GE: February Prayer Meeting Message Summary: by Varghese and family

GE: February Prayer Meeting Message Summary: by Varghese and family

We remember the following 5 points from your message at the last prayer meeting.
Your message was about the Great Lent and the following points were discussed:

1. Time for preparation and self examination
   Bible verse - 2 Corinthians (Chapter 13 - verse 5 & 6).
   - Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test
yourselves. Do   you not know yourself, that Jesus Christ is in you? -
unless indeed you are disqualified.
   - But I trust that you will know that we are not disqualified.

- You mentioned about "Pride" being the oldest sin in the world. We
discussed how pride and self praise affect us and our relationship
with others.
 Bible verse - Galatians 6 - verse 3
- For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he
deceives himself.

2. Time for discipline
   - Give something regularly.
   - have more time for others.
   - invest more in spiritual life.
   - use sundays exclusively for worship.

3. Use the lenten period for special prayers.

4. It is a time for spiritual renewal and growth.

5. Share with others our hope found in the relationship with Christ.

Warm Regards,

Varghese & family

GE: February Prayer Meeting Message Summary: by Allen Vargheese and family

GE: February Prayer Meeting Message Summary: by Allen Vargheese and family

Theme of the message: 2 Corinthians 13:5, 6

"Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?"

Pretext: The message was delivered on the saturday before the start of the Great Lent. At this point in time, we examine ourselves and identify the things to do as we enter the Great Lent. We look at the 5 T's of the Great Lent season.

Lent season is a

1) Time of preparation
----------------------

We must get examine if we have Pride. If we have, we must get rid of it since it destroys relationships.

Galatians 6:3-5

"If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else, for each one should carry his own load."

Pride is the oldest sin in the world

Pride can be in many ways

 a. Pride in appearance
 b. Pride in position
        Ex. Nebucadnezzer - gave credit to himself

        Light reading: The story of 2 ducks and the frog in the pond. :)

Why we must get rid of Pride

 a. Pride destroys relationship

We must get rid of the attitude in which we think 'i dont need anyones help, and i wont help anyone'.

As we enter the Lent season, Examine if we have PRIDE!

2) Time for discipline
--------------------

We need to discipline ourselves. We can discipline us by

 a. Giving up something regularly
 b. Live more for others than yourselves
 c. Invest more in heaven than in retirement
 d. Watch less TV, read more Bible
 e. Make Sunday a day of worship

Examples of lack of Discipline

 a. Will go to church if we get up
 b. The grass was tall, so did the lawn moving on Sunday morning (instead of going to church)
 c. Will give time to God if we had a 8th day

3) Time for special prayers
-------------------------

We must get up early and pray (Give the First hour of the day to God)
We must pass on the tradition of Great Lent prayers to our next generation (Kumbidal)

4) Time for spiritual renewal
--------------------------

Observe fasting with diligence

 Ex. Yunus (Aby's classmate) is a Muslim young boy who takes fasting very seriously during their religious time. Do we?

 Question for Thought- Will we not fast if the doctor asks, but why we do not fast if the Bible says?

5) Time to share with others the blessings of Jesus
-------------------------------------------------

Spend more time for Jesus and spread the hope in Jesus to others.
Help others who are in need.

----------------------------------------------------
by Allen Vargheese and family

GE: February Prayer Meeting Message Summary: by Joseph George and family

 

Summary of the 2/17/07 Speech

 

Achen's speech on February 17, 2007 was based on 2^nd Corinthians 13:5-6, "Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?-unless indeed you are disqualified. But I trust that you will know that we are not disqualified." Achen compared lent to the fasting before a doctor's visit. If we are asked to not eat twelve hours before a medical visit, we heed the doctor's advice. We should follow this same structure for the lent so we can cleanse ourselves from our past transgressions. We should imagine ourselves in a doctor's office sharing all our problems and short comings with God. Achen talked about Mardi Gras or "Fat Tuesday", the day before Ash Wednesday the start of the Catholic Great Lent. Mardi Gras is a big celebration, a day where people say "good-bye to meat". But really the Great Lenten time is a time to examine the relationship as well.

The Great Lenten time is the…

1.      Time for Preparation:

Galatians 6:3-5 "For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For each one shall bear his own load." The Bible verse is teaching us about the pride of man. Pride is the oldest sin in the world. One can have pride in appearance or pride in position. Pride will destroy relationship. We should use this Lenten time to keep our relationships with others by keeping the pride away.

2.      Time for Discipline:

During this Lenten time we should try to give something away regularly, live for others and less for ourselves, invest more in heaven than in retirement, read more of the Bible and watch less television, and make Sunday the day of worship.

3.      Time for Spiritual Activities:

This is the time to spend in quality praying. We should set aside more time each day than we normally do to praise and worship properly and wholeheartedly.

4.      Time for Spiritual Renewal and Growth:

We should use this time wisely and spend it more on fasting, praying, and meditating.

5.      Time to Share:

      We should share the hope found in a relationship found with Jesus.

 

The Josephs'

GE: February Prayer Meeting Message Summary: by Mathews and family

GE: February Prayer Meeting Message Summary: by Mathews and family

2 Cor: 13:5-6 Paul is asking people to examine themselves to see if they pass the test of faith. Paul is asking people to always what is right.

