The Weekly Draft

St. Thomas' Episcopal Church

June 8, 2023

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The Second Sunday After Pentecost 10 am Bulletin June 11, 2023

40th Ave NE Bridge closure

The GOOD NEWS is the 40th Avenue NE Bridge is nearing completion! The NOT-SO-GOOD NEWS is that the 40th Avenue Bridge will be totally closed to ALL TRAFFIC from Monday, June 5th, at 6AM and is not scheduled to re-open until Monday July 3rd at 5PM. Complete details and detour maps are below along with the specifics of the work to be done. While the bridge will be in its final configuration, Engineering will be conducting a final inspection to address any remaining “punch list” items, so there may be intermittent or minor lane closures in the future to do any necessary corrective work.  

Looking for the Prayers of the People prayer list? See Pastoral Care below

The list of names in the Prayers of the People will be published in the bulletin every week and in the Pastoral Care section of The Draft. Did you know you can view the weekly bulletins by clicking on the blue link at the top of The Draft to access the file?

The Second Sunday of Pentecost June 11, 2023

Prelude  “Fairest Lord Jesus” - Hermann Schroeder

Processional Hymn "Praise to the Lord, the Almighty" -390

LOBE DEN HERREN

Hymn of Praise Canticle 13 "A Song of Praise" - S236

Psalm 50: 7-15

Gospel Acclamation “Heal Me Hands of Jesus” –WLP 773 SHARPE

Offertory Anthem  “Day by Day”-Martin How

Presentation Hymn  "Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow" –

LASST UNS ERFREUEN

Sanctus  -WLP 858

Fracture Anthem  "The Disciples Knew the Lord Jesus" - WLP 877

Communion Hymn "Dona Nobis Pacem" - 712 DONA NOBIS PACEM

Processional Hymn "Gracious Spirit, Give Your Servants" –WLP 782 ABBOT'S LEIGH

Postlude   "Little Preludes and Intermezzi, No. 1" - Hermann Schroeder

What? You expect us to sing?

Dear people:

When we all come together for worship, you, the congregation have some responsibilities. Don’t you just hate that? Can’t a person just come to Church and God will inspire and nurture them? But maybe, we’ve got things turned around. We don’t come together in worship for God to do something for us. We come together to worship God; to give God our praise and thanksgiving; to be in God’s holy presence. And in that, we are inspired and nurtured.

Our responsibilities in worship include active participation. Musically, that means to sing! Now, don’t give me that; don’t tell me you can’t sing; don’t tell me you don’t know that crazy music. I have heard every excuse imaginable. Our responsibility is not to sing perfectly…or even to sing well. Even though God has perfect pitch, his grace abounds! Our responsibility is simply to participate; to give it all a try.

Part of our music each week is what we call, “service music.” That’s music that doesn’t change very often, music that we sing week after week. This includes the “Hymn of Praise” aka the “Gloria”, the “Presentation Hymn”, the “Sanctus” aka “Holy, Holy, Holy”, and the “Fraction Anthem”. We usually sing these for months, giving you plenty of time to learn them and to sing out. When choosing hymns, I try to be sure that at least one hymn each week will be “well-known”. Then of course, there is the hymn at Communion, many times having a refrain that is easy to pick up. Yes, the psalm is a challenge; I get that. However, the biblical Book of Psalms was essentially the hymnal of the Temple in Jerusalem. God even expects us to give them a try.

Humnmm? I wonder why I don’t hear more singing from the pews on Sundays. Well, summer is here. Our Summer Choir is a small ensemble. Church attendance can vary greatly. There are lots of reasons. But I ask you, when you come on Sundays, be all in. Pick up your cross! Accept the responsibility of active participation in worship! Sing! You may find yourself in God’s holy presence.

Blessing!



