SUNDAY SCHOOL BEGINS TODAY Growing Saints Class (ages 8+) meets today during fellowship hour. Our focus will be iconography and the ministry and work of iconographers. We will view a presentation of a real life iconographer from California and the beautiful work he has offered the Orthodox Church of St. Lawrence there. Don’t miss it!
Growing Saints will meet next Sunday, also.
Clean Slates (ages 5-7) will begin meeting Sunday, October 7, and will meet the first Sunday of every month during fellowship hour. Mrs. Flanzala will be teaching about lives of Saints, including those who featured in the large icons along the walls in the church.
NEXT SUNDAY - ONE YEAR MEMORIAL Memorial prayers for the repose of Paul Flanzala will be offered next Sunday.
GOYA FALL CAMP 2018 Open to all of our youth, grades 6-12 this Columbus Day weekend, October 5-8 at our Metropolis of Boston Camp in Contoocook, NH. The weekend will consist of cabin sessions (make new friends!), camp wide activities, worship and for the first time ever, a Sunday outing to Canobie Lake Park! Early Bird Registration $175 thru Tuesday Sept 18. $200 thereafter. Use this link to register: https://www.metropolisofbostoncamp.org/fall.html
A NOTE FROM PANOS “Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ, I feel blessed to have been in this holy church for five years. God is the center of my life. This is what my grandfather taught me to believe and that belief has never let me down so far.
I want to thank you all for your kindness, support and friendly behavior towards me, a new member of your parish. Many people from this church went above and beyond and they honored me with their friendship! St. George has been a warm home for me and the Grace of God didn't let me feel alone. I hope I will be in your prayers as you will be in mine. Don't forget that you are already a bright page in the book of my life. Who knows? God may make our roads meet again someday. As the Greek poet says: while setting off for your trip to Ithaka, you should ask for a long trip full of adventure and knowledge despite all the hard times you certainly meet. May God bless you through the prayers of Panagia and St. George, Panagiotis Tsakiroglou”
INVITATION TO FALL RETREAT WITH FREDERICA MATHEWES-GREEN Matushka Faith Mitchell is inviting the women of St. George to a fall retreat at Christ the Savior Orthodox Church (meeting in St. Teresa’s, Brewer) on the weekend of October 12. Well-known Orthodox author, Khouria (priest’s wife) Frederica Mathewes-Green, will speak both Friday night and Saturday. Meals provided. $25 per person donation requested. Find PDF at http://glt.xyz/FMG.pdf.
Matushka Faith is hoping to get an approximate head-count of attendees within the next week. Please let me know if you plan to attend (by next Sunday) and I’ll be in touch with Matushka Faith. This invitation is open to all Orthodox Churches so let friends in other parishes know, too.
Also, if you are willing to prepare food, please phone Matushka Faith directly at 478-3087 so table offerings can be coordinated. Thank you, Pres. Candace
WITH AN EYE TO THIS YEAR’S GREEK DANCE Everyone is asked to participate in obtaining donations for this year’s Silent Auction which will occur during the Greek Dance on November 3.
If each individual or family would contribute at least one item for the Silent Auction that would be fantastic and would relieve the pressure on just one or two people to round up all the donations.
Suggestions: Gift cards from shops/restaurants/gas stations or cards for personal services work well (i.e., salons or massage). Cards covering basic car maintenance, auto detailing, or dry cleaning would be good. How about a weekend accommodation at a lake cottage? Or tickets to a production at Collins Center for the Arts or an upcoming sports event? If you are a crafter or artist and you create beautiful items that sell for good prices, please consider donating a piece of your work.
If you have items at home that have gone unused or have had very light use and would be desirable for the auction, please consider donating them. Perhaps someone can wrangle a specialty item such as a kayak which has high end appeal to many people. Really, the sky’s the limit—please help us reach and get some top shelf items for this event! People love silent auctions especially if the items are desirable. We’ll need your donations by October 22, so that gives us a little over a month to accumulate them. Thank you!
GREEK DANCE FLASH MOB Without giving away every detail since this bulletin is published on-line where anyone can read it, there’s a plan afoot for a Greek Dance Flash Mob to occur on Friday, October 12. There will be a practice here at the church on Wednesday evening, October 10. Contact Cynthia for more details about this event and the Silent Auction above: piersonc@hotmail.com
LET’S TALK DESSERT! Got your attention? Hope so! Cathy Speronis has a sweet fund-raising idea for the holiday season to benefit St. George. She is proposing a special holiday dessert sale that will rival anything that can be store-bought in our area. We can all help her with preparations to make this a success. Please be in touch with her so she knows she can count on your help as needed. Send her a note at cooksotasty@gmail.com.
INTRODUCING THE “REAL” ST. NICHOLAS TO OTHERS THIS DECEMBER Would you like to help plan an evening event for the general public to introduce them to St. Nicholas of Myra during the first week of December? Of course, we’re referring to the “real” Santa Claus that many people have yet to learn about. Please let Pres. Candace know (doxa141@gmail.com). She’ll arrange a get together to plan this possible event, honoring one of the well-known and greatly loved Saints of the Orthodox Church.
TO OUR STEWARDS & BENEFACTORS Many thanks to all those who’ve increased their financial gifts to maintain the on-going worship and ministries here at St. George. As a gentle reminder, the Church does need increased stewardship to cover our operations as St. George chose not be involved in the Folk Festival this month. The Folk Festival income had always been our “bump up” funding each year. We will not have that funding this year.
As of August 28, we are running an approximate $5300 overall deficit. Believe that St. George is aware of all those who care about our spiritual house and his prayers are with us. Thank you for your continued stewardship and loving generosity for St. George, Bangor! We are keeping our heads almost above water because a few people have made some special contributions. Thanks again.
NOTE: Average weekly budgeted expenses for us are $1895.39. Our annual budgeted expenses are $98,560.28 which is lower than about 99% of all the other parishes in the GOA. Our budget was made with a “very sharp pencil.” Another observation: 66% through the year, we have spent 59% of the amount budgeted (this is a good thing). We have also received 56% of our budgeted income (this isn’t so good).
FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE Donatiions can now be made online.
Ionian Village is the international camping ministry of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America with campgrounds located in Peloponnesus, Greece.
