Time Away

After this coming Sunday’s service, I will be headed out for a month of rest and

re-creation. As I do so, I am still uncertain when I will at long last be moving into my new, very old home!

While I am uncertain about the time ahead, I still look forward to a gracious, non-calendar driven time to just “be” or respond to the multiple demands on my energies for the renovation with one less thing to juggle.

This will be my first extended time off since 2019, at the beginning of COVID. I have fallen well short of my times of leave, and I need to chart a course for correction, so I am resuming the practice clergy have long held and that is taking a full month off in the summer to recharge the batteries!

As I do so, I invite the parish to do the same. These are demanding times, but I hope we can offer ourselves the chance “to take a deep breath” before we anticipate what promises to be a busy, joyful, and fruitful year ahead beginning in the Fall.

I have worked ahead creating new messages or revising older messages for your perusal while I am away, I hope that these continue to remind you of my love for you while I am away.

The office is in great hands with Becky, our Administrator, Mark, your Senior Warden, and all of those who keep things running smoothly on a regular basis. You are in very good hands.

Deacon Susan will be on hand for Pastoral Care and you have a wonderful slate of clergy for Sunday mornings.

You will be greeting some familiar faces, Father Steve Sedgewick will be with you for a couple of Sundays as well as The Rev. Martha Honaker, who has been with you before and The Rev. Rick Lawler. I also have deep trust that all of you will continue your various ministries that keep our common life purring along.

Importantly, my work phone will be powered down and quiet for the time I am away, and I will not be checking email. FB Messenger functions will also be off-line. Please contact Becky or Mark Williams and they will contact me if necessary.

And, this is tender and challenging decision Rector’s must make, in the event of a death while I am away Mark or Becky will notify me, but I will be unable to return to do funerals. I will be available immediately after August 13th to tend to funerals or you can plan with Father Steve while I am away. My plan is that none of you experience any new illnesses or deaths!

Taking times of rest, vacation, of Sabbath, is about living a Sabbath Life, a life defined by times of work and times of re-creation, and it reflects “God’s desire for our collective joy and good.” 

“BUSYNESS” has become an idol and drug for our culture, even in retirement, and we bring the worship of busy-ness into our churches. This unconscious practice creates amorphous anxiety that runs in the background of our lives even when we aren’t aware of it. I struggle under its siren call constantly.

This hidden anxiety can create tension, anger, depression or even attack on others as we seek relief from its pressure. This is a perfect storm for attempting to create even more busyness. “The sky is falling so we must do more to prevent it!” We must create more programs, more committees, more, more, more, more…

But God offers another way. This way is to be still, be faithful, and remain connected, forgiving, loving and patient so that we can begin to see what amazing and new thing God is doing in our presence.

I will leave you with this quote from the amazing mystic, prophet and priest Thomas Merton who saw this coming from far off and began to sound the alarm even then.

"The rush and pressure of modern life are a form, perhaps the most common form, of its innate violence. To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything is to succumb to violence. More than that, it is cooperation in violence. The frenzy of the activist...destroys his own inner capacity for peace. It destroys the fruitfulness of his own work, because it kills the root of inner wisdom which makes work fruitful."

I pray that you too are finding times of rest and re-creation during this time and I look forward to seeing your beautiful shining faces when I return on Sunday August 14th!

Grace and Peace,

Mother Stephanie

The Assisting Bishop is Coming!

A Brief Guide to Confirmation, Reception, and Reaffirmation

Assisting Bishop, Jay Magness is coming for a visit on Sunday, August 28th. This is a wonderful opportunity for you and/or your family to receive Confirmation, Reception, or to Reaffirm your faith in an intentional way. These acts are reserved strictly for the Bishop and it is always a day of joy when we gather and celebrate these wonderful Rites.

On that day we will have our One Service, One Body Celebration and I hope that we will turn out in great numbers to show our hope and excitement for our future.

This is a brief outline of what each of these acts entails so that you might begin to discern your participation!  Please notify Becky in the next week at office@stpaulwilkesboro.org and sign up to participate!

Confirmation

Confirmation in the Episcopal Church is a sacramental rite in which a baptized person makes a mature and public affirmation of the promises that are usually made at baptism by parents and godparents. After making these affirmations, a bishop lays hands on the candidate and prays a prayer of confirmation. (See the Book of Common Prayer for the promises made at Holy Baptism, pp. 299-308, and for the proceedings at the service of Confirmation, pp. 413-419.)

Adults and Young people can be Confirmed, and it is simply that moment, when you publicly say once again, “I still want to belong to God” and live my life accordingly!

Reception

In some dioceses, reception is reserved for those who have already been confirmed in another denomination by a bishop in apostolic succession. Apostolic succession means our bishop’s follow in a direct, unbroken line with the first Apostles whom Jesus chose to lead his Church (such as Roman Catholics or Orthodox). A more widely accepted understanding of reception is that it is a way of honoring anyone who has made a mature confession of faith in any other denomination by saying, in effect, we recognize and honor your spiritual journey in another fellowship, and we welcome you into the fellowship of the Episcopal Church, as you continue that journey. The bishop lays hands on the person being received and says, “We recognize you as a member of the one holy catholic and apostolic Church, and we receive you into the fellowship of this Communion” (Book of Common Prayer, p. 418). So, if you have not been confirmed or received by a bishop in apostolic succession, you may choose either confirmation or reception.

