St. Bartholomew's

Episcopal Church

E-News

November 13, 2025

Upcoming Services

Sunday, November 16 at 9:30 am

Worship Service with Holy Communion & Music

led by the Rev. Amanda Gerken Nelson

Nursery Care will be available at the Sunday service, and little ones are also very welcome to enjoy our Quiet Play Area in the sanctuary during the service.

To view bulletins for upcoming services,

and recordings and bulletins for previous services,

CLICK HERE for the Services page of our website.

Need hearing assistance? We have earpieces that receive audio from the sound system. You can find them in charging stations in the entryway. Simply slip the earpiece over your ear, turn it on with the volume switch, and adjust volume. Please return to the charging stations when you are done.

Want to access the bulletin on your notebook/iPad/phone? Scan the QR code posted in the Sanctuary to get to the Services page of our website. Click on the link "Click here for the bulletin" toward the top of the page.

Want a copy of a sermon from this or previous Sundays? Go to the sermon page of our website HERE and click on the date of the service. If you would like a hard copy, please contact the office at 207-846-9244 and ask Teri to print you a copy.

5th Sunday of the month Offering. All cash in the offering plate, and checks so designated, will go to the Rector's Discretionary Fund on 5th Sundays.

Pastoral Care

In Need of Our Prayers:

For all who have commended themselves to our prayers; for our families, friends, and neighbors; that being freed from anxiety, they may live in joy, peace, and health, we pray to you O Lord. (BCP, Prayers of the People, Form V, 391)



We pray for: 

Virginia & Jamil; Mike; Jenny & Matt; David; Elaine; Sasha; Paige; Nathaniel; Will; Karen; Haskell; Don; Gregory; Andy; Molly; Nova; Richard; Dave & Judy; Steven; Jen; Vance; Gary; Ernie; Ted; Matt & Shannon; Lem; Hartley; Sally; Ed; Carol; Beverly; Diana; Ben; Meagan; Ellen; Phyllis; Morgan; Benson; Suzanne; Matt; Margo; Hana; Mary; and the Chin family.



For those who have died, especially Brena Parsons, friend of Mary Calvin, and Mary Louise Chin, beloved wife of Phil, receive them into the arms of your mercy.

Click HERE to go directly to the Pastoral Care section of our website. We have information about Healing Prayers, our Words of Comfort booklet and how to contact us via email.

Alarm System to be Activated Dec. 8

If you ever enter the church when no one is there, please be sure to get trained on the new alarm system, which will be in use starting Monday, Dec. 8. You will learn the simple steps to "disarm" the system when you enter the building, and then "arm" the system when you leave. This procedure is needed only if you are the first to enter the building any day, or last to leave. 

Joe Michaud is doing training after services on Sundays, or contact him by email HERE to arrange a time.

Storytellers Will Meet This Sunday (11/16) After Worship

Please join us in the chapel to tell and/or hear stories about a favorite holiday memory. Could be Christmas, Thanksgiving, Arbor Day, or whatever.

Bishop Brown's Sermon Available Online

Many people have asked Amanda for a copy of the sermon Bishop Brown preached when he celebrated with us last month. His sermon, as well as Amanda's sermons from the past year, can be found here: https://www.stbartsyarmouth.org/sermons.html.

An Invitation to Help Prepare Memorial Garden for the Winter

Anyone who has a bit of time in invited to join Lish and me this coming Friday, the 14th, for our final session in the Memorial Garden. 

Our work goals:

- edge all beds, especially to remove buttercup and clover

- pack leaves/pine needles at base of new shrubs

- cut back any plants as needed

This will make our work in the spring so much easier, as well as help our shrubs in particular over winter. Lish and I will be there at 9:00 am; we will wrap up by 11:30-noon, depending on the number of hands. Please bring tools for the above the tasks: water, kneeling pads, tarps. I’ll provide a ’sweet treat.’

Please send any questions, comments, concerns, or ideas to Joyce Cassidy (207-272-0262).

St. Bart's is Having a Friendsgiving Harvest Supper!

Friday, Nov 21, 5:30 pm

We are excited about the upcoming “Friendsgiving” 

Potluck Harvest Dinner to be held at St. Bart’s on Friday November 21, 2025, beginning at 5:30 PM. Please let us know you are coming by clicking the RSVP link below (we need a head count for our preparations!), and indicate what dish you will be bringing to feed about 10 people. Please indicate if your dish is gluten free and/or vegetarian.  



Also, please indicate how many people will be coming with you. We hope you will invite friends and neighbors!!

We appreciate any help that can be offered in setting up and taking down. Jay and Basil Souder plan on being at the church at 4:00 PM to begin setting up tables and warming the 25 LB turkey they will be providing.

We look forward to seeing all of you there!!

RSVP HERE

Christmas Fair Tip

 Please watch for the Christmas Information flyer in Sunday’s church program and in the Narthex

Climate Action Committee Formed

Building on the energy and enthusiasm we saw from the presentation from our Climate Action Task Force, the Vestry concluded that we should have a full committee focused on Climate Action. The Climate Action Committee is charged with leading and supporting St. Bart’s in responding faithfully and effectively to the climate crisis and the needs of our planet. Fred Edelen and Sukie Curtis will co-chair the committee, which also includes Jonathan Appleyard, Christina Ferland, Tom Hyndman, David Platt, Bas and Jay Souder, Gary Sylvester, and Arthur Woolverton. Grounding our climate work in our baptismal call to love creation and seek justice for all, the committee will aid and advise the Vestry so that it may make informed and environmentally sound decisions about our facilities and grounds as well as engage the congregation in eco-justice efforts within the wider community. To read the Climate Action Committee Charge, please click below.

