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Worship Services
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Sunday:
7:30am Holy Eucharist Rite I
8:30am Santa Eucaristia RitoII
9:30am Christian Education for all ages
10:45am Holy Eucharist, Rite II
10:45am Children's Chapel
9:30am Holy Eucharist Rite I
Contact Information for Church of the Advent
104 W. Elizabeth
Brownsville, TX 78520
(956)542-4123
Fax: (956)542-0756 |
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Contact us by email
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August 1
Fr. Reese returns to full-time schedule!
August 6-8
"Happening" at St. Alban's, Harlingen for Middle & High Schoolers
August 6-7
Godly Play Teacher Training in San Antonio
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Advent Epistle
Church of the Advent's Monthly Newsletter
July - August 2010
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Rector's Reflections |
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This past Sunday several important events took place. We graduated our latest First Communion Class and said goodbye to Mark Rentfro. Fiona, Cullen and Ian Douglas, Isabelle and Lucie Lefler, Madison and Joseph Mendoza, Eleen, April and Lindsey Montemayor were our stars for the morning. They received their first Communion at the 10:45am service. Mark trained them and presented them to me for a blessing and then they and their parents came forward to the Altar Rail at Communion to receive. They are the future of our church.
We also said goodbye to Mark who has been our youth minister for the past two years. He is heading off to grad school in Chicago this August. I presented him with a copy of "My Utmost for His Highest." It is a daily devotional book classic by Oswald Chambers. We wish Mark the best and look forward to his return when he completes his studies.
Additionally, we welcome Kevin Armstrong to be our new Youth Minister. He begins the 15th of July and will do a great job for us. His article of introduction follows. We are blessed to have a man of God take over the reigns and lead our children. Our thanks, prayers and good wishes go with Mark even as we welcome Kevin. |
YOUTH & FAMILY MINISTRY  I would like to introduce myself as the new Youth Director for the Church of the Advent. It is with great humility that I accept this job and I would like to thank the Vestry, Senior Warden Connie Fischer and Father Reese for considering me for the position. I have some big shoes to fill (literally and figuratively) in replacing Mark Rentfro and I would like to thank Mark for all he has done over the past years to help our children at the Day School and at the Church of the Advent.
I am a proud graduate of the Episcopal Day School, a graduate of St. Joseph Academy and attended Texas Tech University. I am a licensed real estate broker here in town and will be attaining the next level of a real estate appraiser's license, hopefully, this August. I teach real estate classes at the UTB-ITEC campus and Rivera High School. I am married to a wonderful woman named Jacqueline who is a fourth grade teacher at Aiken Elementary. We have two children, Julia 16 and Noah 10. Julia attended the Day School and Noah will begin his 5th grade year in the fall. I was the music director for St. Paul's Episcopal Church, here in town, for about 10 years and attended St. Paul's for 13 years. I was also involved in the youth program at St. Paul's. We have attended the Advent throughout these years and made the Advent our church home last April.
On a more personal level, I consider myself to be a man of contradiction. I have led a charmed life and only by the grace of God have I made it this far with relatively few scars. I also consider myself to be a man of prayer and I enjoy reading the Bible (Psalm 119:105, "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path"). Like countless others who have learned to cling to the cross, my life has changed for the better by asking Jesus Christ to save me and help me be the man He wants me to be. One passage of scripture that has had a profound influence on my life is Matthew 9:10-20. "While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and 'sinners' came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, 'Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and 'sinners?' On hearing this, Jesus said, 'It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." That verse helped open my eyes to God's mercy and gave me a desire to learn more about Him.
I look forward to praying and working with your children and discussing the Bible as it applies to issues facing them. I also look forward to helping them learn from mistakes that I, and other adults, have made, and teaching them about and learning more about the faith. It is my honor to accept this position though I admit I may not deserve it. Father Reese said, "That's a good thing!" I assure you that you will receive my best efforts.
With Regards,
Kevin Armstrong
956-551-0176 |
Blessing of the Stillman Prayer Garden  On June 12, 2010, the Stillman Road prayer garden/trail was completed by a host of volunteers from the church and the Boy Scouts. This was the culmination of many months of planning, preparation and leadership by Philip Rudnik, who organized the project to fulfill his Eagle Scout project requirements.
A barbeque picnic was held to show the church community the new garden and to encourage people to continue to work towards its maintenance in the future. Fr. Reese blessed the garden and dedicated the St. Francis statue in the center of the garden to the memory of Daniel Rentfro, Sr. Philip Rudnik spoke at church on Sunday and thanked the people of the Church of the Advent for their generous donations of time and money. He will continue to go out to the garden every few days throughout the summer to water and tend to the plants. If anyone would like to go out to the property with him, you may call him at 455-4233.
