9 Sep 2023

Children’s Ministries 2023-24

by | posted in: Children's Ministries | 0

Greetings St.Thomas’s Community,

Children Come to MeThe first days of September 2023 mean “back to school” for many of us. At St. Thomas’s it means the start of the program year for Children’s Ministries. Our Sunday School team has planned a great year for our children and families, and I encourage everyone with children in grades kindergarten to 6th grade to register for this year’s program AND that you invite others to join us. (7th graders may join under special circumstances. Please contact Belinda.) 

Our Sunday School program kicks off on September 10, 2023 at 10:00 a.m. with registration, refreshments, and a parent meeting. Then Ms. Belinda will lead our first lesson at 10:30 a.m.  We also have some extra events planned throughout the year.  I have attached some information about our program and a calendar of already planned activities to this email. Paper copies of this information are also available at church or I can mail it to you.  Please let me know what if you have questions or need additional information.  I would love to share in this ministry with you. I can be reached at belmar43@aol.com.

In order to make it the best year ever, our ministry team needs more adults and post-confirmation teens to volunteer to help us. We have several roles to fill. You could volunteer to help on a regular basis, an occasional basis or just for an event. All are welcome.  Some of the roles include lead teacher, assistant teacher or classroom helper, event organizer, event helpers, family outing organizer, and Children’s Ministry Committee member.  Please let me know what interests you and what you are willing and able to do.  I would love to share in this ministry with you. I can be reached at belmar43@aol.com.

Please complete a registration form for your child who is in kindergarten to 6th grade for our Children’s Ministry program. This form will provide us with contact information and allow us to plan for the needs of your children.  Paper copies will be available on September 10 at church and in our classroom every week.

Please sign up to be a Leader or Assistant leader for Sunday School.

I look forward to seeing all of you soon! 

Blessings, Belinda Young-Payne

8 Sep 2023

Worship and weekly news for September 10, 2023

by | posted in: News, Worship | 0

Hello faith family! This is the Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost – September 10, 2023. This week we celebrate Alexander Crummell was an American minister and academic. Ordained as an Episcopal priest in the United States, Crummell went to England in the late 1840s to raise money for his church by lecturing about American slavery. Abolitionists supported his three years of study at Cambridge University, where Crummell developed concepts of pan-Africanism and was the school’s first recorded Black student and graduate.

Weekly News

See our Carpenter’s Helper Newsletter. And, see info on our Stepping Up Together Campaign August Update.

There is quite a bit of news coming up as we roll into the fall. Watch for details about all of the EXCITEMENT headed our way!

Our fast approaching Health Fair TOMORROW
Children’s Ministries update
Blue Hen Bounty food pantry requests
Our booth at Newark Community Days next week
Poets’ Corner resumes next week
Adult Education resumes! Check out the schedule for this year.

Our weekly Worship schedule

Fifteenth Sunday after PentecostThis Sunday’s Schedule

Growth and Fellowship

  • 1st Sunday of the month – Gospel in Spanish
  • Last Sunday of the month – Family Church Sunday
  • Last Sunday of the month – Coffee and Fellowship between services. Resumes in September.
  • Third Sundays at 9:15 a.m. – Novel Theology. Resumes September 17, 2023
  • 3rd Monday of the month – Hope Dining Room.
  • Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m. – lectionary bible study in the classroom.

Other Parish Events

The church is aware that some of its members are struggling to make ends meet. If you are in this situation, please let the clergy know of your needs, pray for the church, and feel no guilt about your giving. But if you are able to give, options for giving include mailing a check to our church or online giving.

If you have anything to add to the Parish calendar or the Carpenter’s Helper newsletter, please email the office at StThomassOffice@googlegroups.com.

To see worship, events or news, see our website, FaceBook, InstaGram, YouTube, or the posted events on the board next to the name tag station. Recent Newsletters, Sermons, or Announcements are also available.

Regardless of whether we are together in-person or virtually, we are connected by the Holy Spirit:  Always together; never apart…maybe in distance, but never in heart.

Kind Regards,
Cana Hartman, Parish Administrator
StThomassOffice@googlegroups.com or (302) 368-4644

8 Sep 2023

Poets’ Corner Reading Series September 2023

by | posted in: Events, News | 0

Poets’ Corner Reading Series presents Jamie Brown reading the poetry of his favorite poets on Saturday, September 16, 2023, at 4:30 p.m. at St. Thomas’s Episcopal Church, 276 S. College Ave., Newark, DE. See the flyer.

