Welcome to St. Bede's E-News!
We hope that this weekly offering will keep you up-to-date
on the latest information from the parish
and from around the Diocese of Atlanta and wider Church.
Our e-newsletters are now being archived on our website.
at the top of the home page to find past newsletters.
The deadline for submission to the E-Newsletter each week is Wednesday at 10:00 a.m.
Please send your submissions ready to go into the newsletter,
text and images attached in an email to the Parish Administrator.
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Sunday, April 3, 2022
The Fifth Sunday in Lent
Please join us as we gather together
to worship God this Sunday!
Worship in the Nave
in English at 10 am
Worship in the Nave
in Spanish at 5 pm
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Mask wearing is now a personal choice
for those who are fully vaccinated
and up-to-date with any boosters available
and recommended for them.
Masks are still required
for those who are unvaccinated
or who are not up-to-date
with the boosters that are recommended for them.
(See article below about upcoming changes to worship protocols.)
Pre-registering to attend worship is no longer required.
on
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Holy Week & Easter Schedule
Palm Sunday, April 10
10:00 am Holy Eucharist & Blessing of the Palms, begins outdoors
5:00 pm Santa Eucaristía y Bendición de las Palmas
Maundy Thursday, April 14
7:00 pm The Liturgy of Maundy Thursday with Communion & Foot-washing -
Bilingual, Nave
Good Friday, April 15
12:00 pm The Liturgy of Good Friday Liturgy, Nave
7:00 pm Stations of the Cross - Bi-lingual, Outdoors
Holy Saturday, April 16
8:00 pm The Great Vigil of Easter, begins outdoors
Easter Day, April 17
9:00 am Festal Eucharist, Nave
10:00-11:00 am Festive Easter Reception, Commons and Outside
11:00 am Festal Eucharist, Nave
5:00 pm Santa Eucaristía, Nave
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Upcoming Changes to Worship Protocols:
Giving-up and Taking-on Things for Lent
Many of you are familiar with the practice of personally “giving something up for Lent”. You are also likely familiar with the encouragement to “take on” new or renewed spiritual practices during Lent for your own personal spiritual renewal. These are indeed holy and worthy disciplines to grow personally in faith during this season of renewal and reflection.
But what about our collective spiritual life? We have all been living a long, two-year, extended pandemic “Lent” in which we have had to give-up or alter so much as what we knew as familiar before we ever first heard the word “COVID”. We are now at a point where the path of the pandemic and the best public health advice that is available indicates that we can “take back on” even more of the things that we have had to lay aside for a long season. We can also rejoice as we are able to “give” up some of the interim measures that have allowed us to worship God together during some of the most challenging parts of the pandemic.
I am happy to announce the following changes to our worship for the upcoming Sundays in Lent and Easter:
Sunday, April 3 – Communion served hand-to-hand returns. We will begin by serving communion (bread only – at this point) at standing stations. An additional self-serve station (with bread packets) will continue for a while as well. Clergy will wear masks during the Eucharistic Prayer (as we pray over the elements) and all who will assist in serving communion will be masked as well.
Sunday, April 10 – The Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday – Processions return. We will gather outside (weather permitting) for the blessing of the Palms and process into the nave together.
Sunday, April 17 – Easter Day – We will extend our Easter celebrations outside after worship with a festive Easter reception on the grounds.
Let us rejoice that we can resume even more things that feel significant to us in our worship of God. Let us also be mindful that some of these changes may be challenging for some folks who are comfortable with the ways we are currently worshipping and may have to grow comfortable with these changes. Even in these days of encouraging pandemic metrics, each of us is on our own journey of what “feels right” for us just now. These feelings can change week-to-week or even day-to-day. Let us continue to extend love and grace to those who may be in different places than where we may find ourselves personally.
You will hear more details each week before these announced changes occur, but I pray that, in the days ahead, we can look forward to our offerings of worship to God feeling even more rich and beautiful. And rest assured that God has been with us through all of the desert days of this pandemic as well and has been pleased with all of the ways we have offered our prayers and praise – even when it may have felt uncomfortable or unfulfilling to us.
