Brothers and Sisters,
Greetings in the Name of the Lord.
This coming Saturday and Sunday we’re hosting our first Open House Weekend. As we head towards this important event, we are asking each of you to do two things: 1) attend all of the services and events throughout the weekend and 2) invite a friend or family member or neighbor or co-worker to join you for one of those services or events. If we all follow through on those two commitments, it should be a very exciting weekend.
Our Calendar
Fasting Days
Wednesday, September 26, and Friday, September 28
Daily Services
Monday, September 24-Friday, September 28
- Orthros 5am
- Vespers 5pm
(Because life in our parish community can be pretty busy, sometimes the starting times for the daily services has to be shifted. So, if you know ahead of time that you will be attending a particular service, it’s always a good idea to send Father Aidan a note at fraidan@austin.rr.com to confirm when the service will actually begin.)
Tuesday, September 25
- Monthly Parish Council Meeting 7pm Everyone is welcome to attend, but if you wish to address the council, you need to speak to our president, Chris Lewis, ahead of time
Wednesday, September 26
- Fall Theological Seminar 7pm at the parish and in Killeen. We will be discussing pgs 63-91 of Gilead.
Thursday, September 27
- Choir Practice 7pm
Saturday, September 29
Open House Weekend
- St Thomas School 4pm Matt Groh will be leading the discussion on Chapter 15 of our textbook: Two Natures, Two Energies, Two Wills
- Great Vespers 6pm
Sunday, September 30
2nd Sunday of St Luke/Open House Weekend
- Orthros 8am
- Divine Liturgy 10am
- Fellowship Hour Noon
Coming Up
It’s time for our annual Stewardship Visits. This is when we review the budget for the coming year, get all our questions answered, and fill out our Commitment Cards. The budget is attached to the email of this week’s edition of The Happy Priest, and you can ask any and all questions you need to ask about that plan during your Stewardship Visit; however, if you’d like to get those questions answered before your assigned visit, you can always speak directly with our Finance Chair, Nick Crown.
Filling out the Commitment Cards is an important part of life in our parish, because that is how we officially become members of the parish. That membership makes it possible for us to receive the weekly newsletter and get the annual password for the member section of the website; it also gives us the privilege of voting each year at the Annual Community Meeting in February. So, it’s essential that we get those cards filled out.
The cards also provide our Finance Committee with crucial data in regards to our budgeting process, so we need to be sure and fill it out as accurately as possible.
If your assigned visit just doesn’t work for you, there will be three make-up Sundays on October 24th, November 4th, and November 11. However, we need all the Commitment Cards to be turned in by Sunday, November 18th.
The schedule for our Stewardship Visits is in the email for this newsletter.
Our Moment of Grace and Courtesy
When people need to return items that they have borrowed from someone else, they often bring those items with them to the divine services. However, if the person that you need to give the item to isn't at the service, please be sure and take the item home with you and try to make the connection another time; do not leave the item at the parish in the hopes that the person will eventually stumble across it. Here at St John's we try to assist and support folks in lots and lots of different ways, but we simply cannot be the drop off point for dishes, clothes, books, shoes, produce, shower gifts, toys, baby equipment, birthday presents, tools, movies, home school curricula--you get the idea.
I’m looking forward to seeing each of you and all of your guests this coming weekend.
An unworthy priest,
Aidan