Newsletter May 2019 Christ is in our midst!

St. Michael the Archangel

Serbian Orthodox Parish Saturday Vespers 6:00 PM Sunday Divine Liturgy 10:00 AM

Website: www.stmichaelshsv.org/

Click here for St. Michaels Website Calendar

Saturday, May4th – Bright Saturday †6:00 pm Vespers

Sunday, May 5th – St. Thomas Sunday †8:45am Orthros †10:00am Divine Liturgy

Tuesday, May 7th – 6:00pm Church Council

Wednesday, May 8th – Holy Apostle Mark †6:00 pm Vespers Thursday, May 9th - 5:45 pm—8 pm Church Teachers Class

Saturday, May11th – †6:00 pm Vespers

Sunday, May 12th– Myrrh-bearing Women Mother’s Day! †8:45am Orthros †10:00am Divine Liturgy

Monday, May 13th– Holy Apostle James

Wednesday, May 15th– †6:00 pm Vespers

Saturday, May 18th – †6:00 pm Vespers

Sunday, May19th – The Righteous Job †8:45am Orthros †10:00am Divine Liturgy

Tuesday, May 21st– Holy Apostle John

Wednesday, May 22nd– NO VESPERS

Saturday, May25th – NO VESPERS

Sunday, May 26th – Sunday of the Samaritan Woman †8:45am Orthros †10:00am Divine Liturgy Saturday, June 1st— †6:00 pm Vespers

Sunday, June 2nd – Nativity of St. John the Baptist †8:45am Orthros †10:00am Divine Liturgy Monday, June 3rd—Wednesday, June 4th 9:00—12 noon Summer Church Camp

Coffee Hour: (*Fast)

May 5th – Haddock June 2nd – Kaiser May 12th – Hogan/Schultz June 9th – Kendall May 19th – Harwell June 16th – Litter May 26th – Hartley June 23rd – Malmede *June 30th – Pastrick

Note: If you cannot be at church on your Sunday, please arrange to trade places with someone from the coffee hour list that can.

Birthdays:

6th – Ryan Agee 29th – Phil Harwell 8th – Ray Kendall 29th – Lisa Novak 11th – Anya Pickle 30th – Amelia Sievers 12th – Cheryl Brown 31st – Mary Zarzaur

Anniversaries:

12th – Vicki & Ray Kendall 14th – Iryna & Jermey Haddock 29th – Michele & Don Platt 30th – Benjamin & Stephanie Litter

Thanks: To Sandy Ellis for preparing all the liturgical services; Vicki Kendall for organizing the decorating of the Holy Friday tomb with her assistants—Patrease, Makai, Kalani & Mila Traylor and Serena, Jeremy, Sophia and Timothy Harwell and Becky Brennan. To Timea Veres for coordinating the Easter Egg Hunt and her assistants—Serena Harwell, Stephanie Litter & Anya Freude. To Iryna Haddock for coordinating the Agape Potluck with the Sisterhood; and Rick and Michelle Kaiser for coordinating the set up & reserving the Edgewater Clubhouse with the help of Chase Baker & Matthew Hartley; To David Hogan for roasting the lamb roast.

Activities This Month: Thursday, May 9—Teacher’s Watercolor Class at 5:45 pm w/Mat. Ann. LAST DAY OF CHURCH SCHOOL IS SUNDAY, MAY 12 UNTIL AUGUST 2019.

Save the Date: Summer Church Camp—Monday, June 3—Wednesday, June 4, 9—12 noon RSVP Mat. Ann. Annual Church Retreat on Monte Sano—Thursday, June 20—Saturday, June 22. Speakers: Fr. Seraphim Baltic and Taylor Hostetler—Reserve your campsite now.

The News at St. Michael’s

This past month has been one of the most spiritually rich and busiest times we’ve had. On Sunday, April 7th, we celebrated the Feast of the Annunciation of the Mother of God. Then on Lazarus Saturday, April 20th, St. Michael’s welcomed eleven new Orthodox Christians to our church through Holy Baptism. Congratulations and Many Years to Leonard Adams, Becky Brennan, Benjamin, Stephanie & Jude Litter, Eric Morgan, Ryan, Patrease, Makai, Kalani & Ma’ila Trayler! The next day we celebrated Palm Sunday on April 21st with our traditional procession around the church. Then we began Holy Week on April 22nd, culminating with the moving Vespers service on Holy Friday. The Paschal vigil began at 11:30pm and lasted until the wee hours. On the Sunday of Pascha, St. Michael’s gathered together at the Edgewater Clubhouse for an inspiring Agape Vespers service at 2:30pm and a fantastic feast meal! For some of our new members, this was their first Orthodox Pascha. One of the children was quoted as saying that this was the best Easter they ever had!

