What’s happening at St. Paul’s 11.20
 What’s Happening at St. Paul’s |
Thank you all for your financial support of St. Paul’s in this challenging year. Thank you for giving of yourself as well. Serving God right here, right now in a pandemic is clearly what we are called to do. Looking around, service and love are the characters of this Body of Christ. Even as we take precautions to slow the spread of the virus, our goal of loving and serving our neighbor truly inspires me Thank you for your pledge to our work in 2021. If you haven’t yet made your pledge, I invite you to do so. The Stewardship campaign this year, “Faith-filled Generosity” has been greeted with an impressive commitment by you. Thank you. Please do consider making a pledge of any amount. And don’t forget to mark your calendar for an all-parish Zoom gathering to dedicate our pledges at 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, November 29, 2020, the First Sunday of Advent. During this time, we will offer our pledge gifts and praise to God. The Stewardship Team has offered recipes for soup from our St. Paul’s cookbook for you and your family to make when we break out into small groups to share the meal virtually and have a conversation about a passage of Scripture. (This weekend I’m going to practice making the chili recipe of my friend, the late Marge Follansbee!) So, I’ll be eating chili with my breakout group. At our Vestry meetings, we always begin with a bible conversation called “Dwelling in the Word.” It gives us a time to center in Scripture and the things God might be calling us to. So, too, during our November 29 Zoom all-parish gathering we will have a chance to connect with each other over this passage: Matthew 19:16-26. I invite you to explore this process and these questions in your small group on the 29th as we enjoy eating soup together! Choose a volunteer to read the passage. Discuss the things about the passage that caught your attention. Ask what about it applies to your life right now? Ask if there is something that you are so curious about you might want to ask a bible scholar. We will place the Zoom link and the password in next week’s Friday and Saturday emails. I hope to see you there! (And don’t forget that at 1:00 a.m. that day, you are invited to come to the parking lot for a drive-through Advent activity bag give-away. Our assistant rector, the Rev. Katie Holicky will be taking photos of children AND adults if you wish, in Nativity pageant costumes for the pageant video!) Note this week that the Thanksgiving Day Spiritual Eucharist is on Factbook Live at 10:00 a.m. (There will be NO Thursday Healing Prayer Service at 11:00 a.m. that day). Take heart, my friends! Jesus is with us. His presence shines the light of love into our lives. Carolyn+ The Last Sunday After Pentecost: Christ the King Sunday, November 22, 2020 |
| 10:30 a.m. Diocesan Spiritual Eucharist Worship Booklet St. Paul’s Announcements Readings Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24 Psalm 100 Ephesians 1:15-23 Matthew 25:31-46 The Lectionary Page Family Worship  Sunday, November 22, 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 Sunday Parish Fellowship Time Click here to join the Sunday Parish Fellowship Time Sunday, 11:30 am Join in for a facilitated virtual gathering to check in with each other and explore the morning’s sermon. Parish Announcements Daily Morning Prayer and Compline — Join us every morning and evening on St. Paul’s Facebook Live for Morning Prayer and Compline, 7:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. Upcoming Worship & Activities Thursday, November 26 10:00 a.m. Thanksgiving Day Spiritual Eucharist from the Nave on St. Paul’s Facebook Note: There will be no healing service at 11:00 a.m. Sunday, November 291-2 p.m. for this year’s Advent Drive-Through! Stop by the Union Street parking lot for St. Paul’s Advent Drive-Through. Come collect your materials for Advent wreath making and at-home learning and fun, and make a stop by the Giving Tree. Come by and make it home in time for our 4pm Stewardship Pledge Dedication gathering via Zoom. 4 p.m. All-Parish Stewardship Dedication on Zoom consider recipes from St. Paul’s Cookbook for soup making! (a selection is below) While the Fair is over, it’s not too late to give. Please consider a donation to the Outreach Fund to help offset a potential decrease in fair profits because of Covid-19 restrictions. Donations can