Dear St. Nicholas Family,
Happy new Ecclesiastical Year, and welcome back to a new year of Church and Greek School! We have been busy with our Festival preparations, and welcome everyone's help to make it a success. Please join us on September 11th for our annual church family photo after the Divine Liturgy.
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Archdiocese and Metropolis News
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Metropolis Family Picnic
This Open House will be held at the St. Methodios Faith and Heritage Center on September 17th. View the
flyer for more information.
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HCHC Day of Giving
As we commemorate September 14th, the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, join us in supporting #HonorSeptember14. Watch the video above for more information.
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Sunday Worship
Orthros 8:15am
Divine Liturgy 9:30am
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Did you know EFT and credit card payments can be made online to
St. Nicholas?
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What's your shift?
If you've received an email from the St. Nicholas Festival Committee to sign up for a work shift during any of the 3 festival days, please sign up electronically now for your volunteer shift. It is fast and easy, and lets each of the committees know who to expect and where there are gaps. Make note of your shift day and time, and please arrive on time to relieve the volunteers on the shift ahead of you. If you've volunteered for any Greek festival, you know how busy it will be. Plan to wear comfortable shoes, your St. Nicholas blue festival t-shirt, if possible, and a smile -- it's going to be fun! Thanks to all who have already signed up!
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0d4cacab2ca7fd0-2016
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Synaxis of the Recovery of the Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos
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Moses the Prophet & Godseer
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Nativity of the Theotokos
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Synaxis of Holy Ancestors of God
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Elevation of the Holy Cross
September 14 |
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With a new Church year beginning on September 1st, the following are some reflections on actions we can all take to increase our full participation in the life of the church.
Our spiritual life is the first priority. Establishing one and continuing to build off of it allows us to set the right example in the home. This can greatly impact the lives of others (children in the home, out of the home, friends and/or neighbors).
Active participation in the life of the church and its ministries are other actions we can take. Being fully involved in many ministries can help better direct our lives. The first active participation is The Divine Liturgy. Those of you who have children in Church School or Greek School, those classes are teaching the faith, language and culture and are located on the Church grounds, but attending them does not count for being at the Church. THE FIRST CLASSROOM IS THE DIVINE LITURGY AND CLASS BEGINS EVERY SUNDAY AT 9:30AM.
One can not have the experience of the life in the church without being fully involved in the life of the Church. Our Churching process begins at the 40 days when the infant is brought in as a future follower of Christ. Please remember back when you brought your child(ren) on that special day, that feeling should continue to grow!
The ministries are ongoing and improve with our participation, dedication and love for their guidance in our lives! We grow older and more mature each day of our physical life - our spiritual life should have that same opportunity.
Orthodox Christian education allows us to learn more about our faith, our Lord, His church and ultimately...ourselves. We here at St. Nicholas have educational ministries for every age group: Church School, 40 - 4 (Infant - Pre-K), HOPE/JOY (K-5th grade), GOYA (Jr. High - High School), OCF (college students), Young Professionals, and so on. We have our Orthodox Life/Bible Study series for discussion on certain topics of Scripture and our Faith, and to learn more of our Lord's message...our Christian Education should NEVER STOP.
Examples are set whether good or bad; are we setting the right example for our family, and our parish family...remember someone is following your/our example!
The Church allows us to come to her when we fall short and "miss the mark." To come when happy, to be embraced during difficult times - the church NEVER has its doors closed to us. We, though, have to be willing to come with an open heart and open the door ourselves. We have to want to "Come and See."
Our Spiritual life must be taken seriously, more so than our other undertakings...family, schooling, vocation. Our Church life deserves our full attention and participation.
If you found yourself and/or your family not as involved in the life of our parish last year, you have the opportunity to change that this year! Please show your support with all the ministries of our community. They are part of "our umbrella" in which we all are sheltered.
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Children's Word
Written by Presbytera Alexandra Houck
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Dear St. Nicholas Family,
Happy Ecclesiastical New Year!
