St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church Ministry Newsletter

Transcription

1 1 st Quarter 2015 Volume 1, Issue 1 Special Interest Articles: Christian Education HOPE/JOY Senior Fellowship Inside this edition: HOPE/ JOY 2 Senior Fellowship 2 Hellenic School 3 FROGMEN 3 Philoptochos 3 Photini Women St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church Ministry Newsletter Christian Education The mission of our Christian Education program is to foster the love of God in our children. We accomplish our mission in several ways. First and foremost, the students learn about worship in the Orthodox faith from their family. Faithfully attending and participating in the Divine Liturgy each week as a family is the most important step in developing and fostering a love of God in our young people. Father John provides us with a Sermon following the Gospel readings during the Divine Liturgy to help us understand what God has revealed to us through Scripture in the Holy Bible. Christian Education teachers then reinforce the connections between the Scripture and further explore what we see and do in the Orthodox Church Divine Liturgy and other aspects of our faith and our worship. Christian Education lessons and worship are all Scripture based, so when our students learn and understand what is taught, it will help them develop and grow in their faith. Family, Clergy, and Teachers work together to fulfill our mission. We ve had a wonderful start to the school year. In September we had the Agiasmos service and blessing of our Christian Education teachers, students and classrooms. Special thanks to the FROGMEN who hosted a wonderful continental breakfast for us that day. In October, the Philoptochos baked the five loaves for us and we had the Artoclasia service for the patron saint of Religious Education, St. Philip, highlighted by Julia Wickard s presentation of his biography during Divine Liturgy. In November, our wonderful teen class hosted a lunch after church for charity. The teens raised $1,100 for the local Food Bank. Danny Cook and Sara Wickard continue to do a fantastic job of helping our teen group find and engage in Philanthropic causes. In December, all of the students will came together to put on our humble Christmas pageant. Please mark your calendars for these upcoming Christian Education events. January Vasilopita - Celebrate the Feast Day of St. Basil who will get the coin? February - preparation for Great Lent and Great and Holy Pascha. 1 March (NO CLASS) Icon Procession (bring icons from home!) 15 March (NO CLASS) Procession of the Holy Cross in church. 22 March - St. Nicholas Oratorical Festival, a Lenten Spaghetti Lunch hosted by our FROGMEN. Please Encourage our younger students to participate this year. They can talk about an icon or something that they see or do in church. Adult Education Opportunities - Bible Study is held each Monday, an Orthodox Instruction Class is held each Wednesday and during the Divine Liturgy each Sunday, a Point of Light is offered. The 3 rd Sunday 30, is a 30 minute adult instruction offered after the Divine Liturgy on the 3 rd Sunday of each month. You can also participate in one of the several adult retreats offered each year Point of Contact for Christian Education: Leslie Ullom, Director (757) Beach Bags 4

