St
Christopher's
Lantern Articles
Our Parish Newsletter
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St
Christopher's |
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This is our newsletter on line. Our mission is to provide a sanctuary where God moves every day in the expectation of knowing Jesus Christ better as Savior and Lord, through the revelation, inspiration, and power of the Holy Spirit.
"See, I am making all things new." Rev. 21:1 As I write this letter, I am just returning from a week of vacation. Michael and I had a wonderful time away at the Grand Canyon North Rim and at Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park. The weather was wonderful and the scenery awe inspiring. It was great to get away and I am so glad we were able to do so. But I am also looking forward to the fall and all of our plans for new programs and classes this fall. This September, we are entering into our new program year with lots of new energy and excitement. Our Wednesday night program will begin on Wednesday, September 8th at 5:30 with dinner and a class at 6:30. We will start this fall with a class that examines how we live out our faith as Anglicans with the help of a book called Tokens of Trust by The Most Rev. Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury. I think you will find it to be most helpful and enlightening. On Thursday evenings at 6:30, we will have bilingual English as a Second Language— Spanish as a Second Language classes beginning on September 9th. We will have Christian Formation classes for children ages three to twelve on Sunday Morning between our 8:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. worship services beginning on Sunday, September 12th. Our Lectionary Bible Study class for adults will, of course, continue in Middleton Hall between the services as well. Our choir is beginning weeknight rehearsals on Monday evenings at 6:30 starting on September 13th. New singers are most welcome and invited to join by simply coming to rehearsal. The choir will be tackling some exciting new music and beginning to prepare music for Christmas soon, so now is a great time to join if you have been thinking about it. Our Parish Potlucks have been a great success over the summer and will continue on the third Sunday evening of each month and we will continue to have our Scrapbooking Club meeting monthly (on Saturday the 25th this month). We are continuing to look for a new leader for our wonderful sleeping bag ministry, which is as much a fellowship event as an outreach ministry at St. Christopher’s. If you are interested in leading this great ministry, please give me a call at the church office. Our Episcopal Church Women (ECW) and Men’s Club will begin meeting again in October and will once again fill Saturday mornings with prayer, energy and excitement. All men and women in the congregation are invited to be a part of these lively and active groups. I am very excited about having a new Amazon.com button on our website. This allows us to reach the Amazon.com website from our website. When we and all our friends and family members buy books and all of the thousands of things available through Amazon.com through our website, St. Christopher’s will receive a percentage of the purchase price. It is a great way for St. Christopher’s to raise funds painlessly. I know that I and most of the people I know buy from Amazon.com quite regularly and it makes little difference to me what web page I start out on, as long as I get the books or whatever I’m looking for. So tell your friends and family members about this new way to help St. Christopher’s and start using our Amazon.com button today! Peace and Blessings, Mother Marty† Lay Eucharistic Ministers Needed There is a growing need for new Lay Eucharistic Ministers. These are the people who take Communion every Sunday to the sick and shut-ins of the parish. If you feel called to this ministry, please let Mother Marty know. We can arrange training after the first of the year. back to top
<<FINANCIAL UPDATE>> Our July giving of $10,328.45 was within 1% of our budgeted giving for the month. Our total contributions for the first seven months of 2010 were $81,587.40, which was only 46% of our operating expenses of $177,371.50. We are still dependent upon our endowment, which is never a healthy situation. On the other hand, we are $15,923.10 under budget in our operational budget thus far. Our hope is that we can continue to grow our weekly contributions to completely cover operating expenses as new folk come into St. Christopher’s and those of us who have been here longer continue to grow in generosity and gratitude toward God.
The Right Reverend Sean W. Rowe, Bishop of N.W. Pennsylvania will be with us, at the 10:30 AM service on Sunday, September 19th, to preach and celebrate the Eucharist. Please join us on that day as we welcome him to St. Christopher’s. A WORD OF THANKS A word of thanks to—
To Clive Chancey for his generous contribution to our
music ministry. To Fr. James and Marinell Eron for providing the Virgin of Guadalupe icon for St. Christopher's.
SUNDAY MORNING — All classes begin at 9:00 AM. To what group do you belong? AGE 0 - 2 — Nursery (Located above the Narthex) 3 - 5 — Godly Play — 2nd Classroom (above Narthex) Adult — Lectionary Bible Study - Middleton Hall
WEDNESDAY PARISH EVENINGS
Please join Mother Marty for a class entitled Tokens of Trust. It is based on the book, of the same name, by the Most Rev. Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury and you will find it to be both informative and enlightening.
