"And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying This is my beloved Son: hear him."
St. Luke 9:35
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Fr. Yossi led a beautiful Holy Communion service this past Sunday, The Transfiguration of Christ Sunday. His powerful sermon focused on the Gospel lesson from St. Luke 9 which describes the events surrounding The Transfiguration of Christ. Please find the complete service including the sermon at the following link:
Thank you Fr. Yossi for the beautiful service!
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After services this past Sunday, Fr. Yossi, in conjunction with Bp . Jones' full support, led a Congregational Meeting to discuss a few proposed changes to the order of services which he believes will both improve the flow of the service and elevate our worship.
Fr. Yossi proposes to begin our Holy Communion service with the Morning Prayer service. This both uses the beautiful Morning Prayer liturgy (which we won't be using much on Sundays now that Fr. Yossi is our Vicar) and allows the formal incorporation of the Old Testament Lesson and The Psalm reading into the Holy Communion Service as they are not official parts of the 1928 Holy Communion service.
Below are both the proposed new beginning order of service and the current beginning order of service:
Other proposed changes include:
-moving the announcements and notices to the end of the service just before the Postlude
-an additional hymn between Morning Prayer and the beginning of Holy Communion
-going directly from The Nicene Creed into the Sermon (no Sermon Hymn)
Below are the remainder of the order of service for both the proposed new order of service and the current order of service:
In addition slowly, over time we will begin singing some of the responses used in the service as indicated in the 1928 BCP and on the third Sunday of every month, Fr. Yossi will lead a Sung Service.
Fr. Yossi answered many questions about the proposed changes. After much discussion, we agreed to try the changes for the next month and then evaluate! Br. Scott has agreed to include the entire service in next week's bulletin except the hymns. If you have additional questions please contact Fr. Yossi or Br. Scott!
Fr. Yossi also discussed the many opportunities for volunteers in both leadership and other positions in the church.
At the end of the meeting, Fr. Yossi and Br. Scott announced that Bishop Jones is visiting St. Peters on Sunday, December 10! Among other plans, the resumption of confirmation classes will be announced soon!
Thank you Fr. Yossi for all the information and answers to questions! Thank you Br. Scott for all the upcoming work on the new bulletins!
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Next Sunday Fr. Yossi is restarting our Adult Christian Education Classes. His first four classes are titled Anglican Spirituality, A Closer Walk With God. The classes will start at 10 am. All are welcome to join us - a pot of coffee will be on!
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Br. Scott shared this message from our Dean, Fr. Paul Rivard, about The Annual Deanery of Appalachia Picnic :
The time has come again to prepare for our annual picnic and this year it will be held on the beautiful campus of All Saints in Mills River on Saturday, August 26 from 11AM to 2PM.
Our hosts, Fr. Erich Zwingert and his parishioners, have indicated that at present there is no need to bring anything but yourselves to this event so please make a special point to mark your parish calendars and inform the members of your parishes and missions so that everyone has a chance to enjoy a great time of fellowship together with others from the Deanery.
Please let Fr. Yossi or Br. Scott know if you want to attend!
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Agnes successfully moved her brother, Guy, up to the Tri-Cities area. So far he is very happy! Teresa sent the attached picture of Agnes setting up her brother's new apartment. Many prayers of thanksgiving for the successful move and the wonderful facility he is living in.
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The next phase of the basement retrofit started this Sunday with the purchase of the materials! Alex, my son, is helping us replace the fluorescent light fixtures and the worn ceiling tiles in the main room, kitchen, nursery, meeting room and bathrooms!
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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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