30 Dec 2021

The Epiphany Chalk Blessing

by | posted in: Epiphany, Worship | 0

The Church has a custom of blessing homes on the Feast of the Epiphany and the week following. Family and friends gather to ask God’s blessing on their homes and those who live in or visit the home. It is an invitation for Jesus to be a daily guest in our home, our comings and goings, our conversations, our work and play, our joys and sorrows.

A traditional way of doing this is to use chalk blessed during the Epiphany liturgy and write above the home’s entryway. If you miss the service in-person this Sunday, there will be extra blessed chalk in the church for you to pick up Mon-Thur. from 9 a.m. – noon, or you can email a request to have some mailed to you.

“Chalking the door” is a way to celebrate and literally mark the occasion of the Epiphany and God’s blessing of our lives and home. With time the chalk will fade. As it does we let the meaning of the symbols sink into the depths of our hearts and be manifest in our words and actions.

20 + C + M + B + 22

The letters C, M, B have two meanings. They are the initials of the traditional names of the three magi: Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar. They also abbreviate the Latin words Christus mansionem benedicat, “May Christ bless the house.”

Blessing of Chalk

V. Our help is the name of the Lord:

R. The maker of heaven and earth.

V. The Lord shall watch over your going out and your coming in:

R. From this time forth for evermore.

V. The Lord be with you.

R. And also with you.

Let us pray.

Loving God, bless this chalk which you have created, that it may be helpful to your people; and grant that through the invocation of your most Holy Name all who use it in faith to write upon the doors of their homes the names of your saints, Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar, may receive health of body and protection of soul for all who dwell in or visit their home; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

17 Dec 2021

Carpenter’s Helper newsletter for December 19, 2021

by | posted in: News | 0

Good morning faith family. See St. Thomas’s Carpenter’s Helper newsletter for news and events information for the Fourth Sunday in Advent and the week of December 19, 2021. This week, you will find the Christmas worship schedule, a note from Barb about the Annual Bazaar proceeds, and this year’s Christmas dedications.

Some of our worship events are as follows.

Other events follow:

  • Sundays at 9 a.m. – Youth Confirmation in the Undercroft.
  • Sunday, December 12, 2021 at 9:30 a.m. – Novel Theology will meet via Zoom to discuss “Gift from the Sea” by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
  • Sundays at 10:15 a.m. – Children’s Ministries in the Undercroft.
  • Sunday, December 19, 2021- Children’s Christmas pageant during the 10:30 a.m. service
  • Sunday, December 19, 2021- St. Thomas’s cookie exchange following the 10:30 a.m. service
  • Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m. – lectionary bible study in the classroom.
  • Wednesday, December 15, 2021 at 5:45 p.m. – Christmas concert and cookies
  • Monday, December 20, 2021 from 10 a.m.-noon – St. Thomas’s serves at Hope Dining Room
  • Friday, December 24, 2021- Christmas Eve services at 5 p.m. and 10 p.m.
  • Saturday, December 25, 2021 – Christmas Day worship at 10 a.m.
  • Sunday, December 26, 2021 – resume “normal” 8 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. Sunday services

You will receive an emailed invitation to all the above events and their accompanying booklets. As always, there are copies available to be mailed, so please let me know if you’d like a paper copy.

In this strange pandemic time, 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 your church or online giving. See our Giving information.

Forward Day by Day booklets are available.  Please feel free to stop into the lobby for a copy, or let me know if you’d like one mailed out to you!  There are plenty in both large and small print.

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 all events or news, visit our website, check FaceBook, or check out the posted events on the board next to the name tag station. Recent Newsletters, Sermons, or Announcements are also available.

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

16 Dec 2021

Worship services for week of December 19, 2021

by | posted in: Worship | 0

Fourth Sunday of AdventHello faith family! Sunday, December 19, 2021 is the Fourth Sunday in Advent. Services are held in-person with precautions and online via our YouTube channel. Please join us in song for the children’s Christmas Pageant at the 10:30 a.m. service!  Share the YouTube channel with our faith friends and family who may want to tune in!

Please do not hesitate to contact the office or Fr. Howie with any questions or concerns about these options. We are listening to the experts and considering how to best keep our faith family safe during this pandemic.

Worship this week:

The Forward Day by Day booklets are available. Please feel free to stop into the lobby for a copy, or let me know if you’d like one mailed out to you!  There are plenty in both large and small print.

In this strange pandemic time, 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 your church or online giving. See our Giving information.

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 all events or news, visit our website, check FaceBook, or check out 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.

