Lord, we pray that your grace may always precede and follow us, that we may continually be given to good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

"More than enough" is a line from the Book of Exodus. Moses instructed the Israelites in the Lord's commands. They were to keep the Sabbath and to build the Tabernacle with their time, talent, and treasure. It is an amazing scene of dedication and devotion. The craftsmen and artisans built, the skillfull women spun, and all brought from their resources to create a place of adoration for the Lord. The response was so great, that the designers and builders asked Moses to call the people off, because their gifts were "more than enough" to do the work of the Lord.

We know that God has given us all more than enough and we know that when we respond in faith, the Church will have more than enough to do the work the Lord has commanded us to do. During the next month, members from our parish will share their story of faith and stewardship and how the Lord always gives us what we need and that upon reflection, it was more than enough.

I ask that we all prayerfully reflect on this story in Exodus and how we, with our gifts of time, time, and treasure together, can be an image of God's provision which is always more than enough.

Share your own stories on social media with the hashtag #morethanenough.

The Feast of St Luke the Evangelist is today.

Tonight we will celebrate the feast with a sung mass and the blessing of hands for our medical professionals in the community.

Please note this mass is in lieu of the normal formation and dinner schedule.

Nota Bene: There is no mass this Saturday due to the Ardmore RAH road race.

Calling all youth ~ Smash pumpkins the way the prophets smashed the altars of Baal.

1st annual Pumpkin Smashing Party this Sunday at 2:30pm near the Parish Garden.

Please join us as we explore our life’s stories, tracing our own personal faith journey. We will get to know each other better through the power of storytelling and active listening. We will investigate the question: How does my own life reflect the life of Jesus Christ? And we will share laughter and love with our Sisters in Christ.  

Pre-retreat begins Friday at 4:00 with hiking, lake time, and set up.  Dinner and programming starts at 6:00 and lasts through an evening by the campfire. Saturday programming starts with Morning Prayer at 7:30 and ends after lunch. You can sleep at Seven Springs or drive home and back again. Come for everything or as much as you can!

The cost for the event is $25; scholarships are available. Register here.

Questions? Contact Beth Morphis (336.971.0769 or Beth@salemgym.com), Lea Thullbery (lea@sttimothys.ws) or Christin Barnhardt (christin@sttimothys.ws)

With Advent just 6 weeks away, I invite you to look ahead at one of your favorite Advent or Christmas hymns, to meditate on the text, and to think about why it is particularly meaningful for you. Perhaps the text of an Advent hymn reminds you to slow down and prepare for our celebration of Christ's birth and his second coming. Or maybe you enjoy singing one of our usual Advent Lessons & Carols hymns because of the eager anticipation that Advent evokes. Might a favorite Christmas hymn be one that you learned as a child: 5 or 15 or 50 years ago? Maybe your understanding of the text has transformed over the years.

Please consider sending me your reflections, and, with your permission, I may publish them in our News & Notices this Advent or Christmas.

This Wednesday, the Schola Choir and Choristers will lead the music for our mass for the Feast of St Luke. Everyone is invited and encouraged to sing Healey Willian's familiar  Missa de Sancta Maria Magdalena, which we have sung for Sunday 11am masses during this Season After Pentecost. Wednesday we will add descant to the Kyrie that our own Robert Matthews composed. The anthem is  Open thou mine eyes by John Rutter. 

This Sunday, our processional hymn is "All my hope on God is founded," translated from German in 1899 by Robert Bridges, a English parish church choir master who later became British Poet Laureate. Herbert Howells composed the tune for this text and named it after his son Michael, who died in 1935 at the age of 10.

All my hope on God is founded;

he doth still my trust renew.

Me through change and chance he guideth,

only good and only true.

God unknown,

he alone

calls my heart to be his own.

