Brothers and Sisters,
Greetings in the Name of the Lord.
One of the important local organizations we support is Hill Country Community Ministries, which serves as the food bank for most of Williamson County. We have a basket in the narthex in which we collect non-perishable food items (those are things that don't have to be kept in the refrigerator); those items are then taken to HCCM. Lately, we haven't been putting a whole lot in the basket, but in this time when lots of social programs are hurting for donations, we need to step up our game. So, when you order your groceries online or when you're walking through the store, always get something for HCCM; just leave it in the car, and, when you're next at the Divine Services, get one of the children to put it in the basket. Someone else's child will be grateful that you did that.
Our Calendar
Fasting Days
Wednesday, July 9 and Friday, July 11
Daily Services
Monday, July 7-Friday, July 11; Orthros 5am; Vespers 5pm (it’s always a good idea to check the day before and make sure nothing has come up to change the regular schedule). However, Fr. Andrew, Seth Hart, and many other folks continue to broadcast daily readings from spiritual books online. They are now reading “Touching Heaven” by Father John Oliver. The schedule is as follows: M-F at 12pm.
In addition to the daily Synaxarion readings posted in the #synaxarion channel on Discord, the online team is now posting daily Bible Readings that will allow you to read through the Bible in a year. These readings are posted in the #bible-365 channel.
Tuesday July 8
Inquirer’s 101 7pm; you can also access the group on Discord
Thursday, July 10
The Bible Study, New Testament Edition on Discord
Saturday, July 12
St Thomas School 4pm
Great Vespers 6pm
Sunday, July 13 The Sunday of the Holy Fathers
Orthros 8am
Divine Liturgy 10am
Fellowship Hour Noon
Our Next Memorial Service
Many of you may remember Bruce K., departed husband of our longtime parishioner, Pat. But you probably didn't know that in his later years, he was an aerobics instructor in Sun City! Find out more about him, and his parents Al & Lorraine, by reading the attachment in the email version of the newsletter. And please support Pat by joining us as we pray for them at Great Vespers this Saturday, July 12th, at their memorial service. May their memories be eternal.
Coming Up
On certain Sundays in July and August, we will be meeting in small groups to hear about next steps in our Building Program. Father Aidan is sending out email invitations to these sessions, so be watching for that note, and, if you don’t receive one in the next few weeks, just let him know, and he will get you into a group, because we want everyone to be able to participate in these meetings.
Our Arch Episcopal Vicar, Father Calinic Berger, would like all communities to do their best to participate in the feast days for the parishes in their deanery. Our mother parish, St Elias, will be celebrating their feast day on the weekend of July 19-20, so, on that Saturday evening, July 19, we will not have St Thomas School or Great Vespers at our parish. Instead, we will join our brothers and sisters at St Elias’ downtown location for Great Vespers at 5pm and refreshments afterwards.
Sunday, July 20, is the Feast of St Elias, so, at the end of the Divine Liturgy, we will have our Annual Blessing of Vehicles. That means just as we clean up our homes and apartments before they can blessed, we need to wash and polish our sedans, SUVs, trucks, and roadsters and have them in the parking lot on that Sunday morning so the clergy can bless them with Holy Water as we process around the property.
On Friday, August 1, we will begin the Dormition Fast. During this Fast, which runs through Wednesday, 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 Wednesday, 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 just about each week night between August 1 and August 13. That means, this year, there will be eight 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 the website calendar and then 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 Thursday, 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.
Our sister community, St Luke's Serbian Orthodox parish in Leaner, will be blessing the foundation for their new temple on Saturday, August 9. They will serve Great Vespers on Friday, August 8, at 6pm, and Divine Liturgy on Saturday, August 9, at 9am. Their bishop will be present, lunch will be served on Saturday, and we are all invited.
Our Moment of Grace and Courtesy
After Fellowship Hour, please remember to return all your plates and coffee cups to the kitchen in the Long Hall. The folks who serve on our Fellowship Hour Teams will have a much easier day if they do not also have to try and round up each of the plates and cups that we leave out on the picnic tables or in all the different rooms of the parish house.
an unworthy priest
aidan