Spruce Island

Missionary Speaker James Hargrave to Speak next Sunday November 15th

2009-11-08T17:15:00.000-08:00

The Orthodox Christian Mission Center is sending out missionary speakers to raise awareness, and one of these is Mr. James Hargrave, missionary to Tanzania.

He will be at St. Herman's next Sunday, November 15th, and will be talking to us about Orthodox Mission at lunch hour after liturgy.*

But if you can't be there, Mr. Hargrave will also be speaking at the Holy Cross Chaplaincy at UBC Fri. Nov. 13, 7 pm. Details at the Chaplaincy website.

And there is one other chance to hear him-- after Vespers Sat. Nov. 14th at St. John's in Vancouver.

* don't forget, next Sunday is the first day of Advent. Fish is allowed, but please no meat, eggs or cheese at the post-liturgy lunch at church.

Annual Advent Quiet Day for women of St. Herman's and friends

2009-11-07T10:30:00.000-08:00

Date:	Saturday, 12 December 2009
Time:	11:00 - 17:00
Location:	Theresia L's house on the mountain

Beginning with an akathist, then a day of sitting about the fire, chatting, knitting, taking a walk outside.

An oasis of relaxation and feminine fellowship in the middle of the pre-Christmas rush.

Leave the kids with dad to catch up on their Christmas shopping!

The day will linger till time to leave for vespers or thereabouts.

Bring some Advent-friendly food to share (fish is allowed).

Write on the wall of the Facebook Event or comment on Spruce Island if you want to car pool with others in your area.

Ladies & friends of the parish

2009-11-02T12:35:00.000-08:00

Calling all lovely ladies to

Amy L's house on

Friday, November 6th at 7:00pm.

Leave the kids at home with the men and come out to a (much needed, I'm sure) fun night out!!! No real agenda, just a group of awesome... ladies having fun and getting out of the house.

I live in Chilliwack and can email you directions if you need them. Please bring an appy or dish to share. I'll have some goodies out and a pretty good share of drinks (alcoholic and non alike), coffee, tea, etc.

PLEASE try to come out - it has been waaaaaaay too long since us ladies had our "breakfast" night out! :)

- Amy

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Addendum from Mat. Donna: Macrina & I are both hoping to car pool from Langley. Deanna C from St. John's plans to join us, and she has a mini-van with room for several more passengers. If you are looking to car pool, please add a comment!

Upcoming Holy Cross Chaplaincy speakers

2009-10-31T13:51:00.000-07:00

Glory to Jesus Christ!

It has been a long while since I posted anything here, but I thought that a few of the upcoming UBC chaplaincy special events and speakers might be of interest to some of the members and diaspora of St. Herman's!

On Tuesday, November 3rd, at 7pm, Fr. Mikhail Fourik will be serving Vespers and speaking about Russian Orthodoxy in Vancouver at St. Mark's College chapel at UBC.
On Friday, November 13th, at 7pm, OCMC missionary, James Hargrave, will be speaking to the members of the Holy Cross Chaplaincy and other UBC Christian clubs about Orthodox Missions at St. Mark's College chapel at UBC. (Note: He will also be speaking at St. Herman's after Liturgy on Sunday, November 15th, and at St. John's after Vespers on Saturday, November 14th.)
On Tuesday, November 17th, at 7pm, Fr. Lawrence Farley will be serving Vespers and speaking about English-language Orthodoxy in Vancouver at St. Mark's College chapel at UBC.

Holy Cross Orthodox Chaplaincy is a pan-Orthodox ministry to the students of UBC blessed by Archbishop Seraphim (OCA). Vespers, followed by a time of fellowship, is held at St. Mark's College chapel every Tuesday at 7pm while classes are in session at UBC. All are welcome!

2009-10-29T16:49:00.000-07:00

As you may know "Hallowe'en" is the Eve of All Saints in the Western Church calendar.

Some of you may have seen a Facebook link to this Orthodox blogger's post (I snatched the above photo from there, I am sure they won't mind!):

An Orthodox Hallowe'en idea

You may want to try this at home.

Meanwhile, Fr. Lawrence has given us his blessing to set up an icon and candle container in the church porch Saturday evening, and hopefully we can get some pumpkins carved with crosses or the like to place in the church driveway to encourage trick or treaters to come. I for one am donating candy to give to any trick-or-treaters who come by, and we will offer them the chance to light a candle before the icon. The blogger who first got this idea says that the kids who come to his door almost never turn down this chance.

