Celebrate Kristin’s Return October 9th!
Stewardship
In October, we focus on stewardship. We, the congregation, are responsible for ensuring our finances remain strong. It’s not always easy to talk about our finances, but it’s essential.
During Kristin’s sabbatical, the vestry has gained a better understanding and appreciation for the breadth and depth of support provided by our entire congregation and our staff. We are deeply thankful!
As you’ve probably seen in the weekly bulletins, we’re operating in the red this year, drawing on reserves we established earlier in “Replenish and Establish”. This is not sustainable, we need to do better. We have three business entities – the Nursery School, the Thrift Shop, and the Church itself.
The school did very well last year. This year we lost some staff and students and had a hard time hiring teachers and aides. Enrollment is down, but recovering slowly. We don’t expect the Nursery School to do as well as last year; it’s a rebuilding year.
The thrift shop did very well last year. We expect it will continue to support our ministry, but maybe a little less going forward because of increases in the minimum wage and decreases in volunteer coverage.
The church is our third leg, and may be the one that needs the most work. Our October stewardship campaign focuses on pledge and plate collections – it’s our largest source of income by far. We’ll post some articles on stewardship in the Shell during October. We’ve asked fellow parishioners to speak on Sundays. Please read the articles, listen to the speakers, and pray about this. If you can, consider increasing your giving level.
The theme this year is “More Than Enough”. Because of you, we can serve our neighbors and share our message of love with others. This is a warm, open, hospitable, loving faith community. We feel blessed to be a part of it. More Than Enough calls us to remember that when we share what we have with the world, miracles happen. In his epistle, St. James reminds us that our faith and our works are both necessary to activate our true calling as Christians. It is not enough to simply believe, we must act on that faith to serve our neighbors and change the world. You do this all the time, in so many ways.
In a few weeks, you will be receiving an invitation to pledge your gifts for the year to come. We ask that you pray with us as we launch our annual gathering of gifts and gratitude, and consider how you will contribute. Thank you for all you do for the Church and for the world.
We really appreciate your generosity in supporting our parish in the year ahead,
Your Vestry
Formation
SUNDAY SCHOOL NEWS
Sunday School classes have begun. Welcome back!
9:30 – 10:15 a.m.
Preschool through 5th grade will meet at 9:30 a.m. in the sanctuary with an opening prayer and song, with thanks to Blix Winston and his guitar. Such fun! Following the opening, teachers will lead their students to the lower level classrooms.
Middle-High School students will go directly to their classroom at 9:30 in the lower level. All classes will end at 10:15 a.m.
While our preschoolers are hearing popular Bible stories, all other grades will be using age related lessons from Living the Good News curriculum.
With thanks to our teacher volunteers:
~ Bible Stories for Preschoolers – Dawn Neary
~ Kindergarten – 2nd Grades – Betsy Davis
~ 3rd – 5th Grades – Denise Warren
~ Middle-High Grades – Joan Fader
~ Music – Blix Winston
~ Subs: Cheri McClanahan and Peter Sabonis
On October 9th, Rev. Kristin will return from her sabbatical. Please join our parish family for food, fun and fellowship in welcoming back Kristin+, Zachary and Jasper at 11:45 on the 9th.
Choir Music
The choir is thrilled to be singing together at services once again, but with only seven active singers, we need your help! Come join us on Wednesdays at 7:15p. No experience necessary—we even have sing-along tracks to help you get started! “Sing to Him, sing praise to Him; tell of all His wonderful acts.” ~Psalms 105:2Take care,
Richard Drehoff Jr.
music@stjamesmtairy.org
757-274-7840
Basket Raffle
The 2022 Basket Raffle and Silent Auction Committee Thanks You!!
It is my pleasure to report that our 16th Annual Basket Raffle and Silent Auction was exceptionally successful! I am very thrilled to announce, to date, we have earned approximately $8,000, an all-time high!!!
This would not have been possible without the generosity, both in materials, time, talent and spirit, of so many of you. In particular, I would like to thank the Raffle Committee—from our fantastic “Basket Brigade” (Joan Fader, Karen Dulany, Karen Larrimore, Cheryl Windsor, and me), to our awesome new Silent Auction Chairperson Betsy Davis along with her assistants Jeanne LaRoux and Kathy Rak.
Many thanks to our Scouts, their leaders and parents from Troop 829G and 829B for their tireless efforts to help move and set up our equipment, as well as, return it to the church at the end of the day. In addition, a special thanks to our “Transportation Coordinator” Don Windsor and his assistant Howard LaRoux for driving the trucks and providing extra “muscle power” for us along with Dave Rak and Mike Henyon.
Also, kudos to Mary Hutchins-Danna for successfully coordinating the drawing and calling of the winners and to our faithful Volunteer Coordinator Betsy Davis, serving double duty this year—they each deserve a huge thanks!! A very special thank you once again to our Parish Administrator Laura Davis who is always more than willing to help in so many ways toward our success!
In addition, we are always extremely grateful for the special monetary donations, as well as, the lovely donated items received toward our baskets from our parishioners and their time to help with the moving of baskets and ticket sales. Many thanks, as well, to our Nursery School and Thrift Shop for their continued support of this important fundraising event.
Blessings to all~
Marilyn Hancock, Chairperson
Sunday Worship Information
Join us on October 9th for The Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost. We will celebrate Holy Eucharist in the sanctuary at 8:30 am and 10:30, or watch the 10:30 service livestream on Facebook.
A printable bulletin can be found here.
Lectionary Readings
Facebook Livestream
We plan to begin streaming to Facebook at 10:30 am. If you arrive at Facebook and you don’t see the video, please refresh your screen. There is a delay.
Announcements
VESTRY NOMINATIONS
The Vestry Nominating Committee is excited to announce they are accepting nominations for the 2023-2026 Vestry Class. A nominating form is available on our website or in the narthex along with details of ideal qualities for candidates along with Vestry member responsibilities.
You can submit your name or the name of someone you think would be a candidate by completing the online form or connecting with a member of the Nominating Committee (Matt Kastel, Dave Rak, Rainey Stafford) by Sunday, November 13, 2022.
CARE PACKAGES FOR COLLEGE STUDENTS
The Outreach Committee would love to have the names and addresses of all our young men and women that are attending college whether they are away from home, commuting or studying virtually; please send their contact information to office@stjamesmtairy.org.
We plan to send them “CARE Packages” in mid-October; so please donate NOW.
Please donate items such as hot chocolate, razors, shower scrubbies, fruit snacks, pencils, cookies, pop tarts, instant coffees, tea, chips, goldfish, Pringle’s, microwave mac ‘n cheese, microwave popcorn, tissues, lotion and small bottles of hand sanitizer.
Collection containers will be in the in the Narthex.
Thank you so much, in advance, from your Outreach Committee for your kind donations.
Next Week’s Commemorations:
Prayer Rotation
Please join the Daughters of the King in praying for each parishioner in rotation during 2022 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:
James and Simone Mauro (Cameron, Michael)
Tim and Cheri McClanahan (Bryce, Trevor)
James and Janet McKeever (Katie)
A member of the Daughters of the King will be contacting you this week for special prayer requests.
