12 Jun 2020

Carpenter’s Helper newsletter for June 14, 2020

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Happy Friday fam!  See the Carpenter’s Helper newsletter for the week of June 14, 2020 where you can read about the next series in Bishop Curry’s Way of Love podcasts.  Also, see the most recent edition of our Diocese weekly newsletter titled The Net, as well as the quarterly magazine, the Communion.

Just a few notes:

  • Sunday, June 14, 2020 – we will return to our “now normal” 9 a.m. worship service, LIVE from St. Thomas’s.  Fr. Howie and Marc have both been working on sound improvements for the broadcast.  Please send in your feedback!
  • Tuesday, June 16, 2020 at 7 p.m., week 2 of the 5 week series continues: an Introduction to the Saint John’s Bible.  Even if you missed week one, you can still join in.  This is a Zoom opportunity, so you must register for the link.
  • Wednesday, June 17, 2020 at Noon intercessory prayer worship continues, with a leaflet for Pentecost. The new link will be sent with the Wed email invitation.  It is also available on our website and I’m happy to mail a paper copy to anyone who wants one.
  • Thursday, June 18, 2020 at 6 p.m., Ladies’ Night OUT in the Grove. ALL are Welcome.
  • Thursday, June 18, 2020 at 7 p.m., Compline evening prayers with Deacon Cecily.  This is a Zoom service.  Please let me know if you would like the Zoom link, or a leaflet mailed to you.  ALL are Welcome.

And, for those of you who have made it to the end of this email, here is a special invitation.  Who wants to be on a team with me for the Great EpisGOpal Race?  It is a virtual race over several days at the end of July.more race info.  I’ll be making t-shirts!

Please let me know if you have any meetings (virtual or otherwise) that you would like to have included on the Parish calendar.   

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

8 Jun 2020

Feeding the Homeless on Thursday, June 11, 2020

by | posted in: Outreach | 0

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

Last Thursday, with your help, we fed 40 homeless friends. The end of this relief-effort is nebulous. Once the Hope Dining Room reopens, we can stop the dinners, BUT, the dining room is run mostly by retired people and they are the most at-risk population for COVID. Talks are underway, but no dates have come forth yet, so what I thought would be a temporary solution, is approaching 3 months.

I THANK ALL of you for your continued help with this aid to our needy friends. Here is the plan for this week:    Spaghetti and meatballs, tossed salad and garlic bread, complemented by a fruit cup, cookies and a soda.  Sign up at Sign Up Genius.  As always, only look at the black and gold part.
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0A4DACA72AAAFF2-feeding9

If you would bring your items to St. Thomas’s between 2 and 4 p.m. on Thursday, June 11, 2020 that would be great.    If you can’t do that, I would be happy to pick them up at your door – just give me a call.

MANY Blessings for your care of our homeless friends,  
Madeline Johnson

8 Jun 2020

Children’s ministries at home for June 7, 2020

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

Hello everyone!

I pray this note finds you and your family well and safe. I pray that, with the help of the Holy Spirit, we may all be instruments of peace and safety in this world for all God’s people. Amen.

This week, we will, of course, explore the wonder of the Holy Trinity. To this email, I have attached a kid-friendly version of this week’s Old Testament reading, a guided reading of this week’s gospel,  and coloring activity that correspond to this week’s lectionary. Please use what works for you and your family. There is something for everyone.   

We will not be meeting on Zoom this Sunday, June 7, 2020, so that we can all attend service with Bishop Brown and the rest of the diocese at 11:00 a.m.. 

Peace be with you,

Ms. Belinda, Children’s Ministries

Almighty and everlasting God, you have given to us your servants grace, by the confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of your divine Majesty to worship the Unity: Keep us steadfast in this faith and worship, and bring us at last to see you in your one and eternal glory, O Father; who with the Son and the Holy Spirit live and reign, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

5 Jun 2020

Carpenter’s Helper newsletter for June 7, 2020

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Hello faith family!  See the Carpenter’s Helper newsletter for the week of June 7, 2020.  Also, see the most recent edition of our Diocese weekly newsletter titled The Net.  I haven’t included this link before, but you will see it here in the future.  This week’s is packed full of powerful messages.

