Sunday September 12 and future events

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Hello Friends!

I am so looking forward to being with you all for worship on Sunday!

But of course, I definitely need to extend my thanks for a wonderful first event on Sunday, August 29th. We had such a wonderful time gathering in our space for worship, eating dinner together and meeting new friends! Thank you to all who came, shared your time, all who brought food, and a big thanks to our readers, greeters, and musicians. And big thanks to the ladies who bought us flowers - that totally matched our new Prayground space! With every passing day, we are making memories and being formed. You can check out some of the pictures below...

There is always so much to say and so much to share! We have an exciting year ahead of us so I want to highlight some upcoming events and our weekly schedule.

Worship on Sundays -

8:30am - This is our pet-friendly, super-casual, communion service that lasts 30-40 minutes

9:30am - This is our main worship with music, communion, a prayground for our children, creative offerings on the tables, and fellowship or formation after worship. We also live stream this worship for those who can't be with us in person.

Weekly Offerings -

Bible Journaling - Mondays at 9:30am beginning September 13th - bring your journal bible, art supplies (although we have tons at St. Nick's) and a heart ready to connect and pray.

This informal small group spends time writing, drawing, painting, and talking about our holy scriptures.

Dinner Church - Wednesdays at 6:00pm beginning October 6th - you and your family are invited to an informal dinner and worship at St. NIck's. We will prepare a meal together, set our tables, eat together, and have guided faith conversations and prayers. This is communion through a gathered meal and time in prepartion for dinner, prayer and fellowship. Donations for food and supplies are always welcome.

Mom's Group - Thursday mornings at 9:15am beginning October 7th - a weekly gathering of mom's supporting moms in prayer, conversation, and study. During this anxious time in the life of parenting, we are coming together to support one another. On nice days we will meet outside on the front patio.

Men's Group - Thursdays at 11:30am for lunch, learning, conversation, prayer. This group meets at St. Nick's. Bring your lunch. If you forget it, we always have food and drinks in the fridge.

Women's Bible Study - Thursdays at 1:00pm on Zoom. This Bible Study focuses on one of the readings from the upcoming Sunday scriptures.

Special Outreach to Provisions - times to be determinded with Rev. Beth. Provisions food pantry, next door to us, has a desire for pastors and their faithful folks to share prayers with their volunteers. This is a five to ten minute ministry where we share brief prayers and reflections with our neighbors building the kingdom through service to others. We would share a rotation of service with other churches in town. If you are interested please email Rev. Beth.

Special Events in the next couple of months -

Blessing of the Animals - October 3rd at 5pm. Bring your pet, a picture of your pet or your favorite lovie stuffed animal and come for a blessing in honor of St. Francis. This year we are offering stuffed animal adoption with collar making and dog bed supplies. We have fun dog name activities, special gifts and blessing certificates. This is a family friendly event and a great time to invite your friends to come and join us!!!

Blessing of our Church Space - Date still to be determined but hoping for a November date.

Trunk or Treat October 30th - Save the date to team up with the Mammen Family Library for their annual Trunk or Treat. Jeremy and I helped out last year and had a blast!

Blessing of the Costumes October 31st - who doesn't want to come to church in a costume? Children of all ages are invited to come to Church for a blessing of the costumes and fun and spooky fellowship lunch after the 9:30am worship. This is the first in a series of 5th Sunday Fundays. Every month that has a 5th Sunday we will gather for lunch and a special multi-generational event. Keep on the lookout for January, May, and July Funday events!!!

November 7th All Saints Sunday - All Saints is a day historically set aside for baptisms in episcopal communities. If you are interested in being baptized or getting your child/youth baptized, contact Rev. Beth.

November 9th - Creative Spirituality Outreach Event 2:00-3:30pm or 6-7:30pm. Last year we distributed cookies and cards to folks in the Spring Branch and Bulverde Community for World Kindness Day. This year, we will be creating goodie bags and cards for folks in our community who need a little TLC. We want people to create bags and cards, and a dozen people to hand out goodies on the 12th and 13th.

November 11th - Special Evening Prayer and fellowship for the Veterans in our community of faith. Come and join in prayers of thanksgiving and dinner in honor of your service, or in honor of a family member's service. All are welcome to come and give thanks, support and encourage one another.

December 5th - Bishop's Visit, Two year anniversary, confirmations, and St. NIcholas Celebration! Wow! So much going on with this day!!! If you are looking to be confirmed, reaffirmed, or received into the episcopal church contact Rev. Beth. You can read more about that below...

As you can see there is lots going on!!! When you come this Sunday we will have sign-ups for ministries like greeters, readers, and altar ministries. In addition, we will have sign-ups for our special events. As you can see we are blossoming and your gifts of time and talent are definitely wanted. Whenever you come to worship (online or inperson) and whenever you participate in the life of our little growing church, you are helping us to become who God is calling us to be!

Many of you have shared ideas on small groups, ministries, and outreach to our community. Let's make that happen! Over the next few months we will have a couple of community gatherings to pray, dream together, and plan for our community of faith. Reach out to Rev. Beth with your ideas and hopes. If you want to start a small group or head up a ministry, contact her and again, let's make that happen! And remember, we are a multi-generational community of faith - all ages are welcome and seen as full members of the church, able to bring hope, joy and love to the world!

As we discern what God is calling us to do and be in our community of faith, here is a prayer for guidance for all of us...

