Week of May 26

Brothers and Sisters,

Christ is Risen!

This coming Thursday, May 29, we will wrap up the Paschal Season with the lovely Feast of the Ascension. We will offer Great Vespers at 7pm on Wednesday, May 28, and then, on the morning of the feast, we will serve Orthros at 5am and Divine Liturgy at 7am. Please join us for the celebration. 

Our Calendar

Fasting Days

Wednesday, May 28, and Friday, May 30

Daily Services

Monday, May 26-Friday, May 30; Orthros 5am; Vespers 5pm (but check the schedule for the festal services; it’s always a good idea to check the day before and make sure nothing has come up to change the regular schedule). However, Fr. Andrew, Seth Hart, and many other folks continue to broadcast daily readings from spiritual books online. They are now reading “The Orthodox Faith” by St John of Damascus. The schedule is as follows: M-F at 12pm.

In addition to the daily Synaxarion readings posted in the #synaxarion channel on Discord, the online team is now posting daily Bible Readings that will allow you to read through the Bible in a year. These readings are posted in the #bible-365 channel.

Tuesday May 27

  • Inquirer’s 101 7pm; you can also access the group on Discord

  • Parish Council 7pm

Wednesday, May 28

  • Great Vespers 7pm

Thursday, May 29 The Feast of the Ascension

  • Orthros 5am

  • Divine Liturgy 7am

  • The Bible Study, New Testament Edition

Saturday, May 31

  • St Thomas School 4pm

  • Great Vespers 6pm

Sunday, June 1 Sunday of the Holy Fathers

  • Orthros 8am

  • Divine Liturgy 10am

  • Fellowship Hour Noon

This will be the first Sunday of the month, so it will also be Blessing Sunday. That means if you have devotional items to be blessed or if you will de traveling during June, just head over to the chanters’ stand after you reverence one of the crosses, and one of the priests will get you taken care of. The first Sunday of the month is also Take Your Stuff Home Sunday; as usual, the Lost and Found is full. It will all go to Goodwill after Fellowship Hour has ended, so be sure and go through the boxes; we don’t want anyone to lose anything.

Financial Update

Thanks to your generosity and to the mercy of the Most Holy Trinity, we have finished the first quarter of the year with a surplus of $25,000. That's a great place to be moving into the summer months, but, of course, we're moving into the summer months, which is a time when attendance often drops a bit--but it is also the time of the year when we have some big annual expenses (like insurance) that come due. So please be sure that you are up to date in your commitment to the parish (you can access that information on Realm or you can ask Ray W. for assistance), and, if you are current, please consider giving a little extra to help all those folks who are unable to contribute what they had hoped, due to unemployment or unanticipated medical expenses. 

Coming Up

The first full weekend in June is when we will celebrate the Great Feast of Pentecost. Saturday, June 7, will be the final Saturday of Souls for 2025; we will offer Orthros at 6am and Divine Liturgy at 8am (if you have not yet been able to pray for your departed family members and friends, please be sure to join us!). Great Vespers will be served at 6pm that evening, and then, on Sunday, June 8, we will offer Orthros at 8am, Divine Liturgy at 10am, the Pentecost Picnic at noon, and then Kneeling Vespers will be served no later than 1pm. Pentecost is one of the highlights of the Liturgical Year, so plan on being a part of it all. 

This year, the Annual Parish Life Conference will meet in Norman, Oklahoma, from Wednesday, June 11, through Saturday, June 14. It’s a great time to meet folks and find out what is going on in our diocese and archdiocese. For all the information, check this link.

This year, our parish feast day, June 24, falls on a Tuesday. We’ll serve Great Vespers at 7pm on Monday, June 23, and then on Tuesday morning we will offer Orthros at 5am and Divine Liturgy at 7am. However, on the previous Sunday, June 22, we will observe the Annual Beating of the Bounds with the ever-popular King Herod Pinata and St John’s Honey and Locusts, and, this year, we will be adding dancing to our celebration, so plan on joining us throughout the first three days of that week.

Our Moment of Grace and Courtesy 

When we offer a weekday Divine Liturgy, there are typically no ushers available to serve. However, just because those friendly guys aren’t at the doors, the rules for entering the nave still apply. So, we need to remember and wait in the narthex during either one of the entrances, while the scripture lessons are being read, during the homily, and during the Holy Eucharist.

an unworthy priest

aidan