Weekly Newsletter July 19, 2023

St. Michael’s Weekly News – July 19, 2023

Dear People of St. Michaels,    

          Today on our calendar we celebrate Macrina of Caesarea (Monastic and Teacher, 379). We might wonder who that is and why we would have this name on our calendar? Macrina was the sister to two of the ancient Greek (Cappadocian) bishops, St. Gregory of Nyssa and St. Basil, who credit her greatly with giving them wisdom and spiritual direction in their lives as they became important leaders of the early church. She also counseled St. Peter of Sebaste, who also became a bishop and all three, in no small measure because of Macrina’s influence; they all were leading defenders of the Nicene faith.

          It wasn’t until I was in seminary that I heard more about these ancient Greek leaders of the Christian Church and our ongoing connection with them. More than many other Christian Churches, we honor this history with liturgical parts of our service (the Kyrie and Trisagion) as well as more common parts of worship, like the Nicene Creed and the Holy, Holy. It’s hard for us to understand the uncertainty of the Christian Church at this time, with important centers of belief and faith in far flung places like Jerusalem, Rome, Alexandria and Antioch, but each of these important cities and communities of the young Christian Church had their own cultural and linguistic distinctiveness. They were all struggling to be faithful to who they were and what faith traditions and ideas they had inherited from their forebears and founders. But there was also great desire to be ONE Church, with a core set of common beliefs and holy scriptures that would make sense and apply at all places of worship.

          Two of the great Greek bishops credit their strong faith and decision making to Macrina, their sister, who gave up her life of privilege to live the monastic life (joined by her mother and others) and devote herself to scripture and prayer. We sometimes feel like there were not great influences by women in the life of the early church, but a more detailed study of scripture and lives like that of Macrina tell us otherwise. She is openly lauded by both brothers and others and St. Gregory even wrote a book, a tribute to her: Life of Macrina. He presents her as almost a Christian Socrates, delivering eloquent deathbed prayers and teachings about the resurrection. When we encounter her name and that of others, we need to dig deeper and rejoice in all the influences that have shaped our common faith in Christ.

In Christ,   

Pastor Randy Knutson

Altar Flowers

Dear St. Michael’s Friends,

We hope you enjoy the altar every Sunday, especially the flowers which are lovingly arranged to enrich the service. If you would like to help us in this ministry of beauty, and perhaps remember a special birthday of anniversary, there are several ways that you can help. 1) A check can be given to the altar guild and we will arrange the flowers. (You can let us know if there is a particular type and color of flower you prefer and we will try to purchase it.) 2) You can bring flowers from your garden and we will arrange them. 3) You can bring flowers and arrange them yourself if that is something that pleases you. There is a flower chart in Larsen Hall and you can put your name on a particular Sunday. and we will contact you,( or just let Marcia, Teresa or I know if you want to provide flowers when you see us in church. Thank you very much for considering helping out.

Sincerely, Anne Blanton

St Michael & All Angels Green Team

St Michael’s Green Team has set in motion the project to calculate the present day combined carbon footprint of the Church, Larson Hall, and St. Veronica’s Hall. This effort helps us to take better care of our environment, working to save money on our energy bills, and providing more funding for our ministries.
Green Team Mission Statement:
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

Shared Ministry Service at 10:00 am at St. Michaels with Trinity Lutheran

On Sunday, July 30, we will worship together with Trinity Lutheran Church, here at St. Michaels, but at 10:00 am (an earlier time for us!) We are starting (when possible) to re-establish the idea of worshipping together on the Fifth Sundays of the year. The next time we do this will be on Sunday, October 29th of this year, also at 10:00 am, but then over at Trinity Lutheran. They are delighted to invited us over to celebrate Reformation Day on that date, a very festive event for them every year. We will have a light luncheon here on July 30th following our 10 am service.

The Mendocino Music Festival is beginning at the end of this week on July 15 and goes through the end of July, concluding with a concert on Saturday, July 29th at 7:30 pm in the tent. Three of our members, Jim Blanton and Randy and Robin Knutson will be singing in the large choir in that final concert; performing the Faure Requiem and also joining the orchestra for Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloe Suite Number 2.

July Birthdays: Jerry Mitchell, Mitchell Navarro, Patrick Scully, Terese Roberts, Dewey Turner, Harriet Gleeson

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/