THE EPISTLE:

March 6, 2025

Mom's Group TONIGHT,

March 6 at 6:30 PM in the Parish Hall

Mom's Group meets TONIGHT, March 6, at 6:30 pm in the Parish Hall.

Mom's Group is a special ministry that is dedicated to women who have children at home ages 0-18. The monthly Mom's Group is a time to come together as mothers with young children to support one another, share in the love and laughter, and help each other through the challenges and struggles that motherhood brings. Being a mom is not always easy, so one night a month we come together to ask the good Lord for patience and strength and to lean on one another in this shared experience. Please bring a mom friend!

Praying the Rosary with

Fr. Donavan TOMORROW, Friday, March 7

We continue to Pray the Rosary in Lent every other Friday at 12:05 pm. 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, and written directions to help you fully participate in this meaningful, scriptural, and contemplative prayer practice.

LENT IS HERE!

The Great Litany & Rite I Eucharist for 8am arrive THIS Sunday, March 9th

This Sunday, March 9th, is the First Sunday in the 40 day season of Lent. In the Episcopal Church, the first Sunday of Lent is often observed with the recitation of the first liturgy to be translated from Latin into English, the Great Litany pp.148-153 in the BCP. This year at St. Thomas, we will again begin our Sundays in Lent with this deep and moving prayer, spoken together at the 8am Eucharist and sung with our choir and the sound of a bell at the 10:30am Eucharist. 

And to go deeper into our Lenten worship at St. Thomas this year, starting on the First Sunday of Lent the 8am Holy Eucharist will use the older liturgy of Rite I from the Book of Common Prayer found on pp. 323-349. Rite I uses traditional English language and can help our worship together focus more profoundly on repentance and God's mercy during Lent. Mtr. Katie is ready to help everyone at 8am prepare for the changes in the prayers and responses this year with a quick practice this Sunday morning, just before we begin the Great Litany. So, get ready for "The Lord be with you. And with THY SPIRIT!” beginning on Sunday, March 9th, during the 8am Holy Eucharist!

If you've never experienced the more traditional language and Anglican worship of both the Great Litany and the Rite I Holy Eucharist in the Episcopal Church, this is your opportunity to step back into the history of our church and follow Jesus more deeply into the desert over the forty days of Lent this year at St. Thomas.

Explore Lenten Traditions of Greek Orthodoxy and Episcopalian Faith Together with Mtr. Katie THIS Sunday, March 9

This Lent we will move from Fr. Donavan’s class on orthodoxy to Mtr. Katie’s class about Orthodoxy — specifically, she will be talking about her life as an Episcopal priest married to a Greek Orthodox musician! We will kick off our conversation in the parish hall THIS SUNDAY by learning about how Greek Orthodox folks and Episcopalians prepare for Lent.

Children and Youth Christian Formation Combine THIS Sunday, March 9

Children and Youth Sunday School will meet at 9:30 am on Sunday, March 9 in Hiers Hall Room 2 to finish our service project in support of the upcoming parish Honduran mission.  

After the Children's Moment at the 10:30am Eucharist, children will return to their families as we will NOT have Children's Chapel this Sunday. Children's Chapel will return on Sunday, March 16.

See 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!

St. Thomas Book Club

March 10 at 10 AM in the Parlor

Still Life with Bread Crumbs

by Anna Quindlen

The St. Thomas Book Club will meet on March 10 at 10 am in the Parlor. We have been reading Still Life with Bread Crumbs by Anna Quindlen. Everyone is invited. Call Elouisa Stokes at 256-604-8669 for more information.

Volunteers Needed for Lenten Soup and Salad Supper

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.

We have team leads established however we are in need of VOLUNTEERS! 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 use the sign up sheet in Information Hall.

Please join us in the kitchen this Lent!

Lenten Series on The Great Divorce begins March 12th!

This year's Lenten Series at St. Thomas begins Wednesday, March 12th, at 6:15 PM in the Parish Hall with a deep dive into C.S. Lewis' classic, The Great Divorce. This short novel follows the tale of an observer who steps onto a bus in the "Gray Town" of Hell to travel with troubled souls to the possibility of entrance into Heaven! In the masterful way for which C.S. Lewis is known, Lewis opens up the struggles all of us have with sin and faith; he completely turns the traditional Christian ideas of Heaven and hell on their head without ever turning away from the Bible and the church's teachings. A special Taize Worship Service will begin each Wednesday program at 5:30 PM in the Nave, and a Lenten supper of homemade soup and salad will begin being served in the Parish Hall this year at 5:45 PM. 

The book is available for purchase in any format in your favorite online bookstores, or at the local Barnes & Noble. OR download a PDF ebook version of the book by clicking HERE.  If you have any questions, call the church office or speak to Mtr. Katie this Sunday!

Taizé Prayer

Wednesday,

March 12 at 5:30 PM

Taizé Prayer is a distinctive style of meditative prayer developed by an ecumenical community of monks in rural France. This quiet, moving, reflective prayer combines elements of the Church's traditional Liturgy of the Hours with elements of contemplative meditation. A typical Taizé prayer service incorporates periods of silence with meditative readings from Scripture, prayers of praise and intercession, and the frequent repetition of simple, contemporary chants based on the Psalms or other parts of Scripture. Short songs or chants, repeated over and over, create a meditative environment and express fundamental realities of faith that the mind and the heart can easily grasp. The result is to move prayer from the head to the heart gradually.