Rick

About Summer Choir



Sunday, June 11 begins our Summer Choir program. The choir is a “pick-up” group that meets on Sunday mornings before worship at 9:15. We prepare the music for the following service at 10:00. We do not robe or process with the Altar party. We do our best to facilitate worship but without the benefit of regular weeknight rehearsals. The group is open to anyone with choral experience, and with the summer traveling schedule we are never quite sure who will be here. Therefore, I ask participants to please contact me each week to let me know you are coming. But of course, “drop-ins” are always welcome and prepared for. I hope you will join us.

Here is the Summer Choir schedule:

·        Sundays with Summer Choir (First Session) = 6/11, 6/18

·        Sundays of choir summer break = 7/2, 7/9, 7/16, 7/23

·        Sundays with Summer Choir (Second Session) = 7/30, 8/6, 8/13, 8/20

Contact Rick Smith at ricks@stthomasstpete.org , rlynns5966@gmail.com and/or 727-641-6903

Contact Grace Smith in the church office or at graces@stthomasstpete.org

Chancel Choir resumes with Thursday rehearsal, August 24 and Sunday worship, August 27.

Please let the office know if you are interested in going and what side dish you would like to bring: graces@stthomasstpete.org

Youth Activities

St. Thomas’ Church offers traditional formation (Baptism, First Communion, Confirmation, lectionary-based classes for Grades 1-6), guild apprenticeship (this year, focusing on altar server training), and fun activities during the school year. The nursery is staffed at both Sunday services during the school year (resuming 2nd week of September). For an overview of our youth program, check out the website. Go to Formation > Youth Programs & Events or click the button below.

Sunday School is on summer break. Check back here for more information about our fall plans to expand youth programming. Heartfelt thanks to Jenny Brouillet, Pat McKibben, Gina, Mike & Matthew White, and Elise Whitley for teaching this year!

It's not too late to send us information about your high school graduate. We'll publish more in next week's Draft.

Pastoral Care

Do you have time this summer to pay a visit to someone who may be feeling isolated at home or in an assisted living center? If yes, please reach out to Mthr. Anne at 954-253-4414 or after one the Sunday services, May 28 through early June.

Outreach/Mission

St Thomas Mission Trip to Honduras

The team arrived in Honduras on Saturday, May 13. On Sunday, May 14th they made the three-hour road trip over the mountains to Clinica Esperanza in San Francisco de Orica. From Monday to Thursday, the group has provided “brigadas” of health care and screening in neighboring villages with the help of Dr. Cesar Davila. Over the course of those 4 days the team saw:

Over 400 Children for games, music and stories. Over 150 women for women's exams, and almost 600 people came through the clinic for height and weight, blood sugar tests, blood pressure, reading glasses and a visit with the Dr. Wonderfully successful week!

As you will read below, Haiti is in a dire situation with no elected President or other leadership in place. Yet by the Grace of God, the Village of Hope has remained open with an operating school and clinic. However, they struggle for operating funds to serve the Haitian people. As there will be no mission trips in the near future, the remaining monies in the Haiti Fund will be sent to VOH as a gift from St Thomas. There is always an opportunity for individual congregants to send donations directly to Village of Hope.  

Rene Clark and Richard Davis sincerely thank the congregation for giving us the opportunities of a lifetime to lead mission trips to Haiti over a ten-year period.  

Adult Formation

Women of the Word meet on Thursday mornings at 9:30 in the Founders Room.

WOW will recess in August and resume on September 14.

Please contact Julie Songster for information, 737-420-6839. 

Men's Bible Study - Wednesdays 7:30am Summer Schedule



June 14 - Longman Ch 15

June 21 - Longman Ch 16

June 28 - NO CLASS

July 5 - NO CLASS

July 12 - NO CLASS

July 19 - Longman Ch 17

July 26 - Longman Ch 18 & 19

August 2 - NO CLASS

August 9 - Longman Ch 20

August 16 - Longman Ch 21

August 22 - Longman Ch 22

August 30 - Longman Ch 23