THE EPISTLE:

February 15, 2024

Silver Saints Matinee

80 for Brady

TODAY, Feb. 15, at 1:00 pm

Come join us for February’s Silver Saints Matinee Movie on Thursday, February 15 at 1:00 PM. We have a really funny and quite recent movie for you this month. Come watch 80 for Brady, with Sally Field, Rita Moreno, Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, and Tom Brady, as thy chase after Tom Brady at the Superbowl. A fun movie about friendships in an adventure of a lifetime. Senior ladies ROCK!! This is a MUST-SEE.

The Silver Saints Matinee Movie offers you fun and fellowship with snacks and beverages, and we will even transport you if you wish. Comfortable seating and a mid-movie break make it comfortable. Please bring your friends and ask people from our neighborhood. Call Jack or Becky Stokes at 256-881-4748 or the church office with questions or requests. Please call 24 hours ahead if you will need a ride.

Pray the Rosary with Fr. Donavan tomorrow, Friday, February 16th

With the great turn out and interest in praying the traditional Rosary during the season of Advent last year, Fr. Donavan is offering a new, twice monthly, Rosary prayer group, which meets again on Friday, February 16th, at 12 noon in the Nave.

If you'd like to pray the Rosary, join Fr. Donavan again every other Friday in Lent at 12 noon in the church.

New Christian Formation Class for Lent begins THIS Sunday, February 18th: What does it mean to be the 'Church' today?

In the 21st Century, there are perhaps more ideas and understandings about what it means to be a "church" than any other century before. Is a church primarily a place of worship and prayer? Is a church a place for finding and growing needed fellowship and community? Should a church be a place chiefly for Christian outreach and care for the neighborhood, the city, and world? Certainly, all of these descriptions have their important place in the church of today, but is there something more that can bind all the definitions, ideas, and understandings together and keep the church focused and unified in its ultimate purpose and action?

For Lent, Fr. Donavan will be leading anyone who'd like to join him in a deeper conversation on the topic "Church." In addition to the Bible and Church tradition and teaching, Fr. Donavan will also dig into his own experience as priest, pastor, and Rector in the Episcopal Church today and share with us how his own evolving understanding of church shapes his leadership and decisions in ministry with us at St. Thomas.

St. Thomas Blood Drive

Sunday, Feb. 18

7:30 AM - 1:30 PM

Looking for something to give up for Lent? How about saving someone’s life! All donors will receive a $25 gift card.

Sign up in Information Hall or Click HERE to sign up online.

St. Thomas is happy to welcome our newest staff member, pianist and organist, Samuel Wright.

Sam has an extensive background in church music. He graduated from the University of Mobile in 2017 with a BS in Church Music with an emphasis in composition. Sam works for 7-ShapeMusic, a non-profit dedicated to furthering the traditions of shaped note music, where he is also chief editor for all their songbooks and materials. He also edits the songbooks for the Cumberland Valley Music Company of Gallatin, TN. Sam’s compositions include liturgical settings, anthems, hymn tunes, and gospel songs. St. Thomas can look forward to hearing some of his compositions soon!

Sam previously served as precentor at First Presbyterian (Russellville), organist at St-Mary’s By-The-Sea Episcopal (Coden), staff arranger at Southside Baptist Church (Huntsville), accompanist and arranger at Harmony Hill Church of God (Fayetteville, TN), assistant director of music at Phillip’s Tabernacle Primitive Church (Madison), and director of music at Owens Cross Roads Baptist Church (Owens Cross Roads), with positions at other churches throughout the Tennessee Valley and Gulf Coast regions.

Stations of the Cross for Lent returns Friday, February 23rd

Every other Friday in Lent, beginning Friday, February 23rd, Fr. Donavan will open up the church again to lead anyone who'd like to join him through the fourteen Stations of the Cross. If you've never walked through the Stations, this is another opportunity to spend your Fridays in Lent enriching your soul with each Stations' powerful prayers, scripture readings, and physical movement through the church with Our Lord Jesus Christ. 



Join Fr. Donavan on Friday, February 23rd, at 12:05pm in the Nave, and make the Stations of the Cross a part of your Lenten season of devotion this year.

CALLING ALL SOUP & SALAD VOLUNTEERS: Lenten Soup & Salad suppers begin next Wednesday! Volunteer Teams needed! Sign-up this Sunday!

Looking to take on something for Lent this year?

A soup and salad supper will be served each Wednesday evening during Lent, beginning next Wednesday, February 21st, prior to Fr. Donavan's program “Satan & the Evolution of Evil in the Bible & the Church.” By popular demand, we are bringing back the “team” soup and salad meal prep 2.0.

Here is how it works. Sign-up sheets are available in Information Hall. Each Wednesday during Lent we need six to eight volunteers and one team leader. 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 team leader decides and shops for the menu. There will also be a “kitchen coordinator” assigned each week to assist with the process and answer questions. Please sign up and join a team this Sunday!

Wednesdays in Lent:

Taizé Prayer beginning Feb. 21st 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 basic realities of faith which can be easily grasped by the mind and the heart. The result is to gradually move prayer from the head to the heart.

2024 Lenten Soup & Salad Series: Satan - The Evolution of Evil in the Bible & in the Church, beginning February 21st at 6pm!