Peace,
Chad
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Easter Flowers and Music
Dedications
If you would like to give a gift in honor or in memory of someone
for the Easter flowers and music,
special giving envelopes are in a basket on the table in the Commons.
Please fill out the front of the envelope
and place in the offering bowl on Sunday morning,
or send to the parish office
no later than Monday, April 11
in order to be listed in the Easter bulletins.
Also, we will have small take home arrangements available
after the Easter Vigil on Saturday evening and on Easter Day
for you to take to someone you love,
or someone whom you miss seeing at St. Bede's,
or for yourself and your family.
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New Look For St. Bede’s!
We are pleased to announce that St. Bede’s has awarded a contract to CMC Services Group for replacement of the exterior plywood siding and updating of our main entrance. This project is Phase 1 of a facilities Master Plan that was developed with the help of our Master Planning Committee and Randy Young of Young / Goldstein Architects. The project will replace the existing deteriorating siding with new James Hardie cement fiber siding panels around the perimeter of our buildings. New main entry additions will highlight the area and provide an attractive, fresh new look to our entryway. Provisions have also been included to accommodate a future covered walkway to the entrance.
The project plans were submitted to DeKalb County along with CMC’s application for a building permit on March 10, 2022. Our schedule is based on receiving the approved building permit by mid-April and a planned completion date of late July 2022. You will start to see some landscaping changes as well as preliminary construction setup activities including the delivery of a dumpster, Porta-Potty, and temporary fencing in the coming few weeks.
The Vestry has approved a contract amount of $84,000, plus a contingency allowance of $8,400. Much of the project will be funded from existing maintenance reserve funds and grants from the Endowment. It is our goal to raise an additional $25,000 to offset costs associated with this exciting project and avoid having to borrow the final portion. We have already received several generous donations towards the project. Your donations are welcomed and you will soon be hearing more about opportunities to contribute to this project. We should note that this is the first major capital expenditure on our facilities since the construction of our Nave 25 years ago.
We hope you will share our enthusiasm for this exciting addition to St. Bede’s! If you have questions or comments, please contact Molly Graves, Jeff Swoope or Chad Vaughn.
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Upcoming Opportunities
to gather with children
9:15am and 4:15pm, Palm Sunday, April 10
Children and their households are invited to gather outdoors, near the large cross on the Henderson Mill Rd side of the building for some hands-on learning about the Palm Sunday story. Craft supplies will be provided. We will have tents, in case of rain.
Our group will then join in with the palm waving procession that will begin outside the church. If your household is not yet comfortable with the indoor worship setting, please feel blessed to head out at that time, perhaps continuing your engagement through our YouTube channel. For those who choose to stay, coloring pages and crayons will be provided.
Easter Sunday, April 17
We have a special sticker activity planned for engaging our young members during quiet times in our Easter Celebration! If you feel comfortable attending with little ones, you will receive your packet along with your bulletin. If you are celebrating Easter at home, the packets will be available for you to pick up starting Friday, April 15th in the resources bin outside the front door of the building.
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Family Ministries Micropractice
Join our households with
birth through elementary aged children
in this simple intentional practice
as we bring our learning from the lectionary
into our everyday lives.
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Sunday, April 3
No Youth gathering this week - Enjoy your Spring Break!
See you all on the next Sunday (Palm Sunday - April 10)
for the Passion Reading in Church.
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An Announcement from Senior Warden Molly Graves
Concerning the Upcoming Sabbatical for the Rector
Dear People of St Bede’s,
Did you know that this summer we will mark the milestone of Chad having been our Rector for ten years? And, as written in his original letter of agreement and affirmed by the vestry last year and this year, Chad, will be taking his every-five-years sabbatical this summer. Chad’s sabbatical will begin in mid-May, and he will return in mid-September, exact dates to be announced soon... Click here to continue reading Molly's announcement.
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EPISCOPAL RELIEF & DEVELOPMENT:
A WAY TO HELP THOSE SUFFERING IN UKRAINE?
As you may know, helping families fleeing violence has been at the heart of Episcopal Relief & Development's mission from the very beginning. In fact, we were established by The Episcopal Church to assist people fleeing Europe during World War II.
