Brothers and Sisters,
Greetings in the Name of the Lord.
The Apostles’ Fast will end this coming Wednesday, June 29, with the Feast of Sts Peter & Paul, the Patrons and Protectors of our Patriarchate, the Great City of God Antioch, and of All the East.
We will serve Great Vespers on Tuesday, June 28, at 6pm, and, on Wednesday, the day of the feast, we will offer Orthros at 5am and Divine Liturgy at 7am. Please join us as we wrap up the fast and honor the Princes of the Apostles.
OUR CALENDAR
Fasting Days
The Apostles’ Fast continues through Tuesday, June 28. During this Fast we observe the traditional
fasting discipline (no meat, dairy, oil, wine, hard liquor, or fish with backbones) on Mondays, Wednesdays
and Fridays, with a blessing for fish, wine and olive oil on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays.
If you need to modify the fast in any way, please check with your spiritual father.
Friday, July 1, is a regular fasting day
Daily Services
Monday, June 27 - Friday, July 1
Orthros 5am
Vespers 5pm
But check the schedule for festal services, too. 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)
The Hours
Seth Hart will be at the online chanter’s stand offering the Hours on ZOOM.
First Hour, 6:45 a.m.
Third Hour, 8:45 a.m.
Sixth Hour, 11:45 a.m.
Ninth Hour, 3:45 p.m.
Please see the emailed newsletter for login information.
Tuesday, June 28
Great Vespers 6pm
Parish Council 7pm - Everyone is welcome to attend the meeting, but if you wish to address the council, then you must contact the president, Bessie Jacob, ahead of time
Orthodoxy 101 will not meet this week, but it will return next Tuesday, July 5, with the concluding
discussion of salvation
Wednesday, June 29
The Feast of Sts Peter & Paul
Orthros 5am
Divine Liturgy 7am
Thursday, June30
The Bible Study 7pm
Topic: St. John the Forerunner - Bible Study
Please see the emailed newsletter for Zoom login.
Saturday, July 2
St. Thomas School at 4:00 p.m.
Great Vespers at 6:00 p.m.
Sunday, July 3
Sunday of St Matthew
Orthros at 8:00 a.m.
Divine Liturgy at 10:00 a.m.
Fellowship Hour at Noon
Since this is the first Sunday of the month, it is Blessing Sunday, so if you’re going to be traveling during July or if you have icons, prayer ropes, and crosses to be blessed, just show up at the chanter’s stand after liturgy for those prayers. But the first Sunday of the month is also Claim Your Stuff Sunday; that means you need to check the Lost and Found Box in the kitchen because it will all go to Goodwill after Fellowship Hour is over.
MEMBERSHIP UPDATE
This past Sunday, we made Marla and Stella P., Lilye P., Frederick L., Natasha W. and her children, Evelyn, Victoria, Owen, and Josiah, the R. family (William, Tatiana, Anastasia, and Adelina, and Billy and Elodia S. catechumens. That’s a lot of folks, so please be sure and introduce yourself to each of them and make sure that they know you will be praying for them as they prepare to be received into the Church.
ST THOMAS SCHOOL
On Saturday, 2, Polly Thurston will lead the discussion of Chapter Nine, pgs 210-25 in Volume One, “Orthodoxy in the 20 th Century”. In order to participate online, send an email to remote.meetings@theforerunner.org by this coming Thursday, June 30. You will also need to keep your camera on during the session.
Church School Registration
There are just a few more days left in the month of June, we would like to get all of the children and young people registered who will be attending Church School in the fall. Classes will begin in September; classes will meet at 8:15am on the first and third Sundays of each month (the youth will meet at 12:30pm on the first and third Sundays of the month). Here is a link that you can use for registration: https://forms.gle/1kMZFje2a4cDE8jdA.
Please fill out a form for each child or young person that will be participating. Your child’s teacher will be contacting you in August but, in the meantime, if you have any questions, please get in touch with either Sandi Andrews or Father Aidan Wilcoxson.
St. Constantine school presentation
Have you been praying for a local, quality Orthodox school for your children to attend? Have you looked into how to start one, but didn't know where to start? Save the date! On Saturday, July 9th, a team from the Saint Constantine School in Houston (an Orthodox school with a classical curriculum) will be coming to Saint John the Forerunner church to explain their established process that could be used to start a classical, Orthodox school in our area. If you would like more information about this project, get in touch with Julie Chien. See the St. Constantine Flyer here.
ANOTHER HAPPY CATECHUMEN
As you may have heard, we’ve expanded our catechumen process to make it even more practical and more personal. We’re asking folks who are preparing to be received into the Church to visit with their sponsor and a couple of other parishioners and discuss some specific questions. Here’s what Jared H has to say about the new approach:
I’ve now had two conversations — one with my sponsor and one with a parishioner of my choosing — and so far my experience has been overwhelmingly positive. It is always good to get coffee or eat a meal with the people of St John the Forerunner, but these structured conversations in particular have been edifying. What has been most helpful has been seeing how faithful members of our parish community can give very different answers to these questions. This program and these conversations have been invaluable as I prepare to be received into the Church.
So, when someone who is a catechumen asks for a few minutes of your time, please be generous and welcoming and share with them your experiences as an Orthodox Christian in the Parish of St John the Forerunner.
COMING UP
WHAT’S NEXT?
St Eanswythe of Folkstone knows, so does St John the Forerunner, the Most Holy Theotokos (of course) knows, and, on Wednesday, August 31, we will start working with them…
OUR MOMENT OF GRACE AND COURTESY
Our ushers are responsible for managing the flow of people in and out of the nave and for keeping things quiet in the kitchen and the narthex. If you arrive late for the service, or if you need step out of the nave for some reason, please remember that they will ask you to wait in the narthex or the kitchen during baptisms, during any of the entrances or scripture lessons, during the homily, and during communion. Please respect their role and follow their directions.
THINGS THAT MAKE PRIESTS HAPPY
Baptizing Josephine T., George S., Jacob C., Beatrice P., and Evan C.; chrismating
Cameron and Elise C., and receiving Julie C. into the Faith; making Marla and Stella P. Lilye P., Frederick L., Billy and Elodia S., William and Tatiana, Anastasia and Adelina R., and Natasha W. and Evelyn, Victoria, Owen, and Josiah catechumens; celebrating our parish feast day and the St Joanna Burial Society Saint’s Day (and enjoying the beautiful flowers that Olga F. and Valerie G. and Becky T. used to adorn the icons); hearing about Polly T.’s promotion and Gabe C.’s great hockey try-out; checking out Joe W.’S latest icon; stepping around the frogs who now live under the grate in front of the Long Hall.
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 Father Deacon Gerasimos Juliano; our Webmasters are Lily Halsey and Seth Hart; our Keeper of Lists is Father Andrew Wilson; our Roving Reporter is Veronica Corningstone; our new walking up song is “Og and Sihon Got Nuthin on Me” by Death Shepherd (we prefer the version from the album Live At Basan) , and our Spiritual Advisor is Elder Galaction of the Holy Mountain.