Meet your 2024 Vestry candidates

 

Dear St. Aidan’s Family,

We will hold our Annual Parish Meeting two Sundays from now on February 4, both in-person and online, after our 9:30 a.m. worship.

The only prescribed all-congregational meeting in a given year, the annual meeting provides a time when certain business of our congregation is done to keep our common life moving forward. On February 4, we will pray for God’s presence among us, celebrate and thank our outgoing vestry members, elect four new vestry members, look at the vestry-approved budget for 2024, and hear an update about how our Retire the Mortgage campaign is already improving the long-term health of the mission and ministries of St. Aidan’s.

I want to share my deep appreciation for the 2021-2024 vestry class: Jesse Forbes, Lianne LaFleur, Christina Mazzanti, and Manley Williams. Thank you for your wisdom, prayerfulness, and creativity as vestry members! You have been instrumental in helping to articulate and execute the priorities and mission of St. Aidan’s and I am so grateful for your partnership in that work.



Those nominated to serve in the 2024-2027 class of vestry members are: Darlene Ash, Hans Bilewski, Scott Chilton, and Amanda Smith. Please learn more about all four of them here. I am delighted that each of them has discerned the invitation to share their gifts for ministry on vestry.

And to all St. Aidan’s parishioners, thank you in advance for your participation, not only in this Sunday’s meeting, but in the breadth and depth of our common life at St. Aidan’s. You matter here. The gifts for ministry that you share within and beyond St. Aidan’s matter. And I am so very grateful to serve here with you.

God’s peace,

Laura+

End of Year Giving Statements

End of Year giving statements were mailed electronically on January 23rd. If you did not receive an emailed statement, please reach out to Bud DuPont at buddupont@gmail.com. This giving statement should reflect all payments received between January 1 and December 31, 2023. Please note that due to some account name changes in our database, your pledge giving may show up in more than one description (e.g. "Pledge/Annual giving" and "Pledges"). Both of these should be added together to reflect your complete pledge picture for 2023. Thank you for your generous giving to St. Aidan's in 2023!

Annual Parish Meeting

The Annual Parish Meeting is scheduled for Sunday, February 4 after the 9:30 a.m. worship service. Please plan to participate as the congregation will vote on the incoming slate of Vestry candidates. At the meeting, church leadership will also highlight how the Spirit is working in and through St. Aidan's, give thanks for the work and ministry of the outgoing vestry members, and present the budget for 2024. We will meet in person in the church as well as online via Zoom. The Zoom link will be posted in the Saturday E-news on February 3.

Bios from the slate of Vestry candidates will be available via the Epistle and handouts at church prior to the February 4 meeting.

Ventures in Community Hypothermia Outreach Program (VICHOP)

St. Aidan’s will once again participate with other local volunteer faith and non-profit organizations to support the Ventures in Community Hypothermia Outreach Program (VICHOP) at Rising Hope United Methodist Church. For the four coldest months of the year, people experiencing homelessness are offered a warm and safe place to sleep, a hot dinner, and a breakfast bag the next morning. On alternate Sundays in February and March (February 4 and 18, March 3, 17, 31), St. Aidan’s will cook and serve this meal.

**Please notice that Sunday, March 31 is Easter Sunday.**

In the past we've had assorted ministries/groups gather to cook the meals in the Church Kitchen (ie: Youth Group, The Staff, Family, Friends & Neighbors, etc) on Sunday prior to delivery. Divide the tasks and it becomes an easy but wonderful way to help our neighbors in need.  

Volunteers are needed to:

-Plan, purchase, and cook a meal for 35 that includes a hot and healthy main dish, simple side (bread, mashed potatoes, vegetable), salad with dressing and a dessert. The meal can be cooked at homes, in advance, or in the St. Aidan’s kitchen, but should be ready to be transported and served by 6:30.

-Transport and serve dinner to the residents and clean-up from 6:30-8:30pm on the designated Sundays. Rising Hope UMC is located at 8220 Russell Road, Alexandria, VA 22309. Servers must be 18 or over to enter the shelter. 

