This Week's Announcements |
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Our Schedule of Services:
Here is our schedule;
more information may be found by downloading the bulletin.
Sunday May 9:
8:30 am in person Eucharist
9:45 am Virtual Sunday School
10:30 am In person(also streamed virtually) Eucharist
11:30 am Online Coffee Fellowship
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Please use THIS LINK to be redirected to Signup Genius to reserve your seat(s) for our upcoming In-Person Eucharist Services(If you see available seats the evening before a service, please feel free to fill in)
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For detailed information about our return to worship and guidelines that we are following, please CLICK HERE. |
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Website Updates:
Over the past year, we’ve used the parish website to communicate and coordinate much more of our regular weekly worship schedule. We are in the process of giving the website a “face lift” so that the home page returns to being a cleaner “front door” for visitors and newer members, while a single button and link take us to a page with all of the information for worship signups and the weekly bulletin. We hope everything will still be very clear and simple, but please reach out to Director of Ministries Kate Kielion if you have questions or need help finding something!
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Vestry Notes will begin to be included in our announcements the week following Vestry meetings. (Full minutes are always available on-request from Fr Ben or our Vestry Clerk, currently Hondo Gallegos)
At their April Vestry meeting, the Vestry
- Approved usual reports from the Finance Committee
and Junior Warden
o Junior Warden report includes re-convening the
Building and Grounds Committee to review and
plan for various garden and building needs
through construction
- Approved the specific terms of the revolving loan
fund (with the Diocese of Nebraska) portion of our
capital campaign financing.
- Reviewed Rebecca Smith’s timeline for potential
ordination to the diaconate
- Approved a plan from consultant Darryl Prater for
our next Capital Campaign steps
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Special Pentecost Celebration –
Sunday, May 23rd, 10:30 am
Bring your lawn chair for church on the lawn! Facebook Live stream available as well by clicking HERE.
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On Pentecost Sunday, we’ll have a special combined worship service for our whole church community at 10:30 am. We will gather for a communion service on the front lawn at 10:30, with a brief time of coffee and pastry fellowship after the service. Pentecost is a celebration sometimes called the “birthday of the Church” because of the presence of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles, and this year will be a chance for us to celebrate our church home at St Augustine’s. This service will also include a chance to offer a prayer over Fourth Year pledges to our capital campaign (see separate announcements over the coming weeks). We will be keeping masks on for the service and encouraging them after when not enjoying coffee and pastries.
We will have Sunday School beginning at 10:25 in person that day, and refreshments available after service.
There will be NO 8:30 AM service on May 23 due to our special outdoor service.
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– Helpers needed!
As part of setting up for this service, Joe and Ali Threlkeld and Angie Gallegos could use help with moving some sound elements, wires, and altar pieces. They have been doing this work within a family “bubble” over the past year for our outdoor services, but are willing to accept help from anyone vaccinated. The setup begins at 8:30 am and the pack-up will take place after the service concludes.
Schedule for Pentecost Sunday:
8:30 am Volunteers gather to help with setup for music and worship
10:30 am Church service with Ingathering of Fourth Year pledges
11:30 am Coffee fellowship on the lawn
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Featuring individual 5k/10k,1/2 Marathon
There are also kids distances of .3 miles and .6 miles and a one mile that the entire family can walk or run.
Date: Saturday Sept. 4th, 2021
Location: Skyline Ranches Park - Omaha, NE Start
Times: 8:00 am - 1/2 Marathon & 10k,
8:10 am - 5k,
10:00 am Kids Run and Family Walk
For more information, or to register, use THIS LINK
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The Skyline Ranches Cross Country Run
Registration is now open for this a cross-country run/walk on the beautiful, private horse trails of the Skyline Ranches neighborhood just south of Elkhorn NE!
After taking last year off due to COVID, we are excited to return to the beautiful Skyline park and trails. This run has had many changes over the years, but some things have stayed the same... including - the course always getting harder, the original mission to raise money to give back to the community. Since 2012 there have been 1300 participants who have helped raise over $25,000.
