Brothers and Sisters,
Greetings in the Name of the Lord.
Christmas falls on a Wednesday this year, so that means on Tuesday, December 24, we will offer Orthros at 5am, the Royal Hours at 9am, and then the first Liturgy for the Feast (St Basil’s) at noon. On Christmas Day, we will serve Orthros at 8am and Divine Liturgy at 10am. Please note that there will not be any sort of Fellowship Hour or coffee service following either of those liturgies, so please plan accordingly.
Our Calendar
Fasting Days
The Nativity Fast continues through Wednesday, December 25 with the traditional fasting discipline (no meat, poultry, eggs, dairy, fish, wine, and olive oil) on Monday, December 23. Christmas Eve, December 24th is a strict fast day, but December 25th through January 4th is fast-free.
Daily Services
Monday, December 23 and Friday, December 27: Orthros 5am; Vespers 5pm (there will not be any daily services on Thursday, December 26; for Tuesday, December 24, and Wednesday, December 25, check the schedule for the festal services; 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 Matthew Groh and many other folks continue to broadcast daily readings from spiritual books online. They are now reading “The Ecclesiastical History of the English Speaking People” by Bede of Jarrow. 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, December 24
Royal Hours 9am
Vesperal Liturgy of St Basil Noon
Wednesday, December 25
The Feast of Nativity
Orthros 8am
Divine Liturgy 10am
Saturday, December 28
Great Vespers 6pm
Sunday, December 29
The Sunday After Nativity
Orthros 8am
Divine Liturgy 10am
Fifth Sunday Potluck Noon
Tuesday, December 31
Great Vespers 7pm
Wednesday, January 1
The Feast of the Circumcision
Orthros 6am
Divine Liturgy 8am
Thursday, January 2
The Bible Study, New Testament Edition 7pm; you can access this group on Discord
Friday, January 3
Royal Hours for Theophany Noon
Saturday, January 4
St Thomas School 4pm
Great Vespers 6pm
Sunday, January 5
The Sunday Before Theophany
Orthros 8am
Church School 8:15am
Divine Liturgy 10am
Fellowship Hour Noon
Great Vespers for Theophany No Later Than 1pm
Monday, January 6
The Great Feast of Theophany
Orthros 5am
Divine Liturgy 7am
St Thomas School
Here’s a rundown on what St Thomas School is going to look like in the New Year:
The first Saturday of every month is a practical class, which we’re calling Orthopraxis. This is typically taught by Fr Aidan. The exception is February's class, which will be led by Dr Mary K. These classes teach about practical topics, e.g. serving opportunities at St John's, baking prosphora, thinking about angels & demons, money, etc. These are very general and are relevant to catechumens and parishioners.
The second and fourth Saturdays are what we've traditionally called 'St Thomas School.' Going forward, we’re calling these the Orthodox Foundations classes to distinguish between these classes and anything else St Thomas School might offer in the future. These are taught on a rotation by our faculty: Benedict, Baker, Polly, and Connor. We'll be using our new curriculum (hooray!) which we'll be distributing as available to the faculty. These sessions are targeted toward catechumens though open to all.
The third Saturday is the Catechumen Check-In led by Fr Andrew and Fr Dcn Michael. These are all about keeping track of catechumens' progress, attending to their needs, and so on. (Note: there is no check-in in January, so Fr Andrew will host a special session, which I'm about to describe.) These are for specific catechumen cohorts, as scheduled.
Of course, we have fifth Saturdays a few times a year. In 2025, we'll be doing two types of events.
First, guest lectures. We are arranging speakers to come to St John's and speak about some topic or book for anyone interested. We have one speaker confirmed, but we have to make sure he's available on my preferred date. He's a new professor and librarian at UATX, studied with Rowan Williams, and knows a lot about patristic theology. We're still settling on a topic. For another of the guest lectures, we might do a session on the Holy Rule of St Benedict. These lectures are open to and intended for anyone from the parish.
Second, theological Q&As. Fr Andrew will come on those Saturdays and answer any theological questions, some of which we'll try to gather in advance. We have three scheduled: January 18 (in lieu of a check-in), May 31, and November 29. These are open to and intended for anyone from the parish — in fact, part of the aim is getting people who don't attend classes regularly to come and talk theology with a priest.
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.
Finance Update
Thanks to the mercy of the Most Holy Trinity and to your faithful generosity, we ended November with a surplus of $7,800. There’s still a week left in the year, though, so please check Realm to make sure that you are up to date on your commitment to the parish (and please consider giving a little extra so we can finish the year well). If you need help accessing Realm, just contact one of our hard-working Finance Folks.
Of course, we’re also still working on getting our Budget Commitments in for 2025. The budget that the parish council has approved is $4475,000, and, as of this weekend, 76 of you have pledged $310,000—and, boy, are we thankful for all 76 of you and for your gifts! However, we still need the other 49 of you to log on to Realm and enter your commitment so we can make up that $164,991 difference. We want to start the new year well, even as we are wrapping up the old year.
Coming Up
The final Sunday of the year, December 29, is also a fifth Sunday, and that means we will have a Potluck during Fellowship Hour. Fellowship Hour Potlucks always work a whole lot better if A) we all bring some food and B) we all help clean up afterwards. So pick out a nice dish or two that you’re going to bring and plan on hanging around to help pick up outside and clean up inside, and we will all have a great time celebrating the festal season together.
The second celebration in the upcoming festal season will be The Feast of the Circumcision. We will offer Great Vespers on Tuesday, December 31, at 7pm, and then, on Wednesday, January 1, the day of the feast, we will serve Orthros at 6am and Divine Liturgy at 8am.
The most important celebration in this upcoming festal season will be The Great Feast of Theophany. We will start the festivities by serving The Royal Hours for the feast at noon on Friday, January 3. Then, on Sunday, January 5, after a brief Fellowship Hour, we will offer Great Vespers and The Lesser Blessing of the Waters no later than 1pm. On the morning of the feast, Monday January 6, we will serve Orthros at 5am and the Divine Liturgy and Greater Blessing of the Waters at 7am.
It may seem like a long way off, but it will be here before we know it. Also, our parish constitution requires that we post the agenda and the reports and announce the candidates for parish council well before the Annual Meeting—which, in 2025, will be on Sunday, February 9. So just follow the link in the email version of this newsletter (the link is also available on Discord) and 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 Moment of Grace and Courtesy
When people need to return items that they have borrowed from someone else, they often bring those items with them to the divine services. However, if the person that you need to give the item to isn't at the service, please be sure and take the item home with you and try to make the connection another time; do not leave the item at the parish in the hopes that the person will eventually stumble across it. Here at St John's we try to assist and support folks in lots and lots of different ways, but we simply cannot be the drop off point for dishes, clothes, books, shoes, produce, shower gifts, toys, baby equipment, birthday presents, tools, movies, home school curricula--you get the idea.
an unworthy priest
aidan