St Thomas the Apostle
eNews
August 13, 2010
Greetings!

St. Thomas the Apostle is an Episcopal Parish in the Anglo-Catholic tradition.  We are called by God to be a holy place where love is found, where all are named and where hearts are freed to change the world.
Rector's Corner
From the Father Rector
Fr. Ian Elliott Davies
Fr. Ian Elliott Davies
 
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
 
My time away has been restful and rejuvenating. I am thankful for the gifts of Mother Guibord, Father Cox, Deacon Johnson and Father Ledbetter.  It is a joy to have these clergy part of the St. Thomas family.
 
I look forward to seeing and reconnecting with each and every one in our Parish family where I am most grateful to be your Rector. 
 
With my love & prayers,
Fr Davies Signature
 
 Fr Ian Elliott Davies
Blessed Virgin Mary
Feast Day celebrated August 15 
 
Michelangelo's Pieta
Michelangelo's Pieta
Mary (also referred to as the Blessed Virgin Mary, or simply the Blessed Virgin, the Virgin Mary, or as the Immaculate Conception) is a figure venerated in Christianity, especially the Catholic Church, for being the birth mother of Jesus.
Since the first century, devotion to the Virgin Mary has been a major element of the spiritual life of a vast number of Christians, primarily in Catholicism. From the Council of Ephesus in 431 to Vatican II and Pope John Paul II's encyclical Redemptoris Mater, the Virgin Mary has come to be seen not only as the Mother of God but also as the Mother of the Church, a Mediatrix who intercedes to Jesus Christ and even a proposed Co-Redemptrix.
The key role of the Virgin Mary in the beliefs of many Christians, her veneration, and the growth of Mariology have not only come about by the Marian writings of the saints or official statements but have often been driven from the ground up, from the masses of believers, and at times via reported as Marian apparitions, miracles, and healings.

Adapted from www.wikipedia.org
Blessed Brat Day
Sunday August 15
 
brat
The Blessed Brat Feast Day Sunday 15 August 2010 Being the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary; immediately following the High Mass in The Parish Hall.
 
We'll be serving up grilled brats with all the fixings; chips and soft drinks included. Donations Graciously Accepted.  Gifts contributed will fund the Lady of our Cell of Walsingham's continued ministry of faith and education.
Nothing Says Assumption like a grilled Blessed Brat!
Friday the 13th
Friday August 13, 2010 - Superstition
 
Friday the 13th occurs when the thirteenth day of a month falls on a Friday, which superstition holds to be a day of bad luck. The fear of Friday the 13th is called friggatriskaidekaphobia. 

According to folklorists, there is no written evidence for a "Friday the 13th" superstition before the 19th century. One theory states that it is a modern amalgamation of two older superstitions: that thirteen is an unlucky number and that Friday is an unlucky day.
In numerology, the number twelve is considered the number of completeness, as reflected in the twelve months of the year, twelve signs of the zodiac, twelve hours of the clock, twelve tribes of Israel, twelve Apostles of Jesus, twelve gods of Olympus, etc., whereas the number thirteen was considered irregular, transgressing this completeness. There is also a superstition, thought by some to derive from the Last Supper or a Norse myth, that having thirteen people seated at a table will result in the death of one of the diners.
 
Friday has been considered an unlucky day at least since the 14th century's The Canterbury Tales, and many other professions have regarded Friday as an unlucky day to undertake journeys or begin new projects. Black Friday has been associated with stock market crashes and other disasters since the 1800s. It has also been suggested that Friday has been considered an unlucky day because, according to Christian scripture and tradition, Jesus was crucified on a Friday.
 
One theory suggested by OJ Ivey states that Jesus dies on a Friday and there were 13 people at the last supper.

