ST. NICHOLAS ANTIOCHIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH

MARCH 15, 2020

GREAT LENT

Great Lent Resources

Lent is a time for increased prayer, fasting, and almsgiving which lead us to encounter Christ. In addition, we encourage you to take full advantage of the Lenten Services offered during this season of renewal! For more information to assist you and your family on your Lenten journey visit: www.stnicholasgr.com/great-lent-services/.

Worship Opportunities Throughout Great Lent, there are an abundance of opportunities to worship besides the weekly Saturday Great Vespers and Sunday Matins & Divine Liturgy:

Compline: Mondays at 6 PM

Presanctified Liturgies: Wednesdays at 6 PM and Fridays at 9 AM

Akathist Hymn to the Theotokos: Fridays at 6 PM

Almsgiving Opportunities

Food For Hungry People (FFHP) Program: As we continue our Lenten journey we have to remember the hungry and needy in the world. Talk about the Food For Hungry People (FFHP) giving project with your family. Take advantage of the FFHP daily calendar for creative giving ideas or if you need additional ideas contact Bruce Nicola. Please give generously.

"Vigils and fast and acts of mercy are the methods advocated by the saints to attain the spiritual life. But they must not stand alone, not must the Christian put his trust in them. Humility must have faith for its principle, and fasting be combined with charity, that is, feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, clothe the naked.” St. Basil the Great

Food Pantry Needs: Next Sunday is the final Sunday of the Camelot Community Personal Care Items Drive. Donation bins are located outside the Cultural Center and in the Narthex. Donation List: toilet paper, bar soap, toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo and conditioner, women’s personal products, dish liquid, laundry detergent, Kleenex, dental floss, body lotion, small Band-Aid packages, men’s disposable razors and shaving cream, disposable diapers and pull-ups (all sizes), and baby wipes.

RETREAT OPPORTUNITY

We look forward to welcoming Fr. Nick Belcher and Dr. Greg Abdalah, who will be coming to St. Nicholas to lead a Paschal Retreat for us on Saturday, May 9. In keeping with our theme of “Rejoice in the Lord and Celebrate His Goodness,” in place of a Lenten retreat, we will be retreating to the Franciscan Life Process Center in Lowell to focus on the Joy of Christ and how to expand that in our lives. More information to follow, but save the date!

YOUTH OPPORTUNITIES

Creative Arts Entries Parents, please use some of the extra time that your children now have at home to complete their Creative Arts entry. Next Sunday, March 22, students are asked bring their Creative Arts project to church to be displayed.

PROJECT GR 2020

Part-time workers who would prefer to work a day or half day during the week of June 15-19 can now register. A number of full time positions (9 AM - 4 PM) for the entire week are also still available. Volunteers 16 years or older from the parishes of Grand Rapids will put the finishing touches of cleaning, painting, landscaping and other low skill tasks on an Inner City Christian Federation home. Consider taking some time this summer for spiritual reflection and work on a home for a family in need. Volunteer signup for project will end on Friday, May 1. Visit the link: https://stnicholasgr.com/project-gr-2020/ for more information. Please contact Greg Lambert if you have any questions.

FULFILLING THE VISION

During the month of March, the Women of St. Nicholas are raising money for Metropolitan Joseph’s project “Fulfilling the Vision”. Consider purchasing the book: “A Child’s Guide to the Divine Liturgy” for a special child in your life or maybe sponsoring a church school class with books for each student. Books are available for purchased each Sunday in March after the Divine Liturgy at the table in the Atrium. Thank you for your support of this project. If you have any question about this giving project please contact Barb Thomas.

STEWARDSHIP THOUGHT

The Gift of Time “The greatest gift I ever received,” said a young attorney, “was a gift I got one Christmas from my dad. He gave me a small box with a note inside that said, “Son, this year I will give you 365 hours, one hour every day after dinner. We’ll talk about what you want to talk about, go where you want to go, play what you want to play.”

The young attorney continued, “My dad not only kept the promise of his gift, but he renewed it every year – and it’s the greatest gift I ever had in my life. I am the result of his time.” Stewardship of Time IS quality time with GOD, with others, and ourselves.

PARISHIONER CONNECTION

Dear Church Family,

Thank you for all the prayers, good wishes, and the many cards and visits we have received during this difficult time in our lives. Attallah is doing very well now, and we hope and pray that he’ll be back soon to his regular routine. Please continue to keep him in your prayers; we know the Lord is listening. We are blessed to have you all in our lives.

