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June 4, 2013
The e-pistle
Your Weekly News Update from St. Stephen's
Join Our Mailing List
In This Issue
Get Bishop Nominating Forms
Baccalaureate Sunday
Youth Notes
The Wired Word Sunday at 9:30 am
Blood Bank Here
Opportunity for Baptisms on Pentecost
E-pistle every two weeks soon
Event Calendar
Service Times
Find us on Facebook
 


To The People of St. Stephen's
Dear Friends,
 
Last Sunday my family and I went to see the movie Maleficent which is the "Sleeping Beauty" story told from a very different perspective.  The special effects were phenomenal, but beyond those the story line itself has left me pondering the idea of heroes and villains.  Suffice it to say that none of us are 100% one or the other.  The truth is that we are, each of us, a mixed bag.

Whenever I find that notion disturbing I look to the people with whom Jesus surrounded himself.  Even Peter, "the Rock," deserted him when things got rough.  Yet these very same people, after the sending of God's Holy Spirit at Pentecost, became the giants of the early church, spreading the good news of Christ's life, death, and resurrection to the far corners of their known world, risking their own lives.  From that tiniest of beginnings, in less than a generation, that Good News was heard and received by thousands upon thousands.

None of us is perfect.  We are each a mixed bag of jumbled intentions, and sometimes brave yet sometimes cowardly, sometimes heroic yet sometimes downright villainous actions.  But I take comfort in the fact that we are no different from the people to whom Christ entrusted the carrying on of his work and ministry.  This Pentecost, as we celebrate the birthday of the Church, it is important to remind ourselves that we are now the people Christ has entrusted to carry on his work and ministry.

  

In Christ's love.

 

Pastor Willie + 

 

Bishop Search Materials Available Online
Read Our Diocesan Profile, Get Nomination Forms

EDSEFThe Search Committee for the next Bishop of Southeast Florida is pleased to announce that its profile of the diocese, prepared with help from clergy and lay participants  from throughout the diocese and from questionnaire responses received online, is now available for view at http://bishopsearch.org.  Also at that site are both self and third-party nomination forms.  The nomination process will be open through June 10, 2014, and we welcome your prayerful consideration of whom God might be calling to be our next Bishop.

You may also reach these materials through the home page of our diocese, www.diosef.org, through which you will also find more information about the search timeline and the committee members.
 
Baccalaureate Sunday Draws a Crowd
Day School Grads, Alumni, and Our Tiniest Parishioners All Attend


  There was hardly a seat left in the church last Sunday (or a parking space in the lot!) when the church and school gathered for Baccalaureate Sunday.  Our graduating 5th graders were honored, as well as alumni graduating from high school (shown in the middle picture) and college.

Congratulations to ALL!

As a special treat, some of our newest parishioners made an appearance.  Donna Vazquez is shown at left with daughter Emily, and Liz Moran at right with son Matias.

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The Pool Party looks like fun!  Last Saturday several St. Stephen's youth enjoyed a pool party at the home of Liz and Julio Moran in Miami Beach.  Pictured above enjoying the water are Kylie Coulombe, Paula Coraspe, Daniel Ledo, Julio Moran, Sophia Jarjour, and Caroline Carlson.

Calling All Acolytes.  On Sunday, June 8th, this coming Sunday, all acolytes will be honored in a special ceremony during the 10:30 am Mass. 
Please be at the church by 10:10 so you can vest for the procession.


The Wired Word Continues This Sunday
Join Tom Pafford in the Peacock Room at 9:30 am


 
The Wired Word continues this Sunday as scheduled.  Tom Pafford will lead a question-and-answer discussion on Biblical values as they relate to 21st Century life.  Join Tom in the Peacock Room from 9:30 to 10:15 am.

Give Blood Here on June 22, 9 am to noon
Patients Need Your Blood Type

BloodmobileWith people leaving town for the summer, Miami hospitals face a shortage of blood.  Please consider coming to church a little early on Sunday, June 22, to donate life-saving blood right here at St. Stephen's.

Please bring your picture ID.  All donors will receive a T-shirt and a wellness checkup that includes blood pressure, temperature, iron count and cholesterol screening.

If you would like, you can make an appointment online at www.oneblooddonor.org using the sponsor code #1546.
 
This Sunday is The Church's Birthday
Don't Forget to Wear Red

In ancient Greece Pentēkostē [hēmera], "the fiftieth day," is the Greek name for the Feast of Weeks, a Jewish harvest festival celebrating the giving of the Law to Moses on Sinai.   This feast is still celebrated in Judaism as Shavout

According to Acts 2:1-31, it was on this feast day that the Holy Spirit descended upon the earliest followers of Christ, appearing as a flame over their heads and sounding like a violently blowing wind. Because of the dramatic nature of this event and all that followed, Pentecost is sometimes described as the "Birthday of the Church."

What better images to represent the descent of the Holy Spirit than the dove and the flame?  And what better way to evoke this presence among us than to conduct baptisms and renew baptismal vows on this day, as the church has traditionally done.  It is also traditional to wear red on this day.

If you or your child would like to be baptized or renew your baptismal vows on Pentecost, this Sunday, please call the church office at 305-448-2601 to arrange a meeting with our Rector.
 
No e-pistle Next Week
To be published every two weeks until mid-August

Perhaps you've noticed our "Upcoming Events" list at the end of the e-pistle is getting shorter and shorter.  That's because St. Stephen's rests in summertime.  Kids out of school, families on vacation, datebooks empty - time to move slowly in the heat, stay inside where it's cool, or head for Michigan or Maine. 

We'll be working, doing catch-up and preparation for the classes, parties and youth activities that will start up again in the fall, but there will be much less news to announce, and many fewer pictures to share.

That's why the e-pistle slows down too.  It goes from every Wednesday at noon to every other Wednesday at noon, the last weekly issue being today, June 4th.  There will be no e-pistle on June 11th, but there will be one again on June 16th - and so on through the summer, until mid-August.

Upcoming Events
Don't Forget These Dates     

 

reminder

June 8 - Acolytes honored at the 10:30 am Mass

June 10 - Bishop nominating forms due back to diocese.

June 11 - no e-pistle this week.


At St. Stephen's All Are Welcome 

 
Sundays 
Said Mass at 8 am
Sung Mass with choir at 10:30 am,
with child care for children under 3
and Children's Chapel for children 7 and under


Office hours are Monday through Friday, 9 to 5