Sunday Services: Orthros-8:45 a.m. Divine Liturgy-10:00 a.m. Sunday School after Distribution of Holy Communion. Holy Day Services As announced in weekly bulletins.
Ushers:
11/27 - Chris Cora & T J Hare
12/4 - Michael Fowler & Michaele Glisson
12/11 - Brian Farr & L. Papademitriou
12/18 - C. Zouboukos & Chuck Odom
12/24 - Christmas Eve Service - Chris Cora & T J Hare
Altar Servers: (Please note that if any altar servers are in church and see that no alltar servers are here you are of course asked to serve in the altar).
Epistle Reader:
11/27-Carl Boschert
12/4 Erynn Sturgon
12/11 - John Mark Harris
12/18 - Adam Farr
12/24 - Christmas Eve - Carl Boschert
Prosphoro:
11/27- Jean Hare
12/4 -
12/11 - Betta Miller
12/18 -
12/24 -
The sign up page is updated and all Sundays in Dec 25th are available.
To sign up to bake prosphoro click on this link. https://signup.com/client/invitation2/secure/266988023009644063/false#/invitation
Orthros starts at 9:00 a.m.
Liturgy starts at 10:00 a.m,
Coffee Hour: Fresh Brewed coffee and snacks.
Sunday school classes meet after the dirstribution of Holy Communion.
Philoptochos and our Sunday School ministries are collecting hygiene/homeless care items and canned goods to donate to the Gateway Rescue Mission Center in Jackson..Please bring the items to church and place them in the bin allocated for the Gateway Rescue Mission Center.
Parish Christmas card : We invite every family to participate and have your name included in this year's Holy Trinity-St. John the Theologian Community Christmas Card. Please see the e mailed form or pick up a form at the candle stand at church on Sunday. A minimum donation of $15.00 is suggested to include your name on this attractive card. Let’s try for 100% participation. Our Community Christmas Card is a beautiful card to send to your fellow parishioners and to also keep as a keepsake. You can mail the forms (and donations) to us. Wishing you and your families a Blessed Nativity Fast! Thanking you in advance and may God Bless us all.
Looking Ahead-Mark Your Calendars:
11/15 - Nativity Fast Began
12/2 - Sunday School outing to see the Bellhaven Singing Christmas Tree
12/6 - Feast of Saint Nicholas - Liturgy at 5:30 pm
12/8 - The movie "Smyrna" one night only Grandview Theaters at 7 pm.
12/9 - Pastry sale pick up 4:30 - 6:00 pm
12/10 - Pastry Sale pickup 11:00 am to 6:00 pm
12/10 - GYRO Drive through 11:00 am to 2:00 pm
12/13 - Philoptochos Christmas Party - time and place TBA - Dirty Santa (bring an ornament or decoration - $10-$15 limit)
12/18 - Sunday School Christmas Program - Parish Council Elections
Parish Council Elections - Sunday December 18th after Liturgy - for four seats on the Parish Council - the terms of Michael Fowler, Toula Odom, L. Papadimitriou, expire on December 31st 2022 The terms of Parish Council members: Chris Cora, Brian Farr, Michaele Glisson, Constantine Zouboukos, & T. J Hare expire on 12/31/2023. ALL candidates must attend the Parish Training Seminar on November 30th at 6:00 pm (Central time). This is a zoom meeting. The information on this meeting will be provided to each candidate. Candidate Pedge Forms will be sent out in a separate mailing.
12/24 - Eve of Nativity of Christ - Services
12/25 - Nativity of Christ - Christ is Born - Glorify Him!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/269685419794311/ or go to our church web page
www.holytrinitysaintjohnjackson.org and click on the link
We are grateful to those who have contributed and continue to contribute their donations through the mail or by the two secure on-line options both of which can be found on our web page. The light a candle say a prayer link below or the Donate Button on the bottom of the home page https://holy-trinity-st-john-the-theologian-greek-orthodox-church-jac.square.site
November Birthday Celebrations: Alex Valsamakis-November 3rd,Ted Thompson-November 7th, Elena Zouboukos-November 7th, Erynn Sturgon-November 8th, Kristina Zouboukos-November 9th, Constantine “Costa” Zouboukos-November 10th, John Mark Harris-November12, James Glisson-November 14th, TJ Hare-November 15th, Constantine P. Zouboukos-November 19th, Miles Alex Graham-November 19th, James "Buddy" Fowler-November 22nd, Nick Valsamakis-November 25th, Sophia Childers November 28th, Peter Efstratiou-November-29th Please let us know of any errors or omissions.
