And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’

Matthew 25:40

Weekly Calendar

Quick Links for Online Worship and Fellowship

It is not too late to join your Saint Mary's family for Thanksgiving Dinner this year! Please look for the paper sign-up on the sunroom bulletin board or go to the online sign-up genius. Please be specific about what you plan to contribute. Thank you!

Thanksgiving Holiday Schedule

November 22 ~ Parish Offices Closes at Noon

November 23rd Thanksgiving Day

11:00 AM Thanksgiving Day Holy Eucharist, Church

12:00 PM Community Thanksgiving Dinner, Walden Hall

Sign-up Online

November 24 ~ Office Closed

Wampanoag National Day of Mourning

As we acknowledge that the story of Thanksgiving is more than Pilgrims, feasting and celebration; it is important to remember what the day means to the original inhabitants of our home-land. We recognize that for the descendants of the Native peoples, it is not Thanksgiving, but rather it is a National Day of Mourning. Click here for an article and video reflecting what Thanksgiving means to the Pokanoket/Wampanoag people.

Thanksgiving Time

By Langston Hughes



When the night winds whistle through the trees and blow the crisp brown leaves a-crackling down,

When the autumn moon is big and yellow-orange and round,

When old Jack Frost is sparkling on the ground,

It's Thanksgiving Time!

When the pantry jars are full of mince-meat and the shelves are laden with sweet spices for a cake,

When the butcher man sends up a turkey nice and fat to bake,

When the stores are crammed with everything ingenious cooks can make,

It's Thanksgiving Time!

When the gales of coming winter outside your window howl,

When the air is sharp and cheery so it drives away your scowl,

When one's appetite craves turkey and will have no other fowl,

It's Thanksgiving Time!

A Prayer for our Community in Transition

Almighty God, you know the needs of your Church in every place: look graciously upon the people of Saint Mary’s and grant us the guidance of your Holy Spirit as we seek a new Rector for this parish. Guide the members of our Search Committee as they labor to be faithful in seeking your will. Inspire those who will discern with us, that each may be responsive to Your call. Give us wisdom and confidence in your timing, and in all things help us to seek the path you have set for us to follow. In Christ’s name we pray, Amen.

Celebrating With Our Lutheran Friends

We continue to build our fellowship with one another. Please know we are invited to participate in the following weekly meetings at First Lutheran:

• Tuesdays - Silent Meditation - Noon to 12:30 pm 

You are invited to meet in the Sanctuary every Tuesday at noon year round for some silence and meditation. It is completely free. Light a candle. Worship, Contemplate, Heal, and Commune.

• Wednesday Nights - Pot-luck Supper 6:00 PM
• Sacred Journey (Via Sacre) Worship Service at 7:00 PM

Via Sacre is an alternative form of worship held every Wednesday evening at 7:00 PM; it is filled with candlelight, time for meditation and prayer, Bible readings and sermon, and the sharing of Communion – and community. Each week may be a little different without any set liturgy, but there is plenty of music – both in the Taizé tradition and others with upbeat rhythms.

Formation

Feeling Thankful

The final numbers ARE IN! in! Once again Saint Mary's rose to the challenge with donations galore. This year 310 families were recipients of:

1) a turkey;

2) a quart of Cape Cod Creamery Ice Cream;

3) a $100 grocery gift card. 

Thank you to each and every one of you for your generosity and continued support of this program. Happy Thanksgiving all!

Look for our "Giving/Advent Tree in the Sunroom.

Santa's Sleigh Toy and Gift Shop Collection

Partnering with the Cape Cod Council of Churches and the Hands of Hope Outreach Food Pantry, Saint Mary's is invited to help make Christmas just a little brighter for Cape Cod Families in need. Please click on the flier for details. Please read the instructions on gifting carefully and leave the unwrapped gifts beneath the Advent Giving Tree in our Sunroom. Also, IF you choose to donate actual gift cards instead of physical presents, we ask that you please drop those in the secure mail slot drop box located on the outside of the West facing parish office door ( by the front driveway, covered walkway). This process will help us keep the valuable gift cards from getting lost in the shuffle of "stuff". Thank you in advance for supporting this outreach effort. We truly appreciate your help. Any questions? Please contact Allison.

Thank you all for your donations of warm clothing and outerwear for the Here Now Ministries Outreach. We are all set for now. Please hold any more donations until our January collection.

When the window for applications for our rectorship closed a week ago Thursday, 23 clergy had expressed their interest in “discerning with us.” We understand that this number is particularly high for a parish of our size. In the interest of treating everyone equally, we resisted opening the applications until Monday of this week. Each contains significant data, including individuals’ CVs and their official Episcopal Church Ministry Profiles. Committee members have started to assess those materials, to develop a “long list” of applicants – perhaps about ten – whom we’ll interview via Zoom. Each committee member is scoring the applications independently. We’ll agree on the long list by consensus – a process that we’ll use throughout to reduce the numbers until we reach our final choice.

