February 5, 2023 | VOLUME 35, ISSUE 3

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Fifth Sunday after Epiphany

Sunday, February 5, 2023

SCRIPTURE READINGS

Isaiah 58:1-9a, [9b-12]

1 Corinthians 2:1-12, [13-16]

Matthew 5:13-20

Psalm 112:1-9, (10)

Preacher: The Reverend Ryan D. Newman

Monday, February 6

Sisters of Bede at 7:00 PM

Sunday, February 12

Grassroots Neighbors at 1:30 PM

Saturday, February 18

Neighbors 4 Neighbors at 10 AM

Bible and Breakfast

Tuesdays | 9:30 AM

Luther Hall & Zoom

Midweek Eucharist

Tuesdays | 6:00 PM

Sanctuary

Evening Prayer

Wednesday | 7:00 PM

Luther Hall & Zoom

NAMETAG BOARD--WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT?

This past summer in June, an Invite, Welcome, Connect, Exploratory Study Club was formed. During the four weeks, the group explored Invite Welcome Connect, a ministry of transformation that equips and empowers individuals and congregations to cultivate intentional practices of evangelism, hospitality, and belonging.

In the effort for St. Bede's to be more intentional about its evangelism, hospitality, and belonging ministries, the IWC group's first major goal was to create nametags for the congregation. Last Sunday, the St. Bede's Nametag Board was launched.

Nametags are vital for a congregation with a growth mindset and a spirit of welcome. Also, with the soon-to-be-named rector's arrival, the nametags will help the new rector build those initial relationships.

If you do not have a name tag, please speak to Susan Holder or Rev. Ryan. After each Sunday, place your name tag into the marked basket in Luther Hall or return it to the board.

Bottom line: Please wear your nametag every Sunday during the service and coffee hour.

VOLUNTEERS ARE NEEDED

FEBRUARY 12 | 1:30 PM & 5:00 PM

Grass Roots Neighbors is a volunteer community organization. They meet the immediate needs of our neighbors experiencing food and housing insecurity. GRN mobilizes to fill the gaps in existing services by providing assistance with love and respect. The organization's vision is to be a community effectively involved in ending poverty. ​

Among their outreach programs, GNR cooks and delivers a hot meal every Sunday to various encampments on the Westside. Once a month, St. Bede's with Holy Nativity assists GNR with preparing and providing meals. There are now four different volunteer time slots:

• 2 - 4 PM (mostly chopping of fruits and veggies)
• 4 - 6 PM (mainly packaging food)
• 6 - 8:30 PM (loading and distributing the food)
• 7:30 - 10:30 PM (distributing food in Venice by bike)

GNR utilizes the kitchen facilities at Holy Nativity Episcopal Church.

GNR, Holy Nativity, and St. Bede's have created a Google Sign-Up Form to assist with monthly volunteer coordination. Please click the button below to access the volunteer sign-up form.

Are you planning to attend worship online and want an easy way to make a pledge payment? Do you want to ditch the checkbook and set up reoccurring payments? Are you looking for a convenient way to make a one-time special gift to St. Bede's?

Did you know you can make donations online to St. Bede's, securely and easily?

Visit the St. Bede's website and at the top of every page, look for the "Donate" button. When you click on the "Donate" button, you will be transported to St. Bede's Vanco eGiving and Payment Process Site.

Vanco is an industry leader in online payments. More than 40,000 churches, faith-based groups, nonprofits, schools, and educational organizations trust Vanco to securely complete transactions every day. Vanco complies with PCI Level 1 standards, the highest security standard in the payment processing industry.

You are invited to set up one-time or recurring gifts using credit, debit, or bank transfer on Vanco's secure payment processing platform. Giving online through the Vanco site saves time and the hassle of remembering to bring your offering. In addition, you decrease the expense incurred by St. Bede’s from handling and processing checks and cash.

Above, a view of the Black Lives Matter Plaza near the White House in Washington, D.C.

Episcopal leaders express frustration, concern over limits on teaching of Black history

BY CALEB GALARAGA

[Episcopal News Service] In the 1980s, as a teenager in an all-Black high school in Detroit, Michigan, the Rev. Ronald Byrd Sr., The Episcopal Church’s missioner for African descent ministries, learned he had a place in America.

“I am almost certain that we were one of the first schools around the nation that started teaching, as part of the curriculum, Black history,” Byrd told Episcopal News Service on Feb. 1, the first day of Black History Month. “I learned about the contribution of Blacks to this American experiment in terms of innovation and building communities.”

As Episcopalians and the nation begin to commemorate Black History Month, the substance of what will be taught in the newly developed Advanced Placement African American Studies course continues to make headlines. On Feb. 1, the College Board announced it had updated the curriculum, purging references to Black scholars associated with critical race, queer, and feminist theories, and making the study of Black Lives Matter optional. It also added “Black conservatism” as an idea for a research project.

Read more here

View the Latest Edition of "The Episcopal News"

How Education for Ministry changed Termaine Hicks’ life

[Sewanee School of Theology]  It is well known in The Episcopal Church and beyond: Education for Ministry (EfM) changes lives. Most of the more than 120,000 people who have participated in the four-year theological education program will agree. Many will have a tale of transformation to share.

Few will have a story as heart-wrenching as Termaine Hicks’s. Framed for rape in 2001 at the age of 26, Hicks was falsely incarcerated for nearly two decades. Upon entering prison, Hicks was forced to separate from his son, who was only 5 years old at the time of his sentencing.

Though EfM groups commonly gather in parish buildings, some convene in prisons. It was in such a group at the State Correctional Institution—Graterford, a maximum-security prison in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, that EfM group leader Ginny Slichter met Termaine Hicks for the first time.

Provinces prepare to send representatives to Ghana for Anglican Consultative Council meeting

[Episcopal News Service] Representatives from Anglican provinces around the world, including The Episcopal Church, are preparing to travel to Accra, Ghana, for prayer, worship and discussions on the future of the Anglican Communion at the 18th meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council, or ACC-18.

“ACC not only brings the 42 member churches together as a family but also encourages and enables them to grow in mission in their own contexts,” Archbishop Paul Kwong of Hong Kong, the outgoing chair of ACC, said Feb. 1 in a news conference on Zoom.

The Anglican Communion is made up of autonomous, interdependent churches that have historic roots in the Church of England and remain in communion with the office of the archbishop of Canterbury. Each province may appoint and send up to three members to ACC, typically a bishop, another clergy member and a lay person. The Episcopal Church’s current members on ACC are Maryland Bishop Eugene Sutton, the Rev. Ranjit Mathews, a priest in the Diocese of Connecticut, and lay member Annette Buchanan former Union of Black Episcopalians president from the Diocese of New Jersey, who also serves on Executive Council.