IN RESPONSE TO THIS
MOST GENEROUS GIFT TO OUR CHURCH, THE PARISH COUNCIL HAS
DECIDED TO NAME THE FUTURE PARISH HALL OF OUR CHURCH,
“THE ALICE L. MARTY MEMORIAL HALL” IN APPRECIATION.
The Parish Council has opened a brokerage account to
hold these securities until a decision is made regarding
their safe investment. The funds will contribute to the
construction of our new church and hall.
We praise God for Gus Marty’s generosity, and pray for
him and his family,
“Good Health and Many Years!”
Service Hours: Sundays and Feast Days: Orthros at 9:30
am; Divine Liturgy at 10:00 am
Evening Services as Announced
Saints:
Dometios, martyr of Persia (+363);
Dometios of Mt. Athos; Potamia the Wonderworker;
Narcissus, Archbishop of Jerusalem; Sozon the
martyr; Theodosios the Younger of Argos, the healer
(+927); Nikanor the Wonderworker; Righteous David;
7th
SUNDAY OF MATTHEW
GOSPEL ENTRANCE AND OTHER HYMNS
Dismissal Hymn - 2nd Plagal
Tone
(Sing in Greek before the
Entrance) ("Angelike dynameis").Hymnal, 86-87.
(Sing in English after the
Entrance) ("The Angelic Powers "). (Same).
Dismissal Hymn of the Transfiguration
“Metemorphothes en to orei” (Sung in Greek by the
Leaders)
(Read) You were transfigured upon the
mountain, / O Christ our God, / showing to Your
disciples / Your glory as much as they could bear. / Do
also in us, sinners though we be, / shine Your
everlasting light, / at the intercessions of the
Theotokos, / O Giver of light. Glory to You.
Dismissal Hymn of the Presentation of Christ - (Sing)
From sheet in the pew.
Kontakion for the Transfiguration “Epi tou
orous metemorphothes”(Sung in Greek by Leaders) (Read)
O Christ God, / you were transfigured on the Mountain, /
and your disciples saw as much of you glory / as they
could hold, / so that seeing You crucified / they would
know you had willed / to suffer your passion / and would
proclaim to the world / that you are truly the
Reflection of the Father.
Return to p. 26
of the Hymnal, to sing “Holy God . . . .”
EPISTLE –
Romans 15:1-7 (7th Matthew) +
Brethren, we who are strong
ought to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to
please ourselves; let each of us please his neighbor for
his good, to edify him. For Christ did not please
himself; but, as it is written, "The reproaches of those
who reproached thee fell on me." For whatever was
written in former days was written for our instruction,
that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the
scriptures we might have hope. May the God of
steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in
such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ
Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the
God and Father of your Lord Jesus Christ. Welcome one
another, therefore, as Christ has welcomed you, for the
glory of God.
GOSPEL –
Matthew 9:27-35 (7th Matthew) + At that
time, as Jesus passed on from there, two blind men
followed him, crying aloud, "Have mercy on us, Son of
David." When he entered the house, the blind men came to
him; and Jesus said to them, "Do you believe that I am
able to do this?" They said to him, "Yes, Lord." Then he
touched their eyes, saying, "According to your faith be
it done to you." And their eyes were opened. And Jesus
sternly charged them, "See that no one knows it." But
they went away and spread his fame through all that
district. As they were going away, behold, a dumb
demoniac was brought to him. And when the demon had been
cast out, the dumb man spoke; and the crowds marveled,
saying, "Never was anything like this seen in Israel."
But the Pharisees said, "He casts out demons by the
prince of demons." And Jesus
went about all the cities and villages, teaching in
their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the
kingdom, and healing every disease and every infirmity
among the people.
