"And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger."
St. Luke 17:17-18
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This past Sunday, the Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity, Fr. Yossi led a beautiful Holy Communion service. His sermon expanded on the Gospel lesson which describes the healing of the ten lepers by Jesus. He reviewed the history of the animosity between the Samaritans and the Jews. He then reminded us that we are like the lepers - in desperate need of Christ's healing. He concluded by asking whether we are like the one healed Samaritan that returned to praise God and give thanks or are we like the nine Jews who experienced God's grace but didn't thank him.
Please find the complete service including the sermon at the following link:
Thank you Fr. Yossi and Br. Scott for the beautiful service.
After services we enjoyed an amazing pot luck luncheon! Sliders, meatballs, sausage & rice casserole, baked beans, salad, cole slaw, pickles, corn bread, sweet potato casserole, pumpkin pecan pie, ice cream w/toppings, and peach cobbler! What a feast! Thank you to everyone for bringing so much delicious food!
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Fr. Yossi led our Adult Christian Education Classes this past Sunday. Fr. Yossi continued with the final lesson in a series titled Anglican Spirituality, A Closer Walk With God. We discussed our 'Rule of Life' statements. Starting next Sunday, Fr. Yossi will begin 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!
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The Mission Committee had a very busy and productive meeting this past Sunday.
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. 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. We are planning for many upcoming activities in the fall including the blessing of shelter animals on St. Francis's Feast Day, a church clean up/maintenance day, Veterans Day service with wreath laying, annual congregational meeting, Christmas concert & luncheon, Bishop's visit, and Lessons & Carols service. The October activities are described below - more information on the other activities to come as they become available!
4. 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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On Wednesday, Oct 4 Fr. Yossi will go to both the The Animal Shelter of Sullivan County and Petworks in Kingsport to bless the animals. All are welcome to join him as he visits these shelters. 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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