you can mail in your pledge, give online, or text GIVE to (850) 403-6673.

Sunday 10:30 AM service streamed on Facebook Live or YouTube 

Click here to listen to last week's sermon.

A hybrid class that will meet in the Parlor and on Zoom (Passcode: 331820). This class explores the history, imagery, theology and significance of different phrases found in our Sunday Eucharist worship service.

As Fr. Michael has discussed, we are all excited to be making a return towards normal worship services. With that in mind, please take a look at the link here that details some of the ways to serve in helping with those services. If you are interested in any of these ministries, please sign up and we will follow up with more details!

Montclair has asked for backpacks for all of their students. They will need them by August 7th, so we will not have time to put together a drive. If you would like to financially support this effort, you can donate online (select 'Outreach' from drop down menu) or via check and write Montclair in the memo.

Our neighbors without homes are in great need of toiletries, including bars of soap, shampoo, deodorant, toothbrush, toothpaste, disposable razors, hand sanitizer, wash clothes, socks, and hand cream. Please click here for more information on how to help.

As Fr. Michael has discussed, we are all excited to be making a return towards normal worship services. With that in mind, please take a look at the link here that details some of the ways to serve in helping with those services. If you are interested in any of these ministries, please sign up and we will follow up with more details!

Christ Church has had an incredible response for this year’s Vacation Bible School, Discovery on Adventure Island. Over 70 children and 25 volunteers have registered for VBS so far. After much discussion, we have made the difficult decision to postpone this year’s VBS given the rise of COVID-19 in our area.

 

The rise of the Delta variant of COVID-19 in our community, particularly the increase in infections among the unvaccinated and children (all of whom under the age of 12 are unvaccinated), has led to this shift. While we believe that we could provide a relatively safe VBS experience, we believe that at this moment we need to prioritize the start of the school year.

 

We intentionally scheduled VBS for the beginning of August as a way to come together before school began, helping to transition from family vacations and camps over summer, and with the idea that COVID cases would continue to decline over the summer. Given the increased COVID numbers and the fact that VBS is a week before school starts, there is a high likelihood that gathering the amount of children we have from 8 different schools together could inadvertently endanger a healthy, strong start to the school year. The timing and current conditions in the area create a high chance a child could contract COVID, start school, and have further rippling effects of class quarantines or spreading to other children and families.

 

Since we feel so strongly about supporting a strong, healthy start to the school year, we are making the sacrifice of moving VBS to a three-day weekend or some other school break.

 

Thank you for your excitement and putting us on your calendar! VBS is what we look forward to every summer. We hope that when we can reschedule, you will join us then. With the same excitement and preparation we had for Vacation Bible School, we turn our focus to our fall programming with options for children in preschool through 5th grade. You are invited to join us every Sunday morning for worship and Children's Chapel and especially when Sunday School resumes September 12th.

 

Should you have any questions, feel free to contact me - Victoria, Director of Children Ministries - at victoria@christ-church.net.

Montclair has asked for backpacks for all of their students. They will need them by August 7th, so we will not have time to put together a drive. If you would like to financially support this effort, you can donate online (select 'Outreach' from drop down menu) or via check and write Montclair in the memo.

NEW CHRISTIAN EDUCATION OFFERING BEGINNING AUGUST 1

A hybrid class that will meet in the Parlor and on Zoom (Passcode: 331820) at 9:30 AM beginning Sunday, August 1. This class explores the history, imagery, theology and significance of different phrases found in our Sunday Eucharist worship service.

The first day of school is just around the corner! Christ Church wants to help your family start this year off right with our annual Blessing of the Backpacks on Sunday, August 15. Families are invited to worship at the 10:30 AM service (Children's Chapel is offered during this service for littles through 5th grade). Following the service at 11:30 AM in the courtyard, Fr. Michael and Rev. Katie will bless the backpacks, our students, and wonderful teachers. Children & Family Ministry will have a special surprise for our students — of all ages!

