{"id":4090,"date":"2015-12-10T18:15:48","date_gmt":"2015-12-10T23:15:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stpeterorthodoxchurch.com\/?p=4090"},"modified":"2015-12-10T18:15:48","modified_gmt":"2015-12-10T23:15:48","slug":"st-peter-newsletter-december-12-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stpeterorthodoxchurch.com\/st-peter-newsletter-december-12-2015\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Peter Newsletter — December 12, 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sunday of the Holy Forefathers<\/h2>\n
\"Abraham,<\/p>\n

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob — Three of the Holy Forefathers<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

On this Sunday the Church commemorates the Holy Forefathers, i.e. the earthly ancestors of our Lord Jesus Christ, beginning with the first man, Adam, and on through Seth, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, King David, and others. These ancient people, separated from us by millennia, nevertheless have a direct and close bearing upon us, contemporary Orthodox Christians.<\/p>\n

What connection is there between them and us? In general, the Church brings them to our attention now, right before Christmas, largely because of their faith – their belief in the promise given by God to Adam during his expulsion from the garden of Eden, that in the end a Saviour will come into the world and will redeem mankind from original sin.<\/p>\n

All the forefathers – who lived on earth long before the birth of Christ – lived and burned with this faith, never allowing it to be extinguished. They are a shining example to us, who are living on earth after the incarnation of our Lord. Just like those ancient people we, too, have never actually seen Christ: they only knew that He would come into the world, while we know that He did come into the world. But they firmly believed in His coming and their faith was justified.<\/p>\n

Read the entire article on the Pravmir<\/a> website.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Help the Poor Christmas Eve Day<\/h2>\n
\"Feed<\/div>\n

Cafe of Life<\/a>, the local food bank that St. Peter’s partners with needs our help. They are short 8 volunteers on Christmas Eve day to serve food at their facility.<\/p>\n

Who are the working poor? The working poor are not homeless, but families where the parents do not earn enough money to pay the basic expenses to keep their families together. One area often neglected to keep a roof over their heads and the car running for work is food. Cafe of Life helps bridge that gap and we help them do it.<\/p>\n

We need a list of volunteers. Sign up on Sunday (see Anthea Teufel) or on the website<\/a>. Serving begins at 9am at Leitner Park in Bonita Springs (get directions from Google<\/a> or the Cafe of Life<\/a> website)and runs for about two hours.<\/p>\n

Please Bring Toiletry Items on Sunday<\/h2>\n

Toilet paper, toothpase, tooth brushes, soap and any other toiletry items are also needed at Cafe of Life. Please bring some to Church on Sunday. They will be collected and given to the working poor on Christmas Eve day.<\/p>\n

Sign up for the St. Peter Parish Christmas Card<\/h2>\n
\"St.<\/div>\n

Every year we send out a parish Christmas Card.<\/p>\n

Sign up for the card either:<\/p>\n