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 THEPROMISE
 P
 AGE
1
I
NSIDE THIS
I
SSUE
:
A
M
essage
f 
rom
o
ur
P
astor.....................2Secularism................................................4Finding
G
od
.
...........................................7Scenes
F 
rom
T
he
R 
etreat......................10Love
&
Worship....................................14News
&
Notes.........................................12Festival
N
ews..........................................152009
T
hanksgiving.................................19JOYScenes.............................................21Parish
A 
ssembly
M
inutes
.
....................23November
C
alendar..............................24
 
N
OVEMBER
2009
“Things
 
themselves
 
do
 
not
 
remain,
 
but
 
their
 
effects
 
do.
 
Therefore
 
we
 
should
 
not
 
be
 
mean
 
and
 
calculating
 
with
 
what
 
we
 
have
 
but
 
givewith
 
a
 
generous
 
hand.
 
Look
 
at
 
how
 
much
 
people
 
give
 
to
 
playersand
 
dancers
-
why
 
not
 
give
 
just
 
as
 
much
 
to
 
Christ?"
 
S
T
. J
OHN
C
HRYSOSTOM
D
ATES TO
R
EMEMBER
:
N
OVEMBER
1 & 8
Q
UESTIONSFORTHE
L
UNCH
D
ISCUSSION
S
UBMITTED
N
OVEMBER
15
L
UNCH
D
ISCUSSIONONTHE
F
AITHWITH
F
R
.
N
ICHOLAS
N
OVEMBER
21
T
HE
E
NTRANCEOFTHE
T
HEOTOKOS
D
IVINE
L
ITURGY 
9:30
 AM
N
OVEMBER
22
P
ARISH
T
HANKSGIVING
L
UNCHEON
N
OVEMBER
25
T
HANKSGIVING
E
VE
L
ITURGY
D
IVINE
L
ITURGY 
6:00
PM
D
ECEMBER
6
P
ARISH
A
SSEMBLY
&
 
P
ARISH
C
OUNCIL
E
LECTIONS
 
In the Gospel according to Luke (see Lk 10: 15-21)70 missionaries of the Lord return to Him and report  with amazement and great delight that even demons were subdued in His Holy Name. And even thoughthe disciples were jubilant over the fact that evendemons are subject to Christ, the Lord Himself reminds them, and us of an even greater joy - asChristians,ournamesarewritteninheaven! Thusthis event not only bears witness to the astounding things that are possible for every one of us to achievein the name of the Lord (even in this day and age),but that all those who follow the Lord are remembered by Him. The defeat of demons iscertainly very good news, but our salvation in Christ is evenbetter news.The Lord our God makes it abundantly clear that while Heis the ultimate victor in the warbetween good and evil, thebattles are ongoing and our joy cannot be centered on any onestruggle. Our enduring happinessmust be rooted to the truth that no matter what, in Christ, ournames are written in heaven. InHim, not only is the waragainst evil and sin ultimately  won, but more importantly 
we
are saved.
 Yes it is true that we must fight a host of demons andtheir lures. And thanks be to God that in Christ wehave the sure grace to overcome any manner of sinand evil. But the joy at defeating the devil in any myriad of ways actually pales by comparison to theelation that comes with realizing that the God of heaven and earth
knows our name 
and
we have aneternal relationship with Jesus Christ 
. We must delight in the fact that we are neither anonymous foot soldiers in an epic struggle between good and evil, norare we sacrificial pawns in a greater plan. Instead, wehave the privilege of waking up every day knowing the fact that each and every one of us belong to
 