2019 Annual Diocesan Assembly: This year’s Diocesan Assembly was held in Graslake, Illinois at New Gracanica. Representing St. Michael’s were our Treasurer, Matthew Hartley, Audit Committee Member, David Hogan, and Fr. Gregory & Mat. Ann. Bishop Longin was kind enough to pose for a group photo (at right). The Divine Services were inspiring, the meetings were informative and lively, and the Lenten Serbian food was terrific! Once again, spending this time with our Brothers and Sisters of the Midwest Diocese, helps strengthen everyone as we all labor in our Lord’s service.

Coming up:

Summer Church Camp Teacher’s workshop: On Thursday, May 9th from 5:45pm to 8pm, Mat Ann Schultz will lead the Church School teachers in a special watercolor painting workshop. This is in preparation for the St. Michael’s Summer Camp on June 3rd, which will include a wet watercolor painting activity that shows the six days of creation.

Work Party at the New Property: On Saturday, May 11th, the men of St. Michael’s will gather at the new property for the first time in 2019 to continue clearing limbs and repairing the silt fence. A hearty lunch will be provided. Please RSVP to Fr. Gregory.

Announcements: Fr. Gregory & Mat. Ann will be traveling to California on Monday, May 20 and returning late Saturday evening on May 25th for the last CSB meeting and will be visiting the St. Herman Monastery for a few days. There will not be a Vespers service on Wed., May 22nd or Saturday, May 25th, but Matins and Divine Liturgy will be held on Sunday, May 26th at the usual times.

Church School Summer Break: In keeping with our usual tradition of mirroring the Madison County School calendar, Church School will not be in session from Sunday, May 19th on, and will resume on Sunday, August 11th (with the exception of the Summer Camp).

St. Michael’s Summer Camp: This year’s Summer Camp will be held Monday, June 3rd through Wednesday, June 5th from 9am to 12noon each of those days.

St. Michael 5th Annual Retreat: Our 5th Annual Retreat will be held at the MonteSano Campground from Thursday, June 20th through Saturday, June 23rd. Guest Speakers this year include Fr. Serafim Baltic and Taylor Hostetter. If you are planning to camp or stay in a cabin, please contact Monte Sano State Park as soon as possible to make reservations, since many of the sites and cabins have been getting booked up already.

Keeping Festival in the Lord

“Christ is my power my God and my Lord, the Holy Church divinely sings, crying with a pure mind, keeping festival in the Lord.” (from Sunday Matins Canon of the Resurrection, Irmos of Ode 4, Tone 6)

Christ is Risen! Having celebrated the Great and Holy Resurrection of Christ at Pascha, the Holy Church directs us to keep the Paschal Feast for the next forty days. So what does this mean for us? We generally don’t spend much time celebrating holidays or special events in our modern American culture today. However, throughout history and even in modern times, other cultures around the world take a lot more time to celebrate these things. For example, in other cultures, a wedding celebration might last anywhere from several days to a week. In 21st century America, most wedding celebrations typically are finished in less than a day.

Let’s consider that once Great Lent began, we fasted for forty days, plus all of Holy Week. Just as we did our best to keep the fast for the season of Great Lent, so we should do our best to keep the feast during the forty days after Pascha. Yet, once the Paschal Services have ended and we’ve had a festive meal together, for many of us, that’s the end of the Paschal celebrations and we tend to go back to our normal schedules without much further thought about Pascha.

In our weakened spiritual state, many of us tend to experience things on more of a material level than a spiritual one. More often than not, once a family has attended church on Christmas and opened their presents, the next day the decorations are taken down and the Christmas tree is thrown out on the curb. Yet the Orthodox Church gives us a fast-free period of about a week and a half to help us remember the Nativity of Christ.

Does the Holy Church expect us to prepare elaborate dinners every night for the forty days after Pascha then? Here is where we must look a little more deeply into the meaning of a spiritual feast. What’s the difference between just a normal, everyday meal and a feast? Look at our traditional Thanksgiving dinners. Most people roast an enormous turkey and prepare great quantities of stuffing and mashed potatoes. There are almost always lots of leftovers and it’s pretty common for us to get sick of eating turkey day after day once Thanksgiving is over! So that’s a pretty good image of an earthly feast—in other words more than we can eat at one sitting! By the same token, a spiritual feast is more than we can take in all at once. All of the Great Feasts of the Holy Church are this way. The Divine Services are filled with such rich and profound teaching that it’s impossible to fathom the depths of meaning all at once. Typically there is a Pre-Feast, the Feast itself and then the After-Feast, which usually lasts at least a week until the Apodosis, or ‘leave taking’ of the feast.

