THE EPISTLE:

February 27, 2025

Everybody's Pub Theology TONIGHT, February 27!

Sit down with Mtr. Katie, and Deacon Jeannie tonight, February 27, from 6-7:30pm, at PaPPo's Pizzeria, at 7540 Memorial Pkwy SW, Huntsville, for great fellowship, good food, tasty drinks, and hearty discussion! You can email Jeannie HERE and let her know if you plan on joining us!

Register for the St. Thomas Parish Retreat:

March 7-9 Camp McDowell -

REGISTRATION DEADLINE IS TOMORROW, FEBRUARY 28!

Parish Retreat 2025

Join us March 7-9 for our Parish Retreat at Camp McDowell! We have lots of fun planned-- canoeing, hiking, art, farm activities-- and plenty of social time on Saturday. We will close our weekend together with a Eucharist on Sunday, March 9. You are welcome to come both nights, one night, or just for the day on Saturday, March 8.  Click this LINK HERE to register you (and your group). The registration deadline is TOMORROW, February 28.  Please note that while using your Realm account would help speed up the registration process, an account is not required to register for Parish Retreat. A limited number of paper registrations will be available in Information Hall. 

An individual room is for 1-2 people while a family room is for 3-4 people. Be sure to sign up for meals after you select your room type. St. Thomas will cook hamburgers and hot dogs for those interested on Friday night. Saturday and Sunday meals will be through Camp McDowell. In the "Memo" section, please indicate if you would like to share a room and/or cabin with someone, need a mobility accessible room, or need gluten-free meals.  



Contact Deacon Jeannie regarding financial assistance to attend retreat. Contact Laura Beth Bestor or Scott Moore if you have questions regarding registration. 

Sunday "Come As You Are" Eucharist & Dinner

"Come As You Are"

5pm Holy Eucharist with Dinner THIS Sunday

 March 2

This Sunday, and every Sunday, at 5pm in the Nave, you are invited to the "Come As You Are" Holy Eucharist at St. Thomas. The 5pm Holy Eucharist features joyful hymns from the Alleluia III hymnal, special gospel music chosen by our amazing pianist and organist, Sam Wright, and casual sermons preached from the floor.

Monthly Diners Wanted!

There are a great many new folks at St. Thomas, as well as folks we never had the opportunity to get to know, and longtime members we've lost touch with. We were disappointed when the Sunday Suppers ended, so this past summer we decided we would work together to try to keep the Sunday Suppers going on the first Sunday of each month. We appreciate all the folks who have volunteered to provide the delicious entrees, side dishes, and desserts. We've been fortunate to be able to say we have been able to serve some really delicious meals, and we are going to keep on doing so as long as we have folks to continue volunteer to provide some part of the meal.

What we also need is people to show up for the dinners! If you come to church at 5:00, please stay. If you are a part of our parish family, please come and join us. We know of at least one person who joins us for every Sunday Supper because she enjoys the meals and the fellowship. We hope more folks will do the same.

We look forward to seeing you this Sunday at the Sunday Supper!

Laissez les bon temps rouler! Shrove Tuesday Celebration at St. Thomas is almost here! 

Join us in the Parish Hall on Tuesday, March 4th, from 5:30pm-7pm, for our annual Shrove Tuesday Celebration! 

Feast on pancakes, gumbo, and bread pudding prepared by the St. Thomas Youth, while the Kiddie Krewe present their parade through the Parish Hall before we move outside to bury the Alleluias for the season of Lent! The evening will conclude with the Burning of the Palms to create the ashes for Ash Wednesday the next morning. 



Invite your friends and don't miss this evening as we prepare for the Holy Season of Lent.

YOUTH COOKING & DECORATING KREWE HELP NEEDED THIS SUNDAY!

Hey St. Thomas Youth Brigade! Are you ready to get your Mardi Gras on?? If so, show up in the Parish Hall THIS Sunday, March 2nd, from 12:15pm - 2:30pm, and come back for the big event on Shrove Tuesday, March 4th, at 4:30pm! We need your help slicing, dicing, prepping for gumbo, decorating and setting up the Mardi Gras tables, and flipping some seriously fluffy PANCAKES! LUNCH WILL BE  PROVIDED on Sunday, March 2nd! Got questions...talk to Mardi Gras Maestro, Deacon Jeannie Randall. Email Jeannie HERE.

