GENERATIONS OF FAITH
INTRODUCTION OF THE LITURGICAL YEAR
Our Liturgical Year is truly a wonderful celebration and source of spiritual life. Throughout the year we experience the love of God through the historical events of Jesus’ life as well as the lives of the Mother of God and the saints. It is our responsibility to be not mute but vocal witnesses, as well as active participators in the sacred events of our Liturgical Year and to exemplify these events in the actions of our daily lives. Please join us next Sunday, August 30th as we welcome the Liturgical Year which begins on September 1st. Services begin at 10AM and will encompass Divine Liturgy. Hostina will follow.
PENTECOST SESSION – GOF
We are very very pleased with the response to our last GOF session. As you are aware this session focused on various aspects of Pentecost. We began with prayer and Bible readings; then parishioners read short passages pertaining to love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Liturgy followed and we took this opportunity to “speak in tongues”, ie. we said the creed in the following languages: English, Old Slavonic, Ukrainian, Polish, Spanish, and French. If you weren’t there, you missed something that was pretty amazing!
Next we went outside for petitions to the Blessed Mother and also read what some of our parishioners said:
Patience – “The Holy Spirit gives us patience with ourselves to open our minds in a situation when we are being criticized to understand a point of view other than our own and to be empathetic towards other people. Understanding brings peace.”
Kindness – “We see kindness in other people when they dim their own lights so someone else’s light can shine.”
Patience – “The Holy Spirit gives us patience so that no matter how many times we are tested by life’s trials and burdens, we continue to show our faith and love for God and all people through service and kindness to others not only in the best ft times, but most especially in the worst of times, when love and support is most needed.”
Self-Control – “When faced with temptation the Holy Spirit shows the right way through self control. Controlling anger is one way to feel the spirit in your heart. Eve ate the apple because she didn’t have the Holy Spirit.”
Joy – “The Holy Spirit gives us Joy so that regardless of our disappointments and sorrows we can feel a sense of happiness—if not for ourselves then for others.”
Patience – “There are situations where we are anxious for a result, or for something to happen. The Holy Spirit gives us patience so we let events unfold. The Spirit calms our anxieties.”
We then released balloons with the words “love, joy, peace, patience, self-control, kindness, forgiveness, goodness and gentleness” on them. A hostina with all green foods concluded our session.
Bishop Stefan wishes for all parishes to be involved in Generations of Faith and our parish has come through in a big way by not only following the provided lesson plan but also by generating ideas that fit our particular parishioners. It is difficult to come out of our “comfort zones” so it was very heartening to see everyone who was at the Pentecost Liturgy participate….even though no one was quite sure what we were doing! So thank you to everyone who was involved and we leave you with this:
Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
To these I commit my day.
If I succeed, I will give thanks.
If I fail, I will seek his grace.
And then, when this day is done,
I will place my head on my pillow
And rest.
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT FOR ALL PARISHIONERS!
GENERATIONS OF FAITH FOR BYZANTINE CHURCHES
Pope John Paul II identified three kinds of evangelical activity: first, to those who have not heard the word; second, the ongoing formation in the faith of those who are present in our Christian communities, and thirdly, the evangelization of those who, though baptized, have lost the living sense of faith. In an effort to embrace all three levels, our spiritual leader, Stefan Soroka, has initiated a program for our diocese called “Generations of Faith for Byzantine Churches” (which will be referred to as GOF). This is an intergenerational event-centered approach to faith formation for the whole parish.
The goal of the program is to bring people of all ages in the parish together to learn and participate in all aspects of their faith together through:
Divine Liturgy
Church Year Feasts and Seasons
Mysteries
Morality
Social Justice
This is a five-year lifelong curriculum that will help us understand our Byzantine traditions as well as experience the joy of the liturgical year.
Because Transfiguration got a late start, we will begin with the Crucifixion, followed by the Paschal Season and Pentecost. During the summer, the planning committee will meet to develop a program for the first Liturgical year which will begin in September.
Please call the rectory or Gayle (570.829.4216; gaylemiles@verizon.net) for more information or if you are interested in joining the planning committee. Everyone is welcome!
“LORD,” said Thomas, “we do not know where you are going.
How can we know the way?”
(Gospel of St. John 14:5)