After the Lord’s Resurrection, He appeared to His disciples many times. When Christ appeared to Luke and Cleopas on the road to Emmaus and they were perplexed and uncertain about all the things that had happened, the Lord said to them, “O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.” In other words, the Apostles and disciples had a difficult time understanding and believing in Christ’s Resurrection. It is much the same with us today. Although the Holy Fathers have taught us all about spiritual renewal and that in a mystical sense, we participate in Christ’s Resurrection, yet we often struggle to fully comprehend the meaning of this.

Brothers and Sisters, during these forty days after Pascha, let us keep Christ’s Resurrection in constant remembrance. Let us “keep festival in the Lord” and truly celebrate when our Lord trampled down death by death! And let us pray continuously that He will enlighten our hearts and minds so that we may more perfectly understand and experience the spiritual resurrection of our souls! Christ is Risen!

April 20, 2019 Lazarus Saturday Baptisms

Palm Sunday 2019

Holy Friday Organized by Vicki Kendall

With the Traylor & Harwell Families

Pascha, April 28, 2019

Agape Vespers at Edgewater Clubhouse

Easter Egg Hunt

Prayer List:

Living: Church Members & Orthodox Friends: Please pray for God’s help with building the future Church and hall on our new property on Madison Blvd.; Lisa Craft, Ivan Fontane, Loren Capsopoulos, Leslie Hargrave, Phil Harwell & family, Weston Letson, Tim Waskerwitz, Kurt Weber, Fr. Parthenios, Sean Perry, Pat Darzi’s granddaughters: Lorelei, Adina & Juliana, Fr. Dcn James Hughes, Martin Gureasko. Friends of Members: Barb Evridge, Anne Kobasa (mother of Helen Bergantz), Mahasin Tadros

Reposed: Eli Grba, Fr. Athanasius Shaw, Gennadiy Zhmaylo, Fr. Chris Williamson, Gregory Hughes, Ron Waskerwitz, Christopher Pamfilis, Alexa & Hayden Hannig, Nicolae Caracalean, Valentina, Vangie Pamfilis, Milan Petrovic, Boris and Mary Kochoff, Fryni McCreary, Nelia Friedman, Natalie Elliott.

Confessions: May be heard Saturdays after Vespers; Sunday 9:40—10 am before Divine Liturgy or contact Fr. Gregory to arrange a time. Please come early Sunday morning so we can begin Liturgy by 10:00 am.

Committees/Chairpersons: Sub-deacon—Bob Zarzaur Choir Director—Sandy Ellis Ass’t Choir Director—Matushka Ann Readers/Acolytes—Steve Cox, Matthew Hartley, David Hogan, Rick Kaiser, Ray Kendall, Charles Malmede & Hal Pastrick Sisterhood President—Iryna Haddock Sisterhood Treasurer—Michele Platt Sunday School Director—Matushka Ann Sunday School Teachers—Serena Harwell, Timea Veres and Pavel Sievers Sunday School Teaching Assistants—Stephanie Litter and Patrease Traylor Library & Bookstore—Matushka Ann Building Maintenance—Sub-deacon Bob Zarzaur & Rick Kaiser Welcoming Committee Coordinator—Charles Malmede Website—Charles Malmede Newsletter Bulletin—Rick Kaiser Candle/Supplies—Rick Kaiser

Church Council—2018 to 2019 Father Gregory Schultz—Parish Administrator Sub-deacon Moses (Bob) Zarzaur—President Michele Platt—Vice President Matthew Hartley—Treasurer Pavel (Elliot) Sievers—Secretary Members at Large—Chase Baker, Joe Bergantz, Rick Kaiser, Charles Malmede and Hal Pastrick

Please note: the Church telephone number is: 256 881-2449

Office hours at the Church are as follows.*

Tues: 10:00 am—4:00 pm; Wed: 12 noon—6:00 pm; Thurs: 10:00 am—4:00 pm

*Please note: while Fr. Gregory will normally be at the Church during these times, pastoral needs are given priority (ie.: when someone is ill, etc.) If you need to see him, please call ahead.