Beloved faithful in Christ at St. Luke's,

You may recall that we were visited several years ago by Nathan and Lynette Hoppe and their children, who are OCMC (Orthodox Christian Missions Center) Missionaries serving in Albania. I beseech your prayers especially at this time for Lynette - see below:

Dear friends of OCMC,

These next days are approaching the final moments on earth of Lynette Hoppe. We request your prayers for Lynette and all her family and coworkers. Lynette's life, ministry and the manner in which she has faced this encounter with cancer have been an inspiration to many. Only one week ago she was writing about her experiences as camp counselor in Albania. Now, in the words of her husband, she "…has begun to slip away from us."

The following link leads to a recent update from Nathan on Lynette's condition and of prayer requests.

http://www.prayforlynette.org/

The Georgena Parris Memorial College Scholarship Fund: Although this has been in the Bulletin every week for over a month and I have also been announcing this Scholarship's availability in Church after Liturgy: to date, we have only received two completed Applications. This Sunday, August 27th is the deadline for receiving Applications. Please bring your completed Application to Church on Sunday, or mail it to the Church Office ASAP.

I thought that the following was rather inspirational. Enjoy! Fr. Michael

GOD LIVES UNDER THE BED

I envy Kevin. My brother Kevin thinks God lives under his bed. At least that's what I heard him say one night.

He was praying out loud in his dark bedroom, and I stopped to listen, "Are you there, God?" he said. "Where are you? Oh, I see. Under the bed..."

I giggled softly and tiptoed off to my own room. Kevin's unique perspectives are often a source of amusement. But that night something else lingered long after the humor. I realized for the first time the very different world Kevin lives in.

He was born 30 years ago, mentally disabled as a result of difficulties during labor. Apart from his size (he's 6-foot-2), there are few ways in which he is an adult.

He reasons and communicates with the capabilities of a 7-year-old, and he always will. He will probably always believe that God lives under his bed, that Santa Claus is the one who fills the space under our tree every Christmas and that airplanes stay up in the sky because angels carry them.

I remember wondering if Kevin realizes he is different.

Is he ever dissatisfied with his monotonous life?

Up before dawn each day, off to work at a workshop for the disabled, home to walk our cocker spaniel, return to eat his favorite macaroni-and-cheese for dinner, and later to bed.

The only variation in the entire scheme is laundry, when he hovers excitedly over the washing machine like a mother with her newborn child.

He does not seem dissatisfied.

He lopes out to the bus every morning at 7:05, eager for a day of simple work.

He wrings his hands excitedly while the water boils on the stove before dinner, and he stays up late twice a week to gather our dirty laundry for his next day's laundry chores.

And Saturdays-oh, the bliss of Saturdays! That's the day my Dad takes Kevin to the airport to have a soft drink, watch the planes land, and speculate loudly on the destination of each passenger inside.

"That one's goin' to Chi-car-go!" Kevin shouts as he claps his hands.

His anticipation is so great he can hardly sleep on Friday nights.

And so goes his world of daily rituals and weekend field trips.

He doesn't know what it means to be discontented.

His life is simple.

He will never know the entanglements of wealth of power, and he does not care what brand of clothing he wears or what kind of food he eats. His needs have always been met, and he never worries that one day they may not be.

His hands are diligent. Kevin is never so happy as when he is working. When he unloads the dishwasher or vacuums the carpet, his heart is completely in it.

He does not shrink from a job when it is begun, and he does not leave a job until it is finished. But when his tasks are done, Kevin knows how to relax.

He is not obsessed with his work or the work of others. His heart is pure.

He still believes everyone tells the truth, promises must be kept, and when you are wrong, you apologize instead of argue.

Free from pride and unconcerned with appearances, Kevin is not afraid to cry when he is hurt, angry or sorry. He is always transparent, always sincere. And he trusts God.

