Peace on Earth, Good Will Toward Men
The peace of God which Jesus brings to the world is not worldly peace.  It is, as the Orthodox liturgy prays in the great litany, the “peace from above.”  The Lord referred specifically to this peace, the shalom of God, when He told His disciples before His passion: “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you” (Jn 14:27).  How sad it is that many people still do not understand this, including many Christians and many Christian preachers who may be charged with misguidance and malpractice when they announce each year at Christmastime that Jesus brought peace to the world almost two thousand years ago, and still there is hostility and war among the people of the earth!

As a matter of plain fact, Jesus Christ never promised to bring peace to the earth in the sense that nations would no longer fight with one another and that individuals would no longer quarrel.  Such a peace is promised only at the end of the ages when the Messiah who was crucified comes in glory to establish the kingdom of God His Father.  Then, and only then, will the great and everlasting shalom of the Lord foretold by the prophets be established.

Christian saints through the ages bear witness that the peace of God has entered the world in Jesus because they receive this peace and live by it as the content of their lives.  In a real sense, all that Christians have to offer the world is God’s peace which, with His righteousness and joy in the Holy Spirit, constitutes the kingdom of God.  “Acquire the spirit of peace,” says St. Seraphim of Sarov, “and you will save thousands around you.”  Without this divine peace, whatever one’s message and deeds, nothing divine and eternal will result and remain.

Things are not different today than they ever were.  External conditions may change, but the inner spiritual conditions remain the same.  Jesus brought God’s peace and good will to the world.  He brought God’s kingdom.  But until it is established in power at the end of the ages, the struggle goes on.

--Protopresbyter Thomas Hopko
                                                                                                The Winter Pascha

Services This Month
+Dec. 6: St. Nicholas, Bishop of Myra in Lycia.  The real St. Nicholas was a fourth century, orthodox Christian bishop, not an obese mascot for American consumerism.  And there was no Mrs. Claus, either!  Tell your children that St. Nicholas just might pay them a visit after church on the Sunday following his feast.  They will also hear a story about the real St. Nicholas at that time.
+Dec. 13: Venerable Herman of Alaska, Wonderworker of all America.  A simple monk, St. Herman was the first canonized saint of America and he continues to intercede for us all before God.
+Dec. 22: Forefeast of the Nativity of Christ.  The Royal Hours will be celebrated this morning.  This is a service that proclaims the joy of Christ’s Coming in the applicable psalms, hymns and biblical readings for the feast.  The Royal Hours help to place the birth of Christ in its proper context.
+Dec. 24: Eve of the Nativity.  Sunday morning Divine Liturgy will be at the usual time.  There will be Vespers in the afternoon and, that evening, a Vigil service combining Compline and Matins.
+Dec. 25: Nativity of Christ, with the Divine Liturgy of St. Basil the Great.  Christ is Born!  Glorify Him!  Christos se rodi!  Voistinu se rodi!
+Dec. 26: Synaxis of the Theotokos.  Let us not forget to give thanks to the Mother of our God.
 
Choir Notes
A. Vespers for two of this month’s saint’s days will preempt choir practice.  December is not a good month to forego rehearsals, since we are preparing for one of the most important celebrations of the liturgical year.  To make up for this omission, there will be two practices on Saturday afternoons (see calendar).
B. The choir will treat the entire parish to a Nativity concert following Liturgy on the Sunday before Nativity Eve.  Our singers have worked diligently on this project, so let’s be thankful for their gift.
C. During the week of the Nativity, the choir will go caroling for some of our shut-ins.  This is indeed a beautiful offering of time and talent.
D. Beginning in January, AA will no longer use the hall on Tuesday evenings, so the choir will be free to practice at an earlier time if desired.

Nativity Flowers
Anyone who would like to sponsor one or more red poinsettias for the decoration of our temple is invited to do so by Dec. 17.  The cost is $10 per plant.  Flowers will remain in the church through the Leavetaking of Nativity (Dec. 31), after which you may take your sponsored plant(s) home.  There will be a signup sheet in the narthex.  Please give your money to Popadija Elizabeth by the end of December.

+Don’t Forget to Sign Up for Church Cleaning and Coffee Hour+

Annual Parish Meeting
Our Annual Meeting will be held in the hall after Liturgy on Jan. 14.  You know the drill: reports from various ministries within the parish (rector, treasurer, choir, bookstore), adoption of our budget for fiscal year 2007 and, this time around, the election of parish council members.

Your current parish council representatives are: Larisa Bourgeault, Pavel Holder, John Kuzmiak, Tom Lynch, Zachary Lynch, Mary Propes, Betty Savage and John Stuemke.  Treasurer John Kuzmiak is stepping down this year after serving the parish in this capacity for over a decade.  John was instrumental in helping to see St. Michael’s through some difficult times, particularly when the parish was without a rector.  He is to be commended for this effort.  Larisa and Tom each have another year remaining in their terms.  The other five members have completed their present terms.

This means that we have to elect five members to the parish council.  They can be the same five, some of the same five, or a different five altogether.  Given the state of our national political climate, we all cringe at the mere mention of the word “elections,” but we are talking here about election to service, not election to power.  In order to avoid confusion, please keep in mind the following guidelines:

1. Any Steward of St. Michael (see following article) may be nominated to serve on parish council.
2. Any Steward of St. Michael may make a nomination.
3 . The nominee must be present in order to accept nomination.  This means no nominations in absentia.