2026 Pledge Campaign Update

So far 69 households have pledged $255,000 to support our operating budget for next year — and seven households are first-time pledgers. Thank you so much!

We now need $25,000 to reach the Vestry’s goal. We can do this! Please consider making a pledge in the next few days (unless you already have). Please click on the link below for convenient pledging online.

Our St. Bart’s community is truly “rooted in abundance” in so many ways — including our financial contributions. If you have any questions please contact our Stewardship Committee members: Jay and Basil Souder, Paule French, Jim Berg, Jeff Groves or John Duncan. Thank you!

Yoga Offering - Quiet Amid the Bustle

Yoga will again be offered for four weeks on Monday mornings in December, beginning on the 9th. Our focus will be to reflect, refresh, and reset, taking time for ourselves outside of the busy holiday time.

Classes will be ‘drop-in;’ held from 9:30 - 10:45 am, with a $12/class fee. Half of the proceeds will be donated back to St. Bart’s. Each class will start with a time to center, followed by warm up stretches and breathing, with poses taught to help strengthen and stretch our muscles. Class will end with shavasana, a time to relax and rejuvenate. No experience is necessary!

Wear comfortable clothes, and bring: yoga mat, blocks and strap (if you have them), water, and a blanket. 

Joyce Cassidy is a 200-hour Kripalu-trained Yoga instructor, and offered this class last year at St. Bart’s. Please see the sign-up sheet posted in the entryway if interested; a minimum of 4 attendees will ensure the classes are held. Contact Joyce for information - 207-272-0262 or email at Joyce.

CHRISTMAS FAIR:

Baked Goods & Fudge

Two other tables at the fair are wildly popular! Pam Hobson and Pamela Higgins spearhead the

baked goods table. They welcome breads, pies, snack mixes, cookies, cupcakes, anything baked,

gluten-free or not, nut-free, or chock full! All items must be clearly labeled with the ingredients

and arrive at the church on the day before the fair, December 5. Attractively packaged cookies

in bags of six or twelve helps them maximize turnover at the table. Decorated Christmas cookies are a very popular item! If you have any questions, please contact Pam Hobson!

Holly Mitchell has been making and selling her special fudge at the fair for

many years. She makes several varieties and welcomes volunteers who would like to make their

own recipe or make a batch from a recipe she will provide. Again, if using your own recipe,

please bring the candy labeled with all ingredients. What are the holidays without fudge?!

Last Weekend for Food Donations to the

Yarmouth Community Food Pantry!

It’s that time of year again. The Yarmouth Community Food Pantry (YCFP) has requested St. Bart’s members to contribute toward their Thanksgiving Meal Boxes. They would like us to collect 80+ packages of stuffing mix. There is a bin in the narthex with a sign on it. Please place your stuffing in the bin. Thank you!

Please note the deadline for donations is 12 pm on Sunday, November 16. Thank you!

As a point of interest, St. Bart’s had their own food pantry up until 2005. It was then that they and a few other area churches merged with YCFP. We usually participate in 2-4 drives per year with them.

Christmas Fair—Crafts donations

If you are planning on donating anything to the Crafts table, please bring it to church no later than Sunday, November 30th. If that is not possible, please reach out to Harriet Davis and let her know what you’ll be contributing and when you’ll be able to bring it to church. Many thanks.

How a Financial Gift from the Yarmouth Art Show

Impacted Maine Afro Yoga Project

You may remember that one of the recipients of the 2024 Yarmouth Art Show proceeds was the AfroYoga project. Please see below a letter from the Director regarding the impact of the funds on the organization...

Dear Members of St. Bart’s Episcopal Church,

Grace and peace to you.

On behalf of the Maine Afro Yoga Project, I want to express our deepest gratitude for your generous support through the 2024 Yarmouth Art Festival. Your kindness reached us at a time when many in our immigrant community have been walking through fear, uncertainty, and exhaustion.

This past year has been one of the hardest for many immigrant families here in Maine. We have faced daily reminders that we are different — sometimes through words, sometimes through silence, sometimes through open hostility. These experiences create deep anxiety and a constant need to protect ourselves and our children. Yet, even in that heaviness, people continue to show up — searching for peace, trying new ways to calm their minds, heal their bodies, and care for their families.

Because of your generosity, we were able to keep our small South Portland studio open — a place where people can come, take a deep breath, and remember that they belong. With your support, we paid and trained immigrant instructors who offered 72 yoga and mindfulness sessions, reaching 317 participants over the past year. Many of them stepped onto a yoga mat for the very first time. What began as curiosity has become courage — a quiet practice of reclaiming peace, strength, and self-worth in a world that often denies it.

Your gift has done more than fund classes. It has nurtured a circle of healing — a community where people learn to breathe through fear, where hope is restored through movement, and where love is practiced as resistance.

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for believing in us, for seeing us, and for standing with us in this work of healing. May God bless each of you abundantly for the compassion you have shown to our community.

With gratitude and peace,

Nuna Gleason (she/her)

Director & Lead Instructor | Maine Afro Yoga Project

The Vestry Minute

The E-News will now include a brief nugget of information from the Vestry each week. These are meant to provide current news or to refresh past information.

Did you know...

...that St. Bart's is one of the 8 sponsoring churches of St. Elizabeth's Essentials Pantry?

Sign Ups & Resources for Volunteers

To learn more about opportunities to volunteer in the community through St. Bart's (St. Elizabeth's, Friendship House, etc.), go to the COMMUNITY OUTREACH page on our website.

To sign up for a Sunday morning Coffee Hour shift, click HERE.