This Week at St. Bart's

June 29, 2016

A Message from the Reverend Andy Dunks

Wow, we really looked like the Church!

A great time was had by all at the annual St. Bartholomew's picnic last Sunday. About two years ago, we decided to move the "picnic" from being a pot luck held in the parish hall after church to an actual picnic in the park, a pavilion at Deep Run Park to be specific. To make this work out logistically, we moved the Eucharist to the pavilion as well.

There were many passers-by who noticed us, singing joyfully and praying sincerely as they walked or jogged by. Some stopped and seemed to be praying with us for a bit, while others just looked a bit puzzled. If nothing else, perhaps we helped to undermine the popular view that Christians are a stiff, boring lot who don't have fun.

In addition to this, several folks brought guests, realizing that this might be a good way to introduce their friends to the life of Christ's Church - a way that might be more appealing or less intimidating than coming to a regular service. Good job at evangelism, folks. "Come and see" is all you had to say, and you did! Our guests were warmly received by all, and perhaps they will come to our church some time.

While we were there, we put the Gospel message of love of neighbor into action by writing letters and cards to the Marine company we are sponsoring. We heard the Gospel and immediately did something concrete in response. I'd like to do that more often, and would be very open to suggestions as to how.

And for the Great Commission Gold Star, Jim Sale went to the playground near our pavilion at the end of the service and invited all who were interested to come and get a free hamburger or hot dog. Several families did, and they sat down with us and we enjoyed getting to know them. Some were Christians and some were not, but all were very impressed that we were so friendly, and with no "sales pitch" attached. One man who came up goes to the early service at another church in our neighborhood was very impressed, and intends to ask his pastor to do something similar soon. Maybe next year we can invite the playground folks to eat with us AND to write cards for Marines, ....

Worshipping God in the midst of the community with prayer, food, fun and service all in the same place was a very powerful experience. It was the holistic life of the Body of Christ, the Church. Please pray with me that the Lord inspire us with good ideas for similar events. And if you get a good idea, let me know!

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

Bible Study

Outreach Opportunity

Annual Ice Cream Social

Financial Information

Coffee Hour Sign-up

Spiritual Formation Group

Food Donations

St. Bart's Youth 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

Thanks to everyone who participated, and especially to Jim Sale who pioneered the event, and to Wayne Hare and the choir who sounded just as good outside as inside, and to Betty Pace who managed the logistics of it all so well. Thanks also to all those who, because they don't do well outdoors in June, came to the 8:30 service instead of sleeping in, including some 10:30 regulars. That too was a blessing!

Blessings,

PS: Fr. Andy's phone is not working so until he gets it repaired if you need to speak with him please send him an email at: 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

Bible Study - Outreach

Father Andy will be leading a Bible Study every Wednesday from 2-3PM at Little
Sisters of the Poor. Anyone from St. Bartholomew's is welcome to attend. You
can meet Fr. Andy there (just ask at the desk where it will be located) or you can
meet him at the church at 1:30PM if you would like to ride with him.

Little Sisters of the Poor is located at:

1503 Michaels Rd
Richmond, VA 23229

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 - 5/31/2016

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 group will not meet on Monday, July 4th. Meetings will resume on Monday,

July 11th. They will begin studying the next week's lectionary texts.

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.

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