I look forward to worshiping together on Sunday!

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

15 Dec 2021

Annual Bazaar 2021 thank you

by | posted in: Outreach | 0

The Annual Bazaar 2021 Committee cannot thank our parishioners enough for you support for our recent Annual Bazaar. We met last week to review the bazaar and make decisions about the distribution of the funds that we raised.

We wanted to let you know that through your support in time, donations, and your generosity at the bazaar, we were able to distribute $4,500 to the following organizations who help to support our neighbors.
Newark Empowerment Center
Newark Senior Center
Newark Area Welfare Committee
Blue Hen Bounty food pantry

Thank you all again! Barbara Graham

14 Dec 2021

ECM Report for November 2021

by | posted in: ECM | 0

Episcopal Campus Ministry (ECM) has continued meeting on Wednesdays at 6:15 p.m. Aly—our president sends out reminders via Groupme and email. We have also started asking students to confirm their attendance by GroupMe polls in order to share this information with parishioners who have been graciously making dinner for the students and fellowshipping with us. Thanks St. Thomas’s church family!

Blue Hen Bounty (BHB) food pantry has been serving more members of the community during the pandemic. Patronage has not abated this semester or during Thanksgiving break it has increased! Thank you for your ongoing support of ECM and especially BHB.

A big thank you to the St. Thomas’s church family members who have been making dinners for the students. WE LOVE HOME COOKED MEALS! Pizza and fries have been happily exchanged for taco bar, baked ziti, meat loaf, lots of salad and great bread. Thank you so very much!!! Please consider signing up for a Wednesday night to share a meal and fellowship with us this coming semester.

Amy Keach and Teresa Coons attended an ECM meeting and brought dinner! Not only was dinner great, but we learned a lot more about how budgets work and the process of requisitioning funds from St. Thomas’s and the University of Delaware. Thanks again ladies!

Bulletin board decoration in the classroom is in full swing. If you have a moment, please get to know us better by reading about us on our ECM bulletin board in the classroom. We are not done yet; but we are almost there.

The student sexual assault group which was organized in response to the ongoing sexual assault problems on our campus seems to have disbanded following the resolution of the latest well publicized incident. Therefore, our efforts to support their work was not needed.

We received a large donation from a high school-based food insecurity organization called the Diwali Group just in time for Thanksgiving. Tejasvi Pathipati and Arin Nakirikanti, with honorable mention for Navyasri Pathipati (the 6th grade little sister who helped her 11th grade sister) are the fabulous students responsible who are supported in their efforts by their parents. Cana wrote a great article about the donation in the Carpenter’s Helper with pictures.

Thanks St. Thomas’s family,
Denise Burgher, Graduate Convening Adviser

14 Dec 2021

Hope Dining Room volunteers for December 20, 2021

by | posted in: Outreach, Service | 0

Dear Families of St. Thomas’s and St. Nicholas,

Our opportunity to serve at Hope Dining Room  is next Monday, December 20, 2021. We begin cooking at 10:00 a.m. at Kingswood Methodist Church on Marrows Road in Brookside Park and are usually finished cleaning up by noon. For 2 hours, you are part of a team that makes a simple lunch for some VERY grateful people. It makes you feel SOOO good and it is actually fun!

I have created a Sign Up Genius for fruit cups, cookies and kitchen helpers:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0A4DACA72AAAFF2-hope17  

You may bring your food item donations to St. Thomas’s Tuesday through Thursday between 9:00 a.m. and noon or Sunday morning when you come to church. If none of those times work for you, please give me a call or an email, and I will pick it up at your door.

Many Blessings for remembering those who need some extra help,
Madeline Johnson
mad1240@comcast.net

11 Dec 2021

Hope Dining Room – Christmas Bags

by | posted in: Outreach | 0

Dear Family of St. Thomas’s,

On December 17, 2021 Hope Dining Room, which is a mission of outreach to those in need, will be giving a Christmas goodie bag to each guest who comes in. They are going to make 60 bags. Each participating church is putting something in the bag. I volunteered St. Thomas’s for clementines. We are hoping to put 2 clementines in each bag, so we will need 120 clementines.  Please signup at   https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0A4DACA72AAAFF2-hope16

If you volunteer for this project, please put  your bag of clementines in the box labeled “Hope Dining Room” outside the office by December 16, 2021. If you can’t get  them to church, give me a call or an email, and I will pick them up at your door.