There are a few reminders for the calendar:

  • Sunday, June 7, 2020 – We will not have our regular 9 a.m. worship service on YouTube.  Instead, we will be joining with many of our sisters and brothers in Delaware to worship with Bishop Brown.   Please let me know if you have any questions.
  • Tuesday, June 9, 2020 – 7 p.m., week 2 of the 5 week series an Introduction to the Saint John’s Bible.  Even if you missed week one, you can still join in.  This is a Zoom opportunity, so you must register for the link.
  • Wednesday, June 10, 2020 – Noon Intercessory Prayer worship service continues, with a new leaflet for Pentecost. 
  • Thursday, June 11, 2020 – 7 p.m., Compline evening prayers with Deacon Cecily.  This is a Zoom service.  Please let me know if you would like the Zoom link.  ALL are Welcome.
  • Sunday, June 14, 2020 – 9 a.m. LIVE YouTube worship service will continue, celebrating together with St. Nicholas.

Ladies’ night OUT is tentatively Thursday, June 18, 2020 in the Grove (socially distanced), but I think it’s wise to wait one more week into phase one before making any official plans.

Please let me know if you have any meetings (virtual or otherwise) that you would like to have included on the Parish calendar.   

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.

I look forward to worshiping together with you on Sunday morning, along with our extended faith family all over Delaware!

Kind Regards,
Cana Hartman, Parish Administrator
StThomassOffice@googlegroups.com

5 Jun 2020

Worship with Bishop Brown this Sunday, June 7, 2020

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The bishop is thrilled that you and your parish will be joining us for worship on Trinity Sunday, June 7, 2020, at 11:00 a.m., via Facebook Live. It will be wonderful knowing that we will all be together, even if only virtually, and seeing the chats from across our diocese. Below are the ‘directions’ to the service and additional information that may be helpful:

  • The service will be broadcast on Facebook Live (only)
  • Our Facebook link is: https://www.facebook.com/episcopaldelaware
    • To join us, go to The Episcopal Church in Delaware (same link as above) and scroll until you find the video image that indicates, LIVE (in red) in the top left of the video image frame. We plan to go live at 10:55 a.m., to allow you time to find our feed.
  • You can download the worship bulletin at https://bit.ly/bulletin6-7. It is also on the Diocese of Delaware website under Worship with Us and will be provided in the description of the live feed on Sunday.
  • We do not recommend a Facebook Watch Party for this service. If you begin a Watch Party you will not see others across the diocese and you will not be able to pass the peace with everyone watching — rather, just with those that are in your Watch Party.
  • Facebook Live is easy and free for anyone.
    • You do not have to join Facebook to watch a Facebook Live video. And, if you’re already a Facebook user, you do not have to log in to watch, either.
    • LEARN HOW!

We look forward to worshiping with you in celebration of Trinity Sunday.

See you then,
Cynde Bimbi, Diocese of Delaware
Director of Communications

2 Jun 2020

Spiritual, learning opportunity: “The Saint John’s Bible Series”

by | posted in: Adult Education, News | 0

For five weeks in June, pray with the illuminated manuscript of The Saint John’s Bible, through a collaboration with The Urban Well at Saint James; Rev. Jim Strader-Sasser, Priest-in-Charge at Christ Memorial Episcopal Church in Danville, PA and The Rev. Dr. Howell Sasser, Rector at St. Thomas’s.

The series is free. You must register to receive the Zoom invitation. “The Saint John’s Bible Series” series will be held on five Tuesday evenings beginning at 7 p.m., starting tomorrow Tuesday, June 2, 2020. Each session will be about 75 minutes and will include learning, guided viewing of art, and contemplative worship. 

“I have contributed to the content, along with others who are much smarter than I am!  And best of all, it’s free!”, says Fr. Howie.  To register, anyone can go to saintjameslancaster.org and click on the spiritual growth tab. And, if they have any questions, they can contact Fr. Howie at StThomassRector@googlegroups.com or the Parish Administrator at StThomassOffice@googlegroups.com.   

