St. Thomas Tidings: November 9, 2023
Today we commemorate Richard Rolle (1349), Walter Hilton (1396), and Margery Kempe (c. 1440), Mystics. Here is the collect for the day: Direct our hearts, O Gracious God, and inspire our minds; that, like your servants Richard Rolle, Walter Hilton, and Margery Kempe, we might pass through the cloud of unknowing until we behold your glory face to face; in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Men’s Breakfast This Saturday: All men of the parish and any friends who identify as men are welcome to come to the Men’s Breakfast on Saturday, November 11. Meet at the Denny’s at South and Bellflower at 8:00am for food and fellowship.
Diocesan Convention is November 10-11: Please keep the delegates, alternates, and workers of Diocesan Convention in prayer as we seek to discern God’s will for the Diocese of Los Angeles. Your clergy and delegation will be working hard to make sure that St. Thomas is represented well.
Day by Day: The November-January edition of Day by Day, the daily devotional booklet, has arrived and is available in the narthex. Please come pick one up if you enjoy using the booklet.
Veteran Recognition This Sunday: We will honor our veterans with a special prayer at both services on November 12. We will also bless all the books that we have gathered for the “Heinlein for Heroes” book program. Thank you for your support of our ministry to veterans and active-duty personnel.
The Holiday Fair is Almost Here!: Please come to our annual Craft Fair and Bake Sale on Saturday, November 18 from 9am-3pm (or until sold out). This is your chance to do some early holiday shopping while supporting our vendors and ministries. This year we not only have the usual baked goods and ornaments… we will be selling lunch AND we have two opportunity trees! Each tree has $300 in gift cards to local and national stores. We look forward to seeing you at the Fair.
Pledge Income: Our pledge income is down significantly from our projections at the beginning of the year. We will be sending out third-quarter statements shortly for you to review and compare to your planned giving. If you are behind, please do your best to catch up by the end of the year, so that we don’t end the year with a deficit. Remember that Mother Sharon and the Bishop’s Committee are always available if you have any concerns or pastoral needs.
Pledge Card Blessing: You should have received your letter from Stewardship Chair Sue Williams, along with a pledge card and return envelope. We are grateful for all gifts received and pledged to continue our work in the world. We will bless the pledge cards received on November 19 at both services, but if you need more time to pray about your 2024 pledge, please take the time you need. The Bishop’s Committee will draft the 2024 budget in December to present at our annual meeting.
Evensong at St. Gregory’s November 19: We are invited to join our St. Gregory’s siblings for a “Kirkin’ o’ the Tartan” Evensong at 4:00pm on Sunday, November 19. It will be a lovely service of prayer and music, including bagpipes, and everyone will have an opportunity to celebrate their heritage. A festive reception will follow.
Thanksgiving Eve Service – With Pie!: Our annual Thanksgiving Eve service is Wednesday, November 22, at 7:00pm. Our St. Gregory’s siblings will join us in giving thanks for what we have received. You are invited to bring a token of your Thanksgiving dinner to be blessed during the service. After the service we will enjoy pie and hot chocolate, courtesy of the Hospitality Committee. See you there!
Prayer Tree: We are revamping our community prayer tree. A small and dedicated group of people prays for those on our prayer list and are alerted when new prayer needs arise. If you would like to be part of this praying network, please contact Jane Gordon-Topper.
Sanctuary Lighting: We are very fortunate to have Long Beach Chorale and Chamber Orchestra using St. Thomas for rehearsal and performance space for the rest of 2023. In order to help with rehearsals, we have two small work lights at the front of the sanctuary, to boost the lighting at night. Since we’ve had comments that parts of the altar area are quite dark when viewed on a computer, we’re going to experiment with the lights when we livestream as well. The lights are out of the way of Altar Guild and cleaning folks, so they shouldn’t come to any harm. Thanks for your patience as we try new things, and mark your calendars for the Chorale performances in December!
Are You Interested in Genealogy?: Questing Heirs, one of our newer community groups, invites us to visit their meetings and explore our heritage. They meet the third Sunday of every month at 2pm in Larkin Hall.
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.