Dear friends and parishioners,
We are now gearing up for a fall that is full of events, ministry, and formation offerings, so we hope you find these thrice-weekly email messages of keen interest as we have a lot to share! St. Edward’s is alive in our faith, our community, and our worship as we walk in love, together, with strength, courage, and gladness of heart.
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Today, we’d like to share what our Shaped by Faith team has been doing in recent months. The team is charged to work with a regional group of parishes in our Diocese to examine our future together. Projects will explore congregational vitality and values, financial sustainability, God’s call in the neighborhood, and new models for being church. These projects will take place throughout the Diocese from 2019-2021.
The Lancaster Episcopal churches held their first meeting with the Diocesan leadership in February of 2020 at St. John’s, Lancaster. The Shaped by Faith initiative was introduced and we examined realities and trends within our Diocese. Following this meeting, individual parishes formulated their teams of rector, a warden, and a parishioner. Our team consists of Father Rick Bauer, Julie Hoff, and Herb Johnston. Amy Swiernik is the lay representative at the Diocesan level of Shaped by Faith.
With the onset of Covid-19 our bimonthly in-person meeting schedule was put on hold. However, we have been meeting by Zoom and looking at the new ways of being church we are all experiencing during this Covidtide. We have also participated in Webinars on Anglican Identity, Mission and Sustainability, and Self-Differentiated Leadership.These are available for your viewing at the Diocesan website: diocesecpa.org Click on menu and select Shaped by Faith. You will see all the Shaped by Faith offerings available for your use. We encourage you to take advantage of these resources.
There are also interesting webinars spanning a wide variety of topics pertaining to Shaped by Faith, which you may find interesting. Click here to learn more
We invite your support of this effort and look forward to your participation as we progress in this Shaped by Faith journey together!
Shaped by Faith Team,
Father Rick, Julie, and Herb
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Click here to view our Sunday service of Rite II from August 23rd
Be well. Stay safe. Keep the faith.
– Michelle
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MINISTRY HAPPENINGS AT ST. EDWARD’S
We want to take this opportunity to share with you important announcements that are in our paper bulletin on Sundays, that may be of interest to you, at home, regarding upcoming events, both at St. Edward’s and in our wider community.
First,click here to view our flier for our talent search for our upcoming Variety Show fundraiser on October 24th. In partnership with our Cultural Events ministry, the fundraising committee will be putting on a Variety Show/Basket Auction event for our BIG fall fundraiser, this year, along with offering a lovely casual boxed dinner (think: no cooking while you watch the live streamed event!) that can be purchased and picked up prior to the YouTube virtual evening event. For this to be a success, we need YOUR TALENT! It is all is the spirit of community, fun, and fundraising!
Second, we will be hosting a very special live streamed musical event featuring Maria Thompson Corley: pianist, soloist, collaborator, and composer on Sunday, September 13th at 3:00 PM. Click here for information on this exciting Cultural Event.
Lastly, the Arts at MU has listed an event on their calendar, as follows, that sounds very exciting:
Xun Pan FREE Livestream Concert
“Beginning of Beethoven’s Middle Period”
FRIDAY, AUGUST 28, 2020 | 7:30 P.M.
FROM STEINMAN HALL – THE WARE CENTER
Kick of the fall season with Beethoven’s 250th Birthday Celebration! The series that began last fall continues with four concerts. The first commemorates the “Beginning of Beethoven’s Middle Period” on Friday, August 28, and will be live streamed for FREE on the internet from the Ware Center at 7:30 p.m.
Visit https://artsmu.com/ on or after Wednesday, August 26 to get a link to the live stream and additional concert information.
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We invite people to continue to donate funds to our Hempfield Area Food Pantry. The need continues. Just since our last check to the pantry on August 14th, we have raised an additional $650+ in monetary donations, some through St. Edward’s, as well as parishioners who have told us they have contributed funds directly to the food pantry. This is an amazing response to the needs of our wider community and we thank you all!
Card Ministry: As we have messaged throughout the summer, through the generosity of Thomas Ishler, we have had a wonderful selection of greeting cards at St. Edward’s over the past few months, for those who are able, to come, browse and select and make a free will offering. As we approach September, we have found a “home” for these cards through Community Aid. They are very excited to receive them and they will go to good use in helping them in their community mission. A wonderful way to “pass it on” versus discarding these gifts brought to us through faithful ministry. So. . .if you are interested in doing some card shopping, do not despair! We will not be transferring them to Community Aid until the week of September 14th. We thank Thomas, again, for his generosity in providing this ministry to St. Edward’s over the summer!
GROCERY CARDS: I have only received responses from 2 people regarding Giant and Stauffer’s grocery cards for September. Unfortunately, if we do not have a minimum of $1,000 in grocery cards, for each store, we will be unable to restart this program at this time. Please contact the parish office no later than this Friday, August 28th, if you would like cards starting in September.
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MINISTRY, WORSHIP & FELLOWSHIP THIS WEEK
Wednesday Noonday Service of Healing – Wednesday, August 26th
Please enter through the parish hall doors. Masks are required. We have put in place healthy practices for your comfort and safety.
Bible Study – Wednesday, August 26th 6:30 PM via Zoom – Session Two will be finishing this week and please read below for messaging regarding Session Three:
Session 3 of our Contemporary Bible Study ZOOM Meetings will begin on Wednesday, September 9th from 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM and continue every Wednesday thereafter. Participants in previous sessions have found the meeting discussions to be interesting, relevant to today’s world/local events, and a great forum in which to connect with St. Edward’s Church members. The Study Guide for Session 3 will be:
All Things New, A Study On 2 Corinthians by Kelly Minter.
As long as COVID-19 protocols and restrictions remain in effect, meetings will be continue to be held on-line until virus restrictions are lifted.
For information and an invitation to the ZOOM meetings, please contact Bill ([email protected]) or Yvonne ([email protected]).
We look forward to connecting with you during the upcoming session.
Bill and Yvonne Gasperetti
Friday Evening Prayer – August 28th
We invite you to Evening Prayer this Friday evening at 7:00 PM. This is a wonderful way to peacefully end our week and is led by Patrick Ishler.
Join us on Zoom:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86327105082
Join Code: 863 2710 5082