In July, Leto Papadopoulos and I attended the Clergy Laity conference in Nashville, Tennessee. We participated in the Parish Development session, met with its representative and gathered important information. The next step is for us, the St. Nicholas community, to come up with a Statement of Need - what exactly is our vision and where do we see our future? The Parish Council will continue to discuss how to best set about doing this: do we hire the Office of Parish Development (yes, there's a fee!) or work with different sources.
The Diocese Finance Team helped us compile all the proper tax information that was provided to the Town of Lexington. To date, we have not heard back from the Town.
Our focus now is on the festival, scheduled for September 16 through 18. This year's festival expenses are close to $30,000! We've had Olympic gold-medal stars working on logistics, donations, ad book sales and food workshops all summer long. If you'd like to be part of this team effort, please sign up
here.
Please let me know if you have any questions or feedback!
Thank you,
Maria Decoulos
madecoulos@gmail.com
617-645-1684
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CHURCH SCHOOL
Church School begins on September 25th. To register your children for the 2016-2017 Church School year, please follow this link: http://tinyurl.com/hd9sfpw. If you have any questions or would like to get involved with the Church School program, please contact Lariza Panagiotou or Amantha Tsaros.
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GREEK SCHOOL
The first day of Greek School classes will be on September 24th. If you have any questions, please contact Lela Digenis: ldigenis@verizon.net.
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PHILOPTOCHOS
Hello Everyone,
I hope you had a wonderful summer! We will be accepting donations for our beloved school HC/HC, on Sunday, September 18th, on the closest day of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. Thank you in advance for your participation!
This is a Festival year, as always, we will run the Pastry Booth. On September 12th we will have the Baklava Workshop - please arrive at 10AM to give us a hand. Cleo Rizos is going to chair this event. By now, you have received the pastry donation letter. We will set up on Thursday the 15th, for the sale on the following 3 days.
Look forward to seeing you at our next meeting, Monday, October 3rd at 7:00 PM.
Thank you,
Lela Digenis
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STEWARDSHIP REPORT
"A steward is one who manages another's property or resources; the Christian, therefore, is a steward of everything he is and has, including his own body and soul, for according to the mystery of salvation, we possess nothing from ourselves, not even our own life and being; all belongs to God and is given to us by the Father through His Son because of the richness of His love and mercy."
From
The Theology of Stewardship in Light of Orthodox Tradition, by Fr. Paul Wesche.
Time and Talent:
What can you do to share the voice of Christ? To welcome those who are searching for a spiritual home? To not hide our light under a bushel (Matthew 5:15) but to be His voice in a changing world? To "welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God." (Romans 15:7)
To bring "families and individuals in the Lexington area closer to Christ."
Knowing that each of us has been endowed with special talents, how can you use yours to be a good and faithful servant? Time is precious - how can you best use your time to share the voice of Christ?
If you could share one hour per week at St. Nicholas, or four hours per month, what would be the best use of your talent? Which ministry, of those that currently exist or one that you would like to start, could you make an impact?
One hour per week.
"...we are called to be the light of the world; we are sent into a changing world to offer the voice of Christ to those who are not connected to the Church. This includes those who are not connected to the Church. This includes those who have never heard the voice of Christ, others who have not been prepared to listen, and still others who need a new invitation to return to Him. For these and even others who are distracted by disparate and deceptive ideas, the voice of Christ through us offers meaning and purpose in truth and love. In fulfilling our commission from God, we much continue to strengthen our ministries of outreach and evangelism so that our clergy and laity have the guidance, the programs, and resources to offer His voice clearly and effectively"
From the Reflections of Archbishop Demetrios of America on the Theme of the Clergy-Laity Congress of 2016.
