Let's help our mission partner by stocking the shelves with diapers and wipes! Larger sizes (3, 4, and 5) are in the greatest demand.

Lowcountry Pregnancy Center provides support to pregnant women in the lowcountry with free medical and other pregnancy-related services. To help mothers and fathers prepare, LPC offers parenting classes along with free baby items each month.

This past Saturday, nearly 30 St. Philippians met for another workday at the St. Christopher Camp and Conference Center on Seabrook Island. Since the onset of COVID, Camp St. Christopher has been operating with limited staff, unable to keep up with the landscape needs of this beautiful barrier island. Individuals, parents with their teenagers, and even one family of three generations all showed up to serve. Equipped with chainsaws, weed eaters, blowers, and mowers, we all set off in different directions to tackle the day.

I joined the chainsaw crew and headed to Kimbel Chapel for what l thought would be some easy limbing and pruning. However, when we arrived, we were told to cut everything from the chapel to the dunes. The problem was that from the chapel, we couldn’t even see the dunes for all of the trees and shrubs that needed to go. Undaunted, we began to work.

Growing up, I always hoped I’d audibly hear God’s voice. My notion of hearing God was based on Bible stories such as when John baptizes Jesus in the Jordan, and “just as Jesus was coming out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased’” (Mark 1:10-11). Nothing like this has ever happened to me, and in my younger years I was kind of disappointed it didn’t. I thought it meant God wasn’t talking to me. 

From 2012 to 2013, my husband, Tom, and I lived on the campus of Uganda Christian University, an Anglican university known as a “Centre for Excellence in the Heart of Africa.” Tom had received a Fulbright Scholarship from the U.S. State Department to establish and equip science classrooms and labs in the newly constructed science building.

In the 20 years leading up to our time in Uganda, I had spoken many times to young audiences about God’s design for love, sex, and relationships. As a high school English teacher and the mother of three daughters, I’d seen what was happening in my students’ and daughters’ peer groups––the culture of casual sex––and I was led to teach them about abstinence and about setting boundaries designed to protect and secure a pure relationship. When I placed the essentials for our nine-month stay in Uganda in my carry-on bag (my Bible and two sets of clothing in case of lost luggage––I’d learned my lesson the hard way) I also slipped in several folders of presentations on a Christian understanding of sexuality. Would African university students grapple with their sexuality like the hundreds of American students I had met and talked with? I would soon find out.

Please plan to join us for a fun outdoor gathering as we celebrate Suzy’s truly remarkable life laid down for the sake of Christ in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, for 30 years! Through the life of this one obedient vessel and the power of Jesus, countless lives have been rescued, changed, and transformed.

Call (843) 442-9306 to reserve your spot!

We would love once again to recognize our hardworking graduates in the inSPIRE, eSPIRE, and Sunday bulletin! If you or someone in your family is graduating this spring (or graduated in December), please submit the information at the link below.

The church staff team has a particular need for front desk volunteers Tuesday, May 11, through Thursday, May 21, to facilitate some much-deserved time away. We've set up coverage openings for morning and afternoon slots, but even a couple of hours of your presence would be a huge blessing! Duties involve greeting visitors and answering the phone with the spirit of Christian hospitality (and no worries, we'll walk you through the phone steps). Questions? Email Rachel Murphy or call (854) 429-1928.

We are happy to announce that the inSPIRE, the printed version of our newsletter, will be mailed every other week beginning today! We intend to resume weekly mailings in September.

Many of our parishioners are already signed up to receive the inSPIRE. If you would like to receive the inSPIRE and haven't received it by Saturday, please contact the church office. If you receive it in the mail this week but would prefer to receive it by email only, please fill out the brief form (name and email address) at the link below.

The St. Philip's Choir is preparing for a service of Evensong on Sunday, June 6, and we are also hoping to welcome the full choir back to Sunday services soon! If God has given you the gift of a voice to sing his praises, we invite you to join us. Remember, if you can speak, you can sing! Men are especially needed. Socially distanced rehearsals are Wednesdays at 6:00 p.m. in the Parish Hall (remember your mask, please).

Do let us know to expect you so we can have music prepared for you, and consider joining us as we serve in London as resident choir at St. Paul's Cathedral in August 2022.

Call Pat Gould at (843) 364-9552 or email her at pgould@stphilipschurchsc.org if you have questions or you're ready to give choir a try.