MANY Blessings,
Madeline Johnson   < mad1240@comcast.net >

11 Dec 2021

CREW Youth Group gathering

by | posted in: CREW | 0

CREW’s regularly scheduled monthly meeting will be on December 12, 2021 from 12-1:30 p.m. This meeting is for St. Thomas’s youth  in grades 6-12 and any guests they would like to invite.

Activity Description: The beginning of our meeting will be a combination of a holiday related game and costume/prop prep for those who are participating. Then we will be having an Ugly Sweater event. Please wear your favorite Ugly Christmas sweater, t-shirt, dress or just wear your favorite holiday-themed gear or wear your regular clothes. It is totally up to you!  We will be eating pizza for lunch and be decorating Ugly Sweater cookies for dessert. Then, we’ll play some games for the rest of the time.  Bring your thinking caps….. and your drawing fingers.

If possible, please RSVP, so we have an idea of how much pizza to order but as always, come if you can, even if you did not RSVP. the more, the merrier!!

Feel free to contact me with questions,
Blessings, Belinda Young-Payne <belmar43@aol.com>

10 Dec 2021

Carpenter’s Helper newsletter for December 12, 2021

by | posted in: News | 0

Good morning faith family.  This post serves as the St. Thomas’s Carpenter’s Helper newsletter for news and events information for the Third Sunday in Advent and the week of December 12, 2021. See the Christmas and Advent worship offerings below, as well as, the Christmas dedications form. Please have everything turned in by the end of next week – December 12, 2021.  You can mail, email, or drop your dedication in the mailbox on the office door, or use the Giving form.  The suggested donation amount is $25, however, there is no required minimum or limit. The greening of the church building will again be modest this year; in this season, our priorities are staying safe and helping our neighbors. So, the donations collected will go towards those priorities. Please do not hesitate to reach out to me if you have any questions about the schedule or the Christmas dedications.

To all persons who use St Thomas’s Parish envelopes for their 2022 contributions:  please contact Jeanne Moore at jeannesmoore1@verizon.net. She will address and number them for you and have them ready for pickup in the Great Hall or Cana’s office by December 20, 2021.  The printing company sends them out to us after December 1, 2021. 

Some of our worship events are as follows.

Other events follow:

  • Sundays at 9 a.m. – Youth Confirmation in the Undercroft.
  • Sunday, December 12, 2021 at 9:30 a.m. – Novel Theology will meet via Zoom to discuss “Gift from the Sea” by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
  • Sundays at 10:15 a.m. – Children’s Ministries in the Undercroft.
  • Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m. – lectionary bible study in the classroom.
  • Wednesday, December 15, 2021 at 5:45 p.m. – Christmas concert and cookies
  • Saturday, December 18, 2021 at 11 a.m. – Robert Doggett funeral
  • Sunday, December 19, 2021- Children’s Christmas pageant during the 10:30am service
  • Sunday, December 19, 2021- St. Thomas’s cookie exchange following the 10:30 a.m. service
  • Monday, December 20, 2021 from 10 a.m.-noon – St. Thomas’s serves at Hope Dining Room
  • Friday, December 24, 2021- Christmas Eve services at 5 p.m. and 10 p.m.
  • Saturday, December 25, 2021 – Christmas Day worship at 10 a.m.
  • Sunday, December 26, 2021 – “normal” 8 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. Sunday services

You will receive an emailed invitation to all the above events and their accompanying booklets. As always, there are copies available to be mailed, so please let me know if you’d like a paper copy.

In this strange pandemic time, 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 your church or online giving. See our Giving information.

The new Forward Day by Day booklets are available.  Please feel free to stop into the lobby for a copy, or let me know if you’d like one mailed out to you!  There are plenty in both large and small print.

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 all events or news, visit our website, check FaceBook, or check out the posted events on the board next to the name tag station. Recent Newsletters, Sermons, or Announcements are also available.

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

8 Dec 2021

Worship services for week of December 12, 2021

by | posted in: Worship | 0

Third Sunday of AdventHello faith family! Sunday, December 12, 2021 is the Third Sunday in Advent. Services are held in-person with precautions and online via our YouTube channel. Please do not hesitate to contact the office or Fr. Howie with any questions or concerns about these options. We are listening to the experts and considering how to best keep our faith family safe during this pandemic.

Worship this week:

The Forward Day by Day booklets are available. Please feel free to stop into the lobby for a copy, or let me know if you’d like one mailed out to you!  There are plenty in both large and small print.

In this strange pandemic time, 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 your church or online giving. See our Giving information.

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 all events or news, visit our website, check FaceBook, or check out 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.

I look forward to worshiping together on Sunday!

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