The EPISTLE 2.23.23

THE EPISTLE: February 23, 2023

Everybody's Pub Theology is TONIGHT at PaPPo's Pizzaria!

Everybody's Pub Theology is now taking place on the 4th Thursday of each month in a room all to ourselves! Sit down with Donavan, Jeannie, and Ranie TONIGHT, February 23rd, from 6-7:30 PM in a room just for us at PaPPo's Pizzaria, 7540 Memorial Pkwy SW, Huntsville, AL, 35802 for great fellowship, good food, drink, and hearty discussion! TONIGHT we will discuss how our faith has challenged us in surprising ways, especially through the lens of our Episcopal tradition.

Text Jeannie and let her know you plan on joining us at 256-348-9918 or email Ranie at associate@stthomashuntsville.org.

SEE YOU TONIGHT AT PAPPO'S!

LENT IS HERE: Join Donavan THIS SUNDAY for a "20 Bible Passages Every Christian Should Know!"

Come join Fr. Donavan every Sunday in the Parish Hall this Lenten season, beginning at 9:30am, for a conversation about 20 important scripture passages from both the Old and New Testament that all followers of Jesus should at least have some reference to and understanding. Donavan will lead us from the Old Testament through the Gospels to the Epistles in the New Testament, from Genesis to the Revelation, with at least one stop in the Apocrypha! He will talk about the important meanings of verses you've probably heard quoted many times before, and he will take us into portions of Holy Scripture rarely or never read in our Sunday morning lectionary! Finally, Donavan will share a few verses that are very personal for him, before opening the floor to verses that might speak to you in your life and faith! Come dive deeper this Lent into the Bible and build up your knowledge and your faith in God's holy word!

LENT IS HERE: Sunday Morning Lenten Book Study with Ranie starts this Sunday

Join us this Sunday for a book study in the Conference Room during the Sunday morning Formation Hour as we discuss The Night is Long but Light Comes in the Morning: Meditations for Racial Healing by Dr. Catherine Meeks. Dr. Meeks focuses on racial healing, but her meditations cover healing in general. She pursues healing through the faithful question: do we really want to be well? If you would like to purchase the book, they are available now for $20 in Ranie's office.

LENT IS HERE: New Service Music THIS SUNDAY

This year our service music for Lent will be the Communion Service in D Minor by Thurlow Weed. Thurlow is a colleague and friend of Miss Kathy, and we have sung a few of his hymns in the past couple of years. If you’d like a heads up, use the link HERE for a video; it’s quickly learned. The music will be on cards in the pews this Sunday.

ST. THOMAS LENTEN SERIES BEGINS MARCH 1st: A Lenten Sojourn through the Blues led by Fr. Donavan

The 40 days and 40 nights of Lent call on Christians to retreat into the wilderness with their Lord, to prepare for his Passion and Passover from death to life with fasting, repentance, and spiritual introspection. Lent is a church season ripe with themes and symbols, from scripture and two thousand years of church tradition. Those Lenten themes and symbols not only find expression inside the church, but they have also made their way into the outside, secular world, in art, literature, and especially music. From music made deep in the desert where Jesus himself was tempted by the Satan, to music wrought deep in the southern United States, where both traditional and modern music, country and folk, blues and jazz, even rock and roll, still speak about life in the wilderness, temptation, dark nights, separation, repentance, and searching the spirit world for reconciliation.

For five Wednesday nights in the season of Lent, join Fr. Donavan in the Parish Hall as he explores our Lenten sojourn and digs deep into the world of music to explore the deeper meaning of Lenten themes in human life and Christian spirituality. From the desert music of Northern Africa and the Middle East to traditional Appalachian ballads and banjo tunes of the Southern Mountains to the deep Blues of the Mississippi Delta, we will LISTEN to Lent. With those musical forms and the variety of musical styles they have helped to create, we will build a new playlist for your Lenten pilgrimage, and discuss what these sounds and stories have to say to our spirit and our faith.

Come for quiet, Taize worship at 5:30pm, have a Lenten supper of soup, salad, and bread at 6pm, and then listen to live performances by Fr. Donavan, hear historic recordings he's collected, and take part in lively conversations, as we listen to music of the soul and explore the deep connections between the many forms of the Blues and the Lenten journey into the Wilderness.

BRING YOUR CHILDREN TO THE WEDNESDAY LENTEN SERIES THIS YEAR!

Children are invited to explore Lent in their own Wednesday evening program led by one of their Sunday School teachers during Fr. Donavan's Lenten program. We will begin with learning about the symbols of Lent and Jesus' forty days in the wilderness and conclude the series with a Holy Week primer. This program will coincide with the adult offering every Wednesday evening, beginning March 1st, in the Parish Hall!

Contact the Children's Ministry Coordinator, Laura Beth Bestor (children@stthomashuntsville.org), if you have any questions.

Looking to take on something for Lent this year? Here is a way to do just that.

The soup and salad supper that will be served each Wednesday evening before our Lenten program needs your help! Teams of six to eight will sign up and gather in our kitchen to make the dinner together. Each Wednesday, your team will prepare a soup du jour enough for everyone, salads, breads/crackers, and clean up after supper is over. There will be a kitchen coordinator assigned to each team to provide support to lead your team through the process and answer questions. Sign-up sheets are in Information Hall. SIGN UP THIS SUNDAY! Questions? Debbie Harriman @ 256-509-6606 or Kelly Evans @ 256-457-944

Stations of the Cross for Lent: Beginning Friday, March 3rd at 12:10pm

Each Friday in Lent, beginning March 3rd, Fr. Donavan will open up the church 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 your opportunity to spend each Friday in Lent enriching your soul with each Stations' powerful prayers, scripture readings, and physical movement through the church with Our Lord Jesus Christ. Make the Stations of the Cross a part of Lenten season of devotion this year.

WAYS TO GIVE THIS LENT: St. Thomas' Little Free Pantry

Our Little Free Pantry invites you into our community of giving during Lent. You may decide to collect a food item each day during Lent and return your offering on Sunday March 26. Or you can bring food items any Sunday during Lent. Place your food items in the little red wagon in Information Hall. Questions? Call Debbie Harriman at 256-509-6606

WAYS TO GIVE THIS LENT: St. Thomas Servants' Closet

St. Thomas is a long-time member of the Interfaith Mission Service (IMS), a consortium of local churches (and synagogues) devoted to addressing a wide range of community concerns. The Servants’ Closet at St. Thomas is returning this Lenten season as our response to the IMS commitment to “enhance member congregations’ abilities to meet human needs.” In this case, hunger. The Closet will collect shelf-stable food items and delivers them to St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, where they are distributed daily, by appointment, to families and individuals who are experiencing a food emergency and who call 211 (FoodLine) for assistance. The program is generous but not without oversight. FoodLine pantries worked hard to meet the exploding needs of newly laid-off workers during the pandemic. The pandemic may be over, but food insecurity is not.

To donate to the Servants’ Closet this Lent, reusable plastic bags with a list of suggested food items attached will be distributed on the first Sunday of each month. As your bags are returned to the Servants’ Closet, they will be delivered to St. Mark’s.

A reminder that Servants’ Closet Sunday is the fourth Sunday will be in the Epistle in time for you to shop! Please email libbypotter@gmail.com or nmfisher10016@gmail.com with questions or concerns.