This Week at St. Bart's

April 20, 2016

A Message from the Reverend Andy Dunks

What is True Glory?

At the Last Supper, when Judas had gone out, Jesus said "Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in Him." - (John 13:31-35)

We've spent many weeks talking about the basic steps of Christian living, three directed "up" to God: daily prayer, meditating on scripture, and practicing the presence of God through the Jesus Prayer. Now we are shifting our focus on the disciplines of going "out" to the people whom God loves, so that all might be living and growing members of His Body, the Church. In researching and preparing for next Sunday's message on that theme, I stumbled across some song lyrics which are so spot-on I had to go ahead and share them. As Jesus uses the term "glory", it does not mean riches or power or popularity - the terms most people think of when they use the word. To Jesus, true glory is to be found in outgoing, sacrificial love. A band called Nickel Creek wrote a song that might show the meaning of glory in the sense. It is called "The Hand Song." Though the music isn't my preferred style, the lyrics are certainly profound. If you want the whole thing, I'm sure you can find it easily on YouTube, but the gist of the story is as follows:

A young boy tore off some garden roses for his mother. She had been tending these roses with great care, and he, unknowingly, pulled them to pieces. The thorns dug into his hands as he brought his present to her. She extracted these thorny reminders of her roses, lovingly.

And she knew it was love.
It was one she could understand.
He was showing his love
and that's how he hurt his hands.

Sometime later, held close on her lap, the boy listened to stories from the bible. He saw a picture of Jesus and cried out, Momma, he's got some scars just like me.

And he knew it was love.
It was one he could understand.
He was showing his love
and that's how he hurt his hands.

Finally grown up, the young man is called by Uncle Sam. In the midst of a raging battle, he throws himself in front of a friend to shield him from gunfire. He gave his life, a deed he had learned from the roses and the cross.

Mission

Our mission is to seek, serve, and celebrate Christ in every person.

We invite the community to worship with us, to share our gifts, and to grow in Christ's love.

In This Issue

Rector's column

This Sunday

Cuban Night

Coffee Hour Sign-up

Ascension Day

Food Donations

Devotionals weekly readings

St. Bart's Youth Group

Spiritual Formation Group

Prayer Request/Answered

On the Horizon

Web Site

www.stbartsrichmond.org

Email

stbartsrva@gmail.com

Phone

804-740-2101

Street Address

10627 Patterson Ave.

Henrico, VA 23238

Mailing Address

P.O. Box 29626

Richmond, VA 23242

Father Dunks's

contact information

Cell: 804-937-7145

dunks.andy@gmail.com

And they knew it was love.

It was one they could understand.

He was showing his love,

and that's how he hurt his hands.

He learned what love was and he gave it on the battlefield. Did the boy/man earn "glory"? Yes. Real love is the essence of human life. Jesus says so in this Sunday's Gospel:

I give you a new commandment:
Love one another.
As I have loved you,
so you also should love one another. (John 13:35)

Now that we know this, what will we do to turn our thought of love into action today? That's a worthy focus for our prayers.

Blessings,

This Sunday

8:30 AM Holy Eucharist, Rite I
9:30 AM Adult Sunday School

10:30 AM Holy Eucharist, Rite II

5:30 PM Sudanese Service

2016 Cuban Night

Cuban Night is this Saturday, April 23rd. We are
dedicating the event in honor of Mike Oglesby. He was a faithful supporter and he loved the Cuban food specially
the black beans.

Remember this is a big fund raiser for St. Bart's. Encourage
friends and neighbors to make reservations so we know
how much to prepare. They can either call the church office
at 804-740-2101 or email stbartscubannight@gmail.com.
The cost is $15 for adults and $8 for children under 12.

Coffee Hour

Please consider signing up to sponsor coffee hour after a 10:30AM service. All
you have to do is bring goodies to share, stay and enjoy the company and then
clean up afterwards. This time gives us the opportunity to get to know other members
and welcome visitors.

There is a sign up sheet on the bulletin board.

Ascension Day Service - Region XII

The Bishop's Chapel

Region XII will celebrate Ascension Day with
a service on Thursday evening, May 5, in the
Bishop's Chapel at Roslyn, beginning at 7 PM.
The guest preacher will be the Rev. Rhonda
Baker, rector of Grace Episcopal Church,
Goochland, assisted by the Rev. Penny Nash
from St. Stephen's Church, Richmond. The
All Saints Choir will be providing music.

Light refreshments will follow the service. This is our opportunity to worship
with the churches in Region XII in truly beautiful setting, and all are invited
to attend.

First Sunday Food Donations for the Hungry

We continue to collect food donations on the first Sunday of each month.
If you forget that scheduled collection date, just add your donations
to the box to the right of the door anytime. We are currently delivering
the food to the Lamb's Basket Food Pantry in the Lakeside neighborhood. While
they accept any canned or packaged, food, items they regularly distribute to
each family the following products:

Pasta sauces

Soups

Beans

Vegetables

macaroni and cheese boxes

dry pasta

fruit (they have a goodly supply of fruit right now.)

In addition, they offer choices of juices, staples such as cooking oil, condiments
and a shelf of toiletries, detergents and paper goods. On my last delivery, they
mentioned they were low on baby food.

They would also like to have a steady source of fresh eggs. Due to our storage
constraints, I purchase eggs on the way to deliver the food. If anyone wants to
donate cash for eggs, I would be happy to add that to my donation.

Thank you for your support of this outreach project.

Family Bible Devotionals

April 17-23

Miracles and Ohter Events: Wedding at Cana; feeding the 5,000;
Peter's confession; Transfiguration (John 2:1-11; Luke 9:1-36).

Jesus Storybook Bible, p 244 (feeding of the 5000).

E100, #61 (feeding of the 5000).
Bible Story Handbook, Ch. 151, 113, 115.

Memory: Luke 9:24-25.

St. Bart's Youth Group

Calling all youth 13 years and older to join our youth group. The meetings
will be held on Sundays at 6PM. We will continue to meet twice a month on
the second and fourth Sundays. Together we will explore the bible and see
how it can apply to our daily life. We will also be talking about how we can
help the church and community.

We would like to provide dinner for the youth group on the Sundays
we meet. Please call Marlaina Knowlton at 804-897-1495 if you could
help with dinner any Sunday. We will place a sign up sheet on the
bulletin board. Please consider helping by signing up. Thanks.

Spiritual Formation Groups

Monday Night Group (at St. Bart's)

The Monday Night group meets at the Church from 6:30-8:00pm.

Wednesday Morning group (at St. Bart's)

The Wednesday Morning Group meets at the church for prayer and study from
10:30-11:30AM.

Prayer Request and Answered Prayers

Prayer Requests:

This week we are praying for: Arlene, Autumn, Audith, Betty Sue, Betty P.
Betty W., Bill, Carole, Carolyn, Carter, Cathy, Christy, Cierra, Clara, Claudine,

Diana, Dorothy, Don, Donna, Ethan, Frank, F.G., Ginny, Harlow, Hayden, H.B.,
Jane, Jeanne, Jennifer, Jimmie, Joyce, Julia, Kathy, Kelly, Kent, Klaire, Kym,
Laura, Lexie, Lilliam, Linda, Maggie, Martin, Michael, Mindy, Molly, Nick, Okpil,
Paige, Paul, Rob, R.W., Sarah, Sebastian, Terry, Thomas, Tony, Tukie, Vonie.

On the Horizon