January 25, 2023 | Volume 13, No. 4 | |
Thrift Store awards $50,000 in annual grants | |
The Thrift Store is a nonprofit organization run completely by volunteers who collect and sell donations of housewares, furniture, clothing, jewelry, and collectibles. Proceeds from the store provide grants to local organizations in the Savannah community. The following organizations reflect the Store's support of education and well-being for the youngest children in need living in the Savannah community.
The grant recipients for 2022 were East Side Savannah United, Early Language and Literacy, Fresh Air Home, Greenbriar Children's Center, Heads-Up Guidance Services, Inc., Loop it Up Savannah, Inc., St. Thomas Church Discretionary Fund, and Wesley Community Centers of Savannah, Inc.
Millie Green, a volunteer with the thrift store, shared her appreciation for all those who assisted in the success of the grants, "The St. Thomas Thrift Store Board of Directors and twenty seven dedicated volunteers are thankful for the patrons and donors who made it possible for the store to grant $50,000.00 to local nonprofit organizations. These organizations provide support to the youngest members of the Savannah/Chatham County community in need."
The store is located at 1126 East Montgomery Crossroad in Savannah. Current needs are volunteers for Tuesdays, and spring and summer clothing. The store is open Monday through Thursday from 10:00am-2:00pm.
Please call Millie Green at 912-398-8775 for further information.
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Update your parish information | |
The Diocese is requesting that each parish fill out the form linked below with updated information on those in leadership roles at the church. The staff uses this information to make sure that critical communications are directed to the correct person in each parish.
To fill out the form, click here.
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Registration for Leading with Grace ends
THIS WEEK
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Register today for this year's Leading with Grace. A final need a count by this Friday, January 27th. If you need to register late, contact Carey Wooten as soon as possible.
Program Registration is now available at https://bit.ly/LeadingWithGrace. Registration for Honey Creek can be found here: Room Registration.
**Note that registering for rooms and meals at Honey Creek does NOT register you for the Leading with Grace program, so please register for both.**
Each weekend begins Friday with Eucharist at 5 p.m. at Honey Creek, and concludes by 3 p.m. Saturday on the following weekends in 2023:
- February 10-11
- April 14-15
- August 18-19
- September 29-30
"Leading with Grace was a wonderful experience for me. I am not a cradle Episcopalian, and in the 15 years in our church I keep learning more. I cannot seem to get enough experience learning about the Church. That is why I will recommend the experience of the Leading with Grace Classes" - Phil Snyder, St Peter's Episcopal Church, Savannah
Sign up today! For more information, click on the link above and/or email Carey Wooten at cwwooten@gmail.com.
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National Virtual Cursillo Event | |
The ECMC (Episcopal Cursillo Ministry Committee) invites you to join us for our 2nd National Virtual Event on Saturday, January 28 at 1:00 p.m. (EST)! This year’s theme is “Jesus Is Just Alright With Me.”
We will begin the program with a thoughtful and motivating talk and follow by breaking out into groups where we will share with each other our relationships with Jesus today. Included will be the lively, professional music performed by the contemporary Christian band “Live Hymnal.” Our program will conclude with a prayerful summary of our group discussions.
This will be a grand opportunity to be spiritually fed and to be a part of a loving Christian community. Come join us on January 28th to celebrate JESUS! We look forward to seeing you all there!
Registration required. Click here to sign up.
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Happening #107
- When: March 24-26, 2023
- Who: Youth in Grades 9-12
- Where: Honey Creek
- Cost: $145 per person
Registration for Candidates is available here: https://bit.ly/HappeningParticipants.
The Rector for Happening #107 is Adair Weston, form the Church of the Good Shepherd, Augusta. More information is also on the Georgia Happening Website: www.georgiahappening.com.
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Episcopal Youth Event
- When: July 4-July 8, 2023
- Who: Youth currently in Grades 9-12
- Where: University of Maryland,
College Park, MD
Cost should never be prohibitive to participate in diocesan youth events. Contact Canon Varner for any questions regarding the event fee.
