Brothers and Sisters,
Greetings in the Name of the Lord.
This coming Saturday, we will not only be celebrating the Feast of St Raphael of Brooklyn—Orthros at 7am; Divine Liturgy at 9am—Mary King and Sarah Brown will be teaching a Prosphora Baking Class from 10:30am-1:30pm. So you can participate in the Divine Liturgy and learn how to bake bread for the liturgy all in the same morning! Is that a deal, or what?
Our Calendar
Fasting Days
Wednesday, October 30, and Friday, November 1
Daily Services
Monday, October 28-Friday, November 1
Orthros 5am;
Vespers 5pm
(Due to Father Aidan’s teaching schedule, starting this Tuesday evening, September 24, he will not be able to serve Daily Vespers on Tuesday and Thursday evening until mid-December; the services will simply be read privately. Also, please don’t forget that since 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.)
Wednesday, October 30
The Fall Theological Seminar 7pm at the parish house, in Georgetown, and at Harker Heights. We will be discussing Chapter 13 pgs 135-153
Saturday, November 2
Feast of St. Raphael of Brooklyn
Orthros 7am
Divine Liturgy 9am
Prosphora Baking Class 10:30am If you plan on attending the class, please notify Mary King
St Thomas School 4pm Rebekah Galloway will be leading the discussion of Chapter 11 Divine Services from the Beginning of the Apostle’s Fast to the End of the Ecclesial Year
Great Vespers 6pm
Daylight Savings Time Ends! Set Your Clocks Back One Hour!
Sunday, October 27
5th Sunday of St Luke
Orthros 8am
Church School 8:15am
Divine Liturgy 10am
Fellowship Hour Noon
Make-Up Stewardship Visits Noon
This Week at St. Thomas School
Chapter 11: Divine Services from the Beginning of the Apostles’ Fast to the End of the Ecclesial Year
This chapter concludes Volume IV and it completes the cycle of church feasts. The Orthodox Church began its new year on September 1. The first feast of the new year was on September 8, the Nativity of the Theotokos and the last great feast of the liturgical year ends on August 15, The Dormition of the Theotokos. Why does the whole cycle of the liturgical life of the Orthodox Church start and end with Mary, the Mother of God? Protestant groups may be indifferent, or they may denounce any kind of veneration of the Virgin Mary. Roman Catholics often have a different perspective from us. They have veneration of many Marian Apparitions, but they have feasts that are similar to Orthodox Christians (September 8 and August 15).
Metropolitan Hilarion starts this chapter with The Apostles’ Fast in Honor of Saints Peter and Paul, and the Holy Apostles. He could have spent some time on the importance of St. Peter in Rome or the unique deaths of the Apostles. He spends most of his attention on an important teaching of the Orthodox Church that is as old as the Old Testament and as new as the New Testament. That we all can become illumined. We can experience this transformation that can make our "faces shine" like Jesus Christ on Mt. Tabor at the Transfiguration.
Our whole experience of time on earth should reflect on the example of the holy family of Joachim and Anna who gave the world a place – rather a person – Mary, the Mother of God, to dwell and to save our souls. We should reflect on the holy Apostles who were miraculously translated (except St. Thomas who doubted) to be present with Mary at her falling asleep and resurrection into the arms of Jesus Christ. Where should we be throughout the year? We should be close to the Virgin Mary and Her Son, Jesus Christ.
The liturgical cycle seems to suggest that just as the whole world began anew with Mary’s visitation from St. Gabriel and was transfigured by the birth of Jesus Christ from the Virgin Mary, which shook up kings, authorities, and demons, our time in the Church begins and ends with the Virgin Mary. She is the “mediatrix” of the world, as we say in the liturgy.
Her death is tender, courageous and special to us as Orthodox Christians. An icon gives us an example of how we should approach our own death. When she was lying on her bed about to fall asleep, she is shown not dressed in burial linen but in infant swaddling clothes. Our death is our rebirth, and the first one to receive us and bring us into a new life is Jesus Christ Himself.
