THE EPISTLE:

February 20, 2025

Silver Saints Movie Matinee Presents: You've Got Mail TODAY at 1pm!

Since February is our Valentine Month we have for the Silver Saints Movie Matinee, a light, happy, delightful movie for the mood. We are offering the movie; You’ve Got Mail with Tom Hanks & Meg Ryan, a romantic comedy of two people in an online romance who are unaware they are also business rivals. We will show this feel-good movie THIS AFTERNOON, Thursday, February 20, at 1:00 PM in the St. Thomas Parish Hall.

As always, the Silver Saints Movie Matinee offers fun and fellowship with our parishioners and visitors with free movies and a social time with those we love. Snacks and beverages are available, and we will provide transportation if you wish. We offer comfortable seating and a break half way through the movie. Call Jack or Becky Stokes at 256-881-4748 or the church office for planning purposes. Please call a day ahead if you will need a ride with us. A rewarding afternoon awaits you. Please come join us.

Praying the Rosary with

Fr. Donavan, every other Friday, at 12:05 pm

The Rosary is now prayed at St. Thomas every other Friday, which includes TOMORROW, February 21, March 7 & 21, April 4 & 18 (check calendar for Good Friday Rosary), and May 2, 16, & 30. Each prayer session lasts around half an hour and includes the reading of each scripture passage for the five decades of either the Joyful, Sorrowful, Glorious, or Luminous Mysteries of the Holy Rosary. If you’ve never prayed the Rosary before, we always have Rosary beads available, as well as written directions to help you fully participate in this meaningful, scriptural, and contemplative prayer practice

Register for the St. Thomas Parish Retreat:

March 7-9 Camp McDowell - Sign up NOW!

REGISTRATION DEADLINE IS FEBRUARY 28!

Parish Retreat 2025

Join us for March 7-9 for our Parish Retreat at Camp McDowell! We have lots of fun planned-- canoeing, hiking, art, farm activities-- and plenty of social time on Saturday. We will close our weekend together with a Eucharist on Sunday, March 9. You are welcome to come both nights, one night, or just for the day on Saturday, March 8.  Click this LINK HERE to register you (and your group). The registration deadline is February 28.  Please note that while using your Realm account would help speed up the registration process, an account is not required to register for Parish Retreat. A limited number of paper registrations will be available in Information Hall. 

An individual room is for 1-2 people while a family room is for 3-4 people. Be sure to sign up for meals after you select your room type. St. Thomas will cook hamburgers and hot dogs for those interested on Friday night. Saturday and Sunday meals will be through Camp McDowell. In the "Memo" section, please indicate if you would like to share a room and/or cabin with someone, need a mobility accessible room, or need gluten-free meals.  



Contact Deacon Jeannie regarding financial assistance to attend retreat. Contact Laura Beth Bestor or Scott Moore if you have questions regarding registration. 

Join us THIS TUESDAY!

Got questions? Email Mtr. Katie HERE.

Thank You, St. Thomas, for a successful Appreciation Dinner for Pi Kappa Alpha!

We had the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity Dinner at St. Thomas on Saturday, February 15th, in honor of the fraternity's support for Lobsterfest 31 last year. We fed almost 50 fraternity guys and their girlfriends! They all went home with full tummies and were grateful for the dinner. THANK YOU to all the parishioners who supplied food and/or supported the dinner!

LOBSTERFEST 32 IS COMING!

We are still looking for someone to team up with this year's Lobsterfest King, Doug Eskew, to lead Lobsterfest 32! If you are interested, please contact Tom Perry at (256) 348-4313 or email Tom by clicking HERE. You can also contact Doug Eskew directly at (256) 651-9752 or by emailing him HERE.

Laissez les bon temps rouler! Upcoming Shrove Tuesday Celebration at St. Thomas! 

Join us in the Parish Hall on Tuesday, March 4th, from 5:30pm-7pm, for our annual Shrove Tuesday Celebration! 

Feast on pancakes, gumbo, and bread pudding prepared by the St. Thomas Youth, while the Kiddie Krewe present their parade through the Parish Hall before we move outside to bury the Alleluias for the season of Lent!  The evening will conclude with the Burning of the Palms to create the ashes for Ash Wednesday the next morning. 



Invite your friends and don't miss this evening as we prepare for the Holy Season of Lent.

Calling all St. Thomas Youth Grades 7 - 12:

MARDI GRAS COOKS and DECORATORS NEEDED!

