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Coffee Hour Ministry Seeking Volunteer Coordinator

If you have a knack for organization, prayerfully consider serving as Coffee Hour Coordinator. This ministry head is responsible for creating and maintaining a schedule of volunteers who take turns hosting our fellowship time in the Parish Hall on Sundays following the Divine Liturgy. New and returning hosts are also being sought for the next rotation that begins in July. Volunteers assist this valuable ministry by complementing bagels provided by the parish with light snacks and refreshments, as well as cleaning up afterwards. If you are interested, please complete this form.

Church School Children Present Charity Fundraiser Proceeds to Housing Transitions

On Tuesday, April 19, a team of children met with Ron Quinn, Executive Director of Housing Transitions ministry news, a State College nonprofit corporation offering housing services to Centre County residents in need. The children, members of the Holy Trinity Orthodox Church School, personally delivered funds they raised through their own charity community luncheon.

Their luncheon, aptly entitled “SOUPer Sunday,” was held March 27 and featured a variety of homemade soups prepared by the children. The Church school students were also responsible for serving and hosting the meal, at which a free-will offering was accepted. All proceeds from thefundraiser (which raised just shy of $700) were allotted to Housing Transitions and the Food Bank of the State College Area. Both recipient organizations were specifically selected by the children.

The church school students, aged 4-14, came up with the idea of serving our area charities after studying the Orthodox Christian observance of Great Lent. The 40-day period of preparation for Holy Week and Easter, which ended for Orthodox Christians last Friday, is a time for increased prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. It begins with a reflection of Jesus Christ’s words recorded in the gospel of Matthew (chapter 25, verses 31-46) exhorting Christians to offer compassion and service to those in need:

“…for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in…”

Matthew 25 Collections Due This Sunday

This Sunday is the last day of collection for our Matthew 25 Lenten outreaches: Donations are being solicited for a Clothing Drive, with donations to go to the St. Vincent de Paul Society of State College, a Food Drive, with donations to go to the Food Bank of the State College Area, and a Gift Card Drive (e.g., Wal-Mart, Target) so temporarily homeless residents at Housing Transitions can purchase necessities. Thank you for your generosity.

The Journey

by Konstantin Kucheryavyy

Konstantin, pictured top-left, and fellow Penn State OCF member Jennifer McClure rebuild a collapsed rock wall for a North Carolina resident with their fellow team members.

Saint John Climacus wrote that, when a person decides to [do] a good deed, the devil puts three pits before him/her. The first pit is external circumstances that prevent the deed from being done. The second pit is concerns about personal gains when doing the deed. Finally, the third pit is a feeling of vanity when/if the deed is done… Very often I [couldn’t] even jump over the first pit.

[I] suddenly realized… I am doing so little to help people from the town I currently live in. Of course, I might always say that [it is because] I am a foreigner in this town and this country, and helping people is not my primary concern. I will not be honest, though. Even when I lived in Russia, I was not doing much to help the people around me. Of course, I had an excuse for that too… For any other argument I [had] tons of other excuses readily available.

Up until recently I felt reluctant to publicly express my Orthodox beliefs. At first I thought it was because I felt uncomfortable just in the US because people here are generally unaware of Orthodoxy. But last summer, when I travelled home, it was the same story. I felt as if I was leaving two different lives: in one life I was attending church, participating in sacraments, praying every morning and evening, keeping fasts, etc.; in the other life I was sort of concealing my religion.

Even when I was planning to go to this mission trip, I kept telling people that I am going to travel to the Appalachian Mountains just for the sake of sightseeing. Possibly, I was afraid that people would think that I am a fanatic. I was afraid to be misunderstood. Or, maybe, I was ashamed. This duality of my life was causing discomfort inside of me. The discomfort was near to unbearable when

I was recalling Mark 8:38: “If anyone is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when He comes in His Father’s glory with the holy angels.” Still I could not do anything about it.