The season of Lent begins every year with the familiar story in Gospels of Jesus being tempted by Satan in the Wilderness. In the Episcopal Church, the Jesus we encounter in the Lenten Gospel is someone we know well, but Satan, on the other hand, is a Biblical figure who a recent Barna Research Study revealed that only 20% of Episcopalians say they believe in today.  In this 5 part Lenten Soup & Salad Series, Fr. Donavan will lead us through the evolution of Satan in the Bible, from the Old Testament, where “the accuser” appears only a handful of times in changing guises, to the New Testament, where Satan develops more thoroughly into the personification of evil, at war with God and God's angels. Come learn more about the frightening figure who will haunt Dante’s Inferno, Milton’s Paradise Lost, and a thousand modern horror films.  If you’ve ever had a question about the Devil in modern Christian faith, you won't want to miss this series during Lent!

Soup and salad will be available in the Parish Hall every Wednesday, beginning on February 21st, and Fr. Donavan will begin the program at 6:20pm. A special craft will be available for children each and every Wednesday during the presentation in the Parlor.

Everybody's Pub Theology Thursday, Feb. 22nd!

Sit down with Fr. Donavan and Deacon Jeannie Thursday, February 22nd, from

6-7:30pm, at PaPPo's Pizzeria, at 7540 Memorial Pkwy SW, Huntsville, for great fellowship, good food, tasty drinks, and hearty discussion!

Email Jeannie at jrann228@gmail.com and let her know if you plan on joining us!

Are You New to St. Thomas? Newcomers Class offered Feb. 25th and Mar. 10th at 9:30am

Newcomers: We are so glad you are worshipping with us. Please join us for a 1 hour class on February 25 to learn the history of the Episcopal Church from the death of Christ to present day. We will meet in the Crossroads Room at 9:30 between the services. Follow the blue signs to find us. On March 10, we will have another class that tells the history of St. Thomas and includes a tour of the church. We will meet in the Crossroads Room at 9:30 and have the blue signs out. We look forward to meeting you. Elouisa Stokes at 256-604-8669

Save the date NOW and REGISTER for St. Thomas Parish Retreat, March 8-10 at Camp McDowell

Come for one night or two or just come for the day for the return of the St. Thomas Parish Retreat at Camp McDowell on the weekend of March 8 - 10th! We will offer canoeing, hiking, art, a Birds of Prey show, "Meet the Animal" farm tours and activities, and plenty of social time! There will even be a concert by Fr. Donavan on Friday night, March 8th!

The deadline to register is March 4th. You can register HERE Or use the QR Code. Please note that an active Realm account is very helpful (especially if you need to update your registration), but it is not necessary to register for Parish Retreat.

Hope you and your family will join us on March 8 - 10 at Camp McDowell!

"Come As You Are"

5 PM Holy Eucharist

St. Thomas' "Come as You Are" 5pm Sunday worship service is every Sunday. Dinner is now offered on the FIRST SUNDAY of each month. We will have dinner March 3rd, April 7th, and May 5th. Our 5pm Holy Eucharist features simple hymns from the Alleluia III hymnal, good sermons preached from the floor, and Holy Communion. Come as you are and invite a friend to join you for the 5pm Evening Holy Eucharist EVERY SUNDAY at St. Thomas.

Weekly Children and Youth Formation Sunday mornings 9:30am-10:15am 

We offer five different Sunday school classes for our children and youth!

Pre-K - 1st grade: Godly Play- Renee' Redfield - Hiers 4

2nd grade-3rd grade: Love First- Laura Beth Bestor - Hiers 2 (new room)

4th grade-5th grade: Thou Art- Kathie Clayton & Lila Powell - Hiers 6

6th grade-7th grade: My Faith, My Life- Sonya Carrier & Jane Allgood - Hiers 5

8th grade- 12th grade: Youth Room

Contact our Children's Ministry Coordinator, Laura Beth Bestor, at children@stthomashuntsville.org if you have questions or would like to help out with this important aspect of our ministries.

D.O.K. Used Shoe Drive for the

Homeless

We are currently sponsoring a Used Shoe Drive for Huntsville’s homeless population. Please go through your closets and donate those shoes you don’t wear – especially tennis shoes and boots. No high heels please. The homeless are hard on shoes, especially in winter, and there is a tremendous need now! There is a bin in Information Hall for your donations. Thank you!

Gently Used Laptop and Kindle Collection for The Companion Diocese Committee

The Companion Diocese Committee would like to ask people to donate gently used Laptops and Kindles to our friends in the Diocese of Honduras. All Donated devices will be refurbished and utilized by students and faculty at the Episcopal schools in Honduras. We will accept devices here at the church Feb 1-Mar 1 and at Diocesan Convention.

New Acolyte Sign-Up Genius is now available!

Calling all youth and children 2^nd grade and older! A new St. Thomas Acolyte Sign-Up Genius is available by clicking here for 2^nd graders and older. We'd appreciate it if you could sign up to serve once a month. If your child(ren) need to be trained or refreshed, feel free to reach out to Deacon Jeannie (jrann228@gmail.com) or me and we will get something scheduled. Contact The Rev. Jeannie Randall at jrann228@gmail.com or our Children's Ministry Coordinator, Laura Beth Bestor at children@stthomashuntsville.org.

At A Glance February 9 - February 14

Phone: 256.880.0247

Email: StThomas@stthomashuntsville.org