Our December Birthday List: Chris Grillis-December 1st, Panayiotis (Pat) Zouboukos-December 2nd, Hutson Hontzas-December 3rd, Heather Hontzas-December 5th, Alexis Valsamakis Hood-December 9th, Nicholas Nelson-December14th, Sammie Baggett-December 26th, Chris Zeppos-December 30th, Christina Valsamakis Childers-December 30th, Anthony Panos-December 30th
Our Holy Trinity-St. John the Theologian Prayer List:
"Remember Lord, those whom each of us calls prayerfully to mind" Lexi Kountouris, Stella Grivas (Father Andrew's mother in Dunnsville VA), Andrea & Kevin Brown (Father Andrew's sister and brother in law in New Hampshire), Chuck Odom, Nicholas & Dianna Psaris, Chris Grillis, Lambryne Angelo, Paula Fowler, Victoria Lepsa (Cristina Nica's mother in Romania), Tatianna Koufopoulos Quick of Phoenix Arizona, Maria Costas, Dot P
This Saint was from the city of Bythlaba and was of noble birth; he was the closest and most honoured friend of Isdiger (or Yazdegerd) I, King of Persia (reigned 399-420). Though a Christian from his youth, James renounced Christ because he was allured by the King's friendship and flatteries. When his mother and his wife learned of this, they declared to him by letter that they would have nothing more to do with him, since he had preferred a glory that is temporal to the love of Christ. Wounded in soul by these words and coming to himself, the Saint wept over his error, and repudiated the worship of the idols. Therefore, becoming exceedingly wroth, the King - this was Bahram (or Varahran) V (reigned 421-438), Isdiger's son and successor - condemned him to a most bitter death, the likes of which not even a brute beast was ever condemned to: that is, his body was dismembered at every joint of his arms and legs. And so, when he had been cut asunder limb by limb to his very hips and shoulders, the courageous Martyr was finally beheaded, in the year 421.
This Saint was from Bethsaida of Galilee; he was the son of Jonas and the brother of Peter, the chief of the Apostles. He had first been a disciple of John the Baptist; afterwards, on hearing the Baptist's witness concerning Jesus, when he pointed Him out with his finger and said, "Behold the Lamb of God, Which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1.29,36), he straightway followed Christ, and became His first disciple; wherefore he is called the First-called of the Apostles. After the Ascension of the Saviour, he preached in various lands; and having suffered many things for His Name's sake, he died in Patras of Achaia, where he was crucified on a cross in the shape of an "X," the first letter of "Christ" in Greek; this cross is also the symbol of Saint Andrew.
The Prophet Nahum had Elkesaeus (Elkosh) as his homeland, and was from the tribe of Symeon; he is seventh in order among the twelve Minor Prophets He prophesied during the time of Hezekias, after the destruction of Samaria (721 years before Christ), but before the ten tribes were taken into captivity; he prophesied against Nineveh, the capital of Assyria. His name means "comforter." His book of prophecy is divided into three chapters.
This Prophet, whose name means "loving embrace," is eighth in order of the minor Prophets. His homeland and tribe are not recorded in the Divine Scriptures; according to some, he was of the tribe of Symeon. He prophesied in the years of Joachim, who is also called Jechonias, before the Babylonian captivity of the Jewish People, which took place 599 years before Christ. When Nabuchodonosor came to take the Israelites captive, Habakkuk fled to Ostrakine, and after Jerusalem was destroyed and the Chaldeans departed, Habakkuk returned and cultivated his field. Once he made some pottage and was about to take it to the reapers in the field. An Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and carried him with the pottage to Babylon to feed Daniel in the lions' den, then brought him back to Judea (Bel and the Dragon, 33-39): His book of prophecy is divided into three chapters; the third chapter is also used as the Fourth Ode of the Psalter. His holy relics were found in Palestine during the reign of Emperor Theodosius the Great, through a revelation to Zebennus, Bishop of Eleutheropolis (Sozomen, Eccl. Hist., Book VII, 29).
