336.667.4231
office@stpaulwilkesboro.org
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New Beginnings
Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success. —Henry Ford
I have been in the office for just over an hour and I just learned the deadline for my message is upon me. As I sit here I want to say a brief "hello" and promise more to come!
I remember when the Covid-19 crisis first began to affect the way we did worship and I also remember thinking how much my heart went out to people just beginning in a new parish while trying to invent a totally new way of “being church." And now, here we are!
You have been managing to offer wonderful things in these last months and have been finding your way forward with great courage. I am delighted to join with you and discover the multitude of possibilities that are yet to be revealed.
Any new beginning is full of joy as well as confusion so mixing in a pandemic should be just fine! I’ve only been at work for a few hours before this e-news was due, I’m going to proclaim that so far I think we are doing great!
It will take a little while to settle into St. Paul’s and figure out what is going to work best so no clear routines are established yet, but as they develop they will be related. A priority for me right now is working with Vanessa in the office and with the leadership to get to know where and who you are, who you were before Covid changed things and of course, over time, who you want to become as the post Covid world reveals itself.
I will be introducing ideas as to how I might “meet” with ministry groups and generally trying to discover who all of you are what we are hoping to do together as this new phase in both our lives unfolds!
Monday will be my sabbath, my uninterrupted time of rest. Except for serious pastoral emergencies, that is the only day I am fully unavailable. “Clergy routine” is actually an oxymoron, so changeable are the circumstances of our days, but I will soon have a better idea of your rhythms and routines and begin to shape my days around that. Look for more on this in future notes!
In the meantime, please know that I am delighted to be here among you and I can’t wait to get to know who you are. A question I have been asked during these last tumultuous months is, “With so much anxiety and fear going around, what can I do to make any difference?" My answer is always the same, as people of faith, prey to the same fears and anxieties as everyone else, we know that we can shine a light into the darkness.
It may not seem like much, but if you have ever sat in total darkness, even the tiny flicker from one little flame is a welcome friend. Jesus is our light and our hope and through his life on this earth. We know that we wield the power of hope and the knowledge that God is a lover and a healer. It is because of that, that we can offer light and hope to a world in pain. Shine your light, even the smallest, kindest act can spark a flame to life.
I look forward to the days, weeks and months ahead as find our way on this great new adventure together!
Blessings, Stephanie+
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August 23rd Service - Please sign up if interested
There is still space available to attend the 8:30am and the 10:00am service in the Outdoor Chapel (Labyrinth) this coming
Sunday, August 23rd.
We can only gather with 35 or less so if you would like to worship in person with mask on and social distancing in place, please reserve your spot by emailing the office at stpaulwilkesboro.org.
Service will be held WEATHER PERMITTING
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Our August 23rd Worship will be live-streaming at 10:00 am and can be found on YouTube or through a link on the St. Paul's website. |
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Hi to all plant lovers and those who want to be!
I have been busy this summer pruning some plants and repotting the babies. I hate to cast these cute things aside 😊. I have SO many, I thought I would share them with the Church and let members “buy” them from me which will ACTUALLY be a DONATION TO THE CHURCH. The amount you wish to spend is up to you. I may have suggestions depending on the size and the pot used. I have jade, schefflera and airplane plants. Just send me an email with PLANT in the subject line with your phone number and I will call you to tell you what I have, maybe send you a picture or two!!
Again, ALL proceeds go to St. Paul’s. These plants thrive outside in the warm months but are houseplants when cooler weather arrives. Water once a week in winter.
I hope that I can find a home for all my babies and get some extra money in the Church coffers.
Elizabeth Todd Freas
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“It is solved by walking”
-St. Augustine (353-430)
In this difficult and uncertain time, while many of us are staying at home as much as possible and missing contact with our family, church family, and friends, I’ve felt the pull of the labyrinth and thought about how much it means to walk the labyrinth in community. I will be hosting an online Finger Labyrinth Walk and Meditation every Tuesday in August! We will meet in Zoom each Tuesday evening at 7:30 PM EDT. I invite you to join me!! Please email me so I can send you a labyrinth to use for our “walk” and the Zoom link to attend.
Sheree Sloop—sloopcat60@gmail.com.
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June Minutes Now Available
The 2020 Vestry Meeting minutes are now available on St. Paul's website under Vestry.
