Brothers and Sisters,
Happy Feast!
The new Episcopal Vicar for our Diocese, Father Calinic Berger, will join us this coming weekend; he will be with us for all the Divine Services—and, this weekend, there are a lot of them: This coming Saturday, September 14, we will celebrate the Feast of the Elevation of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross, so we will offer Great Vespers on Friday, September 13, at 7pm, and then, on Saturday, the day of the feast, we will offer Orthros at 6am and Divine Liturgy at 8am. On Saturday evening and Sunday morning, we will keep our regular weekend schedule, but Father Calinic will also be leading the discussion and answering any and all questions at St Thomas School on Saturday, September 14, and he will be visiting with everyone at Fellowship Hour on Sunday, September 15.
Our Calendar
Fasting Days
Wednesday, September 11, Friday, September 13, and Saturday, September 14 (the Feast of the Elevation)
Daily Services
Monday, September 9--Friday, September 13, Orthros 5am and Vespers, 5pm (if you wish to attend the daily services, it’s always a good idea to check the day before to make sure the services will be offered).
Fr. Andrew, Seth Hart, and Matthew Groh and many other folks continue to broadcast daily readings from spiritual books online. They are now back to reading “The Ethics of Beauty” by Dr Timothy Patitsas. The schedule is as follows: M-F at 12pm.
Also, our online team will now be reading the Daily Synaxarion on Discord. Just look for this channel: #synaxarion
Tuesday, September 10
Orthodoxy 101 7pm; you can also access the group on Discord
Wednesday, September 11
Fall Theological Seminar 7pm; you can also access the group on Discord
Thursday, September 12
The Bible Study, New Testament Edition 7pm; you can access this group on Discord
Friday, September 13
Great Vespers 7pm
Saturday, September 14
The Feast of the Elevation of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross
Orthros 6am
Divine Liturgy 8am
St Thomas School 4pm
Great Vespers 6pm
Sunday, September 15
The Sunday After the Cross
Orthros 8am
Church School 8:15am
Divine Liturgy 10am
Fellowship Hour Noon
Tuesday, September 17
Orthodoxy 101 7pm; you can also access the group on Discord
Wednesday, September 18
Fall Theological Seminar 7pm; you can also access the group on Discord
Thursday, September 19
The Bible Study, Old Testament Edition 7pm; you can access this group on Discord
St Thomas School
On Saturday, September 14, we will have a special session of St Thomas School. Father Calinic Berger, our new Episcopal Vicar, will be with us. Father Calinic teaches theology at Holy Cross Seminary, and he is also now providing oversight for our diocese, so this will be a great opportunity to ask him any and all questions you might have. Join us this Saturday in the common room of the parish house at 4pm.
Our Fall Theological Seminar
Our Fall Theological Seminar is in full swing. We’re reading a book by a Protestant pastor; the book is called Stability, and it’s available in the bookstore. But we’re not only going to be talking about the spiritual advantages—and challenges—of sticking it out in a particular community, we’re also going to be talking with folks in our parish who have done just that. Below is the schedule for the readings and the interviews, but plan now to join us in the parish house at 7pm each Wednesday evening through the start of Nativity Lent--and, while we will have an online option available for those folks who live at a distance, let’s not forget that the conversation is always richer and more meaningful if you are actually present.
Sept 11 Reading Assignment: Introduction. Guest: Vera P.
Sept 18 Reading Assignment: Chapter 1. Stability and God. Guests: Rob and Becky T.
Sept 25 Reading Assignment: Chapter 2. Stability and Self. Guests: Matt and Valerie G.
Oct 2 Reading Assignment: Chapter 3. Stability and Relationships Guest: Rick K.
Oct 9 Reading Assignment: Chapter 4. Stability and Place. Guests: Jerry and Maggie B.
Oct 16 Reading Assignment: Chapter 5. Stability and Change. Guests: Chris and Sarah S.
Oct 23 Reading Assignment: Chapter 6. Practices of Stability. Guest: Baker G.