FR. HARAKAS’ SERMON – SUNDAY, AUG. 7, 2005
THE SEVENTH SUNDAY OF MATTHEW
FAITH
AND CHRISTIAN LIVING
It is indeed an inspiring thing for Christ the
Savior Church members to read in today’s bulletin about
the unprecedented and most generous gift to our Building
Fund of a gift of $100,000 in stocks by our Steward Gus
Marty, in memory of his dear wife Alice. The parish
council has voted to name the hall of our church, when
constructed, the Alice L. Marty Memorial Fellowship
Hall.
This donation brings us one step closer to our
church’s goal to build a new church and hall. In the
meantime, our real estate agent reports that there is
significant interest in the sale of our present
property. In fact, it is scheduled to be shown tomorrow
to an interested party from Miami, FL.
In the meantime, our Planning and
Building Committee is working diligently, with the hope
that when an appropriate offer is presented to the
General Assembly of the parish, we will also be able to
present a proposed plan for the new building at the same
time. Hopefully, at a single meeting of the parish, we
will be able to take the steps necessary to move forward
toward building our new church.
When that day comes, the property at
Anderson Snow Rd. will be turned over to our Church
legally, and the project will proceed. We hope to do all
this without a mortgage, but we will also be seeking to
raise money both outside and inside our church community
to make the project become a reality.
Now why should I be talking about this
in a sermon, you might ask?
Because as exciting and inspiring as
today’s announcement is, it carries with it an even more
important message for us as a parish. A message we find
in today’s Scripture readings.
The message is one of faith, and of
Christian living.
I FAITH
Today’s Gospel Reading tells of a healing of two
blind men. The story speaks of belief and faith.
“At that time, as Jesus passed on from there, two blind
men followed him, crying aloud, ‘Have mercy on us, Son
of David.’ When he entered the house, the blind men came
to him; and Jesus said to them, ‘Do you believe that I
am able to do this?’ They said to him, ‘Yes, Lord.’ Then
he touched their eyes, saying, ‘According to your faith
be it done to you.’ And their eyes were opened.”
What do we see here? First, the two
blind men came to Christ. They literally “followed him”
asking to be healed of their blindness.
This is the way faith works. It
reaches out in hope for something worthwhile or some
good or useful thing.
A person believes that he or she can
accomplish something, goes after it, and can eventually
achieve it. Faith is necessary for any accomplishment.
A scientist believes in an idea, and
forms it into an hypothesis, constructs an experiment,
and comes to a conclusion that provides some measure of
scientific proof. If the scientist doesn’t believe,
first of all, that he can find some truth, he never
will.
We, here at Christ the Savior church
have expressed the belief through our General Assembly
that we can build more accessible facilities for our
church, so that more people will find the Orthodox
Church in Hernando County more readily and thus
contribute to our and their growth.
We start out with acts of belief. What
else is this gift of Gus Marty, than an act of faith?
St. Paul defines faith as “an expression of things
hoped for.” Gus believes that
this church and hall complex will be built some day.
Similarly, faith and belief in Christ
open the door for our salvation, our wholeness as human
beings. Jesus Himself said, “Believe and you shall be
saved.” Believing in Christ makes our
salvation a possibility, for without belief in Christ,
we cannot be saved.
II CHRISTIAN LIVING
But belief, by itself, is not enough!
Belief and Faith are just the beginning. If the
scientist says, I believe in this new theory, but never
constructs an experiment to test it, nothing will be
accomplished.
If we say we believe that someday a
new and accessible Christ the Savior church building
will be built, but we do nothing to act on that belief,
it will not happen. Gus Marty believes that it
will happen, and he acted on his belief to
help make it happen.
If we say we have faith in Christ, and
that we believe that He is our Savior, but do not act on
our faith, following the Christian way of living our
lives, it is of no avail.
Listen to some of the passages from
today’s Epistle Reading from St. Paul’s letter to the
Romans, 15th chapter:
-
“Brethren, we who are strong ought to
bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please
ourselves; let each of us please his neighbor for his
good, to edify him. For Christ did not please himself.”
-
“May the God of steadfastness and
encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one
another, in accord with Christ Jesus together may you
with one voice glorify the God and Father of your Lord
Jesus Christ.”
