Brothers and Sisters,
Greetings in the Name of the Lord.
This past Sunday was the day we were hoping to get all of the 2025 Budget Commitments entered on to Realm. If you haven’t yet done that, you can still avoid getting one of those pesky reminder emails: Just log on to the app (if you need assistance, just check with one of our Finance Folks), fill out the information, and know that we appreciate your generosity to our parish community.
Our Calendar
Fasting Days
The Nativity Fast continues. This fasting seasons runs through Wednesday, December 25.This fasting season is divided into two periods:
(A) November 15th through December 19th when the traditional fasting discipline (no meat, poultry, eggs, dairy, fish, wine, and olive oil) is observed on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, with a blessing for wine and olive oil (some also permit fish) on Tuesday and Thursday, and for fish, wine, and olive oil on Saturday and Sunday
(B) the period of the Forefeast, December 20th through 24th, when the traditional fasting discipline is observed Monday through Friday, with a blessing for wine and olive oil on Saturday and Sunday. The eve of the feast, December 24th is a strict fast day.
December 25th through January 4th is fast-free. If you need to modify the fast in any way, be sure to get a blessing from one of the priests.
Daily Services
Monday, December 16-Friday, December 20: Orthros 5am; Vespers 5pm (but there won’t be any daily vespers on Monday; 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 17
Orthodoxy 101 7pm; you can also access the group on Discord
Wednesday, December 18
Nativity Paraclesis 7pm
Thursday, December 19
The Bible Study, Old Testament Edition 7pm; you can access this group on Discord
Saturday, December 21
St Thomas School 4pm
Great Vespers 6pm
Sunday, December 22
The Sunday Before Nativity
Orthros 7:30am
Divine Liturgy 10am
Fellowship Hour
Tuesday, December 24
Royal Hours 9am
Vesperal Liturgy of St Basil Noon
Wednesday, December 25
The Feast of Nativity
Orthros 8am
Divine Liturgy 10am
St Thomas School
On Saturday, December 21, St Thomas School will be hosting our next Catechumen Cohort Check-In. This session is designed for all the catechumens, their sponsors, and for everyone is in interested in becoming a catechumen or a sponsor. We will be looking at the calendar together, answering everyone’s questions, and generally just getting a read on how everyone is progressing on their journey to full reception in the Church. Please plan on joining us at 4pm in the Parish House.
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.
Coming Up
During the Nativity Fast, we are serving the Nativity Paraclesis on Wednesday evenings at 7pm. This coming Wednesday, December 18, will be the final opportunity to participate in the service, so if you haven’t yet been able to join us, please do your best to be present on Wednesday.
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.
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.
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 9th. 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
We should always remember to dress appropriately for the Divine Liturgy. It is our encounter with the Most Holy Trinity, and our clothes should reflect the importance of that encounter. If you have questions about what is or is not appropriate, you can consult the article from the archdiocese that is on our web-site. If you have specific questions that are not addressed in the article, please feel free to ask one of the clergy.
an unworthy priest
aidan