Christ is born! Glorify Him!

Transcription

1 VOLUME 25 NUMBER 12 December 2016 Christ is born! Glorify Him! How was He, who cannot be contained in any way, be contained in the womb? How can He, who is in the bosom of the Father, be held in the arms of the Mother? Certainly, this transpired just as He knew it, as He willed it, as He condescended. For being without flesh, He willingly became incarnate, and became Being itself, He became for us that which He was not, and was not inseparate from His nature. He shared in of what we were composed. Christ was born with dual natures wanting to fulfill the heavenly world. ~Hymn from the Kathismata of Nativity Orthros Dearest Spiritual Ohana, The Mystery and Glory of our Lord s Wondrous Birth and Incarnation is commemorated and celebrated in this month of December. In the days leading up to Christmas, we Orthodox Christians follow or rather should be following a 40-day Fast in anticipation of this Glorious Feast. Unlike the Great Lenten Fast which is penitential in character, the Fast leading us to the Nativity is anticipatory and much less strict in character. Outside of the typical Wednesday and Friday Fast, which is usually always strict with the exception of Feast of the Theotokos Entry into the Temple, even if it falls on a Wednesday or Friday, all the other days of the week allow for fish and wine up to December 12th. But why fast during this Advent Season, while it seems the rest of the world is partying? St. Gregory the Theologian gives us a most clear answer to this question: This is what we are celebrating today: the Coming of God to man, that we might go forth, or rather that we might go back to God, that putting off the old man we might put on the new; and that we have died in Adam, so we might live in Christ. Therefore, let us keep the feast, not after the manner of a pagan festival, but in a godly way. And how shall this be? Let us not decorate our porches, nor attend dances, nor adorn the streets these are the ways that lead to evil and are the entrances of sin. Let us leave all these things to the pagans. But let us, who are worshipers of the true God, if we must in some way have luxury, let us seek it in God s Word and the Law and the Scriptures. St. Gregory is not telling us not to put up our Christmas trees and decorations and so forth. We should do these things, because in doing these things as Orthodox Christians we are remembering the Glory of His Holy Birth and should be! The problem comes when we focus on and overemphasize the secular aspects of the season, (Continued on page 2) 1

2 (Continued from page 1) Wisdom of the Holy Fathers such as getting carried away with buying and giving gifts and overindulging at parties with food and drink and overspending without any correlation with or thought of the Birth of Christ. This is a major disconnect with what the Feast is all about! In fasting, we seek to see the Nativity for what it truly is, which is the ultimate expression of God s Immeasurable Love for us which is so far beyond what we humans can possibly grasp! "The Lord, before His Incarnation, let mankind experience all the bitterness of sin, all their powerlessness to eradicate it; and when all longed for a Deliverer, then He appeared, the most wise, all-powerful Physician and Helper. When men hungered and thirsted after righteousness, as it grew weaker, then the everlasting righteousness came. ~St. John of Kronstadt How could we not but glorify God for stooping so low, in His Love for humankind, by taking on our human flesh (Incarnation)? This love God has for us should never become old or commonplace in our lives. Focus on God s Glory and Love, always! When God became known to us in the flesh, He neither received the passions of human nature, nor did the Virgin Mary suffer pain, nor was the Holy Spirit diminished in any way, nor was the power of the Most High set aside in any manner, and all this was because all was accomplished by the Holy Spirit. thus the power of the Most High was not abased, and the child was born with no damage whatsoever to the mother s virginity. ~St. Gregory of Nyssa As we go through life s journeys, let us never cease to forget God s Glory and His Boundless Love for us! I wish all of you True and Everlasting Joy, not fleeting happiness, in celebrating our Lord s Holy Birth. With Love in Christ, +Fr. Alexander Shorelines is published Monthly by: Saints Constantine & Helen Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Pacific 930 Lunalilo Street Honolulu, Hawaii Phone : (808) Fax : (808) office@greekorthodoxhawaii.org Parish Web Site: Regular Office Hours: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday thru Friday Rev. Father Alexander Leong fralexanderleong@yahoo.com Church Staff Amanda Jackson - Office Coordinator amanda@greekorthodoxhawaii.org Erica Jansen - Bookkeeper 2016 Parish Council pc@greekorthodoxhawaii.org Maria Naval - President Andrew Tujios - Vice President Roni Katsikas - Treasurer Christina Dimitrion - Secretary Dr. Michael Dimitrion, Cleopatra Kritikos, Nicholas Kyriakakis, Regina Mass & Dimitri Nicholas. Dimitri Nicholas, Mindy Scordilis & Jeanie Stavrue Pe ahi Philoptochos Board Alma Chu, President; Anita Akel, Vice President; Marina Saikevych,Treasurer; Alice Malick,Recording Secretary; Valentina Yarovaya, Corr. Secretary; Harriett Medes, Advisor Choir-Chanters Orest Saikevych, Music Director Gregory Malick, Protopsaltis Parish Ministries Stelio Scordilis, Aloha Youth Choir; Sunday School Director T.B.A., Bookstore; Dianna Graves, Presbytera Nicole Leong Greek Dance Groups; Stelio Scordilis, Sunday School Teachers Greek School; Julie Ličina Web Master; Alice Malick, Greg Malick, Maria Naval, Anita Higashi, Facebook George Kalantzis, Shawn Chu, 2