Thank you, Attallah & Mimi

THE PRAYER OF ST. EPHRAIM

O Lord and Master of my life, take from me

the spirit of sloth, meddling, lust of power, and idle talk; But give rather

the spirit of chastity, humility, patience and love to Thy servant. Yea, O Lord and King,

grant me to see my own sins and not to judge my brother; for Thou art blessed unto ages of ages, Amen.

DON’T MISS THE BUS

Attention Camper Parents: We need to know if you will be needing church transportation for your Session 2 Antiochian Village camper on our chartered bus from Great Lakes Motor Coaches. Visit https://stnicholasgr.com/antiochian-village/ to register. Please sign up by Tuesday, March 31! After that date, we will be opening up the bus to campers from other churches and your spot will not be guaranteed!

HOLY WEEK PREPARATION

in just four weeks, we will be entering into Holy Week! Here are a few suggestions on how to prepare:

Locate your Holy Week/Pascha book: “The Services of Great & Holy Week and Pascha”. If you do not have one, order it through our bookstore.

Contact your employer for time off of work for the following services: April 16—Holy Thursday Vesperal Liturgy (9-10 AM ) April 17—Holy Friday, Royal Hours (Noon-3:30 PM), Vespers of the Unnailing

of Christ (4-5 PM) Note: Excuse forms are available on the Parishioner’s table in the Narthex.

For the daily calendar of Holy Week services, please visit: https://stnicholasgr.com/calendar/.

REDEEM YOUR TIME

For some, change in their daily routine can lead to the potential of wasted time. If you find yourself having to spend more time at home whether with the kids or for your job, consider building a routine that include some of these beneficial ideas:

Have your children work on their Creative Arts project. Parents can find great ideas to help provide positive activities for their children at:

http://ww1.antiochian.org/christianeducation Listen daily and discuss a “Be the Bee” podcast: https://bethebee.goarch.org/. Young

Adults and above will appreciate “The Trench”: https://www.y2am.org/the-trench or Pop Culture Coffee Hour: https://www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/popculture.

Memorize as a family this year’s Archdiocese theme verse from John 3:17. “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”

Begin preparing for this year’s Bible Bowl by daily reading a portion of the book of St. John. Then, based on what was read, answer the practice questions found at: https://orthodoxyouth.org/bible-bowl/. As a reminder, anyone age 10 and above can participate on a team!

Have your teen begin to draft their Oratorical speech. Everything necessary to get started can be found at: https://orthodoxyouth.org/oratorical/. As a reminder, the Oratorical contest is open to anyone ages 13-19.

Ancient Faith has an abundance of podcasts. Explore your options at: https://www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts. You can also listen to their daily radio programs or just listen to music at: https://www.ancientfaith.com/radio.

ADAPTING DURING THIS CHALLENGING TIME

(This is the e-newsletter that was sent on Friday, March 13, 2020) Dear Beloved to God., Everyone is struggling to keep up with the changes around us due to the effort to contain the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), and things seem to change by the minute. The health and wellbeing of our parishioners both physically and spiritually is of utmost importance, so we want to assure you we are monitoring events closely and carefully following the direction of both the civil authorities and our Archdiocese. Of highest importance is to maintain ourselves spiritually. This means constantly moving ourselves to operate principally from the perspective of faith and not fear. This will require an ongoing effort, more for some than others. Toward that end, I encourage you to take a few minutes today to carefully read and reflect on the Encyclical Letter from Metropolitan JOSEPH by clicking the link at the bottom of this message. This moment is disruptive to every area of our lives, and sadly that includes our church community which must enact some changes to protect our own members and the community at large. Our hope is to minimize this disruption, and to use this moment as we are called to use every moment: for the growth of our own faith and our expressions of love to those around us. Please know that these changes we make today may change as new information becomes available, both as the number of cases of COVID-19 in our community rises as we anticipate it will, and as we emerge from this situation, which we hope will happen very soon. The changes we are making at this time include the following. Liturgical Schedule: Our parish liturgical schedule will continue as planned, with one exception: pan-Orthodox gatherings will not take place as a combined celebration, but the services will be held in each local parish. This includes the Akathist Hymn, which will be held tonight at St. Nicholas at 6 PM.

For this service and all others, those who are ill or may feel illness coming on are encouraged to stay home and rest, and to call upon their priest for the administration of the sacraments in their homes. Many of our services are streamed live and can be followed by visiting “St. Nicholas Grand Rapids” on YouTube.

Everyone should get in the habit of washing their hands for 20 seconds with warm water and soap when entering the Church or any new location and when leaving for another. By the way, 20 seconds is about the time it takes to say the Lord’s Prayer, so do doubly good by doing both!