I think it possible we may not get many little visitors this year-- the weather is not expected to be good, and the majority of houses near the church are still under construction. If so, candy for lunch on Sunday! :-)

Please say a prayer for the safety of the children, community and emergency workers this Saturday too.

And finally, please remember that this weekend is also the end of Daylight Saving Time. Set your clock back one hour Saturday night for an extra hour of sleep!

Notes: Memorial Saturday Oct. 24, Women's gathering Fri. Nov. 6

2009-10-23T10:46:00.000-07:00

This Saturday please bring the names of the departed to be remembered in a trisagion after vespers.

Advance note: There will be a women's gathering at Amy L's Fri. Nov. 6.

For all upcoming parish events and announcements, be sure to regularly check the calendar & notes at http://www.saintherman.net/

Welcome baby Adam!

2009-10-20T11:53:00.000-07:00

Baby Adam F. has arrived. He and mom Andrea are reported doing well.

all is love.

2009-10-08T11:51:00.001-07:00

The Shack

2009-10-08T11:47:00.000-07:00

Review of ‘The Shack’, by William P. Young, published by Windblown Media

Despite its best-selling status in the Evangelical Protestant world (or perhaps because of it), I had resolved to somehow avoid reading this novel. The many questions and citations from the book with which I had already been bombarded by a parishioner told me all that I needed to know and more than enough to confirm my jaundiced opinion of it. But when another parishioner held the book up to my face after Liturgy with the request that I please read it and give my opinion, I felt that being a good pastor meant that I would have to slog through it after all.

I found that it was not heavy slogging, but was actually well-written and quite readable. I also found it to be quite heretical. Polite people, I’m told, don’t use the h-word anymore, and I myself like to save it for just such occasions as this. That is, the book does not just contain doctrinal errors. The presence of some errors do not justify use of the h-word. I use the h-word because the Trinity it proclaims is not recognizable as the holy Tri-une God revealed in the Scriptures. As St. Irenaeus says regarding heresy, it is as if someone deconstructed a mosaic of the face of the King and rearranged the pieces to create a mosaic of a fox, saying that this was the face of the King. All the pieces (or Scripture verses) used by the heretics are the same, but they have been dramatically altered out of all recognition. Though The Shack is a compelling read and has many valuable insights regarding the human heart and the state of Evangelical religion, I can no longer recognize the face of the King.

The novel tells the story of a father tragically bereft of his young daughter at the hands of a serial killer. Her body is never found, only her blood-soaked dress, which was recovered in an isolated shack. It is this shack to which the father is invited, much later, by God (in an apparently hand-delivered letter, signed only ‘papa’), so that God can reveal Himself, teach him some lessons and reform his heart (Christmas Carol, anyone?) The father, “Mackenzie” by name, goes alone to the shack to meet this ‘papa’, not knowing what to expect. Then God reveals Himself in a weekend-long retreat, full of good southern cooking, good weather and heart-warming laughter. And here is where the book makes me reach for the h-word.

The Trinity is revealed as three persons: not three hypostases, three persons. The Father is an older African-American woman, complete with southern accent (‘sho nuff’) who answers to the name ‘papa’, though she is “rather fond” of the name “Elousia”. (‘El’—God, and ‘ousia’—essence, get it?) She reminds me suspiciously of the Oracle in the movie The Matrix. The Son is a young man, “appearing Middle Eastern” and dressed in a tool belt and gloves, jeans and a plaid shirt; the Holy Spirit is a “small distinctly Asian woman” whose name is Sarayu. (I asked myself, why an Asian woman? Perhaps because Asians are supposed to be exotic and mysterious? Whatever.) The three are always affirming one another, saying how much they love each other, laughing, kidding around with each other, and giggling. I’m not making this up: giggling. And apparently, the Father appeared to Mackenzie as a mother because he had trouble with his father. Later, He would appear as an older man, with “silver-white hair pulled back into a pony tail, a gray-splashed moustache and a goatee”. (He reminded me of Willie Nelson.) And, straining to be profound, the author offers a fourth member, the woman “Sophia”. Sergius Bulgakov’s reaction can be imagined.

