The Draft

Our Weekly E-Newsletter


January 30, 2025


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Bulletin for Sunday - February 2, 2025

Tomorrow, January 31, is "Backward Day"! The purpose of this day is to encourage us to do things oppositely; to look at what we do to see how reversing them can be effective and fun at the same time. Enjoy reading this week's Draft backwards.

Parish Calendar

View the Whole Calendar 

Pastoral Emergency:

Please call

The Rev. Martha Goodwill

727-639-2123

Thursday, January 30 (Charles Stuart)

9:00 am - Morning Prayer - Church Chancel

9:30 am - Women of the Word - Church Chancel

6:00 pm - Zoom Happy Hour

7:00 pm - Choir Rehearsal


Friday, January 31


Saturday, February 1 (Brigid)

10:00 am - Stations of the Cross Workshop

1:00 pm - Diocesan-wide celebration of Absalom Jones - Cathedral of St. Peter

5:30 pm - Burchie-Ellinger Wedding


Sunday, February 2 - The Presentation of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Temple

9:45 am - Nursery - Canterbury Courtyard

10:00 am - Holy Eucharist, Rite II - Bishop's Visitation and Confirmation


Monday, February 3 - (Anskar)

9:00 am - Morning Prayer - Church Chancel

7:00 pm - Chorus Angelorum Rehearsal


Tuesday, February 4 (Cornelius)

9:00 am - Morning Prayer - Church Chancel


Wednesday, February 5 (The Martyrs of Japan)

7:30 am - Men's Bible Study

9:00 am - Morning Prayer

5:15 pm - Holy Eucharist, Rite I

6:00 pm - Supper, Song & Prayer

6:45 pm - Compline, Rite II


Thursday, February 6 (Titus)

9:00 am - Morning Prayer - Church Chancel

9:30 am - Women of the Word - Church Chancel

6:00 pm - Men's Club

6:00 pm - Zoom Happy Hour

7:00 pm - Choir Rehearsal

Genesis 21: 6

God has given us the ability to laugh for a reason. It may seem like a little thing, but laughter is vitally important in the battle against stress, anxiety, fear and worry.

Oh my Saints!

Cornelius


ll that we know of Cornelius is contained in the tenth and eleventh chapters of the Acts of the Apostles. He was the first Gentile converted to the Christian faith, along with his household. A centurion was commander of a company of one hundred men in the Roman army, responsible for their discipline, both on the field of battle and in camp. He was a Roman citizen, a military career man, well-paid, and generally noted for courage and competence. The Acts of the Apostles tells us that Cornelius was a centurion in the Italian Cohort, the Cohors II Italica Civium Romanorum, a cohort of the Roman army formed of citizens from the province of Italy. Some centurions, such as Cornelius, and those whom we know about from the Gospel narratives, were men of deep religious piety.

Saint Luke the Evangelist, the author of the Acts of the Apostles, considered Cornelius’ conversion momentous for the future of Christianity. He records that it occurred as the result of divine intervention and revelation, and as a response to the preaching of Peter the chief apostle. The experience of Cornelius’ household was regarded as comparable to a new Pentecost, and it was a primary precedent for the momentous decision of the apostolic council, held in Jerusalem a few years later, to admit Gentiles to full and equal partnership with Jewish converts in the household of faith.

According to a later tradition, Cornelius was the second bishop of Caesarea, the metropolitan see of Palestine. Undoubtedly, Cornelius and his household formed the nucleus of the first Church in this important city, a Church that was gathered by Philip the Evangelist (Acts 8:40 and 21:8).



[Feast Day: February 4]

St. Thomas' Cross Award

At this year's annual meeting, Fr. Ryan announced he was instituting a new annual award called the St. Thomas' Cross Award. He named Liz Stiles as the first recipient for this award for the many and varied contributions she has made to St. Thomas'. Congratulations Liz! Each yearly recipient will receive a St. Thomas Cross.


