THE EPISTLE:

October 10, 2024

Mom's Group

Clothes and Jewelry Swap

TONIGHT!

St. Thomas’ Mom's group ministry for mothers with children ages 0 - 18 meets TONIGHT, October 10 at 6:30pm in the Parish Hall! We are shaking it up this month and having a clothes and jewelry Shop and Swap! Bring your gently used clothes and jewelry to shop and swap with the other mom's!

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! Contact Audrey Cain at HERE for more info.

THANK YOU ST. THOMAS! OVER $17,000 GIVEN IN A SINGLE WEEK FOR THOSE IN DESPERATE NEED OF HURRICANE RELIEF!

Thank you to EVERYONE who has given money over the past week to provide support through St. Thomas to organizations on the ground working to help those affected by Hurricane Helene and now Hurricane Milton throughout the Southeast. Over $17,000 has been collected from our parishioners, clergy, and Outreach Ministries here at St. Thomas and is being sent out to assist a variety of groups and disaster funds, including Operation Airdrop, the Cajun Navy, Samaritan's Purse, East Tennessee Community Fund, Second Harvest Food Bank, Episcopal Relief & Development, Suncoast Disaster Recovery Fund in Sarasota, FL, the Community Foundation of Tampa Bay, and All Hands & Hearts Hurricane Helene Relief, working in both North Carolina and Florida. St. Thomas is also making donations to the Bishop's Fund for Disaster Relief in the Episcopal Dioceses of Southeast Florida, Central Florida, Florida, Georgia, and Western North Carolina, along with several churches and food banks in small communities like Jefferson & Black Mountain, NC. As this week's Epistle is going out, we are still sending out funds and looking for groups on the ground, especially in the areas most recently hit by Hurricane Milton, and we are sending donations of supplies to St. Matthew's in Madison to be taken directly to places in need by the diocese.

If you'd like to contribute, we will continue to collect and help distribute funds here at St. Thomas. Just continue to drop a check or donation marked clearly for HURRICANE RELIEF in the collection plate on Sunday or drop it by the office during the week (M-F, 9am-3pm). There are also locations in the diocese, including St. Matthew Episcopal Church in Madison, still collecting direct donations of food, wool blankets, and supplies to be delivered to Episcopal Churches in the disaster areas. If you'd like to learn more about these options, click HERE.

Thank you again to everyone who has given. $17,000 is absolutely incredible and so needed by those who have suffered the storms over the past two week! Let us continue our prayers in the coming days and weeks for those who have lost family, friends, homes, and communities, as well as for those who are continuing to work to help those in such great need.

Sunday Book Study with Fr. Donavan begins THIS SUNDAY: Seculosity by David Zahl

The vast number of polls, studies, and reports say that religion in America is continuing to decline. But is religion and faith for Americans really going away, or is it just being REPLACED by other attempts to bring purpose and meaning to our lives? Join Fr. Donavan for a new book study during the Christian Formation hour in Conference Room 1, beginning at 9:30 AM this Sunday, on the book, “Seculosity: How Career, Parenting, Technology, Food, Politics, and Romance became our New Religion and What to Do About it”. The book’s author, David Zahl, is on the staff for Christ Episcopal Church in Charlottesville, Virginia, and has written numerous books on Culture, Religion, and Faith. The book is available on Amazon for $12 and there is assistance available if you need help purchasing a copy. Just let Fr. Donavan know by emailing him HERE. Come join Fr. Donavan this Sunday at 9:30 AM in what will be a conversation concerning our Christian faith and perhaps the greatest struggle it is facing in the 21st century.

New Class on the BCP led by Mtr. Katie continues this Sunday

Join Mtr. Katie in the Parish Hall this Sunday to hear about her love for our Book of Common Prayer and to learn about using the Prayer Book along with online tools for personal prayer and Bible reading in an ever-ancient, ever-new tradition practiced around the world: the Daily Office! If you own a Book of Common Prayer, please bring it with you (we will have extras)!

Don't miss this Adult Christian Formation class with our newest priest, Mtr. Katie Kirk-Costas, this Sunday at 9:30am in the Parish Hall!

Are you NEW to St. Thomas?

Newcomers Class will be held on THIS SUNDAY, October 13, at 9:30 am in the Crossroads Room. Led by Elouisa Stokes, we will teach 2000 years of Episcopal Church history in 1 hour. For more information, please call Elouisa at 265-604-8669.

It's time, St. Thomas, to make your Pledge for 2025!

Our Fall Stewardship campaign is now underway, and our prayers are that St. Thomas will be "all in" this year, as we "Walk in Love" together and prepare for new ministry and continued growth in 2025!