If we all exercise patience and prayerful understanding, this will turn out to be a piece of cake.  If more than five people are nominated, and accept their nominations, then we will have to select only five of them for service.  This will be done by secret ballot.  Only those eager beavers who are enthusiastic to work for the building up of the parish, and of Orthodox Christianity in Pueblo, should assent to being on the parish council.

Stewards of St. Michael
This year we made a successful transition when it comes to our understanding and practice of Christian stewardship and support for our parish (or rather, the parish God has given us).  We have evolved from a system of “dues paying” to one of proportional giving.  We no longer officially use the language of club membership, since we are not members of a mere organization, but members of the Body of Christ.  Another step is needed if we are to fully implement this ideal. Our bylaws speak of being a “member in good standing,” but this term fails to convey the full significance of what it entails.  A more appropriate term would be “Steward of St. Michael.” 

To be a Steward one must, at a bare minimum, have partaken of the sacraments of confession and communion at least once during the preceding year, as well as submit a pledge out of one’s treasures for the coming year.  The following are Stewards of St. Michael for 2007.  If you feel your name has been left out in error, please speak with John Kuzmiak or Fr. Barnabas as soon as possible.

Blatnick, Ed & Gladys             Negomir, Barbara
Dewar, Mary                          Nestro, Debbie
Holder, Pavel                         Orton, Philip & Katrina
Issa, Bassam & Emily             Pavlica, Angie
Keller, Evelyn                         Powell, Fr. Barnabas & Elizabeth
Kuzmiak, John & Gabrielle       Propes, Mary
Lynch, Jordana                        Pugel, Eva
Lynch, Tom & Kristin              Savage, Betty
Lynch, Zachary & Natalia         Stuemky, John
Mironoff, Helen                        Tihonovich, John
Moss, Victor                             Wingate, Davi & Eleni
                                                Bourgeault, Larisa

Entrance into the Church
God willing, two more sheep will be united to the flock of Christ this month.  Daniel Tucker will be received into Orthodoxy prior to the Divine Liturgy on Dec. 17.  This service will start at 9:05 and so the Liturgy will begin later than usual.  Also, Caden Milan Budisavljevic will be baptized the morning of Dec. 28.  Dan, as well as the Budisavljevic family, will be featured in upcoming installments of “Parishioner Profile.”

Windows for Sale
The installation of the stained glass and storm windows is complete at last.  A date for the blessing of the windows will be announced in the near future.  In the meantime, we still have several of the old windows available for sale.  The price is only $40, which is really a token amount.  Gothic-style pointed windows like these can be found in antique stores for over $150 each.  Let’s buy them up ourselves and keep these pieces of our temple in the hands of its parishioners.

+Donations of Olive Oil for the Lamps are Always Needed+

Recommended Reading
There are two recommendations this month.  The first is Victor Moss’ novel Beware the Wolves.  The second is an article from a magazine in our parish library.  After picking up a copy of Beware the Wolves at Victor’s book signing some months ago, I promptly shelved it for the time being.  Two things prompted me to pick it up again.  The first was watching, at long last, the film Doctor Zhivago.  Romance aside, Zhivago struck me with its cold, brutal portrayal of the horrors of the Bolshevik Revolution and its sinister aftermath.  I was almost driven to tears contemplating the great suffering endured by so many Orthodox Christians and other Soviet subjects.  The other prompting was provided by my interview of Helen Mironoff for Parishioner Profile.  Here I was given the chance to interact not with a movie screen, but with a real person whose own experience, if properly told, has the potential to be just as epic as Zhivago.  Beware the Wolves seemed like the next logical step.  Once I picked it up, it was difficult to put down.  The novel is well written and engaging.  Though it is not a book about Orthodox Christianity, it tells the story of what countless Orthodox Christians had to suffer at the hands of this world and its rulers.  It is also, and not least of all, an admirable expression of one man’s love for and tribute to his parents.  The recommended article “Dachau 1945: The Souls of All Are Aflame,” is contained in Vol. 26 No. 1 of Again magazine, one of many useful items in our modest library.  In it you will learn about the sufferings of Orthodox Christian prisoners at Dachau concentration camp, and about the triumph of Christ demonstrated in their celebration of Pascha 1945.  Have tissues on hand.

Winter Teen Retreat
Ss. Constantine and Helen parish is facilitating a Winter Teen Retreat Dec. 27-29 at Rocky Mountain Mennonite Camp in Divide.  The cost is $65.  Adult sponsors are asked to accompany campers.  Anyone interested in taking part, whether as a camper or a staffer, please speak with Fr. Barnabas or Fr. Anthony Karbo prior to Dec. 17.

Advent Food Collection
In addition to our Advent second collections for various causes, we will continue to accept donations of food for Wayside Cross.  Place your useful donations in the boxes in our hall.

Theophany House Blessings
Looking ahead to next month, Fr. Barnabas is seeking one or two families who would like to have their homes blessed on the day of Theophany and also be willing to host those who would like to come over after the Liturgy.  Volunteers please let Fr. know by Nativity.

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