Brothers and Sisters,
Greetings in the Name of the Lord.
This coming Sunday, July 30, is a fifth Sunday and that means we will have a potluck during Fellowship Hour. Please bring enough food to feed your family along with some extra food to share—that way, when we pool our resources, we will have more than enough for our community and also for our guests. Fall will be here before we know it, and Church School begins the first Sunday in September. Here is the link for registration: https://forms.gle/ZA7aSnqLzb112MJi6. Check with Sandi Andrews or Father Aidan if you have any other questions.
And, speaking of September, during that month, we will begin offering regular Chanter Training. If you’re interested, please talk to Karen Morgan or Matt Groh to get invited to the discord thread. Men and women (and youth!) are all welcome to participate.
Our Calendar
Fasting Days
Wednesday, July 26, and Friday, July 28. If you need to modify the fast, please check with your spiritual
father.
Daily Services
Monday, July 24 to Friday, July 28
Orthros 5am
Vespers 5pm
(but note the festal services for St Elias).
Also 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 Heart, and Matthew Groh and many other folks continue to broadcast daily readings from spiritual books online. They will soon begin reading Welcoming Gifts by Father Jeremy Davis. 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, July 25
Parish Council 7pm This group will meet in The Parish House
Orthodoxy 101 7pm This group will meet in The Long Hall (You can access this group on Discord)
Thursday, July 27
The Bible Study, New Testament Edition 7pm.
You can access this group on Discord
Saturday, July 29
St. Thomas School 4pm
Great Vespers 6pm
Sunday, July 30
The Eighth Sunday of St Matthew
Orthros 8am
Divine Liturgy 10am
Fifth Sunday Potluck Noon
st. thomas school
On Saturday July 30, Baker Galloway will be leading the discussion on the remainder of Chapter 6 of Volume III, “The Iconographical Tradition in Byzantium”. 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, July 27, to reserve your spot.
coming up
On Tuesday, August 1, we will begin the Dormition Fast. During this Fast, which runs through Monday, August 14th , the eve of the great feast of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos, we observe the traditional fasting discipline (no meat, poultry, fish, milk, cheese, eggs, wine and olive oil) Monday through Friday with a blessing for wine and olive oil on Saturday and Sunday, and for fish, wine and olive oil on the great feast of the Transfiguration on Sunday, August 6th. If you need to modify the fast in any way, please check with your spiritual father.
During the Dormition Fast, we offer The Paraclesis to the Mother of God each week night between August 1 and August 13. That means, this year, there will be nine opportunities to participate in this lovely service, and that means all of us should be able to be present at least once during the fast. So please look at your calendar and make plans to join us as we ask the Most Holy Theotokos for her intercessions.
Before the Feast of the Dormition on Tuesday, August 15, the Archdiocese expects all of us to make our confession. In our parish, that Holy Mystery is offered on Saturday evenings after Great Vespers or just about any other time by special appointment.
The first-ever St. John Festal Choir will be offering a concert after the Festal Liturgy on The Feast of The Transfiguration, August 6th! Our Festal Choir is made up of our Liturgy Choir plus others in the parish who love to sing...and it’s a pretty big group! After you reverence the Cross on that Sunday, get your food and chill a bit, we'll ring a bell to let you know the choir concert is starting in the nave within 10 minutes! We're excited to sing these beautiful hymns for all of you! That day, we will also end Fellowship Hour all together in the nave: we'll get a chance to learn the words to the Yellow Rose of St. John and We Give Thanks To Thee so we can sing and pray along with the choir every week.
OUR MOMENT OF GRACE AND COURTESY
We are very thankful for all the folks in our parish who have personal businesses; we are proud of each of them, and we applaud their initiative and their energy. However, we should not be passing out samples or making product presentations or conducting sales during Fellowship Hour or during any other event sponsored by our community. Children are welcome to solicit for their sports teams or for projects connected with school or scouting, but adults should not transact business while attending parish events or while on parish property.
Things That Make Priests Happy
Reading the prayers for Quincy W. (CUTE!); hearing thunder and smelling rain; speculating, with John B., about his life-long association with interesting groups; listening to Dino M. explain how he didn’t actually end up driving on the grass and flashing back to John Belushi and Carrie Fisher (“No I didn’t. Honest! I ran outta gas. I had a flat tire. I didn’t have enough money for cab fare. My tux didn’t come back from the cleaners. An old friend came in from outta town. Someone stole my car. There was an earthquake, a terrible flood, locusts! It wasn’t my fault! I swear to God!”); hearing about Andrew M.’s semester abroad; looking out the window at work and watching a lizard turn colors when the clouds passed over.
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 Joseph Frady, our corporate kazoo band will appear in the murgas in this coming year’s Carnival, and our Spiritual Advisor is Elder Galaction of the Holy Mountain.