James C. L. Brown is CEO of Broadkill Publishing Associates, which publishes chapbooks under the Broadkill Press imprint, and full-length collections of fiction and poetry under the Broadkill River Press imprint.

He is the Founder, and former Publisher and Editor, of The Broadkill Review. He is Founder and was, for the first decade, Director of the Annual John Milton Memorial Celebration of Poets and Poetry and he was, for the first nine years of the Prize, Director of the Dogfish Head Poetry Prize, which was then an annual chapbook manuscript competition open to Delmarva Poets.

He has taught at George Washington University, Georgetown University, University of Delaware and Wesley College. He taught the first Creative Writing Workshop to be offered at the Smithsonian Institution and has served as a member of the Poetry Committee of the Folger Shakespeare Library. The list of his poetry publications is long. He’s been an important and generous force in the Delaware and Eastern shore literary scenes for decades.

This event is co-sponsored by St. Thomas’s Parish and the University of Delaware Department of English.

Open to the public.

8 Sep 2023

Children’s Ministries activities begin

by | posted in: Children's Ministries, News | 0

Children Come to MeHello Church,

Just a reminder:  St .Thomas’s Children’s Ministries activities begin this Sunday, September 10, 2023, with snacks, registration, and a parent meeting at 10:00 a.m. in the St. Thomas’s Undercroft.  After the parent meeting, we will have a shortened Sunday School session for our first day of Sunday School. We would love to have your children or you join us as participant or leader.

I will more details about our plans for this year!

Blessings,

Belinda Young-Payne

8 Sep 2023

Newark Community Day Volunteers Needed

by | posted in: News, Outreach | 0

Newark Community DaySunday, September 17, 2023, is our town’s annual Newark Community Day. And, because we love participating in our community, St. Thomas’s will once again have a booth. This year, we will have a double-sized booth, and our neighbors from St. Nicholas will be joining us.

Please, please consider signing up to help out. There will be an awesome t-shirt for all of our volunteers…and it is always a great time seeing our friends and neighbors out on the green.

If you are attending the event, but not working the booth, please stop by and give our volunteers a high five and some encouragement!

Kind Regards,
Cana Hartman, Parish Administrator
StThomassOffice@googlegroups.com or (302) 368-4644

1 Sep 2023

Adult Education for 2023-24

by | posted in: Adult Education | 0

The Christian life is an adventure. As we go through our lives, there is always something new to learn, something new to discover. This year we will continue to explore our roots, who we are now, and the places where our faith and the world intersect.

Whenever possible, we will offer all our programs in person and virtually. Please make plans to attend in whatever format best fits your circumstances.

See our brochure for Offerings for the 2023-2024 Christian Education Season.

1 Sep 2023

Novel Theology for 2023-24

by | posted in: Adult Education | 0

Novel TheologyNovel Theology is a lively discussion group. Meetings are held the third Sunday of the month from September through May at 9:15 a.m. in the Great Hall Classroom. There will be coffee, snacks, fellowship, and conversation!

September 17, 2023 – A Place Called Hope, by Philip Gulley
October 15, 2023 – News of the World, by Paulette Jiles
November 19, 2023 – – Boys in the Boat, by Daniel James Brown
December 17, 2023 – The Twelve Days of Christmas, by James Patterson and Tad Safran
January 21, 2024 – Aunt Dimity and the Enchanted Cottage, by Nancy Atherton
February 18, 2024 – – A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles
March 17, 2024 – – Murder in an English Village, by Jessica Ellicot
April 21, 2-24 – The Falconer’s Quest, by T Davis Bunn and Isabella Bunn

30 Aug 2023

Worship and weekly news for September 3, 2023

by | posted in: News, Worship | 0

Fourteenth Sunday after PentecostHello faith family! This is the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost – September 3, 2023.

This week we celebrate David Pendleton Oakerhater: also known as O-kuh-ha-tuh and Making Medicine, was a Cheyenne warrior and spiritual leader. He later became an artist and Episcopal deacon. In 1985, Oakerhater was the first Native American Anglican to be designated by the Episcopal Church as a saint. Captured in the Indian Wars and imprisoned in 1875 at Fort Marion (now Castillo de San Marcos), Florida, Oakerhater became one of the founding figures of modern Native American art. Later he attended college in New York State and was ordained as a deacon in the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. He returned to the West where he served as a missionary in Oklahoma, serving Native Americans.

