Pentecost
Excerpt from St. Gregory the Theologian on Pentecost
We celebrate Pentecost and the dwelling with us of the Spirit and the appointed time of promise and the fulfillment of hope. The mystery is as great as it is venerable. What concerns Christ’s embodiment is ended, or rather what concerns his bodily dwelling with us.… What concerns the Spirit is beginning. And what concerned Christ? A virgin, birth, a manger, wrapping in swaddling clothes, angels glorifying him, shepherds running to him, a star in motion, magi worshiping him and bearing gifts, Herod’s murder of children, Jesus fleeing into Egypt, circumcised, baptized, receiving testimony from above, tempted, stoned for our sake—by which he had to be given as a model of suffering on behalf of the word — betrayed, nailed to the cross, buried, risen, ascended…
…This Spirit, who is most wise and most loving toward humankind, if he takes a shepherd makes him a harper subduing evil spirits by song and proclaims him king of Israel. If he takes a goatherd scraping mulberry trees, he makes him a prophet. Consider David and Amos. If he takes a youth with natural talents, he makes him a judge of elders, even beyond his years. Daniel testifies to this, who was victorious over lions in their den. If he finds fishermen, he catches them in a net for Christ, they who catch the whole world with the line of the Word. Take for me Peter and Andrew and the sons of thunder, thundering the things of the Spirit. If he finds tax collectors, he gains them as disciples and makes them merchants of souls. Matthew says this, who yesterday was a tax collector and today is an evangelist. If he finds fervent persecutors, he relocates their zeal and makes Pauls instead of Sauls and binds them to piety as much as they had been bound to evil.
Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev quoting St. Gregory the Theologion, The Worship and Liturgical Life of the Orthodox Church, pp. 362-363.
This week we have a service on Tuesday, but instead of Vespers, we will have baptisms! Please join us as four of our catechumens will be received. The service is at 6:00 p.m. followed by fellowship.
Wednesday morning there will be a Divine Liturgy at 9:00 a.m. (Hours at 8:40 a.m.)
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Susan Skomorucha announced during our Special Parish Meeting that we have launched a strategic planning survey called the Effective Parish Assessment (EPA). We ask that parishioners and catechumens take 30 minutes of their time to complete the survey. Your responses will be used to determine where our parish is today and where we want to be in the future. All responses are anonymous.
To access the survey, do the following:
- Use the QR code to the left of this news item, or use this link: https://effectiveparish.org/survey
- On the Effective Parish Assessment page, click on the button labeled Take Effective Parish Assessment Now.
- Once in the assessment, click the green OK button.
- Answer the question about our parish by selecting WILMINGTON, DE - Saint Michael the Archangel Orthodox Church from the dropdown list. Be careful. There are currently two parishes in the list named Saint Michael the Archangel.
- Answer the question about our jurisdiction by selecting Orthodox Church in America from the dropdown list.
- Answer the remaining questions in the assessment. Answer all of the questions in one sitting. If you must step away from completing the assessment, then leave your browser open to the assessment. Don't linger over your answers; go with your first impressions. If a question does not apply to our parish, answer it with Neither agree nor disagree, or I don't know. Finally, if you don't know something, then I don't know is the correct answer!
For additional information about this assessment or for assistance with completing it, please see Susan Skomorucha.
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Moms, bring your children to weekday liturgy and hang around afterwards for fellowship and let the kids play. Also, keep an eye out for park play dates - next one is Friday, July 11th!
Here is the current schedule of play dates for the summer:
- July 11 at Lums Pond Playground (Bear, DE)
- July 25 at Nichols Park (Landenberg, PA)
- August 8 TBD (possibly at Tice house for a pool party)
The play dates will start at 9:00 a.m. and end at 1:00 p.m.
Please bring water, snacks, and/or lunch. Contact Christina Tice with any questions. She is also interested in having some help with hosting & planning.
Father Silouan uses an opt-in email service to send out his communications (such as the Weekend Update) to the parish. This is a different service than the parish Listserv.
To sign up, click on “The Latest” in the menu above. Then click on "Email Signup" which is the first item in the drop-down menu.
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Don’t forget you can give tithes and offerings online, including designated funds. There are two ways to do this. First, you can use the green "Give" button on Father Silouan's "Weekend Update" emails. Second, you can use the menu on this page. Click on "The Latest," then click on "Church Connect." Finally click on the blue "Give Online" button.
Date | Matins | Epistle | |
Jun 29 | Skomorucha | Bergwall | |
Jul 6 | Plumley | Peck | |
Jul 13 | Skomorucha | Burns |
Date | Coffee Hour | Service Duty | Church Cleaners |
Jun 22 | Diehl / Kendall / Koehler / Santana / Sharma | Telep / Baldychev | Baldychev / Shatley‑Sylvest |
Jun 29 | Baldychev / Prior / Morales / Jaimes | Bunitsky / Morjana | Lenon / Immediato / Jaimes |
Jul 6 | Shatley / Bunitsky / Davis / Altschul / Roundtree / Ricks | Riley / Riley | Bunitsky / Davis / Koehler |
Jul 13 | Stultz / Jankovic / Placintar / Bachinksy / Giesing | Stultz / Najemy | Dempsey / Plummer / Santana |
Date | Servers |
Jun 29 | Davis / Jaimes |
Jul 6 | Bergwall / Dorsey |
Jul 13 | Bergwall / Davis |
Jul 20 | Dorsey / Jaimes |
Jul 27 | Burns / Davis |
This Week's Schedule
Tuesday, June 24th
Baptisms & Fellowship
at 6:00 p.m.
Wednesday, June 25th
Hours
at 8:40 a.m.
Weekday Divine Liturgy
at 9:00 a.m.
Saturday, June 28th
Great Vespers
at 5:00 p.m.
followed by
Confessions
Sunday, June 29th
Ss. Peter & Paul
Matins
at 8:00 a.m.
Divine Liturgy
at 9:00 a.m.
followed by
Fellowship
Important Dates
Monday, June 16th through
Saturday, June 28th
The Apostle's Fast
Sunday, July 20th
Holy Prophet Elijah
(Blessing of Vehicles)