This Week at St. Bart's

August 24, 2016

A Message from the Reverend Andy Dunks

Who was St. Bartholomew?

On Sunday we will celebrate the feast of the St. Bartholomew the Apostle, the patron saint of our congregation. After the 10:30 Eucharist we will have lunch together in the parish hall. Please check the announcements below to see what you should bring. And please, if you find yourself here next Sunday having brought nothing, please stay anyway!

As preparation for this, I think it a good thing to tell you a bit more about Bartholomew. As you will see, we actually know very little about him with certainty. What follows below is a cut-and-paste from several sources. There are numerous stories about St. Bartholomew, about his relics, and about his post-death appearances and miracles in response to prayers, more than I can include in a newsletter. Some of them are quite incredible to the mind of a modern reader. Protestant sources tend to pass over these stories with embarrassed silence; Catholics and Orthodox more readily embrace them. Personally, I choose to believe them. Our faith is based on some hard-to believe stories, after all - a virgin giving birth, God becoming human, a crucified Messiah being raised from the dead, a handful of back-country Jewish fishermen turning the world upside because the Spirit of God was within them,...

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Saint Bartholomew was one of the Twelve Apostles, and had Galilee as his homeland; this is all that is known of him for certain according to the history of the Gospels. Concerning his apostolic work, certain say that he preached in Arabia and Persia, and especially in India, bringing to them the Gospel written by Saint Matthew, which had been written originally in Hebrew, and which was found there one hundred years later by Pantaenus, formerly a stoic philosopher and later an illustrious teacher of the Christian school in Alexandria.

He also visited Greater Armenia (the country between the River Kura and the upper stretches of the Tigrus and Euphrates Rivers), where he worked many miracles and healed the daughter of King Polymios from the demons afflicting her. In gratitude, the king sent gifts to the apostle, who refused to accept them, saying that he sought only the salvation of the souls of mankind.

Then Polymios together with his wife, daughter, and many of those close to them accepted Baptism. And people from more than ten cities of Greater Armenia followed their example. But through the intrigues of the pagan priests, the Apostle Bartholomew was seized by the king's brother Astiagus in the city of Alban (now the city of Baku), and crucified upside down. But even from the cross he did not cease to proclaim the good news about Christ the Savior. Finally, on orders from Astiagus, they flayed the skin from the Apostle Bartholomew and cut off his head. His relics now reside in Rome.

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

St. Bart's Day

Food Donations

Bible Study

Shrine Mont

Coffee Hour Sign-up

Spiritual Formation Group

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

According to some, Bartholomew and Nathanael are the same person,
because the Evangelists who mention Bartholomew do not mention Nathanael;
and John, who alone mentions Nathanael as one of the Twelve, says nothing
of Bartholomew.

Blessings,

This Sunday

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

10:30 AM Holy Eucharist, Rite II

St. Bart's Day celebration

We will be celebrating St. Bart's Day this Sunday, 8/28 by sharing a potluck
luncheon after the 10:30 service. Please plan to attend and bring a dish for
your family and to share with others. See suggestions for the type of dish to
bring. Use the initial of your last name. A-G - main dish, H-L - side dish,
M-O - dessert and P-Z - drinks.

First Sunday Food Donations for the Hungry

Wesley Ann and Ron Godard have been delivering our food collections to the

Lamb's Basket Food Pantry. Due to a prior work commitment they will be

away during the months of October, November and December. We are looking

or a volunteer that can deliver the donations during those months. There will

be two holidays during that time and it will be important to make sure they

have a good supply of food to pass along to the needy.

This is what needs to be done: pick up the food from the church the first or
second Sunday of the month. It can be delivered any day of the week between
about 9:30 and noon. We pick up 8 to 10 crates (7.5 doz ea.) of eggs depending

on the price at COSTCO on the way to the food pantry. We will leave a donation

to cover those months in case none come in. The folks there help unload and

weigh everything. We would be happy to take a volunteer with us in September

to introduce them, but it's not a requirement.

If you would like to help in any way, please see either Wesley Ann, Ron or Fr.
Andy to let them know.

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.

Bible Study - Outreach

Father Andy is 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

Shrine Mont---A Place Apart

Every September, St. Bart's reserves a weekend for a retreat at Shrine Mont.
This is our diocesan camp and conference center in Orkney Springs, Virginia.
To get there you take a lovely drive up the Shenandoah Valley.

This year we will be going on Friday, September 23th and returning Sunday
September 25th. We have delicious meals in the dining hall, live in two cottages
and meet for a program and services several times during the weekend. There's
plenty of time for hiking, sports and relaxing.

Look for the sign-up sheet at church or call Randy Oglesby at 272-2136 to ask
questions or to add your name to the list. The deadline is Sunday, September
11th. The cost is about $170 for adults; children 4-12 are $53.00 and free for 3
years and under. Financial assistance is available through the Mike Oglesby Shrine
Mont Scholarship Fund. See Fr. Dunks if you want to be considered for a scholarship.

Come enjoy being with your church family in a very special place.

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

Adult Sunday School Group

The Adult Sunday School class is now studying "Imagine Heaven" by John
Burke, which is a study of Near-Death Experiences. The author lays out
the evidence that such things are real and not hallucinations, then examines
a wide variety of such experiences from people of all religions and no faith,
and then compares them to the scriptural teachings of the after life. The
book is available from Amazon in print or on Kindle.

Monday Night Group (at St. Bart's)

The group meets on Monday nights from 6:30 to 8PM. They are studying
next week's lectionary texts.

Wednesday Morning group (at St. Bart's)

The Wednesday Morning Group meets at the church for prayer and study from
10:30-11:30AM. They will be taking a break until after Labor Day weekend.

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: Autumn, Audith, Belle, Betty Sue, Betty W.,
Bob, Carole, Cierra, Claudine, Delfin, Diana, Donna, Ernesto, Ethan, Frank,
F.G., Ginny, Harlow, Hayden, H.B., Heather, Helen, Jane, Jeanne, Jennifer,
Jimmie, Joan, John Thomas and family, Joyce, Julia, Kathy, Kent, Kym, Lexie,
Martha Mae, Martin, Mary Libby, Okpil, Paige, Paul, Rebecca, Richard, Sarah,
Sebastian, Terry, Tony, Tukie, Vonie.

On the Horizon