Dear St. Aidan’s family,
Yesterday, I did a brave thing: I renewed my TSA Precheck membership. My five-year membership wasn’t due to expire until March, but – remember last March? – renewing it was an act of faith. Moreover, it was an act of HOPE.
If you’re not familiar with Precheck, it’s the ticket to the shorter lines at the airport, where you don’t have to take off your shoes or light jackets or take your computer out of its case. Back when we could travel, Precheck saved me a lot of waiting time (even though I still had to go through the scanner every time because my metal knees set off alarms).
Even though I have no flight plans at the moment, renewing my Precheck made my heart feel a bit lighter, a little more like it’s about to take off. The feeling reminded me of Emily Dickinson’s poem:
“Hope” is the thing with feathers -
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -
And never stops - at all –
Hope might appear to have been buried these long months of quarantine, lockdown, and pandemic. But this is the season for planting bulbs – tulips, daffodils, and those early bloomers, snowdrops and crocus, that will so gladden the heart when they shoot through the cold ground in just a few months. By that time, perhaps we will also be in a new season of hope fueled by the prospect of a coronavirus vaccine and a new direction for our nation – at the very least, an end to this week’s inescapable election rhetoric.
Hope is present whenever my daughters and I snip a cutting from one of our houseplants and tenderly encourage it to root, so we can share our plant “babies” (an obsession that has grown during these months indoors). Hope makes us believe that the cutting will “take” and develop to its full glory.
“Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience,” St. Paul writes (Romans 8:24-25). Eugene Petersen’s “The Message” translation of the same passage adds a visual metaphor that I find powerful: He says waiting, the kind of waiting we are doing right now, “does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting.“
May we be enlarged in this time of waiting – for a cure and a vaccine, for a return to indoor worship and Holy Communion, for the fellowship with one another we so keenly miss. Something we cannot yet see is about to be born. And that, my friends, is reason to HOPE.
Faithfully,
Rosemary+
The Rev. Dr. Rosemary Beales
Interim Rector
|
|
Stewardship Season wraps up THIS Sunday, and St. Aidan's is counting on your support for the work God gives us to do in 2021. If you have not already sent in your pledge card, why not take a minute to do so right now -- or make it easy on yourself and click the box below to make your pledge online - no need to find a pen and a stamp! We will celebrate the blessing of pledges on November 1, All Saints Day as we remember we are ONE TOGETHER.
|
|
SIGN UP GENIUS LINKS
This Sunday, we will hold two services. Our weekly Online service
will still happen at 9:30 via Zoom followed by a short Coffee Hour.
We will also have our Outdoor Service (weather permitting) held at
11:00 am on the front lawn of the grounds.
Please note: to attend the Outdoor Service we ask that you add your name to the Sign Up Genius HERE. We need to keep track of who will be attending. If you sign up and then your plans change please go back into Sign Up Genius and change your status so another parishioner can fill your spot. Thank you.
|
|
Children and Youth Formation |
|
Children and Families
Family Prayer Service: Moved to 10:00am on Sundays, beginning Nov 8. A short prayer service for families of preschool and elementary age children. Come as you are (no sign up required) and bring your own blanket for the lawn and shaker for music!
EYC
HALLOWEEN BONFIRE this Fri, October 30, 6-8pm (Combined Middle School and High School event.) BYO s'mores ingredients; prizes for best costumes!
SECOND SUNDAYS: EYC Game Nights.
Next Second Sunday event is November 8. Watch for an email to families with an updated time to account for DST and cooler weather!
FOURTH SUNDAYS: *Zoom EYC.
Next Fourth Sunday event is November 22.
Middle School/Grade 6-8: 6:00-6:45 and High School/Grade 9-12: 6:45-7:30
All events are outdoors on St. Aidan's lawn; masks and physical distancing
required at all times; bathrooms available for emergency use only.
Occasional volunteers needed!
*Detailed information, including zoom links, are sent in a separate monthly email to families and texted to youth. If you or your student are not included and wish to be, contact Rebecca Troutman: rbtroutman@gmail.com; or (303) 523-5060
|
|
Adult Formation
We meet on Wednesday, at 7:30 p.m., and we will continue our discussion of Christian hospitality, using Chapter 8 of the book Making Room, by Christine Pohl.
If you have questions please contact Rev. Rosemary or Ted Renaud.
Drop-ins are welcome!
Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 876 0541 0530
Passcode: welcome
|
|
COME, YE THANKFUL PEOPLE, COME |
|
In about a month, we will be celebrating Thanksgiving. True, it will look and feel different from past Thanksgivings, but at its core, it is still a reminder to pause, honor God’s bounty of nature and nourishment, and gather with family and friends.
It’s true that our gatherings will look different this year (more on Zoom or FaceTime and less in person), and so will our liturgical celebration of Thanksgiving.
On Thanksgiving Eve (time to be determined), we will offer an online service of Hymns and Graces – a simple, 20 to 30 minute event modeled on the Festival of Lessons and Carols that many churches do at Advent or Christmas. After an introductory prayer, one family or household would offer a short table grace, then we will sing a verse or two of a Thanksgiving hymn, and so on, alternating graces from different households and hymns until we close with a final blessing.