Hello everyone! The new store is really getting off the ground and we are very proud of the accomplishments which have been made so far. The teams of volunteers we have working here are wonderful and very dedicated to helping us achieve success. However, we can always use more volunteers so please sign up and join us. Our store hours, at the present time, are 8 AM to Noon on Saturday, and we also work one morning a week to sort and price items. Stop by and visit us on a Saturday and see how easy it is to help, and how enjoyable it is too! And here’s a bit of exciting news. Beginning on Friday, October 15th, we will be open for the same hours on Fridays as well as Saturdays! We would like to especially thank all of you who have donated items for our store. Our heartfelt thanks goes out to each of you! We appreciate everything you give us and we couldn’t exist without you. Please keep them coming! Should you have any questions, you can reach me at home at 623-934-1879. I’ll look forward to hearing from you. Frieda Spann back to top
A Note From Your New Senior Warden
As many of you already know, I have been asked by the Rector and Vestry to assume the office of Sr. Warden, replacing Jack Bonesteel who has had to withdraw for health reasons. It is a privilege to serve St. Christopher’s Church and its members and I will endeavor to do a good job for you all. I hope I learned something from my previous time in the same job, and I also hope that I can now remember what that something was.
Furthermore, I would like to express my most sincere thanks to Jack for the impressive amount of work, and the numerous tasks, which he championed, during his term of office, helped to accomplish, and saw through to completion. The word tireless immediately springs to mind when referring to him and I can only hope that I can keep up. Thanks, Jack!
Our hard working Jr. Warden, Wayne, and our Sexton, Bill, have been toiling very hard around our church campus and I would like you to know about just a few of the things that they accomplished in the latter part of July and part of August.
Removal of old AC from the Parish Hall and installation of new unit. Installed new programmable thermostats. Refurbished office sign in front of church. Defrosted kitchen freezer. Installed emergency lights in nursery. Made repairs to the Narthex bathroom. Installed new exit lights in the Chapel. Repaired and front door of church. Installed new lock and deadbolt for the Gorton/Gay building. Replaced door stops in both Parish halls. Repaired leaking toilet in Chapel. Installed lockboxes for new thermostats. Arranged for flag pole to be sanded, primed, painted, and a new gold ball installed on the top. Passed fire inspection.
And that’s just a partial list!! Thanks guys!
Clive Chancey
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MUSIC & CHOIR
A NOTE FROM OUR ORGANIST AND CHOIR DIRECTOR
We love to sing! We would love for you to sing with us and invite you to join the choir at St. Christopher’s Church. Everyone is welcome and no prior experience or music training is necessary.
The choir will have rehearsals on Mondays from 6:30 to 8:00 PM, beginning on September 13th, and will meet in the church sanctuary.
Please join us and be a part of this exciting and fun ministry at St. Christopher’s. For more information, brochures are available or you may talk to me after Sunday services. James Gerber back to top
Fr. Charles Chatham produces weekly or bi-weekly essays, articles, or reflections, etc. on biblical passages, the Sunday Propers, questions readers send to him, or current events from a theological point-of-view. There are about 30 St. Christopher's folks on his mailing list at the moment and about 150 from other churches and dioceses in which he has served.
If you would like to be added to his mailing list for these items or just want to chat about it, send an email to cmchatham1@msn.com, or phone him at 928-684-1366 or 928-671-0270, or by mail to 500 S. Jackson St., Wickenburg 85390. And last but not least, see him at church! back to top
The Episcopal Church Women of St. Christopher’s Welcome to the snowbirds who come back early. We will not be meeting in September but will hold our first meeting of the fall season on the second Saturday of October. Hope to see all of you then. Jean Liversidge, V.P. This is a big HELLO coming to you from hot and humid Wisconsin. Hope you have all had a wonderful summer. Even with all the heat, it is time to think about Fall and planning to attend the October ECW meeting. I will not be available that day but will see you when I return in early November. Kitty Martin - Your ECW President back to top
NEWS FROM THE BOOKSHELF We have had a very successful summer in the Bookstore. That is the good news. The bad news is that we have a lot of empty spaces, especially on the paperback table. The Romance books are sharing that space with the rest of the fiction paperbacks. If you have any books at home that you have enjoyed but will not be reading again, please donate them for our sale. Jane and I try to keep everything alphabetized, and we appreciate all the donations, and the purchases too! Music has its own table now. Records and audio tapes are only 10 cents each, CD’s 50 cents. With Bargains Galore open every Saturday, we have seen a lot of new visitors. As always, put the money in the Book Banks and it goes into the general fund. Thanks! Charlotte Powley “Reading is a means of thinking with another person’s mind; it forces you to stretch your own.” —Charles Scribner, Jr.
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09/01 Sarah Roddy 09/02 Joan Marshall 09/02 Cynthia Nyblade 09/05 Clyde Couch 09/07 Frances Wood 09/10 Barbara Kimball 09/12 Eugene Carbaugh 09/14 Cindy Schwab 09/16 Barry Pitt-Hart 09/17 Ann Gay 09/20 Joanne Mola 09/22 Jeff Walker 09/22 Marion West 09/24 Kenechukwu Anako 09/26 Jean Liversidge 09/27 Bill Masters 09/27 Tom Wienand 09/28 Mildred Mallett 09/30 Jim Mann In Memoriam Jan Goodwin Beulah Warner
OUR SLEEPING BAG WORKSHOP We will gather together once again on Monday, Sept. 20th at 9 AM to make sleeping bags for the homeless. A new leader is needed for this Ministry. If you think that it is something you can do, please talk to Mother Marty about it. back to top | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
