HOW TO PARK ON SANFORD STREET DURING THE WINTER We have even/odd day parking on Sanford Street. On odd dates, parking is restricted to the side of the street across from the church. On even dates, parking is restricted to the church side of the street. This is to help facilitate plowing on Sanford Street as needed. If you park on the wrong side of the street during winter, your car could be ticketed.
WELCOME TO OUR VISITORS Whether you are new to Bangor or if you're just passing through - welcome! Please don't hesitate to introduce yourself to someone you've never met and consider staying for some refreshments and fellowship after the morning service. If you would like to receive mailings or otherwise stay in touch, please leave your contact information (name, address, phone, email) with the person in the church office.
TONIGHT AT 6PM - FORGIVENESS VESPERS Tonight we open the season of Great and Holy Lent with the asking and receiving of forgiveness of one another at the conclusion of the evening vespers. This is the traditional Orthodox way to launch the start of the season of repentance. It is an overall brief, yet lightening, experience to express a bit of humility to each other. Let it not be difficult for us to acknowledge our sinful nature and any offense we may have caused by saying, "Forgive me, a sinner," as we encounter one another in community. The grace of God is among us as we make the effort to start Great Lent on solid footing. Expect both challenge and reward for the efforts put toward repentance. A blessed and spiritually profitable Lenten season to all!
THE PRAYER OF ST. EPHRAIM THE SYRIAN During Great Lent this penitential prayer is used at the conclusion of Vespers and Great Compline (after dinner prayers):
Lord and Master of my life, cast away from me the spirit of laziness, idle curiosity, love of power & vain talk. (prostration)
But grant me, Your servant, the spirit of moderation, humility, patience, and love. (prostration)
Yes, Lord and King, grant me to see my own faults and not to judge my brothers and sisters.
For You are blessed forever and unto the ages of ages. Amen. (prostration)
12 bows / Repeat "Yes, Lord and King..." (prostration)
THE GREAT COMPLINE is the after dinner prayer offered during Great Lent, Monday-Thursday nights (it is automatically included in the Friday night Salutations service). You can find the text here: https://www.goarch.org/-/order-of-the-after-dinner-prayer-office-of-the-great-compline. On Monday - Thursday evening of the first week of Great Lent, the canon of St. Andrew of Crete is inserted into the Great Compline (sectioned text over four evenings). The canon of St. Andrew is found here: https://stnektariosroc.org/2015/02/texts-of-the-great-canon-of-st-andrew-of-crete/.
WHO WAS ST. ANDREW OF CRETE? Learn about him and his prayers of repentance here: https://blogs.goarch.org/blog/-/blogs/the-great-canon-of-st-andrew-of-crete
PRE-SANCTIFIED DIVINE LITURGY THIS WEDNESDAY at 6PM. Please fast from noon to Commune in the evening.
7PM THIS FRIDAY - FIRST SALUTATIONS SERVICE TO THE THEOTOKOS This is the first service that leads us to the eventual Akathist Hymn on the fifth Friday. Come and honor the Mother of God as a community on Friday evenings during Great and Holy Lent.
START SAVING YELLOW ONION SKINS and by the time Holy Week arrives you should have enough skins to dye Paschal eggs red (yes--onion skins will yield a beautiful red egg dye)! Have a goal to accumulate skins from 10-14 medium-large onions over the next few weeks. How-to directions will be posted at a later time.
AN OPPORTUNITY TO SPECIAL ORDER ICONS OR OTHER ITEMS from Uncut Mountain Supply. Our bookstore occasionally orders from Uncut Mountain Supply https://www.uncutmountainsupply.com/. If you would like to special order anything, please let Presbytera know this week (doxa141@gmail.com or 207-949-2913 text).
IF YOU'VE NOT ALREADY DONE SO - PLEASE INDICATE YOUR SUPPORTIVE PLEDGE TO ST. GEORGE FOR 2023 A stewardship pledge helps Parish Council reasonably plan for this new year 2023. We pray you can, and will, be generous when remembering your Church and our Holy Patron, Saint George. Pledge forms are available on the candle stand. Please turn in your planned pledge to the church office TODAY if you haven't already done so. Thank you - we are a family in Christ and God is with us. We can never outgive God Almighty and we are greatly blessed! Lee, Parish Council President
WHAT TO COOK & EAT DURING GREAT LENT? One of the things that many people stumble over is what to eat / what to cook for the Season of Repentance (or any fasting season, really). The diet the Church guides us to follow is, largely, plant based augmented with some seafood, if desired, along with wine and olive oil, if desired, on the weekends. Nevertheless, there still seems to be the struggle of what to eat / what to prepare? May we suggest a very useful site to help answer these questions? Jill Dalton of the Whole Food Plant Based Cooking Show is a plant based cook with a family and she has created some truly delicious dishes that fit right in with the dietary guidelines of Great Lent. Visit her site: https://plantbasedcookingshow.com/ and learn how to follow and cook for a whole food, plant based, diet. Not only are Jill's recipes tasty, but they are gluten free, dairy free, oil free and sugar free. Does that sound too good to be true? It's not. You might be surprised by how easy this is to do. Anyway, before Great Lent arrives, consider visiting her site & channel and get some neat pointers and recipes to get your family through the season. This will also aid in keeping the Wednesday / Friday fasting days each week. Jill demonstrates how to cook all her recipes on YouTube, too, so it's a great learning experience. Highly recommended.
HUMBLE TASKS DONE WITH LOVE FOR GOD DO NOT ESCAPE HIS NOTICE Thank you to those who have volunteered to do some needed cleaning since this request was posted last week. We are grateful to you--may your reward be from God!
FOODS REQUESTED BY MANNA MINISTRIES FOOD PANTRY: They are currently in need of canned soups, pasta sauce and tuna fish. Other foods are also welcome, but those listed as especially sought now. And, they sent a hearty thank you to our St. George community for all we've been sending over in recent weeks! Again, thanks to Demetri for being our liaison with Manna.
A MINISTRY TO OUR CHURCH'S NEIGHBORS Our church sits in a neighborhood where there are some obvious on-going needs. A number of lower income people living nearby rely on Manna Ministries' food pantry and soup kitchen (located in the Old Brick Church) somewhat regularly. In an effort to help the pantry help our neighbors, let us make the effort to bring some staple foods to church every Sunday and leave them in the office. We will take the donated foods down to Manna Ministries so we can be part of the effort to feed those who are hungry in our area. This is not meant to be a one-time thing, rather something we do routinely as a ministry to our neighbors. A verse from the Old Testament speaks to the needs for on-going charity, Deuteronomy 15:11, For there will never cease to be poor in the land; that is why I am commanding you to open wide your hand to your brother and to the poor and needy in your land. And the Lord Jesus speaks about the effects of our charitable giving in Matthew 25:40, And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of Mine, you did it for Me.’ So, let us fulfill that which pleases God and He will reward the love and obedience of the giver.