From the Rector
Fall Worship Plans
If you’ve been anywhere on social media for the past week you’ve likely seen a slew of “My fall plans // The Delta variant” memes. I had to share the one above because if you know, you know – I learned early not to get my hopes too high when I saw that cookie tin!
The memes are at once both funny and poignant, touching on the fact that once again we are at a place of needing to hold things lightly, being ready to pivot and change quickly as necessitated by rising Covid numbers. It is with this context in mind that I share our plans for fall worship beginning on Sunday, September 12.
8:30 am Service
The early service will move outdoors into the Memorial Garden for the fall. This will be a mask optional service. It will continue to be livestreamed on Facebook. In the case of inclement weather, this service will move inside and masks will be required.
10:30 am Service
The mid-morning service will move indoors and will feature the return of our choir. Masks will be required for this service. The chairs will remain in their current configuration, with half the sanctuary having traditional rows and half the sanctuary having socially distanced groupings of chairs. This service will have music, we’re just not 100% what that will look like yet. Current guidelines from the diocese due to the Delta surge will allow for socially distanced and masked choir singing, but not congregational singing. We hope that will change and expect this service to shift throughout the fall as health and safety measures change in response to our local Covid numbers.
Plans for Sunday School and adult formation opportunities are coming soon. Be on the lookout for those in the next couple of weeks. We are finishing up a survey of all of our PreK-5th grade Sunday School families to help us with that planning – more to come shortly! And if you haven’t yet had a chance to connect with Kathy Rak, our survey interviewer, please let us know so we can include your answers.
Yours in God’s peace,
Kristin+
Buildings and Grounds
There’s lots to do on Church Work Day!
The closings and distancing of the last year made it very difficult to keep up with maintenance tasks at St. James’. We’ve missed one fall and two spring work days which means there’s lots of Building & Grounds jobs to complete to keep things in tip-top shape.
We need your help on
Saturday, August 28 from 9:00 am to Noon!
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP
Basket Raffle
15th ANNUAL
ST. JAMES’ BASKET RAFFLE & SILENT AUCTION
Downtown Mt. Airy
Our 15th Annual Basket Raffle & Silent Auction will be held Saturday, September 25th–please mark your calendars!
This important fundraiser will take place during the Oktoberfest in downtown Mt. Airy. As in the past, the completed filled Baskets and Silent Auction items will be on display at St. James’ for two weeks before the Oktoberfest beginning September 12th. Tickets will be on sale at the Church during that time. Winning tickets will be drawn on Monday morning, September 27th at the Church.
Here’s how you can help
You may create and donate a completed basket using a theme of your choice The deadline for the donation of filled baskets is Sunday, September 5th. If you have questions about baskets, want to donate a filled basket, or want to volunteer for the Basket Brigade in August and/or September, please call or email me (see below). Join the fun and make new friends!
Items for the Silent Auction are also being accepted now. These are items that would generate higher bids by themselves than as a part of a basket. Such items could include paintings, quilts, unopened perfume, fine jewelry or, high-value gift certificates, and the like. If you have questions about the Silent Auction, again, please contact me (see below).
Volunteer to be a part of the Basket Raffle committee to assist with the creation of the filled baskets—we’ll guide you! This year, more than ever, we need new helpers as some of members have retired from the committee. Please seriously consider volunteering a few hours a week in August and/or September to help with our creations.
Donate your time to help with publicity, flyer distribution, or soliciting donations and gift certificates from local businesses.
Event Volunteers will be needed to assist with ticket sales before and during the Basket Raffle & Auction, to assist with transporting baskets between St. James’ Church and downtown, setting up tents and tables, as well as, calling winners of Baskets and Silent Auction items. You will be able to sign up for times to assist in the above ways on SignUp.com at a later date.
Let’s make the 15th Annual St. James’ Basket Raffle & Silent Auction another huge success! Thank you in advance for your generosity of spirit and continued support.
Marilyn Hancock
Chairperson
Ladyzip2004@yahoo.com
BASKET THEMES FROM PREVIOUS YEARS
| Sports (golf, baseball, football) | Home decor | Jewelry |
| John Deere | Spa day | Pets |
| Birds | Teacher | Picnic |
| Games for girls/boys | Health and exercise | Cooking |
| Baby boy/girl | Christmas | American Girl doll clothes |
| Wine related items | Fall/Halloween | Summer |
Next Week’s Commemorations:
Prayer Rotation
Please join the Daughters of the King in praying for each parishioner in rotation during 2021 by taking this notice home and by posting it where it will remind you pray to on a daily basis for the needs and blessings of:
Donald and Carey Staley
Steve Stowell
Maureen and Dave Chismar
A member of the Daughters of the King will be contacting you this week for special prayer requests.