St. Thomas' Cross, or Mar Thomas Sleeva, is associated with the Christian community in India, where Thomas went to help establish Christianity in the 1st century. The Saint Thomas Christians is one of the oldest Christian communities in the world

More Information about the Cross

Lay Ministry Schedule

Lay Minister Schedule.jpg

The Presentation of

our Lord Jesus Christ in the Temple



Acolytes: Luke Evanoff, Caroline Whitley, Dominic Nicolas, Daniel Nicolas.

Altar Guild: Diane Robinson, Pat Bernfeld.

Bishop's Chaplain: Russ Martin

Camera Operator/Digital Commentary: Stuart Hine, Mike White.

Coffee Host: Liz Stiles.

Flower Guild: Marilyn Lanctot.

Greeters: Angie Ford, Diane Robinson.

Healing: Liz Stiles.

Lay Eucharistic Minister: Tom Shevlin, Trish Thomas.

Lectors: Michael Mahoney, Laura Hine.

Nursery: Angel Bickert, Joan Groendal-Patterson.

Oblation Bearers: Edy Nicolas, Cathy Zanbaka.

Prayers of the People: Jordan Markham.

Thurifer: Colin Burkhart.

Ushers: George Burkhart, Bill Thomas.

February Celebrations!

Happy Birthday blessings this month go out to: Bill Vrooman (Feb 2); Roasalie Robinson (Feb 3); Jim Elstun (Feb 4); Jack Labbee (Feb 4); Kayla Mitchell (Feb 6); Sarah Lang (Feb 10); Dee McMahon (Feb 11); Carrie Johnson (Feb 12); Kevin Kelso (Feb 12); James Thompson (Feb 16); Ellen Burkhart (Feb 21); Bill Hendry (Feb 21); Val Hendry (Feb 23); Ann Levine (Feb 23); Dot Admire (Feb 24); Erin Brehmer (Feb 25); Lee Coryell (Feb 25); Jay Hill (Feb 27); Douglas Alonzo (Feb 28); Mary Louise DeVoe (Feb 28)


Happy Anniversary blessings this month go out to: Burrell and Norma Wood (Feb 21); David and Jane Anne Knowlton (Feb 24)

Healing Prayer Ministry

The list of names in the Prayers of the People will be published in the bulletin every week and in this section of The Draft. To add someone to the long-term prayer list, contact Russ Martin in the church office by email: office@stthomasstpete.org.


Names stay on the prayer list for three weeks unless otherwise requested.



Prayer list: Dona, Geoff, Sharon Joanne, Barbara, Carrie, Yvonne, Jo, Terry, Julia, John, Russ, Kevin, Freddy, Nancy, Rosalie, Anje, Joyce, Linda, Rick, Lee, Carol, Chris and all adversely affected by Hurricanes Helene and Milton.

Pastoral Care

Healing prayer is offered at the 10:00 am Sunday service. After communion you are invited to come to the back of the Cathedral and receive a confidential healing prayer from a trained parishioner. Prayer ministers share the heart of Jesus' love and care, and are guided by the Holy Spirit to listen, love, and pray into your prayer requests for physical, emotional, and/or spiritual needs. Intercessory prayers for others can also be given. If you have any questions about the healing prayer ministry or feel called to serve, please call Joan Barns, 757-567-5488 or email joanmbarns@gmail.com.

News from the Episcopal Church and Anglican Communion

Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe will be ceremonially seated at Washington National Cathedral on Feb. 2 during the cathedral’s main Sunday Eucharist, at which Rowe also will preach.

The 11:15 a.m. Eastern service will be livestreamed on the cathedral’s YouTube channel. Washington Bishop Mariann Budde will preside. During the service, Rowe will formally enter the cathedral through its Great West Doors and take his seat in the Great Choir, according to a cathedral announcement.


