Brothers and Sisters,
Greetings in the Name of the Lord.
This coming week, we will celebrate one of the most beautiful and solemn feasts in the liturgical calendar: The Feast of the Elevation of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross. We will offer Great Vespers at 7pm on Tuesday, September 13, and, on Wednesday, the day of the feast, we will serve Orthros at 5am and Divine Liturgy at 7am. Please do all you can to join us at some point during the festal services.
Our Calendar
Fasting Days
Wednesday, September 14 and Friday, September 16
Daily Services
Monday, September 14 to Friday, September 16
Orthros 5am
Vespers 5pm
(There will not be daily vespers on Monday, Sept 12, or Friday, Sept 16, and please note the schedule for the festal services. Also, 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 back at the online chanter’s stand offering the Hours and stream them to Zoom. The schedule is below:
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.
St. John Trapeza Readings
Also, Fr. Andrew, Matthew Groh, and Seth Hart are now broadcasting The St. John Trapeza Readings on Telegram every weekday at 12:00 p.m. The session starts with a short prayer, followed by a 20 minute reading. The first book they are reading is The Life in Christ by St. Nicholas Cabasilas.
If you would like to listen in, use this link to join the Telegram link shared in the emailed version of the newsletter.
Tuesday, September 13
Great Vespers for the Feast of the Elevation 7pm
Orthodoxy 101 will resume next week
Wednesday, September 14
The Feast of the Elevation of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross
Orthros 5am
Divine Liturgy 7am
The Fall Theological Seminar 7pm
Thursday, September 15
The Bible Study 7pm
Topic: St. John the Forerunner - Bible Study
Please see the login details in the emailed version of the newsletter to join Zoom meeting
Saturday, September 17
St. Thomas School 4 pm
Great Vespers at 6 pm
Sunday, September 18
The Sunday After The Elevation of the Cross
Orthros 8am
Church School 8:15 am
Liturgy 10am
Fellowship Hour at Noon
Akathist to the Mother of God of The Inexhaustible Cup at Noon
Youth Church School 12:15pm
Orthodox Chess Club 6pm
FALL THEOLOGICAL SEMINAR
And We’re Off and Running! This coming Wednesday evening we will not be having any Divine Services ahead of our session, but, instead, we will simply gather at 7pm, and we will continue working on WHAT’S NEXT in our building program. Father Aidan Wilcoxson will offer the third presentation of the series: Problems to Avoid and Our Model, and Will Hampton will, once again, lead the discussion following the presentation.
As we’ve noted many times, this year’s seminar is going to be just about the most important thing we’ve done in the last twenty years, so please do your best to be present. We will be meeting in the nave; the parish house and the playground will be open and available, and, of course, we have an online option as well. The Zoom link is shared in the emailed version of the newsletter. Seth Hart will once again be your Zooming Sherpa this week. If you have any technical difficulties accessing the meeting, email or text him.
ST THOMAS SCHOOL
On Saturday, September 17, John Bell will lead the discussion of Chapter Six in Volume Two, “God in The Old Testament” 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, September 15. You will also need to keep your camera on during the session..
Coming Up
CHURCH SCHOOL
Church School is back! Levels I, II, and III meet at 8:15 a.m. in the parish house on the first and third Sundays of each month. The Youth will meet in the parish house on the same Sundays, but they will get started at 12:15 p.m. If you need information about Church School or the Youth Group, please contact Sandi Andrews or Father Aidan Wilcoxson.
Some friends are re-starting The Orthodox Chess Club. The group will meet in the parish house on the third Sunday of the month (that’s this Sunday) at 6pm. All levels of chess experience are welcome, as are folks from other parish communities. If you would like further information, just get in touch with Chris or Olga.
The folks at our sister parish in Dripping Springs, St Sophia, will celebrate their patronal feast on Saturday, September 17. They will offer Great Vespers on Friday, September 16, at 6pm, and, then, on Saturday, Orthros will be served at 9am and Divine Liturgy at 10am. Everyone is welcome to participate.
ST. SOPHIA FEAST DAY INVITATION
The folks at our sister parish in Dripping Springs, St. Sophia, will celebrate their patronal feast on Saturday, September 17. They will offer Great Vespers on Friday, September 16, at 6:00 p.m. and, then, on Saturday, September 17, Orthros will be served at 9:00 a.m. and Divine Liturgy at 10:00 a.m. Everyone is welcome to participate.
OUR MOMENT OF GRACE AND COURTESY
On those Sundays when Church School is in session, let’s remember that this is an opportunity for all the parents to participate in Orthros or offer some private prayers or catch up on some spiritual reading. The common room in the parish house is available for those who prefer not to be in Orthros, but, when we are in that room, we need to be as quiet as possible with our personal devotions, and we need to remember that Fellowship Hour does not start until after the Divine Liturgy has ended.
Things That Make Priests Happy
Blessing Subdeacon Thomas and Pat W. on their 50th anniversary; learning that Dino M. is trying for the all-time record for showing up in this section of the newsletter; discovering that Austin T. learned how to make lattes during the pandemic; talking about libraries with Polly T. ; getting an invitation to a metal concert from Beatrice P.; hoping that Scout Bell remembers to remind her dad to send me that email; getting on Karli D.’s calendar; finishing Orthros in time to watch a comet.
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 Diane Simmons; our new model stylite pillar includes Google Nest, and our Spiritual Advisor is Elder Galaction of the Holy Mountain.