Reaffirmation

It is my hope that many of you will explore Reaffirmation! Reaffirmation is for people who have already been confirmed in the Episcopal Church. Some people presented to the bishop during the service of Confirmation are there to “reaffirm” their Christian vows. These might be people who have been away from the church for a period of time and want to make a new beginning. Others might be people who sense that they are at a new stage in their spiritual life and want to affirm this in ritual. Periodically, a spouse, fiancé or parent who is already a confirmed Episcopalian will go through reaffirmation as a way of honoring his or her family member's decision to become a confirmed Episcopalian, saying in effect, “We are in this together.” We all go through many changes in our life’s journey, and reaffirmation provides a rite for those who want to take stock of their religious and spiritual life anew. It is my hope that among those who will be Confirmed and Received that many of you will also seek Reaffirmation.

If you are interested in exploring any of these sacramental paths, please contact me and I would love to speak with you about it. It is my hope, in preparation for the Bishops visit, that we will have a number of you who seek to celebrate these wonderful rites. 

After I hear from those who might want to pursue this path, I want to offer a multi-generational exploration and study before and after in preparation for the Bishops visit. 

This will be a wonderful event for our community and an excellent way to share fellowship! For those interested please be prepared to stay after the 10:30 service on August 14^th and 21^st.

 It will be a fun and informative experience even for those who will not be participating in any of the Rites.

Grace and Peace,

Mother Stephanie

Crisis Ministry

The Crisis Ministry received a sweet Thank You card for their assistance with housing. (See Below) As you can see, your support for our ministries reaches those most in need during this critical time, allowing us to continue our assistance programs.

You’re

Welcome!

So many people have stopped to say thank you to me for working in the Parish Gardens in the past year, and I hope I've always said you’re welcome—and it isn’t just me who is working! There are so many of us “Parish Gardeners” who work sight unseen-weeding, watering and planting. So, I pass on your compliments to them. And I say thank you back to YOU for appreciating the beauty of our grounds.

Diane Peabody

Summer Sundays

One Body

One Service

9:30 AM

July 24, 2022

August 28, 2022

With Confirmations, Receptions and Reaffirmations with the Assisting Bishop!

Scripture for the upcoming Sunday Service

First Reading                       Deuteronomy 30:9-14

Moses said to the people of Israel, "The Lord your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all your undertakings, in the fruit of your body, in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your soil. For the Lord will again take delight in prospering you, just as he delighted in prospering your ancestors, when you obey the Lord your God by observing his commandments and decrees that are written in this book of the law, because you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

"Surely, this commandment that I am commanding you today is not too hard for you, nor is it too far away. It is not in heaven, that you should say, 'Who will go up to heaven for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?' Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, 'Who will cross to the other side of the sea for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?' No, the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe."

The Response                                    Psalm 25:1-9

Ad te, Domine, levavi

To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul;

my God, I put my trust in you; *

let me not be humiliated,

nor let my enemies triumph over me.

 Let none who look to you be put to shame; *

let the treacherous be disappointed in their schemes.

Show me your ways, O Lord, *

and teach me your paths.

 Lead me in your truth and teach me, *

for you are the God of my salvation;

in you have I trusted all the day long.

 Remember, O Lord, your compassion and love, *

for they are from everlasting.

Remember not the sins of my youth and my transgressions; *

remember me according to your love

and for the sake of your goodness, O Lord.

 Gracious and upright is the Lord; *

therefore he teaches sinners in his way.

He guides the humble in doing right *

and teaches his way to the lowly.

All the paths of the Lord are love and faithfulness *

to those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.

Second Reading            Colossians 1:1-14                  

 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

To the saints and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ in Colossae:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

In our prayers for you we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. You have heard of this hope before in the word of the truth, the gospel that has come to you. Just as it is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world, so it has been bearing fruit among yourselves from the day you heard it and truly comprehended the grace of God. This you learned from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, and he has made known to us your love in the Spirit.

For this reason, since the day we heard it, we have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God's will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God. May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

The Gospel                                   Luke 10:25-37                 

Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he said, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" He said to him, "What is written in the law? What do you read there?" He answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself." And he said to him, "You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live."

But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" Jesus replied, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, `Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.' Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?" He said, "The one who showed him mercy." Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."

MASKS ARE OPTIONAL IN WORSHIP



Masks are optional for inside worship and other inside activities for the foreseeable future.

Please help us put an end to this Pandemic by getting vaccinated.

Love yourself, love your neighbor, get vaccinated!

Please remember in your prayers: All who are ill or unemployed and those who are on our prayer list.

Short-term

Jackie Foster, Kathie Smith, Estelle Gille, Deacon Susan Whittington, Juanita Phillips, Rebecca Carroll, Sloan Barnhill, Sharon Burkenbine, Althea Johnson

Long-term

Lisa Wingler, Dot Beamon, Joyce Wheeling, David Temple, Ken Asel, Doug Merritt, Julius Parks & Family, Esther Eller

Armed Forces

Let us pray for the safety of all our troops, especially Micha Duerk, Faith Lankford, Cole Griffith, Zach Necessary, Walker Pardue, Philip Southwell, Mark Stone, Jason Westmeyer, and all others who serve throughout the world.

Please send to the church office the addresses of troops with connections to

office@stpaulwilkesboro.org, especially those abroad.

Prayer Requests

Prayer requests can be made by using the app under "contact us" and then the "prayer request" tab, by emailing the office at office@stpaulwilkesboro.org, or calling the office during regular office hours.

Bulletins are printed on Thursday mornings and requests submitted after that time will not be in the printed bulletin for that week, but may still be spoken. Prayer requests received by noon on Wednesday will be included in the weekly e-newsletter.

Serving in July

LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR

AND

YOURSELF!

GET VACCINATED AND BOOSTED!!!

PROTECT YOUR COMMUNITY!