Brothers and Sisters,
Christ is Risen!
This coming Sunday is Mother’s Day, so why not invite your mom to the Divine Liturgy? We will have a guest conductor for the choir—Benedict Sheehan, Professor of Liturgical Music at St Tikhon’s Seminary and Grammy Award winning composer—so it should be an especially beautiful service. Afterwards, you can take mom out to lunch.
Of course, if your mom has departed this life, what better way to remember her than be lighting a candle for her and praying for her at Sunday’s liturgy. And when you are thinking about your biological mom, don’t forget your godmother: Get her some flowers; give her a hug; let her know how much you appreciate her prayers.
Our Calendar
Fasting Days
Wednesday, May 10, and Friday, May 12
Daily Services
Monday, May 8 -Friday, May 12:
Orthros 5am
Vespers 5pm
Seth Hart and friends will be at the online chanter’s stand offering the First, Third, Sixth, and Ninth Hours this week.:
1st hour: 6:45 a.m.
3rd hour: 8:45 a.m.
6th hour: 11:45 a.m.
9th hour: 3:45 p.m.
Join the Daily Hours on Discord.
Fr. Andrew, Seth Hart, and Matthew Groh and many other folks continue to broadcast daily readings from spiritual books online. They are currently reading Commentary on Psalm 118 by St Theophan the Recluse. The schedule is as follows: M-F at 12pm.
Please see the emailed version of the newsletter for the link to join the Trapeza Readings on Discord.
Tuesday, May 9
Orthodoxy 101 7pm
You can access the group on Discord.
Wednesday, May 10
The Pascha Book Study 7pm
You can access the group on Discord using this link in the emailed version of the newsletter.
Thursday, May 11
The Bible Study, The New Testament Edition 7pm
You can access the group on Discord using this link in the emailed version of the newsletter.
Saturday, May 13
St Thomas School 4pm
Great Vespers 6pm
Sunday, May 14 The Sunday of the Samaritan Woman
Orthros 8am
Divine Liturgy 10am
Typika with Holy Communion in Killeen 10am
Fellowship Hour Noon
Akathist to the Mother of God of the Inexhaustible Cup 1pm
st. thomas school
On Saturday May 13, Polly Thurston will lead the discussion on Chapter 32 of Volume I, “A New Heaven and New Earth”. 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, May 11, to reserve your spot.
mEMORIAL GARDEN UPDATE
Currently, the stones that parishioners may place in the Memorial Garden have been reserved for these three circumstances:
A departed parishioner of St. John’s who either has no grave, or it is more than 100 miles from the church
In memory of infants who departed this life before birth, under any circumstances
Departed immediate family members who were Orthodox, and whose graves are out of state
However, as we are a parish comprised primarily of converts, this leaves a noticeable void for those who have lost a non-Orthodox family member who chose to have no grave, or it is too far to visit regularly. So, to provide a place for these parishioners to remember their loved one, the St. Joanna Myrrhbearers are opening the garden to St. John members who have an immediate non-Orthodox family member who either has no grave, or it is out of state. Immediate family members include parents, brothers and sisters, and children. Our wish is to provide a place where all of us can place a small stone in remembrance of those we love, and pray that their memories be eternal. We ask that anyone in this circumstance who would like to purchase a stone speak with the Myrrhbearers first. You can contact Becky Thurner for more information.
coming up
The Pascha Book Study is now in it's fourth week; it will meet each Wednesday night at 7pm through May 17. This year’s study is structured just like the Fall Theological Seminar; we will have a series of presentations that will focus on our new temple, but we will also be talking about men’s issues and women’s issues and how, as women and men, we will interact with one another in our new temple. Please plan on joining us, either in person or on Discord, for what promises to be a very important time in the life of our community.
On Thursday, May 25, we will celebrate the Feast of the Ascension. We will offer Great Vespers on Wednesday, May 24, at 7pm, and then on Thursday, we will serve Orthros at 6am and Divine Liturgy at 8am. Come join us as we celebrate the triumphal entry of our Risen Lord and Master into the Kingdom of Heaven.
We’ve already started getting ready for the next steps in our Building Program, and the way we’re doing that is through Prayer and Fellowship. When it comes to prayer, we’re asking everyone to purchase a copy of The Temple Akathist and to offer that service at home once a week. Copies are available at Christ the Lightgiver Bookstore. And while you’re picking up your copy of that service, if you don’t already have an icon of St Eanswythe of Folkestone, please get one of those, as well. St Eanswythe has been, for many years, the Patroness of our Building Program, and she’s the focus of our fellowship efforts—because what we want everyone to do is invite some friends over once a month to share a meal and to offer The Temple Akathist and then to post a photo of that fun on Discord.
On Saturday, May 27, we will have our First Annual Blessing of Animals. May 27 is the Feast Day of St Melangel of Wales; she had a special relationship with rabbits. But a great many other Orthodox saints have also had close relationships with bears and whales and mice and leopards and lions. We're not going to be blessing any whales or leopards, but, if you have a pet that you would like to have blessed, just bring your animal up to the parish, and we will bless them all before Great Vespers--and then, in the service of vespers we will listen to some very special hymnography about how all animals will be sanctified through our love of the Most Holy Trinity. Dr Jason Foster, a member of our parish who has been a vet for many years, is providing with some really helpful guidelines for this event, and we will share those with you as we get closer to May 27. But right now, go ahead and enter that date into your phone and plan on joining us for this beautiful service.
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.
Things That Make Priests Happy
Blessing Corey and Christie D. on their 32nd anniversary; using the words mystagogy and perichoresis as often as possible throughout the week; talking fencing with Ben Morgan; admiring Anastasia R.’s sunglasses and Robert H.’s apron; learning that the W.’s are traveling to Honduras, the C.’s to Portugal, Emily B. to Sicily, and the D .’s to South Padre; listening to Anna D.; finding out that the soundtrack at the end of the world will be provided by Roberta Flack; looking at a big fox who was looking at me through the windows on the porch of the Long Hall.
an unworthy priest,
aidan
The Happy Priest is a publication of Life At A Dead Run Media, which is a subsidiary of One Take Productions. Our IT Guy is Christian Perez; our Webmasters are Lily Halsey and Seth Hart; our Keeper of Lists is Father Andrew Wilson; our Roving Reporter is April O’Neil; when the weather is good, we always take the Zamboni out for a spin, and our Spiritual Advisor is Elder Galaction of the Holy Mountain.