Weekly News

See our Carpenter’s Helper Newsletter. And, see info on our Stepping Up Together Campaign August Update.

There is quite a bit of news coming up as we roll into the fall. Watch for details about all of the EXCITEMENT headed our way!

Outdoor Worship on September 3, 2023
Our fast approaching Health Fair
Blue Hen Bounty food pantry requests
Adult Education resumes next week! Check out the schedule for this year.
Novel Theology meets on the 3rd Sunday each month.

Our weekly Worship schedule

Outdoor Worship Sep. 3This Sunday’s Schedule

Today we will enjoy musical guests: THE CAPITOL BRASS (founded 1985 by Donald Baunschbach, Dover, DE) is delighted to return to St. Thomas’s Episcopal Church for this festive event. They recall several uplifting collaborations here for services in the early 2000s. Current members serve on faculties at UD, DE State U, West Chester U (PA) and area orchestras. Please welcome Patrick Hoffman and Will Gregory, trumpets; Heidi Lucas, horn; Frank Gazda, trombone; and Jonathan Fowler, tuba.

Growth and Fellowship

  • Tuesdays at 10:00 a.m. – 2 Saint Readers
  • 1st Sunday of the month – Gospel in Spanish
  • Last Sunday of the month – Family Church Sunday
  • Last Sunday of the month – Coffee and Fellowship between services. Resumes in September.
  • Third Sundays at 9:15 a.m. – Novel Theology. Resumes September 17, 2023
  • 3rd Monday of the month – Hope Dining Room.
  • Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m. – lectionary bible study in the classroom.
  • Sundays at 10:15 a.m. – Children’s Ministries program. Program suspended during summer and resumes Sep. 10, 2023.
  • Sundays at 9:15 a.m. – adult education. Resumes Sep. 10, 2023.
  • Sundays at 10:15 a.m. – Children’s Ministries. Resumes in September.

Other Parish Events

  • Sat., Sep. 9, 2023 – St. Thomas’s Health Fair
  • Sun., Sep. 17, 2023 – Newark Community Day. We will have a booth.
  • Sun., Oct. 8, 2023 – Blessing of the Animals
  • Tue., Oct. 31, 2023 – candles in the cemetery
  • Sat., Nov. 4, 2023 – All Souls special service

The church is aware that some of its members are struggling to make ends meet. If you are in this situation, please let the clergy know of your needs, pray for the church, and feel no guilt about your giving. But if you are able to give, options for giving include mailing a check to our church or online giving.

If you have anything to add to the Parish calendar or the Carpenter’s Helper newsletter, please email the office at StThomassOffice@googlegroups.com.

To see worship, events or news, see our website, FaceBook, InstaGram, YouTube, or the posted events on the board next to the name tag station. Recent Newsletters, Sermons, or Announcements are also available.

Regardless of whether we are together in-person or virtually, we are connected by the Holy Spirit:  Always together; never apart…maybe in distance, but never in heart.

Kind Regards,
Cana Hartman, Parish Administrator
StThomassOffice@googlegroups.com or (302) 368-4644

23 Aug 2023

Worship and weekly news for August 27, 2023

by | posted in: News, Worship | 0

Hello faith family! This is the Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost – August 27, 2023. This week we celebrate John the Baptist: s revered as a major religious figure in Christianity, Islam, the Baháʼí faith, the Druze faith, and Mandaeism, the latter in which he is considered to be the final and most vital prophet. He is considered to be a prophet of God by all of the aforementioned faiths and is honored as a saint in many Christian denominations. According to the New Testament, John anticipated a messianic figure greater than himself, and the Gospels portray John as the precursor or forerunner of Jesus. Jesus himself identifies John as “Elijah who is to come”, which is a direct reference to the Book of Malachi (Malachi 4:5).

Weekly News

See our Carpenter’s Helper Newsletter. And, see info on our Stepping Up Together Campaign August Update.

There is quite a bit of news coming up as we roll into the fall. Watch for details about all of the EXCITEMENT headed our way!

