The Labyrinth Walk
Thursday, December 21, 2017

Stewardship Update

As of Monday, December 4, St. Peter's has received $293,000 in pledges for the 2018 Budget!
The proposed budget for 2018 is $525,000.00.

You may put your Pledge Card in the offering plate on any Sunday, mail it to the church office, or hand it in to the church office during regular business hours. The Vestry and Staff respectfully ask that you pray about the amount that you will be donating to St. Peter's in 2018.
 
Here are a few FAQs about pledging:

At this time of the year,  many Churches are asking their members to make a "Pledge." What exactly is a "Pledge"?

- Is it a Legal Contract? NO.  In other words, if you find that you are unable to pay as pledged, or promised, you will not be sued or harassed.

- Is it a  statement of intention to donate a certain amount?  YES
 
- Are there any circumstances that are acceptable for a person to cancel or decrease the amount of a Pledge?   YES  Some of these circumstances could include:death of the person who made the pledge;  transfer to another state; layoff or cut in salary;  unexpected and exorbitant medical bills not covered by insurance.

If you have further questions on this matter, please consult a member of the Vestry or a staff member.

Pledge Cards for 2018 Budget
 
To date pledged:              $304,000
Remaining pledge gap:    $221,000  
Goal:                                $525,000
Dollar Bills 
All $1 bills  in the offering plate this Sunday will go to the Discretionary Fund.     
Bank Draft Form
Did you know that you can have your tithe to St. Peter's automatically taken out of your checking our savings account? The Bank Draft Form is located in the link below. Print this form out and give it to the church office. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Mike King at
 
A Message from Karen McNutt, Senior Warden

Hello friends,
 
I have some exciting news regarding the search process for our new Rector. I am thrilled to announce that we have a search committee in place and will begin moving the process forward asap.
 
Members of our search committee are: 
 
  • Amy Hawkins has accepted the role of committee chair.
  • Brad Teague, Scotty Bell, Dinah Reed, Taylor Tennison, Jay Ruud, and Amanda Moore have agreed to serve as committee members.
  • Jane Harris and I (Karen McNutt) will share the Vestry liaison responsibilities.
I am so appreciative for their willingness to serve, and, also so humbled by how many of you also volunteered to serve in this capacity. 
 
The committee will be meeting with Jason Alexander in the very near future to jump start the search process. They will also develop St. Peter's portfolio which will be used to attract potential candidates.
 
Please keep this team in your prayers as they move forward with this important project.
 
Just a reminder, Dan Allen, Jane Harris, and I will be rolling off of the vestry this year (3 year term). We also have a fourth seat available (1 year term). Please give me a shout if you would be interested in serving, or, would like some additional information.
 
One final ask .... Please take a few minutes to thank our staff for all that they do for us. They continually go above and beyond to keep St. Peter's running smoothly and efficiently. Christmas is next weekend ... we'll be accepting donations in the plate this Sunday and next weekend for staff appreciation gifts.
 
Thank each and everyone of you for the countless ways you make St. Peter's what it is. Sending warmest wishes for a joyous and wonderful Christmas!
 
Karen McNutt 
Senior Warden

Nominations for Vestry 2018
 Nominations are now being accepted for members of St. Peter's who would like to serve on the Vestry.  The opportunity is a 3-year commitment/term, which includes monthly meetings and other duties.
 
Qualifications to serve on the Vestry (from Arkansas Canon 24, Section 6c):
  • A confirmed communicant of the Parish in good standing of not less than 18 years of age
  • A frequent attendant upon the services of the Parish for the six months preceding the election.
  • A regular contributor or a member of a family unit which is a regular contributor for the support of the Parish.
  • Spouses shall not both be members of the Vestry at the same time.
  • Members of the full-time paid staff (including clergy) and their spouses shall not be eligible to serve.
The vestry is the legal representative of the Parish with regard to all matters pertaining to its corporate property.  The basic responsibilities of the vestry are to help define and articulate the mission of the congregation, to support the church's mission by word and deed, to select the rector, to ensure effective organization and planning, and to manage resources and finances.
 
