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Canon Leyla visits St. Martin's, Mason, April 27. | | |
Dear Small Church friends,
With Pentecost just behind us, the season of Ordinary time and another hot Texas summer stretch out ahead. In many churches (of all sizes), there is time for rest for congregations and congregational leaders alike during the slower summer months. If you are your church’s regular preacher, let me encourage you to begin to take some rest for yourself by using the sermon by the Rev. Dustin Barrows provided below as your homily for Trinity Sunday this coming Sunday!
And, while there is, I hope, some space for respite this summer, I know we all feel sustained by the continuing rhythms of coming together for worship and fellowship week after week in all times and seasons. Small churches are special places for that soul-nourishing work. I pray that the months ahead – whether busy or fallow – are a fruitful time for your church community.
In addition to our regular features, this newsletter offers some resources and reminders as we begin planning for the fall. In particular, please take note of our September Small Church Gathering that will take place at St. James, Del Rio. Especially if you weren’t able to make our January Gathering, I hope the time and place of this reprise of our “Try It On!” workshop will fit into your calendar.
Finally, I hope you’ll check out our new Small Church webpage! Keep it bookmarked because, along with our Facebook group, it’s a great way to stay connected to this DWTX Small Church community.
As always, if there’s any way I can support your ministry, I’m just an email, phone call or text away.
Many blessings,
| | From the Small Church Steering Committee | | | |
Little Church with a Big Mission
Written by: Bruce Seibert and Sandi Ward
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The Church of the Annunciation, Luling celebrated its 150th anniversary last December, when Bishop Read addressed the congregation, and spoke to its past, its present, and enthusiastically about its future. Following the services, lunch and fellowship was held in the newly remodeled kitchen and dining room of the Parish Hall. That same Parish Hall serves as the site for Annunciation’s “no strings suppers,” where every Wednesday, the whole community is invited to dinner. Parishioners prepare food for all attendees and also deliver to those who are unable to attend. About 250 meals are prepared weekly.
Alongside renovations to the kitchen and Parish Hall, Annunciation’s altar has recently been moved forward and refinished. Plus, the church has plans to expand and update the playground to make space for both adults and children to be outside together.
The church members of Annunciation give generously of their time, talent and treasure in addition to the weekly suppers. For example, the Quilts and Cars Fundraiser helps to support the “no strings supper” and other church projects. For more than 70 years, the women of the church have been doing an Enchilada Supper Fundraiser, gathering together to have fun rolling enchiladas. The proceeds of that supper help to fund the youth program. Not to be outdone, the men of the church hold an annual raffle for a quarter of a beef steer. The proceeds from this event help to fund youth projects around Luling and the annual mission trip to Watonga. The county seat of Blaine County, Watonga is located within the former Cheyenne-Arapaho Reservation, opened for non-Indian settlement in the land run on April 19, 1892. During their mission trip Annunciation and Luling youth help host VBS, do small repairs around the church, cook meals for the community, and clean headstones at the historic Indian Baptist Cemetery.
But that’s not all! Annunciation is a vibrant and active place, hosting a number of special events and ongoing programs:
| | | | Bruce Seibert (Small Church Steering Committee, Convocation: Northeastern) is a layperson at Church of the Messiah, Gonzales. In his role on the Steering Committee, Bruce has a visiting various small churches in the diocese. This spring, Bruce and fellow Messiah-parishioner Sandi Ward visited nearby Church of the Annunciation and had a conversation with its rector, the Rev. Jim Kee-Rees. Bruce can be contacted at blsiebert@outlook.com | |
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Small Church Sermon, Big Impact
The Rev. Dustin Barrows
Priest-In-Charge, St. Stephen's, San Antonio
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The Rev. Dustin Barrows is the priest-in-charge of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in San Antonio and our small-church sermon-writer for this edition of our newsletter. Fr. Dustin shares this sermon, Falling Forward into Mystery, on the lectionary texts of the Trinity Sunday for other churches in the diocese to use. If you don’t have regular clergy to preach this Sunday, June 15 or you are the regular preacher at your church and could use a little break, please consider reading Fr. Dustin’s sermon out loud to the congregation as the sermon on the day, with proper attribution, of course.
The scriptural texts for the day can be found here.
The scriptural texts for the day can be found here.
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Celebrate Small Church
St. Andrew’s, Brackettville hosts annual Baccalaureate
| | Every year, in conjunction with the local alliance of churches, St. Andrew’s, Brackettville hosts a baccalaureate service and lunch for all the graduating seniors of Brackett Secondary School (the 2024 Baccalaureate is pictured). The church members organize the service, decorate the parish hall and lay out the beautiful spread of food. Members of the local clergy officiate the service and preach and the whole community joins in the celebration afterwards, complete with a video slideshow. | |
Giving Opportunity
Support the ministry work of the Diocese of West Texas small churches through a gift.
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