This Week's Pete's Epistle

3rd October, 2024

"Invite, Support, Encounter"

From the Rector...

Dear Ones,

This month we explore our call to care for the earth, and to be good stewards for the building up of God’s kingdom with our lives. Members of our church work to serve those who are struggling with life challenges of all sorts, and God blesses us.

We are off to a good start with reducing the carbon footprint of our congregation, as we have transitioned away from disposable coffee and tea cups (something frankly I never thought would work, but others believed they could make it happen), AND we have raised almost half of our goal for our Rock of Ages Solar Campaign, with 58, 700 pledged, and 24, 906 already given of that.

The Chair of our Parish Resources Committee, Judy Wilson, and Treasurer Ken Remley have been working on opening a St Peter’s Vanguard Account, which will allow all of us to make donations with securities simply by journaling them over electronically. This is an easy way for those who have to make “RMDs” to do so, with the full donation value of the asset the day you donate it. This is also good stewardship.

The Stewardship subcommittee of our Relationship Committee is preparing a season of Stewardship Education that will start on the last weekend of October with a great Sunday meal together, and the opportunity to learn about the many ministries we are part of at St Peter’s.

I look forward to blessing animals this Sunday, and all of us being blessed by the love and grace we find here, and the support to grow and serve Christ in all people, and all the living things of God’s world.

Love,

James

Warden’s Corner

It’s great to see some of our part-time residents returning to the valley. I bet they were surprised when the temperatures were still well over 100 degrees! It’s been a busy couple of weeks at St. Peters (as always) and I was excited to get my authorization/approval (including a fingerprint card) to drive the i-Help van and trailer. This helps Mike Ketcham who has been the sole driver for the last couple of years. We are still looking for volunteers to help with this so let him know if you are interested.

We are still reviewing the finances and although we have sufficient funds in our reserve account to cover all expenses it would be nice to get some additional pledge money in for this year so we don’t have to dip into those savings. At last week’s Men’s Breakfast Carter Wilson committed to donating an extra month on his current pledge and I thought that sounded reasonable so I did too! I know we are asking for people to purchase solar panels too – but I am waiting until next year to purchase ours!

There is so much happening in October but I am hoping that everyone can join us for one event at the end of the month. We will be having lunch on October 27 to kick off the 2025 Stewardship Campaign. During lunch there will be representatives from all our ministries available to discuss their passion for each of them. Stewardship is more than just sharing our treasure for the good of the Church, it’s also about using our time to help maintain our church and faith community, our talents to enhance everything about our Church, and having a passion for the things we truly care about that help improve everything about St. Peter’s!

This week your Veteran’s Ministry will tour an interim US Vets facility that is being set up in an old Sleep Inn by Sky Harbor Airport. They are still waiting on renovations to the Holiday Inn at I-17 and Cactus that have been ongoing for over 2 years now but an end is in sight – we just don’t know how far down the road that is. Until that is complete they will have a newer facility to help homeless veterans transition to permanent housing and connect them with the support and benefits that they have earned. Our Veterans Ministry is a great group of people that have been serving lunch at the current location at 35th and Grand on the 4th Friday of every month for over 10 years. That’s a lot of lunches!

Next week we will be traveling to the northeast for several days in Maine, one of the few states my wife has never been to. I will miss my St. Peter’s family this weekend but will be back soon enough! Several of our members will be attending the annual Diocese Convention in Tucson October 18 and I am looking forward to that. On Saturday the 12th I hope to see many of you at the dinner for Bishop John from Kenya after the 5 PM service. I could go on but this why we need to check the back of our bulletins every week so we can all keep up with the many happenings at St. Peter’s!

Tyler Dixon

Sr. Warden

Change for this Sunday - Blessing of the Animals

It will be TOO HOT to do the blessing of the animals as planned this coming Saturday at the 5:00 pm service outdoors. Accordingly the flexible and mission-minded leaders of the 9:00 am Outdoor Meditative Service have agreed to welcome all God’s critters to the 9:00 am service this Sunday, Oct. 6th for the Blessing of the Animals and the Celebration of St Francis Day.

AND, the Youth Group will move their fund-raiser for their summer mission trip to right after the 9:00 am service, The Washing of the Animals!

You do not have to attend the 9:00 am service to get an animal washed. In fact, for a suitable donation, the youth group will do animal-sitting for the duration of the 10:00 am service this Sunday so you could drop the animal off, go worship at 10:00, then pick them up afterwards!

Contact: outreach@stpetersaz.org

Community Outreach Ministry Advisory Panel (COMAP)

Facilitator: Carolyn Beougher

Volunteer Coordinator: Martie Polk

TeleCare Ministry: A Phone Call of Love

TeleCare ministry is happening now and we hope to talk with a primary adult of your household. The TeleCare Ministry is designed to check in by a phone conversation with each of our parish households twice a year to let you know your are beloved and prayed for by the St. Peter’s community.

