Christ is risen!

A few items for your consideration as we close out Bright Week:

On Palm Sunday, I mentioned that we’d be having a cleaning party after Bright Thursday Vespers.  Thankfully, our Men’s Club cleaning team and the Carios did an excellent job of cleaning the interior of the parish church, so there isn’t much left to do there.  However, the backyard and basement of the rectory are in serious need of clean-up after the Pascha and Bright Wednesday parties.  If those who are coming to Vespers this evening would be able to stick around to help clean up, we could be done in half an hour or so.  This will make us ready for Saturday’s function.

The bulletin was in error; we’ll be celebrating Paschal Matins at 9am tomorrow, not 8.

Glory to God, we have used almost all of the 120 gallons of holy water which we blessed on Theophany, when we celebrated the Great Blessing of Water.  When more holy water is needed throughout the year, however, we serve the Lesser Blessing of Water.  This can be served whenever it is needed, but is traditionally served on particular feast days.  One of those days is Bright Friday, when we commemorate Our Lady Theotokos, the Life-Giving Spring.  As the McKivitz family are about to sow their field, we will do the Lesser Blessing of Water on their property, use the new holy water to bless the grounds with the appointed prayers, and then take the 20 gallon tub back to church for use by the rest of the parish.  If you would like to be present tomorrow, please contact me, and I can give you the address.

Our final Bright Week party will be held after Vespers on Saturday; to allow young families to attend, we will be serving Vespers at 5 PM.  At the beginning of Vespers, we’ll sing the Paschal Hours one final time, and then close the doors to the sanctuary, which have been open all week.

After Liturgy on Sunday, after grabbing a bit of food, we are looking for a few volunteers to help Michael Galis to put away the tent until next year, as well as to move all of the folding chairs back to the garage.  Please help if you can.

After coffee hour, we look forward to blessing graves at our parish cemetery (~12:30), as well as our parish section at Oak Springs (~1:15).  Please consider making a donation to our cemetery fund’s annual St. Thomas Sunday appeal, so that we can continue to maintain our parish’s cemetery!

No one has yet responded to the question of a traditional picnic for Radonitsa (the “Day of Rejoicing” in Christ’s Resurrection with the dead) at our parish’s section at Oak Springs Cemetery.  We’d have a brief memorial service at 11:45, and start eating at noon.  Please let me know if you’d be interested.