Treasure: 2016 Stewardship Goal: $175,000
2016 Amount Pledged...$146,550
2016 Contributions...$122,782 (70.16%)
Number of Families Pledging: 159 (additional pledge cards continue to be received)
Number of Families Contributing: 149
Average Pledge per family: $921.70
With love in Christ,
Tony Gray
awgray.jr@gmail.com
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HEALTH & WELLNESS
As the new ecclesiastical year begins, we wish everyone a year full of good health, fitness and spiritual growth. We have a few things on our agenda. First, we would like to have a table set up at Fellowship hour so people can get a hands on education regarding the Automated External Defibrillator (AED) in the church hall.
Secondly, we would love to restart our parish family walks, and our exercise classes. Please let Judy know if that would interest you! We could plan them on as many Sundays as possible before winter comes! For anyone who is interested, check out
Sonia's Run, which takes place on September 17th.
We are open to all ideas, suggestions and comments that could make this a vibrant, beneficial ministry in the year ahead! We welcome your input!
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GOYA
We would like to welcome all families with a son or daughter in grades 6-12 to participate in the GOYA. We operate by focusing on four characteristics of development: witness, fellowship, worship and service. It is through these characteristics that we shape each activity we do in GOYA. We look forward to witnessing our faith by building community through GOYA family dinners, engaging GOYAns to participate in the variety of services in the Orthodox Church and volunteering in soup kitchens and other service projects. If you have any suggestions for an activity or event or service project you are interested in, please let us know. We also invite GOYAns to take on a leadership role for an activity or project this year. Let us know if you are interested.
To learn more about these characteristics, take a look at the Archdiocese
website.
Here is what's coming up!
Please join us at the GOYA Welcome Cookout, hosted by the Splagounias family.
When: Saturday, September 24th at 2:00PM
Where: Splagounias house, 22 Washington Ave, Burlington MA
RSVP by Sunday, September 18, to Meli Papayannis (molitts@gmail.com) or Eleni Saledas (echionakis@gmail.com)
Join us after church to enjoy coffee hour on Sunday, September 25th, hosted by the GOYA!
New GOYA members: Come say Hi and fill out a registration form.
Returning GOYA members: Come for fellowship, serve coffee, and update your information with us.
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GOYA Families are welcome to bring a food item for coffee hour that day*
Thank you and God bless,
Meli & Eleni
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PRAYER LIST
Pondering on the words of St. Paul, "Let no one seek his own, but each one the other's wellbeing. (I Cor. 10:24).
Give rest to the weary, visit the sick, support the poor, for this is also worship. Aphahat
For any prayer concern (salvation, health, employment, stress and anxieties, etc.) please send baptismal names only to:
st.nicholas.lex@verizon.net
We may not be able to help others materially or medically, but God does hear our prayers and always asks us to pray for each other and so build up the Body of Christ (Eph. 4:11-16).
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Messages
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St. Nicholas JOY Basketball
Are you between the ages of 8 and 13? Are you interested in playing on a St. Nicholas JOY basketball team that will play against JOY teams from other area churches? Games will be
played on Saturday afternoons (2pm, 3pm or 4pm) at Hellenic College in Brookline or St. Demetrios church in Weston. The season will run from mid November to early March. If you are interested please contact
Nicholas Zervoglos. Please include your name and age as of September 1, 2016. Girls and boys are welcome to play on the team.
During the year, many have come forward to host a Sunday Fellowship Hour and we thank them so much. It is part of our Sunday and we all look forward to it as an opportunity to meet and greet fellow parishioners and visitors. There are some Sundays that no one has signed up and the decision is made to serve only coffee. If this occurs, no one should feel the need to run out and purchase anything. Although this appreciated, it is not necessary. Thank you.
Not Receiving Church Material?
If you have not been receiving church material/mailing or emails, please contact the church office at
781-862-6453 or email st.nicholaslex@verizon.net Thank you.
Monthly Bulletin Personal or Business Ad
If you are interested in placing a personal or business ad,
please contact the church office at 781-862-6453 or email st.nicholaslex@verizon.net
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Wedding
On Saturday, August 20th, 2016, Alyssa Heisler and Keegan Steele were married at St. Nicholas. The sponsors were Eleni and Niko Saledas. Alyssa is the daughter of Adam and Deirdre Heisler.
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