Not confined by intellectual reasoning, when he comes to Christ, he comes as a child. Kevin seems to know God - to really be friends with Him in a way that is difficult for an "educated" person to grasp. God seems like his closest companion.

In my moments of doubt and frustrations with my Christianity I envy the security Kevin has in his simple faith.
It is then that I am most willing to admit that he has some divine knowledge that rises above my mortal questions.

It is then I realize that perhaps he is not the one with the handicap . .. I am. My obligations, my fear, my pride, my circumstances - they all become disabilities when I do not trust them to God's care.

Who knows if Kevin comprehends things I can never learn? After all, he has spent his whole life in that kind of innocence, praying after dark and soaking up the goodness and love of God.

And one day, when the mysteries of heaven are opened, and we are all amazed at how close God really is to our hearts, I'll realize that God heard the simple prayers of a boy who believed that God lived under his bed.

Kevin won't be surprised at all!

Selected lectures from the recently-concluded Summer Institute of Liturgical
and Pastoral Practice at St Vladimir's Seminary have been made available
online for free MP3 download from St Vladimir's Seminary Press (www.svspress.com).

All you have to do is add these items to your shopping
cart and select "Free of Charge" at checkout.
Once downloaded, these can be burned to a CD or downloaded to an iPod or
similar device .

The available lectures are as follows:

* "Death and the Rest of our Life" Fr John Garvey
* "An End to All Endings" Dr David Bently Hart
* "Life and Death Today: Ethical Issues" Dr Lila Kalinich
* "Death in the Fathers" Fr John Behr
* "Death in the Old Testament" Fr Paul Nadim Tarazi
* "Death in the New Testament" Dr John Barnet
* "The Development of the Christian Funeral" Dr Paul Meyendorff
* "What Happens When We Die?" Dr Peter Bouteneff
* "The Psalms: Commemorating the Departed" Mark Bailey
* "Legal Implications of Death" Anne Glynn Mackoul

Click this link to access the free lectures at SVS Press

August 15th - Blessed Great Feast of the Dormition of the Holy Theotokos! Please see the excerpt from a beautiful sermon by St Gregory Palamas below.

Elizabeth Assad: Our dear sister in Christ and long-time fellow parishioner at St. Luke's has fallen asleep in the Lord at the blessed age of 95. May her memory be eternal! Visitation will be on Tuesday the 15th from 4-8pm at Westminster Mortuary, which is located on Beach Blvd., south of the 22 Fwy. Funeral service will be at St. Luke's on Wednesday the 16th at 11am, followed by internment at Westminster Memorial, and a Mercy Meal back here at the St. Luke's Fellowship Hall. If you have any questions, please call the church at 714-971-2244.

Teen SOYO "Swim and Study": On Wednesday evening the 16th beginning at 6pm, hosted at the Lengyel-Leahu home. Many thanks for hosting us! The address is 1692 Sierra Alta Drive in Santa Ana, CA 92705. We ask that our young ladies bring a modest one-piece (not a two-piece) bathing suit to wear for swimming. Parents can pick up their teens at 9:30pm. I look forward to seeing you this Wednesday evening! Should be great fun, and we'll also have time to talk together. And, I'm happy that we really had a great time together this past Sunday playing wiffleball etc!

Please note, the SOYO Outing scheduled for Saturday the 19th after Vespers is going to be postponed.

St. Gregory Palamas: For the complete text, go to - http://www.oca.org/FSsermons-details.asp?SID=4&ID=9

And who will the Only-Begotten love more than His Mother? He was Begotten of Her inexplicably in the fullness of time without a father, just as He was Begotten of the Father in eternity without a mother. How could He Who came to fulfill the Law not increase the honor due to His Mother even beyond the requirements of the Law?

Thus, since through Her alone did He Who "appeared upon earth and lived among mankind" (Baruch 3: 38), come unto us, being invisible to all before this time, so in the age to come, without Her intercession... every form of spiritual gift would be beyond the capacity of created beings. She alone has received the fulness of Him Who fills all things, and now through Her, all may receive it, for She dispenses it according to the capacity of each, and in proportion to the purity of each, since She is both the treasury and the overseer of the riches of God.

