Weekly update week of September 10
Tuesday September 11
7 - 8:30pm Welcome Class (Godly Play Room)
7pm Finance Committee Meeting (Missionary Conference Room)
Thursday September 13
7:30pm Rehearsal for the 10:30am service choir
Friday September 14
The Feast of the Holy Cross (transferred to Saturday during the Liturgy Retreat, with Eucharist)
Saturday September 15
10am-3pm Liturgy Retreat
Sunday September 16
8am Holy Eucharist Rite I, the Rev. Frank Dunn preaches and presides.
9:15-10:15am Forum “A summer in the Taizé community”, by Laura Moye
10:10am Sharing the Gospel with Loaves and Fishes.
10:30am Holy Eucharist Rite II, the Rev. Frank Dunn preaches and presides.
Noon Pastoral Care Group Meeting
Noon Using the building to Welcome Committee Meeting (Godly Play Room)
4pm Confirmation class.
5:30pm Misa Alegría, (Spanish language liturgy), the Rev. Frank Dunn preaches and the Rev. Sam Dessórdi Leite presides.
Date change for Liturgy Retreat - “Do this for the remembrance of me.” Luke 22:19
Mark your calendars for Saturday, September 15, 10am to 3pm and join us for a two-session liturgy retreat. The morning session will focus on the Sacrament of Holy Eucharist, and also reserved for a Bible study on The Way to Emmaus. The afternoon session will include training for Managers of Ceremony, Worship Leaders, Eucharistic Ministers, readers, and acolytes. Also in the afternoon we will invite anyone interested to sign up for liturgy planning teams for the up-coming liturgical year beginning in Advent.
This retreat is designed for participation in the whole day or if you are interested in more study and reflection to stay just for the morning session. More details will follow closer to the date. All are welcome. The retreat will have simultaneous translation to Spanish. If you can join us on September 15 for the Liturgy Retreat, please add your name to the signup sheet posted on the bulletin board in the parish hall or e-mail Mary Alcuin Kelly at ˂marykelly9748@yahoo.com˃.
Choir rehearsals have begun!
If you have the urge to sing more in church, please consider joining the regular September to June 10:30am service choir! Our weekly rehearsals are held each Thursday from 7:30-9:15pm. On Sunday mornings the choir gathers at 9:30am. If you have questions about choir, please ask Michael Salmon or any choir member. We do not have auditions, and anyone is welcome to join – there is a place for all of God’s creatures in the choir (in fact, if you are reading this, you are already in the largest choir at St. Stephen and the Incarnation)!
It's time to sign up for a small group!
For those of you who haven't participated before: These groups are an opportunity for St. Stephen's folk, both longtime parishioners and newcomers, to get to know each other's lives and spiritual journeys. We meet every other week, rotating among parishioner's homes, to share a meal, informal discussion of some Christian spiritual reading, and prayer. This fall we have four options, all open to folks of all ages:
Monday nights, Spirituality of the Psalms by Walter Brueggemann (led by Brede Eschliman & Mary Alcuin Kelly).
Monday nights, the week's scripture lessons from the lectionary (led by Lindsey Foss & Michele Lewis).
Tuesday nights, Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again by Rachel Held Evans (led by Nicole Martinez Moore & Flannery Fox).
Wednesday nights, Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again by Rachel Held Evans (led by Sarah Rogers & Gay Gellhorn).
Groups will start in mid-September and go through mid-December or early January. Please, sign up on shorturl.at/HMRZ7.
Sunday Forums Begin!
The Sunday Forums are back beginning Sunday, September 16. Each week from 9:15-10:15am in the auditorium, we offer time to gather as a community and focus on some aspect of our faith and our lives. A forum topic is whatever is part of your journey with Christ inviting us to understand God working in our lives, to better know one another, and build the community of St. Stephen's and the Incarnation. Come hear our presenters and get to know others in the community. The Forums in September will be:
September 16, “A summer in Taizé Community”, by Laura Moye. Presentation of slides and talk about her summer in the Taize community in France.
September 23, “Restorative Justice and The Kingdom of God”, by David Potter, who works with Sojourners. He will introduce principles of restorative justice from his experience as a practitioner in public schools. This forum will draw from biblical themes to provide discussion on our understandings of justice and community.
September 30, the Rev. Martin Smith will facilitate the forum “The Dove vs the Eagle: Baptism and Resistance”. Join us for a discussion of how baptism originally functioned as a “sacrament of resistance” to the violent ethos of the Roman Empire. Let’s think how the original potency of baptism can be recovered, now that the era of so-called Christendom, in which almost everyone was automatically ‘christened’, is ending.
Welcome Class
Are you new to Saint Stephen's or have you been here awhile and are interested in a deeper exploration with others of the Episcopal/Anglican tradition, Saint Stephen's history, liturgical and spiritual practices, and ways of living into your faith? Join us for the six-session Welcome Class, starting September 11 and meeting every Tuesday evening through October 16. Classes meet from 7:00 - 8:30pm in the Godly Play room off of the auditorium. If you have questions or if you want to sign up to attend, contact Elizabeth Finley ˂ebfinley@verizon.net˃, Father Sam Dessórdi
˂samdessordi@yahoo.co.uk˃, and Laura Moye ˂soymoye@yahoo.com˃.
Diaconal Workshop Day
If you are interested in discerning a call to the diaconate, attendance at the Diaconal Workshop Day on Saturday, October 27 at All Souls Episcopal Church (2300 Cathedral Ave NW, Washington, DC 20008) from 9am - 2:30pm. This will be the required first step in the process. Two persons are required to attend with you: Your Senior Priest, and another layperson from the congregation who is likely to serve on the local discernment committee. The workshop includes learning about the ministry of deacons, the various steps in the ordination process, and the structure and requirements of the formation program. At the end of the day, those interested in moving forward will receive a nomination form. You can find more information on https://goo.gl/QWQwWy and you can register on https://www.edow.org/calendar-event-details/155. Please speak to Fr. Sam Dessórdi Leite or Deacon Susan Walker for more information.
Seeing the Face of God in Each Other Anti-Racism Workshop, September 28 & 29
This workshop on September 28 from 12:30 - 8:00pm and September 29 from 8:30am - 4pm at Washington National Cathedral (map at shorturl.at/eyKX7) provides an opportunity for people from different racial and ethnic backgrounds to explore the history of institutionalized discrimination in our society. The training satisfies canonical requirements for anti-racism training in the Episcopal Church upon completion of both days. To learn more and register go to https://bit.ly/2M7EkSR.
