Newsletter: December 2004

Using the Church Library

We are very blessed to have our Church Library functioning, owing in no small part to the hard work of Seraphim Smith, and the generosity of those who have donated or loaned books to it. A large part of our spiritual growth is our openness to continued learning, and in the absence of endless amounts of money to buy books, a Church lending library is a great help in accomplishing this.

In order to keep the library functioning efficiently month after month, we must observe certain rules—otherwise, the library shelves will soon empty and there will be nothing there to borrow! So:

1. When a book is borrowed, please write your name, the name of the volume, and the date you borrowed it in the book provided.
2. The usual borrowing time allowed is two weeks. At the end of this time, please return it! Because of the busyness of life, it is very easy to forget about the volume entirely, so that it remains lost. If one cannot find time to read it within the allotted two weeks, it is best to borrow it at a later time, when it can be read with less distraction and greater profit.

Finally, though the reading of books is a good thing, we must be aware that the goal of Christian life is not the acquisition of facts, but the transformation of life. The temptation in our cerebral West is to mistake knowledge for wisdom, and to think that a head jammed full of religious facts is as good as a holy life. It is not. Our reading is always done with the goal of applying what we have read in our daily life, to make us more loving, more patient and more filled with the joy of the Lord. Reading is good, but only because it can be the first step in this blessed process.

All my love,

Fr. Lawrence

Community Announcements

1. Sat. Vespers , 7.00 pm. – Dec. 4, 11, 18 (Note: NO Vespers Dec. 25 evening)
2. Sun. Liturgy , 10.00 am – Dec. 5, 12, 19, 26
3. Bible Study will be held after Vespers at Church, Wed. Dec. 1, 8, 15. (There will be no Vespers or study Wed. 22 or 29, owing to the Christmas services.)
4. St. Nicholas Day for the children, Sat. Dec. 4, at the Church beginning 10.00 am, a time for crafts, games, food and fun.
5. St. Herman’s Day, Mon. Dec. 13, Vespers and Litya, 7.00 pm. Light refreshments to follow in Church Hall afterwards. Come and give thanks to God for the heavenly intercession of our patron, St. Herman.
6. Christmas Services : Christmas Eve, Dec. 24, Vigil at 6.00 pm. Christmas Day, Dec. 25, Divine Liturgy at 9.00 am. NO coffee hour following on this day. Note the earlier times of these sevices.
7. Our Annual Parish Christmas party to be held after Divine Liturgy Sun. Dec. 26: our Christmas Feast and Christmas carols to follow.
8. Fr. Lawrence will be off from Dec. 27 to the end of the year.
9. The following fasting rules apply for the month of December:

   Fasting Rule for the Nativity Fast

   • On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, we abstain from meat, fish, dairy, wine and oil.
   • On Tuesdays and Thursdays, we abstain from meat, fish, and dairy, but are allowed wine and oil.
   • On Saturdays and Sunday, we abstain from meat and dairy, but are allowed wine, oil and fish.
   • From December 20 until Christmas , we abstain from meat, fish and dairy, even if it be Saturday or Sunday.

   The following rules also apply:

   • On Dec. 5 we are allowed fish for the feast of St. Sava
   • On Dec. 6 we are allowed fish for the feast of St. Nicholas
   • On Dec. 13 we are allowed fish for the feast of St. Herman

Iconography Course

Heather MacKean, a very talented iconographer, has graciously consented to teach an iconography class at St. Hermans that will start either late January or early February of 2005. If you would like to participate, this is what you will need:

A reservation

• There is very limited space for this class so if you want to be involved and you have not already attended the drawing class you must call Matushka Sarah (604) 541-7343 or email at matushka{at}gmail.com (replace "{at}" with "@"). If you would just like to watch let me know.

Money

• There is some cost involved for supplies, how much will depend on what you already own, or can borrow. Heather will buy some of the supplies such as pigments and gold and disperse them to the students at cost.
• The class fee will be by donation. Heather is very generously not charging a set fee in order not to make it difficult for those who otherwise could not afford to participate, but this is her livelihood and she should be compensated, so please be as generous as you can. Suggested donation is $15.00 per class.

Dedication

• More important than talent!! Drawing and iconography can be learned, but it takes lots of practice. It will also be important for the students to not miss a class, please be prepared to faithfully attend.

We had our first preparatory class on Saturday, November 20^th, working on drawing from nature by sketching each other. It was a great success. Some brought skills and pencils that are well used, others brought recently dusted off ones, and still others came with brand new ones. I think we all learned something as well as being inspired to draw.

Our next class will be on December 18^th at 3:00 PM at St. Herman’s, and we will be sketching Greco-Roman statuary and working from dark to light, as is done when painting icons. Please practice drawing, read the recommended book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards and prepare to bring the following list of supplies:

• A pad of newsprint paper
• Soft pencil(s) 4B-9B
• Eraser
• Charcoal
• Coloured pastel paper (tan or grey)
• Black and White Conté
• Coloured watercolour pencils
• Some food to share for dinner
• Your donation for Heather

Choir Corner - December

On Friday, Dec.10^th at 8:00 p.m. some singers from our choir will be performing in a concert at St. Sava’s Serbian Orthodox Church in Vancouver. Several other Orthodox choirs will be singing as well and everyone is welcome to attend. (See the poster on the bulletin board outside the Church hall for the address and more details.)

We are also busy rehearsing the music for the Christmas services. This year, since we have a full men’s section, we will be able to sing our “fancy” version of the Christmas kontakion for the first time in several years.

Sometime in the next few months, we will introduce a new Kievan chant melody for St. Simeon’s Prayer at Great Vespers.

Last month, the choir had a productive and fun workshop on musical phrasing led by Ben Aultman, the choir director at the Antiochian Orthodox Church of the Nativity here in Langley.

- Andrea Folster