It is an eternal law in the heavens, that the inferior enter into communion with what is beyond being through the superior. Certainly, the Virgin Mother is incomparably superior to all. It is through Her that all partake of God, who otherwise would not partake. Those who know God understand Her to be the container of Him Who contains all. All who praise God praise Her together with Him. She Herself is the pardoner of all that went before Her, and intercessor for all that came after Her, and agent of eternal blessings. She is the subject of the prophecies of the prophets, the principle of the Apostles, the foundation of the martyrs, the premise of the Church's teachers. She is the glory of the earth-born, the joy of heavenly beings, and the adornment of all creatures. She is the beginning, the source and root of inexpressible blessings. She is the supreme perfection of all that is holy.

O divine, and now heavenly, Virgin! How can I relate everything concerning you? How can I glorify you, the Treasury of Glory? ... mere movement towards you illumines the mind, ...through you the spirit of a man is enlightened by... the Holy Spirit. You have become the treasury of divine gifts, and their repository; though not to keep them for yourself, but so that you might fill all of created nature with the gifts of grace. For the Master of those inexhaustible treasures entrusted them to you so that they might be bestowed. Why else would He have granted blessings, which would otherwise remain hidden and unbestowed?

Therefore, O Lady, grant your mercy and your grace abundantly to all your people, your inheritence. Deliver us from the misfortunes afflicting us. Behold how much and how greatly we are oppressed... by those both without and within. By your might transform all for the best.... bestow your help and healing commensurate with our passions, ...granting to our souls and our bodies abundant grace for every need. Though we may be incapable of containing your riches, increase our capacity and so grant them to us that we, saved and strengthened by your grace, may glorify the Pre-eternal Word Who was Incarnate of you for our sakes, together with His Unoriginate Father and Life-Creating Spirit, both now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Dear ones in Christ at St. Luke's,

Here are a few updates from our Church School:

The Church School, High School Grads, and Altar Server Recognition Sunday will be postponed from this coming Sunday until September 10th. I must admit that it just will not make sense to have it this week as there are simply too many families away on vacation at this time. God bless everyone with peaceful travel and a safe return home.

The First Day of Church School this year will be September 17th. Please mark your calendars.

Many Thanks to those who have offered to serve as Church School teachers this coming year! Your faithful dedication is such a blessing!

K-1 Elizabeth Bowan; 2-3 Freydel Bushala; 4-5 Lisa Tita; 6-7 Pal Lengyel-Leahu with Kirstie Jones; 8-9 Kyra Lewis and Diana Stanford; 10-12 Kimberly and Todd Corbin. God bless you all!

More help would still be greatly appreciated: If you'd like to be a teacher's helper and/or a substitute, please contact Donna Greenhut or I.

As these things go, it appears that we will not have a pre-school group this year. But, as we are very blessed to see on Sundays, there is a large group of toddlers on the horizon, who will soon be ready for Church School in the next year or two.

Anyone who needs to register a NEW Church School student should please see Donna Greenhut.

I think that covers everything for now!

Much love in Christ, Fr. Michael

Dear ones at St. Luke's,

Christ is in our midst!

Here follows a few quick parish updates:

The Special Collection taken this past Sunday to aid victims of the ongoing war in the Middle East exceeded $800.00 Many thanks to all those who contributed in their love for God and our fellow man! If perchance you were not at the Transfiguration Liturgy this past Sunday and would still like to make a donation, this can be made out to "St. Luke Orthodox Church" and we in turn will forward one check to our Antiochian Archdiocese.

Beautiful New Benches were professionally preped, painted and installed this past Saturday by our Parish Council member Tom Thomas together with his all-star volunteer staff of parishioners, consisting of four men and two young ladies (who did all the painting!). Enjoy the new benches!!!