During the Annual Meeting in January, we will elect 3 new Vestry members (3-year term) and 1 to replace a resignation due to health (1-year term).  Please prayerfully consider if this is something you feel called to do.  If you believe someone else at St. Peter's should serve, be sure to ask him/her before submitting a nomination.
 
All nominations should be sent to John Churchwell, Parish Administrator, and received no later than Friday, January 5, 2018

All Hands Ministry Team Meeting!
 All Current (and those interested) Lectors, Greeters, Ushers, Oblationers, and Hospitality Members are encouraged to attend one of the upcoming Ministry Team Refresher Trainings! We will be going over information such as Ultimate Ushering: Mastering Mixed Doubles and To Bow or not to Bow, that is the Question.
These 30 minute meetings will be held in Classroom Two at 9:30am and 10:30am on January 21, and February 18.
Blue Christmas Service at St. Nicholas' Episcopal Church December 21, 2017
6:30pm    
For many, Christmastide brings up as many feelings of grief, sadness, stress, and confusion as it does warmth and joy. For this reason, a Blue Christmas Eucharist will be held December 21 st at 6:30pm at St. Nicholas' Episcopal Church, 4001 Club Manor Drive, Maumelle, AR. This service will feature soft music of the dulcimer, candlelit meditative stations for reflection and quiet, and prayers that honor the contemplative wonder of the incarnation. This Eucharist is a calm oasis of gentle celebration in the midst of a hectic season. We hope that those who are experiencing loss will find this service to be a container for their grief and that those who are experiencing the challenges of humanity will find it a resting place.
Brown Bag Book Club
Start Date: November 29
Time: 12:00 Noon - 1:00 pm
Place: St. Peter's Library

Kathleen Norris, the author of Dakota and Cloister Walk offers up her meditation on Mary, collecting sixty images of the mother of Jesus, from Raphael to Leonardo da Vinci--from Virgin, to peasant girl, to anxious parent, to Mother of God.
 
The Brown Bag Book Club will read and discuss Norris' beautifully illustrated book as their Advent Study. I hope you will make time in your busy Advent lives to come and focus on Mary, Mother of Jesus.
 
The book may be obtained through Amazon for approximately, $15.
 
Rev. Dr. Linda Brown, Deacon
 

Art, Pray, Love
 
Save the date! January 27, 2018. The Art, Pray, Love  
Fundraiser for the Guatemala Medical Mission.
 
We would like to introduce a partial list of several artists who will be participating in the event. They are working hard creating new work to display and sell.
 
We welcome back:
Don Byram - Photography
Michael Church - Collage and Mixed Media
Jeanetta Darley - Color pencil and Mixed Media
Brandon Hudson - painting
Scott Mattson - Digital and Oil Painting
Sheila Parsons - Watercolor Painting
Dr. David Pope-Painting
 
New to Art, Pray, Love:
Kateri Balogh - Abstract Paintings
Nicole Boswell - Painting
Micah Boswell - Wood Working
Tommy Wallace - Photography
 
Introducing the St. Peter's Table
We would like our St. Peter's artists to participate as well. We have heard several of you say that you would like to help raise funds for Guatemala by selling your artwork, but that you do not have enough inventory to fill a space or a table. For this reason we are adding something new for 2018...a St. Peter's Artist Table! So if you have only a few pieces ready for display and sale, you have a place at the table. The guidelines for participating will be the same whether you are displaying on the walls of the Parish Hall or on the St. Peter's table. You will be invited to attend the Meet the Artist Dinner on January 22nd, where we honor the participating artists with a delicious dinner, sharing stories and talking about the medical mission to Guatemala. Best of all, you will be helping to fund the 2018 Medical Mission Trip.
 
Please contact Marilyn Rishkofski for guidelines.

 
Christmas Schedule

Christmas Eve

Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Monday
December 21
December 22
December 23
December 24
December 25
12:00pm
Advent Noonday
Prayers
2:00pm
SLS Planning
(Library)
7:00pm
Enneagram
(Library)
7:00pm
Evening Bible Study
(Morgan House)




4:00pm
Conway Locally Grown
(Parish Hall)
5:30pm
Advent Compline
5:30pm
Girl Scouts 6057
(Morgan House)







9:00am
Food Pantry


 10:00am
Choir Practice
11:00am
Rite II
12:00pm
Handbells
(Balcony)
5:00pm
Christmas Eve Service
8:00pm
Christmas Eve Service
9:00am
Christmas Day
Service
 










Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
December 26
December 27
December 28
December 29
December 30
Parish Office Closed  

  
 


Parish Office Closed

Holy Eucharist and Prayers for Healing
Cancelled 
Parish Office Closed













4:00pm
Conway Locally Grown
(Parish Hall)

Parish Office
Closed



Save the Date!
                      