ASH WEDNESDAY HOLY EUCHARIST WITH IMPOSITION OF ASHES

 MARCH 5th , 7am, 12pm, & 6pm



St. Thomas will enter into the Lenten Season again this year with three Ash Wednesday services inside the church on March 5. The Ash Wednesday liturgy will include the Imposition of Ashes & Holy Communion and will be offered at 7am, Noon, and 6pm. The 6pm Ash Wednesday liturgy will include special music by the St. Thomas Choir. Come begin your Holy Lent on Ash Wednesday here at St. Thomas.

UPCOMING

LENT IS COMING!

The Great Litany & Rite I Eucharist for 8am arrive on March 9th

Sunday, March 9th is the First Sunday in the 40 day season of Lent. In the Episcopal Church, the first Sunday of Lent is often observed with the recitation of the first liturgy ever to be translated from Latin into English, the Great Litany (pg.148-153 in the BCP). This year at St. Thomas, we will again begin our Sundays in Lent with this deep and moving prayer, spoken together at the 8am Eucharist and sung with our choir and the sound of a bell at the 10:30am Eucharist. 

And to go deeper into our Lenten worship at St. Thomas this year, starting on the First Sunday of Lent the 8am Holy Eucharist will use the older liturgy of Rite I from the Book of Common Prayer ( found on pgs. 323-349). Rite I uses traditional English language and can help our worship together focus more profoundly on repentance and God's mercy during Lent. Fr. Donavan will be ready to help everyone at 8am prepare for the changes in the prayers and responses this year with a quick practice on Sunday morning, March 9th, just before we begin the Great Litany. So, get ready for "The Lord be with you. And with THY SPIRIT!” beginning on Sunday, March 9th, during the 8am Holy Eucharist!

If you've never experienced the more traditional language and Anglican worship of both the Great Litany and the Rite I Holy Eucharist in the Episcopal Church, this is your opportunity to step back into the history of our church and follow Jesus more deeply into the desert over the forty days of Lent this year at St. Thomas.

Looking to take on something for Lent this year??

A soup and salad supper will be served prior to the Lenten program each Wednesday evening during Lent.  By popular demand, we are bringing back the “team” soup and salad meal prep 2.0.

Here is how it works. Sign-up on the sheets provided. Our team leaders need five to seven volunteers each week. The entire team will gather in our kitchen and make supper together. The team will prepare a soup du jour, salad, and breads/crackers to serve everyone; then clean up the kitchen after supper is over. The week’s team leader decides and shops for the menu.  

Please join us in the kitchen this Lent!

Lenten Series on “The Great Divorce” begins March 12th!

This year's Lenten Series at St. Thomas begins on Wednesday, March 12th, at 6:15 PM in the Parish Hall with a deep dive into C.S. Lewis’ classic, The Great Divorce. This short novel follows the tale of an observer who steps onto a bus in the “Gray Town” of Hell to travel with troubled souls to the possibility of entrance into Heaven! In the masterful way C.S. Lewis is known for, Lewis opens up the struggles all of us have with sin and faith, and he completely turns the traditional Christian ideas of heaven and hell on their head without ever turning away from the Bible and the teachings of the church. A special Taize Worship Service will begin each Wednesday program at 5:30 PM in the Nave, and a Lenten supper of homemade soup and salad will begin being served in the Parish Hall this year at 5:45 PM. The book is available for purchase in any format in your favorite online bookstores, or at the local Barnes & Noble. If you have any questions, call the church office or speak to Fr. Donavan.