If you have any questions or comments for us, please email them to search@stmarys-church.org.

Prayer Requests

If you have additions to our Parish Prayer List, please fill out this,

Online Prayer Request Form There are also always paper forms available in the rear of the church or our parish office.

The Christmas 2023 Worship Service Schedule

Saturday, December 23 - Advent IV

5:00 PM - Holy Eucharist with hymns

Sunday, December 24 - Christmas Eve Day

11:00 AM - Holy Eucharist with special music 

4:00 PM - Family Eucharist with special music

9:30 PM - Prelude of Christmas music

10:00 PM - Festival Eucharist with choir

Monday, December 25 - Nativity of Our Lord

10:00 AM - Holy Eucharist with hymns

We are hoping to find children to participate in our 4:00 PM Family Christmas Service. Please reach out to Allison if you know of any children who may want to participate in the service. All are warmly welcome in our manger.

Thank You!

Campus Notes 

Cleaning Up Our Clutter

Saint Mary's is a busy and vibrant place. There is a lot of information to share with one another. Unfortunately, some of our community spaces are becoming too cluttered too often. So, a little house-keeping note:

In particular the Sunroom table and the Greeting table at the rear of the church are problem areas. We are relocating things in an effort to clear up the clutter and want people to know where to look for things.

Name Buttons ~ the name button sign-up will be housed upstairs where all of the buttons are currently hanging (on the staircase landing going into the rear of the church). You can request a button on the paper sign-up that will now be hung on the hooks with the buttons or you can directly e-mail Allison. Please note we still have write your own temporary name tag stickers located on the greeter table in the church rear and in the sunroom.

Saint Mary's Merch ~ We are looking to re-locate all of the Saint Mary's Merchandise: books, paintings car magnets, hats, vests etc. to a new location in the Parish Hall. We are still working on identifying a space and a display surface to house all of these items for sale. Remember Saint Mary's gear makes great Christmas gifts.

The Sunroom table is reserved for our parish

administrative communications and for the flower guild to share small deconstructed arrangements for pastoral visits. The clutter has left us no space for this important pastoral outreach. Please refrain from leaving personal items on this table.

The Greeters Table - Rear of the church

This space should be kept clean for our worship bulletins, guest book and usher needs. We want to encourage people to come down to the Walden Hall to visit and pick up other information in there or in the sunroom.

Bulletin Board ~

Bulletin boards are always too small no matter how big they are. Our Parish bulletin board holds the following information:

Sign-ups,

Events,

Outreach - Here we post information about our own outreach projects as well as other volunteer opportunities. This is also where we post the heartfelt thank you notes received from beneficiaries of our outreach efforts. Be sure to stop by and read these special notes.

Supporting Our Parish - this is reserved for our church leadership and administrator to communicate important things.

Community - This is the only section for outside community events to be posted. It is not a lot of space unfortunately. Please remember if you have information you wish to share with the community and there is no space on the bulletin board, you can also email it to Allison for our electronic communications.

Thank you all for your understanding and support.

"Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it." -William Arthur Ward.

Altar Flower Dedications

Please click here for the online signup form. Flower arrangements can be donated for so many different reasons whether it is in loving memory of a deceased loved one, in celebration of a joyous event, a wedding, a baptism, a graduation, or in thanksgiving for something important in your life. We are very blessed to have a team of talented flower guild members who always work to create beautiful arrangements holding your intentions in their hearts. We also have a paper sign-up on the bulletin board in the sunroom as well. Please note that dates do need to be shared as we have a large community to honor and celebrate together. There are NO flowers during Advent or Lent. You are welcome to dedicate Altar Arrangements during Advent but please understand the arrangements will not include flowers, just seasonal greens.

Thank you!

Coffee Hour

We are always looking for more hosts and hostesses.

Please be sure to check the bulletin board in the sunroom in order to sign-up. You are welcome to co-host with a friend if you desire. We have allowed for 2 volunteer slots each week although, you are welcome to host solo as well. This is a crucial way for us to build community and welcome newcomers. Thank you very much for your help with this ministry.

Sharing Your Thoughts

Your Vestry has decided to set up an on-line Let's Talk Box in addition to the physical ones around campus. Please click on the image below to share your thoughts, questions, concerns, ideas etc. The hope is this additional pathway of communication will help our Vestry members know what is on the hearts and minds of our parish.

• Weekly E-News deadline: Wednesday at noon.
• In an effort to keep it brief we will only highlight happenings of the next 10 days in our E-News.
• The deadline for submissions to our Monthly E-Newsletter is the 25th of the prior month.
• For your convenience, the Monthly Newsletter (printed out) will be available in the sunroom and the back of the church for those who would like a paper copy. If you know of someone who would enjoy receiving a paper copy in the regular mail please let Allison know.

     Saint Mary's Episcopal Church

P.O. Box 395

3055 Main Street

Barnstable, MA 02630

508-362-3977

www.stmarys-church.org