December 22    Greening and Singing, 5:00pm   
 
December 24     Christmas Eve
                          11:00am Service (only service for the morning)
                                   The Rev. Dr. Linda Brown, preaching 
                          5:00pm Christmas Eve Service   
                          8:00pm Christmas Eve Service
                                    The Rev. Peggy Cromwell, preaching
 
December 25    9:00am Christmas Day Service   
                         The Rev. Dr. Robert C. Brown, preaching   
 
**December 27    Holy Eucharist and Prayers for Healing- CANCELLED 
 
**December 26 through December 29 and January 1, Parish Office Closed   
 
**There will not be a Labyrinth Walk on December 28.   
 
December 31   The Rev. Robert Wetherington, preaching     
 
January 7         Vestry Meeting, 1:00pm, Morgan House 
 
January 15       Parish Office Closed for Mr. Luther King Jr. Day  
 
January 21       All-Parish Meeting, 12:30pm   
 
January 27      Art Pray Love  
 
February 14    Ash Wednesday  
 
February 18   First Sunday in Lent   
 
April 1           Easter Sunday 
Anniversaries
Patty and Wolf Oeste 12/29
 
December 24 - December 30  Birthdays
   
Tara Davis
12/24
Lena Hansen
12/27
Brett Hardison
12/27
Dillon Leicht
12/27
Miles Wiebe
12/27
Pansy Westrich
12/28
Lisa Bell
12/29
Brian Bell
12/29
David Larson
12/29
Chris Smith
12/29
Norma Smothers
12/29
Drew Bell
12/30
Tom Courtway
12/30
O God, our times are in your hand: Look with favor, we pray, on your servants, as they begin another year. Grant that they may grow in wisdom and grace, and strengthen their trust in your goodness all the days of their lives; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Book of Common Prayer, page 830
Help Out the Food Pantry
Don't forget your items to bring this Sunday!  You may also drop off items in the church lobby anytime during the week.  With your help we are able to provide food to those in need.
2 cans tuna w/water; 2 pkgs pasta; 2 cans pasta sauce
Diapers, Feminine Hygiene Products    
**If you are bringing fresh produce to donate, please contact someone with a key and see that it is placed in the Food Pantry refrigerators. 
Pantry Musings
This is the fourth and last Sunday in Advent. It is also the Sunday that we will celebrate the beginning of Christmas in our Christmas Eve services. The gospel reading is of the visitation of the angel to Mary and the promise of a child to a virgin and to a barren woman, Mary's cousin. Now it was not unusual for virgins to give birth to a child of God, nor for barren women to have children on God's promise during this period of history. Sarah bore Isaac on God's promise when she was barren, some ninety years old. Zoroaster's mother was impregnated while swimming in a lake. Mary is impregnated by the Holy Spirit. But these unusual occurrences do not satisfy us today. What does a story about a virgin birth mean for us? It calls our attention to an unusual circumstance to say the least. It is a time in history that we celebrate the incarnation of God in human form. Mary gives birth to Jesus, the child that the angel tells her is the Son of God. Well if you are like most of us, you will find that a bit difficult to believe. But Luke makes it clear that Mary is a prophet and a God-bearer. She gives us an incarnation of God, Jesus, and she announces that God's goodness and mercy are here and now. The acts of God in history are realized through to person of Jesus. These acts are truly outrageous and are begun by the faithfulness of Mary, the prophet, who brings forth the incarnate God. So this story makes me want to ask, what is it that is prophetic about each of us? How do we bear the incarnate God to the rest of the world? How are we each the mother of God? Can we model a new way of being in the world?-Ann Drake
 
Scripture Readings for Sunday, December 24, 2017
 
2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16
When the king was settled in his house, and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him, the king said to the prophet Nathan, "See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God stays in a tent." Nathan said to the king, "Go, do all that you have in mind; for the Lord is with you."
But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan: Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the Lord: Are you the one to build me a house to live in? I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle. Wherever I have moved about among all the people of Israel, did I ever speak a word with any of the tribal leaders of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, "Why have you not built me a house of cedar?" Now therefore thus you shall say to my servant David: Thus says the Lord of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep to be prince over my people Israel; and I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may live in their own place, and be disturbed no more; and evildoers shall afflict them no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever.
 
