To help ensure the safety of our parishioners and staff given the current surge in COVID-19 cases in our area and the mayor’s recent announcement regarding city office restrictions, we have made the following changes to our office hours and service and activity schedules over the next two weeks:

Looking back on 2020, we can all say it was more than just a rough year. Vocabulary such as “pandemic” and “quarantine” became commonplace. We missed out on birthday celebrations, graduations, weddings, and funerals. Thanksgiving and Christmas looked very different with smaller family and friends’ gatherings. Face masks became part of our wardrobe, and hand sanitizer at every door is now the norm. Our lives have been turned upside down. And for many, it has become a very dark place. People have lost their jobs, homes, and lives. What has our world turned into?

Being a part of the Home Missions Team during this unusual time has actually made things more bearable. Meeting with a group of like-minded St. Philippians once a month to determine how we can help our mission partners in Charleston has given us an opportunity to help struggling people all over the Lowcountry. In June, we were able to host a blood drive for the Red Cross at St. Philip’s, helping many people who were in desperate need of blood. We also hosted a canned food drive to help feed hungry families in the area, and we gathered book bags and school supplies to equip children in need through Tricounty Family Ministries. In December, generous parishioners also provided gift cards to all of our Home Mission partners for them to use during Christmas. Even though this period has seemed dark to some, helping others in desperate times and spreading the love of Christ has helped brighten up our COVID world!

During the November 9 episode of his podcast "Undeceptions," Australian writer and speaker John Dickson explored how music can point us to God. One of Dickson's guests, author and Duke Divinity School professor Dr. Jeremy Begbie, spoke about the rarity of modern songs of lament in Christian music. "In the Christian Church, too often we’ve loved easy resolutions––quick fixes––and one of the things this kind of music does is remind us the world is not like that," said Begbie. "Of course we live in hope, but we live in a world marred by dissonance. And it’s into that world that God comes in Jesus. It’s that world that crucified the Son of God. And if we ever forget that victory ... comes through crucifixion, then I think we’ve had it."

So Dickson put out a call to his listeners for their own songs of lament. And at the end of his January 3 episode, he shared some of the contributions he'd received––two of which came from right here at St. Philip's: Ben Hagood's "Dance" and the Rev. Andrew O'Dell's "Advent"––click below to listen!

LAMB Institute continues to be on lockdown along with all of Honduras, with the children attending school online or receiving packets from their teachers every week. Staff members at God's Littlest Lambs Children's Home take strict precautions, and the home continues to be COVID-free. Some other LAMB staff members have had to quarantine with mild cases of COVID, but thanks be to God, no fatalities have hit the ministry. Please continue to keep LAMB and Honduras in your prayers as the medical care there is very substandard and it will be a long, long time before vaccines will be available for the general population.

Join Suzanne McCord and Joanna Macmurphy as they begin another session of their women's book study group! This semester, the group will be studying Chuck Colson's "Loving God," which Billy Graham referred to as "one of the most spiritually satisfying books I have ever read."

From the back cover:  "For those who have wondered whether there isn’t more to Christianity than what they have known—and for those who have never considered the question—Loving God points the way to faith’s cutting edge. Here is a compelling, probing look at the cost of discipleship and the meaning of the first and greatest commandment—one that will strum a deeper, truer chord within even as it strips away the trappings of shallow, cultural Christianity." 

The St. Philip's Choir has been invited to serve as the resident choir at St. Paul's Cathedral in London the week of August 15–21, 2022, and all parishioners are invited to join us on this exciting adventure––you could even come along as a new choir member!

The choir will present Evensong each weekday and sing the Sunday Eucharist service on August 21.The price per person includes hotel, sightseeing, tour bus and guide, breakfast each day, four dinners, and much more (airfare separate), and you will have plenty of time for theater and extra sightseeing. The more people we have traveling, the lower the cost will be––if we have 50 people traveling, the cost will be only $1983 per person! Our first payment of $250 per person will be due at the beginning of August 2021, and final payments are due June 1, 2022.

Would you like to join us as a choir member? All vocal parts are welcome! Choir rehearsals are currently suspended, but when we resume, we will learn music for Evensong and then present it to our congregation several times this year when we are well prepared.

For more information about London or to audition, please contact Pat at pgould@stphilipschurchsc.org or (843) 364-9552. Above all, please pray for all choir members as we embark on this great adventure!

