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VBS Daily News: Peace (and Joy) in the Valley

Posted on June 14, 2011 by in Vacation Bible School

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STATE COLLEGE, PA — During the second day of the 2011 HTOC Vacation Bible School there was brief discussion of the possibility of chaining the nickname of the local area to Joyful Valley but this was tabled for future consideration.

In other news, students today focused on the spiritual fruits of joy and peace. Students learned that joy is more than being happy but rather it comes from us living in the way God wants and being glad no matter what is happening in our lives. To live in the joy of the Lord we are told not to worry about tomorrow for God will take care of us. “Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor spin.”

Students also found that peace is being free from worry and fear and getting along with people around you. Peace is mental and emotional calmness in the midst of problems and that peace is love’s security.

Joy — It’s Much More Than Being Happy

In our culture there is plenty of happiness and merriment (just go downtown on a football weekend). Also, think about some of our most cherished greetings, “Happy Birthday!”, “Happy Anniversary”, and of course, “Merry Christmas!” But when we greet each other with these words do we really express upon them a sense of His deep joy — that desire that only comes from knowing and understanding from whom the Joy truly springs forth?

Happiness is oftentimes relatively easy to come by (for kids, this may be a new toy or a day at the amusement park) but it is fleeting. Real joy is sometime that takes happiness to a whole new level — it’s like a thousand birthdays at once. Joy brings a sense which encompasses the depth of the soul that warms like nothing else. Find His joy and get warm! (BTW — most kids have found it — ask them their secret.)

Peace Out

The peace that Christ has left to us has been conveyed through the centuries from the first announcement to the apostles during the Mystical Supper (John 14:27): “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give you, not as the world gives, give I to you. Do not let your heart be troubled and be not afraid.” To find that peace is to give up the search for the imperfect peace that the world gives. Oh, how we search for it everywhere, from so many people in various situations. Yet we find that even the best of humans ultimately will let us down. Each time we hear the celebrant during the sacred services utter the word, “Peace be with you,” we hear the promise of the Master in the voice of the priest. Only His peace and presence offers abiding comfort. Only the Holy Spirit quells the confusion of our thoughts and raises us to an awareness of bliss in God.)

— Rev. V. Berzonsky

FPO — For Parents Only

VBS is a great time for your kids — but it is even a better time to talk with your children about the important thins which they have learned. It’s your responsibility to reinforce these daily lessons (Hint: Read your VBS Daily News.)



VBS Daily News: Summer Learning Season Begins

Posted on June 13, 2011 by in Vacation Bible School

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“I’ve Got the Fruit of the Spirit in Me” Theme Set for 2011 VBS

STATE COLLEGE, PA — It just wouldn’t be summer in Happy Valley without the annual HTOC Vacation Bible School (VBS) and today participants enjoyed an exciting first day. As the Orthodox Church is in the joyous Pentecost post-feast period, the theme this year is “I’ve Got the Fruit of the Spirit in Me!”. The theme centers on Galatians 5:16-26 and these gifts are being studied to encourage the spiritual growth in the students. They will make connections between the Bible stories and “real” life and although the VBS offers serious study about God there will also be plenty of fun.

Some goals for the week include:

  • Understand who is the Holy Spirit;
  • Identify each of the Fruits of the Spirit (love, joy, etc.);
  • Learn that the fruits are outward signs of an inward change in one’s life;
  • Encouraging participants to understand that they should do their best to work with the Holy Spirit to get the this fruit into their personality;
  • Have the students discuss and understand Bible passages where the attributes of each fruit are revealed and how to apply them to their life.

What is the Fruit of the Spirit?

Today the VBS students got their first taste of spiritual fruit with the stuffy of the fruit of love. St. Paul says, “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.” Notice that St. Paul uses the singular “fruit” instead of a plural “fruits.” This indicates that these “fruit” comprise a singular cluster of characher “in Christ,” and not to be considered independent of one another. What a nice bunch of fruit we should all strive to become!

Who Do You Love?

The neat thing about God’s love is that it’s not a feeling to Him, He can’t fall out of love with us. He loves us even when we’re not “lovable” and when we’re grumpy or doing bad things. He loves all of us no matter what.

Now, the real tricky part is loving others like God loves us. There is a special kind of love we can have for others, it’s called agape love. Pretend for a day that you have special glasses on and that everyone you see you love just because God loves them, like the way you love a mom or dad, brother or sister.

You may run into somebody you don’t think deserves your love or you just don’t want to love at all, but God loves them and if we love God we are supposed to live them too. Who exactly are we supposed to love?