So, what’s the problem? Where to begin? For one thing, the Scriptures teach that the invisible Father, “whom no one has seen or can see” (1 Tim. 6:16) is made visible only in His Son, who is “the image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15). Thus, the Father reveals Himself in His eternal Logos, so that all Old Testament theophanies of the Father were revelations of the Son, which is why St. John could write that Isaiah saw the glory of Christ when the prophet had his vision of the Lord of Hosts in the Temple (Is. 6:1f, Jn. 12:41). The Father and the Spirit, never having been made incarnate, have no visible image—they cannot be seen as two men, much less as two women.

But more alarmingly, the Trinity as pictured in The Shack is utterly devoid of any awe-inspiring numinus Moses may have been full of fear and trembling at the manifestation of the God of Sinai (Heb. 12:21), Isaiah may have declared himself undone at the sight of the Lord of Hosts in the Temple (Is. 6:5), Ezekiel may have fallen on the face before the Lord at the River Chebar (Ezek. 1:28) and even St. John fell at the feet of the glorified Christ as if he were dead (Rev. 1:17). But the sight of the Trinity in this volume excites no such reaction at all. All is warm and casual, comforting and cozy—a God who giggles, and calls you ‘honey’, a God who drops and breaks crockery, a God who never condemns or is disappointed in any of us. In short, the God who is your buddy, so characteristic of modern Evangelicalism and celebrated in their feel-good choruses. It is not the God invoked in our baptismal service, “whose glance dries up the deep, whose interdict makes the mountains melt away”, the God who “touches the mountains and they smoke, who clothes Himself with light as with a garment”. All of the other errors and mis-steps of the volume pale in comparison with this basic mis-presentation of the divine. The awesome God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob has become the comfortable demi-god of the emergent church. The face of the King has been distorted to resemble the face of a fox.

A commendation on the book’s cover says that the book “has the potential to do for our generation what John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress did for his”. For the sake of our Evangelical brethren, we can only hope not.

--Archpriest Lawrence R. Farley

Langley, B.C.

Saturday Oct 3rd Pilgrimage

2009-09-29T20:16:00.000-07:00

Hey,

Is anyone going to Holy Resurrection on saturday? we are looking for a ride for a couple of islanders to and from the church from the ferries. We have a few options, but we thought this would be a good pond to fish in.

Thanks!

David

Vehicle for sale

2009-09-23T16:03:00.000-07:00

Angie Pyper asked me to post this. She felt Horst would have liked people from our community to have first chance at his vehicle. Please call her at the number given if you are interested.-- Mat. D.

FOR SALE

1996 MAZDA MPV 4WD

LOW KILOMETERS

$4000

Contact: Angie Pyper(Horst Arnekker’s daughter)

604 513 1707

1996 Mazda MPV 4WD, 176,393 KMS. Sony CD/MP3 Player, Standard safety equipment includes dual airbags, anti-lock brake system (ABS), and rear child safety locks. 3.0-liter 155-horsepower V6 engine and a 4-speed automatic transmission. Power windows, reclining front bucket seats and body-side moldings. Tilt steering wheel, cruise control, power mirrors and door locks. Regularly Serviced at Wolf Langley Mazda, no accidents, second owner.

Pochaev Icon at Holy Resurrection Vancouver Weekend of Oct 3-4

2009-09-22T13:55:00.000-07:00

I tried to paste in the schedule, but could not get the table right--- and I could not find anything on Holy Resurrection's website....but there is information on the Archdiocesan website here:

http://www.archdiocese.ca/news.htm

classic jack chick tracts

2009-08-17T23:16:00.001-07:00

(I post this simply because somebody at church the other day had no idea who I was talking about when I made a reference to jack chick. theologically, these tracts are highly HIGHLY questionable... to put it mildly)

Ouch/Hooray

2009-08-11T14:12:00.001-07:00

Brothers and sisters,

Yesterday on my way to a job interview I fell off my scooter and broke my elbow. By your prayers it's only a minor break. The doctor said if it had broken any further, it would have meant surgery. I have no cast or anything, but what I can do with it will be limited for an undetermined amount of time. I work with my hands so this is a bit a concern for me. The job interview went well, but if my elbow is still useless in a week, I won't be able to take the job. I ask for your prayers over the next week as this thing begins to heal and I try to figure what on earth I'm going to do. I'm not really in any pain, just thinking about income and whathaveyou. Thanks very much to all of you. I appreciate your prayers.

Your servant,

Andrew Seraphim

PS I am open to non-arm-related job suggestions if things don't heal quickly. Thanks again.

