Weekend Update 7/24/26

Blessing the Travelers

That’s us blessing the fine group of young people (and parents) that our community sent off to Camp St Raphael a few weeks ago.

Camp St Raphael is located in the wilds of Oklahoma, so, when we blessed the campers, we included some prayers for protection against your basic Okie varmints—chiggers, ants, mosquitoes, scorpions, Sooner fans—and it reminded us of that tune Jerry and Dawg covered all those years ago.

Blessing the Vehicles

And that’s us Blessing all the Vehicles in the parish this past Sunday.

We already talked about the reasoning behind this in detail, but, basically, it has to do with the fact that this past Monday, July 20, was the Feast of the Holy Prophet Elias.

That’s the Man of God riding up to heaven in a “chariot of fire” drawn by “horses of fire” (II Kings 2.11), and, while none of the cars and trucks and motorcycles that we blessed emitted flames, with the temperature topping 100, our procession, for sure, had some sizzle.

In fact, between the full vestments (including those funny Orthodox hats) and all the walking and the repetitive motion involved in making sure over 200 vehicles were sufficiently doused with Holy Water, at the end of our Parking Lot Parade, we looked like old Wilson Pickett used to look at the end of his set.

And out of all the perspiratory people in the world, why would we be thinking right now about Wicked Wilson Pickett?

Well, other than the fact that it demonstrates how we are, deep down, absolutely and genuinely funky (I mean, c’mon: just look at those hats!) it’s because when it comes to singing about having just the right kind of ride, nothing beats his R&B classic—and we’ve got it queued up at the end of this post.

Blessing the World

But, to paraphrase another great blues artist, we’ve still got some more blessin’ to do.

Which is why we want to remind you about the Vigil for St Eanswythe that we are going to be serving in the overnight hours of Sunday, August 30, and Monday, August 31. As we hope you know, St Eanswythe is the Patroness of our Building Program; August 31 is her feast day. So, for the past four years, we’ve offered a vigil on that day.

And, yes, staying up all night produces what we call, in Orthodox Land, ‘Liturgy Lag’—pretty much the exact same feeling that you get after an international flight across numerous time zones. But it’s worth it because the whole world is blessed during that long series of services.

But this year’s vigil is going to be even more exciting, because, before we kick off that six-hour series of services, we’re going to unveil a surprise.

And, no, we’re not going to provide you with clues or hints, because, well, then it wouldn’t be a surprise.

So just plan on joining us for the Big Reveal on August 30, and then hang around through the hours of the night as we pray for our new temple and ask the Most Holy Trinity to bless the entire planet.

But even if you’re not able to be there to watch the sun rise with us on August 31, there are still all sorts of ways you can help us out.

You can offer the Akathist for a New Temple with us each week (PDF/video).
You can restack this post, share it with everyone, or take out a Paid subscription.

You can pick up some Come See Something Beautiful clothing.

You can commission an image of a beloved pet for the Calming Room of our new temple.

You can make a direct donation to our Building Fund.

And, as promised, we’ll wrap all this up the soulful (and, yes, slightly soggy) Mr. Pickett.