Brothers and Sisters,
Christ is Risen!
This coming 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.
This coming Saturday, May 27, the Feast of St Melangel of Wales, we are going to have our first Blessing of Animals. We want everyone--humans and pets--to participate in the blessing in a way that is safe and healthy, so we consulted with Jason Foster, a member of our community who's been a vet for a number of decades, and we put together the guidelines that are available later in this newsletter. Please read through them carefully and please plan on joining us Saturday afternoon at 4:30pm.
Our Calendar
Fasting Days
Wednesday, May 24, and Friday, May 26
Daily Services
Monday, May 22-Friday, May 26:
Orthros 5am
Vespers 5pm
There will not be any daily services on Tuesday, May 23, and please note the schedule for the festal services this week.
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 23
Orthodoxy 101 7pm
You can access the group on Discord.
The Parish Council 7pm This group will meet in the Parish House
Wednesday, May 24
Great Vespers 7pm
Thursday, May 25 The Feast of the Ascension
Orthros 6am
Divine Liturgy 8am
The Bible Study, Old Testament Edition 7pm
You can access this group on Discord
Saturday, May 27 Feast of St Melangel of Wales
St Thomas School 4pm
The Blessing of Animals 4:30pm
Great Vespers 6pm
Sunday, May 28 The Sunday of the Holy Fathers
Orthros 8am
Between Orthros and the Divine Liturgy, Nicolai D. will be baptized, and Alexandria C/, Micah W/, and Connor and Jessica M. and their children will all be made catechumens; please arrive early so you can participate in these Holy Mysteries
Divine Liturgy 10am
Fellowship Hour Noon
Akathist to the Mother of God, Nurturer of Children 1pm
The Blessing of Animals
Here are the Guidelines we all need to observe in order to keep all the animals and all the humans safe and healthy during the service:
-The blessing will take place outside. Animals will not be allowed either in the Parish House or the Long Hall.
- We will gather in the area between the Long Hall and the Parish House at 4:30pm on Saturday, May 27. The service will be the Ninth Hour, and it will most likely take about 20 minutes.
- All small animals (cats, gerbils, lizards, guinea pigs, hamsters, snakes, etc) must be in containers, and they must stay in those containers while they are on parish property.
-All dogs must be on leashes, and they must be leashed the entire time they are on parish property. Young children should not be allowed to control dogs; a responsible adult must handle the leashed dog. Also, if you have a dog that is aggressive or nervous or that does not interact well with humans or other animals, please do not bring it to the parish. We will be happy to bless aggressive and anxious dogs at their homes.
-Domestic farm animals (goats, sheep, pigs, cattle, horses) are welcome, but they must remain in the trailers or vehicles in which they are transported.
-There should not be any contact between any of the animals while they are on parish property.
-All dogs and cats must be vaccinated. Dogs must have had Distemper (DHPP), Kennel Cough (Bordetella) and Rabies. Cats must have had Feline Distemper or upper respiratory vaccine (FVRCP) and Rabies. If you have questions about any of those vaccinations, Jason Foster has indicated that he will be happy to communicate with you on our parish Discord platform. If your dog or cat does not have all those vaccination, and you would still like the animal to be blessed, you are welcome to attend the service, but the dog or cat must stay in your car. One of the priests will bless the animal while it is in the car.
-Please bring water in a bottle or a bowl for your pet.
-Please bring plastic bags and be prepared to clean up after your pet when they have a bowel movement.
That may seem like a lot, but it's pretty normal pet stuff, and it will ensure that our Blessing of Animals is a beautiful service that honors the Most Holy Trinity. And, notice, it is a worship service--that means we're not organizing a temporary dog park or a petting zoo. We're going to read prayers, bless all the animals with holy water, and sing some hymns. Then those of us who do not have pet responsibilities will go into the Long Hall for Ninth Hour and Great Vespers--and Great Vespers will feature hymns that have been specifically composed for the occasion. If you have any questions, please feel free to get in touch with Father Aidan or Jason Foster.
st. thomas school
On Saturday May 27, Father Andrew will lead the discussion on Chapter 2 of Volume III, “Churches and Church Building in the Byzantine Tradition”. 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 25, to reserve your spot.
coming up
The Pascha Book Study has now ended, but all the presentations are available in print (thanks to Christ the Lightgiver Bookstore), and we will have a follow-up session on Wednesday, May 31; for this session, we will ask folks to 1) actually read through the material in the presentations and 2) submit questions ahead of time. Also, this session will be in person only to better facilitate our work together.
The final Saturday of Souls for 2023 will be June 3. In addition to the services (Orthros 6am; Divine Liturgy 8am), the Burial Society will host a light breakfast and provide lots of helpful information about end of life and funeral planning. We will also bless the new Memorial Garden Cross at the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy. So, if you have not yet prayed for your departed loved ones and friends this year, please join us on June 3.
Sunday, June 4 is the Great Feast of Pentecost. We will observe the regular Sunday morning schedule, but, after the Divine Services, we will have our annual Pentecost Picnic (this year with live music), and the, no later than 1pm, the beautiful Service of Kneeling Vespers.
On Sunday, June 11, we will be hosting Williamson County Children’s Advocacy Center for a presentation during Fellowship Hour. We offer this presentation every other year, and we encourage everyone to attend. The session will cover recognizing the signs and symptoms of child abuse, responding to concerns and disclosures of abuse with appropriate questions, understanding the legal implications of being a mandated reporter and lastly, building resilient youth within our community. Check with Joe Wright for additional information on this important opportunity.
OUR MOMENT OF GRACE AND COURTESY
We always have a volunteer parish photographer who is authorized to take pictures during our services. So, unless you have a blessing from our priest, we ask that you refrain from taking photographs during the liturgy or weddings or baptisms or chrismations. This can be very distracting, and we do not want to distract anyone from the worship of the Most Holy Trinity.
Things That Make Priests Happy
Blessing Matt and Yoshiko H. on their 20th anniversary (after they got back from taking a friend to the ER); admiring Father Andrew’s new pony tail (and wondering when he will be able to sport a Cappadocian Curl); offering the services for St Brendan the Navigator (actually he would also look good in a Belorussian Braid); talking with Misty W. about The Nutcracker, Toby Keith, the Olympics, and Platonic philosophy in about the space of a minute and a half (of course, when it comes to clerical tonsorial achievement, the ultimate grooming goal is the Athonite Afterburn); watching the sun come up and the moon go down.
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 Perry White; the different departments at our international headquarters are connected by a funicular, and our Spiritual Advisor is Elder Galaction of the Holy Mountain.