be sent to the church office or made online at https://stpaulsmaine.breezechms.com/give/online Christmas Giving Tree Look for the Giving tree starting November 29 at the Advent Drive-Through. This year our Giving Tree will ask for gift cards that families can use for not only small gifts but also for essentials. We will have tags with a name and type of gift card that will help fulfill a child, teen, or family’s wish. We will sort the cards and make sure that every child, teen, and family on our list receives something. This year we are adding gift cards to area food stores as well as gas cards to be given to many of the kinship families that are in the most need. We would like all gift cards sent to the church by December 13th. (Note—we will offer a way to participate online as well—details to follow very soon.) Christmas Flowers — If you would like to remember loved ones with a donation toward Christmas Decorations and Flowers for the chancel, please mail your contribution to St. Paul’s, PO Box 195, Brunswick, ME 04011 or go to stpaulsmaine.org and from the Home page click on “make donation” then select “Give to Flowers: Special Contribution” by December 14. Please include the name of the person(s) when making your donation. Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program We all know about the terrible figures of deaths and contractions of Covid-19. What is not covered as much is the “collateral damage”. In war, collateral damage is about innocent victims who are killed or wounded. In our war on this virus, we forget about those who are left behind – an elderly person whose spouse had died, the main wage earner who has lost their job or small business, the parent who left their job to stay at home to help with their child do schoolwork. These people will have to make some difficult choices. Do they buy food, or pay the rent or mortgage, or buy needed medicine? Any one of these can greatly affect their physical health and mental health. This is the collateral damage. We can help with the food portion of this problem. MCHPP is under increasing pressure in providing food to the people of this area. Though they get donations of produce, they are not getting non-perishable goods from churches and organizations in this area. We can help by writing a check in any amount so that they can buy the food they need to support their mission. Please send your check to Mid Coast Hunger Prevention, 12 Tenney Way, Brunswick, ME 04011. Faith Filled Generosity — If you haven’t already made your pledge, there are two easy ways to complete the form. Just go to St. Paul’s website, there you can download and print out a form or chose a link below. Then just fill it out and mail it back to the church at St. Paul’s, PO Box 195, Brunswick, ME 04011. If you prefer you can fill out the online form also found on the Giving page of our website. Thank you! Find a pledge form here: Online pledge form here. Click here to download and print a pledge form, then complete and mail to St. Paul’s PO Box 195 Brunswick, ME 04011. Sunday, November 29—4 p.m. All-Parish Stewardship Dedication on Zoom In lieu of potluck supper, consider recipes from St. Paul’s Cookbook for soup making! Here are a few ideas…  Prayer Requests Pray for The Cathedral Church of St. Luke in Portland Pray for the deacons of the Diocese of Maine Pray for Anderson, Andrew, Cedric, Jason, Michael, Richard, and all in the military. We pray for: Christy, Ryan & family, Ethel, Ray, John, David, Judi, Nick, Bob, Kathy, Skip, the Blackburn family, Willow, Tierra, Ann, Jim, Lollie, Steve, James, Nia, Linda, Dave, Timothy, Beth, Caroline, Jeffrey, Hope, Arthur, and TraceyJennifer, John, Reeve, Victor, Travis & family, Ben, Diane, Nate, Elijah, Priscilla, Garrett, Elliot, Marcia, Lynn, Peter, Patricia, Patrick, Bill, Bob, Paul, Sue, Julie, Harlan, Nan, Clare, Cameron, and LintonMatthew, Herb, baby Savannah, Gair, baby Thomas, Jason, Annie, Carole, Arline, Franklin, Terry, Mark, Donelda, and Sudie, Pat, Marie, Michael, and Jim, Debbie, Carol, Robbie, and Ron Call or email the parish office if you would like a name to be placed on the prayer list. The names will be removed after three months unless otherwise notified. Click here for this week’s calendar Help support St. Paul’s if you are shopping on Amazon by choosing Amazon Smile and St. Paul’s Episcopal Church Brunswick https://smile.amazon.com/ch/01-6000615 |
Celebrating the Season of Creation