We are continuing to have Children’s Chapel during the summer months. Each week we will have a lesson, refreshments, and a creative activity of some type. You may drop your children off at the entrance to the Parish Hall and pick them up there after the 10:30 service. The Chronicle will have information if this changes.

The Epic Book Club is meeting again in person! We meet on the first Wednesday of the month at 3:00 PM in the Parlor. The August book discussion will be This is Happiness by Niall Williams. Please click here to be added to the email list for updates, and/or join our Facebook group (EPIC Bookclub of Christ Episcopal Church).

For over 20 years, the life and martyrdom of Jonathan Myrick Daniels has been remembered through an annual pilgrimage to Hayneville, AL. Due to ongoing pandemic precautions, the 2021 event will be a virtual celebration of Daniel's life and work. The celebration will be streamed on the Diocese of Alabama's website and social media. To learn how to view the broadcast, visit the website shown above. More information is available here.

Each week our worship service is enhanced with beautiful fresh flowers. After the Sunday services, the altar flower arrangements are reworked into smaller arrangements. These arrangements are delivered to members of our parish family that are unable to attend a Sunday service. The altar flowers are a memorial, a thanksgiving for an anniversary, a birthday, a new birth, or a thanksgiving for God's blessings. The donation is listed in the weekly bulletin. Forms to participate in this ministry are available here and on the information table in the Parish Office.

Christ Church is here for you. There are many ministries to love and support the people who are the church. We continue to support one another, especially during this pandemic. If you are interested in assisting with staying connected to our church family, please email Rev. Katie or call her at the Parish Office, 850-432-5115. It is easy to feel alone or disconnected right now, so reach out to one of the priests or someone at the church to say hello. Contact Rev. Katie if you or anyone you know has any needs. If you have a pastoral emergency, please call our pastoral care emergency line to speak directly with one of the priests: (850) 462-5137.

We would like to give thanks for these special days and to add your name to the published prayer list in the Chronicle. Please print your name on the calendar on the information table in the Parish Office foyer. The calendar is checked weekly before the prayer list goes to print.

I. For Those in Need. Including the poor, the unemployed, the lonely, the hungry, the homeless, the abused, the sick and dying, and those who grieve. For those suffering in body, mind, or spirit—including Members: Jane Dickerson, Dick Pace, Leonora Edwards, Nancy Stafford, Bruce & Meg Melvin, Laura Wolfersperger, Dee Whisenhunt Family & Friends: Bobby, Bonnie, Jane, Janice, Maja, Shelly Parker, Greg Taylor, Emily Sampson, Rob Wilmer, Kelly, Trisha Bothwell, Nicole Keating. 

II. For Those in the Armed Forces, especially—Erik Barton, Stewart Bova, Danica Roark Domokos, Sam Gaston, Robert Geiger, William Harper, Harry B. Harris, Benjamin Jensen, Joshua Justin, Art Lantigua, Hillary Leonard, Ben Mathis, Kathryn Martin, Sean McAbee, Julie McGill, Kyle Roberson, Peter Shelton, Evan Valdyke, Wesley Valdyke; and all those who serve this nation in harm’s way.

III. For All who have Died. May their souls and the souls of all the departed rest in peace.

IV. In Thanksgiving. For those in our parish celebrating birthdays—Aaron Carr, Gregory Smith, William Smith, Joan White—and anniversaries.

To submit a prayer request, email prayer-request@christ-church.net and let us know if this is for the public prayer list or for our confidential intercessory prayer list. You may also fill out the prayer request form online at our website (found on the Pastoral Care page under “Ministries”). All published prayer requests on this list also go on the confidential intercessory prayer list. Please note that names remain on the prayer list for 4 weeks and on our confidential intercessory prayer list until you ask to be removed. Please resubmit your request if you or a loved one needs to remain on the list. This helps keep our prayers current. Names in bold print indicate new additions to the prayer list.

We welcome

and Dan & Cindy Corritore

We wish Godspeed to