St. Martin's Newsletter
   Weekly E-News July 1, 2016
Worship Schedule
(This schedule will begin again September 11)
Sunday  
   8:00am  Holy Eucharist
   8:45am  Bible Study 
   9:15am  Nursery
   9:30am  Holy Eucharist with choir
and sermon 
     10:45am   Christian Formation 
Tuesday-Friday
9am Morning Prayer in the Chapel
Wednesday
                                                              7am service with Holy Eucharist

(see box below for Summer Schedule)  



I wanted to thank everyone who took the time to attend the End-of-Year story last Sunday. The presentation from Sean and myself was videoed and will appear in due course on our website, so if you missed the day there will be a chance to watch the video.
 
From our participation in RenewalWorks last fall, three key priorities have emerged:
  1. Embedding the Bible in parish life
  2. Engaging our passion
  3. The heart of the leader
Because of the more leisurely pace of summer, over the next two weeks I would like to take each of these priorities and explain what lies behind them and their importance for our future direction. This week I will begin with number 3, the heart of the leader.
 
The heart of the leader focuses on the vitality and quality of leadership in our community. One of the issues we flagged on Sunday was being able to pay our way forward. When we have a realistic view of what it costs to run a community like ours then we move beyond the year-on-year funding of operational deficits from a further depletion of our modest endowment. Our current Vestry is determined to confront this situation and has stepped forward to contribute either a 12% increase on individual pledges and or a personal gift of $500 in order to demonstrate the quality of leadership you have a right to expect from them. Following their example of this inspiring display of leadership, I hope that we too will experience the confidence to invest in our future as we move into our second century of life.
 
Many of you will have received a letter from the Executive, i.e. the Church Wardens and Treasurer. What the leadership is intending is simply to give you the facts to help you recalibrate your giving, not only for this year, but going forward. Spiritually speaking, gratitude and a renewed sense of confidence in our future together should be your guide as we seek to invest in a new century of community life together. In doing so we follow the example of previous generations who 100 years ago did exactly that. They built the parish. Our job is now to steer it into a renewed engagement with the modern world, so that we remain fit for God's purpose!
 
This last Wednesday we commemorated Ss. Peter and Paul. This is a special day for me as it marks the 30th anniversary of my ordination as priest.

Continue Reading Here
Summer Schedule 

JULY 3rd through SEPTEMBER 4th:

Sundays 
9:15am Nursery 
ONE SERVICE of Holy Eucharist Rite II at 9:30am
+ 
Office Hours 
M-F  9am to 12noon

NO: 
Morning Prayer on Tuesday, Thursday, or Friday 
Gander meetings 
News & Notes
Women's Spirituality Group
Thrifty Goose 
Christian Formation (starts again Sunday, September 18th) 
+
YES: 
Morning Prayer on Wednesdays at 9am 
+
Sundays, July 17th & August 21st 
Christian Formation - ' The Story ' 
10:45am
+
Our guest organist for the month of August  
will be Diana-Norton Jackson. 

Please click here for Participants list for Sunday, July 3rd.   
READINGS THIS WEEK

 
2 Kings 5:1-14 (OT)
Galatians 6: (1-6), 7-16 (NT)
Luke 10:1-11, 16-20 (Gospel)
 Click here for this Sunday's readings.
     THIS SUNDAY
9:15am  Nursery   
+
9:30am Holy Eucharist Rite II 
+
Healing Prayers during Communion
( this and every Sunday)
 +  
Gluten Free Hosts available at the altar rail. 
MORNING PRAYER
    
Morning Prayer is said in the Chapel of the Church at 9am on Tuesday through Friday each week. All are welcome!
               Mark+
Biblebox
(Weekly Bible Study) 
Luke 10:1-11, 16-20
To dig a little behind the Gospel text for this Sunday, take a look at this week's  Working Preacher in preparation for discussion at our weekly Sunday Bible study at 8:30am in the Church Office this week.
FYI

Applications are now available for grants from St. Martin's Outreach Committee. 

Grant amounts generally range from $250-$1000.  The deadline is September 1st. 
If you are interested in applying, please contact the church office.
 
Imagine a Life In Which You Can Say:
Yes! to God; Yes! to Your Neighbor; and Yes! to Your Self
Yes! A workshop series by the  
Commission on Ministry
Beginning on Sept. 21, 2016

The Commission on Ministry will again offer the Yes! curriculum beginning on September, 21, 2016. The 7 session course will be facilitated by our Archdeacon, The Venerable Janice Grinnell and will be held at St. Columba's Chapel in Middletown, RI.

This program is in direct response to lay people who are seeking ways to discern and understand their God given purpose. The dates and times are as follow:

Session 1
September 21, 2016 from 7-9 p.m.

Session 2
September 28, 2016 from 7-9 p.m.

Session 3
Evenings of Discovery
October 5, 2016 from 6:30-9:30 p.m.
Session 4
October 19, 2016 from 6:30-9:30 p.m.

Session 5
October 26, 2016 from 7-9 p.m.

Session 6
November 2, 2016 from 7-9 p.m.

Session 7
(last)
November 9, 2016 from 7-9 p.m.
 
 
What is Yes!?
 
Yes! was developed to help you create that life God is calling you to live.
Rather than egotistically creating your own life, Yes! uses appreciative inquiry and conversation to help you awaken to the life-giving purpose that is already within you.

Yes! is based on several assumptions:
  • We are made for a purpose
  • We have been fully equipped with gifts and talents to fulfill that purpose
  • We most closely manifest our purpose when we are at our best, being and doing those things that flow from the core of our being and bring deep satisfaction
Life and the abundant life that Jesus' promised comes from what we deeply and profoundly say yes to, for it is in what we say Yes! to that we manifest our God given purpose.

Cost:
$100 (includes cost of materials)
Limited scholarships available. To learn more, please contact Canon Betsy Fornal, Episcopal Diocese of Rhode Island, at 401-274-4500, ext. 225 or email betsy@episcopalri.org.
 
[Correction to step #4 below...please take note]

St. Martin's joins the Amazon Smile Program!
St. Martin's has registered with Amazon's charitable giving program which is called Amazon Smile. Under Amazon Smile, ½ of 1% of all your purchases go a to a charity of your choice. Parishioners can now designate St. Martin's to receive ½ of 1% of their Amazon purchases.  
Here is how to participate:
  1. Go to smile.amazon.com
  2. Enroll in program by giving your email address and your regular Amazon password
  3. The next page will welcome you to the program and show a default charity such as the Audubon Society. Next to the default charity name will be a small arrow asking if you want to change the charity. Click on the arrow.
  4. Type in St. Martins Parish (exactly) in the box and our name will come up. Click select.
  5. After this, when purchasing from Amazon you must go through smile.amazon.com for you purchases to qualify.
  6. Price, service and selection is exactly the same as on the 'normal' Amazon web site. Subscribers to Amazon Prime can use the Smile program.
If you have any questions please contact the office. (And thank you!!)