Today, we are counting on our faith communities to join us in helping our extended beloved Ukrainian family in need.
Thank you in advance for your compassion, and for praying for those affected by this conflict.
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Yours faithfully,
Robert W. Radtke
President & CEO
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SCROLL DOWN TO THE BOTTOM OF E-NEWS TO READ MORE
ABOUT WHAT EPISCOPAL RELIEF & DEVELOPMENT
IS DOING TO HELP THE PEOPLE OF UKRAINE.
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Lent Madness began in 2010 as the brainchild of the Rev. Tim Schenck. In seeking a fun, engaging way for people to learn about the men and women comprising the Church’s Calendar of Saints, Tim came up with this unique Lenten devotion. The format is straightforward: 32 saints are placed into a tournament-like single elimination bracket. Each pairing remains open for a set period of time and people vote for their favorite saint. 16 saints make it to the Round of the Saintly Sixteen; eight advance to the Round of the Elate Eight; four make it to the Faithful Four; two to the Championship; and the winner is awarded the coveted Golden Halo. The first round consists of basic biographical information about each of the 32 saints. Things get a bit more interesting in the subsequent rounds as we offer quotes and quirks, explore legends, and even move into the area of saintly kitsch. It's free!
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Safeguarding God’s Children (SGC) is a training program for child sexual abuse awareness and prevention. The program provides participants information they need to protect the children they know and care for in their personal lives and in the ministries in which they serve.
If every adult can protect just one child, they will forever change one life. If we can all change one life, together we will make a difference in this generation of children.
WHO NEEDS TO TAKE THIS TRAINING?
All clergy whether stipendiary, non-stipendiary, or otherwise who are engaged in ministry or service to the church; all persons who teach, supervise or assist with supervising children or youth in ministries, programs or activities more often than occasionally. All paid or volunteer Church Personnel whose work regularly takes them throughout the facility or grounds; all persons who provide transportation to children or youth without other adults in the vehicle more than occasionally; all vestry members or members of similar decision making groups who have the authority to approve the creation of ministries, programs or activities for children or youth.
There will be in-person training offered for both formats and registration is open to anyone in the diocese:
Safeguarding God's Children:
April 2, 2022 from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM at St. Luke's
Safeguarding God's People:
May 7, 2022 from 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM at St. Luke's
Zoom trainings for both formats continue and are open for registration.
If you have questions about your Safe Church training certification status, please contact the church office or check with Nina Daniel who is St. Bede's Safe Church compliance coordinator.
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FORWARD DAY BY DAY ON LINE
CLICK HERE for the daily meditations found in the Day By Day booklets
You can also find paper copies in the Connect Center in the Commons.
Forward Movement, a ministry of the Episcopal Church , grew out of the determination of the General Convention in 1934 to counter a period of anxiety, distrust, and decline in the Episcopal Church with a "forward movement" charged to "reinvigorate the life of the church and to rehabilitate its general, diocesan, and parochial work."
We are best known for the popular daily devotional Forward Day by Day, which provides daily meditations based on scripture readings appointed by the lectionary and Daily Office. Forward Day by Day is published in English, Spanish, large print, audio cassette, and Braille editions, and the daily meditation is available online.
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The 2022 Annual Pledge Campaign
for St. Bede's
THANK YOU, THANK YOU,
THANK YOU!
Thank you to all who have already
prayerfully considered and returned
your 2022 pledge of financial support to St. Bede's.
As of March 10, we have received pledges
from eighty-six folks/families totaling $416,000.
If you have not already made a financial pledge
to support St. Bede's for 2022,
we would love to hear from you.
We hope that you will prayerfully consider
your pledge to St. Bede's
and return your pledge card
or use the link below to pledge online.
If your pledge packet never arrived in the mail,
please call or email the church office
and we will get one sent out to you as soon as possible.
Thank You!
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Gathering Going Forward
Guidance for the Parish
GET VACCINATED - AND BOOSTED!
