A Letter from Father 

Dearly Beloved Parishioners of St. George,
While navigating our parish through the ongoing Covid-19 storm, I remember a Greek child’s picture of “Christ at the helm”. It reminds
me that He is at the helm of our Church and will bring us to safe harbor. As you might know, all houses of worship in Kern County (and most CA counties) have been asked to avoid indoor worship gatherings at this time, due to the spike in Covid 19 cases.Outdoor worship gatherings are fine as long as face masks are worn and proper distancing is maintained. We are blessed to have a good size church parking lot and large solar parking structure to temporarily accommodate Sunday services until the restrictions are lifted. To beat the heat, we will begin early with Matins at 7:00 am and Divine Liturgy at 8:00 am. We should be finished by 9:15 am. The service will be streamed online as usual.Based on recent Bakersfield weather charts, we can expect the temperatures throughoutthe Liturgy to be around 75-79℉. It should still be cool by the time we finish and return home. Please bring a mask, and a chair from home if you like. Chairs from the hall will be provided. A little reminder that if you are ill or have been around someone ill, please stay at home, get
some rest and watch the online live stream on Facebook or Youtube or our Parish website.This will be a once in a lifetime experience for our parish. It’s probably been over 100 years since our Parish of St. George last had an outdoor Divine Liturgy (here in Bakersfield): I imagine the last time was probably when our founding Orthodox pioneers gathered here for services before they gathered the means to build our first church: May their memory be eternal!

I remain,
Yours in Christ
Rev. Fr. Joseph Chaffee

FESTIVAL PREP HELP 
 ALL HANDS ON DECK! Dolmades and pastry prep is beginning soon for the #bakogreekfoodfest. Lend a hand for the following days in September. Workers will gather from 4pm-8pm. Thank you!(Please remember to wear your masks when helping).

IT’S SAINT SOPHIA PHILOPTOCHOS’ ONLY FUN-D-RAISER OF THE YEAR! “FROM HER KITCHEN TO YOURS” ONLINE COOKING CLASSES WITH ACCLAIMED CHEF AND GREEK FOOD AMBASSADOR MARIA LOI VIA ZOOM!  Join us for An Epicurean Journey with Friends series of master chef cooking classes celebrating the seasonal flavors of Greece.  Saturday(s) October 10, November 7 and December 5 from11a.m. – 12:00 noon via Zoom. $65 per kitchen for all 3 classes. $25 per kitchen a la carte class. Silent Auction, prizes and plenty of expert tips. No passport required and aprons are optional! R.s.v.p. to Tonifaye Palomares 310-560-0865 Ssphiloptochos@gmail.com

 

Stewardship

1. Stewardship Form: 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd4JyYCaQYMnK4HmGGUI-DEZKHgpAyaAo3VH811fg5Xch3ZHg/formResponse

2. Make donation via PayPal:
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=P8ZZAQSCL53BQ&source=url

Envelopes will be made available to all of our families so that we may continue our stewrship to our beloved parish during this crisis. 

GOYA ZOOM

Will meet every Wednesday, Ages 12-18 at 3:00 p.m., Ages 5-11 at 4:00 p.m. Zoom meeting login will be emailed. 

Bible Study

Please join us for Bible studies on Tuesday's at 7:30 p.m.  Look for the link on our website or Facebook. Contact Irene Sinopole for information at 832-1871.

Parish Council 

Next meeting is September 24th, at 7:00 p.m.

Prosphora Schedule 

9/6 Olympia Hackleman, 9/13 Anna Cornett, 9/20 Basema Madain, 9/27 Mary Mekhel. Thank you.Please make arrangements with Sahar or Despina to bring the offering Saturday night either to the church or Father's home.  We are looking for more people to make the blessed bread. Please approach Father Joseph if interested. If you want to learn more about how to make Prosphora, you can visit our Prosphoro site under the "Resources" tab on our website. Thank you.

Social Media

Follow and join us on Facebook! 

St George Orthodox Christian Church of Bakersfield: www.facebook.com/StGeorgeOrthodoxBakersfield

St George Orthodox Community of Bakersfield (Facebook Group): www.facebook.com/groups/175227557308

General Announcements: 

Legacy

Leave your mark!

Consider naming St. George Church as a beneficiary on your life insurance policy. It's a great legacy gift to your parish and very easy to do...just ask your provider for the change beneficiary form and complete and return to them.  The legal name for the church is Hellenic Community St. George Church Tax ID #95-3575365 God bless you.

