Brothers and Sisters,
Happy Feast!
Today, Monday, June 24, is our parish feast day, and we will offer Orthros at 5am and Divine Liturgy at 7am. It’s already been a long and joyous weekend, but we hope to see you at the Divine Services to honor our patron and protector on his nativity.
Our Calendar
Fasting Days
There is no fasting during the week after Pentecost. Wha-hoo!
Daily Services
There will not be any daily services this week. Look for daily Orthros and Vespers to return on Monday, July 1. Fr. Andrew, Seth Hart, and Matthew Groh and many other folks continue to broadcast daily readings from spiritual books online. They are now reading “The Ethics of Beauty”. The schedule is as follows: M-F at 12pm.
Also, our online team will now be reading the Daily Synaxarion on Discord. Just look for this channel: #synaxarion
Monday, June 24
The Nativity of the Forerunner
Orthros 5am
Divine Liturgy 7am
Tuesday, June 25
Parish Council 7pm This group will meet in the common room of The Parish House
Orthodoxy 101 7pm; this group will meet in the nave of The Long Hall. You can also access the group on Discord
Festal Choir Rehearsal 7pm
Thursday, June 27
The Bible Study, Old Testament Edition 7pm; you can access this group on Discord
Liturgy Choir Rehearsal 7pm
Saturday, June 29
The Feast of Sts Peter & Paul
Orthros 6am
Divine Liturgy 8am
St Thomas School 4pm
Great Vespers 6pm
Sunday, June 30
The Sunday of All Saints
Orthros 8am
Divine Liturgy 10am
Fellowship Hour Noon
Tuesday, July 2
Festal Choir Rehearsal 7pm
Orthodoxy 101 7pm; you can also access the group on Discord
St Thomas School
On Saturday, June 29, Benedict H. will be leading the discussion of chapter seven of Volume V entitled, “Marriage”. 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, June 27, to reserve your spot.
Coming Up
On Saturday, June 29, we will celebrate the Patronal Feast of our Patriarchate, the Feasts of Sts Peter and Paul. We will begin Orthros at 6am and offer the Divine Liturgy at 8am, so please plan on joining us for this joyous celebration.
On Sunday, July 21, we will have our Annual Blessing of Automobiles. That’s the Sunday closest to St Elias’ Day, and since St Elias ascended into heaven in a fiery chariot, we’re going to bless all of our cars and trucks on that Sunday. When we get our homes and apartments blessed, we always make sure they are picked up and cleaned up, and we should do the same thing for our vehicles. At the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy on the 21, we will process through the parking lots and bless each of the cars and trucks parked there, so let’s make sure that they are all sparkling and clean.
Our next Safety and Security Rehearsal will be for an active shooter event. It will be held on Sunday, July 28, and what we will do is pretty much exactly what we do during our Severe Weather Rehearsal: we will all get down on the floor for 15 seconds, and then we will exit the building in the ways that we normally do and proceed to the rally signs on either end of the property. The only thing that will be different about this rehearsal is that, at the beginning, one of the ushers will say, the word “Gun” in a loud voice, three times. However, we will announce the rehearsal and talk about it briefly before it happens, so it will not be a surprise. This sort of rehearsal may seem more dramatic than the other rehearsals we have throughout the year, but, statistically, we are much more likely to encounter a severe weather event or a medical emergency than an active shooter. Nevertheless, we want to be as prepared as possibility for all eventualities, so if you have any questions, please check with our parish council chair or with one of our priests.
Our Moment of Grace and Courtesy
By state law, our parish is responsible for restricting access of minors to alcohol. So, if we bring alcoholic beverages for Fellowship Hour or for any other event, they need to be kept in the kitchen of the Long Hall. That means we cannot leave open bottles on the coffee carts or on the outside folding tables or on the picnic tables. That also means, if you want to share an adult beverage with others in the community, you’ll just need to leave it in the kitchen and let folks know that it is available there. Also, please do not store any alcohol in the refrigerator or the kitchen; take all additional or remaining bottles home with you.
an unworthy priest
aidan