(as you are eligible and able)
The Gathering Going Forward Group continues to encourage all eligible St. Bede’s parishioners to get vaccinated and keep up-to-date with 3rd doses (for the immunocompromised) and boosters - which have now been authorized for all adults. We would love to be a parish that models Christ’s call to love our neighbors and the most vulnerable among us by being a community that is as fully vaccinated as it can be.
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Healing Our Racism
Book Discussion Group
Monday, April 25.
Meeting Time:
4th Monday of each month at 2:00 pm
on ZOOM
The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
At once a powerful evocation of James Baldwin's early life in Harlem and a disturbing examination of the consequences of racial injustice, the book is an intensely personal and provocative document from the iconic author of If Beale Street Could Talk and Go Tell It on the Mountain. It consists of two "letters," written on the occasion of the centennial of the Emancipation Proclamation, that exhort Americans, both black and white, to attack the terrible legacy of racism. Described by The New York Times Book Review as "sermon, ultimatum, confession, deposition, testament, and chronicle...all presented in searing, brilliant prose," The Fire Next Time stands as a classic of literature.
Please join Muriel Diguette and other members/friends of St. Bede's to discuss current books pertaining to the issues of racism and white privilege.
We will meet the 4th Monday of each month at 2:00 pm.
If you want to go ahead and order books for future discussions:
A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry
Race Matters by Cornell West
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
Slavery By Another Name by Douglas Blackmon
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Mostly Mysteries Book Group
April 25th at 7pm on Zoom
Meeting Time:
4th Monday of each month at 7:00 pm on ZOOM
The Mostly Mysteries Book Group is continuing to meet on Zoom. If you would like to take part, please contact Connie Coralli and she will send you the link.
The March selection is
The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane
by Lisa See.
In their remote mountain village, Li-yan and her family align their lives around the seasons and the farming of tea. For the Akha people, ensconced in ritual and routine, life goes on as it has for generations—until a stranger appears at the village gate in a jeep, the first automobile any of the villagers has ever seen.
The stranger’s arrival marks the first entrance of the modern world in the lives of the Akha people. Slowly, Li-yan, one of the few educated girls on her mountain, begins to reject the customs that shaped her early life. When she has a baby out of wedlock—conceived with a man her parents consider a poor choice—she rejects the tradition that would compel her to give the child over to be killed, and instead leaves her, wrapped in a blanket with a tea cake tucked in its folds, near an orphanage in a nearby city.
As Li-yan comes into herself, leaving her insular village for an education, a business, and city life, her daughter, Haley, is raised in California by loving adoptive parents. Despite her privileged childhood, Haley wonders about her origins. Across the ocean Li-yan longs for her lost daughter. Over the course of years, each searches for meaning in the study of Pu’er, the tea that has shaped their family’s destiny for centuries.
A powerful story about circumstances, culture, and distance, The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane paints an unforgettable portrait of a little known region and its people and celebrates the bond of family.
If you are interested in receiving the Zoom link, please email Connie Coralli
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St. Bede's Prayer List
Prayers have been requested for:
Steve Means, nephew of Larry Bing
Treshaun Bates, friend of the Cannon Family
Natasha Crowcroft, friend of Susan Reef
Jai Haithco, son of Robin Brown-Haithco
Joy Sims, daughter of Nina Daniel
Jack Raymer & Ginnie Ferrell
Myles Metcalf, nephew of Susan Reef
Carmen Graciaa, friend of Laura Martin
Jim Poulos, husband of Carol Kemker
Helen Abraham
Mac Thigpen
Fay Key
Lisa Maloof, daughter in law of Anita Maloof
Kevin Maloof, son of Anita Maloof
Bill Edgar, father of Beth Cannon
Rosalene Larson, mother-in-law of Michael Daniel
Aree Bancroft
Laura Ribas
Jane Wiggins
Hilda Bell
Willie Diaz
Maggie Williams
Mary Rodriguez
Hollis Pickett
Margie Klein, mother of Jody Klein
Lynn Edgar, mother of Beth Cannon
Nancy Waring
Andy Matia, friend of Ann Foote
Jim Ohl
Frances Bowen
Sydney Lund
Ann Foote
Cameron Maddox
For those who have died:
Pollyann Matson, friend of Nina Daniel
Sarra David
Brian Couch, friend of Lisa Main
We give thanks for those celebrating birthdays this week:
4/5: Randy Minor, Sr.