What is Lent season ?
1. Lenten season is the time for preparation.
    We need to prepare ourselves such that we do not succub to the  problems of undue pride. We can feel proud of our good deeds; but shouldnt feel better than others or hurt others. The wrong kind of pride can destroy relationships. (Galatians 6:3-5)
2. Time for discipline
   Give something away regularly.
   Live more for others; less for yourselves
   Invest more in heaven than in worldly goods
   Make Sunday a day of worship and rest
3. Time for special prayers
    Lent is time to pray and understand GOD more.
4. Time for spiritual renewal and growth
    Fast
5. Time to share with others our relationship with Jesus.
    We need to share with others the thought that when there is Jesus in our lives, there is always something to look forward to.

-------------------------------------------
Summary by Mathews Kochummen and family

What is Golden Ear Program?

What is Golden Ear Program?

Golden Ear Program is an initiative to encourage active participation in the prayer meetings. It is a family based program where the family that listens the most and writes a summary of the message given by Achen during the prayer meeting gets points. 

How does Golden Ear Program work?

1. We attend the prayer meeting.
2. We listen to the message of our Achen and take notes
3. The family members discusses with each other and writes an article with the summary of the message and the points and e-mails it to Achen within 2 weeks after the prayer meeting.
4. The family that submits the summary gets points for each point in the message. The points are  tallied from Feb-Oct. The family with the most points gets the 'The Golden Ear' award during Perunal.
5. The postings by families will appear on our web site/blog.

Thanks,
Rajesh

 

Great Lent: Thought for this week

Spiritual greetings

 

Mathew 4:1-2  Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.  And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. 

 

Temptation is something that we all must deal with on a daily basis. 

 

Thoughts: 

1.  It greets us when we are awake

2.  It meets us when we begin our daily routine

3.  It finds us on our way to work, school or wherever else we might be

 

When we are tempted of the devil, it is not without the knowledge of God or without his permission (Luke 4:1)

 

Think about:

 

How to overcome temptation?

 

With Christ, you are a hero, without Christ you are a ZERO.

 

 

Thank you

 

Sam Achen

Food Drive: Why should we help to feed the less fortunate? (Part 2)

Why should we help to feed the less fortunate?

1. Because Jesus told us.

Reference: St. Mathew 14:15-17

2. Because there are many who do not have enough food.

Nearly one in five adults and one in four children in Texas encounter food insecurity. 41,000 children under the age of 18 in Travis County are confronted with food insecurity every day. Want to know more, view a Hunger Awareness Presentation from austin food bank. (15.5 MB)
http://www.austinfoodbank.org/help/form-uploads/CE_Hunger_Awareness.ppt

3. Because we want our children to continue to learn the culture of sharing.

During the Great lent, it would be wonderful if we continue to teach our children the importance of sharing our fortunes with others. Please make it a point to explain to the kids what you are doing, have the kids pick/choose the food, have the kids drop the food items in the box. (Instead of you doing it) To go a step further, ask them to write about their experience in doing it and why they think they should be doing it.

How are we helping to feed the less fortunate?

We are helping to feed the less fortunate by organizing a food drive and donating the collected food to the Capital Area Food bank. The Capital Area Food bank in turn will use this to feed the less fortunate?

Support the Sunday School food drive and make it a success.

Thanks,
Rajesh

Food Drive: 'You give them something to eat' (Part 1)

Dear friends,

Year and year again, we read St. Mathew 14:15-17, the passage of feeding the 5000 people.

"As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, "This is a remote place, and it's already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food." Jesus replied, "They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat."
"We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish," they answered."

2000 years later, Jesus is saying the same to his disciples; "you give them something to eat". The 12 disciples, where poor and had left their homes to follow Jesus and did not have much at their disposal in terms of wealth. We are the current generation of the disciples of Jesus Christ. The difference that we have from the 12 disciples, is that we have much more than five loaves of bread and 2 fish at our disposal.

The Great Lent is a perfect time to do our share of due diligence in feeding the less fortunate.

We have kept a box in the church and this weekend will be the final week of the food drive benefitting the local area food bank. Please drop any nonperishable food items in the box.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Thanks,
Rajesh

Part 2: Why should we help to feed the less fortunate?

 

Welcome to the Gregorian Blog

Dear friends,

Welcome to the Gregorian Blog, a blog hosted by the St. Gregorios Orthodox Church, Austin, TX.
The goal of this blog is to encourage our Children and adults to express their writing and creative skills in the process of learning more about faith and the church. This blog will a writing pad for our members to share thoughts on topics related to faith and the Church.

The blog can be accessed from our church web site ( http://www.stgregoriosaustin.org/ ) or by accessing the URL http://www.stgregoriosaustin.blogspot.com/

Our 'Golden Ear' entries, thought of the week, devotional message summary and other writings will appear in this blog. We request everyone to contribute to the blog.

Note: Please make sure that all topics are in line with the Orthodox faith and traditions. Any controversial topics will be removed.

Thanks,
Rajesh