This is where YOU come in! Would you and/or your household like to read one of the graces? (I have a collection from many different cultures in case you need ideas.} Please contact me if you would like to participate. This is our opportunity to be together-while-apart as we raise our voices in thanks to God, from whom all blessings come. Please let me or Eileen know if you want to be part of our first Festival of Hymns and Graces on November 25!
Faithfully,
Rosemary+
|
|
Upcoming Election & a
Novena for the Election
|
|
Forward Movement and The Episcopal Church Office of Government Relations are calling Episcopalians and all others to join in
A Season of Prayer: For an Election.
Join us October 27-November 4.
Almighty God, to whom we must account for all our powers
and privileges: Guide the people of the United States (or of
this community) in the election of officials and representatives;
that, by faithful administration and wise laws, the rights of
all may be protected and our nation be enabled to fulfill your
purposes; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
A very important election is approaching this November 3rd. You can see Presiding Bishop Michael Curry's comment below. For more information on voting, you can visit one of the these sites -
|
|
The Women's Reading Circle
|
|
|
|
The Women's Reading Circle at St. Aidan's meets every Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. via Zoom.
Currently 12 members are discussing "How To Find Love in a Book Shop".
We read a variety of books: faith building, contemporary topics, and good fiction.
If you want to join us, call Peggy Trumbo with questions at 703-780-4098
|
|
|
|
Helping Those in Need
For the rest of this month, please consider participating in the Red Bag collection. For information, including instructions on how to get a Red Bag, a schedule of pickups from your home, and a list of food that is needed, please visit
The next Red Bag collection in our area is November 7.
We also encourage you to donate directly to local food ministries:
United Community is at 7511 Fordson Rd &
Rising Hope is at 8220 Russell Rd (across from Aldi on Route One & Russell Rd)
Thank YOU for your hospitality to our neighbors.
|
|
Center for Spiritual Deepening |
|
The Enneagram and Spiritual Transformation:
An Introduction
Marilyn Finch Williams, LCSW, ETNT
October 19 & 26 and November 2
7:30 - 9:00 pm on Zoom
The Enneagram, rooted in ancient Christian and Islamic mysticism, is a powerful transformational tool for helping us access our “Christ Consciousness.” In a compassionate and non-judgmental way, it illuminates 9 universal ego strategies that are at the heart of our repeating unhealthy patterns but that also contain our natural gifts. With uncanny accuracy, the Enneagram awakens us to our unconscious motivations (shadow), and helps us improve our inter-personal relationships. In this introductory series, Marilyn will introduce the Enneagram system and how it can be used, as well as assisting us in beginning the process of “typing” ourselves through storytelling and group sharing. This beginning course sets the stage for continued spiritual discovery.
Marilyn Finch Williams, LCSW, Psychotherapist, Neurofeedback Practitioner and Founder of the MEDIAN Center for Resilience and Brain Training, has been a Certified Enneagram Teacher in the Narrative Tradition since 1994. She has studied extensively with Helen Palmer, David Daniels, MD and Richard Rohr, OFM, among others. Marilyn has supervised countless Enneagram students and is a sought-after teacher and trainer. She has been an Individual and Family Therapist for 35 years.
For those who are interested, here are some recommended readings on the Enneagram:
Beatrice Chestnut, The Complete Enneagram:27 Paths to Greater Self- Knowledge
Ian Cron & Suzanne Stabile, The Road Back to You: An Enneagram Journey to Self-Discovery
Richard Rohr & Andreas Ebert, The Enneagram: A Christian Perspective
|
|
Shrine Mont Masks for sale |
|
Upgrade Your (Mask) Wardrobe: Shrine Mont masks have arrived and will be for sale at the Welcome table at Outdoor Service. The cost is $6.50 per mask and your checks should be filled out beforehand, made out to St Aidan’s and "mask" written in the memo line.
Thank you!
|
|
Thanks to all who support St. Aidan's in so many ways!
Your support makes so many good things happen
at St. Aidan's and beyond.
Received to date (as of 10.19) $ 177,163 (corrected figure)
Budgeted to date (as of 10.19) $ 211,240 (corrected figure)
Thanks for your support of this amazing community!
|
|
Service Links
If you are not receiving a separate mailing each week with links for worship gatherings and would like to be added to that list, simply reach out to the office and let us know. Those links are sent out on Saturday. staidansalexandria@gmail.com
|
|
 |
St. Aidan's has been serving the Stratford Landing area & beyond since 1963.
We worship virtually on Sunday at 9:30 am & every evening at 7pm. You are always welcome at St. Aidan's, wherever you may be on your faith journey.
Some Helpful Links:
|
|
|
|
The Center for Spiritual Deepening at St. Aidan's supports the soul and heart work of those seeking a deeper sense of God's presence in their lives. Check out the Center and its offerings Here.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
