Brothers and Sisters,
Greetings in the Name of the Lord.
On Saturday, November 1, we will be celebrating the Feast of St Raphael of Brooklyn. St Raphael is the "Good Shepherd of the Lost Sheep in America" which means he is the perfect intercessor for all of us who have family members and friends who are either not yet part of the Church or who have fallen away from the Faith. On that Saturday, we will be offering Orthros at 6am and Divine Liturgy at 8am, so you can still pray for all the folks on your list and still get all your normal Saturday Stuff done.
The Saint Johanna Myrrhbearers have arranged an Estate Planning Seminar with local Attorney, Tom Fortenberry with the Silverleaf Legal Group. All who are in attendance will gain access to a FREE one-hour private consultation with Tom in his Cedar Park office. The Myrrhbearers will be on hand to serve some light refreshments. The Seminar will take place in the Parish House on Saturday, November 1 from 3:30 to 5:30 pm. If you do plan to attend, please send Valerie an email to let her know - Tom's team wants to have enough information packets for those in attendance.
On Sunday, November 2, Daylight Savings Time ends. That means we all need to set our clocks back one hour before we go to bed on Saturday night.
Fasting Days
Wednesday, October 29, and Friday, October 31
Daily Services
There will be no daily services this week, as the clergy will be out of town attending the Diocesan Retreat; also, it’s always a good idea to check the day before and make sure nothing has come up to change the regular schedule). However, Fr. Andrew, Seth Hart, and many other folks continue to broadcast daily readings from spiritual books online. They are now reading Unseen Warfare by Theophan the Recluse. The schedule is as follows: M-F at 12pm.
In addition to the daily Synaxarion readings posted in the #synaxarion channel on Discord, the online team is now posting daily Bible Readings that will allow you to read through the Bible in a year. These readings are posted in the #bible-365 channel.
Tuesday, October 28
The Inquirer’s Class 7pm
The Parish Council 7pm
Wednesday, October 29
The Fall Theological Seminar 7pm
Saturday, November 1 The Feast of St Raphael
Orthros 6am
Divine Liturgy 8am
Estate Planning Seminar 3:30pm
Great Vespers 6pm
Sunday, November 2 Fifth Sunday of St Luke
Orthros 8am
Church School 8:15am
Divine Liturgy 10am
Fellowship Hour Noon
Youth 1pm
Financial Update
Thanks to the grace and mercy of our Most Holy Trinity, and thanks to your faithfulness, we have started the final three months of the year in good form. As we all know, finances are a fluid reality, so any report about surpluses or deficits is only going to be a quick snap shot of a situation that will have already changed by the time the information is distributed. So your Finance Folks have decided that the best way to let you know where we are in regards to our end of the year goals is to say that, in order to meet our budget, we will need to take in $134,400 between now and December 31.
And, to be sure, to most of us, that’s going to sound like an absolutely huge number, but that is just about the same percentage of our budget that normally remains at this time of year, and, historically, we have always met our budget goals. So please make sure that you are current in your giving to the parish: you can do that by checking on Realm or by getting in touch with one of our Finance Folks. If you are up to date, please seriously consider some additional giving: there are always folks who, due to various circumstances, are not able to give as much as they had hoped, and we can help with those situations.
Coming Up
This past week, you should have received a copy of our Annual Stewardship Letter. If that did not show up in your email box, it is attached to this week’s newsletter, along with a copy of our basic budget. Our goal is to get everyone to make a commitment on Realm by this coming Sunday, November 1. That way, the parish council can make any necessary adjustments before we head into the New Year. If you have trouble accessing Realm or if you have any finance related questions, just ask our Finance Guy, Ray W.
The Fall Theological Seminar continues each Wednesday night at 7pm through November 12. Dr H. is leading the discussion of David Ford’s book Women and Men in Early Christianity; the group is covering one chapter each week, and there are watch parties (they call them watch groups, but they’re actually watch parties) in Killeen and Bastrop. Of course, the coolest way to participate is to show up at the parish house, so pick up a copy of the book at Christ the Lightgiver, and get in on the fun.
Rigel T. is planning something new for our Fall Festival on Saturday, November 15. In addition to the annual Talent Show, we will be doing an artist and artisan market. We have approval from the parish council to sell things, so all artists and artisans are welcome to apply for a booth. If you have a child who is prolific in some art or craft, we invite them to join in as well. The number of booths is limited, so please submit your application by October 25. If you would like to do something for the variety show, you need to get the details and sign up ahead of time since there will be no walk-ons. Here is the agenda for the festivities: 3:00–5:30 pm Arts & Crafts Market 4:00–5:30 pm Variety Show 6:00–7:00 pm Vespers (all welcome) 7:00–9:00 pm Live music (Family Band), food & drinks, icon drawing with Baker Galloway. Rigel is also recruiting volunteers to help with setup, teardown. If you have questions or would like to sign up for any portion of the event, just get in touch with Rigel.
Dr. Andrew Richardson, the lead archaeologist of the team that found and authenticated St. Eanswythe’s relics, will be joining us on the one-year anniversary of the translation of her relics back into her parish church in Folkestone. Andrew will join us at St John’s for Great Vespers on Saturday, November 15th, and he will be with us again on Sunday morning, November 16th, for the Divine Liturgy. After Fellowship Hour at 1pm, he will present the first of two talks about the Finding Eanswythe Project, Anglo-Saxon Kent, Folkestone, and his experience with our Princess and the whole project. The first talk will be 30-45 mins and will function as an introduction for the longer 1.5 hour talk which he will present on Monday, November 17th, at 7pm.
Our Moment of Grace and Courtesy
If you are a healthy single guy, please consider parking at the back of our property on the Wine Cup stub or over on Big Sur Drive. You should stay off the bridge on Big Sur and four feet away from any private driveway; you should also park in the direction of traffic. You’ll have a short walk to the parish, but it will be a big help to all of our families with young children because it will allow them to actually park on our property.
This Week’s Recommended Baby Name
Since we have so many babies, all of us at One Take Productions thought it would be helpful if we highlighted a saints’ name each week to help with the process of name selection. So, straight out of the Synaxarion, this week’s Certified Orthodox Baby Name is Erc.
an unworthy priest
aidan