We are pleased to offer preschool camp for babies through age three! Two sessions are available (campers must have been born after September 1, 2017), and at each session, the children enjoy socializing while engaging in age-appropriate activities.

The fee per child is $250, and campers do not have to be St. Philip's Preschool students to attend. Space is limited, with preference given for church members and for full-week camp attendance.

Reservations for this Sunday's services of Holy Communion at 8:15 and Morning Prayer at 10:30 a.m. open today at 9:00 a.m. Children's worship and childcare during the 10:30 service are available for infants and young people through third grade, with limited capacities within each age group. You may register for childcare at the link below after first registering to attend the 10:30 service, or you may call the church office at (843) 722-7734 to reserve space.

Mere Christianity began as a series of radio talks during the darkest days of World War II in England. Lewis was asked by the BBC to do the talks because so many people were living in fear and anxiety and were feeling that the world was crumbling around them, that "the wheels had come off the bus." Our culture today is beset with many of those same anxieties, albeit for different reasons. Lewis's broadcast talks were then edited by Lewis and published in book form as Mere Christianity. The book is still remarkably fresh today and serves as an encouragement to the believer, a winsome challenge to the doubter, and an effective apologetic for the unbeliever.

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!

If you don't yet know that THE best way to spend your lunch hour is on Zoom with the Rev. Jeffrey S. Miller, then this is either your first time reading this far down the eSPIRE or you're new to St. Philip's and this is actually your very first eSPIRE! If it's the latter, welcome! And if it's the former, well ... this is your weekly reminder make yourself a sandwich tomorrow, grab your Bible and a seat on your couch (or a friend's couch, out on your patio––anywhere with wifi), and click the link below a few minutes before noon tomorrow. See you (on Zoom) then!

The word has spread about the great benefits offered to St. Philip's part-time office and building/grounds helpers (candy corn, jelly beans, Milk-Bones, etc.), and while we're happy that our workers are happy, it does put us in an uncomfortable situation: we are now having to turn away applicants.*

Lane, an 11-week-old yellow lab from Alabama, stopped by to inquire last week, and while she was disappointed no spots were available, she was polite and gracious when accepting the news. Gus, our most recent hire (who happens to have the exact same birthday as Lane but is not related to her), was quite relieved she was turned away, as he was concerned both for his own job security and that of his sister Carly.

Also relieved was Cecilia Walchesky, our sexton-in-training, who returned to work yesterday after taking some unpaid leave to prepare for turning two in late April. Unlike Gus and Carly, she wasn't worried about losing her job, but she did have concerns about her salary. She needn't have been worried at all, though––we hear a raise is not out of the realm of possibility!

If you follow St. Philip's on social media, you already knew about Lane's inquiry. But if you haven't followed us yet, why don't you take a moment right now to click one or both of the links below and give us a follow so you can be among the first to hear stories like these?

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

May 9 ~ Diaper drive for Lowcountry Pregnancy Center (drop-off begins May 3)

May 10 ~ Final drop-off for diaper drive (by 10:00 a.m. at the church office)

May 26 ~ Last Wednesdays Alive! service before summer recess

May 31 ~ Memorial Day (church office closed)

June 6 ~ Senior Recognition in Sunday bulletin and inSPIRE (date change)

June 6 ~ Choral Evensong (5:00 p.m.)

We pray for the sick: Elizabeth Boineau, Sam Chesnutt, Diane Christensen, Patty Cox, Sarah Fayard, Elizabeth Flowers, Mary Forbes, James Gettys III, Robert Gould, Steve Green, Harry Gregorie, Jr., Jonathan Hanger, Jack Howell, Clark Johnson, Denise Keranen, Joe Livesay, Connor Lowndes, Beverly Melvin, Andrew Nash, Deborah Pollak, Ed Riggs, Fran Sanders, Rose Tisdale, Mike Walsh, Carolyn Warlick, Lindsey Wing, and Charlie Yoho.

We grieve with and pray for the family of Jane Hawkins Lemon, who died on May 2.

We pray for our expectant parents: Justin and Molly Hare, Tim and Liz Strickland.

We pray for protection for Becca Baird, Chris and Julia Beasley, Graham Blunt, Henry Clayton, Ben Colyer, David Daughtridge, Hayes Fair, Morgan and Mason Herring, Andrew Kane, Horry Kerrison, Charles Kirkman, Frazier Kulze, John Mason, Zach McFadden, 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.