Weekly Newsletter August 9, 2023

St. Michael’s Weekly News – August 9, 2023

 Dear People of St. Michaels,    

          If you have heard or sung “Good Christian Friends, Rejoice”, “Come Ye Faithful, Raise the Strain”, “All Glory, Laud and Honor” or “Creator of the Stars of Night” you have enjoyed the words and translating work of John Mason Neale, priest and hymn writer and hymn translator (1818-1866); his commemoration date was August 7th. He was born in London and served the Anglican Church in a number of ways. He wrote several original hymns and translated more than thirty ancient Latin and Greek hymns for our enjoyment. As a priest, he gave support to the Oxford Movement of his time in the revival of medieval liturgical forms. As a humanitarian, he founded the Sisterhood of St. Margaret for the relief of suffering women and girls.

          We all enjoy hymns that speak to our praise of God, help us with our worship and live on, year after year, in our own worship lives. It is easy to forget the work of both the people who wrote the tunes and especially those who wrote such meaningful words that we have memorized and nourish our spiritual lives. People like John Mason Neale and even Catherine Winkworth also did us the great service of taking rich, meaningful ancient hymns in Latin or Greek and translated them (into poetry) that we could continue to sing and bring their meaning into our lives of worship for years, centuries to come. They are worth our mention and notice as we count the blessings their work is to the greater Church again and again.

In Christ,   

Pastor Randy Knutson

St Michael & All Angels Green Team

St Michael’s Green Team is moving along on the project to calculate the present day combined carbon footprint of the Church, Larson Hall, and St. Veronica’s Hall. The Commission On the Environment of The Episcopal Diocese Of Northern California has made the Team aware of an Energy Efficiency Expert who  would survey our buildings to create a detailed energy efficiency assessment report The information in the report from the assessment will help the Team develop an action plan to become more energy efficient. The great news is that St. Michael's is on the list to get an energy assessment in August with the support of the diocese.

Green Team Mission Statement of St Michael & All Angels Episcopal:
As Stewards/Caretakers of God’s Creation - our shared home Earth - it is our responsibility to preserve and protect God’s gift. As part of being good stewards, St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church of Fort Bragg is committed to determine the carbon footprint of our Church buildings and grounds, develop a plan to try to reach carbon neutrality by 2030, and follow through with our plan.
The Green Team of St Michael’s is open to all who are interested in working on this very important project. If interested, contact any Green Team Member.

Please join us.

Your St. Michael’s Green Team:
Heather Anderson, Rev Randy Knutson, Robin Knutson, Marcia Waters, Rick Bondor, Renee Jones
Blessings

August Birthdays: Robin Knutson, Donald Romeri, Kathleen Johnson, Pat Karch, Bill Reynolds, Maria Miller, Rev. Cn. W. Barton Kendrick, Hailee Peterson, Lynette Smith, Steve Roberts, Steven Woeppel, Richard Crandell, Aaron Peterson

August Anniversaries: the Maganas, the Blantons, and the Norgards.

Recycling and Trash Concerns at St. Michaels

Dear Members of the Parish, we are all adjusting to a new reality in our homes and around our community concerning trash, recycling and compost; the three categories of left over material from our lives and gatherings. Recently, we even received the first of three warnings concerning black trash bags in our recycling container: after three times, a $25 dollar fee. So we need to be more careful about refuse after our meals, coffee hour etc. The main concern seems to be with recycling and compost.

Many of us had the mantra of ‘recycling’ repeated to us again and again, but we live in a different world now where less is able to be recycled and some things we might have thought to recycle should instead go into compost, including used paper plates, napkins and paper cups. These should go now into ‘compost’, not recycling. Compost can also include left over food, coffee grounds, fruit peelings, and other plant based waste; along with grass clippings and other plant trimmings.

Recycling needs to include only clean paper, cardboard boxes, CA redemption bottles and cans (rinsed and dried), plastic containers (#1-#7) and glass. As we found out, these should also not be in any kind of garbage bag.

Trash includes so many things, but unfortunately includes styrofoam cups and many other things that aren’t ‘compost’ and can’t be recycled. It seems like a waste to throw some things away, but what isn’t ‘recycle’ or ‘compost’ needs to go into this container.

Thank you as we all work together to clean up after our times of great fellowship and worship.

Shared Ministry Outdoor Service next week, August 20th  at 10:00 am at St. Michaels with Trinity Lutheran joining us. We had a very enjoyable time at the end of July hosting Trinity here; now it is our turn to host an outdoor service together in the summer. Please sign up to bring a potluck item on August 20th. Hot Dogs and Hamburgers will be cooked that day on site as we first worship at 10:00 am outdoors, in our courtyard, then enjoy fellowship and food indoors in Larsen Hall.

Online worship will be back to our normal routine this week:

Live on Facebook at 10:45 am and then it remains there.

Also recorded and downloaded later on YouTube.

Online Worship Information

This Sunday we will offer in-person worship and at the same time offer the online broadcast of our service at 10:45 am in the ways posted below:

Our Sunday Service will be on St. Michael’s Facebook Page:

https://www.facebook.com/StMikesFtBragg

https://www.facebook.com/StMikesFtBragg/videos

It will also stay there on the Facebook Pages and you can watch it later.

You can also watch it on this YouTube Channel later that day as well.

This is a NEW St. Michaels YouTube Channel and also on our website!

https://www.youtube.com/@st.michaelsepiscopalfortbragg

Website

When you can, check our new website: https://www.stmichaelfb.com/