St. John the Forerunner Orthodox Church
A parish of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America
Rev. Father Aidan Wilcoxson
Rev. Deacon Basil Long
Sat, July 31st
Orthodox Instruction 5pm We will continue talking about the Holy Mysteries
and the Church
Great Vespers 6pm
Sun, Aug 1st The Procession of the Cross and the Beginning of the
Dormition Fast
Orthros 8am
Divine Liturgy 10am
Mon, Aug 2nd
Parish Council Reports Due
Paraclesis Service 7pm This is a beautiful service of supplication and
intercession to the Mother of God, and it is served each weeknight
during the Dormition Fast. Please make plans to attend as often as you can.
Coming Up
Our next Picnic with the Reposed pilgrimage will be to the grave of Ian Montgomery, the infant son of Hannah and Todd Montgomery, and the grandson of Subdeacon Thomas and Pat Wilson. We will gather at Ian's grave with his family on Saturday, August 7. The grave is located in the "garden of prayer" at Belwood Memorial Park in Temple, Texas. The address is 8575 Airport Rd., Temple, Texas 76502. We are planning to be at the cemetery by 10:00am in hopes of avoiding the heat of the day. Once at the cemetery, we will say the Trisagion Prayers for the departed and then everyone is welcome to go to the air conditioned Clubhouse at Chisholm Trail Senior Community in Belton (1003 West 9th Ave) for a Brunch Mercy Meal. For those who want to carpool, a caravan will be leaving St. John's at 8:00am.(Travel time is about 55 minutes) We should be finished and ready to head back to Cedar Park by 11:30. If you have questions or need further information about this important community event, please talk to Brandon Wilson, who is coordinating the pilgrimages.
On Wednesday, Sept 1st, we will begin our Fall Theological Seminar. This year, we are going to be talking about the role that culture plays in our lives as Orthodox Christians, and we will be reading and discussing a wonderful book, Cosmos, Life, and Liturgy in a Greek Orthodox Village. The book is available through Christ the Lightgiver, so please purchase a copy soon and plan on joining us for an hour and a half each Wednesday night this fall.
Our Teaching Moment
Our parish cleaning service is made up entirely of volunteers. That means the
people who do the cleaning are the people who stand next to you during the
services. So, let’s do all we can to make their job easier: let’s leave the nave
and the narthex and the bathrooms and the kitchen and the parish house clean and
neat. In fact, one of the most effective ways we can help out with this effort
is to volunteer to be part of the cleaning crew; if you’d like to take that
step, please talk with Rob Thurner.
Things That Make Priests Happy
Running across the big red and black moth that was resting on the white
limestone in front of our new building; visiting with Joe and Misty and Winston
and Sarah about their upcoming weddings; welcoming Lana and Sophia and Anna and
Maria back from Russia; blessing Olga's new car and Miriam's new car; meeting
with the building committee about our new addition; reading a book about
contemporary Russian iconography and running across a paragraph about Subdeacon
Vladimir Grigorenko; offering the Trisagion Prayers of Mercy for my brother and
concelebrant, the Archpriest Matthew.