Click button to go directly there
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8:30 AM
August 2 - Mary Anne Caplinger
August 9 - Mary Southwell
August 16 - Edward Southwell
August 23 - Maggie McCann
August 30 - Dick Sloop
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10:00 AM
August 2 - Tom Carnes
August 9 - Denise Sturdivant
August 16 - Tana Myers
August 23 - Joe Fesperman
August 30 - Cindy Smith
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Birthdays:
August 24 - Cassie Stone
August 25 - Marietta Carroll
August 25 - Donald Curley
August 29 - Steve Jackson
August 29 - Tina Krause
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Prayer Requests
Prayer requests can be made online
or by calling the office during regular office hours.
Bulletins are printed on Wednesday 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 Tuesdays will be included in the weekly e-newsletter.
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Prayer List
Please remember in your prayers: All who are ill or unemployed and those who are on our prayer list.
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Illness
Mike Adams, Jim Andrews, Ken Asel, Pam Baugh, Robert Baugh, Dot Beamon, Betty Blevins, John Brame, Fern Brinkley, Jacob Brown, Mary Bumgarner, Rosie Carlton, Paul Clark, Billy Coles, Rancene Cook, LaMar Creasman, Ann Davis, Jackie Davis, Mike Duncan, John Farris, Craig Freas, Estelle Gille, Mike Graf, Edward C. Griffith III, Bert Hall, Kaye Hall, Janet Hartzog, Caleb Hawkins, Laurence Hawkins, Virgil Hawkins, Larry Hendley, Steve Jackson, Lisa Lenderman, Lorraine Little, Ken Love, Pete Mann, Wes Martin, Maggie McCann, Ann McNeill, Gus Newton, Bertie Pardue, Ryan Rigby, Stanley Sanders, Ann Self Sigmon, Beth Sims, Bob Skees, Linda Sloop, Carolyn Stephens, Shirley Sturdivant, Fanny Triplett, Mari-Claire Ucello, Marie Waddell, Robin Walsh, Delores Weaver, Bob Webber, Donna Webber, Dick Whittington, Kim Wyatt, Cole Younger
Armed Forces
Let us pray for the safety of all our troops, especially Rob Beauchaine, Matthew Cage, Alex Cline, Philip Cooney, Karl Duerk, William Grant, Edward C. Griffith IV, Jacob B. Hall, Brandon Moore, Russ Necessary, Zach Necessary, John W. Pardue, Charlie & Lauren Pendry, Adam Pinkerton, Avery Smith, Philip Southwell, Mark Stone, Patrick Szvetitz, Jackson Triplett, Levi Walker, Jason Westmeyer, Nathan Wyatt, and all others who serve in Iraq, Afghanistan and throughout the world.
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The Lessons for August 23, 2020 |
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Exodus 1:8-2:10
Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. He said to his people, “Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and more powerful than we. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase and, in the event of war, join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.” Therefore they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor. They built supply cities, Pithom and Rameses, for Pharaoh. But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread, so that the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites. The Egyptians became ruthless in imposing tasks on the Israelites, and made their lives bitter with hard service in mortar and brick and in every kind of field labor. They were ruthless in all the tasks that they imposed on them.
The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, “When you act as midwives to the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstool, if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, she shall live.” But the midwives feared God; they did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but they let the boys live. So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this, and allowed the boys to live?” The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.” So God dealt well with the midwives; and the people multiplied and became very strong. And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families. Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “Every boy that is born to the Hebrews you shall throw into the Nile, but you shall let every girl live.”
Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman. The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was a fine baby, she hid him three months. When she could hide him no longer she got a papyrus basket for him, and plastered it with bitumen and pitch; she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds on the bank of the river. His sister stood at a distance, to see what would happen to him.
The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her attendants walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to bring it. When she opened it, she saw the child. He was crying, and she took pity on him, “This must be one of the Hebrews’ children,” she said. Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?” Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Yes.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother. Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed it. When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and she took him as her son. She named him Moses, “because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.”
Psalm 124
1 If the Lord had not been on our side, *
let Israel now say;
2 If the Lord had not been on our side, *
when enemies rose up against us;
3 Then would they have swallowed us up alive *
in their fierce anger toward us;
4 Then would the waters have overwhelmed us *
and the torrent gone over us;
5 Then would the raging waters *
have gone right over us.
6 Blessed be the Lord! *
he has not given us over to be a prey for their teeth.
7 We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowler; *
the snare is broken, and we have escaped.
8 Our help is in the Name of the Lord, *
the maker of heaven and earth
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Romans 12:1-8
I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God-- what is good and acceptable and perfect.
For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.
Matthew 16:13-20
When Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.
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St. Paul's Episcopal Church | 336-667-4231 | office@stpaulwilkesboro.org | https://stpaulwilkesboro.org |
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