Kind Regards,
Cana Hartman, Parish Administrator
StThomassOffice@googlegroups.com

2 Jun 2020

Feeding the homeless – June 4, 2020

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

Last Thursday, May 28, 2020, with your help, we fed 40 homeless friends in the parking lot of the Red Roof Inn. They were all VERY grateful to you. I am also grateful for your generosity and your help! MANY thanks to Jill Jensen for packing all the bags, to Teresa Coons and Susan Hechter for cleaning up after our “scoop and dash”, to our wonderful bakers and our food and fund donators AND those who pray for this ministry! I am also very grateful for my partner in “crime”, Kelly Tompkins, who comes to help scoop the hot food onto the plates, load the cars and dash off to serve it hot!   We are getting very practiced at this!

Here is the plan for June 4, 2020:  substantial nachos (with meat, cheese and salsa) and tossed salad, complimented with a fruit cup, cookies and a soda. Below, is the sign up genius.  As always, only look at the black and yellow part. https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0A4DACA72AAAFF2-feeding8

If you would bring your items to St. Thomas on Thursday, June 4, 2020 between 2 and 4 p.m., that would be great! If you can’t do that, give me a call and I will pick it up at your door.

MANY Blessings for your care of our homeless friends,
Madeline Johnson

31 May 2020

A Pastoral Note on Recent Events

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Dear Friends,

One of the things lost in our technical problems this morning was a chance to pray together about the events that have rolled across our television screens in the past few days.  As Christians, that should be our first instinct – to pray for the dead, for the living, and for the justice of God that we are told will roll down like waters.  

George Floyd and Derek Chauvin – we must say their names, make them real – collided in a way that cannot have any place in the heart of a follower of Jesus.  By one man’s action, the image of God was vandalized in both of them in those moments.  For the one, we pray for peaceful rest.  May his soul find perfection in the presence of God, and the honor as a child of God that he was denied in his last moments.  And for the other, we pray for a turning of his heart, honest repentance and acknowledgment of the terrible consequences of the power he chose to claim. 

In the days since, we have seen anger flow out of houses and apartments – places of isolation in recent times – and into the streets.  The anger is righteous, but the way it mutates into further violence risks the loss of additional lives, which can only compound the injustice it is trying to bring to an end.  As of when I write this, it appears that two people have been killed in the riots in Minneapolis.  That is already two too many – let us pray there are no more.

Too often, events of this kind seem to leave us having learned little.  I ask you to renew your prayers that we as a society will have a turning of heart, that the horror of the scenes played and replayed on television screens all across the United States (and, to our shame, around the world) will awaken in us a new will to work for justice.  Perhaps by the grace of God, anger will lead to constructive change and confrontation to understanding.

O God, you have bound us together in a common life. Help us, in the midst of our struggles for justice and truth, to confront one another without hatred or bitterness, and to work together with mutual forbearance and respect; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

God’s peace to you all
Howie+

The Reverend Dr. Howell C. Sasser, Jr., Rector
StThomassRector@googlegroups.com

31 May 2020

Saints Nicholas and Thomas 2020 Pentecost service

by | posted in: Pentecost | 0

Hello friends.  There were some technical issues this morning, that stopped us from streaming LIVE.  Never fear – it was put together in a recording AND IT’S WORTH THE WAIT!

See the 2020 Pentecost service for Sunday, May 31, 2020. It will also be available on YouTube, with links from St. Thomas’s website, Facebook, and InstaGram.  Please feel free to share the GOOD NEWS!  

Kind Regards,
Cana Hartman, Parish Administrator
StThomassOffice@googlegroups.com

29 May 2020

Carpenter’s Helper newsletter for May 31, 2020

by | posted in: News, Worship | 0

Hello faith family! I am in shock that we are coming to the end of May.  The school year is wrapping up, and with that comes celebrations of academic achievement!  Some of our own scholars are noted for their accomplishments in this week’s Carpenter’s Helper newsletter. 

  • May 31, 2020 is Pentecost Sunday!  I am so looking forward to seeing our #SpiritSelfies together.  
  • Wednesday noon Intercessory Prayer service continues via YouTube.  
  • On Thursday, June 4, 2020, Deacon Cecily will be offering evening Compline prayers at 7 p.m.  Please write to me at StThomassOffice@googlegroups.com if you would like the link to this new weekly Zoom worship service.
  • The following Sunday, June 7, 2020, we will join with most other churches in the Diocese of Delaware to “attend” the bishop’s livestream service. So, there will not be the usual 9 a.m. worship service at St. Thomas’s. Details about time and how to connect to the Bishop’s service will follow shortly.

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