Ladies, join our weekly discussion group, "Hope and Healing in Marriage: True Stories of Renewed Love," led by author Pringle Franklin! This nine-week study of the stories of real couples dealing with a mixed menu of struggles and issues such as infidelity, alcoholism, abuse, loss of love, destructive anger, the death of a child, and chronic illness will allow you to gain inspiration, hope, encouragement, and insight as you strengthen your marriage and your relationship with God.

A man needs a deeper understanding of his masculine heart—and why God made him just like that. What if those deep desires in our hearts are telling us the truth, revealing to us the lives we were meant to live? A man must know he is powerful; he must know he has what it takes. The way we handle the heart is everything. Basic is not a retreat about the “seven things a man ought to do to be a nicer guy.” It is a four-day quest into the recovery of a man’s masculine soul, the release of a man’s heart—his passions and his true nature—all given him by God.

Questions? Contact Richard Moore.

Reservations for this Sunday's services of Morning Prayer at 8:15 and 10:30 a.m. open today at 9:00 a.m. Childcare during the 10:30 service is currently suspended.

Do you receive Fr. Brian's updates and weekly wrap-up emails? Click here to read his last wrap-up email, and if you'd like to join his email list, let him know!

You've been waiting all year for this––and now it's just one day away! Yes, it's the return of the Rector's Bible Study, and no matter where you are in the world, you can join in, because it's on Zoom! So fix yourself a sandwich, grab your Bible and a seat on your sofa, and click the link below a few minutes before noon tomorrow. We can't wait to see you!

If you follow St. Philip's, you've already seen ... well, you didn't see this picture, because we didn't post it, as we posted pictures of last Thursday's "ungreening" of the church that were more representative of all the hard work it took. Not that Todd "Mr. Clean" Brown isn't trying very hard here to assist Sarah Stuhr and Dana Heikes (out of frame) carry that tree! "Mr. Clean" and every single person who showed up last Thursday to help take down garland, carry trees, store bows, sweep, take down lights, rehome poinsettias, and more brought with them cheerful spirits and a drive to get the job done, and we are so grateful to each and every one!

If you don't follow us, take a minute to click the buttons below to like or follow us now!

Call Juanita Orvin, who will connect you with a prayer minister who will pray for your concerns over the phone.

juanitaorvin@gmail.com or (843) 884-4018

Call Suzanne McCord, head of the prayer chain, and she will pass your request on to members of the chain.

suzanne1959@gmail.com or (843) 224-1630

January 13 ~ Wednesdays Alive! service cancelled

January 15 ~ Church office closed (staff working remotely)

January 18 ~ Martin Luther King Jr. Day (church office closed)

January 20 ~ Wednesdays Alive! service cancelled

January 22 ~ Church office closed (staff working remotely)

February 17 ~ Ash Wednesday

February 25-28 ~ Men's Retreat (Wild at Heart Basic Bootcamp) at St. Christopher

March 7 ~ Annual Parish Meeting

April 24 ~ Annual Women's Gathering (Christ Church, Mt. Pleasant)

We pray for the sick: Kelsey Brockbank, Katie Burris, Harry Carr, Elizabeth Colwell, Glenn Corley, Coakey Evans, Elizabeth Flowers, Mary Forbes, Edward Good, Brooks Goode, Robert Gould, Janet Hanger, Jonathan Hanger, Clark Johsnson, Mac Leppard, Joe Livesay, Connor Lowndes, Beverly Melvin, Leon Patat III, Deborah Pollak, Edward Pritchard, Jr., Charles Truluck, Mike Walsh, Carolyn Warlick, Lindsey Wing, and Charlie Yoho.

We grieve with and pray for the family of Harold Robling, who died January 3.

We grieve with and pray for the family of Nancy Wilkins Blakeney, who died January 6.

We pray for protection for Becca Baird, Chris and Julia Beasley, Graham Blunt, Henry Clayton, Ben Colyer, David Daughtridge, Hayes Fair, George Hoefer, Andrew Kane, Horry Kerrison, Charles Kirkman, Frazier Kulze, John Mason, Philip Middleton III, Jackson Miller, Ned Montgomery, Edward Pritchard, and David Scott serving in our Armed Forces.

We pray for our home missions: Star Gospel Mission, Tricounty Family Ministries, Lowcountry Pregnancy Center, St. John's Chapel, and the Open Door Ministry.

We pray for our world missions: For Suzy McCall and LAMB, for the medical missions to Honduras, for ministry to victims of genocide and AIDS in Rwanda, for Water Mission and the Global Water Center, and for St. Jean Baptiste, our sister church, and the schools in Haiti.