STB Bulletin - week of 9/19- 9/25

e-Bulletin

Week of September 19 - 25, 2021

... to Love, to Serve, to be Hope ...

LIVESTREAM MASS

available Sundays at 9:00 am.

FACE MASK:

Recommended for Saturday 5pm and Sunday 9 am Mass

REQUIRED for the Sunday 11:00 am Mass

MESSAGE FROM FR. TIM

CALENDAR

Saturday, September 18: Fall Festival!!

3:00 pm MASS, Fr. Tim
(NO 5:00 pm Mass)
Fall Festival, 4:00 pm

Sunday, September 19:

9:00 am MASS, Fr. Tim
11:00 am MASS, Fr. Tim

Monday, September 20:

No Event Scheduled

Tuesday, September 21:

Word Communion Service- Inver Glen, 10:00am
Friends in Faith Bible Study, 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm
AA meeting, 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Spirit of Justice Ministry , 7:00pm - 8:30pm
Boy Scouts, Troop 451, 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm

Wednesday, September 22:

Elementary FF Catechist training, 6:15 pm - 7:45 pm
Middle School FF catechist training 7pm-8pm

Thursday, September 23:

Lawn Mowing CREW - Team 3
Mass, 10:00 am - 11:00 am
Al-Anon meeting, 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Friday, September 24:

No Event Scheduled

Saturday, September 25:

Missionary Appeal
5:00 pm MASS, Fr. Denny Dempsey

Sunday, September 26:

Missionary Appeal
9:00 am MASS, Fr. Denny Dempsey
Inquiry Session. 10:00 am - 11:00 am
SGS/CLOW training, 10:00 am (Sharing God’s Story & Children’s Liturgy of the Word)
11:00 am MASS, Fr. Denny Dempsey

To make this all happen, WE NEED YOU!

Please consider volunteering to help out with all events this day.

HELP OUR GIVING GARDEN GROW BIGGER

The Giving Garden ministry has been growing and evolving, and we have a vision for how we would like to continue our efforts to support those in need.

CLICK HERE to find how you can be part of it.

The Giving Garden ministry is just one of the ways we are called to fulfill our mission to Love, to Serve and to be Hope.

HELP OUR STB CHIDREN GROW INTO THEIR FAITH

Teens and adults check out this link to find out more about helping out with Sharing God’s Story (4- & 5-year olds) and / or Children’s Liturgy of the Word ( 6-9 year olds). This ministry will be offered only during the masked 11:00 Mass on Sundays beginning in October.

All volunteers must complete the safety of children requirements before participating. Go to www.virtus.org or email Pam at pamm@stbeagan.org for complete information.

THIS COULD BE YOU

Nobody can do everything, but everyone can do something.

Looking for something to do…?

We still need 4 catechists for Middle School Faith Formation and would appreciate you sharing your gifts.

If you are interested, email Lori Skare, Middle School Faith Formation Coordinator.

ARE YOU AN ANIMAL PERSON?

Join our committee to plan and prepare our annual Blessing of the Beasts celebration. We will find a time to meet that fits everyone's schedule.

We’ll plan the music, the readings and the treats. We always have young people to help with the animals. This committee is open to all ages. You just have to love the beasts and want them to get blessed.

Email jackieg@stbeagan.org or call 651-452-8775.

CALLING ALL GARDENERS

or wanna-be landscapers!

The Worship Council is in need of a few volunteers on Saturday September 25 from 9am-11am to help clear the path of the meditation trail on the STB grounds in advance of an October re-dedication.

We need weed whackers, pruners and weed pullers. This is a great volunteer opportunity for families or confirmation students. We will meet at the front door at 9:00 am and walk the trail eliminating any weeds or tree saplings to make the trail walkable. At the dedication (date to be announced), Father Tim will hold a blessing ceremony and there will be a permanent little library with books and reusable meditation prayers that people can read as they walk this beautiful trail. Please help us to care for our beautiful creation.

Volunteers can email Molly Gantz @ mmgantz@comcast.net

VENEZUELA MISSION

Did you know the Archdiocese has been serving a mission Church in Venezuela for 50 years? Since 1970, The Archdiocese of St Paul and Minneapolis has been sending priests to serve the Diocese of Ciudad Guayana, specifically Jesucristo Resucitado Parish in San Felix, to minister to the 11 poor barrios in the parish. Find out more and how you can help our mission parish on September 25/26 when Fr. Dennis Dempsey will be presenting our annual mission appeal at all of the Masses. A second collection will be taken up. Please put “Venezuela” in memo.

You can also go to DONATE HERE; choose Venezuelan Mission from the dropdown.

ADOPT-A-HIGHWAY

OCTOBER 2

Save the date:

Saturday, October 2, 2021 at 8:00 am

SIGN-UP HERE

CLIMATE CHANGE

OCTOBER 25

http://iccsmtc.blogspot.com/

ON CARE FOR OUR COMMON HOME:

Worship Council’s Fall Reflections on Laudato Si.

On Saturday, September 11, 2021, an article appeared in the Star Tribune on the people of Pakistan’s planting trees to help combat climate change.It immediately sparked a memory of a former student telling me that she named her first born daughter Aspen because Aspen trees grow in communities, and this mother values community. More and more, science is showing the power of trees to communicate, and once for me in the rain forest in Puerto Rico, the leader of our group called this rain forest the “lungs of the earth.”

Pope Francis’ encyclical, Laudato Si, “On Care for our Common Home,” urges us to reflect on the problem of climate change and the power within each of us to create healing. Like the people of Pakistan, like my former student, like those who treasure rain forests, we too acknowledge and honor that we live in community, and as such, we can harm nature and we can heal nature and so affect all communities.

