SAINT
JOSEPH THE BETROTHED
Melkite-Greek Catholic CHURCH
725 W. Mt.
Hope Ave, Lansing, MI 48910 517-575-6264
FMailing Address: 921 Westover
Circle, Lansing, MI 48917E
Rev. Protodeacon Joseph Daratony
248-719-5169
Phone or email Fr James with items for the
bulletin by Thursday night.
Troparion of St Andrew the First-Called Apostle (Tone 4)
Andrew, first-called of the Apostles and brother of Peter
their leader,
intercede with the Master of All
that He may grant peace to the world and great mercy to
our souls.
29 November 2015—13th Sunday of the Holy
Cross, 27th Sunday after Pentecost.
Holy Martyrs Paramon and Philumenes. (Tone 2)
Readings Apostolos: Ephesians 6:10-17 Gospel:
Luke 18:18-27
10:30 am Orthros
(Morning Prayer)
11 am Churching
of Dominic Simon Haddad. Divine Liturgy of St John Chrysostom for the
health and salvation of Ruth Zarka,
Violet Albertson, Ina Samra, Leila Abdallah, Kenneth Wright, Doug Wann, Mona, Zaina,
Gary, Charlotte Senno, Fares Eid, Maroun Daher, Dennis Flint, Eleanora Lindo, Max, Angel, Simone, Mikayla Slocum, Raymond
Rashid, Bonita Saba, Griffin Barna, Jim Covello, David Georges, Ralph Farhat,
Robert Kuri, Isaac Salim, Iva Butler, Alessandra, BJ & Liz, Cam, Janice,
Jeanne, Wayne, Lucy, Kelsey, Kathleen Edwards, Edgar & Katherine, Kamal
& Eugenie, Clay, Michael
Maslowski, Elaine & Eva-Genevieve Scarborough, Antonio Carvalho, Elias
Haggar, Marie Dahdouh, Dn. Joe & Marge Daratony, Fr Charles Aboody, Fr
Joseph Haggar, Fr Damon Geiger, Fr James Babcock, Fr Basil Samra, Fr Michael Skrocki, Fr Maximos; in memory of Awatef Chahine, Maarouf Khouri (Siham
Calille), Elias Atallah (Nadia
Washington), Nickolas Nakfoor (Joe & Latife Khouri), Louis Zarka (Fayrouz &
Nabil Raad & Najla), and Shirley Powell.
6 December 2015—Tenth Sunday of the Holy Cross. Holy Father Nicholas the Wonderworker,
Archbishop of Myra in Lycia. (Tone 3)
Readings Apostolos: Hebrews 13:17-21 Gospel: Luke 13:10-17
10:30 am Orthros
(Morning Prayer)
11 am Divine
Liturgy of St John Chrysostom in memory of Maarouf Khouri (40-day Memorial by Jocelyne & Piere), Janet Sawaya (9th Anniversary by the Family), Nickolas Nakfoor (Boutros & Nohad
Eid), Awatef Chahine, Elias Atallah (Nick
& Nicki Joseph), Louis Zarka (Fayrouz
& Nabil Raad & Najla), and Eleanor
Graham.
Music for Today
1.
Troparion of the Resurrection in
Tone 2, Liturgikon, page 183.
2.
Troparion of the Martyrs, in Tone
4.
3.
Troparion of St Joseph, in Tone
4, page 30A.
4.
Kontakion of the Preparation for
the Nativity of the Lord, in Tone 4, page 225.
Our Offerings
to the Lord
The collection taken in the Liturgy is part of our
worship. We offer the Lord our lives,
our prayers, our gifts of bread and wine, and our financial gifts. Last Sunday, about 80 people attended the
Liturgy. Our offering totalled $908 in
the ordinary collection, $1500 in memorials, $425 for stole offerings, $10 for
candles, and $129 for New Roof pledges. Not
everyone can make an equal gift, but everyone can make an equal sacrifice.
Our Lady’s Society Will Meet 1 December, Celebrating St
Barbara’s Day
Our Lady’s Society will meet
on Tuesday 1 December. The meeting will
begin half an hour earlier than usual, at 6:30 pm, with a short Vespers for the
Feast of St Barbara (actually 4 December).
After Vespers, there will be a short business meeting, followed by a
White Elephant gift exchange. Do not buy
new items for the gift exchange; bring something nice from home that you don’t
need and someone else might like. Also, please bring a nice, new, warm gift for
someone who is poor or homeless—such as warm socks, gloves, scarves, or
hats. These gifts will be taken to the
women’s shelter for distribution to those in need.
Great Vespers for the Maternity of St Ann,
Parish Council Meeting on 8 December
The Feast of the Maternity of St Ann, celebrating God’s miraculous gift
of the conception of a daughter in their old age by Ann and Joachim, falls on 9
December. We will celebrate the feast
(known in the Latin Church as the Immaculate Conception of Mary) with Great
Vespers at 5 pm on Tuesday 8 December.
