WELCOME HOME!

Worship with us:

Sunday at 9:00 am in person and Live on Facebook

Saturday 5:30 pm, July 9 to August 27- 101st St. Beach Pavilion

Dear St. Mary's family and friends,

As our summer is nearing a close and fall is right around the corner, I just wanted to say Thank you for being a community reflective of God's grace and love in the world. It is making a difference.

As we strive to live a life of Christ, we are tending to the needs of our community, both our local neighbors as well as our neighbors, friends, staff, and volunteers in Rio Grande. We continue to seek and serve Christ in all people. This is visible in everyone we touch. Each who has walked through the doors of our church has expressed their satisfaction, joy, hope, and excitement for St. Mary's and our future. Because of you, WELCOME HOME has truly engaged the spirit as we journey together on the causeway of God's Love and Desire. Your hospitality and love is deeply felt.

I am always in awe of how far and wide our love and service are spreading. Not only are we working together united in Christ for God's glory, but also people of other denominations and faith traditions have come forward to assist, donate and share their support in our efforts for the community and beyond.

Good and faithful friends and family, you are amazing, keep up the good work, and Thank you once again!

Blessings in Christ,

Mo. Allison+

551-697-6133

___________________________________

*** Please read to the bottom to see ALL the Events and Activities happening through the Fall. ***

NAMI Family Support Group for Those With a Loved One With a Mental Illness

If you have a loved one with a mental illness, you’re not alone. The next NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Health) Atlantic/Cape May Family Support Group for adult family members and friends of a loved one with a mental health condition meets virtually via Zoom on Wednesday, August 24 from 7:00 to 8:30 pm.

The online meeting is confidential and free. Participants share and learn from each others’ experiences in a supportive environment. Visit namiacm.org, select the Support & Education tab, and click on Family Support Group for information and to register.

In a crisis, call the 988 Crisis and Suicide hotline or text “NAMI” to 741741 for free, confidential crisis counseling.

Christopher Florentz

NAMI Certified Family Support Group Facilitator and

Board Member, NAMI Atlantic/Cape May

namiacm.org 

610-357-4569 

cjfpr@yahoo.com

We are invited to participate in Safe Church Safe Communities Training at St. Barnabas By-the-Bay on Saturday, October 22, 2022.

This training is grounded in our call to seek and serve Christ in all persons and respect the dignity of every human being. It offers an opportunity to increase and enhance our ability to live out our Baptismal Covenant within our faith communities and in the world beyond.

It is offered to anyone who currently has oversight responsibilities for events, programs, or others engaged in ministry and ministerial roles

Please Register: https://tinyurl.com/SafeChurch10222022Villas

If you need a ride, please contact Mo. Allison

Lost Christianities: The Battles of Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew 

by Bart D. Ehrman, Matthew Kugler, et al.

The early Christian Church was a chaos of contending beliefs. Some groups of Christians claimed that there was not one God but two or twelve or thirty. Some believed that the world had not been created by God but by a lesser, ignorant deity. Certain sects maintained that Jesus was human but not divine, while others said he was divine but not human. In Lost Christianities, Bart D. Ehrman offers a fascinating look at these early forms of Christianity and shows how they came to be suppressed, reformed, or forgotten. All of these groups insisted that they upheld the teachings of Jesus and his apostles, and they all possessed writings that bore out their claims, books reputedly produced by Jesus's own followers. Modern archaeological work has recovered a number of key texts, and as Ehrman shows, these spectacular discoveries reveal religious diversity that says much about the ways in which history gets written by the winners.

Ehrman's discussion ranges from considerations of various "lost scriptures" - including forged gospels supposedly written by Simon Peter, Jesus's closest disciple, and Judas Thomas, Jesus's alleged twin brother - to the disparate beliefs of such groups as the Jewish-Christian Ebionites, the anti-Jewish Marcionites, and various "Gnostic" sects. Ehrman examines in depth the battles that raged between "proto-orthodox Christians" - those who eventually compiled the canonical books of the New Testament and standardized Christian belief - and the groups they denounced as heretics and ultimately overcame. Scrupulously researched and lucidly written, Lost Christianities is an eye-opening account of politics, power, and the clash of ideas among Christians in the decades before one group came to see its views prevail.

Available in Paperback, Hardcover, Kindle or Audiobook

Let's get together with an end of summer Parish Potluck to be held on Thursday, September 15th at 6 pm. A sign up sheet is posted on the parish hall bulletin board if you can volunteer to set up before and/or clean up after. Also please note what you plan to bring.

Hope to see you there!

Membership at St. Mary's consists of several different groups of "members." Some are Confirmed Communicant Members or who have transferred their membership by Letter of Transfer to St. Mary's. Some are Baptized into St. Mary’s or have requested that their names be entered in the Parish Register. Others are “members” by virtue of the fact that St. Mary’s is their church—the Christian community of which they are a part and where they worship regularly. Still, others are “summer members" or friends of St. Mary's. Many are part of St. Mary’s life, worship at St. Mary’s when in town, and support St. Mary’s financially. Canonically, they are not members in the legal sense, but they are every bit as much members of our parish family as those who are official members.

Please contact the church office if you would like to become a member of St. Mary's and be added to our data base.



We welcome you to join us!

Some ways to support St. Mary's

• Become a member

• The Sunday collection plate

• Send a check payable to St. Mary's to:

St. Mary's Church,

9425 Third Ave., Stone Harbor, NJ 08247

(Your envelope and number is not necessary, only your name.)

• Setting up a personal online banking "bill pay" option. The bank will mail the check for you to the church office.

• Online giving through our website at https://www.stmarysstoneharbor.org/

Please note: Offering envelopes have been discontinued. Only your name is needed in order for the counters to record your giving.

Vanessa Gumm, a new member of St. Mary's, and realtor at Sotheby's in NJ and FL, will donate 10% of her commission to St. Mary's for anyone who is a member or attends St. Mary's who refers her for a sale.

Sundays after worship (except on Vestry Sunday)- Adult Forum Book Study - Lost Christianities

• August 27th last beach service of the season

• September 3rd Branches Move into the NEW Building

• September 8th Clergy Day in Trenton

• September 15th Altar Guild Meeting: 5:40

• September 15th Parish Pot Luck: 6:00

• September 17th-23rd – Mo. Allison and Lisa will be on Vacation

• September 22nd - Blood Drive

• October 2nd The Feast of St Francis and the Blessing of the Animals

• October 6th-10th – Mo. Allison is away for the Bishop's Discernment Retreat

• October 20th- Branches Grand Opening Celebration

• October 22nd- Safe Church Training

• October 29th – Fall Family Fun Day

• November (Date TBD) Thanksgiving service/breakfast

• November 25th-26th (Women’s Club Festival of Trees Donation)

• December 17th – Production of The Messiah (Details to come)

• December 21st – Blue Christmas

 Isaiah 58:9b-14

 Psalm 103:1-8

 Hebrews 12:18-29

Luke 13:10-17