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. But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 19:14 (KJV)
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St. John’s Children’s Ministry
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St. John's Children Assemble Tote Bags full of School Supplies for Children around the World - 09/30/09
After Vespers for the feast of Pokrov, the Church School Children filled tote bags with many school supplies for the IOCC School Bag Project. This whole operation from start to finish was carried off by the children themselves, from earning the money through lemonad stands and the generous donations of parishioners, to cutting the patterns and pieces from canvass for the bags, sewing buttons and going to Wal-Mart to buy the supplies. Even the little children helped sew buttons on the bags. The children very much enjoyed this project that will help children who could otherwise not attend school in many parts of the world. The children made nearly 30 bags!
(22 images)
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Well Begun is Half Done! - 09/19/09
On Saturday, Sept. 19th, the children rolled up the sleeves to begin clearing out the rest of the new Church School classroom space above the garage. This space had previously been used for storage, and many moons ago was the choir director's residence. It is a wonderful space for the Church School to call its own. Once more room is made below in the next weeks, the rest of the storage items will be moved to the lower level of the garage. This will create separate space for the little children as well.
(6 images)
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A New Year begins - 09/13/09
On Sunday, Sept 13th, the children gathered around the tetrapod with Father Adam for a short molieben for the new school year, both Church School and regular school. May our Lord bless these young learners and open their minds to sound and wholesome teaching, and fill them with zeal for Him and a hunger to engage their faith!
(5 images)
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Good Food, Good Friends, Good Flick! - 09/11/09
On Friday, Sept 11th, St. John's and St. Mary's Church Schools gathered for a wonderful evening of friendship, fellowship, and food! Oh yeah, and a movie too. They watched "Hotel For Dogs" and were entertained for a wholesome and fun night out. Many adults from St. Mary's parish were present for food prep and could be seen with their eyes glued to the movie as much as the children. Everyone had a wonderful time.
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Cathedral's Fr. Joe Martin talking with Teddy from the Greek Orthodox Church
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By Your Prayers, O Mother of God, You Deliver Our Souls from Death. - 08/12/09
From Wednesday, August 12th through Friday, August 14th, Orthodox children of the Wyoming Valley gathered at Holy Trinity in Miners Mills to share fun, fellowship and friendship, all centered around the
Great Feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God. Children form 5 parishes; Holy Trinity in Miners Mills (WB), Holy Resurrection Cathedral in Wilkes Barre, Holy Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Wilkes Barre, St. John the Baptist in Edwardsville, and St. John’s in Nanticoke were present and made these three days very much a success. Throughout this time the children learned about the Feast, learned the
tropar and kondak of the feast, painted flowerpots and put plants in them and had them blessed after the Akathist for the Dormition on Friday evening. Some highlights of this week were His Grace, Bishop Tikhon’s visit, the presence of our beloved brothers and sisters from the Greek community in Wilkes Barre, and the Akathist at the Cathedral followed by a pizza party for the children. We look forward to many more opportunities to share fellowship throughout the year.
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the children preparing to paint flower pots
Matushka Gloria Martin and the children
Coordinator Marina Martin talking with Christine from the Greek community
Harry and Dina from Holy Annunciation Church
Edwardsville's Fr. Martin Browne with some parents
the older kids
nearly 40 kids participated!
Vladykha Tikhon speaking with Peter Holoviak
Fr. Joe and Dina Banas from the Holy Annunciation Church - Dina's 14 year old son, John, is the webmaster for their Church website and has done a tremendous job with it. It is a very useful tool for the Church and has enormous potential for evengelization. Visit the site at http://sites.google.com/site/greekorthodoxwb/Home
the older children
many years to our beloved Vladykha!
Great VEspers for the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos
Fr. Protodeacon Sergei Kapral
Archpriest Joseph Martin during the great censing
flowers that the children planted in their painted pots waiting to be blessed
Fr. Deacon Michael Pasonik
Our Most Holy Lady, Panagiya, watches over us
The clergy in the back of the sanctuary during the LItiya prayers
Fr. Joe censes the 5 loaves, wheat, wine, and oil for the feast
The children venerate the "plaschanitsa" or "holy shroud" with the icon of the reposed Mother of God
Fr. Joe annoints each of the faithful with holy oil blessed during the Litiya
The children and all the faithful in procession around the Cathedral
Fr. Adam reads on of the 12 eikoi at the first corner of the Church
The children carry the plaschanitsa over the head of the Cathedral Dean, Archpriest Joseph Martin
Fr,. Deacon Michael Pasonik, Fr. Martin Browne and Fr. David Shewczyk
The littlest participants participated in the procession as well
quite a crowd that day!
Fr. Martin Browne reads one of the 12 eikoi at the entrance
Fr. Joe blesses the flowers and herbs
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Vacation Church School 7/27 - 7/29/2009 - 07/27/09
The Church Schools of St. Mary's Antiochian Orthodox Church and St. John's are traveling around the world, seeing the Church that Christ established as it is lived all over the globe, in very familiar and sometimes quite unfamiliar ways. On Monday the children visited Uganda. On Tuesday they visited China, and on Wednesday they visited Brazil. The children enjoyed very much the games, crafts, lessons, prayers, and activities they shared and also liked very much the opportunity to share this time together as ONE CHURCH, even though they belong to different jurisdictions within the American Orthodox Church.
(42 images)
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Fr. Adam leads the children in prayer before setting out
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Making a Difference in Our Community - 06/15/09
On Monday, June 15th, St. John's Church School children set out across Front Street to make their way into the the jungle of the Hanover Parks & Rec playground. Their mission was to pick up the large amount of trash and a million pounds of leaves that have plagued the playground for some time, and to clear away brush and trim back some trees that were terribly overgrown. The children had fun learning about community and our place in it as the Body of Christ. We were even able to repair a broken bench that had lost its usefulness. The children look forward to returning next Monday to paint the swingsets and slide and maybe even the benches too!