Ministry Lead: Barbara Wood

Contact: outreach@stpetersaz.org

Indigenous People Day

Join us Sunday, October 13 as St Peter’s honors Indigenous People. We welcome guest speaker, Gary Long, a Methodist deacon and a member of the Muskogee Nation of Oklahoma. He is a lay leader for the United Methodist Native American Fellowship of Phoenix, AZ. He will share hymnal songs in Native American languages and his love for Jesus Christ. Rev. Mary Louise Frenchman, who with her daughter shared last year, will join us at the 9:00 AM Meditative service and offer a Smudging Ceremony. Smudging is a Native American blessing that offers cleansing and purification of mind and spirit.

St Peter’s Sixth Annual New Pillow Drive

This is our sixth year of supporting the Native American Connections rehabilitation and shelter residents with a new pillow for those who were formerly unhoused or are beginning sobriety wellness. We are collecting new bed pillows through the month of October. Please leave pillow donations in the narthex for weekly pickup.

Ministry Lead: James Gamble

Contact: outreach@stpetersaaz.org

Save the Date:

Saturday/Sunday October 20/21

This year, The Episcopal Diocese of Arizona will be walking in the Phoenix Pride Parade and have a booth at the Phoenix Pride Festival.

Find all the information you'll need to volunteer with our Diocese as we support this annual event.

Save the Date: Saturday November 2

Volunteers Needed for Dia de los Muertos Booth

Ballet Folklorico Esperanza and the City of Avondale are co-hosting their annual Dia de los Muertos festival on the evening of Saturday, November 2nd. St. Peter's is participating for the first time with a booth at this beautiful, family friendly event. This is an important opportunity for outreach and to support our community because the event takes place just 5 minutes to the east of our church campus at the Goodyear Farms Historic Cemetery (3900 N. Santa Fe Trail, Avondale). We need friendly volunteers to give away fun items and tell people about our church. If you would be willing to help staff our booth, please call or text Claudine at 623-237-1080. Even if you aren't able to volunteer, please make sure to come by the festival and check out our booth!

Save the Date: Sunday November 10 - St Peter’s Fall Festival and Picnic

Our annual collaborative event with the Montessori School Parent Committee will be Sunday November 10. We’re looking for 10 chefs to participate in the Chili Cook-Off and small businesses, vendors, artisans or craftspeople who would like to do a pop-up shop. Donations of raffle prizes will also be needed. All proceeds from this fun community event will benefit the building of a Sensory Garden which will replace the courtyard asphalt in front of the main school building.

Seeking Chili Cook-Off ‘Cheftestants’

We will once again have a Chili Cook Off at the November 10th Fall Festival and Picnic. This has been a successful fundraiser for the Montessori School in past years. If you would like to share your favorite batch of chili in a friendly competition, please let Tyler Dixon or Carolyn Beougher know. We look forward to another great tasting of Chili flights!

Contact” outreach@stpetersaz.org

Ministry Lead: Tyler Dixon

Contact: outreach@stpetersaz.org

St. Peter's Youth Group

New day and time for regular youth group - Tuesdays, 6:45 - 8:15pm!

Save the Date

October 6 (Sunday) - 9am Dog Wash Youth Group Fundraiser, followed by Blessing of the Animals service. Afterward the youth group will going to service at Feed My Starving Children in Mesa from 7-9pm.
October 19 (Saturday) - Youth Group Movie Night! We will be watching 1946: The Mistranslation that Shifted A Culture. Time and details TBA.
October 27 (Sunday) - St. Peter's Ministries Fair. Details TBA.
Coming in November...
November 10 - Fall Festival
November 25 - Potato Bagging with Agua Fria Food and Clothing Bank

Young Adult Group

Our group is open to anyone between 18-39.

We are a welcoming and inclusive group that gets together at least twice a month for fellowship and sometimes service. Anyone 18-39 is welcome. Here are the events we have coming up:

Phoenix Pride Parade. Let's go together to the Phoenix Pride Parade on the morning of October 20th! This is a fun event and we can cheer on the Episcopal diocesan parade contingent. We are carpooling and already have one driver. The parade begins at 10 a.m., but we should aim to arrive around 9:30 a.m. to help facilitate finding a place to park. We will need to meet at SP's at around 9 a.m. The parade usually ends around noonish. Bring water, wear sunscreen and wearing hats is wise! If you would like to attend and want to carpool, please contact Claudine at 623-237-1080 or pwingenter@yahoo.com so she can coordinate.
Outdoor Activity TBD. On Saturday, October 26th, Mario and Catherine are going to host an outdoorsy event for the group. Details are TBD and will be shared closer to the event. Save the date! The weather will be beautiful at that point.
Volunteering at the SP Booth at the Dia de los Muertos Festival. This event takes place just 5 minutes from our church campus on the evening of Saturday, November 2nd from 5-9 p.m. We already have volunteers to set up and take down the SP's booth. And one person has volunteered to work at the booth during the festival, but we need more! Working the booth just means being friendly and greeting folks. We would be handing out free stuff like book marks, pencils and Mexican candy, along with flyers about our church and Montessori. If we have enough volunteers at the booth, then we can take turns to go explore the rest of the festival. There will be music, dancing, food vendors and other booths. It's a fun way to support the community and represent our church. More information about the festival is available at: https://balletfolkloricoesperanza.org/dia-de-los-muertos#:~:text=Ballet%20Folklorico%20Esperanza%20and%20the,and%20free%20to%20the%20public.
November Game Night. On Saturday, November 9th at 6:30 p.m. please join us in the library for our monthly game night. Our host this month will be Ian. As always, feel free to bring a snack and/or game to share.
Young Adult Group's 1st Anniversary Field Trip: Sailing with the Rector! On Saturday, November 23rd, we will be celebrating our group's first year in existence with a special event: a sailing field trip with Pastor James. Details will be announced as we get closer to the date, but carpooling and a picnic will be involved.

If you have questions, feel free to call or text Claudine at 623-237-1080.

Sunday Morning Hospitality

Please continue to join us in Celebration Hall for coffee, treats, and fellowship after the Sunday morning services.

The 9:00 meditation service has moved outdoors since the mornings have cooled down! .

It's time again! Men's Group this Saturday

Men’s Group is this Saturday in Celebration Hall beginning at 7:30AM. Please join us for breakfast and fellowship.

THE BISHOP IS COMING!

St Peter’s is being honored by a visit from Bishop John from Kisii, Kenya.

Bishop Reddall met him at Lambeth Conference in 2022 and he will be visiting Arizona this October.

Bishop Reddall would like us to host him at our Saturday night 5pm service on October 12th followed by a dinner.

We are looking for volunteers to help prepare a taco bar dinner for his visit. Sign up sheets will

be provided in the Narthex along with a list of items needed.

RSVP to the church office (623-935-3279) by October 4th for anyone wishing to share a meal, an idea

about what your ministry and what our church is like and he can share likewise.

St. Peter's Solar Project

We continue to move forward on this project.

Last week we signed an agreement with Obodo Energy to install 82 solar panels on the south roof of Celebration Hall. We held the project kick-off meeting, and over the next couple of weeks we will develop a detailed schedule for the project. We have also applied for a bridge loan for our short term financial needs.

Donate one solar panel... $1,600

Donate a half panel.............$800

Donate a quarter panel .......$400

Donate one-eighth panel ....$200

Please help us finance this important project with your donation; you can ‘sponsor’ a panel (or fraction thereof) by logging into Realm and selecting ‘Solar’ as the account to receive your donation.

Montessori School Fundraiser - October 18th

Please join us for an evening of fun and fellowship at our first annual Spaghetti and Bingo fundraiser on Friday, October 18th. Dinner will include salad, spaghetti, breadsticks, dessert, and drinks. We have some wonderful prizes if you have a winning Bingo card too! Tickets are $25 for two guests, with $5 for each additional using the QR code in the weekend bulletin or sign up and pay by October 11 in the office.

Stewardship Kickoff Lunch Meeting - October 27th

Watch this space for more information on this important event.

Upcoming Events at St. Peter’s

September 25-October 12: TeleCare Ministry

October 11 & 25: I-Help

October 12 : Bishop John from Kisii, Kenya, Taco Bar dinner after the 5pm service

October 13: Indigenous People Service and Smudging

Month long Pillow Drive to benefit Native American Connections Shelters and Rehabilitation Facilities

October 19: Arizona Diocesan Convention, Tucson, AZ

October 25: Veterans Ministry Serves Lunch at US Vets Center

October 27: Stewardship Kick-off Lunch

November 2: Dio de Los Muertas Festival

TBD: Agua Fria Foodbank Holiday Box Packing

November 3: Pledge Drive Oatmeal Breakfast Bar Fellowship

November 8, 22 & 23: I-Help

November 10: St Peter’s Church and Montessori School Fall Festival & Picnic

November 17: Ingathering

November 22: Veteran’s Ministry Lunch

Diocesan Cycle of Prayer

This week we pray for All Saints Episcopal Church, Safford

We also pray for our companion Diocese: The Diocese of Western Mexico, Bishop Ricardo Gomez Osnaya.

Read the weekly email newsletter for the Episcopal Diocese of Arizona here. This newsletter includes reflections from The Rt. Rev. Bishop Jennifer Reddall, news, events, and updates throughout the diocese.