Spanish BCP's Needed for Honduran Medical Mission

Father David, the priest of Holy Trinity, La Ceiba, our partners for the March medical Mission, has asked for Spanish language prayer books. If you wish to donate, CLICK HERE for our Venmo or leave a check with the church office with "Honduras Prayer Books" in the memo line. The suggested donation is $25 per book. ¡Gracias!

UPCOMING

Lenten Quiet Day - Five Ways FAITH can Free us from Anxiety & Worry -

NEW DATE,

Saturday, March 22nd

The entire parish is invited to join the Daughters of the King for a special Lenten Quiet Day led by Fr. Donavan on Saturday, March 22nd, from 9am - 2pm. Coffee and snacks will be available beginning at 8:30 AM in the Parish Hall, and Fr. Donavan will begin his timely program entitled "The Five Ways Faith can Free us from Anxiety & Worry" at 9am. A lunch will be provided at noon, and we will finish with open discussion, questions, and prayer.

In order to help us know how much food is needed for lunch, please let the church office know you plan to attend by RSVP'ing to stthomas@stthomashuntsville.org or calling the Kathie in the office. NO ONE WILL BE TURNED AWAY, but your RSVP ensures that we have lunch for you! 

Please plan on joining Fr. Donavan and the Daughters on Saturday, March 22nd, for this important discussion of how our faith can (and should!) be our greatest defense against worry, anxiety, and stress in the world and in our personal, day-to-day lives!

Join Us at Ditto for a Holy Hike

March 15 at 9 AM

Our next Holy Hike will be along the Tennessee Riverwalk Greenway on Saturday, March 15th at 9am. This will be an out and back riverside hike, approximately 3.75 miles roundtrip. We’ll meet at the Kingston Pavilion parking lot at Ditto Landing which is on Ditto Landing’s southwest corner. There are restrooms onsite at the pavilion and at the marina office. Please contact Brett Byford with any questions at brettbyford59@gmail.com or 256.808.5776.

Ditto Landing: 293 Ditto Landing Rd SE, Huntsville, AL 35803. Map shown below.

Save the Date: April 5 for a Racial Healing Pilgrimage

Pilgrimage for The Scottsboro Boys

Saturday, April 5, 11 AM - 2 PM

The fight for civil rights began in this state much earlier than most folks think. This 1931 trial, held in Scottsboro, where nine young black men were falsely accused and then convicted of raping two white women, became international news, highlighting the need for jury reform, and leading to two landmark Supreme Court rulings that established rights for criminal defendants. 

Our brothers and sisters in the southern part of our diocese invite folks to come walk the Jonathan Daniels pilgrimage in August. We would love your support and to invite folks here, to the "Northern Kingdom", to walk the way of a pilgrim, on a moral pilgrimage April 5. 

If you would like to join, please register HERE or visit https://www.dioala.org/event-details-id19/?id=310

Volunteers are needed for this event to be successful. Please consider ways you can help and CLICK HERE to sign-up or copy and paste the following link in your browser https://forms.office.com/r/7v11sNU40H.

New Women's Group

New Ministry - Sisters in Faith

Are you in the mid portion of your life and looking for fellowship? Are you interested in getting to know your St. Thomas sisters better and have some fun? 

If you answered yes, please join us for a social/organizational meeting for a new ministry, Sisters in Faith, on Tuesday, March 25, 2025, at 6:00 p.m. in the Parish Hall. We envision this group meeting monthly for fellowship, spiritual renewal and other activities.  

If you plan to attend, please send an email to Donna Palumbo at  dapal1961@gmail.com.  

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.

Monthly Diners Wanted!

There are a great many new folks at St. Thomas, as well as folks we never had the opportunity to get to know, and longtime members we've lost touch with. We were disappointed when the Sunday Suppers ended, so this past summer we decided we would work together to try to keep the Sunday Suppers going on the first Sunday of each month. We appreciate all the folks who have volunteered to provide the delicious entrees, side dishes, and desserts. We've been fortunate to be able to say we have been able to serve some really delicious meals, and we are going to keep on doing so as long as we have folks to continue volunteer to provide some part of the meal.

What we also need is people to show up for the dinners! If you come to church at 5:00, please stay. If you are a part of our parish family, please come and join us. We know of at least one person who joins us for every Sunday Supper because she enjoys the meals and the fellowship. We hope more folks will do the same.

We look forward to seeing you at the Sunday Supper!

A New Habitat for Humanity House is Raising Walls

THIS Saturday, March 8

Come help us build it!

Calling all volunteers! Volunteers are needed for construction of this year’s Habitat house. The walls will be raised next Saturday, March 8, provided the foundation is ready. The address is 4305 Blue Spring Rd NW. Please join in if you are 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!

Phone: 256.880.0247

Email: StThomas@stthomashuntsville.org