A further theory goes back to a combination of Paganism, Christianity, and the Battle of Hastings. For many, the number 13 was considered a lucky number (such as 13 lunar cycles each year), but with the efforts of Christianity attempting to degrade all things Pagan, they promoted 13 as an unlucky number, with Friday thus also being considered a bad day of the week. However, on Friday the 13th of October 1066, the decision was made by King Harold II to go to battle on Saturday the 14th of October, rather than allow his troops a day of rest (despite his army having made a long and arduous march from a battle near York just 3 weeks earlier).

This decision in going to battle before the English troops were rested (the English lost and King Harold was killed) further established Friday the 13th as an unlucky day.
Adapted from www.wikipedia.org
Forward Day by Day
Celebrating 75 years
 

Forward Movement
 
The little booklets get tucked into purses, suit pockets and back pockets. They get taken out when their readers have a quiet moment to spend in prayer. For 75 years the Forward Day By Day booklets have been giving Episcopalians and others a page-a-day way to reflect on their faith. Now, Forward Movement, its publisher, is looking for new ways to continue living out the mission given to it during a financially bleak time in the life of the Episcopal Church and the world. Forward Movement board members, staff and experts from outside the organization are spending this anniversary year leading an effort to dream about and plan strategically for the years to come.

"We're looking at how we can make full use of social networking and digital communications to reinvigorate the life of the church," the Rev. Richard Schmidt, Forward Movement's editor and director, told Episcopal News Service recently. "I know that the future will not consist entirely of print resources, particularly not of small pocket-sized books and pamphlets. I have no expectation that that market is going to disappear in the foreseeable future, but it needs to be supplemented with other things.  I don't see it as a question of either print or digital," he said. "I see it as a both/and."

Forward Movement's mission to reinvigorate the life of the church came out of the General Convention that convened in Atlantic City, New Jersey on Oct. 10, 1934. The world was in the midst of the Great Depression and in the church, revenues for the previous three years had fallen far short of projections. Ministries were curtailed and the church was engaged in large-scale borrowing, according to a history of Forward Movement. What was then called the Joint Committee on Program and Budget had been meeting all summer in an attempt to find ways to eliminate the debts incurred in the past three years.
 
In the run-up to the convention two wealthy laymen from Ohio, Harvey Firestone and Charles Taft, worked against that perceived exhaustion. They led the Everyman's Offering, which when presented at the opening service of the Atlantic City convention amounted to enough to pay off the church's debts.
According to Forward Movement, Bishop Henry Wise Hobson of Southern Ohio later wrote that "something had happened which changed the whole attitude and spirit of the convention" and participants "realized that in spite of difficulties the church need not retreat." A deputy from Tennessee reportedly suggested that, instead, the church needed to move forward.
 
The convention created a Forward Movement Commission and gave it the charge to "reinvigorate the life of the church and to rehabilitate its general, diocesan, and parochial work." The group vowed to hold meetings and conferences on discipleship throughout the church, "use every possible means to restore confidence and loyalty to the church's national leadership" and appoint men, women and young people to serve as associate members of the commission to spread its work, the history says. It also decided to print a devotional manual on discipleship for Lent of 1935 meant to unite the church in Bible reading and prayer, according to the history.

Today, Forward Movement publishes 200 titles, included Forward Day by Day and the Spanish version, Dia a Dia. Approximately 260,000 bulk-order copies are sold of each Forward Day by Day edition, both in regular and large print, Schmidt said. Another 20,000 individuals subscribe, including at least one person in every one of the 38 provinces of the Anglican Communion. Schmidt estimates that about 10,000 copies go to non-Episcopalians.
 
During this 75th year, each three-month booklet is a retrospective of the best meditations for those months from past issues. A team of volunteer readers reviewed every meditation ever to appear in the publication and helped the staff winnow them down.
The questions now facing Forward Movement center around how to attract new and different readers. Kamunanwire said she saw the dream team meeting as a time when Forward Movement was saying: "we can either step forward in faith or we can push back; we can either be daring or we can sort of continue to do things the way we've been doing it and watch the audience we have slowly decline."
In the 1930s, Thompson said, "people were so hungry for this type of daily devotional that they could hold in their hands."
 