  • Love God
  • Love yourself
  • Love your family
  • Love your friends
  • Love your neighbors
  • Love your enemies

FPO — For Parents Only

Parents please be prompt when dropping off and picking up your children day. If we are not at the church for dismissal, please come to Holmes-Foster Park. Also, don’t forget your children must signed-in/signed-out each day.

Parish Picnic Fun for All

Posted on June 13, 2011 by in Announcements

We had the largest group to date attend our parish picnic last Sunday! Many, many thanks to the cooks (Chris Reeves, Josh Cattell, and Bruce Haupt) who grilled wonderful hotdogs and burgers and to everyone who provided side dishes. The food was outstanding—and plentiful! A fun time for all!

Summit to Offer Practical Insight on Inner-City Ministry

Posted on June 10, 2011 by in The Church Beyond Our Parish

COLUMBUS, OH – St. Gregory of Nyssa Orthodox Church will hold a two-day interactive conference here on July 26-27 for anyone interested in learning how to minister to those struggling in urban and suburban settings. Through speakers, workshops, and open discussions, the summit will explore the challenges faced by social outreaches today. Attendees will have an opportunity to participate in the host parish’s community meal program and interact with individuals who have “hands-on experience” bringing the Light of Christ to those in need beyond the walls of their churches. The $75 cost covers all materials, lunches and an evening meal.

New Arrival at the Bookstore

Posted on June 7, 2011 by in Bookstore

The Holy Trinity Bookstore is pleased to announce the arrival of the newest edition of Grand Duchess Elizabeth of Russia: New Martyr of the Communist Yoke by Lubov Millar from the Nikodemos Orthodox Publication Society. The Bookstore, open after the Sunday Divine Liturgy in the Parish Hall, regularly expands its diverse selection of titles. All new arrivals are now placed on the bottom shelf of the center bookcase.

This book is a fascinating recounting of the Grand Duchess’ life, and includes dozens of her letters– to her grandmother, Queen Victoria; to her brother, the last Grand Duke of Hesse; and to several friends. The author relied on unpublished sources in two countries and published sources in four languages. The scholarship and passion the author put into researching her subject shows. The religious content of the work, considering the religious nature of the Grand Duchess and the central role religion played in her life, is entirely appropriate and even necessary. In any case, it is nowhere near as militant as the subtitle (“new martyr of the Communist yoke”) might indicate. Quite simply, this is a well-researched and affectionate portrait of a fascinating and complex woman, one of the best biographies of her I have read.

— Review from Amazon.com

 

Council Begins Five-Year Strategic Planning

Posted on June 7, 2011 by in Natural Church Development, Parish Council

To ensure Holy Trinity has a “roadmap” in place to guide its mission and ministry to 2016 and beyond, the Parish Council held a special planning session last month. The four-hour meeting opened with a thorough review of the current mission statement. After evaluating its effectiveness and proposing modifications, each participant had an opportunity to share his insights of what the parish would be like in five years if God’s Will was truly accomplished.

Among the six common themes identified was the need to remove all obstacles that could curb our current rate of growth and a clear vision to expand Holy Trinity’s visibility in our community through the broadening and increasing of its social outreach and evangelical ministries. After completing the group exercises, the positive and progress oriented assembly ended with an overwhelming vote of support to the Chapel of the Holy Spirit faithful to proceed with their plans to purchase property in Beavertown. The Council will continue its analysis and the planning process at its June 8 meeting.

 

Young Adults to Hold Social

Posted on June 6, 2011 by in Orthodox Christian Fellowship, Young Adult Fellowship

To encourage summer fellowship among the “18-35” demographic, the Young Adult Fellowship and the Orthodox Christian Fellowship will host a social on June 15 (a Fast Free Wednesday) at 8 p.m. at Champs Sports Grill on N. Atherton. Be there!

 

Sex Isn’t Sin!*

Posted on June 1, 2011 by in Orthodox Spirituality

by Fr. Barnabas Powell

As we enter a month popular for marriages, Fr. Barnabas Powell explains that sex isn’t sin… * as long as it is practiced within a sacred context.

Few topics are more guaranteed to offend than sex. I probably needn’t go any further. Merely seeing the word in print has surely offended someone already. That squeamishness is a good place to begin.

Negative views of sexuality in Western Christendom go back at least as far as Augustine, who reacted to his own, youthful transgressions with a Manichaean starkness that filtered into Latin positions and impacted doctrines as wide-ranging as original sin, clerical celibacy and birth control.

Eastern Christianity, by contrast, doesn’t view sex as inherently profane. Opponents of homosexuality cheekily observe that God created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve. Let’s not overlook the fact that God didn’t merely create Adam, either. If sex were inherently tainted, a good God would have created us to reproduce asexually, like snails.