Finance Update
Thanks to the grace and mercy of the Most Holy Trinity and to your faithful generosity, we ended September with a surplus of $10,520, which brings the surplus on the year to $10,583. That’s a wonderful position from which to move into the final three months of the year, so let’s do our very best to continue that trend. By now, we all have received our third quarter giving statements (if you did not get one of those emails, check with Nick Crown Please look those over, and, if you are caught up, please consider giving a little more to help out those who aren’t able to contribute as much as they had hoped. Thanks to each and every one of you for your perseverance and generosity. Glory to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now and forever.
Coming Up
On Friday, November 15, we will begin the Nativity Fast. This Fast is divided into two periods: The first is November 15th through December 19th when the traditional fasting discipline (no meat, poultry, eggs, dairy, fish, wine, and olive oil) is observed on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, with a blessing for wine and olive oil (some also permit fish) on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and for fish, wine, and olive oil on Saturdays and Sundays. The second is the period of the Forefeast, December 20th through 24th, when the traditional fasting discipline is observed Monday through Friday, with a blessing for wine and olive oil on Saturday and Sunday. Many American Orthodox Christians also take a break from the fast on Thanksgiving Day (the emphasis there being on the word ‘day’), but if you need to modify the fast in any way, please speak to your spiritual father as soon as possible.
If you haven’t yet had an opportunity to have a Stewardship Visit, the final make-up sessions will be on Sunday, November 3, and Sunday, November 10. We then need to have all the cards turned in by Sunday, November 17. That way the Finance Folks can make any adjustments that are necessary to the 2020 Budget. If you have misplaced your Commitment Card, you can get one of those from Nick Crown, or you can simply send that information to Father Aidan. Please go ahead and get all that taken care of because on Monday, November 18, we don’t want you to wake up with that reminder email in your inbox.
On Thursday, November 21, we will celebrate the Feast of the Entrance of the Mother of God into the Temple. We will serve Great Vespers on Wednesday, November 20 at 7pm, and then, on the day of the feast, we will offer Orthros at 5am and Divine Liturgy at 7am. The Feast of the Entrance is a beautiful celebration of the Most Holy Theotokos, so please plan on joining us during those services.
We will be serving the Nativity Paraclesis on most Wednesday evenings during the Fast. There will be four opportunities to participate in this lovely service, so we should all be able to make at least one of those. We will offer the service on November 27 (which will be Thanksgiving Eve and a wonderful way to start that holiday) and on December 4, 11, and 18.
As you begin your holiday shopping, don’t forget about Christ The Lightgiver Bookstore. The bookstore has lots of great gift items in addition to a wide selection of books and icons. The store is open every Sunday during Fellowship Hour, but you can always get in touch with our hard-working manager, Stephanie Crown, and ask a question or place an order during the week.
Every year, we have a presentation from the Williamson County Children’s Advocacy Center about how to recognize and prevent child abuse. It’s not a fun topic, but for families and godparents and parish communities, it’s an extremely important topic. This year’s program will be on Sunday, November 24; it will take place during Fellowship Hour; it will be presented in the common room of the parish house, so plan on taking forty-five minutes out of your Sunday to learn more about how we can spot and deal with this great evil.
Our Moment of Grace and Courtesy
Please remember that the Cry Room is for parents and grandparents to calm and feed babies and toddlers and still participate in the services. So the room is not to be used as a place to store car seats, diaper bags, and strollers or as a spot to return phone calls and visit with friends. There are storage areas in the narthex and bathrooms, and we should save the phone calls and visits for after the services.
St Raphael is known as The Good Shepherd of the Lost Sheep in America, so his feast day is a wonderful opportunity to intercede for all those folks we love who are not yet part of the Church or who have fallen away from the Church. Please join us this Saturday in that work of intercession.
And don’t forget: This coming Sunday, November 3rd, marks the end of Daylight Savings Time, so, on Saturday night, remember to set your clocks back one hour.
an unworthy priest
aidan