3 LITURGICAL LIFE OF OUR PARISH WEEKDAY SERVICES IN DECEMBER ST. NICHOLAS OF MYRA Tues. 12/6 Orthros/Liturgy 8:30/9:30am ST. SPYRIDON OF TRYMITHUS Mon. 12/12 Orthros/Liturgy 8:30/9:30am ST. ELEFTHERIOS Thu. 12/15 Orthros/Liturgy 8:30/9:30am MAUI SERVICES Sat. 12/24 Liturgy 10:00am ST. STEPHEN THE 1ST MARTYR Tues. 12/27 Orthros/Liturgy 8:30/9:30am GREAT VESPERS Sat. 12/31 Vespers 5 pm December Parish Council Teams 12/04 Roni Katsikas 12/11 Tina Dimitrion 12/18 Andy Tujios 12/25 Dimi Nicholas & Austin Vali Please remember in your prayers Ted Anastasopoulos Dina Giannakopoulos Suzanne Keyser Julie Licina Alice Malick John Mitsis & All those who need our prayers Announcements Moms and the Orthodox Family We have a wonderful opportunity for fellowship and sharing our experiences as Moms. Please call or see Anita Higashi or Father Alexander if you are interested in joining. Adult Religious Education We are completing our 4-part series on Blueprints for the Little Church on Sunday, December 11. Books are available for $20, payable to Sts. Constantine and Helen. Nativity Poinsettias If you would like to make a donation to help decorate the Church for Nativity, please office@greekorthodoxhawaii.org Elections for Parish Council December 4th 11:30 AM - 12:45 PM Social Hall partition. Epiphany Celebration & Cross Throwing January 8th time and location TBA. 3

