This Week at St. Bart's

September 14, 2016

A Message from the Reverend Andy Dunks

Interesting Tidbits

Here are some of the things I learned from the continuing education portion of my retreat last week. I think you will find them relevant, as I do. This is from notes I jotted down after various discussions, so regretfully I cannot provide citations.

On Ministry

"Is your parish the world, or is the world your parish?"

This was from a discussion of St. Paul's life. The presenter said that how we answer this question by our lifestyle indicates whether we will grow or stagnate as Christians, and how a congregation answers this question will indicate whether it is fruitful or stagnant.

On Wellness

Our brains need a minimum of 7 hours of sleep every night for our memory to work properly. Without this amount, it is highly unlikely that we will remember anything we learned the day before. Seven hours is also needed if we are to avoid obesity; if we don't sleep enough, our brains assume we are in distress and signal us to eat more.

30 minutes of exercise, 4 times a week will result, on average, in 20 more years of active, independent life compared to those who don't exercise.

On Raising Children to make Healthy Choices

How we lead our children in the Christian lifestyle makes a huge impact. Compare in column 1 teens who following the example of their parents read the Bible daily and who attend church weekly with their families, in column 2 teens who attend church weekly with their families but don't have daily devotions, and column 3 the national average:

Behavior 1 2 3

Premarital sex 1% 8% 49%

Binge drinking 2% 35% 62%

Smoke pot 1% 17% 21%

Smoke cigarettes 1% 20% 23%

Have thoughts of suicide 1% 18% 24%

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

Food Donations

Bible Study

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

On Youth Groups

What today's youth need most are mentors of all ages whom they admire and who are known to be progressing in holiness. "Youth groups" need to be like the healthy extended families many no longer have, and "youth group" leaders do not all need to be young or charismatic. Youth value authenticity above all. Kids need to start having trusted non-parent mentors they can talk to by the beginning of middle school at the latest, or they will fill up all their available time with things other than their spiritual development.

Blessings,

This Sunday

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

10:30 AM Holy Eucharist, Rite II

Outreach Opportunityoo

This Sunday we will have special prayers and small gifts for our children

as they return to school.

Coming in October: An outreach opportunity to help those struggling
to recover from disastrous flooding in Louisiana. More information about
this will be available in October. Stay tuned!

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.

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

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. The group is studying
the Book of Romans.

Wednesday Morning group (at St. Bart's)

The Wednesday Morning Group has now become the Tuesday Morning Group.
We wil continue to meet from 10:30 to 11:30AM at the church for prayer and
study. They resumed their meetings on September 14th. We will be discussing
Yes or No: Straight Answers to Tough Questions about Christianity by Peter Kreeft.

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, Diana, Donna, 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, Tara, Terry,
Tony, Tukie, Vonie.

On the Horizon