A letter from Fr. Donavan is available to read HERE and our pledge cards for 2025, along with a letter from our Senior Warden, George Harriman, have been mailed out to the entire parish.  This year, our Stewardship campaign is set to run from now through Sunday, October 20th, when all pledge cards will be gathered together and prayed over during all three Sunday worship services. Until then, be on the lookout for weekly bulletin inserts each week focusing on a variety of interviews and commentaries on stewardship and giving from The Episcopal Network for Stewardship. Also this year there is a special "Walk in Love Stewardship 2025" tri-fold brochures available with more information on what making a pledge to St. Thomas supports and how to work towards proportional giving. These special stewardship brochures will also be a way to pick up or pass along additional pledge cards.

We ask everyone to please prayerfully consider how you can financially support your church next year and to please make a pledge now. Let us "walk in Love as Christ loved us," continuing our work together to expand our ministries of discipleship and outreach and to build up our St. Thomas family, by opening our doors wider to our community, inviting and welcoming everyone to grow with us in faith in Jesus Christ!

Pledge online TODAY by clicking HERE!

Thursday Evening Book Study on William Peter Blatty's The Exorcist, starting October 17th

With Halloween, All Saints Day, and All Souls Day just around the corner, Fr. Donavan has decided to offer a special book study on not only one of his favorite books of all time, but a book that he will tell you had a profound impact on his eventual calling to become a priest. No, he has never performed an exorcism, but William Peter Blatty’s 1971 bestseller, The Exorcist, along with the movie released in December 1973, has continued to influence his understanding of the human struggle with faith and the continued need for the life and teachings of the church in the modern age. 

If you’ve never read The Exorcist, this is your opportunity to read the story with a chaperone and spiritual guide. And if you HAVE read the book and seen the Academy Award winning film, this is your opportunity to sit down with a priest and join in a conversation about where Christian faith, doubt, and the personification of spiritual evil intersect with Blatty’s frightening tale.

This book study will be open to adults only (obviously) and will meet in Conference Room 1 at 6pm, beginning on Thursday evening, October 17th. The book is available on Amazon for $10, and assistance is available if you need help purchasing the book. Just email Fr. Donavan HERE if you have questions or need assistance. And please note that this will be a conversation on the BOOK and not the MOVIE, though comparisons and reflections on the film will certainly play into the discussion. 

Don't miss this chance to read and the discuss William Peter Blatty's The Exorcist with Fr. Donavan, beginning Thursday night, October 17th, at 6pm! Happy Halloween!

The photo above is of the steps descending from the corner of Prospect Street and 36th Street in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, DC near Georgetown University. Once known as the "Hitchcock Steps," on Halloween of 2015, they were declared a District of Columbia Landmark and forever named as "The Exorcist Steps."

Silver Saints Presents:

My Big Fat Greek Wedding

October 17

As a tip of the hat to our new associate rector who recently experienced the glory of a Greek Orthodox wedding the Silver Saints Movie Matinee, will offer you a fun and delightful movie; My Big Fat Greek Wedding. This movie starring Nia Vardalos, John Corbett, Michael Constantine, and others is a “good-hearted, lovable, and slightly eccentric” movie about the single daughter of a Greek family in America. If you liked the movie Moonstruck, you will love this story. Come join us in the St. Thomas Parish Hall at 1:00 PM on Thursday, October 17, 2024. 

If you have never joined us, please consider doing so. You are missing a great party! The Silver Saints Movie Matinee offers free of charge warm fellowship with our parishioners and visitors. We offer snacks and beverages, and we will even pick you up and return you home if you wish. We offer comfortable seating and a time-out break half way through the movie. Please bring your friends and ask people from the neighborhood. Call Jack or Becky Stokes at 256-881-4748, or the church office at 256-880-0247. Please call 24 hours ahead if you will need a ride. Please come join us.”

Bishop Glenda Curry visits St. Thomas on

Sunday, October 27

Bishop Glenda Curry will be with us at St. Thomas at both the 8am and the 10:30am Holy Eucharist on Sunday, October 27, to preach and to offer the sacrament of Confirmation. The Bishop will also receive new members into the Episcopal Church and reaffirm the faith of the St. Thomas members who have been attending Fr. Donavan's Sunday Confirmation class.

This year for Bishop Curry's visit, we are again planning a special, celebratory breakfast, beginning immediately following the 8am Eucharist, to welcome Bishop Curry and to honor our confirmands and new and reaffirmed members. At 9:45am, Bishop Curry will address the church in the Parish Hall, and everyone is invited to attend. There will also be a light reception after the 10:30am Eucharist.

Please plan on welcoming Bishop Curry and celebrating our newly confirmed, received, and reaffirmed adults on Sunday, October 27!

All Hallow's Eve Holy Eucharist, Trunk or Treat, and Halloween Dinner, Sunday, October 27th, beginning at 5pm!

We invite you to join us to celebrate Halloween by coming in your costumes to the 5:00 pm All Hallow's Eve Eucharist and then joining us for dinner in the Parish Hall, followed by a Halloween 'Trunk or Treat' in the parking lot. Costumes are, of course, optional!

A special dinner of spaghetti and meatballs, garlic bread and salad will be provided and will begin at approximately 5:45 pm, immediately following the Eucharist. We ask that you bring a ghoulish dessert to share. We will join the children after dinner as they go trunk or treating in the parking lot. This is usually very fun and popular so we hope to see you there!

