Sunday School Corner

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, One God, Amen

If JESUS came to your house to spend a day or two. If HE came unexpectedly, I wonder what you'd do. Oh, I know, you'd give your nicest room to such an honoured guest.
And all the food you'd serve to HIM would be the very best, and you would keep assuring HIM you're glad to have HIM there, that serving HIM in your own home is joy beyond compare.
But when you saw HIM coming, would you meet HIM at the door, with arms outstretched in welcome to your heavenly visitor, or would you have to change your clothes before you let HIM in or hide some magazines and put the Bible where it'd be seen.
Would you turn off the radio and hope HE hadn't heard and wish you hadn't uttered that last word, nasty word.
Would you hide your worldly music and put some hymn books out.
Could you let JESUS right in, or would you rush about.
And I wonder if the Saviour spent a day or two with you, would you go right on doing the things you always do.
Would you keep right on saying the things you always say.
Would life for you continue as it does from day to day.
Would your family conversation keep up its usual pace, and would you find it hard at each meal to say a table grace.
Would you sing the songs you always sing and read the books you read, and let HIM know the things on which your mind and spirit feed.
Would you take JESUS with you everywhere you'd planned to go, or would you maybe change your plans for just a day or so.
Would you be glad to have HIM meet your every friends or would you hope they'd stay away until HIS visit ends.
Would you be glad to have HIM stay forever on and on, or would you sigh with great relief when HE at last was gone.
It might be interesting to know the things you would do if JESUS CHRIST in person came to spend some time with you.

(Author Unknown)
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Why do you increase your bonds? Take hold of your life before your light grows dark and you seek help and do not find it. This life has been given to you for repentance; do not waste it in vain pursuits.
+ St. Isaac the Syrian +
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Opportunity may knock once, but temptation leans on the bell.
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One day, a certain brother brought a bunch of grapes to the holy Abba Macarius. But he, for the sake of brotherly love, did not think of his own needs, but instead thought of others. He carried the grapes to another brother, who seemed to be in greater need. This sick brother gave thanks to the lord for the kindness of abba Macarius, but he also decided that his neighbour had greater need for it. So he took the grapes to another brother. This brother too, acted in the same way, until the same bunch of grapes was passed around in all the cells, which were scattered in the desert. Finally, there were brought again to the first giver, who praised God for the love and generosity of all the brothers.

The Lord guided and guarded this saint in his life of solitude and isolation, and many people went to visit him in his cell for the purpose of taking his blessings.
Saint Kyriakos ventured into the wilderness due to the persecution of the king. He lived in and share a cave with wild beasts which rested in it during the heat of the day, and took shelter in the cold of the night. Though wild, they never attacked him, but rather, loved him and were friendly to him.
Having not eaten for many days, his body became so weak that he could not stand to pray, so he asked the Lord to provide him with bodily food so that he may have the strength to stand up in reverence and pray. While he was praying for this, a wild cow approached him, screaming as if from pain. The saint noticed it laden with milk, so he took from his cave a shell into which he emptied the milk, and immediately the cow was relieved of its pain. The saint gave thanks to God for His tender mercies, and then drank from the cow's milk. This cow returned to the saint every three days, and the saint fed on its sweet milk for ten years without feeling the need for eating or drinking anything else.
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Exuses, excuses, … you hear them everyday.
Now, the devil he'll supply them, if from church you stay away.
When people come to know the Lord, the devil always loses,
So to keep them folks away from church, he offers them excuses!
In the summer, it's too hot, and in the winter, it's too cold.
And in the springtime, when the weather's just right,
You find some place else to go. Well, it's up to the mountain
Or down to the beach or to visit some old friend,
Or just to stay home and kinda relax and hope some of the kinfolks drop in.

Well, the church bench is too hard, and that choir sings way too loud.
And, boy, you know how nervous you can get when your settin' in a great big crowd.
The doctor told you you'd better watch them crowds, they'll set you back,
But you go to that ballgame, cause you say it helps you to relax.
Well, you have a headache Sunday morning and a backache Sunday night.

Well, one of the children has a cold, pneumonia, do you suppose?
Why the whole family had to stay home, just to blow that poor kids nose!

The preacher, he's too young, maybe he's too old.
His sermons, they're not fired enough, or maybe their too bold.
His voice is much too quiet, sometimes he gets too loud,
He needs to have more dignity or else he's way too proud.
His sermons, they're too long. Maybe, they're too short.
He ought to preach the Word with dignity, instead of stomp and snort.
Why, one of the members told me the other day,
"He didn't even shake my hand."
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The Coptic hymns began to develop shortly after the preaching of St Mark the Apostle in Alexandria. Early Christians were basically Jews, who lived in large numbers in Alexandria, and Egyptians. Both groups have contributed to the formation of the Coptic hymns, namely:
- The Christian Jews brought with them well established hymns both in wording and music.
- The Christian Egyptians brought with them the very deep music of the Pharaohs relating to immortality of the sprit, the one God and resurrection.
Both contributions mixed exceptionally well due to the similarity of the background of the two cultures, but mainly due to the dedication of the early Coptic Christians. That dedication was so strong that those new believers sold everything and devoted their lives to worship in monasteries near Lake Mariut first (in the forties of the first century) and then afterwards they spread to other locations.
With such devotion and zeal efforts were concentrated to establish the system of prayer, wording and music of hymns, the Liturgy, the system of hourly prayers etc.
An evidence of the early development of the Coptic hymns (basically the first two centuries) is the discovery of an ancient hymn called ‘xorinex’ recorded on musical notes near the City of Bahnassa in Upper Egypt which dates back to the third century.
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A God-fearing man whose name was Dorotheus and his wife Theopista, held a festival of commemoration for the honored Angel Michael on the twelfth day of each month.

It happened that this righteous family fell on hard times and had nothing to celebrate with for the commemoration of the honored Michael. They took their clothes to sell so that they might have a feast. Michael the Archangel appeared to Dorotheus and commanded him not to sell his clothes, but to go to a sheep-master and to take from him a sheep worth one-third of a dinar.

He was also to go to a fisherman and to take from him a fish worth one-third of a dinar but Dorotheus was not to slit open the fish until he came back to him. Finally, he was to go to a flour merchant and to take from him as much flour as he needed.

Dorotheus did as the Angel commanded him. He invited the people, as was his custom, to the feast honoring the Archangel Michael. When he went into his storeroom looking for wine for the offering, he found that all the containers had been filled with wine and many other good things. He marvelled and was astonished.

After they had finished the celebration and all the people had departed, the Archangel appeared to Dorotheus as before and commanded him to cut open the belly of the fish. He found 300 dinars of gold and three coins each is a third of a dinar. He told him these three coins were for the sheep, the fish and the flour, and the 300 Dinars were for him and his children. God had remembered them and their oblations and had rewarded them here, in this world and in the kingdom of heaven on the last day. As Dorotheus and his wife were astonished at this matter, the Archangel Michael said to them, "I am Michael the Archangel who delivered you from all your tribulations and I have taken your oblations and alms up to God, you shall lack no good thing whatsoever in this world."

They prostrated themselves before him and he disappeared and went up into heaven.
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The fruit of Silence is Prayer.
The fruit of Prayer is Faith.
The fruit of Faith is Love.
The fruit of Love is Service.
The fruit of Service is Peace.
The fullness of our heart is expressed in our eyes, in our touch, in what we write, in what we say, in the way we walk, the way we receive, the way we need.
That is the fullness of our heart expressing itself in many different ways.
~Mother Teresa~
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