Not quite the transfiguration

2009-08-11T08:03:00.000-07:00

I'm sure Fr. Lawrence would say "more like DISfiguration",
I have found an orthodox tattoo artist in california, he was featured in the most recent again magazine, his name is Turbo Qualls, and I am thinking that if we can arrange a bunch of us who want to have a tattoo done at some point, (no hurry here, maybe by next year we have it all arranged) he will come up and tattoo us here. he's from california, and if he had a weekend or so of work, maybe he would pay his own way because it would be worth it. one of us could put him up, and then if we were to get orthodox tattoos, it would be by someone who understands orthodoxy. he is also an iconographer in training, so he really does get the idea of holy images. He is a convert in the last five years or so.
caveat 1. I have never met the man in person, but we have mutual friends from california.
caveat 2. I have not spoken to him about rates etc.

but I thought I should put it out there. If I ever get another tattoo, I want it to be done by someone who is orthodox.

Georgie's surgery tomorrow & Liturgy/Cross procession Saturday

2009-07-30T15:14:00.000-07:00

UPDATE Friday 2 pm:

By your prayers, Georgie came through the surgery even better than expected and is now in the recovery ward. DV and again by your prayers, she will continue to recover well and hopefully be able to go home as early as Sunday.

Thank you all for your prayers and concern!--Mat. D.

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Little Georgie's surgery for her umbilical hernia will be tomorrow at 10 am.

Please pray for God's blessing on the doctors and nurses for a safe, uncomplicated procedure and recovery. She will remain in the hospital for a couple of days after, and Rhiannon will remain with her.

*****************************************************************************************

Also, for Saturday's 9 AM Liturgy & Cross Procession please see the post below.....apparently I didn't do the right thing so that it would be 'scheduled' and post here automatically earlier in the week, so sorry for the last minute reminder. Since tomorrow is a Friday and Saturday starts the Dormition fast, this is your last meat day till Aug 15th. Enjoy your BBQS today! :-)

so much goodness and beauty.

2009-07-27T12:28:00.001-07:00

Looking for some wheels

2009-07-24T16:20:00.001-07:00

Hello all. If anyone happens to know of someone (reliable) selling a car in the range of $1500 (give or take - preferably take), please call me at 604-858-5421.

thanks!
Dan

St. Arseny Camp Video 2008 by FDK

2009-07-09T15:13:00.000-07:00

St. Arseny Camp 2008 from victoria jordan on Vimeo.

Welcome wee Lydia!

2009-07-08T20:05:00.001-07:00

just got the word that Hannah & Andriy's new wee one Lydia has arrived! Welcome little girl and many years, health and salvation to all the family!

we make tything easy!

2009-06-03T13:27:00.000-07:00

everyone is advised that we now have the option of tything to St. Herman's without really having to think about it. how you may ask? well we have signed up for an automatic withdrawal program through our bank which means you can have a specific amount debited from one of your accounts as frequently as you desire. this donation will be tracked the same way that a cash or cheque donation is tracked and everything is still tax deductible. this system makes it easier for those of us who are never able to find their cheque book and never carry cash.

if you want to sign up for this please bring a blank cheque to church and track down Muryn. she'll need about 5 minutes of your time so that the form can be filled out and signed.

questions? contact Muryn or Ramona and they try to answer them

Polyphenols and Communion

2009-05-18T21:08:00.000-07:00

An excellent post from an Orthodox blogger who is a medical researcher about

communion and concerns about the common cup:

Eastern Christian New Media Awards

2009-05-13T10:33:00.000-07:00

For those of you who like to read Orthodox blogs, listen to podcasts etc., you may want to nominate your favorites here:

http://ecawards.blogspot.com/

I just liked this image.

2009-04-30T08:21:00.000-07:00

a little shameless advertising...

2009-04-27T14:49:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

As you may have heard, Gabe is now working from home as an insurance

broker for ACD Insurance. With his and I each now working from home, and owning our own businesses, we have sunk to shameless advertising and posting messages like this to our friends :)

So if you have a house, car, or business with the insurance needs coming up soon, please think of Gabe!

I am currently working as his marketing genius, and we are trying to think of a new catch phrase for him. But until we come up with something better, he still wants to go with "Help a brotha' out"

If you need to get ahold of Gabe you can call his cell 604-791-1766 or send him an email gabe (at) acdinsurance (dot) com.