More Episcopal Church News

News from the Diocese of Southwest Florida

Water and the Word Conference

February 21-22



Registration is now open for the 2025 Water and the Word conference. New speakers, engaging workshops, meaningful worship, and plenty of time for prayer and fellowship. You'll hear from Bishop Doug Scharf, the Rev. Dr. Dwight Zscheile, Dr. Elisabeth “Lisa” Kimball, and many more who will help guide us as we explore the theme: Fully Alive in Christ. Centered around Ephesians Chapter 4, this two-day event will deepen your understanding of how to grow and mature in your Christian faith and help you discover your leadership path, re-imagine how your church can serve its community, and magnify your mission at the intersection of faith and family. We’re also delighted to welcome back Liturgical Folk, who will once again enhance our worship experience with their beautiful music. In addition, this year we’ve expanded our offerings to include youth-centered experiences and special retreat activities for deeper spiritual connection.

Registration
Youth Registration

Memorial Service for Bishop Smith: 

RSVP to attend Bp. Smith's Memorial Service
Diocesan Event Calendar

Fellowship


Please join us on Thursdays from

6:00 pm - 7:15 pm 



Meeting ID: 852 5738 4996

Password: 220612

Connect through Zoom:

VHH Zoom Link

Stewardship

Outreach

Mercy Keepers


 Thank you for your many contributions of imperishable food, clothing 

and household items! 

 

Please remember your BOGOs. Keep one, share one.

 

If you have slightly used clothing and household items, 

so many would appreciate those items as well.

 

Please place your donated items in the back of the sanctuary, in the baskets near the baptismal font.

 

Thank you! We know that there is so much need for many of you

 and also for numerous in our community.


Pack-a-Snack


Volunteer Schedule:

Week of February 2nd:

Purchasing: Laura Vroom, Bill Vrooman and Amy Kelso

Staging: Linda and Mike Davis

Packing: Fr. Ryan Whitley and Men's Bible Study, Wednesday, 02/05/2025

Delivery: Nancy Day, Thursday, 02/06/2025

 

Week of February 9th:

Delivery: Mary Jane Cartier, Thursday, 02/13/2025

 

Week of February 16th:

Purchasing: Amy Kelso

Staging: Linda and Mike Davis

Packing: Stephanie McLaughlin, Lori Cottle and Canterbury School of Florida, Wednesday, 02/19/2025

Delivery: Amy Kelso, Thursday, 02/20/2025


Thanks to all for your help with Pack-a-Snack at St. Thomas' Episcopal Church.


If you are interested in being a part of this important ministry, please reach out to Amy Kelso, 727-430-8615 or by email, askelso41@yahoo.com.

Our Next Giving Plate Sunday: February 16


The ministry you will be supporting with your Giving Plate donation will be going to Pack-a-Snack.



Honduras Mission Trip 2025



Calling anyone who may be interested in going on the 2025 Mission Trip to Honduras. Our trip this year will be May 10-17 and the team will be comprised of folks from both St. Thomas' and All Saints' Episcopal Church (Tarpon Springs). You do not have to hve a medical background to get involved. If you have any questions, please call or email Russ Martin, 904-728-5485, office@stthomasstpete.org.

Learn More about FFIM

Upcoming Events

Diocesan-wide Absalom Jones celebration featuring Adrian Miller: Feb. 1


The Cathedral Church of St. Peter

“Theology of Soul Food” presentation from 1:00-2:00 pm, Worship Service at 2:45 pm, Catered meal and reception to follow.


The John E. Culmer Chapter of the Union of Black Episcopalians, St. James House of Prayer, St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church, the Cathedral Church of St. Peter, and the Diocese of Southwest Florida invites you to an engaging talk by Adrian Miller tracing how soul food evolved from a cultural term rooted in spirituality to an iconic cuisine, shaped by African American church life. He explores the deep ties between soul food, faith, and African American identity as it spread from the rural South to cities nationwide. 

This Sunday: February 2


Please join us at 9:00 am to make sandwiches for those in our community that need food. We will gather in the kitchen to prepare the sandwiches. This is an important outreach ministry and the sandwiches we make go in support of Isaiah's Place food ministry. *Reminder: This is no 8am service!

Find More Ways to Get Involve with Isaiah's Place Here

The Sunday of the Feast of The Presentation of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Temple, a high holy day on the Church's calendar. Incense will be offered at the service. We will be using a new blend of hypo-allergenic incense.

