Calendar of Events
When you join St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, you’ll quickly learn how many opportunities there are to join together in fellowship. There’s something happening every day at St. Mary’s. Whether it’s a book club, evening prayers, Bible study or choir practice, the schedule at St. Mary’s reveals the busy daily life of the church. Please consult the calendar regularly to be sure you know the latest gatherings that are important to you.
Celebrating Our Fellowship
St. Mary’s Tented for Fumigation
Altar Guild prepares the Sanctuary for Advent
St. Mary’s New Pipe Organ
St Mary’s PennyWise Thrift gets new LED lights
Fr. Ryan Wright Celebrates at St. Mary’s
Welcome Coffee for Fr. Wright
Baked Fish Dinner A Great Success
Altar Guild Donation – candlesticks and vases
New blue accent for St. Mary and Lady Chapel
Our new Rector makes a clean sweep!
A Special Birthday – 98!
Our Quarterly Newsletter
Tidings is the quarterly newsletter published by St. Mary’s Episcopal Church. You can click on an issue on this web page or join our free mailing list to receive your copy via email. In each issue of Tidings you’ll find a message from the Clergy with important information about the parish life. The newsletter also includes details about special services such as Easter or Christmas as well as opportunities for members to volunteer. There’s also a calendar of upcoming events as well as important committee reports.
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Join ECW Today!
Episcopal Church Women, or ECW, is a group of women working together to promote fellowship and spiritual growth at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church. There’s no special requirement for membership — if you’re a woman of the parish, you’re a member! ECW holds meetings the second Thursday of the month at 1 p.m. It starts with a brief business meeting followed by a program or event. Bring your lunch and come at noon for a fun social hour.
Some of Our Latest Blog Posts
NEW HORIZONS Vestry Report to the Congregation
NEW HORIZONS – SUPER KIDS CLUB (SKC) AT ST MARY’S
Vestry Report to the Congregation
After nearly 5 years, the New Horizons Super Kids Club will enjoy its last session in St. Mary’s Parish Life Center on May 11. Current, former and potential future St. Mary’s tutors and speakers are invited to join the celebration at 3:45 that afternoon.
Clergy, vestry and congregation of St, Mary’s are proud to continue our support of New Horizons as it moves to new accommodations at Oak River Church, 10951 E. Terry St., (between Old 41 and Imperial). The library provided by our congregation will move with the program, and the $11,524 designated in our Outreach account for New Horizons will be used for them. Tutors are encouraged
The Myths of Saint Patrick by David Bergquist
ST. PATRICK: The Conflation of Myth and Faith
The feast day for St. Patrick occurs this week, March 17th, and it is noteworthy for the way it is exuberantly celebrated in our secular society, with parades, parties, wearing green garments, drinking green beer, etc. So who was St. Patrick and why all the hoopla! And in terms of one’s faith and spirituality does the mythology that grows up around a particular figure from Church history actually enhance and enrich or, perhaps, cause doubt. For example, how do you reconcile the myth of driving all the snakes out of Ireland if there are no snakes to begin with, with the other achievements of St. Patrick’s ministry? Are they fact or fantasy? Indeed, perhaps the snakes could merely be
INTERCESSORY PRAYER: A Way of Life at St. Mary’s Parish
The 17th Chapter of the Gospel according to St. John contains what is generally referred to as The Great Intercessory Prayer of Jesus wherein among several petitions he intercedes on behalf of his disciples. To quote: “I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours…but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.” And in the Apostle Paul’s First Epistle to Timothy we read: “First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving be made for everyone…so that we may
TRINITY SUNDAY: Pondering the Impenetrable
This Sunday we observe the feast of the Trinity, the only major Christian festival that features a doctrine of our faith rather than an event in its sacred history. It has been a feast day in the Western Church since the ninth century and it celebrates the central mystery of our faith because the doctrine of the Trinity alone informs us who God is. To quote one source: “It is the mystery of God in himself.” And where does the unfolding of this mystery begin? Like the entire sweep of the biblical account of our salvation history it begins in Genesis when God says: “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness… .” In other words, in the beginning there was a pluralism
PENTECOST: The Birth of the Church
In the Gospel according to St. Matthew (28:19) we read: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit….” This is known as the Great Commission. But how was it to be inaugurated and accomplished?
In biblical times there were several pilgrimage festivals a year in the Jewish tradition; the first of which was Passover, followed fifty days later by the Festival of Weeks. In Greek fiftieth translates as Pentecost. Consequently, fifty days (Pentecost) after Christ’s death and resurrection there was another occasion when Jews from around the Mediterranean area gathered in Jerusalem to observe a major religious and, in a sense, obligatory feast of their faith tradition. It is reasonably
THE ASCENSION: The Exaltation of Christ
From the Gospel according to St. John (Chapter 16:7) we read: “Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate (Holy Spirit) will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.” With these words, spoken to his disciples, Jesus foretells of two post resurrection events that they will eventually experience: his ascension into Heaven to be “exalted at the right of God”; and the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. The first of these events comes 40 days after Christ’s resurrection on Easter, and it is always a Thursday (indeed sometimes referred to as Holy Thursday); the second comes after 50