 THE PROMISE
 P
 AGE
2
P
ASTORAL
M
ESSAGE
Christ,
wematter to Him
and therefore He keeps ourname in heaven!In every personal struggle, in every fight with sin andevil, our comfort and courage cannot be centered onthe outcome, but on the fact that by abiding in Christ,God in His good pleasure, has seen to it to write ournames down in heaven. Hence, there is no great secret to eternal happiness, it is simply life in Christ that inturn assures us of the everlasting joy of salvation.The billions of dollars people inour society spend on methodsand formulas to try find meaning and happiness in this life is a marketing triumph; but no less a stinging indictment of faithlessgenerations. Heaven is not a secret! True joy is neither elusivenor fleeting when we commit ourselves and our whole toChrist our God. With simplefaith and open hearts, we cannot only find the way of the Lord, but  we can discover the joy of salvation that no person, event orcircumstance can strip away fromus. Our happiness as Christianscannot sole be driven by what weare empowered to do in thename of the Lord, but to thepriceless privilege of knowing inChrist, our names are written in heaven. In recognizing  Jesus as the Son of God and faithfully following Him,He save us; and therein lies eternal joy.Too often in describing our life in Christ and ourrelationship with the Lord, we focus on the toil andsacrifice at the expense of the joy there is in knowing H
IM
and He knowing us 
. Now there can be no doubt that the cost of discipleship is great, but there is at theexact same time an overflowing measure of delight infollowing Jesus Christ as Orthodox Christians.
(Continued
o 
n
p 
age
6 
)
 
R
EJOICE
!G
OD
K
NOWS AND
L
OVES
Y
OU
!
 
 THE PROMISE
 P
 AGE
3
L
UNCHEON
D
ISCUSSIONS ON
O
UR
F
AITH
On
N
OVEMBER
15
TH
 we are going to haveanother edition of ourLuncheon Discussionson our Faith withFather Nicholas.
On
N 
ovember
1 & 8 
th
 
 AQUESTIONBOX
 will be set upfor people to anonymously write down question(s)about any aspect of our faith, morality, etc. that they have always wanted to ask and never could find anopportunity to ask. Then on
S
UNDAY
,
S
EPTEMBER
27
TH
after the Divine Liturgy we will share a lunch together,andFaTHEr. Nicholas will answer the anonymous ques-tions that were submitted as well as any off the floor.This will hopefully be an enjoyable opportunity for ourChurch family get to know each other a little better by breaking bread together, as well as discover a little bit more about the Church and faith that is so very dear tous and our life.
Please make plans to join us.
 
G
ET
I
NVOLVED IN
JOY,J
R
. GOYA & GOYATODAY!!!
JOY(J
UNIOR
O
RTHODOX
Y
OUTH
):
our youth ministry for the youngest members of our Church family up toage 9.
J
UNIOR
GOYA:
our youth ministry program geared forthose youth to old for JOYand too young for GOYA!
GOYA(G
REEK
O
RTHODOX
Y
OUTHOF
A
MERICA
):
our youth ministry geared towards those young peoplein our Church family ages 12-18.These three vital ministries strive to instill OrthodoxChristian principles and enhance our young people’srelationship with Christ through their experiences at the Annunciation. These ministries are guided by theprinciples of: Faith, Service, Fellowship &Fun.
T
HEMOREOURYOUTHPARTICIPATE
,
 
ANDTHEMORETHEIRPARENTSVOLUNTEER
-
THEBETTERTHESEMINISTRIESFUNCTION
.
 Parents please continueto make the Church’s youth ministries a prior-ity within your homeand remain steadfast inenabling your chil-dren to be active mem-bers of either JOY, J
R 
.GOYA and/or GOYA.Furthermore, never for-get the fact that these vital ministries can
 ALWAYS
use your timeand talents for theupcoming calendar of events!!! Contact anadvisor today, andtogether let us continueto make these ministries soar to the glory of God!
 Luncheon Discussion With  FaTHEr. Nicholas 
When:
Sunday, November 15th
Where:
Annunciation Ballroom
Food:
Will be provided!
Cost:
$0.
Discussion&Fellowship:
Priceless!
YOU
and your questions,
are the only ingredients needed to make this asuccess!
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