Hey St. Thomas Youth Brigade! Are you ready to get your Mardi Gras on?? If so, show up in the Parish Hall on Sunday, March 2nd, from 12:15pm - 2:30pm, and come back for the big event on Shrove Tuesday, March 4th, at 4:30pm! We need your help slicing, dicing, prepping for gumbo, decorating and setting up the Mardi Gras tables, and flipping some seriously fluffy PANCAKES! LUNCH WILL BE  PROVIDED on Sunday, March 2nd! Got questions...talk to Mardi Gras Maestro, Deacon Jeannie Randall. Email Jeannie HERE.

Looking to take on something for Lent this year??

A soup and salad supper will be served prior to the Lenten program each Wednesday evening during Lent.  By popular demand, we are bringing back the “team” soup and salad meal prep 2.0.

Here is how it works. Sign-up on the sheets provided. Our team leaders need five to seven volunteers each week. The entire team will gather in our kitchen and make supper together. The team will prepare a soup du jour, salad, and breads/crackers to serve everyone; then clean up the kitchen after supper is over. The week’s team leader decides and shops for the menu.  

Please join us in the kitchen this Lent!

Join the women of St. Thomas and the whole Diocese and register for the Diocesan Women's Retreat. Simply click the image below, scan the QR code, or visit https://www.dioala.org to register.

Happening #86

March 7-9

St. John's in Decatur, AL

Attention all youth grades 10 - 12, Happening 86 is March 7-9 @ St John’s Episcopal Church.

Happening is a peer-led weekend retreat where young people encounter the living Christ as expressed in the traditions of the Episcopal church. 

For more information and instructions on registration contact Jeannie. She will be available during the Christian formation time Sunday morning. You can also click the image to register. Deadline for registration is Feb. 15. 

Adult Christian Formation Class to wrap up this Sunday -

Credo: The Church's Need for Creeds! 

This year, 2025, is the 1,700th Anniversary of one of the most important parts of our Christian worship each and every Sunday, the Nicene Creed. In this new class, led by Fr. Donavan, we will take a deep dive into both the Nicene and the Apostles Creed, seeking to better understand what the Creeds actually profess and the where and why they were developed for the early church in the first place.  Find out about the early controversies and heresies which brought about the need for creeds and the inevitable further controversies and divisions the creeds caused in the Western and Eastern Church. Join Fr. Donavan in the Parish Hall at 9:30am this Sunday!

Sunday "Come As You Are" Eucharist

"Come As You Are"

5pm Holy Eucharist

This Sunday, and every Sunday, at 5pm in the Nave, you are invited to the "Come As You Are" Holy Eucharist at St. Thomas. The 5pm Holy Eucharist features joyful hymns from the Alleluia III hymnal, special gospel music chosen by our amazing pianist and organist, Sam Wright, and casual sermons preached from the floor. The next Sunday Supper is March 2, 2025. 

Children's and Youth's Ministry every Sunday at St. Thomas

Now you can find out the regularly scheduled Children and Youth Sunday School offerings by simply clicking the link below. You can also find both Adult and Treble Choir rehearsal times and times for Bell Choir rehearsals with just a simple click of the button below!

A New Habitat for Humanity House is about to go up in Huntsville! Come help us build it!

Calling all volunteers! Habitat for Humanity will begin building this year’s new house later this month. They are looking for volunteers to assist in the project. If you are willing and able, please contact George Harriman at 256-509-6666. We are also looking for a new lead contact person for Habitat for Humanity at St. Thomas, as our dedicated past leader, Elouisa Stokes, has stepped down after many years in that role.

First Stop Volunteers Needed!

St. Thomas serves a hot breakfast at First Stop on 206 Stokes Street in downtown Huntsville on the first and second Friday of each month to First Stop clients. We need more helpers to assist with preparing food and serving for the first Friday breakfast team. We serve from 8:15 – 9:00 a.m.

If you are interested in helping, please call Patty Moy 256-655-2756. Thank you!

Volunteers Needed for Sunday Morning Refreshments



February is full but we still need a few more individuals or families to help to keep the refreshments coming on Sundays following the 10:30 am service. Bring homemade or store-bought sweet treats for a Sunday so that we can spend a few minutes gathering after worship. Please sign up using the poster in Information Hall. Instructions are in a manilla envelope under the signup sheet. Thank you for helping us keep this vital part of our parish thriving!

Phone: 256.880.0247

Email: StThomas@stthomashuntsville.org