Far from such Puritanism, Genesis refers to God’s handiwork nine times as “good.” The first “not good” refers to man being alone. Enter Eve. Leaving little room for subtlety, God tells the new pair to “be fruitful and multiply” (and not with a calculator). He says this before they sin, so none can claim sex is merely a manifestation of the Fall.

Nevertheless, since the world is fallen, sex has become subject to corruption. Probably the best definition of idolatry I’ve heard is “the worship of something good rather than the God who made it good.”

Given the amount of time, effort and emphasis we devote to sex, it has become one of the most worshipped idols in our culture. Treating the topic as taboo will no longer suffice as responsible Christian teaching. Progressives attempt to compensate for historical Puritanism by claiming that anything’s permissible as long as there’s mutual consent, but this policy is no less distorted.

The East gave Christianity monasticism, but our parish priests are usually married. We venerate the Virgin Mary, but also celebrate her Conception by Joachim and Anna (whose icon includes a bed). These aren’t inconsistencies, but a continuum whose common theme is chastity.

Why are you blushing [about my mention of sexual intercourse]? Leave that to the heretics and pagans, with their impure and immodest customs. For this reason I want marriage to be thoroughly purified, to bring it back again to its proper nobility. You should not be ashamed of these things. If you are ashamed, then you condemn God who made marriage… [It] is a mystery of the Church!

— St. John Chrysostom

Chaste sexuality begins with a proper context, and the Eastern Church has only ever recognized one—heterosexual, monogamous marriage. Enlightened minds will no doubt be repulsed by the first of these three conditions, but bear in mind that in the Eastern tradition, homosexuality isn’t singled out for any greater condemnation than premarital or extramarital sex (i.e., fornication and adultery, to dispense with euphemisms).

In fact, biblically speaking, adultery is the quintessential symbol of apostasy and betrayal of sacred covenants. Homosexual advocates are right to point out the hypocrisy of opponents who ignore the child abuse and extramarital escapades rife among Christians (the clergy being “Exhibit A”).

There are and always have been priests, monks, bishops and even saints who’ve struggled with attraction to members of the same sex. These men and women are more zealous believers than I will ever be, given their struggle. Beyond that, I’ll not patronize anyone by offering unrealistic expectations of moral revisionism.

Even within marriage, there is no free license to do as you wish when you wish. As anyone subject to the discipline of monogamy can affirm, sensitivity to your spouse sometimes means not getting your way. Force and coercion are acts of exploitation that can only lead to division, rather than union. Rape is rape.

Monogamy also is a matter of thought as well as deed. “Mental porn” violates the marriage bed, and includes not only conventional pornography, but memories of unions with previous partners. These destructive images may come unbidden, which must have something to do with the studies indicating that virgins enjoy better relations than those who enter marriage with notches already carved into their bedposts.

As with eating and drinking, sexual temperance isn’t meant to keep people from getting their jollies, but to make the joy of sex real by liberating it from slavery to passion. Sex shouldn’t merely be illicit. It should be sacred.

 

Editor’s Note: Fr. Barnabas Powell, a 2004 graduate of St. Vladimir’s (and former roommate of Dn. Alexander), has spent six years ministering in Colorado, regularly contributing in the Pueblo Chieftain. This month his family will move to lead a mission in Kirkland, WA.

 

Extra Scoops: Strengthen Your Summer Family Devotions

Posted on June 1, 2011 by in Sunday School Scoop

  • School ends this month for our local districts and the daily family routine will transition into a summer cycle.  Although the pace may be different, regular prayer, bible reading, and attendance at Church services should remain constant. 
  • Setting and achieving a goal is always a thrill for kids (for parents, too).  Why not set a goal with your child and work on it together over the summer months?  Some suggestions include memorizing an entire Psalm (or a couple), have a bible study of one of the books of the Bible, do a charity service project in our community, plan to attend a full cycle of services for an entire week or two (daily vespers, Saturday vespers, Sunday matins, etc.).
  • The Sunday School can always use extra hands and support in the classroom, special activities, projects, group outings, etc.  See Deacon Mark to see where your talents can be used in the coming year.

For the Record: May 2011

Posted on June 1, 2011 by in For the Record

Baptism

  • George Thomas Biberdorf, son of Fr. Basil and Mat. Dea Biberdorf, baptized May 8, sponsored by Fr. Christopher Ignatius Rigden-Briscall.

Transitions

  • Julius D. “Bud” Wilbur, step-father to Anne and David Swisher, passed away May 12 at the age of 81. May his memory be eternal!

Your Generosity

  • $700 from a benefit breakfast held May 29 for Christopher McNulty’s upcoming mission trip serving orphans in Ukraine. Thank you!

 

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