Registration Instructions: Registration for EYE is now open through the Diocese. Once youth and adult advisors are registered, Canon Varner will take their information register and register the group with the Episcopal Church.
To register, visit https://bit.ly/GeorgiaEYERegistration.
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Bishop George Paul Reeves | As we approach the bicentennial of our founding in 2023, we will share the story of the Diocese of Georgia. This series will end on February 22. This week we remember the Seventh Bishop of Georgia, the Rt. Rev. G. Paul Reeves. | A former United Churches of Christ Navy Chaplain became the Seventh Bishop of Georgia, leading the diocese through a time of great change in the church. G. Paul Reeves was born in Roanoke, Virginia on 14 October 1918. He graduated from Randolph Macon, and in 1943 from Yale Divinity School. On leaving the Navy in 1948, he was ordained an Episcopal priest in the Diocese of Florida. He and his wife Adele had two children. | |
Canonically resident in the Diocese of South Florida at the time of his election, he was consecrated bishop coadjutor to serve alongside Bishop Albert Rhett Stuart in Christ Church, Savannah, on September 30, 1969. Bishop Reeves became diocesan bishop on Stuart’s retirement in 1972. In his first Convention address he stressed the centrality of Holy Eucharist as the norm for Sunday worship and the obligation of faithful, regular attendance at church.
Bishop Reeves held regular clergy conferences and retreats at Honey Creek which sometimes included spouses. In 1972, he sent a group of clergy and laity to Dallas, Texas, to participate in Cursillo who subsequently initiated the program in Georgia. Evangelism and renewal were encouraged and supported by regular Cursillo weekends at Honey Creek and similar Happening events for high school youth. He continued the Companion Diocese program formed under Bishop Stuart with Guiana on the Northern Coast of South America.
In his 1977 Address to Convention, Bishop Reeves said, “I do not apologize for saying that there is a great deal badly wrong in our Church today. I may surprise – even disappoint – some of you by confining my remarks about the ordination of women to one sentence. In my opinion, the provision for ‘ordination’ of women to the priesthood probably was the most serious single mistake the Episcopal Church has made in the nearly 200 years of its history.”
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In his 1983 Address Bishop Reeves stated, “Most emphatically I am not suggesting a return to the 1928 Book, nor a criticism of our present Book. I am suggesting a criticism of the process that produced the Book…. I would like to see us, one and all, cheerfully use it as the quite adequate instrument it is for our corporate worship.”
To name Bishop Reeves solely as a conservative in a theologically-divided church fails to capture the gifts he brought to his call. Bishop Harry Shipps wrote that, “Reeves was a conservative gentleman with a dry sense of humor. He held a high view of the Church and our individual and corporate responsibility to it as stewards.”
“There’s an art form to a worship service, particularly an Episcopal service,” said his godson Mills Fleming, “I think his strength was in the liturgy. He was a consummate liturgist.”
Bishop Reeves established seven congregations in the diocese during his episcopacy: St. Francis of Islands in Savannah, and St. Mary Magdalene in Louisville, both in 1976; All Saints in Thomasville, Atonement in Hephzibah, and St. Barnabas in Valdosta, in 1980; St. Thomas Aquinas in Baxley, in 1982; and St. Elizabeth of Hungary in Richmond Hill, in 1983.
Because of what he named as an increasingly liberal agenda of the General Convention, Bishop Reeves did not attend General Conventions and House of Bishops meetings during his final years as Diocesan. Bishop Reeves retired in February 1985 upon succession of his coadjutor bishop, Harry W. Shipps. He died April 15, 2010. His Requiem Mass was celebrated in St. John’s in Savannah.
Pictured: (top) Bishop Albert Rhett Stuart at left with Bishop Paul Reeves at right when Stuart was the diocesan and Reeves the Bishop Coadjutor, and (bottom) Bishop Reeves in the cope and mitre the Archbishop of the Anglican Church in Japan gave to Bishop Stuart in the 1950s.
