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This Week at St. Bart's 
June 22, 2016
A Message from the Reverend Andy Dunks

Be a Happy Warrior

Sunday's Gospel reading was on the Gerasene demoniac, a man from whom Jesus drove a thousand demons. My sermon (fittingly, I thought) was on the reality of the spiritual warfare being ceaselessly waged on our souls by the demonic, and how to deal with it.

If you need a refresher on "Spiritual Warfare 101", or feel like you are on the losing end of the struggle and need a prayer, please contact me. In the meantime, here are some instructive and encouraging remarks by some of the saints in dealing with some of the chief temptations that are regularly thrown our way: Shame, Anger and Discouragement. Read them, believe them, and become a Happy [Spiritual] Warrior!

"A soldier asked Abba Mius if God accepted repentance. After the old man had taught him many things he said, 'Tell me, my dear, if your cloak is torn, do you throw it away?' He replied, 'No, I mend it and use it again.' The old man said to him, 'If you are so careful about your cloak, will not God be equally careful about His creature?'"

The Sayings of the Desert Fathers

Try your very best not to give in to anger. Anger drives grace from your soul. Grace is like a bird; when something scares it, it flies away.

Elder Sergei of Vanves

"In accordance with your humility will be given to you endurance in your distress; and in accordance with your endurance weight will be lifted from your soul which will be consoled in its troubles; and in accordance with the consolation of your soul, your love in God will increase; and in accordance with your love, spiritual joy will increase.

When our compassionate Father is of the will to relieve those who are shown to be true children of His in their temptations, He does not take away temptation, but He imparts to them endurance under these temptations, and all that for the good which they receive through it, to the perfection of their souls.

May Christ in His grace make us worthy of bearing evils for the sake of His love, with thanksgiving of heart. Amen"

St Isaac of Nineveh, Mystic Treaties

Blessings,


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
 
 
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Web Site
Email
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
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
Annual St. Bart's Picnic

St. Bart's annual picnic this year will be held on June 26 at Deep Run Park. We
will start to gather at 10:00AM. 
Our service will start at 10:30AM. We have
reserved 
shelters 4 & 5 at the park. 

Lunch and games after the service. Please invite family and friends to join us.

Hamburger, hot dogs, buns, condiments and paper products will be provided.

Please bring a dish to share with others. See suggestions for the type of dish
to bring using the initial of your last name:
A-C  -  desserts
D-O -  drinks
P-Z -   side dish

Bring games to play after lunch.

As usual our 8:30 AM service will be held at the church.

Here is a map showing the location of the shelters.
  
4 and 5
Outreach Opportunity 

Care Packages for Marines Overseas
 
We will once again be collecting gifts for our adopted Marine platoon from now through
July 4th. There will be a box near the front door of the church for you to deposit your
donations.
 
What you can do to help: Write a card or letter, in a sealed envelope marked "To any Marine".
 
Purchase the following items:  baby wipes, powdered drink mix or Gatorade in single-
serving packets, disposable razors, toothbrush and toothpaste, mouth wash, shaving
cream in squeeze containers,  "power bar" snacks, trail mix packets, and magazines
appropriate for young men. Bulk purchases are great, as long as they can be broken down
into sealed individual packets suitable to fit in a soldier's back-pack, e.g. NOT a big box of
1000 baby wipes, but rather 20 small travel-packs of 50.
Annual Ice Cream Social 

hot fudge sundae

The Wood family will be hosting the annual ice cream social after 
the 10:30 AM Service on July 17th. Make plans to 
attend, celebrate
Frank's birthday and enjoy a time 
of fellowship with delicious ice
cream. Don't forget on this Sunday you get to eat dessert before you
eat your lunch!
Financial Information 
Year to date 1/1/2016 - 4/30/2016

                                      Actual               Budget              Difference     
Pledges                      $49,886.00      $48,910.85              $  975.15       101.99%
Total Income               $53,303.97      $52,496.01             $  807.96       101.54%
Total Expenses             $54,405.49      $59,693.29           -$5,287.80         91.14%
Net Income                -$  1,101.52    -$  7,197.28            -$6,095.76

Expenses are still under budget so the bottom line does not look too bad.
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. 
Spiritual Formation Groups

Starting within the next few weeks, most of our small groups will
begin new series.
 
This would be a great time for you to join if you'd like to experience
learning, prayer and fellowship with other church members. Feel free
to bring a friend too!

Monday Night Group (at St. Bart's)

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

This group is begining a video series, Walking in the Footsteps of Jesus in which
a Biblical scholar takes us on a tour of the Holy Land sites mentioned in the
Gospels.

Wednesday Morning group (at St. Bart's)

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

The Wednesday 10:30am group and Sunday School (9:30am): Is discussing
"what would happen to you if you died having neither been a particularly bad
person, nor a particularly good one? C.S. Lewis answers this question through a
delightful and thought-provoking novel, The Great Divorce.
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.
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. 
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, Robert, R.W., Sarah, Sebastian, Terry, Thomas, Tony, Tukie,
Vonie.
On the Horizon
Thursday, 6/23 - 7:30PM
Choir Practice

Monday, 6/27 - 6:30 - 8PM
Prayer Group

Wednesday, 6/29 - 10:30 - 11:30AM
Prayer Group