Revised Liturgical Practices: The Holy Eucharist will continue to be distributed in its current practice. As has been

previously shared, the Eucharist is the source of life, not of disease. The Faithful who do not want the spoon to touch their mouth are welcome to tilt their head back, open their mouths wide and keep their mouths open wide until the priest or deacon has removed the spoon before closing their mouth.

Antidoron (Holy Bread) will be distributed only after the Liturgy (not at Holy Communion) and we will return to the traditional practice of receiving it from the hand of the Priest. At this time, the Faithful are welcome to not venerate the hand of the Priest, as is our norm.

Glass covered icons and blessing crosses will continue to be cleaned before and after each service. The Faithful are welcome to venerate or simply bow in reverence.

We will return to the ancient tradition of the Clergy only exchanging the Kiss of Peace. The laity engaging in this was a Catholic practice introduced in our Archdiocese, but traditionally belonged only to the Clergy.

While we hope to quickly return to showing affection to each other with hugs, a kiss on the cheek or a handshake, as we gather for and depart from the Holy Services, for the time being let us refrain from such expressions of our love for each other, out of love for those who are threatened by the spread of this virus.

Non-Liturgical Activities: Our Parish Leadership (Pastor, Parish Council, Administrator and Fellowship Group/Ministry Team leaders) will confer regularly regarding the postponement or cancellation of non-liturgical gatherings. These decisions will be dictated by the actual activity, its specific population and setting. At this point the following activities will be affected:

Church School: Suspended until further notice

Coffee Hours/Potlucks: Suspended until further notice

Teen Retreat (March 20-21): Postponed (Date TBD)

Men’s Retreat at Holy Dormition (March 21): Postponed (Date TBD)

YES Trip (March 27-29): Cancelled

"Truth Matters, Life Matters More" Conference (March 28): Postponed (Date TBD)

Other events are planned to continue, but as was said, further changes may come. Both during this time and at all times, the most up-to-date schedule can be found at stnicholagr.com/calendar.

Cultural Center: We are being flexible with our clients who wish to reschedule their events. For the events that meet the current recommendations of the civil authorities that are held, we are doing additional cleaning before and after each event, including the disinfection of all high-touch surfaces (door knobs, faucets, etc.) As we navigate this situation together, these steps are being taken as decisions on a community level, but we encourage each person to use their God-given best judgment based on accurate information to determine their personal course of action. Take into account both your own physical and spiritual wellbeing as well as that of others. In love for our neighbors, please be familiar with the guidelines of personal hygiene and other practices to reduce the spread of the disease: (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/protect/index.html). We will be in touch with community leaders as things progress, with an eye toward being a support to those around us as much as we are able. We can help by not engaging in panic buying/hoarding, and by checking on the elderly and infirm of our families, friends and neighbors. Please share with us any needs that we as a parish are fit to meet. In this uncertain time, let’s continue to draw closer to Christ in prayer. For some of us, this disruption will make for a busier time. For others, this is an opportunity to slow down, reconnect with our loved ones, and spend more time in prayer, quiet spiritual reading and reflection. To begin, let us read the Encyclical Letter from Metropolitan JOSEPH, (https://www.antiochian.org/regulararticle/619) who encourages us to be “strong in the Lord and the strength of His Might” (Ephesians 6:10). Lovingly in Christ, Father Michael

LOOKING AHEAD

Sunday, April 12 Palm Sunday

Saturday, May 9 Paschal Retreat

June 7-11 Vacation Church School

June 11-14 Fr. Michael’s 25th Anniversary Weekend

THIS WEEK’S ACTIVITIES

For a complete listing of all of St. Nicholas’ services and events, visit our website at https://stnicholasgr.com/event-calendar/

Wednesday, March 18 Women’s Chit Chat & Coffee @ Sugar Momma’s Bakery & Café (9:30 AM)

Thursday, March 19 Bible Study (10 AM)

Sunday, March 22 Parish Council Meeting (12:30 PM)

THIS WEEK’S LITURGICAL SCHEDULE

Monday, March 16 Great Compline (6 PM)

Wednesday, March 18 Presanctified Liturgy (6 PM)

Friday, March 20 Presanctified Liturgy (9 AM) Akathist Hymn (6 PM)

Saturday, March 21 Great Vespers followed by Confession (6 PM)

Sunday, March 22 Orthros (8:50 AM) Divine Liturgy (10 AM)

2020 Antiochian Orthodox Open

Registration is now open for the 2020 Antiochian Orthodox Open at Quail Ridge Golf Club on Wednesday, June 11. Get your team signed-up today! For more information and to register visit: https://stnicholasgr.com/golf/ .