I believe that this trip helped me to overcome the fear of being misunderstood… Maybe one of the evening talks—which we were having every evening during the trip—contributed to that. I remember that at some point we were discussing problems we encountered during the day and how we were able to resolve them. The leitmotif of this discussion was the phrase “So what?”…

Konstantin attempts to teach some Russian phrases to newfound friends from the Detroit area.

So, [if] I am afraid that people will not understand or share my religious views—as a matter of fact, a lot of people do not understand [or] share my religious views—so what!? There is nothing extraordinary about this fact. Christianity has been dealing with misunderstanding from the very beginning.

If magical things can happen to me, the Appalachian Mountains mission trip was one of them. Could I ever imagine a better beginning of Great Lent: Wonderful people around me, thrilling views of Appalachian Mountains, devoted prayer, thought provoking discuss-ions, and a lot of fun and fooling around?

I was unplugged from my normal routine with all its economic models, news reports, deadlines, and rush. I was unplugged only to touch reality. The feeling of the reality was so acute, that for long periods during the trip I was able to release all those pains, silly fears, and guilt of the past and the future. Maybe that is why it was so incredibly hard to get back to “normal” life upon returning…

Truly, it takes a long trip to start noticing obvious things in one’s backyard. Thank God right now nobody is trying to torture me for my beliefs. It is my love for Christ in people which should motivate me in my public expression of my beliefs. It should be my tiny mission to show people the right way.

Sanctifying Technology in Parish Life

by Dn. Alexander Cadman

We cannot escape technology. Handheld devices give us access to more information than can be contained in any library, social networks reinvent the world and how we interact… even the simplest automobile has more computer power than the system that guided men to the moon.

Earlier this semester during our weekly OCF dinner and discussions, we explored the effects of technology on this generation and its relation-ships, noting true friendship is based on self-sacrifice and suffering with our neighbor, sharing trials until death. The all-too sanitized glimpse we get into the lives of others from Facebook, though neither “Pandora’s Box” nor “Prometheus’ Gift,” can’t provide the saving bonds we long for. We all committed to sanctify it by praying through our friend lists and status updates, and giving thanks to God for the many connections He provides.

In the parish as a whole, we are discovering new ways to bless electronic resources, like the weekly This Week email (contact the Parish Office to subscribe) and “digital” bulletin (i.e., “HTOC-TV”), video conferencing at ministry meetings, and mobile scheduling (on Fr. John’s iPhone, no less!). In April we look forward to further enhancements, including a totally redesigned holytrinity-oca.org and the transmission of audio from the amvon and Choir into the Narthex.

 

Serving Christ this Lent

by Melody Thompson

This Lent, Matthew 25 is coordinating four almsgiving opportunities: A food drive, with donations going to the State College Area food bank; a clothing drive, with donations going to the St. Vincent de Paul Society; a gift card drive (grocery/gas/etc.) so Housing Transitions (the local homeless shelter) can purchase items they need to help residents be clean and comfortable in their temporary housing; and a coin collection so these residents can do their laundry.

How is this serving Christ? Surely He doesn’t need canned food or clothes or gift cards… or quarters!

Or does he? Christ Himself tells us, “…inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me.” (Matt. 25:40)

Even in an apparently well-to-do community like ours, there are many of Christ’s (and our) brethren who need us to reach out to them. Please consider responding to Christ’s words through one of these opportunities. Collection receptacles will be avail-able in the Narthex and Parish Hall, and the Church School has made a special poster on which to place the gift cards. For more information about these activities, please see me or Dn. Alex.

 

Young Adult Fellowship and OCF to Co-Host Dinner

Everyone in our community aged eighteen to thirty-something are especially invited to attend a “yummeaux” dinner of authentic Cajun cuisine this Sunday at 6 p.m. The event is a kick-off event for a new ministry initiative to bring together and address the unique needs of this demographic. The fast-friendly dinner is co-sponsored by the Penn State Orthodox Christian Fellowship and Holy Trinity’s Adult Ministries. Families with children are welcome. There’s no charge, but be sure to bring a friend!

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