This Prophet, who is ninth in order among the minor Prophets, was the son of Chusi (Cushi), from the tribe of Levi, or according to some, the great-grandson of King Hezekias. He prophesied in the years of Josias, who reigned in the years 641-610 before Christ. His book of prophecy is divided into three chapters. His name means "Yah is darkness."
Hymn of Pentecost:
O blessed are You, O Christ our God. Who by sending down the Holy Spirit upon them, made the fishermen wise, and through them illumined the world. And unto You the universe was ever drawn. All glory to You O Lord.
Hymn of St. John the Theologian
O Apostle, beloved of Christ our God, hasten to deliver a defenseless people. He that allowed thee to recline in His breast, receiveth thee bowing in intersession. Implore Him, O Theologian, do dispel the persistent cloud of the heathen, and ask for us His peace and great mercy.
Second Orthros Gospel
The Reading is from Mark 16:1-8
When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Salome, bought spices, so that they might go and anoint Jesus. And very early on the first day of the week they went to the tomb when the sun had risen. And they were saying to one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the door of the tomb?" And looking up, they saw that the stone was rolled back - it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe; and they were amazed. And he said to them, "Do not be amazed; you seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen, He is not here; see the place where they laid Him. But go, tell His disciples and Peter that He is going before you to Galilee; there you will see Him, as He told you." And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had come upon them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
Prokeimenon. Grave Tone. Psalm 28.11,1.
The Lord will give strength to his people.
Verse: Bring to the Lord, O sons of God, bring to the Lord honor and glory.
The reading is from St. Paul's Letter to the Ephesians 2:14-22.
Brethren, Christ is our peace, who has made us both one, and has broken down the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby bringing the hostility to an end. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built into it for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
13th Sunday of Luke
The Reading is from Luke 18:18-27
At that time, a ruler came to Jesus and asked him, "Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.' " And he said, "All these I have observed from my youth." And when Jesus heard it, he said to him, "One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." But when he heard this he became sad, for he was very rich. Jesus looking at him said, "How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." Those who heard it said, "Then who can be saved?" But he said, "What is impossible with men is possible with God."
St. Luke 18: 18-27
In order for me to remember to do much of anything, I usually have to write it down on a list. If it’s not on the list, it usually doesn’t get done, and some tasks remain on the list for a very long time before I finally get around to them. Maybe some of you are like that also.
The rich young ruler who asked Jesus Christ what he had to do in order to find eternal life also apparently thought in terms of lists. So when the Lord told him to keep the commandments of the Old Testament, the man said that he had checked them all off, that he had kept them his entire life.
This is where the story gets really interesting, for the Lord then gives him a commandment that had never been on the man’s list and that he couldn’t imagine following: Sell all that you have, give to the poor, and come follow me. This fellow was rich and powerful and loved his possessions, so he became very sad and apparently walked away. The Lord knew how hard it was for people who have it all in this life to enter the kingdom of heaven, for they are tempted strongly to love their possessions and status more than God and neighbor. Still, as the Lord said His stunned disciples, “the things which are impossible with men are possible with God.”
What did Christ mean by speaking in this way? He certainly wasn’t simply adding another law to a list of requirements to be checked off. Instead, he challenged this man to stop thinking about his relationship with God as a matter of law, a set of behaviors, which he could master. Someone who responds to the Old Testament laws by saying, “Oh, I’ve always followed them since I was a child” has a very shallow understanding of what God requires of us. That would be like someone saying, “Oh, I’ve always been a perfectly faithful Christian since childhood.”
The problem is that it’s not quite that simple. In the Sermon on the Mount, Christ showed us the true meaning of God’s requirements. He said that we are guilty of murder if we are angry with others, if we hate and insult them. He taught that we are guilty of adultery if we lust in our hearts. And if we do not love God with every ounce of our being and our neighbors as ourselves, we have broken the greatest of the commandments.
If we have any spiritual insight at all, we will see that none of us has mastered God’s requirements, none of us may stand before the Lord bragging that we have it all down. The truth is that we have all fallen short and need God’s mercy and healing in our lives.
Christ jolted this man out of his delusion, of his false self-confidence, by giving him a commandment that He knew he could not keep: giving away all his beloved money, possessions, and power. Perhaps for the first time, this fellow was challenged to see that eternal life is not a matter of checking off a list, not something that we can accomplish by our own ability. If we can’t give up that which we love most in this life for God, then we obviously have not fulfilled all that the Lord expects of us.
