What a phenomenal week we had! From a very busy Book Sale to a glorious Fall Fest, thank you to everyone for all of your hard work and commitment. We had two huge and very successful events in a week – thank you! We will share the numbers when we have them, but I so enjoyed seeing so many people visit St. Mary’s and have such a wonderful time with us.
Sunday begins our annual reflection on Stewardship. I admit that I have often wondered why we have stewardship every year. After all, don’t people already know the general message? We come together, pooling our resources of time, talent and treasure to do God’s ministry in the world. Do we have to talk about it again? And yet, we likely also know the Christmas message and the Easter one, but we still talk about them every year. There is value in checking in, in learning new insights, growing closer to God as we repeat our seasonal cycle. I hope this season brings you new awareness of the many gifts God has put into your life.
Our theme this year is Every Perfect Gift, and on Sunday at Coffee Hour I hope you will spend some time reflecting on the question: “What Perfect Gift Have You Received?” Carl will share his thoughts at the announcements and I hope you’ll write down some ideas on the papers provided during Coffee Hour. You can also go online to answer the questions at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SJMCZ32. We’ll collect the answers and display them as part of a PowerPoint throughout our Stewardship season.
This Sunday is also our First Communion class. If there are any children who would like to learn more about communion, please let me know. We are planning to meet at 2 p.m. While it is not a requirement in the Episcopal Church, Communion is one of our two major sacraments (the other is baptism) and it is always worth learning more about and reflecting upon. We will have a Solemn Communion class for adults on Sunday, October 3 at 11 a.m. Again, if you plan to attend, please let me know.
Saturday, October 2 is our annual Blessing of the Animals. All are welcome at 10 a.m. for a short service of blessing. Please bring your pets, stuffed animals and photos to the blessing, I am happy to pray for any and all the creatures that bring such joy to our lives.
Prayers and blessings,
Mother Pippa