St. Paul’s Family Worship Weekly Postcard: 8.27.20
| Blessings to St. Paul’s Beloved Family Eucharist Congregation! |
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Join us for Worship  Join us this Sunday, August 30, the Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost 9:30 a.m. Rev. Katie Holicky and musician Susan Brown will lead us in a time of song, prayer, story and sharing with our friends! Here is the link for the Zoom gathering. Click here for the 9:30 Family Worship Booklet 10:30 a.m. Morning Prayer, on St. Paul’s Facebook Live 11:30 a.m. Virtual Coffee Hour on Zoom. Here is the Zoom link. Blessing of the Devices  September 13 at 9:30 a.m. & 10:30 a.m. This year, in addition to celebrating a Blessing of Backpacks, all are invited to a Blessing of Devices. Let us take a moment during worship to honor the things that are helping us all stay connected. *If you need a device to connect with our St. Paul’s and worshiping community, contact the Rector. All Things Youth  Hello St. Paul’s Middle & High School Youth! Middle and High School Youth Gatherings At the request of our youth we will be gathering twice on Sundays. Join us for prayers at 9 a.m. and stay for family worship. Youth group will be later in the afternoon. Please note we will use the same Zoom for both gatherings. While the weather is in our favor, the youth have decided to gather for weekly Youth Group from 1-2 p.m. in the Garden. Please wear a mask, practice physical distance, and bring your own water and snack should you need them. This Sunday, August 30 9:00 a.m. Check in and Prayer via Zoom Click Link to join Meeting ID: 966 1711 1762 Password: church 1-2 p.m. Youth Group in the Garden  PLEASE NOTE: There will be no Youth Group next Sunday, September 6th. Back to School Tie Dye Sunday! On September 13th we will gather in the Garden for some tie dye fun! Stay tuned for details. *Please let Rev. Katie know what size T-Shirt you would like. Justice Resources  The Center for Racial Justice in Education has some great resources to help families in the work of racial justice. Family Sermon by Rev. Dr. Mark Bozzuti-Jones about the sin of racism. A list of resources from some Episcopal friends in North Carolina. A short family guide to supporting racial justice now. Book Lists: (various social justice topics, including racial justice) Social Justice Books; A Teaching for Change Project Act for Social Justice Embrace Race: “Diverse” Books for Children Anti-Racism Books for Elementary Students Indigo Arts Alliance Book list They’re here….. Justice Book Bags! We now have a beautiful collection of justice-oriented and inclusive books for children. If you would like to borrow a justice book bag, please reach out to Rev. Katie Holicky to schedule a time to pick up books. Coming Up…Something New  This school year, in addition to other offerings, we will try on “take home formation”. Stop by church and grab your family’s monthly bag with simple activities. September’s theme will be… Creation! Contact Katie to schedule a time to pick up your bag. (bags will be available starting September 9th) Sunday Junior Paper – Click to Read!  Fun Things For Families  Fun for Summer! The Way of Love For Families. Check out this resource brought to us by the wider church. Faith at Home, lectionary-based family devotions. Another great list of summer resources! Summer Activity Pack is brought to you by Church Publishing and is a great free summer resource. Here are some helpful resources to keep you and your family faithfully connecting during this season at home. Family Sunday School brought to you by SparkHouse! Enjoy some faith based family time. This resource includes a video with songs and stories, and info/ activity sheet and coloring page! Building Faith Brick by Brick brings Legos and Bible stories together for this playful way to explore scripture. Parents, all questions/ prompts are included in each lesson! From paper print outs to how to make-your-own 3D labyrinths, use these ideas for finger labyrinths for a grounding moment. Parents and teens, are you looking for a way to deepen your daily prayer practice? Order of Saint Helena offers a free Daily Office “App” for smartphones and tablets. Check out these inclusive language daily office prayers. Visit their website by clicking the link above to learn more about this community of women in the Episcopal Church! Help with Diocese-Wide Worship  In preparation for the September diocese-wide worship service, we invite the children of the diocese to draw, paint or compose pictures of what they think angels look like. These images will be incorporated into the September diocesan-wide worship service. Note that we welcome submissions from the young and the young at heart! Please take a photo of the angel art and email the photo to Director of Communications Katie Clark. Please include the first name of the artist and their age. You can also drop the images directly into this folder. Just include the first name and age of the artist in your file name. Parish Office Hours Precautions to Observe While you are in the building of St. Paul’s We want parishioners and guests to be able to contact staff members in person while at the same time we take the Maine CDC recommended precautions. The hallway off the Union