Psalm 89:1-4, 19-26
1 Your love, O Lord, for ever will I sing; *
from age to age my mouth will proclaim your faithfulness.
2 For I am persuaded that your love is established for ever; *
you have set your faithfulness firmly in the heavens.
3 "I have made a covenant with my chosen one; *
I have sworn an oath to David my servant:
4 'I will establish your line for ever, *
and preserve your throne for all generations.'"
19 You spoke once in a vision and said to your faithful people: *
"I have set the crown upon a warrior
and have exalted one chosen out of the people.
20 I have found David my servant; *
with my holy oil have I anointed him.
21 My hand will hold him fast *
and my arm will make him strong.
22 No enemy shall deceive him, *
nor any wicked man bring him down.
23 I will crush his foes before him *
and strike down those who hate him.
24 My faithfulness and love shall be with him, *
and he shall be victorious through my Name.
25 I shall make his dominion extend *
from the Great Sea to the River.
26 He will say to me, 'You are my Father, *
my God, and the rock of my salvation.'
 
Romans 16:25-27
Now to God who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but is now disclosed, and through the prophetic writings is made known to all the Gentiles, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith-- to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever! Amen.
 
Luke 1:26-38
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you." But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?" The angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God." Then Mary said, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word." Then the angel departed from her.
 
   
 
Prayers of the People 
Prayers and Petitions: 
 

In Loving Support for:
Jenny, Doug, and Odessa; Micah; Sam; Mouaz; Natalie.

In Constant Prayer for our Future Rector, whomever God leads to us.

Thanksgivings:
We give thanks for the people of St. Peter's and visitors with us this week.
We give thanks for: Kathryn Spinks; Suzanne Sprague; Susan Standridge; Wayne, Ellen, Adam, and Susannah Stengel; Debbie Steward; Jayme, David and Andrew Stone; Els and Tom Strickland; Scott, Jeannie, Jack, Britt, and Sam Stroth.
We give thanks for the Faith in Depth Church.  
We give thanks for the Congregation Agudath Achim.
We give thanks for our Office Volunteers.
We give thanks for The Right Rev. Armando Guerra, Bishop of Guatemala and Primate of the Anglican Church of Central America.
We give thanks for The Rt Revd Markus Ibrahm, Yola, Jos, Nigeria.
We give thanks for The Christmas Eve Services St. Martin in the Fields, Philadelphia.
 
The Departed:   
 

 


Ministry Teams
11:00am
5:00pm
8:00pm
Lectors
Dave Campbell
Daniel Grayling

Ann Drake
Douglas Young
Ushers
Tracy Simpson
Wade Simpson
Warren Readnour
Brad Teague
Jerry Adams
Oblationers
Nancy Thompson
Dalton Losardo
Miles Greer
Genie Davis
Jan Davis
Greeters
Drew Spurgers
Kevin Phelps
Susan Sobel
Donna Bowman
Eucharistic Visitor



Eucharistic Minister
Leigh Ann Warriner
Jerusalem Greer
Tanya Buchanan
Michael Moses
Jerusalem Greer
Nathan Greer
Acolytes
C: Kathryn Spinks
T1: Xaiden Sharpe
T2:


AM: Michael Moses
C: Berris Teague
T1: Cooper Teague
T2: Hutson Teague


C: Wylie Greer
T1: Miles Greer
T2: Cady Gray


Vestry Counters



Altar Guild
Team 1



Christmas Day
Lector: Ann Drake
Usher: Richard Boosey
Oblationers: Lance Family
EM: Nita Brown
Acolyte: Lance Family


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