The eagerly anticipated Fellowship Hall Bathroom Rennovation was scheduled to begin at the beginning of August (i.e., now!). However, through no fault of his own, the highly recommended Contractor we hired has become delayed at his present job-site due to the constant modifications by his client. Therefore, we are now expecting the work to begin at the beginning of September. This much needed and desired rennovation would not be possible were it not for your gracious offerings this past Christmas and Pascha. Many thanks to all!!!

Last but not least, I hope you've noticed the greatly improved condition of our grounds. Our last crew was slacking off, to say the least. So, we hired a new crew last month, and they have been working very hard to clean things up and provide us with beautifully kept church grounds.

God bless you all! Hope to see you at a Paraklesis Service this week!

Yours in Christ, Fr. Michael

Wisdom from the Holy Fathers: Great honor is due the Holy Cross, for upon it, as if upon an altar, Christ in His love for man has burned up our sins. The Cross has exposed our shame and disgrace, not the Lord's. In truth, the Holy Cross proclaims Christ's unfathomable love for mankind. Hence, our thoughts about the Cross should, in part, cause us to be ashamed and ought to inspire in us repentance for our sins. It is for us to take up our cross as the Lord took up His for us and our salvation. Of course, an object that brings about the death of an important person evokes in us sadness and pain, and we do not treasure it. That does not happen, however, with the Cross of Christ. On the contrary, it brings forth joyfulness and regeneration. For it was not, as some say, a place of execution, but rather a place of sacrifice wherein was offered the greatest and most honorable sacrifice of the ages – the Son of Man for our salvation. From Elder Cleopa Ilie of Romania

Paraklesis Service every night this week at 7pm: As a reminder, we are still in the midst of the Holy Dormition Fast, which begins every year on August 1st and lasts through August 14th. Guidelines for the Holy Dormition Fast are available in the Narthex. During this time, it is traditional to offer the Small Supplicatory Canon (Paraklesis) to the Theotokos, and at St. Luke's, we will have this beautiful worship service every evening this week (Monday, August 7th through Friday August, 11th) at 7pm. Please try to attend at least one of the five services. When you attend, bring a list of those (living) whom you wish to have commemorated in prayer during the Paraklesis. Then, the Great Feast of the Holy Dormition itself will be celebrated in our parish at the Evening Divine Liturgy on Monday, August 14th at 6:30pm. The Liturgy will be followed by the annual Blessing of Flowers and a non-lenten potluck meal in the Fellowship Hall.

Blessed Feast of the Holy Transfiguration (August 6th)! According to the Holy Gospel and to our liturgical prayers, it is clear that the Holy Transfiguration became a means to strengthen the Apostles during the Crucifixion of Christ and afterwards. The Transfiguration actually happened only several weeks before the Crucifixion itself. Had the chronological day been chosen to commemorate this miracle, it would have had to have been incorporated into Great Lent. August 6th was instead chosen by the Holy Fathers of the Church, as it prefigures the Elevation of the Holy Cross, forty days before its annual celebration on September 14th. Saint Helena, mother of Saint Constantine, built a chapel on Mount Tabor, at the same place where the Apostle Peter once offered to build three tabernacles. The Apostles Peter, James and John were there to witness the Transfiguration of Christ. "And His face shone as the sun, and His raiment became white as snow. And a voice came out of the cloud saying, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: listen to Him."

Albania: As many of you know, our daughter Anastasia is presently in Albania, together with our dear fellow-parishioners, David and Nicole Feliciano. Your prayers and best wishes are deeply appreciated. They are working together with OCMC Missionaries George Russell and Family. You may recall that George visited St. Luke's several months ago and spoke with us about Orthodox missionary endeavors in Albania and offered us an inspirational slide presentation after Liturgy. If you are interested and would like to follow along with their journey, you can visit David and Nicole's nice website at www.stolencarrots.com where daily journal and photo updates are available.