st mary outside

Looking Ahead at St Mary (Dec 26 – Jan 1)

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Beloved in Christ,

Christ is born!

Below you will find this week’s schedule, as well as some important notes about upcoming events.

THIS WEEK: December 26, 2022 – January 1, 2023
This Week: There is no fasting any day of the week from December 25 – January 4.       

  • Sat, Dec 31 at 5:00 pm – Great Vespers
  • Sun, Jan 1 at 8:50 am – Festal Matins ~ The Circumcision of Christ & Feast of St Basil the Great
  • Sun, Jan 1 at 10:00 am – Divine Liturgy

Other Notes
(1) FELLOWSHIP GROUPS: As previously announced, our Fellowship Groups will begin meeting in January 2023. All parishioners will be assigned to a group of three total “family units” for the month of January unless you contact me to opt out. Sometime this coming week I will be contacting you to let you know your assigned group for January. The goal is for each group to meet together sometime during the month of January for fellowship. If someone is willing to host, you can meet at their house. Or you can meet at a local coffee shop/restaurant or have some type of fun outing with each other. You can even meet at the church after a Liturgy by sitting together at coffee hour, if that is your best or most comfortable option. The only limit is your imagination!!! The goal of this program is to help our parishioners get to know each other better. For February, everyone will be assigned to a different group so you have the opportunity to meet with other people. This should be a wonderful opportunity for our parishioners to grow in fellowship and love for one another.

(2) FESTIVAL PREP SIGN-UP: At our Focus Group meeting earlier this year, one topic that was mentioned by many people was using SignUp Genius to help recruit volunteers for our Mediterranean Festival prep dates. We believe this helps because it gives people a timeline and some detail about what they will be doing when they volunteer. To that end, we have created a SignUp Genius for the January festival prep dates. You can sign up to help using this link: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090f44aaa92aa7fb6-mediterranean. Please note in the field “Available Slot,” the number in parentheses indicates the number of people we still need to volunteer to help with each session. As we finalize the prep dates beyond January, they will be added to this link. Thank you for your help in making our festival a success!

(3) POTLUCK COFFEE HOUR: Our monthly Potluck Coffee Hour is Sunday, January 8, immediately following Divine Liturgy. We ask all those who are able to please participate by bringing a dish to share with others.

(4) THEOPHANY: We celebrate the Great Feast of Theophany, the Baptism of Christ, and the Revelation of the Holy Trinity, with several services on Thursday, January 5. Those services are: 8:00 am – Royal Hours & Typika; 4:45 pm Festal Matins; and 6:00 pm Divine Liturgy w/the Great Blessing of Water.

(5) TEACH ME THY STATUTES PODCAST: If you would like to listen to this week’s Teach Me Thy Statutes podcast (with Fr Aaron & Jason Ewertt), you can find it here: https://tmts.transistor.fm/.

(6) PASTORAL VISITS: If you would like a pastoral visit for any reason, or if you know of a family member/parishioner who needs a visit, please feel free to contact me via cell phone at 204-6725.

Yours in Christ,

Fr Aaron