4 C Philoptochos News C On Oct. 22nd, we participated in the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk at Ke ehi Lagoon Beach Park. We superseded our $1000 goal. Thank you to all of our generous donors! Thank you to Anita Akel-Soileau for creating our team & to the lovely ladies who walked: Harriet Medes, Tina Dimitrion, Anita Higashi, Valentina Yarovaya, Trish Kalidis, Lucy Tujios, Rhoda Banasihan, Fran Rizzo, Anita Akel-Soileau & myself. Also, thank you to Fran Rizzo for making our Aloha Chapter T-shirts that we wore on that day. Let s continue to pray for the women in our lives that battle cancer. On Make a Difference Day, the Sunday School children partnered with our project to support the Ronald McDonald House in Manoa with homemade get well cards & asked parishioners to donate new items for RMHC s welcome bags. Mahalo for the many donations! I delivered the items on Nov. 5th and Mike, a staff member, gave me a brief tour. Linda Jameson gave us a lovely tour of Kapiolani Medical Center s new Diamond Head Tower. We saw the NICU room with our name plate. Both RMHC & KMCWC were grateful for our donations. We have an opportunity next year to make a dinner for about 40 people for the two Ronald McDonald Houses. I want to acknowledge Pres. Nicole for spearheading the Rummage/Gyros/ Bake Sale held on Nov. 12th. She made important phone calls to get more people involved & called the United Cerebral Palsy truck to pick up leftover items. Within only 2 weeks, we put together flyers & requests for donation of sale items & baked goods. We received so many donations! Mahalo! Thanks to Dimitri Xixis for making the gyros & the many volunteers who helped us that day: Pres. Nicole Leong, Anita Akel-Soileau, Suzanne Akiona, Marina Saikevych, Harriet Medes, Janet Bukes, Vicki Shiroma, Valentina Yarovaya, Alice & Greg Malick, Keiko Nicholas, Rhoda, Manny, John, Elijah & Braden Banasihan, Tino Giannakopoulos, Chris Mann, John & Dina Giannakopoulos, Lucy Tujios, Fran Hallonquist, Maria Striebich, George Kalantzis, Peter Hwu, & Sandra and Alastair Hwu. We grossed about $2,300 & hope to net $1800. Thanks to Anita Akel-Soileau for posting street signs, Julie Djulka for posting flyers to the church websites & for everyone who posted the flyers on social media. Based on our turnout, that advertising was effective! We still have donation forms, if anyone needs one. doterra Essential Oils is matching our $250 donation for the Ho ola Na Pua home for children recovering from sex trafficking, & we are giving $50 towards the parish Thanksgiving luncheon. We will send our friend Mary Book a Thanksgiving card & pastry bento, & a meal gift card to a mother in our parish who has a newborn & 3 other young children. We ll send a condolence card & donation to Kelly Locke s church in New Hampshire in memory of her passing & we have sent or will send condolence cards to members of our parish who lost loved ones this year. May their memory be eternal. We have taken up special collections to fulfill our commitments to the Metropolis of San Francisco and National Philoptochos fundraiser initiatives. They include the St. Nicholas Shrine Fund, Mochas for Missions drive for C.O.M.E., Bishop Anthony s Student Endowment Fund, & the USO Operation Phone Home drive helping deployed troops get free prepaid phone cards. God bless, Alma Chu Share your news! Announcements that you would like to see in the January issue of Shorelines should be submitted to the church office by December 15th. Weekly Bulletin announcements should be submitted by noon on Thursday for the upcoming Sunday. office@greekorthodoxhawaii.org Call: Or drop by with a copy of your announcement. Maui Orthodox Christian Mission reminds those who attend services on Maui to visit or call to verify services. or look for other activities that may be posted. 4