Gracious God, thank you for being our light in this world. Guide our steps along this path. We thank you for the gift of the church, a community of your beloved and faithful people who gather to worship, serve, pray, and love one another and the world. Give us strength and courage to share your love in the world and bless us with knowledge and wisdom as we discern where our gifts and talents are needed as individuals and corproately. Help us to be a blessing to one another and to our neighbors. All this we ask in sure confidence of Your love in our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

God's peace, love and blessings,

Beth+

Thanks for the fun Sunday Evening Worship!

What a terrific first gathering in our worship space on August 29th. Here are some pics for your enjoyment!

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Confirmation and Formation

Bishop's Visit December 5, 2021

The Episcopal Church is lovingly called " a branch of the Jesus Movement" by our presiding Bishop, Michael Curry. When you become involved at St. Nicholas you are joining a bigger movement - the Episcopal Church.

Traditionally, older youth and adults are welcome to be confirmed, in the Episcopal Church. We also have two other rites, reception and reaffirmation that are offered to those wishing to affirm and reaffirm their faith in God's church. The sacrament of confirmation, and the rites of reception and reaffiramtion are celebrated at the Bishop's visit.

In Confirmation, a baptized Christian makes "a public and mature commitment to Christ." through participating in the sacrament of confirmation.

For those who have been baptized and confirmed by a bishop in another Christian church (Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Eastern Orthodox) but want to publically affirm their new membership in the Episcopal Church they can participate in the rite of reception.

Those wishing to reaffirm their faith, which many do after a season of doubt, or a significant event or milestone in life, can also participate in this rite during the bisop's visitation.

Youth (8th grade or older) and adults interested in Confirmation can reach out to Rev. Beth for more information. Our confirmation retreat will be held on Saturday November 13th from 9:30am to 2:30pm. We will have breakfast, lunch, and learn the basics of the Episcopal Church.

In honor of the 20th anniversary of 9/11

We are marking the 20th anniversary of 9/11 this week. It is so hard to believe it has been that long. I was listening to an article earlier about how to share the events of 9/11 with children and youth, many of whom, do not remember this event. It is, to them, history. But for many people it is not history and it is not forgotten.

I shared in my sermon last week about two survivor trees in the United States. The first in Oklahoma City that survived the domestic terrorist attack in 1995 and the second, a Callery Pear Tree that survied the terror attacks on the World Trade Center.

From the 9/11 Memorial website - "In October 2001, a severely damaged tree was discovered at Ground Zero, with snapped roots and burned and broken branches. The tree was removed from the rubble and placed in the care of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.

After its recovery and rehabilitation, the tree was returned to the Memorial in 2010. New, smooth limbs extended from the gnarled stumps, creating a visible demarcation between the tree’s past and present. Today, the tree stands as a living reminder of resilience, survival, and rebirth."

Since 2013, the 9/11 memorial chooses three communities to donate seedlings from this tree in response to the trauma or tragedy in their community and as an act of encouragement to continue being resilient in the face of hardship.

In 2020 the three communities honored with this gift of encouragement and hope were, The Bahamas devastated by Hurricane Dorian, Christ Church New Zealand which endured a mass shooting, and five hospitals in New York City's five boroughs recognizing their work in light of the health crisis with the Coronavirus Pandemic.

So often we are told to "look for the helpers" when we suffer a tragedy. And we know that 9/11 was a time when we saw how good overcame evil in the days after when first responders came to help, lots of strangers helped one another with food, prayers, places to stay. The memorial's ongoing work of encouraging communities to be resilient in the face of loss is a reminder for us that "the helpers" often come after the initial tragedy and healing takes many, many, many years.

My prayer is that we will help one another (and our littlest ones) to remember this day as the tragedy it was. I also pray that we will help one another remember that as a people of faith we have hope, love, grace, and forgiveness. And as a people of faith, we believe that Jesus shows us how to overcome big acts of evil with lots of little acts of goodness, mercy, love, and forgiveness.

All of the love, kindness, grace, and forgiveness shown over the past twenty years wins out over the darkness. In this sweet video the survivor tree reminds us that even though you can see the injuries from the day, you can also see the new growth from the love and care received. With each new branch and each new blossom, healing has come. This is how God works. Our hurt doesn't disappear but new life somehow...miraculously... comes forth. It is what we faithful people call a mystery. A divine mystery of God's redemptive love in our world.

I pray we are all like that tree. New growth, new life, new blossoms from old wounds.

Let us pray this prayer adapted from Forty Days of Prayer for Children.

Dear God,

We pray for all people who lost loved ones on September 11, 2001. Comfort them and give them hope. Help us to honor the lives of those who died, through our thoughts and our actions, and grant them the happiness and joy of heaven with You. Fill us with love and forgiveness, and help us to live peacefully with every person we meet.

As we see pictures and hear memories of the suffering and confusion of September 11, help us to remember all the good that you have put in Your world.

Help us to share Your love, hope, and joy with those we meet that are suffering and confused.

Amen.

Save the Date

Invite your friends & fur babies

We will gather at St. NIck's at 5pm on October 3rd for one of our favorite events - Animal Blessing. Bring your fur babies, or a picture of them and celebrate with us!!!

St. Nicholas Episcopal Church

2265 Bulverde Rd,

Bulverde, TX 78163

Phone: 214-213-0739