(23 images)
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Great shot of our Church..how good it will look when the slide in the foreground is painted!
Fr. Adam thinks this old saw will be a match for an old oak bough...NO WAY!
several swings had been vandalized
broken bench before
way overgrown tree before
broken bench after
overgron tree tamed into submission
We were joined by a gracious neighbor
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Tongues of Fire - 06/07/09
The Church School children learned about the tongues of fire descending on the Apostles in the upper room and went to their own "upper room" above the garage and wouldn't you know it, they received tongues of fire themselves!
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Gitcher cold Lemonade! - 06/06/09
The Church School children set up a lemonade stand on June 6th in conjunction with the parish rummage sale. The children raised approximately $55 and the proceeds, after they tithe 10% to the Church, will be used to purchase school supplies for the IOCC school bag project later this summer. God bless the efforts of little hands!
(3 images)
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Pulling Weeds and Planting Friendship - 06/01/09
Some of the Church School children were able to make it out on Monday afternoon for a quick visit to our one of our New Century partners for some light landscaping. The Catherine McAuley House for women and children will celebrate their 20th anniversary during the coming week and requested our help with some much needed weeding and flower planting. The children enjoyed working and digging holes and look forward to returning soon to play with the children who stay there.
(26 images)
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Rained Out! - 05/29/09
Having planned and prepared for a workday / picnic with the staff, residents, and volunteers at the Catherine McAuley House for Women and Children in Plymouth, the rain put a damper on our day! No matter, Fr. Adam and some of the Church School children brought the meal over anyway, promising to return very soon to have another go of it.
(9 images)
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Not the Future of the Church; They are its present. - 03/08/09
Recognizing that the role our young people play is vital to the health of our Church, the youth of St. John's has begun to have a more directly active role in the parish. While their active participation is encouraged at all times, no matter the day or event, one Sunday a month has been set aside as "Youth Sunday". On these days our young people participate by reading the Epistle and Prokeimenon, taking up the collection, greeting people as they enter the Church, and much more. Also, these are the Sundays that the Church School children will sponsor Fellowship Coffee Hour. We are proud of our young people and grateful to God for the role they play here at St. John's.
(7 images)
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Learning to be a Voice for the Voiceless - 01/15/09
Some of St. John's Church School children and Fr. Adam delivered the items the children collected over Advent/Small Lent for the Pennsylvanians For Human Life Pro-Life Center in Wilkes Barre. The children assembled cardboard "Church" coin boxes and collected their change over the course of the 6 weeks prior to the Feast of the Nativity. They brought in their coin boxes and baby items and laid them under the tree in the Church as a gift of sacrifice for the newborn Christ child. Arm loads of baby items and approximately $150 was raised by the children's efforts. With the money, more much needed items were purchased and delivered. St. John's Church School looks forward to a continnued relationship with this VERY important resource that serves poor mothers and helps to enable them to keep and successfully parent their beautiful gifts from God.
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A partial view of the items the Church School collected.
More precious resources stored for moms to be.
Ms. Ann Caffrey, director of the Wilkes Barre chapter of the Pennsylvanians for Human Life.
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We Wish You a Merry Christmas - 12/20/08
On Saturday evening, 12/20 following Great Vespers, the Church School children brought some of the joy of Christmas to our shut-in neightbors at the Birchwood Retirement Home and Rehab Center. The children prepared that evening with pizza, and rehearsal with our Choir Director, Joe. Once there, they walked the halls singing carols and also passing out Christmas ornaments they had made for the residents. The children had a nice time and hope to return there soon to visit the residents.
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Games, Food, Mess, - 12/06/08
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Cassie takes a hot caocao break
Ella and Dilyn havin' some juice
Jacob's St. Nick pancake
Fr.'s quick whipped cream job makes it look like St. Nick is chewing with his mouth open.
Freeze Dance
Ready to rumble
Fr. reads a story about St. Nicholas
Bede and John taking a rest
Our John
Pin the Nose on Frosty
Eva, Alysa, and Marge
Fr. Adam has reindeer on his head
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The children make ready for Christ's birth through service. - 11/15/08
To prepare for the Nativity of our Lord, the children have been involved in several projects to benefit the community. These service projects are what they offer as gifts to Christ. They have decorated "Church Boxes" in which they are gathering coins, change and cash by sacrificing during this season of Christmas Lent. They will bring these boxes to Church to present to our Lord at His Nativity. The children are also working hard to assemble and prepare over 100 Chritmas ornaments to present to the residents of the Birchwood nursing care center right here in the Hanover Section in late December. May our Lord accept these gifts of love with great pleasure in the faith of these young people. The money collected from the boxes will be donated to a pro-life organization in the local area.
(7 images)
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OCA 'Christmas Stocking Project' Bake Sale - 10/25/08
The Church School children had tons of fun preparing and selling baked goods in Support of the OCA Christmas Stocking Project. Amazingly, these wonderful little people were able to earn $270 for this very worthy project and they were very excited to be helping children all over the world to celebrate the Lord's Nativity. Glory to God for the faith of children!
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Cake on yer face
Caught in the act! - Licking the spatula
The fruits of their labors
Hiding out in the Kitchen
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Church School begins with ice creame - 10/11/08
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Big Kid Joe
The Big Kids
Father doesn't need this ice creame!
Guess how many candy corns are in the jar?
This blessed mess!
Tear it up, fellas!
The Little Kids
Painting pumkins
Simon says hug Doreen
Simon says...
I won the jar of candy corns! (actual count 185!)
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Orthodoxy in America