Outdoor Worship on September 3, 2023
Blue Hen Bounty food pantry requests
Our fast approaching Health Fair

Thirteenth Sunday after PentecostOur weekly Worship schedule

This Sunday’s Schedule

Growth and Fellowship

  • Tuesdays at 10:00 a.m. – 2 Saint Readers
  • 1st Sunday of the month – Gospel in Spanish
  • Last Sunday of the month – Family Church Sunday
  • Last Sunday of the month – Coffee and Fellowship between services. Resumes in September.
  • Third Sundays at 9:15 a.m. – Novel Theology. Resumes in September.
  • 3rd Monday of the month – Hope Dining Room. Volunteers needed for Mon., Aug. 21, 2023.
  • Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m. – lectionary bible study in the classroom.
  • Sundays at 10:15 a.m. – Children’s Ministries program. Program suspended during summer and resumes Sep. 10, 2023.
  • Sundays at 9:15 a.m. – adult education. Resumes Sep. 10, 2023.
  • Sundays at 10:15 a.m. – Children’s Ministries. Resumes in September.

Other Parish Events

  • Sun., Sep. 3, 2023 – outdoor worship
  • Sat., Sep. 9, 2023 – St. Thomas’s Health Fair
  • Sun., Sep. 17, 2023 – Newark Community Day. We will have a booth.
  • Sun., Oct. 8, 2023 – Blessing of the Animals
  • Tue., Oct. 31, 2023 – candles in the cemetery
  • Sat., Nov. 4, 2023 – All Souls special service

The church is aware that some of its members are struggling to make ends meet. If you are in this situation, please let the clergy know of your needs, pray for the church, and feel no guilt about your giving. But if you are able to give, options for giving include mailing a check to our church or online giving.

If you have anything to add to the Parish calendar or the Carpenter’s Helper newsletter, please email the office at StThomassOffice@googlegroups.com.

To see worship, events or news, see our website, FaceBook, InstaGram, YouTube, or the posted events on the board next to the name tag station. Recent Newsletters, Sermons, or Announcements are also available.

Regardless of whether we are together in-person or virtually, we are connected by the Holy Spirit:  Always together; never apart…maybe in distance, but never in heart.

Kind Regards,
Cana Hartman, Parish Administrator
StThomassOffice@googlegroups.com or (302) 368-4644

23 Aug 2023

Step Up Together 2023 Campaign August 2023 Update

by | posted in: Giving, News | 0

step up together campaignFor every dollar we give, the Diocese gives us a matching one dollar gift up to a maximum of $25,000 for the Step Up Together campaign to fund the repair of our failing retaining wall.

Thank you so much to the parishioners who donated $7,000 so far!

We have until September 30, 2023, to take advantage of this $1 for $1 match.

Will you be able to provide a gift?

Work will begin on the stairwell in mid-September 2023.

This is how we will fund $125,000 needed for the stairwell.

  • We will use $10,000 of our accumulated funds earmarked for property expenses.
  • The Diocese has given St. Thomas’s a grant of $15,000.
  • In addition, the Diocese has offered us a “Challenge Grant” of up to $25,000.
  • The Diocese will lend us the balance, which we will need to repay over time from our annual budget.

Ways to give toward this campaign:

(1) Give via the parish’s online giving site.
(2) Give by check: Write “Step Up Together” on the memo line and bring or mail your check to St. Thomas’s Episcopal Parish, 276 S. College Ave., Newark DE 19711.
(3) Visit your bank’s website, identify St. Thomas’s Parish as a payee, enter “Step Up Together” in the memo line, and send your gift.
(4) Donate appreciated securities from your brokerage account. Contact Amy Keach (iloveoregon@hotmail.com) for details.
(5) If you are over the age of 70½, you may use your IRA tax-free to make a qualified charitable contribution (QCD). Contact Amy Keach or your tax advisor for details.
(6) Or, make a promise to give.

Let’s STEP UP TOGETHER!  Take a step, give your gift, and make a difference!

Feel free to write to us at StThomasChallengeGrant@gmail.com.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Amy Keach, Treasurer and Property Committee member
The Rev. Dr. Howell C. Sasser, Jr., Rector

Almighty God, you bless all our works that begin, continue, and end in you; and you inspire in your people a love for your house: sustain us as we work for the repair of our church building and remind us that we have and hold everything for your glory alone, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

“Our steps are directed by the Lord” (Psalm 37:24)