"I think that people are still hungry for a daily devotional, but the way that we deliver that is different because the way we get our information is different," she said.
By The Rev. Mary Frances Schjonberg, a national correspondent for the Episcopal News Service and editor of Episcopal News Monthly and Episcopal News Quarterly. 
 
In This Issue
Rector's Corner
Blessed Virgin Mary
Blessed Brat Day
Friday the 13th
Forward Day by Day - 75 years
Rector...Holiday
Faith in times of Terror
Flowers, Orchids & Lamps
Mother Knows Best
ePrayer List
The Blessed Virgin Mary 
Celebrant
8:00am & 10:30am
Fr. Ian Elliott Davies
 
Homily
8:00am & 10:30am
Fr. Ian Elliott Davies
 
Deacon
10:30am
The Rev. Walter S. Johnson

Assistant Organist 10:30am
Thompson Howell

Readings:
Isaiah 61.10-end or Revelation 11.19-12.6, 10
Psalm 45.10-end
Galatians 4.4-7
Luke 1.46-55
Rector Holiday
 
Father Davies has returned from his well-deserved holiday.  The Parish of St. Thomas the Apostle thanks Mo. Guibord, Fr. Cox and Fr. Ledbetter and Deacon Johnson for their extra efforts during the Rector's holiday.
 
If you missed our visiting clergy homilies - they are available online.
 
Mo. Guibord, July 25, 2010
Faith in times of Terror
 
 
Dr Doyle.
 
What is terrorism? Why does it happen? How is it related to the problem of evil in the world?  What is the proper response of mainstream religious institutions to the insecurity of fundamentalists or identity-driven terrorism?  What is the proper religious attitude and response to political violence?  In short, how does one have faith in times of terror?

Parishioner Dr. Thomas Doyle will lead the three session adult education course.  All are welcome.  The second session continues August 15 and the final session is August 22.  The sessions start at 12:30pm in the Small Parish Hall after the Sunday Hight Mass.
Flowers Orchids Lamps
 

flowers

 
Commemorate a friend, familiy member or special occasion by sponsoring Altar Flowers ($125), St. Damien Chapel Orchids ($30) and Lamps ($10).  Sign-up sheets are on the buulletin board located in the Large Parish Hall.  After choosing your date email your dedication to the Parish Office.  (Weeks without sponsors may result in no flowers.)
Pastoral Counseling
One-on-one Pastoral counseling is available.  Please contact the office (323-876-2102 ext 2) to schedule an appointment with the Clergy.
Homeless Breakfast

On the Second and Fourth Saturdays of each month the Homeless Breakfast takes place.  Volunteers are welcome and greatly needed!

150 homeless and needy Angelinos are served a tasty breakfast by St. Thomas volunteers. Come at 7:00am to help prepare and share pancakes, eggs, sausage, biscuits and good fellowship.  Come at 7:30am to help serve.  Come at 9:00am to help clean up.

Deacon Johnson serves as the Social Worker providing outreach to the Homess during the Breakfast.  This portion of the program, including providing safer sex kits, hygene items and other critical supplies is funded in part by a grant from The City of West Hollywood.
Mother Knows Best

 
On August 18 in 1276 Pope Adrian V (Ottobuono Fieschi) died in Viterbo, Italy.  He was sent to England in 1265 by Pope Clement IV to mediate between Henry III of England and his barons, and to preach the Crusades; he remained there for several years as the papal legate, serving from 1265 to 1268.
ePrayer List
Prayer is at the center of our worship and binds us together as a community of faith.  This week we commenced our electronic prayer chain email.  A list of persons on the prayer list is sent weekly.
 
The prayer chain email is an opt-in list only - it will not be sent unless you sign up for it.  If you'd like to be on this distribution list, please update your profile (please use link at the bottom of the email, customized with your email) or contact the office.
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