Endowment

Honor your loved ones birthday and or anniversary by making a contribution to the Endowment Fund in their name. Make checks payable to St. George Church and write Endowment Fund on the memo line. Distributions from the fund will benefit the youth and maintenance needs of the Parish. For more information contact a Parish Council Member. 

Thank you.

Text Notifications

If you would like to be part of our system, please provide your phone number to Sahar (stgeosecretary@gmail.com).

This service will only be used to notify parishioners of any changes to service times or to provide information on events or occurences that affect the entire parish.  We see this as being used infrequently but feel that we need to an effective way to communicate important information quickly. 

Father Joseph's Hours

Father Joseph will be in the office Wednesdays and Thursdays from 11:00 to 3:00. 

Father will also maintain office hours on Friday evenings from from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. for the sacrament of Holy Confession.  He will be available to meet in the hall, narthex, or crying room on these nights.  Please feel free to send Father Joseph a text message at 661-496-5768 during this time to check his availability. You will receive an estimated wait time if any. 

Confessions appointments can be made with Sahar or Presbytera.    

If you need to meet with Father please make appointments during the week. Sunday should be left for Father to have time to visit with parishioners during coffee hour. Please give him the time to do so unless it is an emergency. Thank you for your understanding.

Prayers/Thanksgiving

Glory to God for His Bountiful Blessings

Please add to your daily prayers for: 

• Catechumens:Angela, Nicholas
• Our brothers & sisters unable to attend:  Marika Psihoundas, Mary Valos & Beverly Balasis.
• Healing: Marika, Victor, Helen K., Irene, Mary, Mary, Serephima, and others in our parish.
• Those who are traveling George (Walter) and Judith Schartman.
• Orthodox-Vera,Safi,Amy, Aurora,Natalia,Elaina,Naguib,Kaliope,Lorece Noel,Mary C., Sophia,Virginia, Petros, Panagi, Elle, Eva L., Nicholetta Y., Dan S., Monica, Yorgos K, Giorgos, Anna,Angela, Antonia, Stelios, Petros, Anne, Anna, Leonid, Mariyka, Archalia,Natalie, Eva,Eleni K.,Efstratios, Ourania, Christopher, Alice, Suha,Abla, Jennifer, Tom, Gabriela,Ion,Danny,Nadia, Niko, Musa Daoud, Vasiliki, Theodore, Achilles, Vasiliki,Labrini, Bert & Louise Moosios,Olympia,Margarita, Seraphim, Mary, Tika,Maria Sporaa, Athina, Helen, Gerry Collis, Nektarios,Marika,Noah A.,Nick K., Kyriaki, Fred, Hannah, Irene Sinopole, Helen Protopapas, Candess Strategos,Gene, Kathy, Sofia, Clemy (Clementina), Jane, and Matthew.
• Non-Orthodox -Manar,Maher,Joanne, Bill,Kayla,Brittney, Justin, Amparo, Mark, Uvaldo,Yesenia, Angelica, David, Nancy, Bud Lung,Julie, Pamela Y., Debbie, Emmitt, Donna,Steve, Richard,Donald, Christina, Eva, Dominic,Gaby Garcia,Romona, Elea, Graysen Astumian, Marie,Michelle, Irma,  Julie, Greg, Allyson, Margaret, Valerie, Martha Rogers, Joseph, Stephen, Elizabeth,Ellen, Ling, Richard, Christine & David, Debby.

Annivesaries

• 8/30 Ted & Kathy Exarchoulakos
• 9/16 Chuy & Joyce Cisneros
• 9/17 Hesham & Sahar Ayoub
• 9/17 Osama & Angela Dawood
• 9/18 Matthew & Nahrain Antonaros

Birthdays    

• 9/2 Naguib Mekhel
• 9/4 Nader Al-Sheikh
• 9/5 Nehemiah Little
• 9/9 Jimmy Andrews 
• 9/10 Megan Pearse
• 9/15 Mary Mekhel
• 9/15 Nahrain Antonaros
• 9/19 Zain Ayoub
• 9/19 Fotini Stevens
• 9/21 Annette Londquist
• 9/23 Dena Southerd

Please note:  All bulletin announcements must be received each week by 3:00 pm Tuesday to be included in the Sunday bulletin for that week.