Street parking lot to the office and the office itself are the only areas open. Call or email the staff member working that day to alert them you’ll be coming and use the intercom at the parking lot door to call them to open the door when you arrive. Wear a mouth and nose covering when in the building. We have a mask to give you. Use hand sanitizer to wash hands. (Restrooms and kitchen will be closed.) We will provide hand sanitizer stations along the hallway off the Union Street parking lot. Please be sure to sign in. Observe distancing precautions: 6 feet apart. No more than four will be in the building at a time. Click for Parish Office Hours Outdoor Fellowship Gatherings You are cordially invited to an Outdoor Fellowship Gathering. St. Paul’s is hosting this chance to get together for fellowship. Following CDC guidelines, the groups will be small and outdoors, so we have multiple dates & times available. We will provide the seating, six feet apart, and great conversation. You provide your presence and a snack and beverage not to share (to keep the risk low, but against our St. Paul’s love for hospitality!) Each gathering will be for one hour. We invite you to join us as you feel comfortable doing so. Saturday September 5: Nancy Pennell at 5:00 in the Memorial Garden Sunday September 13: Patsy & Phil Studwell at 2:00 RSVPS are required, please contact Patsy Oehl poehl56@yahoo.com or Charla Spann chaspann13@gmail.com with your first and second choice. Housewarming  The Rector shared with us the story and details of how a family of asylum seekers, having moved from Brunswick Landing, came to live in our building called “the Barnes Building. This is the invitation to our parish for their housewarming. Being that Arlindo Missioni and Milagre Christina Joao and their seven children are soon to take up residence in our Barnes Building, some of us thought it might be nice to welcome them to our neighborhood and community with a “staples shower,” greeting them with a supply of food and cleaning supplies. (We’ve checked to be sure we are providing things they actually use.) If you would like to participate in our small-scale welcome wagon, please bring your contributions to the church this week and let Carol Martin know when you expect to be there; she’ll collect items and put them inside the church. You can reach her either by phone (844-8133) or e-mail (cmartin@northpark.edu). We expect the move-in to happen within the next two weeks. Thank you in advance for your St. Paul’s generosity! Foods our family eats: Rice, beans (the one dry), pasta – all kinds, flour, sugar, salt, canola or soy oil, tomato sauce (can), olives, corn (in the can), chickpeas (can or dry), green peas (can or dry). I’m told they use a lot of oil. Household and cleaning items they can use: Toilet paper, paper towels, napkins, laundry detergent, dish detergent, toilet cleaner, all-purpose cleaner. Attic Treasures Needed  Our Attic Treasures Sale Needs Your Gently Used Goods! Saturday, September 19 Outdoors (rain date Saturday, September 26) This is the first event in our modified, Covid-19 year Christmas Fair and it’s a major fundraiser for our Outreach Fund. All proceeds will go to non-profit organizations. Please look around for items you could donate to our September 19 sale. To donate items, contact Nancy Johnson at (978) 387-6058 or write Jan DeBlieu at jdeblieu@mindspring.com so drop off or pick up of items can be coordinated. Volunteers are needed too. This is a major fundraiser for our Outreach Fund. All proceeds will go to non-profit organizations. Please help as much as you can, and thanks! The Gratitude Project  Still Time to Drop Off DonationsWe surpassed our goal of 175 items of warm clothing, but if you’ve got items you had intended to donate, please don’t hesitate–still bring or send them in! Our present array consists of everything from coats and jackets and sweaters to socks and hats and headbands, not to mention scarves and gloves and flannel shirts, and even boots! If you need someone to pick up your items, please let Carol Martin know (cmartin@northpark.edu). Spotlight on Lay Pastoral Visitors Pastoral care has always been a strong and important ministry for St. Paul’s. Twenty plus years ago a small group was formed to administer to the needs of church members who are unable to attend church because of physical limitations, temporarily going through a difficult time, or living alone. Our mission is to bring their church family to them so that they feel loved and connected. This is done through visits, phone calls, cards, notes, and flowers and meals as needed. This is a very difficult time we are experiencing and we are saddened to not be able to make the human connection, sharing a prayer, a laugh, a warm smile, or a warm touch. These gestures mean so much to all of us. We are trying to be vigilant by reaching out with notes, cards and phone calls but it isn’t the same. Our church family has been doing pastoral care quietly by all of you. Small groups have been looking after one another. We have come together in the spirit of love — doing small things for one another with great love. We are blessed to live in the beautiful state of Maine! We welcome you to join us in this rewarding ministry. Susan McCracken for Pastoral Care |