-
“Welcome one another, therefore, as
Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.”
Do you see something common in all of
these verses? We are called to follow the example of
Christ. Christ’s example is a guideline for us. We are
called to be like Christ, like God.
So, if we have strengths in some area
of life, we are to share them with those who do not have
those strengths. Where we are able, we should reach out
to help those who are in need.
Why? Because that’s the way Christ
lived His life.
St. Paul instructs us to be
steadfast and to live in harmony with one another.
Why? So that
we can be “In accord with
Christ Jesus.”
Then he says that we should worship
together, “with one voice glorifying God.”
Just as Jesus glorified the Father.
We are to follow Christ’s example
and worship together, with one voice, participating in
the hymns and prayers together.
And finally, in this passage, we are
“to welcome one another,”
Why? Because Christ welcomes you.
He is the example. Remember when He said,
“Come unto me, all you that are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest.”
Doesn’t it makes sense when new people
come to our church, that we should follow Christ’s
welcoming example and embrace them with love and a
welcoming spirit.? Not just saying “welcome” but
including them in our conversation, sitting together
with them at the coffee hour table, showing a welcoming
spirit “as Christ welcomes
you?”
An ancient Christian writer, known as
Ambrosiaster, wrote, “Please
God by following the example of the Lord.”
And St. John Chrysostom put it this way
in describing the Christian life:
“Love wants us to think of one another
as we think of Christ. And to show that it is not mere
love that he requires, Paul adds, as always: in accord
with Christ Jesus.”
CONCLUSION
Gus Marty’s most generous gift to Christ
the Savior Church is an example of faith and belief that
some day our new building will be built.
When Gus first spoke of this gift, he
said that he would give it when we started to build the
church and hall. One day later, he changed his mind, and
said that he wanted to give it now. And he did. That is
an act of faith. It pleases us, and it pleases the Lord.
It is acts of faith like this that
will eventually lead to our new church building.
We take as our example, the example of
Christ who gave Himself for the life of the world
because of His love for us.
It is not only the giving of money or
stocks that exemplify a life of Christian Stewardship.
As St. Paul teaches us today, support of our weaker
neighbor, mutual harmony, sharing in worship with one
voice, and welcoming one another, especially those who
are new among us, are also ways of becoming more
and more like God, who as the Bible says,
“is love.”
I want to end with a story for you
to think about today. A well-know writer told this story
and I ask you to reflect on it when you go home:
Years ago a sociology professor at
Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore assigned his class
go to a city slum to interview 200 boys. “On the basis
of your findings, predict their future,” he said to
them.
Shocked at what they saw in the slums,
the students estimated that 90 percent of the boys
interviewed would someday serve time in prison.
Twenty years later the same professor
asked another class to locate the survivors of the 200
boys and compare what happened. Of the 180 boys they
could find, only four had ever been to jail.
Why had the predictions by the earlier
class proven false? A common denominator. Over 100 of
them remembered having the same high-school teacher,
Miss O’Rourke, who had been a tremendous influence on
them at the time.
After a long search, Sheila O’Rourke was found in a
nursing home in Memphis. When asked for her
explanation she was puzzled and replied,
“All I did was love every one of them.”
The writer ended with this comment
“Never doubt the example of
love, especially the love of God in Christ Jesus.”
A 40 DAY MEMORIAL SERVICE WITH KOLYVA was
conducted last Sunday for the rest of the soul of the
late Sophia Sideris, sister of Mike Triantafilon,
sister-in-law of Fran and aunt of Dorothy. We pray for
the rest of her soul and comfort for her family. Eternal
Memory!
FOR THE RECORD: July 31, 2005:
Attendance 48; Stewardship $667; Visitors’ Offering
$26; Candles $64. Many thanks!