On October 4 we celebrate the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, of whom Pope Francis says in Laudato Si, “He was particularly concerned for God’s creation and for the poor and outcast….He shows us just how inseparable the bond is between concern for nature, justice for the poor, commitment to society, and interior peace” (5).

Hopefully we at St. Thomas Becket will continue our conversations about caring for our common home. Pope Francis quotes Patriarch Bartholomew’s wisdom about what we can do. “He asks us to replace consumption with sacrifice, greed with generosity, wastefulness with a spirit of sharing, an asceticism which ‘entails learning to give, and not simply to give up’” (4). One way some of us can make these words our experience is to use our bike racks, riding our bikes to STB and leaving the car at home.

The Worship Council intends to create two articles around Laudato Si each month, and in this way to create conversations around Care for Creation here at St. Thomas Becket. Blessed be God.

MASS COORDINATORS NEEDED

One of the many ministries necessary to our weekend worship is that of Mass Coordinator. Now that we are fully open, the need is especially urgent.

The Mass Coordinator comes early to prepare what is needed for liturgy and leaves a little later after tidying up and making sure that the worship space is ready for the next mass. They also organize the collection and the gifts procession.

New Mass Coordinators train with our experienced Mass Coordinators before being their own. This is also a good ministry for couples or friends to do together.

All Masses could use more Mass Coordinators. They are usually scheduled for a month at a time, but scheduling can also be flexible.

Contact Jackie Graham at 651-452-8775 or jackieg@stbeagan.org for more information.

MASS GREETERS

We are always in need of some help with greeters for all of our Masses.

This is a good ministry for men, women, couples and families.

Sign-up HERE.

STB VIRTUAL PRAYER WALL

Let's pray for each other!

When you get to this page, double click on the brick wall to post your prayer or a prayer request, or click on the "+" on the lower right of the wall.

STEWARDSHIP MESSAGE

GROWING THROUGH LOSS FALL SERIES

"Multiple Losses and the

Transformative Nature of Grief ”

Tuesday, September 21, 2021

Paul Johnson

Retired Educator and Grief Specialist

When: Tuesday September 21, 2021

When?

Tuesday nights

Where?

Shepherd of the Lake Lutheran Church, 3611 North Berens Road NW, Prior Lake

What time?

6:30 pm - Registration
7:00 pm - Speaker
8:00 pm - Support Groups (facilitated by trained leaders)

Freewill Offering

This program is offered to any adult experiencing a loss or major crisis

and to Pastoral Ministers, i.e., Befrienders and Stephen Ministers.

Questions?

For additional information, call: 651-452-8261 or e-mail: growingthroughloss@gmail.com

GOSPEL MEDITATION

There is something about being first. Whether it be first in line, first to be picked for the team, or the first one to finish their work, great satisfaction is achieved. Our egos love being first. It somehow sets us apart from everyone else, gives us a sense of pride and positions us to feel better than others. When we are first, we can glory in our efforts, skills, and achievements. Isn’t that what really matters? After all, we are taught from a very young age to be proficient, stay on top, be the best at what we do, and win the praise and esteem of others. This is the stuff that makes us successful and provides us with a comfortable, satisfying life.

Jesus wants none of it. All of the details we anguish over mean little to the kingdom of God. You want to be first? Then, be a servant and welcome a child. All of this is the opposite of our often vehement pursuits. If we are serious about following Jesus and living the Gospel, then we must put the needs of others before our own. If we continue to listen only to the noise of the world, we are going to continue to believe the illusions we inherit. Those illusions come in many forms, but all have things in common: me before you, being on top and not the bottom, us versus them, personal security over universal harmony and peace. When are we going to learn that always striving to be the best and first is an empty pursuit in our struggle for happiness? While satisfying our ego with this momentary boost of esteem may feel good for a moment, is it what we really desire?

If we can break from the world’s noise and create a space of sacred silence in our lives, we can begin to listen and see that we are being called in another direction. What we really desire is not the bolstering of our egos but the innocence we lost somewhere along the way. When we can be playful, joyful, and even somewhat carefree, life is good. We want our relationships to work, a place to call home, and to live peaceful lives with our sisters and brothers. Only a servant can do this. The servant’s prayer seeks to detach from self-concern in order to be used by God. Rather than worrying about being first and coming out on top, we can be inspired, guided, empowered, and led to do good works. Stop worrying about being first and put greater energy into feeling joy.

©LPi

RECOGNIZE GOD IN YOUR ORDINARY MOMENTS

The View from the Back of the Line

Have you known that person? The one who leaves every person they encounter feeling a little more blessed for having met them? They’re the friend you can count on when nothing is going well. They’re the one who’s always “doing” for others. They’re never gossiping or sniping or complaining.

We wonder how they do it, how they have it in them. We’re a little envious, even if we don’t let ourselves acknowledge it.

That, folks, is what the view is like from the front of the line, gazing at those suckers in the way back and wondering why they’re smiling so much.

We’ve all been at the front of a line and felt no shame about it. We show up early, we put in the time and the legwork, and we “earn” whatever it is we came for — sports tickets, the latest Apple product, whatever. That’s how it works here on Earth, where the fastest win the race, the fittest survive and the first shall be first, always.

It’s exactly why stewardship is such a tall order. Stewardship calls us to play by the rules of another kingdom — one where the richest have the least amount in their bank accounts and the happiest don’t seem to have anything to show for it, at least materially.

If you have a person in your life who always seems happy “doing” for others, it’s because by a boatload of God’s grace, they play by the rules of the other place.

Watch and take notes — and don’t be afraid to join them at the back of the line.

— Tracy Earl Welliver, MTS

©LPi