-Purchase food for and assemble breakfast bags. We are hoping to have all the non-perishables by Sunday, Feb 4th so we have all the "ingredients" to assemble the first set of Breakfast Bags. Sign up below.

Thank you for serving our neighborhood in this way!

Godly Play and EYOA will meet as regularly scheduled from 10:45-11:30 this Sunday.

The next EYC will be cooking for the pancake supper on February 13 at 5:30pm.

Adults

Adult Formation programming will resume on Sunday, January 14, 2024 with a three-part series on Spiritual Gifts led by Rev. Laura. Have you ever wondered what spiritual gifts you have and how those may be practiced and shared at St. Aidan's? Each of us has abilities endowed by the Holy Spirit to enrich our lives and the life of the world! We'll use a Spiritual Gifts inventory to discover and explore our individual spiritual gifts, look more broadly at categories of spiritual gifts and their biblical references, and then explore how these may be shared through specific ministries at St. Aidan's and beyond.  This class will gather in the parish hall at 10:45 a.m. on January 14, 21, and 28.

Lenten Program & Soup Supper:

Wendell Berry and the Sabbath Poetry of Lent

On the five Tuesdays in Lent (February 20 and 27, and March 5, 12, and 19), you are invited to gather together in the parish hall to share a simple meal of soup and bread and then explore the season with words of Scripture and the poetry of Wendell Berry. Dinner will begin at 6:00 p.m.; the program will be from 6:30-7:30 p.m.

In this program, biblical texts and simple, accessible practices walk hand-in-hand with Wendell Berry’s poetic vision of sabbath and the natural world. Week by week, we’ll walk through the woods together (metaphorically) toward Easter morning, keeping sabbath as we go—with Wendell Berry as our guide. 

Registration is not required, but if you are interested in participating, please let Laura+ know so we have an idea of how much to prepare for dinner. If you are willing to prepare soup for any of the Tuesday night gatherings, please sign up here: https://tinyurl.com/lentpoetry24. Questions? Please contact Laura+ at staidansrector@gmail.com.

Episcopal Church News

All are invited to gather on Saturday February 17th for this year's Lenten Environmental Ministry Conference: To Love, Heal and Bless Creation. We'll gather with student groups at Virginia Theological Seminary, Alexandria, VA.

RSVP is required. Please RSVP at this link by February 1st. 

This year's keynote speaker will be the Rev. Jemonde Taylor, rector of St. Ambrose Episcopal Church in Raleigh, NC. A former engineer, Father Jemonde recently led Saint Ambrose through a three-year capital campaign raising twice the church’s annual budget while maintaining strong environmental stewardship. A powerful, inspiring speaker, Father Jemonde's work offers parishes in our Diocese a model of environmental adaptation.

Agenda:  

8am: Continental Breakfast & Coffee

8:15am: Morning Prayer, Led by Students at VTS

9am: Opening Remarks 

9:10am: Keynote Speaker: Rev. Jemonde Taylor, Rector of St. Ambrose, Raleigh, NC

10:45am: Workshop 1, Topic: Eco-Friendly Landscaping 

11:45am-12:45pm: Lunch (provided)

12:45pm: Workshop 2, Topic: Energy Efficiency 

2pm-2:30pm: Closing Session, Topic: Spiritual Resilience 

Sign up here to join us for this important day where we'll make connections, exchange ideas, and set goals and intentions for the year ahead!

Please RSVP by February 1st.

Update from our Treasurer

December Income: $29,742.28 (pledge, plate, Vanco, other)

December budgeted income: $25,291.67

YTD income: $281,765.24 (pledge, plate, Vanco, other)

Retire the Mortgage YTD Commitments ($120,000 Goal): $103,000

Thank You for your support of this amazing community!



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Service Times

Sunday, 9:30 am (virtual & in person)

Sunday, 5:30 pm Celtic (virtual & in person)

Compline, 7:00 pm Monday, Wednesday & Friday (virtual only)

You are always welcome at St. Aidan's,

wherever you may be on your faith journey.

Service Links

If you are not receiving our separate mailing each week with links for worship gatherings and would like to be added to that list, simply reach out to the office

and let us know. Those links are sent out on Saturday.