The Parish Pastoral Council will meet after Vespers at 6:30 pm, instead
of on Wednesday 9 December.
Saturday 12 December: Church School Day of Preparation for the
Nativity
Our Church School will have a Day of Preparation for the Nativity of
Christ on Saturday 12 December with Fr James.
The program will begin at 11 am with a lesson about preparing for the
Coming of Christ, followed by lunch at noon, the Holy Mystery of Confession and
Repentance at 12:30 pm, and Great Vespers for the Sunday of the Ancestors of
Christ at 2 pm. All Church School
students are expected to be present and to participate in this day of
preparation. Sunday 13 December will be
the last day of classes until 3 January.
NAMY Meeting 6-8 pm on Sunday 13 December
St Joseph’s NAMY will meet on Sunday 13 December from 6 to 8 pm. We will plan our concert and Spaghetti Lunch
scheduled for 20 December and Christmas caroling scheduled for 27
December. Fr James will lead a
discussion about the meaning of Holy Communion.
Give to the
Bishop’s Appeal and Be Rich in the Things of God
Don’t’ be like the Rich Young Foot in today’s Gospel. Our Lord tells us not be sad and downcast worrying
about our earthly riches, but to be generous and joyful of heart, storing up
treasure in Heaven and being rich in the things of God. If our Lord has blessed us with riches, He
does so not only for ourselves and our families, but for the good of His
Church. Offer your gratitude to God by
giving a generous gift to the Bishop’s Appeal today. Extra donation envelopes are available in the
narthex. Please do not mail your
contributions. Instead, give them to Fr
James to mail for you. You will save 49
cents and he will be able to track participation by St Joseph’s parishioners. Thank you for your generosity. Last year, we did not meet our $2500 parish
goal. This year, let us be more generous
and beat that goal.
Feed the Hungry—Bring Donations for our
Holiday Food Drive
Our Holiday Food Drive will be coordinated by Our Lady’s Society and
NAMY. From now until the new year, we
will collect non-perishable foods to give to a local food bank. Canned foods, healthy breakfast cereals,
dried pasta and beans, peanut butter, powdered milk, baby food, etc. are
especially needed. Toothbrushes and
disposable diapers are also always needed.
Our donations will be taken to the food bank on 6 and 20 December. Anything collected after that will be
delivered early in January.
Every Day in December is Preparation for the Nativity of Christ
Sometimes people ask when Advent begins in our Greek
Catholic Church. The answer is that it
doesn’t, because the Byzantine Church does not celebrate Advent (which means
the “coming”) as the Latin Church does. › Our preparation for the Nativity of Christ
begins 40 days before Christmas, with the Nativity Fast that begins on 15 November. When the Melkite Church moved the beginning
of the fast to 10 December, we lost an aspect of tradition that emphasized the
importance of Christmas by giving it a preparatory fast equal to Great Lent
before Easter. › But the weeks leading up to the Great Feast
of the Nativity of the Lord on 25 Dec. form a pattern of spiritual and
liturgical preparation that in some ways resembles the West’s Advent. From 26 Nov., 30 days before Christmas, we
sing the Kontakion of the Preparation for Christmas at every Sunday and
feast-day liturgy. This Kontakion tells
us, “Today the Virgin is on her way to the cave where she will give birth to
the Eternal Word of God in an ineffable manner.
Rejoice, therefore, O Universe, when you hear this news, and glorify,
with the angels and the shepherds, Him who shall appear as new child, being God
from all eternity.” › Commemorating Old Testament Prophets (Nahum
on 1 Dec., Habakkuk on the 2nd, Zephaniah on the 3rd, Haggai
on the 16th, and Daniel and the Three Holy Youths Ananias, Azarias,
and Mizael on the 17th) and the Ancestors of Christ (on the Second
Sunday before Christmas) reminds us that Jesus is the Messiah promised in the
Old Testament, the fulfillment of God’s promises to His chosen people. The feast of the Maternity of Ann shows
us how God uses ordinary humans to fulfill His Plan of Salvation. The Genealogy of Christ (Matthew 1:1-25) read
on the Sunday before Christmas connects Jesus even more intimately with God’s
people, all the way back to Abraham, the “Father of Many Nations.” › In the Troparion for the Paramony of the
Nativity (24 Dec.), we sing “Christ is born to renew the likeness that had been
lost of old.” The coming of the Son of
God as a human person, we sing in the Troparion of Christmas, “has shed the
light of knowledge upon the world.
Through it, those who had worshipped stars learned through a star to
worship You, O Sun of Justice, and to recognize You as the One who comes and
rises from on high.” We recognize and
worship Jesus the Messiah, not as a baby, but as the new Adam, the perfect man,
and the Light of the world.
