Brothers and Sisters,
Greetings in the Name of the Lord.
During The Apostle’s Fast (which, this year, begins on Monday, June 8), we offer The Akathist to the Apostles on Wednesday evenings at 7pm. That’s a great time to pray for all of our loved ones and friends who are not yet part of the Church or who have fallen away from the Church. The akathist will be offered on June 10, 17, and 24, and we should all do our best to make at least one of those services.
Fasting Days
This year, The Apostle’s Fast runs from Monday, June 8, through, Sunday, June 28. During this fast, the normal fasting discipline (abstaining from meat, fish with backbones, dairy products, oil, wine, and hard liquor) is kept on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, there is a blessing for oil and wine; on Saturdays and Sundays, there is a blessing for fish, oil, and wine. Women who are pregnant or nursing, children who are still growing, and anyone with a medically-prescribed diet should not try and keep the full fast. If you need to modify the fasting guidelines in any way, speak to one of our priests.
Daily Services
Monday, June 8: Orthros 4am; Vespers 5pm (there will not be any daily services Tues-Fri of this week, due to the Parish Life Conference; the daily services will resume on Monday, June 15; in general, if you plan on attending one of the daily services, it’s a good idea to check with Father Aidan the day before to make sure the schedule has not changed).
Tuesday, June 9
Inquirer’s Class 7pm
Wednesday, June 10
The Akathist to the Apostles 7pm
Saturday, June 13
St Thomas School 4pm
Great Vespers 6pm
Sunday, June 14 The Second Sunday of St Matthew
Orthros 8am
Divine Liturgy 10am
Fellowship Hour Noon
The Bible Study Old Testament Edition 1pm
Coming Up
Our parish feast day, The Nativity of the Forerunner, is Wednesday, June 24. On Tuesday, June 23, we will offer Great Vespers at 7pm, and, on the day of the feast, we will serve Orthros at 4am and Divine Liturgy at 6am. But on Saturday, June 20, we will have our Annual St John’s Festival where we Beat the Bounds and serve up locusts and honey and enjoy a King Herod Pinata. The fun will start right after Great Vespers on that Saturday evening, so don’t miss out on any of it.
On Monday, June 29, we will wrap up The Apostle’s Fast with the Feast of our Patriarchate, Sts Peter and Paul. On Sunday afternoon, June 28, no later than 1pm, we will serve Great Vespers, and then on Monday morning, we will offer Orthros at 4am and Divine Liturgy at 6am. Please plan on joining us during those festal services.
Working on the Building
If you want us to get into that new temple as soon as possible, there are four things you can do this week:
Join us in offering The Akathist for a New Temple each week. Copies are available in the bookstore and online; a recording is available on Discord, and there is a group that meets on Discord each Friday at noon to offer the service.
Join us for the 6am Wednesday Morning Divine Liturgy. Since the rest of June will be taken up with The Apostle’s Fast, and since there will be weekday festal liturgies during the last two weeks of the month, we will not be offering the Wednesday Morning Divine Liturgy again until July. However, at the conclusion of The Akathist to the Apostles on Wednesday night, and of the Divine Liturgy for the Feast of Sts Peter and Paul, you will have the opportunity to reverence our relic of St Eanswythe of Folkestone, the Patroness of our Building Program.
Check to make sure that you’re current on your Three-Year Commitment to our Building Program. If you have not made a commitment to our Temple Fund, please check with our Finance Guy, Ray W.; he’ll get you set up.
Take out a (totally free) subscription to our Substack, Come See Something Beautiful, and forward each of the three weekly posts to absolutely everyone you know.
Our Moment of Grace and Courtesy
When people need to return items that they have borrowed from someone else, they often bring those items with them to the divine services. However, if the person that you need to give the item to isn't at the service, please be sure and take the item home with you and try to make the connection another time; do not leave the item at the parish in the hopes that the person will eventually stumble across it. Here at St John's we try to assist and support folks in lots and lots of different ways, but we simply cannot be the drop off point for dishes, clothes, books, shoes, produce, shower gifts, toys, baby equipment, birthday presents, tools, movies, home school curricula--you get the idea.