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Sunday School Youth (Pre-K through 5th grade)
Sunday School has been meeting every week via Zoom. We will be switching to half Zoom/half in-person after Easter to test out a new Sunday School time. With services switching to 8:30 & 10:30 AM, we are left with a great time in-between service to have Sunday School so that children from both services can join, and teachers can attend an entire service! Sunday School in person will be held from 9:45-10:20 AM.
The Dates for the rest of the year will rotate in person and Zoom Bi-Weekly
May 2: 9:45 AM Outside(wp)
May 9: 9:30 AM via Zoom
May 16: 9:45 AM Outside(wp)
May 23: 10:25 AM Outside during Pentecost Service
After May 23, we will be holding a monthly in person Kid Kraft Day during Summer Break, dates TBD.
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Youth Group (6-12th Grade)
Going forward, we plan on meeting up until Summer break at the Fire Pit(Weather Permitting) Our Final Wednesday will be May 26th, we will be inviting current 5th Graders(who will be in 6th next year) to join us. We will be having our annual ice cream competition, as well as celebrating our graduating Senior, Mayme Cudly.
If weather is bad, we will move inside to the sanctuary.
This fall, after summer break, our hope is to hold an in person Youth Group Bible Study Class on Sundays in between service times.
With services switching to 8:30 & 10:30 AM, we are left with a great time in-between service to have Youth Group so that kids from both services can join, and teachers can attend an entire service! This will be held from 9:35-10:20 AM.
Another bonus with this model, is that it leaves our Youth with Wednesday night for outreach, speakers, and other opportunities for bonding and fun!
We are also planning on a Confirmation Class next Year. If this is something that you are interested in for your child, please contact Kate
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Please prayerfully consider volunteering to teach or assist next year. The "job description" is below:
Get to know the youths’ names, interests, and activities; respect what they have to share.
Participate in the games, activities, or discussions.
Display a positive attitude (or fake it!).
Encourage spiritual growth.
Praise positive behaviors.
Lead by example.
Have fun!
Recommended skills: Sense of humor, Flexibility, Patience, An open mind, Listening, Talking/Sharing, Creativity, Ability to act immature but still be responsible
Optional Skills: Dance Experience, Singing Ability, Guitar Strumming, Harmonica Blowing, Tambourine Shaking, Toe Tapping!
To either confirm your previous role, or volunteer for a new role ministering to our youth, please contact Kate or fill out the volunteer form here, https://forms.gle/dxbPWMYcVznVS42Y9 We would love to have you join this amazing team of people!
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*These are mock up photos, actual building and garden space may look different once project is complete |
Capital Campaign Pledge Update
We continue gathering gifts and pledges for our Capital Campaign. To date we have received 86 pledge cards representing $1,233,375.00 in three year pledges and parish commitments. Please know that every gift and pledge will help us address our space issues at St. Augustine.
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Capital Campaign Update for May 6th, 2021
This has been a pretty “workhorse” week around St A’s. Lots of drywall going up, some wiring being reviewed and confirmed, concrete tests of the pour on the parking lot, and some planned small pours on the East side (back of the church). The leech field for the septic system has been buried.
We’re waiting for some recommendations on correct plants for the rain garden feature (the new water-management area to the north of the parking lot), and a bid for the sod and sprinkler work has come in very slightly under budget (which is great).
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We also know that our front sidewalk, which has a slight buckle, will be replaced in the course of construction, with a new sidewalk running directly west of our Narthex (entryway) door to connect to the front-in parking area. This will widen our parking lot slightly (to the south of its current location) and we’ll lose a bit of grass space, but this will allow us to meet code, and meanwhile make our sidewalks fully safe by eliminating a 1-2” trip hazard that has developed over the past several years.