2 Page 2 of 6 HOPE/JOY MINISTRY Over 38 young people have signed up for HOPE/JOY. The past quarter was filled with many exciting events, such as an Ice Cream Social, Fr. Sav Memorial Mission Walk, and Pumpkin Carving. One of the signature events this quarter was getting together to make Care Packages and prepare letters and cards for deployed military. With so many military in our area, this was a great way to give back to our community. Oh God, You have taught me from my youth, and I still declareyour wondrous deeds (Psalms 71:17) The Hellenic Orthodox Primary Education (HOPE) and the Junior Orthodox Youth (JOY) are youth ministries for children grades K-6th of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. The orientation and implementation of these programs reflect the Orthodox Christian Faith, Tradition and Life. The events are geared to foster friendships and bring the youth of St. Nicholas together in a fun and educational way to lay a foundation of faith, stewardship, and charity at a young age. These ministry groups seek to help our children learn more about the Orthodox Faith, do service projects, and get to know each other in an Orthodox setting. Most HOPE and JOY events are combined and a parent/ guardian must attend along with the child participant. Please mark your calendar for these upcoming HOPE/JOY events. December 7 th - Christmas Party Location: Social Hall Time: Following Liturgy January 18 th - Ice Skating (Details TBD) February 8 th - Valentine s Day Pizza Party. Location: Social Hall Time: Following Liturgy March 15 th Easter Create Easter gardens Location: Social Hall & Yard Time: Following Liturgy April 19 - Kite Mt. Trashmore Point of Contact for HOPE/JOY: Jill Drosinos (443) At one visit to Beacon Shore, we met an elderly resident who played drums and saxophone with Bill Deal!. Senior Fellowship Our mission in Senior Fellowship is to reach out to seniors in our church and in our community. We visit the Beacon Shores Nursing Home on the 2 nd Friday of each month at 2 PM to celebrate that month s birthdays with the residents. In addition to bringing cake to celebrate, we also organize activities to engage with the residents. In November, we had a Thanksgiving craft. In December, we distribute some Christmas presents, decorate their Social Hall, and belt out some classic Christmas Carols. You d be amazed at some of the talents of the residents. Lesley Sunas leads the residents in singing Christmas Carols. Please join us and help bring some joy to world! Our 2 nd monthly event is the Seniors of St. Nicholas (SOS) luncheon. We serve lunch and have activities and games for our seniors in the Social Hall. The SOS luncheon is the 4 th Thursday of each month at 11:30 AM. The December event will be on 18 December, and will be a Christmas Party. We look forward to a large turn out and plan on having Christmas music and lots of holiday cheer will also see us expand our guest speaker program for the SOS Luncheon, with a fire and home safety expert giving our seniors a presentation on fire prevention and home safety. In addition to the above, the Senior Fellowship Ministry helps to coordinate visits to shutins to give them communion and offer them comfort. Parishioners should notify the church if a family member or friend would like Father to visit during this Holy season.

3 Page 3 of 6 Hellenic School The Hellenic School ministry emphasizes Greek language and culture and the role they have played in the world s civilization. It is very important to embrace this exceptional heritage and make every effort to convey to our children our love for our heritage and religion. The School is designed and guided by the fundamental belief that knowledge of the Greek language and culture preserves our heritage and strengthens our Greek American community. In addition to language development, students are introduced to Hellenic history, culture, and traditions, and to the Greek Orthodox faith. The school offers Greek Language classes for children at the Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced level. Greek dancing lessons are also held after school for students willing to participate. Adult Greek language classes are held on Fridays. For more information about hours and tuition please contact Ginny Passaris of the Hellenic School. Fully Rely On God FROG-Men of St. Nicholas The Fully Rely On God -F.R.O.G.Men of St Nicholas continue their great work in support of our Church and local community. We have a few fundraisers each year, and by far, our largest and most important fundraiser is the annual Golf Tournament. Thanks to the singular efforts of Jack Jacovidas, Dan Cook and Mike Bernier, this event was a great success. With the proceeds from the Golf Tournament, we were able to donate $11,000 to charity. Funds were donated to IOCC, Virginia Beach Volunteer Rescue, Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society, the Food Bank and Homeless Shelter. The remaining funds are used throughout the year to give back to our church. Proceeds raised by the Frogmen support the Church Picnic, St. Nicks Night at Harbor Park, Youth Fundraisers, Oratorical Festival, Luncheons, and our FROG-Men Retreat...and those are just a few of the activities the FROG-Men support each year. We want to emphasize that fundraising is the least important part of our organization. The most important thing we provide is an opportunity to enjoy each other's company, learn more about our faith and grow spiritually. Your ideas are needed. Your participation is needed. Your talents are needed. Please mark your calendars for these upcoming events: The FROGmen are named to highlight our areas association to water, and to honor the memory of Father Sav who collected small frog statues and pictures and always reminded us to Fully Rely On God. January 6 Monthly Meeting (6PM in the Social Hall) February 3 Monthly Meeting (6PM in the Social Hall) March 3 Monthly Meeting (6PM in the Social Hall) Our Saturday Morning Breakfast will restart in February Details to follow For more information, please contact Steve Rushley at (757) Philoptochos Philoptochos has just wrapped up the baking season with a very successful bake sale! Many thanks to our Chairman, Anna Besal, all our pastry and frozen item chairs, publicity chair, and of course our wonderful bakers! AAer a year off, we jumped into the baking season with great energy and enthusiasm! Job well done, ladies and gentleman! Thank you so much! Next on the agenda is the St. Nicholas Vesper RecepKon on the evening of Dec. 5, which is hosted by Philoptochos. We are asking all members and friends to bring a Lenten dish to share. Please see or call Athena Roussis or Despina Titsis about your offering. There will be no Dec. meekng because of the Christmas holiday. We wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Our next meekng will be Sun., Jan. 18 following the Divine Liturgy in the social hall. Our guest speaker will be Randy Walker, owner of Bean There, who will educate us on the finer points of coffee and brewing. Lunch will be served. Hope to see everyone there! She opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy (Proverbs)

