Vacation Church Camp 10:00 am - 2:00 pm July St. Macrina 10:00 am St. Paraskevi of Rome 27 Prophet St. Elijah (Elias) 10:00 am St. Panteleimon Baptism 10:00 am 29 8 th Sunday of Matthew July 4 th V Philoptochos Outing to San Francisco 4:00 pm Parish Council Meeting 7:30 pm 6

7 NATIVITY OF CHRIST C H U R C H C A L E N D A R AUGUST SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY July th Sunday of Matthew Philoptochos Outing to San Francisco 4:00 pm 5 9 th Sunday of Matthew 6 Transfiguration of Christ 7 August 1 8 Fast of the Dormition of the Theotokos Begins 6:00 pm :00 pm 4 Philoptochos Outing to Holy Assumption Monastery in Calistoga 10:00 am 11 Philoptochos Work Party in the Church and Narthex 9:00 am th Sunday of Matthew :00 pm Great Vespers 6:00 pm 15 The Dormition of the Most Holy Theookos 16 6:00 pm th Sunday of Matthew Baby Shower for Presbytera Eleni Following Liturgy :30 pm Wedding 5 pm Wedding th Sunday of Matthew pm Wedding 7

8 NATIVITY OF CHRIST Who: All youth Pre-K through Grade School Where: Nativity of Christ Gym When: July :00-4:00 pm Cost: $10/child (make check out to Nativity of Christ Church) Youth Basketball Camp 2012 What: A fun fellowship experience through the sport of basketball. Learning of basic basketball fundamentals, with emphasis on the virtues that are grown through athletics! Snacks Provided Registration Form (please return to church office ASAP) Child Name(s) & Age(s): Parent Name(s): Phone #: Child Shirt Size(s): Registration Deadline: Monday, July 2,

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10 It s A Baby Shower! For Presbytera Eleni Sunday, August 19, 2012 Immediately Following Please join us for lunch to celebrate this upcoming blessed event. Hosted by Philoptochos Please RSVP Below * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Yes, I/we will attend. Name Number of Guests I am interested in contributing $ towards a community shower gift. I would love to help with: (set-up, cooking, decorations, food items, help make party favors, cash donation) PLEASE MAIL YOUR RESPONSE TO THE CHURCH OFFICE BY JULY 22nd For more information, please contact Debbie Kokalis, Susan Stockton or Vickie Gikkas 10

11 Sacraments and Rites 40-Day Blessings May Johanna Kousoulas and her mother, Julia Kay. June Zachary Rust and his mother, Athina. Baptisms June 9 -- Estelle Aida, daughter of Jason & Maria Polyzos. Sponsors were Tracy & Mia Sarikakis. June Audriana Marie, daughter of John & Paula Berry. Sponsors were Gregory & Petra Dallas. As many as have been baptized in Christ have put on Christ. Funeral June Estes (Steve) Smyrni May his memory be eternal. Memorials May Marcos & Zambela Perivolaris June Evelyn Lendaris and John Gigounas June George Pantazes May their memory be eternal. Condolences We express our deepest sympathy to Sam & Stella Soter on the recent passing of Sam s sister, Mina Roussos, in Portland, Oregon; and to Fr. Luke and Presbytera Eleni Palumbus on the recent passing of Fr. Luke s cousin s son, Trent White, who recently reposed at the young age of 27 in Buffalo, NY. His funeral was held in Mission Viejo, California; and to Anna Smyrni and her family. Anna s husband, Estes (Steve) Smyrni, reposed in San Rafael on June 20. May our gracious Lord grant rest to their souls and consolation to their families. May their memory be eternal. Feast of the Transfiguration of Our Lord Blessing of Vineyards August 6, is the feast day of the Transfiguration of Our Lord. Within our tradition, grapes are offered and blessed at the end of the - connected to this blessing is the experience of blessing vineyards! Vintners would seek the blessing of the Church for their crops, and in return would offer back the best of their vineyard when appropriately prepared as wine to be offered as Holy Communion. In the spirit of this tradition, if you have a local vineyard that you would like blessed, please contact the church office so that arrangements may be made following the Transfiguration feast day. The Dormition of the Theotokos August 15, is the feast day of the Falling Asleep of the Virgin Mary. Our Panagia, the Mother of God and recognized as the greatest of all the saints, has and will continue to help us through her intercessions to her Son and our Lord. The Church has prescribed a 14-day preparation period before her great feast day. Beginning August 1, each weekday we will celebrate the Paraklesis Service, alternating mornings and evenings so that all the faithful may have an opportunity to attend. In the context of the Paraklesis Service, individuals may be prayed for by name please submit to the church office a list of typed, or clearly printed names, so that these individuals may be prayed for in the context of the service. Stewardship Participation I have been asked many times by individuals, How much should my stewardship pledge be? I have never offered an answer in the form of a number! Rather, I speak about the process that an individual or a family must prayerfully embark upon to become responsible stewards: prayer, thoughtfulness and the willingness to be a cheerful giver with an offering that is the best one can do, not simply what one is willing to do God alone recognizes the appropriateness of our stewardship offerings (time, talent & treasure), yet we all recognize the necessity of being a steward! Life is busy, and the institutional process of becoming a steward can sometimes be overlooked we are half way through the year, if you have not returned a completed 2012 Stewardship Commitment Card to the church office, please do so immediately. Your local community needs your stewardship offering, and your soul needs for you to be recognized as an appropriate steward in the Vineyard of our Lord! 11

12 Transfiguration of Christ August 6 You were transfigured on the mountain, O Christ our God, showing to Your disciples Your glory as each one could endure. Shine forth on us, who are sinners all, Your light everlasting. Through the prayers of the Theotokos, O Giver of Light, glory to you. Apolotykion