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The board of Episcopal Youth and Children's Services (EYCS) gathered at the Collegiate Church of St. Paul the Apostle in Savannah last week for a business meeting followed by lunch. | |
St. Barnabas in Valdosta celebrated the one year anniversary of the Rev. Susan Gage's ordination to the priesthood with a gift of an "Old Rugged Cross" and a reception after the service. | |
The Rev. Alan Akridge of St. Mark's in Brunswick assisted East Beach Yoga (left) and Schroeder's Market (right) with their Epiphany blessings. | |
Bishop Logue is shown with the congregation of St. John's in Bainbridge after the Eucharist during his visitation on Sunday, during which he confirmed three persons. | |
During last Friday's visitation to Episcopal Day School in Augusta, Bishop Logue stayed through the school day meeting with different groups of students. The photo above with 3rd graders was taken after they discussed the ministry of a bishop as chief pastor using the symbols of office - the mitre, crozier, pectoral cross, and episcopal ring - to talk about what a bishop is to be according to the Book of Common Prayer's ordination rite. | |
We want to hear from you! | |
If you would like to have your submission considered for From the Field, it needs to be sent to Communications Manager Liz Williams (lwilliams@gaepiscopal.org) by noon on Tuesday. | |
Prayer for Weekly Liturgies | |
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Our one-year prayer cycle combines prayers for every congregation in the Diocese of Georgia with prayers for our ecumenical partners and for our Companion Diocese of The Dominican Republic.
The 2023 one year prayer cycle is online here: 2023 Prayer Cycle.
January 29 – February 4
In our diocesan cycle of prayer, we pray for our congregations in Augusta, especially, St. Augustine’s, St. Mary’s, and St. Paul’s. We also pray for our ecumenical partners St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church in Adel, and St. Ann Catholic Church in Alapaha. In our companion diocese of the Dominican Republic, we pray for the congregations in Boca Chica —Grace (De la Gracia), Mount Zion (Monte de Sión), and St. Joseph (San José).
February 5 - 11
In our diocesan cycle of prayer, we pray for our congregation in Bainbridge, St. John’s. We also pray for our ecumenical partners in Bainbridge, especially St. Joseph Catholic Church. In our companion diocese of the Dominican Republic, we pray for the congregations in Bonao, especially Pentecost (Pentecostes) and St. Joseph of Arimathea (San José de Arimatea).
Newly Revised 31-Day Prayer Cycles
We also offer 30-day prayer cycles for those who wish to pray daily for the clergy and clergy spouses: Diocesan Prayer Cycle and Clergy Spouses Prayer Cycle. (Updated 11/30/2022)
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Diocesan Office Update and News | |
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On Thursday, Bishop Logue will join other Trustees of the University of the South in electing the next Vice-Chancellor.
On Sunday, Bishop Logue will make his visitation to St. Augustine of Canterbury in Augusta.
To view Bishop Logue's full visitation calendar, click here. (Updated for 2023 - 1/2/2023)
Picture: Bishop Logue watches as a student swings on a vine in the woods at Episcopal Day School's Nature Preschool during his visitation to the school.
Executive Director of Honey Creek Dade Brantley will be attending the Episcopal Camps and Conference Center (ECCC) Annual Conference at St. Crispin's Conference Center in Oklahoma January 22-27.
Canon Joshua Varner and Communications Manager Liz Williams will be at Church of the Good Shepherd in Augusta Saturday and Sunday for the Happening #107 staff lock in.
Canon Katie Easterlin remains on maternity leave.
The best way to reach a staff member is via email as we will always get back with you promptly in many cases and in 24-72 hours when working on more pressing matters. Staff e-mails can be found here with a list of responsibilities so you know who to contact for what.
You may also reach diocesan staff by phone at (912) 236-4279.
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St. Luke's in Rincon held their annual meeting in which both the oldest Maureen, and youngest, Ethan, members were present. | | | | |