4 Page 4 of 6 Photini Women On Saturday, November 1, the St. Photini Women's Study group held our first retreat. We were very blessed to register 70 women, ages 24 to 97, from various parishes including St. Nicholas, Annunciation Cathedral, Sts. Constantine and Helen, Dormition of the Theotokos, St. Basil, and Holy Trinity in Canton, Ohio. Our guest speaker was Nikki Stournaras, a wife, mother and grandmother who has published many articles including contributions to Encountering Women of Faith, Vol I & II. Nikki is also working to complete a Masters of Theological Studies at HC/ HC. It was a wonderful time of learning God's Word and having fellowship together. We discussed topics including stillness in prayer, self-knowledge, meditation on the Holy Scriptures and acceptance of God's Love in order to pass it on to others. By the grace of God, our guests received our love and hospitality with open hearts. Glory be to God! Angel Tree/Beach Bags Thanks to all who helped support our Angel Tree program this year. Once again we are going to provide Christmas presents for 10 Foster Children whose names and wish list were provided by Family Services of Virginia Beach. THANK YOU to all who participated.. though he was rich, yet for our sake became poor, so that by his poverty we may become rich (2 Corinthians 8:9) We always need help and donations for Beach Bags. Did you know that there are children right here in Virginia Beach who do not have enough to eat? It s hard to believe, but it s true. This is especially the case during weekends and school vacations when children cannot take advantage of available school breakfasts and lunches. In addition, the tough economic times we face as a country have created a situation where some families must choose between keeping their home and buying food for their family. Fortunately, Virginia Beach City Public Schools Parent Connection is addressing this critical need through the Beach Bags program. Beach Bags provides needy students with necessary food items over the weekend. Food is packed by volunteers and distributed to participating schools. The Beach Bags are actually packed in brown paper (or plastic) bags and placed in student backpacks at the end of the day (so they are not embarrassed or stigmatized for having been selected). Please call (757) for additional information Special Social Events The St. Nicholas Dinner Dance. Saturday, December 6, 6:30 to 11:PM. Lots of good food, live music and entertainment for all. Greek Dancing. Youth welcomed. Advance Tickets. Adults $30, Youth $20, Children $10. ADD $5.00 at the door. Cash Bar! Reserved tables for 10 or more. Call Marshia for info at / Philoptochos Agape Dinner Saturday, February 14: Lots of good food and entertainment for all.

5 Page 5 of 6 Points of Contact Christian Education: Leslie Ullom, leslie.ullom@vbschools.com (757) HOPE/JOY: Jill Drosinos, tjdros@me.com (443) Senior Fellowship: Flo Blankenship, fblanken@verizon.net (757) Philoptochos: Harriet Rushley, srushley@yahoo.com (757) Hellenic School: Anna Barberis anna.barberis@yahoo.com Photini Women: Lena Thames, Tthames2@aol.com (757) Angel Tree/Beach Bags: Marsha Maestas, mdmaestas@cox.net (757) FROGMEN: Stephen Rushley, sprushley@yahoo.com (757) Ministry Liaison: Pete Galanides petegalanides@yahoo.com (757) Youth Outreach Programs: Sara Wickard awickard@earthlink.net

6 We re on the Web! See us at: ST. NICHOLAS GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH 621 First Colonial Ave Virginia Beach, VA (757) NAME STREET ADDRESS CITY, ST 22134