St. Thomas Tidings: February 29, 2024
There is no commemoration for today on the calendar of saints. Our collect for the day is the collect for this past Sunday: O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy: Be gracious to all who have gone astray from your ways, and bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of your Word, Jesus Christ your Son; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Supper Club This Coming Monday: We hope you are planning to come to our first Supper Club meeting on Monday, March 4, and that you will bring a friend who might enjoy fellowship with our community. We are looking forward to sharing food, fellowship, and fun with you! In order to provide enough food for all, we ask you to kindly RSVP to John Hannan by Sunday, March 3. John can be reached at 562-889-6675 or hannanjth@gmail.com See you at 5pm on Monday.
Men’s Breakfast March 9: All men of the parish and any friends who identify as men are welcome to come to the Men’s Breakfast on March 9. Meet at the Denny’s at South and Bellflower at 8:00am for food and fellowship.
Daylight Savings Time Begins March 10: Don’t be late for church! Daylight Savings Time begins at 2am on Sunday, March 10. Be sure to set your clocks forward before you go to bed (assuming you have any clocks that don’t automatically update).
Lent Book Study Has Begun: This year we are reading and using the spiritual practices in A Different Kind of Fast: Feeding Our True Hungers in Lent, by Christine Valters Paintner. This is a brand-new book and is available from Barnes & Noble, bookshop.org, Broadleaf Books, and Amazon. Each week we will explore a different kind of hunger and a different way to live in the world, using practices such as lectio divina, contemplative walking, journaling, and imaginative prayer. We had our introductory session on February 7, but you can still buy the book and join the class during Lent. We will meet weekly in Larkin Hall at 7:00pm on Wednesdays through March 27.
Thursday Soup Suppers and Compline at St. Gregory's: Our St. Gregory's siblings are hosting a soup supper beginning at 6:00pm each Thursday in Lent through March 21. Diane Kela and her team of cooks will feed us delicious meals of soup, salad, and bread. A free-will donation, as you are able, will help defray the cost of the food. There is no need to RSVP before the meals. Following supper, at about 7:00pm, there will be a brief service of Compline in the church. See you there!
Livestream Assistant Wanted: We need someone who is willing to learn our livestreaming system to fill in when John Mitchell is away. If you are interested, please speak with Mother Sharon or with John.
St. Patrick’s Party: We’re having a St. Patrick’s Party on Saturday, March 16, from 6-9pm. There will be food! There will be fellowship! There will be lots of fun! Further details will be in the Canterbury Tales.
Maundy Thursday Vigil: As is our custom, we will keep the church open after our Maundy Thursday services for our overnight vigil. This is our way of answering Jesus’ question, “Could you not watch one hour with me?” and continues a long church tradition of overnight vigils during Holy Week. Please sign up in the narthex for the times you wish to participate. Note that for safety reasons we must have at least two people at all times. We ask that you sign up by March 24 so we can make sure all people keeping vigil together have each other’s contact information.
Easter Service Update: The survey responses were overwhelmingly in favor of trying an early morning Easter service in lieu of the Saturday Vigil. So that’s what we’ll do! We will have our usual Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services, and then hold services Easter morning at 7:00am and 10:15am. St. Gregory’s will have a Saturday evening Vigil service, so you can go there if you want a Saturday service as well. We hope that any St. Gregory’s folks who want an early morning service will join us! Thank you for your flexibility as we try something new, and we’ll evaluate how well it worked afterwards, as we do with all our experiments.
Service Reminder: All our services stay on our Facebook page so you can view them whenever it’s convenient for you. It’s always better to view a service later in the day than not at all! The link to the page for all our services is here: https://www.facebook.com/Saint-Thomas-of-Canterbury-Episcopal-Church-of-Long-Beach-CA-124554214274325
Share Our Services: Please feel free to share our Morning Prayer and Sunday services. The more people we reach, the better we do at evangelism. People are hungry for what we have to offer, and I encourage you to do your part to share our services with your friends and neighbors. Send them the link when you email them, invite them to join you on Facebook or in person… whatever way works best for you to share what we have to offer.
Episcopal News Updates: The email updates from the diocese are a great way to stay informed about what’s happening all over our six-county diocese. If you want to receive the Episcopal News, visit https://diocesela.org/episcopal-news/contact/ and enter your email address in the box provided.
In Case of Emergency: Notify your priests! With our combined ministry program comes additional coverage for pastoral emergencies. In the event of a hospital stay, illness, death in the family, or other pastoral emergency, please call Mother Sharon on her cell phone (562-833-3393) any day except Friday, her Sabbath day. Father Michael Fincher covers emergencies in both communities on Friday, just as Mother Sharon covers emergencies in both parishes on Monday, Father Michael’s Sabbath. Father Michael’s cell phone is 909-373-6478.