WELCOME! If you are a first time visitor to Saint George’s today. We are glad to have you! Please stay for the coffee social in the parish hall after liturgy so we can get acquainted.

SCRIPTURE READINGS THIS WEEK

Mar 1^st    Martyr Eudoxia of Heliopolis; Martyrs Nestor & Tribimis
                 Genesis 6:9-22                                            Proverbs 8:1-21
Mar 2^nd   Hieromartyr Theodotus, Bishop of Cyrenia; St. Arsenius, Bishop of Tver
                Genesis 7:1-5                                                          Proverbs 8:32-9:11     
Mar 3^rd    Martyrs Eutropius of Amasea, and Cleonicus & Basilliscus  
                 Genesis 7:6-9                                                          Proverbs 9:12-18
Mar 4^th    Venerable Gerasimus of the Jordan; Martyrs Paul, and sister Juliana
                 Genesis 7:11-8:3                                         Proverbs 10:1-22
Mar 5^th    Martyr Conon of Isauria; Martyr Onesimus of Isauria 
                 Genesis 8:4-21                                            Proverbs 10:31-11:12
Mar 6^th    3^rd Sat. of Lent; 42 Martyrs of Ammoria in Phrygia
                 Hebrews 10:32-38                                      Mark 2:14-17

Activities/Services this Week:

Pan Orthodox Lenten Vespers: Sunday, February 28^th, 6 PM, at St. George/Rossford
Rossford/Toledo Book Club: Monday, March 1^st, 10 AM, at the Dedes home
Presanctified Liturgy: Wednesday, March 3^rd, 6:30 PM, at the church, Lenten pot luck follows
Akathist to St. Herman of Alaska: Friday, March 5^th, 6:30 PM, at the church
Great Vespers: Saturday, March 6^th, 5 PM, at the church

 The Sanctuary Lamp is burning this week for the in memory of Fr. Venseslav Dimitroff who fell asleep in the Lord two years ago.

 Last Sunday, February 21^st, 47 Adults and 13 Youth attended Divine Liturgy.

 For the month of March, please bring peanut butter & jelly in whatever amount you can afford to donate for the All Saints Food Pantry. A collection will be taken up the last Sunday, February 28^th, for the food pantry. If donating by check, make it out to: “All Saints Food Pantry.” Thanks you for your help.

 The next meeting of the Rossford/Toledo Book Club will be on Monday, March 1^st, 10 AM at the home of Mary Dedes in Toledo. We will discuss Chapters 14 and the conclusion of “Bread, Water, Wine, & Oil; an Orthodox Experience of God”. The Rossford/Toledo group will resume meeting after Pascha. The Bowling Green Book Club will meet next on Thursday March 11^th, at 6:30 PM at Grounds for Thought on Main St. in Bowling Green. We will study Chapter 10 and 11 of the same book. Please read the material so we can properly discuss it.

Our church will be hosting the Pan Orthodox Vesper service on Sunday, February 28^th, at 6 PM. The presentation that day will be, “College life and Orthodox presence on Campus.” A panel of Orthodox Christian College Students will share their thoughts on the above theme. The panel will consist of: Jessica Precop, Sarah Kersey, Michael Moussa, and Anastasia Widmer. Lenten potlucks will follow all of the Lenten Vespers services. For those times, go to our web page or see the newsletter. The next service will be at St. Elias Orthodox Church on March 7^th.  Fr. Basil Koory will speak on “Creating Sacred Space in the Home.”

 Fr. Paul is available to hear Confessions the following times during Lent: Wednesdays 5PM to 6:15 PM,
Fridays: 5 PM to 6:15 PM (and after the Akathist Service),
Saturdays 4:30 to 5 PM (and after the Saturday Vesper service)
Or you can call and make an appointment with him.  

The church council is seeking to recruit three people that would be willing to chair three projects in the coming year. They are: the fall dance event, the Easter breakfast, and to form a marketing committee. If you are able to help out in any of these areas, please speak with Steve Timofeev.

On February 28 we read in Mark 2:1-12 about the paralytic brought to Christ by his friends. Jesus has returned to Capernaum "after some days." Just before this He had healed a leprous man, who ignored His command to say nothing to anyone. The man spread the news, so that Jesus "could no longer enter a town, but was out in the country."

Do we notice, in this passage, how completely Jesus Christ put Himself at the disposal of people? An exuberant chatterbox is able to keep the Lord from carrying out His plan, which had been to "go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also, for that is what I came out to do" (1:38).

When Jesus does come to Capernaum, people so crowd the house where He is preaching that there is absolutely no room to get in the door. But this doesn't stop four men who are determined to bring their friend, a paralytic, to the Lord. Since they can't enter by the door, they go up on the flat roof and break an opening in it, then let their friend's pallet down into the house.

The next verse tells us what Jesus notices: "When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, 'Son, your sins are forgiven.' “The friends' faith is what is noteworthy for the Lord; it can bring about a miracle.

What would we notice if we were in the crowded house when a man on a pallet suddenly poked down through the roof? Would we, too, be impressed by the faith of the man's friends, and by their care for him? Would we admire their ingenuity in finding a novel way to get him close to the Lord? Would we rejoice at Jesus' generous, healing love?

Or would we be more like the scribes sitting there, who apparently notice none of these things? They only notice that Jesus is claiming the power to forgive sins. They question in their hearts, considering this a blasphemous claim of a power that belongs only to God.

Jesus immediately challenges their unspoken questions, with the insight and perception the see so deeply and that often make His opponents so uncomfortable. He proclaims that "the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins." Then He tells the paralytic to take up his pallet and go home. The man does so, to the amazement of all the people.

Jesus doesn't explain what He means by calling Himself "Son of Man." Is He identifying with the human creatures He has come to save? Is He referring to the Old Testament messianic prophecy in Daniel 7:13-14? Commentators have said that He might be doing either, or both. Jesus wanted us to notice His words, and think about their meaning.

To notice, to pay attention to what He does for us—this is what can bring us closer to Christ, and to a life filled with His love.

Taken from: http://dce.oca.org/page/bulletins/