Fr. Aidan Wilcoxson

Fall Theological Seminar

Fall Theological Seminar

On this day when we celebrate the full entrance of the Mother of God into the Kingdom of Heaven, I’m writing to let you know about an opportunity that we will all have this fall to learn as much as we can—and actually prepare as much as we can—for our own entrance into the Kingdom. That’s because, in this year’s Fall Theological Seminar, we are going to be reading through Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos’ classic book, Life After Death. Also, on the first weekend in November, we will be hosting, Deacon Mark and Shamassy Elizabeth Barna, the authors of A Christian Ending: A Handbook for Burial in the Ancient Christian Tradition.

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Guidelines for Online Participation

July 28, 2021
Samson of Dol

Brothers and Sisters,

Greetings in the Name of the Lord.

I’m writing to let you know about some up-coming changes in our online educational opportunities. Most of these changes will involve St Thomas School, but they will also have an impact on The Fall Theological Seminar and The Pascha Book Study.

Throughout the recent public health crisis, a few hard-working volunteers have made it possible for us to offer an online option for each of those groups. However, the reality is that those volunteers now need a break. Also, since we re-started Fellowship Hour in May, and we will do the same with Church School in September, it’s time for us to get back to meeting face to face for adult education. So, to facilitate those transitions, starting September 1, we will be adopting new guidelines for online participation in those three groups (The Thursday Night Bible Study will not be effected by these new arrangements):

  • If you live in Austin, Pflugerville, Round Rock, Georgetown, Cedar Park, Leander, Jonestown, Liberty Hill, or Georgetown, we will be asking you to get in the car, drive to the parish, and attend the group meetings in person. This will make it possible for all of us to get to know each other better; it will facilitate actual discussion (which tends to be minimal during online meetings), and, on Saturday, it will allow folks to participate in Great Vespers following St Thomas School.

  • If you live in Bastrop/Elgin, Kerrville/Marble Falls/Burnet, Killeen/Harker Heights/Temple/Jarrell then you will be eligible to participate in these groups online. However, each week, you will need to reserve an online slot at least 48 hours prior to the meeting: All you will need to do is send an email to remote.meetings@theforerunner.org, by Monday evening for the Wednesday night meetings, and by Thursday evening for the Saturday afternoon meetings. This will require you to plan ahead, but it will make it possible for us to know who will be attending the meeting online and whether or not we will need any of our tech volunteers to be available. 

  • If you will be participating online, we will be asking that you be prepared to turn on your camera and allow the other members of the group to actually see you. Talking to a blank screen is just not very conducive to healthy interaction.

  • If you live within easy driving distance of the parish, but participating online is easier for you due to age, health concerns, or any other issues, just get in touch with me, and we will be happy to work something out.

Change is never easy, but we’ve been through a whole lot of changes in the past year and a half, so we should be able to make all this work without too much trouble. After all, our goal is to enhance life in our community and to allow the members of our parish to get closer to one another and to the Most Holy Trinity.

Just let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks to each of you, and May the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit bless you all.

an unworthy priest
aidan

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A Homily for The Sunday of The Blind Man

A Homily for The Sunday of The Blind Man

This is the Sunday on what would have been our Open House Weekend. Like a lot of other things, we’ve had to postpone that event until October. However, just because we aren’t able to invite folks to experience Orthodox life by visiting the parish, there’s no reason why we all can’t practice hospitality by talking to folks about the Faith.

So what would that look like? What would we even say?

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A Homily for The Sunday of The Samaritan Woman

A Homily for The Sunday of The Samaritan Woman

Like everyone else, a lot of our parish plans have changed because of the current situation.

For example, this coming weekend was supposed to be our first Open House Weekend for 2020. Dr. Mark Tarpley was going to speak to us about media and technology; we were each going to attend every one of the services and events during that weekend, and we were all going to invite a guest to join us for one of those services or one of those events.

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A Homily for The Sunday of the Paralytic

A Homily for The Sunday of the Paralytic

This morning’s scripture lessons are full of healings.

Our gospel lesson comes from St John. In that passage, Christ Jesus heals a man who has been paralyzed for thirty-eight years.

Our epistle lesson comes from the Acts of the Apostles. In that passage, St. Peter heals a man who has been paralyzed for twelve years—then the apostle raises a woman from the dead.

But we don’t get excited about these passages. In fact, most of us respond to these scripture lessons with disappointment. Because, for us, healing is something that Christians used to do a long time ago, but it’s not something that happens very often nowadays.

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A Homily for Thomas Sunday

A Homily for Thomas Sunday

This past weekend, we celebrated the Great and Holy Pascha, the high point of the liturgical year. This past Wednesday, we started the Pascha Book Study; that group is discussing a book by Dr. Jean Claude Larchet. Dr. Larchet is French; he is an Orthodox Christian, and the author of many books and articles. But the book that we are going to be reading throughout this Paschal Season is called The New Media Epidemic. It’s about the dangers that are becoming apparent as media and technology take over more and more of our lives. Most of us would agree that media and technology are a real challenge and the source of a good many problems, but what connection does all that have to do with Pascha? Why choose to focus on this particular book and this particular subject during the fifty days between Pascha and Pentecost?

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Homily for Palm Sunday

Homily for Palm Sunday

This coming Saturday, we will experience one of the highlights of the entire week—and even though most of us will be watching all this at home on a streaming service, it will still be breath-taking. … That’s one of the most dramatic moments of the entire year; it’s a moment that everyone enjoys. But that moment is also part of a sequence, and that sequence begins today, on Palm Sunday. Because on this day, we commemorate the entry of our Lord and Master into Jerusalem; we are present as the gates of that city open before the King of Glory.

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Homily for Lazarus Saturday

Homily for Lazarus Saturday

We always begin Holy Week with this commemoration because we are reminded that, at the end of all things, Christ Jesus will do for us what he does for His friend, Lazarus. He will call us forth from the tomb; our souls and our bodies will be reunited, and we will be resurrected. That should bring us comfort and peace and hope and joy. But even though resurrection is something that isn’t going to happen to us until history has run its course, we can experience a foretaste of that glorious blessing right now, because, on this day, Christ Jesus is already calling out to us. He is calling us to come forth from the tomb.

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