Brothers and Sisters,
Happy Feast!
House Blessings are in full swing, so check the schedule printed at the conclusion of this newsletter one final time, and be watching for that all important email that will give you the details for your specific time slot. You will need to respond to that email in order to confirm your house blessing.
Our Calendar
Fasting
Wednesday, January 11, and Friday, January 13
Daily Services
Monday, January 9 - Wednesday, January 12
Orthros 5am
No Vespers will be offered this week because of house blessings.
Thursday, January 12 and Friday, January 13
No Orthros because the clergy will be at an out of town meeting.
No Vespers
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 First, Third, Sixth, and Ninth Hours this week
on ZOOM. The schedule is below:
1st hour: 6:45 a.m.
3rd hour: 8:45 a.m.
6th hour: 11:45 a.m.
9th hour: 3:45 p.m.
The login information is available in the emailed version of the newsletter.
St. John Trapeza Readings
Fr. Andrew, Seth Heart, and Matthew Groh continue to broadcast daily readings from spiritual books online. They are currently reading Guiding to a Blessed End: Andrew of Caesarea and his Apocalypse Commentary in the Ancient Church, by Dr. Eugenia Scarvelis Constantinou.
The schedule is as follows: Monday to Friday at 12:00 p.m.
If you would like to listen in, use the link to join the Telegram group shared in the emailed version of the newsletter.
Tuesday, January 10
Orthodoxy 101
Orthodoxy 101 at 7:00 p.m.
Topic: Orthodoxy 101
Please see the emailed version of the newsletter for login information.
Saturday, January 14
St. Thomas School at 4:00 p.m.
Great Vespers at 6:00 p.m.
Sunday, January 15 The 12th Sunday of St. Luke
Orthros 8am
Church School 8:15am
Liturgy 10am
Fellowship Hour Noon
Youth Church School Following Fellowship Hour
Akathist to the Mother of God Nurturer of Children Following Fellowship Hour
St. Thomas School
On Saturday, January 14, Father Deacon Michael Coleman will lead the discussion of Chapter Nineteen in Volume Two, “The Resurrection of Christ” 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, January 12; you will also need to keep your camera on during the session.
coming up
Building Program Next Steps
We continue to talk about the next steps in our building program, and we want to hear from everyone. 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.
Service for the Victims of Abortion
On Friday, January 27, we will offer The Service for the Victims of Abortion. By Orthodox standards, the service is pretty short, but we will start promptly at 7:00 p.m. and we will offer up to the Most Holy Trinity our prayers for all children, parents, and those folks who are victims of the great moral evil of our age. We will also be collecting supplies for Bastrop Pregnancy Resource Center (www.bastropprc.org). Lindsey Bell volunteers with the center and she has provided us with a list of things they need. The list includes Baby Monitors, Pacifiers, Books for babies age 2 and under, Books for moms on pregnancy and baby care, space heaters, and baby washcloths. So please buy a number of those items and bring them with you to the service on the 27th.
St. Emmelia Orthodox Homeschool Conference
Registration is now open for the 2023 Saint Emmelia Orthodox Homeschool Conference, which will be held Thursday, January 26, to Sunday, January 29th, at St. Elias Orthodox Church, North Campus. The conference will feature practical homeschooling advice, spiritual encouragement, and fellowship. The keynote speaker is Fr. Turbo Qualls. Workshop leaders include Dr. John Mark Reynolds, Adam Lockridge, Matt Bianco, Hiedi White, and Katrina Kern. Children’s workshops will include iconography and chanting. If you are interested in volunteering for childcare, food service, or other opportunities, please contact our own Anna Comer.
Registration is available at https://www.saintemmelia.com/south-2023.
Scholarships/financial assistance is available by contacting St. Emmelia Ministries at saintemmeliaministries@gmail.com.
Annual Community Meeting
The Annual Community Meeting will take place on Sunday, February, 12, after Divine Liturgy. During the meeting we will have a lot of business to take care. So, in order to prepare for that meeting and to keep the length of the meeting to a minimum, it is important that everyone read through the Annual Meeting Document before attending the meeting.
You can view that information at the link provided in the emailed version of The Happy Priest.
Please take a moment to read through and familiarize yourselves with agenda and please read through all the reports.
OUR MOMENT OF GRACE AND COURTESY
Our choir members and our chanters lead us during the divine services, and it's important that we not distract them while they are engaged in this all-important work. So, during the services, please do not try to visit with folks who are in the choir or at the chanter's stand, and please do not allow your children to wander into those areas. We should save that sort of interaction for Fellowship Hour.
Things That Make Priests Happy
Every year, we give out awards during The House Blessing Season, so, see the emailed version of the newsletter for The First Round of The 2023 Housies. Stay tuned for the next round of awards in next week’s issue of The Happy Priest!
aidan