Brothers and Sisters,
Greetings in the Name of the Lord.
This past week, you should have received our Annual Stewardship Letter. If that did not show up in your email box, it is attached to the email version of this week’s newsletter, along with a simplified copy of our parish budget. Our goal is to get everyone to make a commitment on Realm by October 31. 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.
Fasting Days
Wednesday, October 1, and Friday, October 3
Daily Services
Monday, September 29-Friday, October 3; Orthros 5am; Vespers 5pm; Divine Liturgy Wednesday, October 1 at 6am (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, September 30
The Inquirer’s Class 7pm
Wednesday, October 1
The Fall Theological Seminar 7pm
Saturday, October 4
St Thomas School 4pm
Great Vespers 6pm
Sunday, October 5 Second Sunday of St Luke
Orthros 8am
Divine Liturgy 10am
Fellowship Hour Noon
Youth 1pm
Coming Up
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.
Sandi A. is very close to becoming the only active, fully accredited Orthodox Catechesis of the Good Shepherd Trainer in this country. One of the things that she needs our help with is finishing up the materials for the different classrooms. So please mark your calendars and put a note in your phones and reserve, Sunday, October 26, and Sunday, December 14. On those days, Sandi will have all sorts of projects for all sorts of skill levels all laid out. We will just need to show up and go to work, so let’s help Sandi—and our parish—achieve this important goal.
We continue to offer the Divine Liturgy each Wednesday morning. On those days, Orthros will begin at 4am; Divine Liturgy will begin between 5:30am and 6am, depending on how long Orthros runs that particular morning. There will not be any sort of Fellowship Hour or coffee, since most of us will be heading out to work, but our St Eanswythe Reliquary will be on display each Wednesday morning, and it’s a great time to pray for our temple and for anything else that we want to bring before the Most Holy Trinity..
Our Substack, Come See Something Beautiful, is now live, so please share it with everyone you know in as many ways as you can. Also, the paywall kicks in this week, so, in order to see all the great material, you may need to update your subscription to paid (and, of course, every last bit of that money goes to the temple). Here's a link: https://comeseesomethingbeautiful.substack.com
Our Moment of Grace and Courtesy
After receiving the Eucharist, it is traditional to share the blessed bread with our visitors and with the folks who are catechumens; this is one important way we can welcome people and help them participate in the Divine Liturgy. However, please ask them first if they would like some bread; if you wish to give a piece of blessed bread to a child, always ask their parents first. Also, if you see that the person with whom you intended to share the bread already has a piece, then simply share the bread with another person.
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 Byrhtferth.
an unworthy priest
aidan