5 Aloha Parents, Grandparents, Uncles, and Aunties, It is the Season of Christmas again. My youngest son, Paul, was already getting excited for enjoying this special season even before having the Thanksgiving Holiday. He said, Mom, it s almost December. You know, it s almost Christmas, my favorite Holiday! So, I asked him why Christmas is his favorite holiday. As you may guess, he answered, Because Santa will bring a present to me! Oh, boy I thought to myself how we should prepare ourselves to celebrate a Christ- Centered Christmas. Following the conversation above, I asked Paul, Do you know what Christmas is? He replied, Yes, it s the Birthday of Christ! I continued, Then, shouldn t Christ getting a Birthday present? At first, Paul answered, But God has everything. He thought for a moment and said, I know, we can give Prosphora to him. Mom, can you please help me to bake Prosphora? I was happy to know that Paul remembers Prosphora as a special gifts to God. However, baking Prosphora for only one day (actually takes more than one day to prepare ourselves to make Prosphora) does not seems to be good enough. I remember Khouria Krista West read The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde as a Christmas gift to her Podcast (The Opinionated Tailor by Ancient Faith Radio) listeners in the past. In the story, the prince, who is a statue made of jewels and gold, asks a little swallow to bring all his jewels and gold to all the poor in his town. It is a beautiful story about GIVING. I decided to remind myself and my children of giving to others during this Nativity Fast. To get all my children s attention, I played The Happy Prince on a YouTube Video. (My kids and I watched a 25- minute classic animated version of it. There is also a 12-minute story which may be more suitable for preschool-aged children.) My children and I also need something which helps us to remember and practice the act of giving. We pulled out our old, small, artificial Christmas tree to make it a Giving Tree. Many places put a Giving Tree out to collect toys, gift cards, etc. Our family set our standard for this Giving Tree as something very simple and very small, something that we can practice everyday for the course of over a month. Most of our giving acts are doing something nice to one another such as reading a story to someone, setting the table for everyone, calling a parent/ grandparent and so on. We put down, in writing, our wishes on small pieces of paper and hanged them on the tree. Everyday, we choose a wish tag from the tree, put into action what we picked, and hang a small pretty ornament on the tree as our reward for practicing a small act of giving. Our family is hoping that the tree will be filled with an array of small, beautiful ornaments by Christmas day. Many families have their own beautiful traditions such as baking and sharing goodies with neighbors, reading a Bible story every night, making a Jessi Tree, and preparing an Orthodox Countdown Nativity Calendar. If you wish to do something which may help the children to celebrate Christmas as a Christian Holy Day, please share it on our Sunday School Shuttefly sharing site. Have a Blessed and Peaceful Nativity season! Presbytera Nicole Sunday School Director nicolehleong@gmail.com 5

6 Dance Group News What is a Glendi? A Hawaiian Glendi is an outreach and in-reach to the community. It is a social gathering of family and friends. This Glendi is a fundraiser for the dancers going to FDF. Along with food, drinks, and entertainment, we will have Greek dance lessons and practice them throughout the night. There will be door prizes and a 50/50 drawing. Everyone must leave at the end of the event, unless they are helping to clean the social hall for Sunday s coffee hour. We need to show Father Alex and Presbytera Nicole that we can dance the night before, and still come to church Sunday morning! SATURDAY JANUARY 28, PM- 9:30 PM CHIRGOTIS SOCIAL HALL Watch for more details in the January Shorelines, or see Dianna Graves for more information. Parish Christmas Card If you wish to be listed on our Parish Christmas Card, please print your name below and return to the church office by December 5th. Please consider including a donation to offset the cost of printing and postage for the card. MAHALO! Please print. Your name will appear as written here. Learn Greek In addition to our classes after Sunday School, we offer the following classes in the conference room: Elementary: 5:30 PM Advanced Youth & Adults: 6:00 PM Scheduling an Event? Before scheduling meetings, parties, or any other event in the social hall, kitchen, or office rooms, please be sure to clear your event with the church office at least 2 weeks in advance. This will ensure that our facilities are available for all to use, as well as prevent confusion and double bookings. Rental forms must be completed by anyone wishing to use our facilities, including church members 6