Men's Club: Thursday, Feb. 2


We're thrilled to invite you to an evening of laughter, camaraderie, and delicious food at the Men's Club meeting next Thursday! Join us at The Hanger Restaurant and Flight Lounge, located at 540 1st Street South in St. Petersburg, at 6:00 pm. It’s a perfect opportunity to unwind, share stories, and connect with fellow members—after all, who doesn’t love a good laugh and a great meal? Hope to see you there! And remember, invite a friend to join you!

Any questions, call Ted Badger, 727-295-9669 or George Burkhart, 727-692-6950.

Workshop: Anglican Prayer Beads: Feb. 15


The Rev. Canon Shana McCauley is the Canon Vicar at Trinity Cathedral in Portland, OR. Canon Shana consults for parishes in discernment, facilitates the new clergy group, and is the Dean of the Columbia Convocation for the Episcopal Church in Western Oregon. Before Trinity, she was the vicar of St. Edward's in Silverton, OR where she helped build tiny homes for homeless women. She holds a Master of Divinity from Seabury-Western Theological Seminary where she won the Helen Ledyard Field Prize in Homiletics, and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Washington. She is married to her husband Ryan, and they have three sons, a dog, and a bunch of fish.



Sign up sheets are located in the Portico following services or by emailing your RSVP to: office@stthomasstpete.org

Congratulations to our newly elected Vestry members and our new Vestry officers:


Class of 2027: Dr. Kanika Tomalin, Ed Lanctot, and Ted Badger.

Officers: Mary Clark (Senior Warden), Tom Shevlin (Junior Warden), Wade Hamby (Treasurer), and Colin Burkhart (Secretary)

News from the Farm

Adult Learning Opportunities

Women of the Word


Meets on Thursday morning at 9:30 am in the church.


This year WOW is studying the book of beginnings, Genesis. This is the story of God’s purpose and plan for His creation, and it sets the stage for the entire Bible. Our guide will be A Journey through Genesis, edited by Marek P. Zabriskie and published by Forward Movement (2023).


Please contact Joan Barns if you have questions,

757-567-5488, or email joanmbarns@gmail.com.

Men's Bible Study


The Men's Bible Study is completing their study of Exodus and will be starting a study of Ecclesiastes on February 12. It's a great time to join! The group meets on Wednesday mornings at 7:30 am in the church.




LARGE PRINT editions of the Forward Day by Day are now available in the back o the church at the usher's station.

Youth Ministry


Truthseekers


No meeting on Sunday, Feb. 2. Class will resume on Sunday, Feb. 9 at 9:00 am.

Truthseekers:  Lesson Recaps

New Beginnings #76

Feb 28 - March 2


New Beginnings is a retreat weekend for Youth in the Diocese of Southwest Florida at Dayspring Episcopal Conference Center. This retreat weekend is focused on Middle School participants but staffed by High School youth and adults from our Diocese. The goal of New Beginnings is to help youth recognize and grow in their relationships with God, each other, family, and friends. On the retreat weekend, youth can expect to hear short talks, sing songs, play games, see skits, and participate in small group discussions.

More Information Here

Ministry Opportunities

Help Needed! - Can you spare 30 minutes?


On the 1st and 3rd Saturdays of each month, Isaiah's Place makes food for those who need food. It is prepared at Allendale United Methodist Church, 3803 Haines Rd N, St. Petersburg, FL 33703.


We need helpers between 1:30-2:00pm to help boxing up the 2o0 hot meals and loading them in the vehicles that will deliver them. Please consider helping with this vital ministry. Please join us on 18th for the next opportunity.

Coffee Hosts Needed


Coffee Hour Hosts needed for 

the 4th Sunday of each Month.

 

An offering of a plate of refreshments from 4 people on January 26 would be greatly appreciated at Coffee Hour. Please let Liz Stiles know if you can help out (ecscss@aol.com).

 

Your fellow pewmates thank you!!

Lights, Camera, Action!

