"And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not neither do they spin:
And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these."
St. Matthew 6:28-29
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Fr. Yossi led a beautiful Holy Communion service this past Sunday, The Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity. His thoughtful sermon focused on the Gospel lesson from St. Matthew 6:24-34 which is part of the Sermon on Mount. Fr. Yossi reminds us that wealth is not the issue (Abraham and Job were both wealthy) but rather greed is the problem. We need to put God before all things and remember God will provide for us.
Please find the complete service including the sermon at the following link:
Thank you Fr. Yossi and Br. Scott for another beautiful service!
After services we enjoyed some amazing snacks downstairs in the Parish Hall. Teresa, Lin, Diane, and Agnes provided the snacks this week which included chicken salad croissants, several cheeses, crackers, bread, homemade jam, veggie tray, and brownies! Thank you for the delicious food!
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Fr. Yossi led our Adult Christian Education Classes this past Sunday. He began confirmation classes in preparation for Bishop Jones' visit in mid December. While the classes are specifically designed for the people to be confirmed, all are welcome to attend. The classes start at 10 am - a pot of coffee will be on!
We had four confirmands attending this first confirmation class. Sam, Mere, JP (pictured above) and Lin joined Fr. Yossi to discuss our Liturgy starting with the Eucharist.
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1. Fr. Yossi is asking for volunteers to be available to work in the nursery on an as needed basis. He is also looking for volunteers to join a Community Outreach committee and a Pastoral Care committee. Please speak with him or Br. Scott if you are interested.
2. Starting Sunday, Oct 1, we are adding a Morning Prayer service to our Sunday morning schedule.
9:15 am Morning Prayer service
10 am Christian Education
11 am Holy Communion service
On the third Sunday of each month, the Holy Communion service will be a sung service.
3. Our Annual Congregational Meeting is coming up in November, just before the beginning of Advent. At that meeting we must submit and approve an operating budget for the next church year. In order to establish a budget we must ask for pledges. Please prayerfully consider and submit your pledge by the first of October. Daryl has blank pledge sheets in the Narthex. As in the past, we ask only for anonymous pledges dropped in the offertory plate or sent in the mail to the church. The pledge slips will be tallied and then destroyed as we do not track pledges.
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We have updated information on blessing the animals at Petwork's Humane Society in Kingsport. The date has been moved from St. Francis's Feast Day (Oct 4) to Saturday October 28. This allows for both the blessing of the animals in the shelter and for the opportunity for more people to bring their pets for a blessing. The time has not been determined yet. Volunteers to assist Fr. Yossi are needed! Parishioners are also invited to attend and have their pets blessed!
Fr. Yossi is also speaking with The Animal Shelter of Sullivan County about blessing the animals in that shelter. Hopefully there will be more information to come.
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Time to catch up on our church and yard maintenance after this crazy summer. We have scheduled a Fall Yard Work Day for Saturday Oct. 7 @ 10 am. The outside work includes trimming bushes, pulling weeds, mulching, etc. . .
We also hope to get some work done inside the church including replacing the Sanctuary light bulbs, replacing the toilet flappers, general cleaning, etc.
Please join us as we keep the church looking nice! Please bring your garden tools and your lunch!
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The 2024 Ordo Calendars are in. If you ordered one they are in the Parish Hall downstairs. We have extra full size calendars for anyone who forgot to order one. The calendars are $10 each.
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Sue continues to lead our weekly online prayer group on Discord every Thursday at 2 pm. Thank you so much Sue for taking the time each week to lead our prayers! If you have a special prayer request but cannot join us, please send your request to Sue. Please contact me if you would like to join us on Discord.
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Our next Women's Bible Study is on Wed. September 20 @ 11 am at the church. We are using "The First 24" for our study guide. This is an in depth study of Mark 1:21-45 - the first 24 hours of Jesus' public ministry. The guide is available on Amazon. Please remember to bring the book, your bible, and a lunch!
Thank you so much to all the Bible Study members for remembering my Birthday this past week! The cake was beautiful and delicious!
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