In news related to construction, Grant Suhr as our new Junior Warden this year has re-established the parish Building and Grounds Committee. This group had been somewhat sidelined by all of the construction questions and prompts, and as we re-emerge from construction, it will begin meeting regularly again, reviewing everything from lawn mowing to garden workdays to the filter schedule for our new building. This group will begin handling the regular awareness of our building needs.
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Capital Campaign Q&A Session May 16th, 1:30 pm
On Sunday, May 16th, at 1:30 pm, we will have a brief presentation about our progress, our current schedule, and the Fourth Year of our campaign. A zoom link will be included in next week’s e-mail and announcements. This will be a great opportunity to learn more about some of our nuts and bolts, and to bring any questions about what comes next in our planning!
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Friday, May 7
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8:00 AM -Men's Bible Study via Zoom CLICK HERE
- Meeting ID: 725 959 1126
Sunday, May 9
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10:30 AM -Eucharist in person & via Facebook Live CLICK HERE
Monday, May 10
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10:00 AM -The Order of the Daughters of the King prayer and bible study (Contact Pam for Zoom Link)
Tuesday, May 11
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6:30 PM -EFM (Contact Jack for Zoom Link)
Wednesday, May 12
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Thursday, May 6, 2021
Light from Light
One of the phrases that most captures my attention and imagination in our liturgy comes in the Nicene Creed’s description of Jesus: “God from God, light from light, true God from true God.”
There’s a really nuanced history and theology to how those words wind up in the Creed, and why the early Church felt like this was one of the most important, fundamental things to have communities of Christians declare together about Jesus in worship and prayer on a regular basis, and I’m happy to tell people more about that, sometime.
But what I love the most about it is that I understood it as a child. Oh, not that whole long history, no. But I understood Jesus was light, from light. That Jesus was God, just as God is God. And that third piece – true God – always seemed to me to answer the question I was afraid to ask: in the face of so much doubt or scorn from the world, do I really dare to trust and believe?
The origins of this phrase come from the idea that Jesus and God are the same – that early Christians were not, as some of their contemporaries believed, polytheists, but rather that Jesus is wholly God, among us, and that by knowing Jesus we can know God. Or, as Jesus often put it when teaching his followers (say, in John 14, as an example).
But beyond the sameness that we come to understand by remembering the Creed so often, the image of light itself is a really powerful one. There were other options – Hippolytus of Rome, who was one of the early Church scholars who used the term “light from light,” also wrote that Jesus was from God as “water from a fountain” or “a ray from the sun.”
But “light from light” has so many layers to it. Light is beautiful. Light surrounds us. By light we come to know the world around us (or, to quote CS Lewis: “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the Sun has risen, not only because I see it but because by it, I see everything else,” ~ The Weight of Glory).
All my life, I’ve understood Jesus as “light” for me in some ways. Something that is present, covering everything and helping it make sense, even if I’m not always – or even often – thinking about how fundamental it is in helping me be aware of the world around me, orient myself in it, and make sense of it. And I really do trust that this is “light from light” from God’s own being: that by navigating my life by the light of Christ, I am navigating the world as God hopes I will (at least, when I get it right, or mostly right).
I also love the idea that light is like grace: we can feel it and it opens our eyes to the world, but it’s an awfully difficult thing to pin down and describe to others, even with, say, advanced physics or systematic theology. But most of us can feel it in our everyday life, just by who we are and how we’re made.
Here’s to a bit more light in our world, then, and may it be the light from light that shows us who God is, and who we are meant to be. And hopefully that little phrase can help be a reminder to you, too, that the Creed is more than simply the ancient theology of the Church, but is also a reminder that what is to be found and seen in Jesus is something beautiful and bright for us.
Ben
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St. Augustine of Canterbury Episcopal Church
285 S 208th Street
Elkhorn, NE 68022
402-289-4058
Church Communication and Announcements
Those of you who need to share information with the parish, please be sure to send it to parish@sainta.net as well as ministries@sainta.net Jay and Kate will need to have this information by Wednesday at 10:00 am to be included in that week's communication for bulletin and newsletter. We appreciate your support.
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