Music Ministry



As we enter into February, I want to draw our attention to the composer of this week's voluntaries, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912) was an English composer and musician of great renown, born of a white English woman and a black Krio man of Sierra Leone. Coleridge-Taylor studied composition under C.V. Stanford at the Royal College of Music, and his composition, Song of Hiawatha was so performed, it ranked among Handel's Messiah and Mendelssohn's Elijah. So beloved was he, that following his death, King George V granted his widow a £100 annual pension. It wasn't only in England that he was known and loved. After his three visits to America, and earning great acclaim, the classical world

named him "the African Mahler." In 1901, a 200 voice choir of black singers was formed in Washington DC, calling themselves the Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Society, and schools across the country have named themselves after him. If you have never heard of this man, it does not surprise me, but that is exactly why I will be spending the next month drawing our attention to the figures who, due to the colour of their skin, have too-often been overlooked by the modern American populace.



Jordan R. Markham

Organist and Choirmaster

Music for Sunday

February 2, 2025


Voluntary: "Cameo" by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912)

Hymn #437 Tell out, my soul Birmingham

"Nunc dimitis in D minor" by Thomas Attwood Walmisley (1814-1856) 

Psalm: 84 C.H.H. Parry (1848-1918)

Sequence Hymn # 435 At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow King's Weston

Offertory Anthem: "O Thou, the central orb" by Charles Wood (1866-1926)

Communion Anthem: "Ave verum corpus, Op. 2 No. 1" by Edward Elgar (1857-1934)

Communion Hymn # 692 I heard the voice of Jesus say The Third Tune

Hymn #436 Lift up your heads, ye mighty gates Truro

Voluntary: "Impromptu No. 1 Op. 78 No.1" by S. Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912)


Online Giving

Our Mission: Making a difference for others, because God is making a difference for us.


Our Vision: To create a safe, loving, and accepting place for all people to grow in their faith and spread love out into the beloved community.

Dear People of St. Thomas',


Two days ago the church remembered St. Thomas Aquinas, one of the most brilliant philosophers and faithful theologians to ever be given to the church. Personally, I am spending a lot of time in Aquinas recently, as I have found the way he thinks through questions to be very instructive for my faith. Take, for example, his approach to what was handed down to us from Plato and Aristotle as the Four Cardinal Virtues: Prudence, Justice, Courage, and Temperance. Of all the Cardinal Virtues, Aquinas devotes the most time to thinking through Justice, which he broadly defines as "a certain rectitude of mind whereby a man does what he ought to do in the circumstances confronting him."


Deploying much ink, Aquinas further breaks down the idea of justice into three main categories: general, or legal, justice, which is what is owed to the people that make up a community; distributive justice, which is what the community owes to the individual; and commutative justice, which is what an individual within a community owes to another individual. 


Where society goes awry is when we transgress against these. Transgressions against commutative justice are the most common and easily recognized, such as murder, theft, or even gossip and cursing. Transgressions against distributive justice tend to happen on a larger scale. For example, according to Aquinas, they include anything done to an individual, or defined group of individuals, by an authority figure within the community that is done not according to what is right, but according to that authority figure's own personal criteria or agenda. 


Aquinas notes that it is so very easy to fall into transgressions against justice and wonders how we could do better. He answers that we could do better by perfecting justice. Well, how do we do that, he asks. He further answers that we perfect justice through piety, because if one is ordered justly towards God, then one will be ordered justly towards their neighbor. And remember, justice is all about how we interact with our neighbors. The hallmark of justice perfected by piety, he says, is the same meekness spoken of by Christ in the Beatitudes. He writes, "meekness removes the obstacles to acts of piety." Therefore, it seems that if someone were to claim to act in the name of justice, but not display a right attitude towards their neighbor (thereby betraying their lack of a right attitude towards God), and further, were they not to display the meekness Christ called for in the Beatitudes indicating they were were not perfecting their sense of justice through piety, then we could conclude rightly that this was a person who was not, in fact, acting justly.


Happy St. Thomas Aquinas week! Now go, and do likewise.


God bless you!


Faithfully,

Fr. Ryan+

Hope you found this backwards layout fun.

We will return to our normal layout next week.

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