Beloveds, 

We at St. Gregory the Great have recently had a high number of communicants testing positive for Covid. BEFORE COMING TO CHURCH THIS SUNDAY, PLEASE TEST FOR COVID. If positive, please stay home and take care of yourselves according to CDC guidelines and in that way, take care also of our neighbors as we make our way through this latest outbreak. Our prayers of healing are lifted for those currently recovering from Covid, as well as prayers of protection for those who are currently testing negative. If you would, please inform the church office if you have tested positive this week, so that we can note how wide the spread might be.

This Sunday, for those in attendance, we will be masking and social distancing during Sunday’s service. 

Peace and joy, 

Mo. Nikki+

Greatly Beloveds, 

Thank you for an absolutely beautiful Annual Meeting! Thank you for those who did set up and strike, for those who brought food, for those who ate food, for those who are new (or close to it) who came, for those who have been here for year who came again, and those who spoke with one another in holy conversation. Thank you, most of all for joining me in the vulnerability and possibility inherent in our church’s discussion of who we have been in God’s call, who we are in God’s work, and who we will be in God’s dream.

Thank you all also for all of you who increased giving so that we would have much less of a gap between needed amount and actual amount for our operating budget for mission and ministry this year.  I thank you that together we are answering God’s call to do Love in our services of worship, our community and the worldwide Church. You are amazing!!

Thank you for doing this:

Above all these put(ting) on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

Colossians 3:14

So much love, 

Mother Nikki+

2023 EPIPHANY DRIVE FOR FAMILY PROMISE

As most of you know, St. Gregory’s belongs to Family Promise (previously Interfaith Hospitality Network), an organization of churches in Athens that provides homeless families a temporary place to stay while they work their way back to stability. The breadwinners of the families get rides to work if needed. Those who don’t have jobs are provided some of the support they need to find one. Meals are provided. Family Promise also works to prevent homelessness by helping families with a rent or utility payment or with the purchase of a used vehicle. These are truly opportunities to put our faith into action.

While we have the chance to serve as onsite volunteers during three weeks of the year, there are many parishioners who are unable to show up in person but would be interested in helping with Family Promise. We hope our 2023 Epiphany Drive will provide the opportunity to do just that.

Family Pride has an Amazon wishlist which, of course, is readily accessible to anyone shopping on Amazon. This link takes you directly to the Family Promise wishlist. There, you may add items directly to your Cart, pay for them as you do any Amazon order, and Amazon delivers the items straight to the registered Family Promise address. This provides an easy way to help meet the needs of the homeless population served by this program, and we hope that many of you will agree and participate. We will announce this effort several times during our January 6-February 6 Epiphany Drive. 

In recognition of the fact that not everyone shops with Amazon, we will also provide paper copies of the Family Promise wishlist as inserts in our church bulletins during January. You may purchase as many items as you choose, bring them to the Fellowship Hall at church any time from January 6 – February 6, and we will deliver them to Family Promise.

However you decide to participate, you may rest assured that your contributions will significantly impact Family Promise and its clients.

Instructions for Live Streaming

• Just go to the St. Gregory the Great Episcopal Church YouTube Homepage

• Near the time for service, underneath our channel logo, you will see our video for that day, with the word ‘live’ on it. The page will look like this:

• If you don’t immediately see the video that says ‘live’, (for instance, if you opened YouTube before the service begins) keep refreshing it.  

• When you see the video square that says ‘live’, click on it. 

Welcome to worship!