And since Christ came to unite our fallen humanity with divinity and to conquer sin and death, it’s pretty clear that even the most law-abiding person still needs the mercy, grace, and love of our Lord in order to inherit eternal life. By our own power, it’s not possible to share in the life of heaven, but with Jesus Christ, all things are possible.
As we continue to prepare for the coming of Christ at Christmas, we do well to remember that this great feast is not about the birth of a mere teacher, law-giver, or example. Were our Lord simply another prophet with a strict teaching, we would not rejoice at His coming. Instead, we would—like the rich young ruler—become sad and dejected, for the last thing we need is another law to fail to obey and make us feel guilty.
The eternal Son of God was not born at Christmas to add to the burden of the law or to give us the impression that all will be well if we obey a new set of teachings. To the contrary, He became a human being to do what a mere law never could, to bring us into His holiness, to make us partakers of the divine nature, to heal and fulfill our fallen, corrupt humanity, to make it possible for us mortals to put on immortality.
The Lord’s shocking statement about giving everything away challenged the rich young ruler to stop thinking of his life before God in legalistic terms. Likewise, we should use the prayer, fasting, almsgiving, and other spiritual disciplines of the Nativity Fast, of Advent, to be shocked out of our conventional and shallow assumptions about what it means to share in the eternal life of the Holy Trinity. For Christ was not born to bring us self-indulgence, popularity, or whatever else the world calls success. Neither did He come to make us strict legalists who think that holiness can be reduced to a list of “do’s” and “don’ts.” And He certainly did not put on flesh in order to make His followers the self-righteous judges of others.
The eternal Son of God became one of us for completely different reasons. Out of unfathomable love, He wanted to make possible for us what is impossible by our own power. We may take pride in what we accomplish, but which of us can claim credit for our Lord’s birth? There is no earthly prestige in a Virgin Mother giving birth in a cave to a baby who whose cradle was a manger, a feeding trough for animals. The rich young rulers of the world cannot understand a Messiah whose human life begins in such lowly circumstances and ended on a cross. Jesus Christ’s birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension are not simple human accomplishments or rewards, but truly miraculous manifestations of God’s eternal life in our world of sin, death, and corruption.
St. Paul reminded the Galatians that the Old Testament law was preparatory to the coming of the Savior. All who put on Christ in baptism are God’s sons and daughters who inherit the promise made to Abraham to bless those with faith in the Lord. We are slaves neither to a law nor to the ways of the world, but beloved children of our Heavenly Father Who wants nothing more than to bring us into the glory of His eternal life.
A religion that simply provides more laws to obey, or a culture that piles on burdensome expectations, could never do that. They simply make things worse by giving people more opportunities to judge themselves and others. For it’s when we are ashamed of not measuring up that we are most likely to shift our attention to putting down other people in order to make ourselves feel better.
The God-Man Jesus Christ operates in a completely different way, of course, making it possible for everyone, no matter their struggles or failures or social standing, to find true peace through faith, humility, and growth in holiness--In other words, through our ongoing acceptance of His mercy and healing in our lives.
We prepare to receive Christ at Christmas by opening our hearts and souls to His salvation—not by mastering laws—but by true repentance. Both in our private prayers and in the sacrament of Confession which we should all take during Advent, we repent by honestly confessing our sins and asking for the Lord’s mercy, even as we resolve to make a new beginning in the Christian life. Yes, we must cooperate with our Lord’s mercy and grace by doing what we can to live faithfully. But even the best life does not somehow earn heaven. In fact, the more we grow in holiness, the more we will begin to see clearly the gravity of our sins and how far we are from the full stature of Christ. The closer we grow to Him, the less we will think of salvation as a reward for good behavior according to a check list.
So let this Advent be marked by humility, repentance, and spiritual disciplines for us all, not because we have broken a law, but because we have room to grow in our relationship with Jesus Christ. Our hearts and souls are not worthy of Him. We do not serve Him in every poor and suffering person. We do not seek first His kingdom and righteousness. We are not perfect as our Father in Heaven is perfect. But unlike the rich young ruler, we must not give up and walk away in despair. Instead, we should say, “Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” For what is impossible with men is possible with the incarnation of the God-Man Jesus Christ. He is not a law, but a Person
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