The prayer garden now belongs to the people of the Church of the Advent. It is hoped that people will take owndership of the garden as time goes by and continue to tend it, water it and care for it so that it will remain as beautiful as it is now. |
NEW DAUGHTERS OF THE KING ORIENTATION!  The Daughters of the King is an order of Episcopal women and a prayer and service group which vows to pray for the church, the spread of Christ's kingdom, and anyone who requests confidential prayers every day. Orientation classes, for anyone who would like to become a Daughter or find out more, will begin this summer. Please contact Elizabeth Swantner at ecswantner@hotmail.com or 832-3987 for more information. |
VOLUNTEER AND OUTREACH
 Would you like to usher worshippers in on Sunday mornings? Contact John Williamson at thebillsun@aol.com or 541-6952. Would you like to read one of the lessons during a worship service ? Contact Kay Williamson at 541-6952. Would you like to help set up the altar for a worship service? Contact Lenora Rentfro at Lren0829@sbcglobal.net or 542-3303. Would you like to deliver an altar flower arrangement to a parishioner who is not able to come to church? Contact Lenora Rentfro at Lren0829@sbcglobal.net or 542-3303. Would you like to help bake cookies for a funeral service reception? Contact Carolyn Parker at 542-3845. Would you like to volunteer in the church office half a day a week? Contact Betty Swantner at swanchez1@att.net or 572-3507. Would you like to sing or play a musical instrument from time to time during worship? Contact Ann Buchanan at rb9587@aol.com or 546-2120. Would you like to learn how to serve communion to a parishioner at home? Contact Ford Lockett at ford2L@aol.com or 546-2377. Would you like to offer individual prayer to someone during communion time at a worship service? Contact Pam Armstrong at 459-0964. Would you like to work with children? Contact Kevin Armstrong at 551-0176. Would you like to prepare a Parish breakfast? Contact Betty Swantner at swanchez1@att.net or 572-3507. La Ascension: Fr. Serge Villalobos, Rector of La Ascension Episcopal in Matamoros continues to ask us for emergency assistance. He has several families in his parish who are in urgent need of food. He and his parishioners have simply run out of resources and are not able to take care of each other adequately in this current crisis. For the time being, Advent will be collecting food for them. Please drop your contributions by the church office or bring with you to church any of the following non-perishable items: beans, rice, oatmeal, soup (canned or dry), powdered milk, canned tomatoes and tomato sauce, powdered eggs, canned tuna, chicken and meat, canned corn and mixed vegetables, bags of generic cereal, dried fruit. Muchas gracias! |
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ADVENT ENVIRONMENTAL MINISTRY (AEM)  Objectives: Eliminate use of plastic shopping bags in Brownsville.
Create a neighborhood recycling program for every home in Brownsville.
Institute Green policies for our church.
Support local efforts to make Brownsville a Green community.
Work with the Diocesan Environmental Task Force to build a Green church at our Stillman site.
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| "O STORE GUD" --
"O GREAT GOD"  The gospel hymn, "How Great Thou Art" was first published not in English, Russian, or German -- versions of which all existed well before the one which we aften sing -- but in yet another language, under the title, "O store Gud." Carl Boberg (1859-1940), Swedish pastor/editor and long-term member of Sweden's Parliament, was its originator, He wrote its lines in the 1880's in his native language. In looking closely at the Swedish lyrics, which I have in a Swedish-English songbook, I was surprised to discover that they differ quite a bit from those of "How Great Thou Art." Below, in free-verse translation, are the lines corresponding to the first wo verses of Stuart Hine's late-1940s singable English version. Boberg's words evoke such lovely imagery that it seems unfair not to share them with those unfamiliar with the Swedish language. O great God, when I consider the world which your power has created,
How your wisdom guides the thread of life, and how all of nature's needs are satisfied at your table, My soul bursts forth in a resounding song of praise:
O great God, O great God!
When summer breezes sigh over the fields,
When the perfume of blossoms wafts from the edge of the well-spring,
When the thrush trills in the green tent of silent fir-trees, at dusk,
My soul bursts forth in a resounding song of praise:
O great God, O great God!
Lyrics: Carl Boberg, 1885
Swedish words later set to traditional Swedish folk music, by local Christians
(Submitted by Edie Anderson) |
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