Prelude:

Andante in D Major, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy

Hymns:

All my hope on God is founded, No. 665

In your mercy, Lord, you called me, No. 706

God of grace and God of Glory, No. 594

O for a closer walk with God, No. 684

Jesus shall reign, No. 544

Communion Music (11am):

"Love bade me welcome" from  Five Mystical Songs, Ralph Vaughan Williams

Chris Ervin, baritone; Robert Matthews, piano

Postlude:

Fuga pro Organo pleno D-moll, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy

God's peace,

Christin

St. Timothy's Overflow Shelter is currently seeking a Volunteer Coordinator to help recruit, organize, train, and equip our overflow shelter volunteers. This person will work alongside Katie Bryant to help oversee volunteer operations at the shelter, including but not limited to speaking to new groups, following up with volunteers after they serve, and helping to fill holes in the volunteer schedule. This person will also be responsible for volunteer communications and expanding our capacity to recruit and sustain volunteers in this vital ministry. This is a paid, part-time, seasonal position. Prior experience volunteering with the shelter, communication skills, and computer/social media ability will be important for this position. For more information, please contact Katie Bryant at katie@sttimothys.ws

Of your charity, please pray for the repose of Ron Petroni, who died on Sunday, October 15. A Requiem for Ron will be Saturday, November 11 at 10:30am.

Each week a member of the vestry will offer a reflection in our weekly publications. This week's reflection is from Richard Graves.

This past Sunday (October 8) as I sat in the pew listening to the homily about the Las Vegas massacre I realized I desperately needed to hear that in order to try and bring some sense of understanding of it all, if that was even possible. From my vantage point there in the pew as I looked up at the lone large cross above the altar, the morning light seemed to reflect not one, but three separate crosses. This was amazing to see and also made perfect sense to me because it reminded me that just like Las Vegas, the day Jesus was crucified and died on that wooden cross that too was a scene of horrific suffering, pain and ultimately death. But at the same time, as hard as it may be to understand, both events also represented a white dove of love and peace as God was there and present in both places. I know this because Jesus was later resurrected to the Father and the pain and the suffering were over. We have now heard the stories of people in Las Vegas shielding other people from the gunfire with their own bodies, loading total strangers into their trucks/cars to take them to the hospital, helping strangers get to safe places, holding others in their arms and comforting them as they breathed their last breath and in the following days a flood of people lining up to give blood. Is this God at work in the midst of this awful, heart wrenching tragedy in Las Vegas? Yes it is. Was he there when those Las Vegas souls entered into his Holy Kingdom? Yes he was. Was he there when his only son was crucified so that we may have eternal life? Yes he was. While my emotions about Las Vegas continue to this day run from anger to sadness to confusion, I am comforted that God was truly there at that concert, just as he was there when his only son died for us on that wooden cross. So while both of these scenes paint horrific pictures of human suffering and death, at the same time they also paint pictures of God’s love, grace, peace and mercy because God is truly always with us, he never leaves us, both in happiness and tragedy and that brings me great comfort.

Get your costumes and trunks ready!  Trunk-or-Treat is Sunday, October 29th at 5pm. This is St.Tim's tailgating at it's best! Cars with treats can park anytime before 4:45pm in the upper Drake parking lot, look for volunteers to direct you. Please RSVP to  katie@sttimothys.ws  and let her know if you're bringing your trunk--just so we can make sure to have enough spaces reserved. Hotdogs will be available for dinner, and prizes will be awarded for the best trunk. Invite friends to join in the fun!

St Timothy's Choir and Choristers have been accepted as the choir in residence at Wells Cathedral July 13-July 19, 2020. This is quite an honor, and the choirs will work diligently to prepare music that is up to the cathedral's standards. Keep your eyes and ears out for fundraising events and previews starting next year. 

Fr Steve is leading a pilgrimage to the Holy Land July 27 through August 7, 2019. We already have 24 pilgrims confirmed and we have space for about ten more. The cost is around $2,000 exclusive of airfare. If you are interested, please contact Fr Steve - frsteve@sttimothys.ws