CLICK HERE to read the October edition of the Happenings

Holy Eucharist

Maggie Breen our Regional Missionary will be making her annual visit to St. Mary's this Sunday. Maggie will also be our guest preacher that morning!

Please remember that we will enter through the front doors or handicapped doors only. Masks are required to be worn inside the buildings and we will sit only in marked pews (on a green dot) to allow for social distance between households.

You are welcome to join us virtually each week for our 9AM worship service! Please CLICK HERE to get to our YouTube page: St. Mary's Manchester

Pledge envelopes can be dropped in the offertory plate in the center aisle on Sunday or in the office mailbox for those who are unable to meet in-person. Thank you for continuing to support God's mission here in Manchester.

CLICK HERE to register for the GHIAA Assembly

We are currently reimagining our Thanksgiving and Christmas Seasonal Sharing programming after last years contactless food drives and gift cards/toy drive-thru events. We are pondering ways to bring back Seasonal Sharing Outreach in a safe and more familiar way to St. Mary's while also listening to the needs of the community at large. Bennet Academy is working to share their thoughts and insights on how best we can serve the school families and we are working with MACC to see how St. Mary's can assist with their Joy of Sharing program. We will share with you soon on the exact form Seasonal Sharing will take. In the mean time look for those sales at the grocery stores and stock up as we continue to serve our neighbors in 2021.

After much prayer, research, thought, and discussion, your Convention Planning Team has made the difficult decision to move our Annual Convention to an online format this year due to COVID-19 Delta variant surges. Given the rigors of the past year and a half and the fatigue many in our community are experiencing with online events, we are condensing the schedule to one day, Saturday, October 23, focusing on the essentials. Read more.

Perhaps you missed Rev. Ann's article in the Happenings? We are sharing it in it's entirety for you convivence below. Many have shared they found it honest and comforting.

Embracing optimism. This has been my mantra for some time now. I’ve even been asked, are you really that optimistic? Aren’t things still unsettled at St. Mary’s? “Unsettled” is putting it mildly. We have many challenges among us, from financial to lack of engagement, from gossip to conflicts. We have disappointments and strained relationships. We have many struggles that we have avoided naming and would prefer to avoid confronting.

And we have tremendous growth! We are meeting challenges, and relationships are deepening. We are successfully learning our way with new technology. We are adapting to the COVID restrictions. We are trying on the changes in worship that will become part of St. Mary’s future. We are celebrating the gifts and talents among us, such as our licensed worship leaders’, and commissioning our lay preachers. We are stretching our muscles of flexibility. We are discovering God in our midst in ways we did not imagine.

While we too often wish the future was like a “brighter yesterday,” God invites us to experience a future that shines with transformation. We often wish others would change, and then we would feel better. Or things could go back to an earlier time, and that would fix everything. That’s not the mature, long-lasting change and new life that God desires. God desires the change of heart that allows us to get out of our own way, live boldly, accept God’s grace and see beyond ourselves.

I am often asked, what is the future of the church? Is it children, evangelism programs, small-group ministry, traditional music and choirs? We have many ideas. And we wonder why it seems like nothing works. This may pull us back to those desired brighter yesterdays.

As I continue to practice embracing optimism and listen for God’s Word in our midst, I offer you these words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German pastor and theologian: “The person who loves their dream of community will destroy community, but the person who loves those around them will create community.”

May these words speak to your heart as you strive to embrace optimism. May we build a new community of love at St. Mary’s, one that openly welcomes our uncertain future in the name of all that is holy and life-giving.

If you prefer a private conversation with Rev Ann, reach out to schedule a time (revalovejoy@gmail.com or cell 304-951-7122). While we still find our way during fluctuations in COVID-19 rates, we continue to stay connected as best we can. If you’re comfortable please join us. We are always grateful to be together!

This short service from The Book of Common Prayer can be found in the BCP on page 127 or you may access the prayer book online at www.bcponline.org.

To make a 2021 pledge to St. Mary's CLICK HERE for the form

Please take a moment to lift these names up in your prayers. Contact Rev. Ann revalovejoy@gmail.com if you would like to add a loved one or if a name may be removed after the need has been fulfilled.