Brothers and Sisters,
Greetings in the Name of the Lord.
This coming Saturday, November 5, we will celebrate the Feast of St Raphael of Brooklyn. St Raphael’s icon (and relics) are featured on our iconostasis; St Raphael was the first Orthodox bishop consecrated in North America, and he is the patron of all our outreach efforts. We will serve Orthros at 6am and Divine Liturgy at 8am. St Raphael is also known as the Good Shepherd of the Lost Sheep in America, so this will be a wonderful opportunity to ask him to pray for all the folks we know who are not yet part of the Church and for all the folks we know who have fallen away from the Church.
Thanks to everyone who has already filled out their 2023 Stewardship Commitment on REALM. If you haven’t done that yet, please go ahead and take a moment and get it done right now. The Finance Folks need all that information by this coming Sunday, November 6; the link is just a bit further down in this newsletter.
Daylight Savings Time ends this coming Sunday, November 6, so, on Saturday evening, be sure and set your clocks back one hour in preparation for the Divine Services on Sunday.
Finally, this coming Sunday, we will have our first Safety and Security Rehearsal. Please review the email announcement that was sent out a couple of weeks ago. We will hold the rehearsal right after the announcements, at the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy.
Our Calendar
Fasting Days
Wednesday, November 2, and Friday, November 4
Daily Services
Monday, October 31 to Friday, November 4
Orthros 5am
Vespers 5pm
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 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 G., and Seth H. 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 current book they are reading is A Spiritual Psalter by St. Ephraim the Syrian.
If you would like to listen in, use this link to join the Telegram link shared in the emailed version of the newsletter.
Tuesday, November 1
Orthodoxy 101 7pm
Please see the login details in the emailed version of the newsletter to join Zoom meeting
Wednesday, November 2
The Fall Theological Seminar 7pm
Please see the login details in the emailed version of the newsletter to join Zoom meeting
Thursday, November 3
The Bible Study at 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, November 5 The Feast of St Raphael of Brooklyn
Orthros 6am
Divine Liturgy 8am
St. Thomas School 4 pm
Great Vespers at 6 pm
Sunday, November 7
The Seventh Sunday of St. Luke
Orthros at 8am
Church School 8:15am
Liturgy 10am
Fellowship Hour Noon
Youth Church School 1pm
Since this is the first Sunday of the month, it is Blessing Sunday, so if you’re going to be traveling during November 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.
ST THOMAS SCHOOL
On Saturday, November 5, Father Deacon Aidan Wilcoxson will lead the discussion of Chapter Eleven in Volume Two, “The Devil and Demons” 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, November 3; you will also need to keep your camera on during the session.
MEMBERSHIP UPDATE
This past week, Brooke Krawetz and her children, Elizabeth and Sebastian, joined the parish. They are Orthodox Christians from California. Please welcome them all and let them know how pleased we are to have them at St John’s.
FALL THEOLOGICAL SEMINAR
Here’s the schedule of topics for the rest of the Fall Theological Seminar. Remember, we’re focusing on how each aspect of our life together connects to the Divine Liturgy. That means each and every topic is important, so please do your best to join us in person or online.
Wednesday, Nov 2 The Chapel and The Temple
Wednesday, Nov 9 Iconography
We’re also talking about next steps in our building program and we want to hear from everyone. To make that easier, Fredrick L. and Matt H. have created a link that you can share your comments that was shared in the emailed version of this newsletter. Of course, you can also talk to Baker Galloway, Mike Brown, Will Hampton, or Father Aidan Wilcoxson in person or contact any of those folks via email.
