| |
September Calendar
|
Notes & Notable
Mark Your Calendar!
| |
2 Sunday Services
8:00 & 10:30 a.m.
All are welcome!
Market Mass
8:30−9am every Wed
Yoga Group
9:15am every Wed
Homecoming Sunday
Sunday, September 13
Blessing of the Aimals
Sunday, September 17
Parish Fun Weekend:
October 2-4, 2009
at Camp Stevens in
Julian, California
|
|
|
Published by and for The Members and Friends of
St. Augustine by-the-Sea Episcopal Church
Wonderful Things Happen in Sunday School
by Jennifer Pavia, Director of Children's Ministries
God is ever present, imaginations are inspired, and each student learns that they are a child of God. It is where children are introduced to stories that can help them see God at work in the lives of biblical characters and at work in their own lives.
Friendships are made in Sunday School. It is a fun, informative, silly, safe place to share experiences and God's love. Whether Jammin' for Jesus or respectfully exploring differences, everyone belongs.
The special people who take on the responsibility of young Christian education and leadership at St. A's are one of our greatest blessings as a parish. Because of those who teach them, our youth have a welcoming place to grow in Christian love and fellowship and a place to explore what the church teaches, ask questions, express doubts, and discover their own faith.
Sunday School resumes September 20 for the 2009-2010 year. Student registration begins at Homecoming on September 13. Won't you join us?
|
|
A Prayer by Archbishop Romero
It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction
of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work.
Nothing we do is complete,
which is a way of saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the Church's mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces effects far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for
the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results,
but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.
Amen
Marriage: A Shifting Sacrament
by the Reverend Hartshorn Murphy
As my professor explained this at Virginia Seminary decades ago: "Marriage is the sacrament the people do for themselves" or to quote from The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church: "Matrimony is accounted peculiar among the sacraments in that the parties themselves are ministers, the priest being only the appointed witness."
MORE…
Fall Adult Class Forming: A Grace Disguised
by the Reverend Hartshorn Murphy
For this Fall, I've chosen a book which invites us to a deep conversation over loss.
We've all experienced loss and the deep grief which comes from it. For some in our culture, the pain is so pervasive that they seem to be permanently wounded by it. There's even a psychological term for them: "the walking wounded." Others cope somewhat better but live lives of diminished joy and pervasive sadness. Some, who are people of faith, lose their faith and become bitter − angry with God and angry at the world. Some bury their feelings so deep that they don't know what they feel anymore…
MORE…
Swimming with God this Summer: A Tale of Life and Death
by Michael S. Bell, Seminarian
This is not so much a story about what happened at General Convention, or what the outcomes were; although that's a wonderful story indeed, one can read about that elsewhere. It's also not a story about what I 'did' at Good Samaritan Hospital during my Clinical Pastoral Education internship; my work tasks as a hospital chaplain were all that you might imagine. Rather, per Hartshorn's request, this is more of a brief stream-of-consciousness tale about how I swam with God this summer. MORE…
Traveling Through Time 2 Be a Disciple
A Story by Tracey Clanton
Recently, I was given the opportunity to travel back in time. I even got to choose the time to which I would like to visit. When asked, I told the Time Traveler that I would like to go back to the time of Jesus.
"The time of Jesus?" He questioned.
"Yes, the time of Jesus." I answered.
"Ok. To which time of Jesus would you like to return? There are many 'times' of Jesus," he said. And he continued saying, "There's the birth of Jesus, the death of Jesus, the teachings of Jesus, the Last Supper, the Resurrection of Jesus … to which time would you like to go?" He looked at me rather quizzically −−− as if he didn't expect an answer right away. MORE…
Blessing of the Animals
Reprint of a 1998 article by The Rev. Kathy MacKenzie
Legends have been passed down through the generations that Francis' rapport with animals was so great that he preached to the birds and tamed a wolf by his words. Thus, he has become the patron of natural conservation. And so on his feast day, we bring animals for blessing as a way of reminding ourselves of the beauty of God's creation and our role in ensuring its care and proper use.
Our pets have an uncanny way of reminding us of our place in God's creation, both as precious and lovable people, and yet as finite beings that are not the end all and be all of God's creation. The following story, which was emailed to Kathy, illustrates this point beautifully.
MORE…
TOP
Copyright © 2009 St. Augustine by-the-Sea
|