4/7: John Whitt
During this week in which the world observes Transgender Day of Visibility, we give thanks as a community for and to each of our transgender and gender diverse members and their families. Thank you for leading St. Bede's into a greater understanding of the fullness of the Image of God!
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(Transgender Day of Visibility is an annual Holiday celebrated around the world, a day dedicated to celebrating the accomplishments and victories of transgender and gender non-conforming people while raising awareness of the work that is still needed to save trans lives.)
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Community Emergency
Assistance Fund
In addition to all of the wonderful ways that the Community Engagement Team is leading us in supporting community ministry partners (locally, churchwide, and globally) during this critical time, the Vestry has established a Community Emergency Assistance Fund to help people within the greater St. Bede's community with food assistance during the current public health crisis. This fund will be administered confidentially by the clergy in a similar way as their normal discretionary funds, but will be used exclusively to help with food assistance during this crisis.
We have collected around $10,500 and distributed over $9,000 in assistance though food and utility support for individuals and families so far during the current public health crisis. The current balance of the fund stands at around $1,600 and new needs continue to present themselves. A dedicated group of members work with Fabio to help identify need and deliver food. Thank you to all who have contributed!
If you have questions about this offering to the greater St. Bede's community or if you are in need of food assistance or know someone who is, please contact either the Rev'd Caroline Magee or the Rev'd Fabio Sotelo.
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Your Amazon purchases can support St. Bede's
through Amazon Smile
If you shop on Amazon, consider accessing Amazon through
and designating St. Bede's as your charitable beneficiary.
To find St. Bede's in the beneficiary list,
you must search for "St Bedes Episcopal Church"
(without the apostrophe)
and choose the one located in Atlanta.
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From around the Diocese
and the wider Church...
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Bishop Wright is offering
a diocesan-wide five-part Lenten teaching series.
"The pandemic feels like wilderness,
but God does amazing things in the wilderness,
even when the wilderness stretches on for a while!
These are all wilderness stories
that remind us of what God can teach there,
and that good things come out of wilderness time."
Bishop Wright
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Pathways
the magazine of the Diocese of Atlanta
The new Pathways is now available online! Through original photography, articles, and interviews, Pathways shares inspiring stories from Middle and North Georgia — examples of spiritual growth.
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Bishop Wright's Weekly Podcast
Did you know that Bishop Rob Wright has a weekly podcast? You can take a spiritual "deep dive" each week with Bishop Wright and his special guests and grow deeper in faith and understanding as you listen and learn.
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Support the Cathedral Book Store.
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Friend in Christ,
As violence escalates in Ukraine, over one million people have already fled the country — and the borders are flooded with many more people desperate to leave.
Almost all of them are women and children who have had to seek safety on their own, leaving their husbands, fathers, brothers and sons behind.
As this crisis continues to evolve, we are working with Anglican agencies and our other partners to provide humanitarian assistance, and urgently ask for your help.
Your emergency gift today will support our immediate response, providing cash, blankets, hygiene supplies and other needs as this crisis unfolds.
Our faith networks are currently on the ground in the border areas of Poland, Hungary and Romania, and we will continue to coordinate with them in order to help those who have been displaced. Specifically, our partner ACT Alliance is helping families on the Hungarian border, and our Anglican partners are mobilizing both an immediate and long-term response in Poland, Romania and Hungary.
Yours faithfully,
Robert W. Radtke
President & CEO
Episcopal Relief & Development
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Several St. Bede's regulars subscribe to-and like! - these e-publications. To stay up to date on activities throughout the Diocese of Atlanta, sign up for the e-newsletter, Connecting.
You can also sign up to receive For Faith, which is a weekly devotional podcast from Bishop Rob Wright sent by email on Fridays. To sign up for either or both, click here
Quick Links
To schedule events, please contact our
Muriel Diguette
For the weekly lectionary readings visit:
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