Sundays at 11: HOLY EUCHARIST; Wednesdays at 6: Evening Prayer

Alfred Adler (1870-1937)

On Feb. 10 church member Darlene rolled out the first of her monthly birthday and anniversary parties that she will be throwing for anyone who has a birthday or anniversary in a given month. So, don’t be shy about revealing when your birthday or anniversary is. Thanks Darlene!

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This Sunday, Feb. 17, is Epiphany 6, Year C. The lector is Amy and the altar guild is Peggy. See the vestment and altar colors, and readings, by clicking HERE and selecting the date. 

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Also on Feb. 17 we will have special music by Chris Mashburn, Julie Lucky and Will Lucky. They will be performing with a trombone and two trumpets. They are performing again on Easter and then every other month thereafter.

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Diocesan Convention is March 2, 2019, in Georgetown. Click HERE for complete information.

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The next Vestry meeting is March 10.

Lent begins on March 6 (Ash Wednesday) with a service at 6:30 p.m. Fat Tuesday (mardi gras) is on March 5, the night before, with a dinner at 6 p.m. For the calendar and readings, click HERE.

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During Lent we will have a speaker program every Tuesday at 7 p.m. The programs will be in the church’s meeting hall behind the main building. Extra parking is along the railroad tracks in the rear.

LENTEN PROGRAM SPEAKERS:

• March 12: Tom Ware of Ware Funeral Home and Harrison County Coroner. Tom will speak about funeral costs and options, embalming, cremation, mummification, cemetery rules, graves, and the laws and practicalities associated with burial.
• March 19: Jane Higgins, Director of Regional Initiatives, Blue Grass Community Foundation, (859) 721-2349, jhiggins@bgcf.org. Jane will discuss the BGCF and its role as a responsible fiduciary (trustee) for money entrusted to it for charitable donations to be used according a donor’s designated intentions. See the website by clicking HERE.
• March 26: Melissa Crump, an Elder Law attorney who practices in Paris. Melissa will talk about wills, living wills, POAs, nursing home planning and trusts to qualify the settlor (you) for a Medicaid-paid (free) nursing home. Melissa can be reached at melissa@crumpspurlock.com.
• April 2: Amy Cox, (859) 234-6462, from Bluegrass Care Navigators (formerly Hospice) and other members of her team (Palliative Care Physician Kim Bell; Grief Counselor Mary McKenzie; and Regional Counseling Officer Mike Brown). Amy will represent BGCN and educate attendees about what BGCN does, hospital admissions, discharges, do-not-resuscitate orders and other medical issues related to aging and dying. Our own Dr. Amy Mashburn will be present.
• April 9: The Reverend Father Paul Wanter, our Priest-in-Charge, hpwant@gmail.com. Fr. Paul will discuss funerals, planning for them and the benefits of planning ahead, the liturgical options, the history of funerals and their relevance and impact to our society, humanity and theology.

Maundy Thursday is April 18, with a service at 6:30 p.m. Good Friday is April 19, with two services — noon and 6:30 p.m. Holy Saturday is April 20, with a service at 7:30 p.m.  Easter Day is April 21, with church service at 11 a.m. For the calendar and readings, click HERE.  Special music is planned for Easter Sunday by Chris Mashburn, Julie Lucky and Will Lucky. They will be performing with a trombone and two trumpets.

For more than 100 years, a church in Lexington, Virginia, has been known as the Robert. E. Lee Memorial Church, a tribute to the Confederate general who served as a senior warden there after the Civil War. Facing pressure from Southwestern Virginia Bishop Mark Bourlakas and from like-minded parishioners, the congregation’s vestry narrowly voted in September 2017 to change the name back to its original Grace Episcopal Church, though that resolution left a wound that is still healing. Read the full story by clicking HERE.

At a time when Episcopal churches and institutions across the country are reckoning with their historical ties to slavery, the Confederacy and Jim Crow segregation, the Rev. Robert Wisnewski and vestry members at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Montgomery, Alabama, took steps to set the record straight. They removed the Jefferson Davis pew, Wisnewski said, because its ties to Davis were false and its dedication ceremony 89 years ago (well after the Civil War) was a political act steeped in racism, which runs counter to Christianity. Read the full story by clicking HERE.

The orphanage is located near a maximum-security men’s prison, where in the 1970s a makeshift “village” of poor women and children emerged to live in proximity with the men. It was dangerous — children witnessed violence, assassinations, drug trafficking and abuse.

In 1996, Episcopalians from Los Angeles learned of the village and responded with Vida Joven (Young Life), which remains in its original 2,000-square-foot concrete building with a 25-child capacity. All of the children at the facility have been either surrendered or abandoned by their parents. Read the full story HERE.

Bishop Curry recently concluded a three-day visit to the Diocese of Central Florida, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary. At Trinity Preparatory School, Curry told the students that if you understand that the sentiment [of love] leads to commitment, a commitment to seek the good, the welfare, the well-being of the other, then it’s a commitment that actually looks something like God, who the Bible says is love. Read the full story by clicking HERE.

The Episcopal Church’s General Convention, in addition to placing racial reconciliation among the church’s top priorities, has voted since 2015 to emphasize criminal justice reform. Last fall, members of Trinity Church Wall Street, an affluent parish in Lower Manhattan, joined a “mass bail out” of certain detainees being held at city jails. Read the full story by clicking HERE.

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry told clergy in the Diocese of Florida recently to work hard to stay in relationship with Bishop John Howard, even if they disagree with his opposition to same-sex marriage. Bishop Curry said, “I would encourage anyone here [to] come and talk to him. Let him talk with you. Treat each as brothers and sisters and siblings in Christ, and you’ll find a way. I know that.” Read the story HERE.

— wikipedia.com, dictionary.com

For more of our rich history, click HERE.