Brothers and Sisters,
Happy Feast!
Our Annual Meeting will be this coming Sunday, Feb 9. We’ll get started right after the Divine Liturgy by setting up tables in the nave and bringing in our Fellowship Hour food. The reports have been available on Discord for almost two months, so read up on everything that’s been going on in the past year and everything that we have planned for the coming year—and, if you have any questions, just check with Father Aidan Wilcoxson or our parish council president, Bessie J.
Our Calendar
Fasting Days
Wednesday, February 5, and Friday, February 7
Daily Services
Monday, February 3-Friday, February 7 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 “Lost Histories: The Good, the Bad, and the Strange in Early American Orthodoxy” by Matthew Namee. 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, February 4
Inquirer’s 101 7pm; you can also access the group on Discord
Thursday, February 6
The Bible Study, New Testament Edition 7pm; you can access this group on Discord
Saturday, February 8
St Thomas School 4pm
Great Vespers 6pm
Sunday, February 9
The Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee
Orthros 8am
Church School 8:15am
Divine Liturgy 10am
Annual Community Meeting Immediately following Divine Liturgy
Tuesday, February 11
Inquirer’s 101 7pm; you can also access the group on Discord
Thursday, February 13
The Bible Study, Old Testament Edition 7pm; you can access this group on Discord
Saturday, February 15
St Thomas School 4pm
Great Vespers 6pm
Sunday, February 16
The Sunday of the Prodigal Son
Orthros 8am
Church School 8:15am
Divine Liturgy 10am
Fellowship Hour Noon
Youth Church School 1pm
Anniversary / Memorial Blessings
You can use the links in the email version of the newsletter to sign up for anniversary blessings and memorial services that will be offered in 2025. Please note that things have changed for 2025 to accommodate our growing parish (i.e. some were not able to get on the schedule for anniversary blessings in 2024 because all of the slots were taken).
Memorial Services, will now occur at the end of Great Vespers on Saturday, and they may only be offered for Orthodox Christians who have departed this life. If your departed loved one was not an Orthodox Christian, visit this page on our website to learn about and request an Akathist for the Departed rather than signing up for a memorial service.
Anniversary Blessings may be requested for the first wedding anniversary and every fifth anniversary thereafter (i.e. 1st, 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th, 25th, etc.). They may only be offered if one of the married couple is an Orthodox Christian. Approach the solea immediately after the hymn “Blessed be the Name of the Lord” at the end of the Divine Liturgy. If you have marriage crowns, bring them with you as you come forward. Those celebrating anniversaries that are not eligible to sign up, are invited to come forward during the “Birthdays, Anniversaries, and Namedays” segment of the announcements after the Divine Liturgy.
Summer Camp News
Registration for Camp Saint Raphael opened this past Saturday, February 1st. You can find more information at campstraphael.org. Here are the dates for the sessions:
Session 1: June 22 - June 28
Session 2: June 29 - July 5
Session 3: July 6 - July 12
Registration fills up fast and is first come, first serve (staff and CIT applications for CSR are due February 23rd), so get your registration in as soon as possible.
Coming Up
During February, we will celebrate all the Sundays of the Triodion, which is the four-week period of preparation leading up to Great Lent. The Fast begins on Monday, March 3, but between now and then we will observe the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee, the Sunday of the Prodigal Son, the Sunday of the Last Judgement, and Forgiveness Sunday. The Church provides us with this period of preparation so we will be ready to take full advantage of all the Great Lent has to offer.
This is also a great time to look ahead at the website calendar and make plans for which services we will attend. Generally, during the weeks of Great Lent, there are at least three services: Great Compline on Monday; the Pre-Sanctified Liturgy on Wednesday, and the Akathist Hymn on Fridays. Trying to make at least one of those services each week is a goal that’s doable for most of us.
During Great Lent, the full fast calls on us to go without meat, dairy products, fish with backbones, oil, wine, and hard liquor. There is a blessing for fish, wine, and oil on Saturdays and Sundays during the fast and on certain feast days (the Annunciation, for example). Women who are pregnant or nursing, children who are still growing, and folks who have specific medial requirements are not expected or encouraged to keep the full fast, but all of us can fast in some way. Please check with your sponsor or spiritual father if you need to adjust the fast.
Great Lent is a good time to do some spiritual reading. This year, during the Pascha Book Study, we will be using a short book called “Passions of the Soul”. That book is already available at Christ the Lightgiver, so why not pick up a copy, read through it slowly during Great Lent, and you’ll be ready to go when the book study begins on the Wednesday of Bright Week.
The Church calls on us to make our confession during Great Lent. At St John’s, we hear confessions on Saturday evening following Great Vespers. There is a list in the narthex, you put your name on the list, and you make your confession with whichever priest calls your name. If Saturday night does not work for you, or if you wish to make your confession with a specific priest, then you can make an appointment during the week with that clergyman. However, we do not hear confessions during Holy Week, so we all need to go ahead and participate in that Holy Mystery before Lazarus Saturday, which, this year, falls on April 12.
Finally, the Church expects us to increase our giving during Great Lent. Of course, we should first check and make sure that we are up to date with our current commitment to the parish budget, but, if we are, then we should consider giving a little more to help out all those who aren’t able to contribute as much as they had anticipated, or we should think about making a special gift to the Building Fund during this season of spiritual striving.
Our Moment of Grace and Courtesy
Please remember that the Calming Room is for parents and grandparents to soothe and feed babies and toddlers and still participate in the services. So the room is not to be used as a place to store car seats, diaper bags, and strollers or as a spot to return phone calls and catch up with friends. There are storage areas in the narthex and bathrooms, and we should save the phone calls and visits for after the services.
an unworthy priest
aidan