Wednesdays in Lent:

Taizé Prayer at 5:30 PM

Taizé Prayer is a distinctive style of meditative prayer developed by an ecumenical community of monks in rural France. This quiet, moving reflective prayer combines elements of the Church's traditional Liturgy of the Hours with elements of contemplative meditation. A typical Taizé prayer service incorporates periods of silence with meditative readings from Scripture, prayers of praise and intercession, and the frequent repetition of simple, contemporary chants based on the Psalms or other parts of Scripture. Short songs or chants, repeated over and over, create a meditative environment and express basic realities of faith which can be easily grasped by the mind and the heart. The result is to gradually move prayer from the head to the heart.

Lenten Quiet Day - Five Ways FAITH can Free us from Anxiety & Worry -

Saturday, March 15th

The entire parish is invited to join the Daughters of the King for a special Lenten Quiet Day led by Fr. Donavan on March 15th from 9am - 2pm. Coffee and snacks will be available beginning at 8:30 AM in the Parish Hall, and Fr. Donavan will begin his timely program entitled "The Five Ways Faith can Free us from Anxiety & Worry" at 9am. A lunch will be provided at noon, and we will finish with open discussion, questions, and prayer.

In order to help us know how much food is needed for lunch, please let the church office know you are coming by sending an RSVP to stthomas@stthomashuntsville.org or calling the Kathie in the office. NO ONE WILL BE TURNED AWAY, but your RSVP will ensure we have lunch for you!

Please plan on joining Fr. Donavan and the Daughters on Saturday, March 15th, for this important discussion of how our faith is meant to be our greatest defense against worry, anxiety, and stress, in our world and in our personal, day-to-day lives!

A New Habitat for Humanity House is Raising Walls

NEXT Saturday, March 8

Come help us build it!

Calling all volunteers! Volunteers are needed for construction of this year’s Habitat house. The walls will be raised next Saturday, March 8, provided the foundation is ready. The address is 4305 Blue Spring Rd NW. Please join in if you are able. please contact George Harriman at 256-509-6666. We are also looking for a new lead contact person for Habitat for Humanity at St. Thomas, as our dedicated past leader, Elouisa Stokes, has stepped down after many years in that role.

St. Thomas Book Club

March 10 at 10 AM in the Parlor

Still Life with Bread Crumbs

by Anna Quindlen

The St. Thomas Book Club will meet on March 10 at 10 am in the Parlor. We have been reading Still Life with Bread Crumbs by Anna Quindlen. Everyone is invited. Call Elouisa Stokes at 256-604-8669 for more information.

Join Us at Ditto for a Holy Hike

March 15 at 9 AM

Our next Holy Hike will be along the Tennessee Riverwalk Greenway on Saturday, March 15th at 9am. This will be an out and back riverside hike, approximately 3.75 miles roundtrip. We’ll meet at the Kingston Pavilion parking lot at Ditto Landing which is on Ditto Landing’s southwest corner. There are restrooms onsite at the pavilion and at the marina office. Please contact Brett Byford with any questions at brettbyford59@gmail.com or 256.808.5776.

Ditto Landing: 293 Ditto Landing Rd SE, Huntsville, AL 35803. Map shown below.

Children's and Youth's Ministry every Sunday at St. Thomas

Now you can find out the regularly scheduled Children and Youth Sunday School offerings by simply clicking the link below. You can also find both Adult and Treble Choir rehearsal times and times for Bell Choir rehearsals with just a simple click of the button below!

First Stop Volunteers Needed!

St. Thomas serves a hot breakfast at First Stop on 206 Stokes Street in downtown Huntsville on the first and second Friday of each month to First Stop clients. We need more helpers to assist with preparing food and serving for the first Friday breakfast team. We serve from 8:15 – 9:00 a.m.

If you are interested in helping, please call Patty Moy 256-655-2756. Thank you!

Volunteers Needed for Sunday Morning Refreshments



February is full but we still need a few more individuals or families to help to keep the refreshments coming on Sundays following the 10:30 am service. Bring homemade or store-bought sweet treats for a Sunday so that we can spend a few minutes gathering after worship. Please sign up using the poster in Information Hall. Instructions are in a manilla envelope under the signup sheet. Thank you for helping us keep this vital part of our parish thriving!

Phone: 256.880.0247

Email: StThomas@stthomashuntsville.org