COMING UP
There are just two more weeks left in our 2023 Stewardship Campaign. Attached to the emailed edition of The Happy Priest is a copy of next year’s budget and a rundown of everything you need to know about our campaign. Our Finance Guys, Arun Jacob and John Willman, will be available over the next two Sundays (Oct 16th , Oct 23rd , Oct 30th) to answer all your budget and stewardship questions. They will be out at the picnic tables during Fellowship Hour, so just check out the budget that is attached to this edition of The Happy Priest, and then track down Arun or John if you have any questions. Of course, if you don’t have any questions, you can go ahead and get a 2023 Commitment Card from them, fill it out, and turn it in. Or--and this is really cool-you can just click right now on this link-- https://onrealm.org/sjtf/give/2023pledge --and fill out an online 2023 Commitment Card through REALM, our stewardship App. Please remember that we need all the cards returned/filled out by November 6th, so the parish council can make any necessary adjustments to the budget.
THE NATIVITY FAST begins on November 15th and is divided into two periods: (A) November 15th through December 19th when the traditional fasting discipline (no meat, poultry, eggs, dairy, fish, wine, and olive oil) is observed on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, with a blessing for wine and olive oil (some also permit fish) on Tuesday and Thursday, and for fish, wine, and olive oil on Saturday and Sunday, and (B) 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. The eve of the feast, December 24th is a strict fast day. December 25th through January 4th is fast-free. If you need to modify the fast in any way, please check with your spiritual father as soon as possible.
And, finally, at the conclusion of this week’s edition of The Happy Priest is the schedule for 2023 House Blessings—yes, it will be here before you know it! So, please read through the list and make sure that your name appears on it; if the date that you’ve been assigned works, then please log that date into your phone and write it on all your calendars. If you have been left off the list, or if the date that you’ve been assigned will not work, then please get in touch with Father Aidan Wilcoxson as soon as possible.
OUR MOMENT OF GRACE AND COURTESY
This is a note that was sent out this week to folks who have social media forums associated with our parish, but we also wanted to share it with all of you.
Brothers and Sisters,
Greetings in the Name of the Lord.
Over the past several years, Father Andrew and I have received a number of complaints about observations or exchanges that have appeared on social media forums that are sponsored by different members of our parish. In each of those situations, the person who was making the complaint was concerned that, because the forum involved used some form of our parish name or incorporated some imagery drawn from our parish website, folks might get the impression that the ideas expressed on that forum had the official endorsement of St John's.
Neither Father Andrew nor I have any desire to monitor the social media forums that our parishioners maintain or use. When we brought the issue to the parish council, the council felt the very same way. So, your clergymen and your council want you to have complete freedom of expression when it comes to social media. Nevertheless, in order to prevent the sort of misunderstandings that have arisen in the past, we are asking that, if you have a social media forum, you do not use the name 'St John's' and that you do not make use of any images or graphics that are on our property or on our website. In fact, at its most recent meeting, the parish council passed a unanimous resolution requesting all of our parishioners to follow these directives.
We realize that this will be inconvenient for some of you; we realize that you may have to basically shut down and reconstitute some of your social media forums. But even if the forum is just designed to share prayer requests or to help schedule participation in parish activities, in the long run, these requested changes will work to your advantage, because folks who post on the forum will be able to say what they want to say without worrying how it reflects on the parish as a whole.
In the months ahead, you may very well see a social media forum that is officially sponsored by St John's. The parish council is discussing that possibility. However, even if that is not something that we decide to develop, we still need everyone to clearly state that their private social media forums are not endorsed by the parish, and the easiest way to do that will be to remove any reference to the name of our community and any images or graphics which may be associated with our community.
We appreciate your help with this important effort. If you have any questions, please contact me or Father Andrew or Bessie Jacob, our Parish Council President.
Things That Make Priests Happy
Admiring the artos loaf Irina Zozulya made for St Demetry’s day; hearing about Max C.’s haircut and the off button on his shoes; asking Jordan C. and Dawny R. about the hat memo; assuring Christie D. that, yes, she can campaign against herself; discovering that Andrew S. is always available for buzzard disposal; serving with Gabriel M. in the altar; listening to Seth H. say “Knox Box”; putting on a sweater.
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 Diana Christensen; for Halloween, we’re dressing up as The Doughnuts That Never Made It To The Staff Meeting, and our Spiritual Advisor is Elder Galaction of the Holy Mountain.