Brothers and Sisters,
Greetings in the Name of the Lord.
This coming Saturday, March 9, is the first Saturday of Souls for 2024. We will offer Orthros at 6am and Divine Liturgy at 8am. Representatives from the Burial Society and Beck Funeral Home will be on hand to answer questions about end of life preparations and to help us get started on all that; a light breakfast will also be served. We all have a responsibility to pray for our departed family members and friends, and it’s often a good idea to take care of that obligation before Great Lent actually begins (and don’t forget to write the names of the folks for which you will be interceding in the Memorial Book that’s available in the narthex).
Our Calendar
Fasting Days
Wednesday, March 6, and Friday, March 8
Daily Services
Monday, Mar 4 - Friday, Mar 8
Orthros 5 am
Vespers 5 pm
(Please remember that if you plan on attending the in-person services, it’s always a good idea to check the day before and make sure the regular schedule will be observed)
Fr. Andrew, Seth Hart, and Matthew Groh and many other folks continue to broadcast daily readings from spiritual books online. They are now reading “Wounded By Love: The Life and Wisdom of St Porphyrios". The schedule is M-F at 12pm.
Also, our online team will now be reading the Daily Synaxarion on the #synaxarion channel.
Tuesday, March 5
Orthodoxy 101 7 pm at the Long Hall and on Discord
Thursday, March 7
The Bible Study, Old Testament Edition 7pm on Discord
Saturday, March 9
The Saturday of Souls
Orthros 6am
Divine Liturgy 8am
Youth Group 4pm
St Thomas School 4pm
Great Vespers 6pm
Sunday, March 10
The Sunday of the Last Judgement
Orthros 8 am
Divine Liturgy 10 am
Fellowship Hour Noon
St. Thomas School
On Saturday, March 9, Father Michael Coleman will lead the discussion on The Divine Services from the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee (Vol IV, pgs 315-348). Online access is available on Discord; like to participate online, you still need to sign-up ahead of time. Just send an email to remote.meetings@theforerunner.org by Thursday, March 7, to reserve your spot.
Memorial Biography
On Sunday, March 10th, our memorial service will be for LaVerne H., a longtime and faithful member of our parish. Please take a few minutes to read a little bit about her life in the email edition of the newsletter, so that you will have a greater connection to our departed sister in Christ when you pray for her and sing "Memory Eternal."
Coming Up
This year, Great Lent begins on Monday, March 18. Please take a look at the website calendar and start planning how you will fast and when you will make your confession. We also need to be thinking about which Lenten services we will attend, what kind of spiritual reading we want to do, how we will help others, and how much we want to increase our giving. If we will plan ahead, we will be able to take full advantage of these special seasons.
This year, the Saturdays of Souls fall on (this coming Saturday!) March 9 and March 30, as well as on April 6 and June 22. On those Saturdays, we pray for our departed friends and loved ones, but we also prepare for our departure from this life, and our Burial Society can help us with a lot of those practical details. Members of the society will be present on March 9 and April 6, along with a representative from Beck Funeral Home, and they can answer all your questions and help get you started on that process that so very many of us just try to postpone (on those Saturdays, a light breakfast will also be provided). Since there are four Saturdays of Souls, our hope is that all of us will attend the Divine Services on at least one of those days, so look at your calendar and go ahead and pick a Saturday on which you can join us.
The archdiocese expects all of us to make our confession prior to Pascha. Here in our parish, we do not offer the Mystery of Holy Confession during Holy Week, so that means we have eight weeks to get that done. Of course, two months seems like a long time, but it will go by very quickly, so we need to plan ahead. Holy Confession is available on Saturday evenings after Great Vespers or just about any other time with a specific appointment (our priests do not hear immediate-request-on-the-spot confessions).
Our Moment of Grace and Courtesy
On Saturday evening, we offer the Mystery of Holy Confession. While folks are waiting to participate in the mystery, we play a recording of the Pre-Communion Prayers in the narthex. So, if you wish to visit with friends or introduce yourself to visitors during this time, please do so out on the porch. This will allow the people who are going to make their confession to prepare properly.
An unworthy priest,
aidan