Oct 30 Reading Assignment: Chapter 7. Where Do We Stay From Here? p 125-134. Guest: Mary K.
Nov 6 Reading Assignment: Chapter 7. Where Do We Stay From Here? p 134-148. Guests: John and Lindsey B.
Nov 13 Conclusion: The Final Stability
Coming Up
We have this invitation from our sister parish, St Sophia in Dripping Springs:
I'd like to officially invite you and your parishes to celebrate our patronal feast of Ss Sophia and her daughters, Faith, Hope, and Love on September 16 & 17. The services are as follows:
Monday, September 16- 6p Great Vespers
Tuesday, September 17- 9a Orthros & Divine Liturgy
As is our custom, we'll be offering some hospitality following vespers on Monday and following liturgy on Tuesday. We would be extremely honored to have you celebrate with us.
In Christ,
Fr Jeremiah
Sunday, September 29, will be the fifth Sunday in the month, and, whenever there is a fifth Sunday, we do two things: We have a potluck during Fellowship Hour, and we enjoy live music. Of course, potlucks always work better when we all actually bring food, so please plan on bringing enough for your family and some to share, and that way, we should be sure and have plenty. And, speaking of planning ahead, that Maven of All Things Musical, Rigel T., has put together a great lineup for our enjoyment. Here are the folks who will be playing on that Sunday (and, if you’d like to get into the mix, just get in touch with Rigel):
St. Kassiani String Quartet (Sara H. and friends)
Cameron C.
Anna D.
Unofficial St. John's Jam Band
Our Moment of Grace and Courtesy
Our hard working ushers have told us that the area by the main door to the nave often gets really congested. Folks just seem to like to stay in the back of the room, but that makes it really difficult for everyone to move around and enter and exit the nave. So, to help our ushers out, from now on, when the deacon comes out of the altar after the homily, before he begins the litany, he will turn and ask everyone to take THREE GIANT STEPS FORWARD. If we are all willing to follow those directions, that should free up some space by the door and make life easier for our ushers.
Capital Campaign Countdown Column
Whatever is obtained as a result of long and persistent prayer will remain.
-St John Climacus
We are now well into the three year pledge portion of our capital campaign, so please go ahead and record your commitment on REALM. If you questions about how to do that, just contact Arun J. or Father Andrew Wilson. If you have questions about the project itself, please read through the FAQ that is attached to the email version of this newsletter, but, to help us get the most out of this historic effort, this week’s Countdown Column comes to us from Baker Galloway:
While we all wait for enough funds to accumulate to begin construction on our Temple, it’s easy to imagine that the building fund collection bucket is sitting inactive like a vast well that we can’t even see the bottom of, as we cast our resources into it, over and over, never hearing a splash. The truth however, is that we are already working on the Temple, behind the scenes. Part of the building process involves getting a Site Development Permit from the local municipality, which is the City of Cedar Park. We already got one of those in 2021 just before we built the parking lot on the west side of the property. But that Site Development Permit has a few issues. First of all, it expires if 24 months elapse with no construction or permit activity. Second of all, it needed to be updated with the building footprint of the Temple and Chapel design (the designs that were produced during the Fall Theological Seminar of 2022 and have been on display in the Narthex ever since).
While you have been contributing financially to the building fund, some of that money has already been hard at work paying our Civil Engineer, Landscape Architect, and City Permit Reviewers to move that process along. For the last few months we have been working with our Civil Engineer to get an amendment to our Site Development Permit so that we can restart the 24-month clock and keep our Site Permit active with the City, as well as add important new information to the site engineering drawings, based on our new Temple and Chapel design. Your parish Council and the volunteers who manage all these efforts have been working to make sure we don’t lose our grandfathered status with City, its ordinances and policies, so that when the time does come to build, everything should run as smoothly as possible through the Building Permit approval process, through the prayers of Saint Eanswythe, through your faithfulness, diligence, perseverance, generosity; and in the super-abundant provision of every need, by the grace of the Most Holy Trinity.
with your prayers,
Baker
an unworthy priest
aidan