TODAY NO TRAYS WILL BE PASSED – MAKE ALL CONTRIBUTIONS
AT ENTRANCE TABLE
4
NEXT SUNDAY THE BUILDING FUND TRAY WILL BE PASSED
3
To all my
dear and caring friends of our Church,
I wish
to express my sincerest thanks for your kind and
loving prayers and for your warm sympathy cards. My
sweet sister “Katie” is asleep in the Lord and all
her pain and sorrow of this world has now fled away.
She loved everyone but most of all she loved
attending the Divine Liturgy in our small chapel.
Thanks to your kindness, my sister always felt at
ease in your presence. You made her feel so much a
part of our little church. Katie knew most of you by
name. She shared our sorrow as well as our joy. I
will miss her very much, but I remain comforted
knowing that she has gone to a more beautiful place
and is in the hands of our Lord Jesus. I will never
forget her.
I also
wish to express a very special word of gratitude to
our sweet Father Harakas, who would go out of his
way to travel to Clearwater to pray with my sister
as well as giving her hope of the Eternal Life by
offering her Holy Communion. I shall never forget
Fr. Stanley’s kindness and concern.
Again, I
thank all of you for being so sensitive to my loss
and so wonderful and gracious with your prayers. May
God bless you always. With all my love and
affection,
Presbytera Mary
BIRTHDAY AND ANNIVERSARY BLESSINGS will be
offered today for those celebrating in August, following
the Divine Liturgy. We pray for “Many Years!”
SUPPLICATORY SERVICES (PARAKLESIS) to the
Theotokos will be held this Wednesday, August 10 at 5:00
p.m. in the Chapel. Followed by a Lenten Pot Luck
Supper.
HOLY CONFESSIONS: Friday, August 12, from
7:30 to 9:00 p.m. in the Chapel.
THE FEAST
OF THE DORMITION (kIMISIS) OF THE THEOTOKOS
will be celebrated on Monday, August 15 with Orthros at
9:30 a.m. and Divine Liturgy at 10 a.m.
PROSFORON BAKERS: George Nikas 8/6
(Transfiguration); Argyris and Carol Gymnaos 8/7; Fran
Triantafilon 8/14; Connie Mourgides 8/15 (Dormition of
the Theotokos); Presbytera Emily Harakas 8/21; You, too,
can make Prosforon Bread. For the recipe and
instructions call George Nikas, Prosforon Bakers
Chairperson at 597-1375.
PARENTS!
You
are urged to enroll your children in the Christ the
Savior Sunday School for the 2005-2006 school year..
Enrollment will take place on Sunday, September 4 and
Sunday, September 11. Classes will begin on Sunday,
September 18. Don’t forget . . .A
FAMILY THAT PRAYS TOGETHER, STAYS TOGETHER!
PLAN ON IT! CHICKEN BARBEQUE!
SUNDAY, AUGUST 21
A great family time! Christ the
Savior Church invites you and your family to a
fund-raiser Chicken Barbeque after church services
on Sunday, August 21. Ticket prices for a
full meal including the main course, vegetables,
salad and dessert are $8 for adults, $4 for children
6 to 12, and free for children 5 and under. Plan to
join the fun.
ADULT RELIGIOUS EDUCATION:
In September we will begin our Parish
Education Program on Friday afternoons with Bible Study
alternating with other topics weekly. We are
investigating the possibility of resuming evening
sessions for those who cannot attend in the daytime
P.E.P. classes. Please contact Fr. Stanley at 688-2382
to indicate what days and hours would be good for you
for these evening sessions.
BELIEFNET MESSAGE:
Eat More Fish!
It would
do us all good to eat more fish. Two times a
week, at least, is great. Fish gives us protein
and very little fat. It also gives us omega-3, a
"fatty acid” that helps with cholesterol, and may
prevent heart disease and strokes. God gave us a
real gift in fish. Fish sautéed with vegetables is
wonderful. So is baked fish with herbs (saffron,
thyme, dill – and a little lemon – mmmmm!) It's
simple: Eat more fish, be more healthy.