We will need lots of decorated trunks to visit. There will be a sign up sheet in Information Hall or you can contact Laura Beth Bestor by emailing her HERE if you plan to be in the parking lot. Vehicles will be lining up outside the Parish Hall under the parking lot lights.

Lobsterfest 5K 2024!

Mark your calendars for Saturday, November 2 at 8:00 a.m. The race is family-friendly, with runners and walkers of all levels welcome. CLICK HERE to register.

Also, you or your business can help by becoming a Lobster Friend or LobSTAR race sponsor! As a sponsor, you directly support our St. Thomas Lobsterfest outreach ministries. If you'd like more information on how to become a Lobsterfest 5K sponsor USE THIS LINK or contact Crystal Knickelbein.

Lobsterfest Needs Your Help! Sponsorship Opportunity!

As we gear up for this exciting event, the Lobsterfest Steering Committee is still seeking sponsors for a very prominent area: the Music Tent!

As a sponsor for the Music Tent, your donation of $1200 covers the cost of the tent and provides significant visibility, and your company receives a sign that reads, “Your Company Name Lobsterfest Music Area,” ensuring your support is recognized and highlighted to all attending.

Partnering with us not only provides excellent exposure for your business but also demonstrates your commitment to supporting a beloved community event. We can’t wait to have you!



If interested, please contact Fr. Donavan, George Harriman, or Tom Perry at lobsterfest@stthomashuntsville.org.

St. Thomas Book Club meets October 14

Horse by Geraldine Brooks

On October 14 we will meet in the parlor at 10 a.m. to discuss Horse by Geraldine Brooks. Please join us whether you have read the book or not. One of us has experience with horses! For more information call Elouisa Stokes at 256-604-8669.

Led by Laura Beth Bestor Hiers Hall

Room 6

Second through sixth graders will gather to explore their faith and express it through different art media. We will discuss the Church seasons, Bible stories, and topics unique to Episcopalians.

Led by Diane Hutson, Suzanne Mohler, & Friends Hiers Hall Room 1

Babies, toddlers, and their parents are invited to join us as we gather for a short Bible lesson and hands-on activities about our Bible stories. If your little one(s) are still getting used to the church, this new class is for you. Come help our little ones build their community!

Led by Renee’ Redfield Hiers Hall Room 4

Children ages pre-K through 1st grade will use their creativity and imagination in a Montessori approach to learn about Bible stories, worship life, and rituals and symbols of our faith. 

Sign-up to be a helper with a children's Sunday school class once a month by clicking here.  Email our Children's Ministry coordinator, Laura Beth, with questions at children@stthomashuntsville.org.

Led by Jane Allgood, Grace Casey, and Kathie Clayton - Hiers Hall Conference Room 2

Through artistic expression, community service, as well as reflection on scripture and the Book of Common Prayer, 7th -12th grade girls explore the ways being grounded in grace provides strength and courage to tackle the challenges of becoming a confident young woman in today’s world.

Led by Mike Bestor, David Hattaway, Brett Byford, John Conover, John Falco, and

Dan Morrison - Youth Room

The middle and high school young men’s group will explore the lectionary through discussion-based ministry to encourage a deeper understanding of the Bible’s teachings. This class will provide a space to belong, believe, and become better men, while sharing experiences and learning how the Bible is visible to us in everyday life.

Treble Choir has expanded and is open to Kids Grade K to Grade 8, and our rehearsal time has moved to Sunday afternoons at 3:30 – 3:45.

Treble Choir - Grades K-8, 3:30-4:15pm, Sunday

Adult Choir - Grades 9- Adult, 7:00-8:45pm, Wednesday

Bell Choir - 6:00-6:50pm, Wednesday.

Sunday Evening Gospel Choir - Rehearse just before each Sunday's 5pm service.

All of our choirs would be delighted to welcome new members. Contact Miss Kathy at music@stthomashuntsville.org for more information!

"Come As You Are"

5pm Holy Eucharist

This Sunday, and every Sunday, we have our "Come As You Are" Holy Eucharist. Our 5pm parishioners find this Sunday evening worship service meets their needs or schedules better than our morning worship. The 5pm Holy Eucharist features joyful hymns from the Alleluia III hymnal, gospel music chosen by Sam Wright, and casual mini-sermons preached from the floor.

On the first Sunday of the month, the 5pm Eucharist also offers a supper immediately following in the Parish Hall. Many of the congregation stay to enjoy each others company and conversation. The next Sunday Supper is November 3. The menu for this month is a Taco or Taco Salad Bar. You can sign up to contribute to the supper on the sign up sheet at the 5pm service on Sunday, or by emailing or texting either one of the coordinators Contact Carolyn Seaman by clicking HERE or Rebekah Callahan by clicking HERE for more information. Come and join us for what we do best - worship!

Phone: 256.880.0247

Email: StThomas@stthomashuntsville.org