Brothers and Sisters,
Greetings in the Name of the Lord.
We will be serving Forgiveness Vespers this coming Sunday, March 6. This service is one of the most beautiful of the year; it marks the official beginning of the Fast, and we will offer it after the Divine Liturgy and a brief Fellowship Hour. In the past, a few people have always made prostrations when exchanging words of forgiveness, but, starting this year, we are going to ask everyone to simply bow rather than make a full prostration. There are 400 of us now, and, in order to complete the service within a reasonable amount of time, we all need to just bow. If making these prostrations is an important part of your Lenten disciplines, you can do those at home, following the service.
Our Calendar
Fasting Days
This week we begin going without meat (beef, pork, chicken, and fish with backbones); dairy may be consumed on any day of this week. If you need a blessing to adjust the fast, please check with your spiritual father.
Daily Services
Monday, February 28 - Friday, March 4: Orthros 5am; Vespers 5pm (If you plan on attending the daily services, it’s generally a good idea to check the day before to make sure that the service will be offered; sometimes pastoral situations require a change of plans, and the service cannot be offered on that particular day).
Seth Hart will be at the online chanter’s stand, offering the First, Third, Sixth, and Ninth Hours this week on ZOOM: 1st hour @ 6:45; 3rd hour @ 8:45; 6th hour @11:45; 9th hour @3:45. Please see the emailed newsletter for the log in information.
Tuesday, March 1
Orthodoxy 101 at 7pm - see emailed newsletter for Zoom info
Thursday, March 3
The Bible Study at 7pm - see emailed newsletter for Zoom info.
Saturday, March 5
St Thomas School 4pm
Great Vespers 6pm
Sunday, March 6
The Sunday of Forgiveness
Orthros 8am
Church School 8:15am
Divine Liturgy 10am
Fellowship Hour Noon
Forgiveness Vespers No Later Than 1pm
St Thomas School
On Saturday, March 5, Father Deacon Michael Coleman will lead the discussion of Chapter Eight in Volume V, “The Monastic Tonsure”. https://theforerunner.squarespace.com/blog/2021/5/9/orthodox-christianity-vol-iii-ch-2.
In order to participate online, send an email to remote.meetings@theforerunner.org by this coming Thursday, March 3; you will also need to keep your camera on during the session.
Construction News
The work on our new parking lot will begin Tuesday, March 1. The project will take at least five weeks, and, during that time, here are some things we will all need to do:
First of all, we should be praying for the entire process: for our project manager, for the construction company and their workers, and for our parish council who will be over-seeing the whole effort. Our prayers will keep everyone safe and ensure that the project is completed successfully.
Second, parents and godparents and grandparents need to be especially vigilant during the construction work. None of the work will take place on Sundays; however, there will be heavy equipment parked on the property; lots of earth will be moved; there will be construction fencing and porta-potties and all sorts of items that are attractive and intriguing to young children. The general rule at our parish is that our children must be in our direct line of sight at all times; this rule is going to be even more critical while the parking lot is being replaced.
Third, there are specific places that you cannot park: You cannot park in the circular drive in front of the parish house, and you cannot park in any area where there is a red border along the edge of the concrete. Those areas are set aside for emergency vehicles; if a policeman drives by our property and sees that you are parked in any of those locations, you could very well receive a ticket.
Fourth, if your family normally brings two or three vehicles to the parish, please consider adjusting your schedule for the next several weeks and only bring one vehicle. If all our families car-pool, then we should have plenty of parking, not only for our parishioners but also for our visitors.
Finally, quite a few of our folks are going to be parking off-site while the construction project is going on. Those folks have already received instructions about how that is going to work (you can read through those instructions in the letter attached to this newsletter). However, if you arrive on a Sunday, and you cannot find a place to park on our property, then you need to know that, while it is legal to park in the surrounding neighborhoods, (1) you cannot park within four feet of a private driveway and 2) you cannot park on the bridges that cross North Winecup Trail and Big Sur Drive. Parking your car in that way and in those locations could lead to a ticket.
Coming Up
Saint Elizabeth Sisterhood
All women over eighteen are invited to join the Saint Elizabeth Sisterhood - a women’s ministry that pairs women together as “sisters” for 6-months. Your name will be written down, then Anna Dubina and Valerie Groh will say a prayer, make the sign of the cross, and each draw a name - those two women will then be paired together. The ONLY requirement is to pray regularly for your “sister” - beyond that, you and your sister will decide what you want your “sisterhood” to entail. May this keep us connected and praying for one another as we seek to draw closer to the All Holy Trinity in authentic community. Please see the emailed newsletter on how to join.
Saturday of souls
There are three more Saturdays of Souls this year: on March 19, March 26, and June 11. On each of those days, Orthros will be served at 6am; Divine Liturgy at 8am. If you plan to be present on a particular Saturday, please write the names of the departed that you will be praying for in the Memorial Book that is located in the narthex (if you will not be present for those specific services, please do not write the names of your friends and loved ones on that particular day; that way, there will be plenty of space for the names of the loved ones who will be at the services).
Our Archdiocese expects that each of us will make our confession before Pascha. In our parish, we do not hear confessions during Holy Week, so that means we have until Saturday, April 16, to participate in that Holy Mystery. Confession is offered each Saturday evening after Great Vespers or just about any other time by specific appointment .
Camp St. Raphael
Camp St. Raphael 2022 Camper Applications are available online at https://www.campstraphael.org. Remember spots are reserved on a first come first serve basis. So, don’t delay. Session One is Sunday, June 26th to Saturday, July 2nd, and Session Two is Sunday, July 3rd to Saturday, July 9th. This year CSR will be at new location in Kingston, Oklahoma. Scholarships are available. So, if you need assistance in order to send your child to camp, please speak with Father Aidan or Father Andrew.
Parish Life Conference
The Diocese of Wichita and Mid-America’s Parish Life Conference will be hosted by St. George Cathedral in Wichita, Kansas, from Wednesday, June 15th through Saturday, June 18th. Hotel reservations may be made at Reservations: Hyatt Regency https://www.hyatt.com/en-US/group-booking/WICRW/G-GEC.
Our Moment of Grace and Courtesy
As signs age, we often just stop seeing them. There are three signs up at the parish that have been on display for quite a while, so let’s review what those signs actually say and make sure that we are doing what we’re supposed to do:
Sign #1- It’s on the kitchen door of the Long Hall. It’s a request that we not prop the door open during Fellowship Hour. That keeps crickets and wasps and other insects out of the building.
Sign #2- It’s on the gates to the playground. It’s a request that our children not play with the mulch or landscaping rocks. That keeps the playground safe and attractive.
Sign #3- It’s on the door to Christ the Lightgiver Bookstore. It’s a request that we all wear masks when we are in the bookstore. That makes it possible for everyone to come in and shop.
an unworthy priest
aidan
The Happy Priest is a publication of Life At A Dead Run Media, which is a subsidiary of One Take Productions. Our IT Guy is Jerry Juliano; our Webmaster is Seth Hart; our Keeper of Lists is Father Andrew Wilson; our Roving Reporter is Hizli Gazeteci; our Corporate Pen Spinning Team took home Silver in the Twisted Sonic Event, and our Spiritual Advisor is Elder Galaction of the Holy Mountain.