7 C Stewardship NewsC The new 2017 Stewardship packets are now available in the Narthex. Contact Amanda at or if you would like to receive a packet by mail. Please stewardship@greekorthodoxhawaii.org with any questions regarding Stewardship. Please fill out your Stewardship Pledge Form and turn it in as soon as possible, so we can apply your 2017 donationsto your new account. As a reminder, any Stewardship contributions received by December 31, 2016 will be credited towards your 2016 pledge and total. Contributions received after this date will be applied towards Stewardship 2017 after we receive your Stewardship information. Thank you to all our 2016 Stewards for your support. Your financial support allows us to grow our ministries and thereby grow our Church. This can only be accomplished with your help, support and love. With warmest aloha and wishes for a blessed Christmas and New Year. Our Vision: To be a beacon of Orthodoxy in the Pacific and proclaim the Gospel of Christ to all people in accordance with the Orthodox faith Our Mission: To proclaim the Gospel of Christ to all people in accordance with the Orthodox Faith. To sanctify and minister to the spiritual growth and needs of the faithful through liturgical worship and spiritual programs. To safeguard and keep the traditions, values, and faith of the Orthodox Church pure and undefiled. C O F F E E H O U R Each individual/ family is requested to sponsor a coffee hour one Sunday per year. Sign up on the calendar posted outside the Social Hall or contact Suzanne A. or Frances R. Instructions/tips for sponsoring a coffee hour are available in a 3-ring binder in a cupboard in the hall. The Ladies of Philoptochos appreciate any donations of coffee supplies, including paper supplies to help defray some of the coffee hour expenses. If you are hesitant to prepare and serve a coffee hour 7 yourself, consider making a monetary donation. Please do not bring non- Lenten food including cake & ice cream during fasting periods. Thank you to our November Sunday Coffee Hour sponsors! 11/06 John & Trish Kiladis 11/13 Dance Group 11/20 Parish Council 11/27 Greg & Alice Malick

8 From Our Thoughts Determine our Lives: The Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica (Translated by Ana Smiljanic. Platina: St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood, 2009). From Chapter Seven: On Prayer (pages ) The Lord is present everywhere. He lives in our hearts. That is why He said that we must love with all our heart and do everything willingly (cf. Matt. 22:37 ). When we seek the Lord from the heart, He is here! He is our Parent. Our parents in the flesh want our attention; they want us to return the love they have given us. But what happens? Very often we make them sorrowful. So when we seek God, we must do so from the heart. When we endeavor to do everything from the heart, then we have sincere, warm prayer, a love for our parents and neighbors, and the Lord is with us. Every task we perform is at the same time a prayer. Our thoughts are focused on the job, and when we perform it from the heart, this means that we are doing it for God.* If we think we are doing it for anybody else, we are wrong. Prayer from the heart is sincere prayer. Always pray to the Lord from your heart. The Lord does not require philosophy from us. We should pray from the heart, as to our Father: "O Lord, help every soul, and do not forget me, either. Help everyone to find peace and to love Thee, as the angels love Thee. Give us, too, the strength to love Thee as Thy Most Holy Mother loves Thee and Thy holy angels. Give me, too, the strength to love Thee boundlessly!" *This teaching was addressed to Orthodox Christians who were living a life of accountability to God. Fr. Thaddeus was speaking about God-pleasing works. The truth is that when we men pray, we read our prayer rule without the participation of our entire being. We only pay lip service to our prayer rule. We are distracted, and of course that means that we are not praying in spirit and in truth (cf. John 4:23-24). We are only praying with our bodies and pronouncing the words with our lips, while our being is really somewhere else. Our attention is focused elsewhere, not on the words of the prayer. That is why the Holy Fathers say that vigilance and attention should always go before prayer. When we pray without attentiveness, then we are not praying in spirit and in truth, or in our thoughts. However, when we are attentive to what we ask for in prayer, we are concentrated on the words we speak and on that which we are asking for. When we ask for help from someone who we know can help us, we turn to him earnestly and, with our whole being, beg him, "Please do this for me. I know you can do it." This means that we are convinced that he can help us, and so we ask him for help. But we often pray to God without attention, mechanically, and we consider that to be prayer, when actually our minds and hearts are not present. Our minds are elsewhere, or we are planning to do something and our thoughts are occupied with it, or our minds dwell on an insult... Our minds are focused on many things except for prayer. That is why the Lord has said that God is spirit and that, when we pray, we must pray in spirit and in truth. This means that our spirit must be present when we pray. 8