1895 Laurel, Saint Paul MN 55104

Saint Mary's Episcopal Church

1895 Laurel Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55104

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Saint Mary’s Weekly – September 3, 2021

September 2, 2021 by communications


Weekly Worship Service
Sunday, September 5, 2021
Worship via Zoom ONLY with Coffee Hour to follow—10:00am

This Sunday will be a ZOOM ONLY worship service. We’ll be doing an adapted version of Gospel Based Discipleship.  There’s no sermon today.  We’ll be breaking into 3 groups to discuss the Collect and First Message and create our own sermon! These will be the discussion questions…they’re a little different than usual: 

  • What is the Holy Spirit doing in the Opening Collect and First Message? 
  • Where do you see yourself?
  • What does this Opening Collect and First Message say about this journey you’re on?”

Anna Clark, Vonda Humburg and Nina Johnson will be facilitating the discussions.

  • First Message: A reading by Bruce Epperly entitled “Seeking God’s Shalom: Reflections on Labor Day”
  • Gospel: Mark 7:24-37

For the Zoom worship service on September 5, 2021 Click HERE
If asked for a passcode, enter 361757
If asked for a meeting ID, enter 865 7346 8197

To join by cell phone only (voice only, no video),
call: 312-626-6799
Enter Meeting ID 865 7346 8197
If asked for a passcode, use 361757
 

For the Service Bulletin – Click HERE
For the 2021 Summer Songbook – Click HERE


What’s in this Weekly?

Worship Team

  • What’s New?

September is Rally Month at St. Mary’s!

  • Watch your inbox!

Sunday Morning Lay Ministry

  • Gearing up for Fall

Children and Youth

  • Survey and Update

Pastoral Care

  • A Letter from Brian Nerbonne, Warden

Communications

  • Website Maintenance

Upcoming Events at Saint Mary’s


Worship Team

What’s New?
  • To listen to the sermon given by Erika Scheurer on August 29, Click HERE.
  • “Blessing of Backpacks, Bags and Briefcases”—Students and Educators this is for YOU!  Come to St. Mary’s on September 12th, outdoors…more information to follow next week.
  • In September, we will celebrate the Eucharist 3 times—September 12, 19 and 26.  The Rev. Susan Moss will preach and celebrate on September 12; The Rev. Carol Arney will preach and celebrate on September 19 and 26.

Feedback is welcome!
Expect changes as we try things, see how they work and make improvements! Your feedback is more important than ever before to help us know what’s working well and what isn’t. Please send your thoughts, ideas, suggestions to the Worship Team.

Click HERE to give feedback. Thanks!

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September is Rally Month at St. Mary’s!

With so much going on to start off a new season at St. Mary’s, we will be sending out a separate email highlighting the many activities that will be happening this month. Please watch your inbox and keep your eye on the St. Mary’s website and calendar.

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Lay Ministry: Gearing up for Fall

Yes, fall is right around the corner and St. Mary’s needs YOU!! When we started in-person worship services, many of you signed up to help with Sunday morning lay ministries… Ushers, Greeters, Lay Leaders/Officiants and Vergers. Thanks to all of you who were able to do that!  

Now that summer is nearing an end and we’ll soon be settling into our fall/winter routines, it’s our hope that more of you will be able to help with these lay ministries. The goal is to have enough people assisting with these ministries so that no one will be asked to take on responsibilities more often than once each month. You can get more information or sign up now by contacting mauramccro@gmail.com.

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Update from Mia on Children’s and Youth for Fall

We have been in brainstorming mode to try to get some appropriate programming that kids and youth will be interested in for the fall (while keeping kids safe!) 
 
Here is what we know so far. 
 
Youth Group:
Youth Group will start up September (date TBD) in person with our Youth Leader, Kat Lewis!  Yay, welcome aboard Kat!  Check the Saint Mary’s Calendar for more up to date details about the Youth Group.  Since most youth group sessions will be indoors, masks are required.  The youth group may choose to do some outdoor gatherings as well!  
*I am still looking for an additional 1-2 adults who are interested in supporting and helping with youth group this year (in person). 
 
Tweeners:
Tweeners will be starting up virtually September 22, 2021 from 6-7pm on Wednesday nights.  I will be reaching out to families to see if they are interested in family led meet up dates for Tweens that are outdoor!  If you are a Tween parent, let me know if this is interesting to you!
 
Sunday School:
I am still not sure what we are going to do with Sunday school this year.  Below is a link to a survey that will help shape what we are going to do.  If you have a child in the 0-11 range, please fill out the survey to help guide my decisions around this for the year.
 

Parent Survey

Sunday Night Bed Time Stories:
As part of the Christian Formation plan for this year, I would like to do a Story time for our little kids.  Any congregation member can help with this idea.  I will be taking pictures of our Spark Story Bible and attaching the stories to a specific day.  Your job (if you so choose to accept it) would be to read the story and video tape yourself doing this. You would also have a chance to say a few words to the kids and let them know that they are missed and we all hope to be back together soon!  I would then distribute this in the weekly email so that our families can have Bible stories read to our littlest children on Sunday nights.  

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Pastoral Care

I am both happy and sad to announce that Rev. Cindi Brickson has a new job that will require her to step down from her role as Pastoral Care Minister. I am so appreciative that she stepped up to take on this role at St. Mary’s with gusto, going above and beyond individual pastoral care to found recurring care groups for LGBTQ+ people and elders, a quarterly healing circle, and curating the St. Mary’s prayer chain, to name a few. All of these efforts happened during a time when face to face interaction was very limited, and people needed virtual venues to connect and help heal one another from all of the trauma that is so present right now.

As we await the results of our search process that we hope will call our new rector this fall, St. Mary’s pastoral care programs will be more limited. Rev. Susan Moss will cover pastoral care emergencies, Eily Marlow has offered to continue to coordinate the LGBTQ+ and elder care groups, and Cindi plans to continue to lead the prayer chain and Tuesday evening Compline gatherings. The members of the pastoral care team look forward to working with a new rector to develop a robust pastoral care program at St. Mary’s once they are in place.

If you have any questions about this transition time for pastoral care, please reach out to Susan or me. Congratulations on your new job with ECMN, Cindi, and thank you for you service to St. Mary’s in this role!

Brian Nerbonne, Warden

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Website Maintenance

Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll be doing some behind-the-scenes maintenance on the St. Mary’s website. It may have some periods of downtime, when you aren’t able to access it. If that happens, please rest assured that it will be up and running again within 24 hours. With questions, please email communications@saintmarysepiscopal.org

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Upcoming Events at Saint Mary’s
Opportunities for Worship, Education, Choir, & Meet Ups
for the week of 9/3 – 9/9

Sunday, September 5, 2021
Worship via Zoom ONLY with Coffee Hour to Follow
10:00am
Link

Tuesday, September 7, 2021
Men’s Group
7:00pm
For details Click HERE

Tuesday, September 7, 2021
Compline
8:30pm
Contact Rev. Cindi for details and link Click HERE

Thursday, September 9, 2021
Saint Mary’s Dinner Group
Contact Julie Thomas for more information. Click HERE.

Thursday, September 9, 2021
Thursday Evening Contemplative Service
Led by Erika Scheurer and Anna Clark
7:00pm
Link

Visit the Saint Mary’s Calendars page for more information on what is happening.

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Filed Under: Children and Youth, News, Weekly News and Announcements

covid 19 notice

Our decisions about how to conduct activities at St. Mary’s are guided by our belief that it is our duty to care for one another as children of God, as well as by guidance from the Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota.

Find the current status of all St. Mary’s programming and community activities on THIS PAGE. Join us!

 

 

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