Welcome.
This is the website for St John Orthodox Church. Our parish community is located in Cedar Park, Texas, a rapidly-growing suburb of the state capital, Austin.
We hope that you find the information on this site helpful. If you have questions, please contact us. However, the only way to actually experience the joy and beauty of Orthodox Christianity is to participate in a worship service, so we hope that you’ll take that step as soon as you’re ready.
We look forward to meeting you.
The Fall Theological Seminar begins on Wednesday, September 12. This year, we will be reading a wonderful novel by Marilynne Robinson called Gilead. You can easily pick up an inexpensive copy at Christ the Lightgiver Bookstore. This year, groups will also be meeting in Georgetown (at the home of Mike and Linda Brown) and in Killeen (at the offices of Randy Hardin). So, where ever you may be in Central Texas this fall, on Wednesday evenings, plan on joining us at 7pm as we discuss this lovely book.
Back to School. St Thomas School, that is. If you started out with us back in the summer and have since become too busy—or if you haven’t yet tried out the school—this is a good time to get involved. We’re starting a new section in our current textbook.
Let’s take a look at some more Bad Theology. Bad Theology happens when we say dumb things about the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. For example, many folks maintain that our understanding of how the Most Holy Trinity wants us to behave—what we call our morals—can, and even should, change over time.
In his question for this roundtable, Editor Scott Coleman asks why “so many Christians” consider some parts of the Old Testament to be “valid” and other parts “invalid”. There are quite a few Protestant Christians who make that sort of distinction, but, in Orthodox Christianity, we affirm the importance of the entire Old Testament.
Greetings in the Name of the Lord. I’m the guy in the black dress that was tapping on the window of your car at 5:45am. And, yeah, I know: when you’re sitting in your car with nothing on but your underwear, a priest is pretty much the last person you want to see. But, in the future, if you refrain from parking behind churches, you’ll significantly lower the odds of that kind of encounter.
This time around, Editor Scott Coleman has asked us to select, from the Bible, the specific teaching of Christ Jesus that we believe is “most important today”. The question suggests that our Lord and Master is someone like Albert Einstein or Blaise Pascal or Aristotle—a great thinker or teacher or philosopher who has left behind a body of writing from which we can draw insights or principles that apply to our current cultural situation. That’s certainly the way a lot of folks think of Christ Jesus. But it’s a mistaken approach.
We sat across the banquet table from each other. He was a popular priest at the very pinnacle of his career. I was a brand new clergyman. At some point, I think, we shook hands, and he congratulated me on my recent ordination, but that was the extent of our interaction