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Apalachicola, Florida
August 30, 2024
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‘Tis the Season (of Creation) | |
Beginning September 1 and ending on October 4 (the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi), this time is set aside as an annual celebration of creation around the world. And when I say around the world, I mean it: it is an ecumenical event that includes the Anglican Communion, the Roman Catholic Church, Lutheran World Federation, World Council of Churches, along with Orthodox and Jewish denominations. In other words, it’s a big deal.
Closer to home, this period is set aside by our diocese and The Commission on the Integrity of Creation as a time to perform an inventory of our relationships with God, each other, and this Earth, our island home. The theme for Season of Creation 2024 is “To Hope and Act with Creation”. We are called to reflect upon the myriad ways we interact with the world, not just the world we see and touch. By drawing together communally throughout the season, we are offered a chance to renew, repair, and restore those relationships.
How do we do this? Consider the banner that currently hangs on the side of Trinity. It says, “Preserving God’s Creation: Answering the Call to Love and Serve.” That phrase dovetails nicely into the Season of Creation theme, as it is through our call to live out the gospel that we carry hope into the world through love and service. And that love and service is manifested in our acts.
To that end, we have numerous events happening during the Season of Creation. Each Sunday service will feature prayers calling attention to our role in God’s Creation. Some of it is about celebrating its bounty, and some of it is about highlighting our shortcomings as stewards of the world. With the former, we draw close in thanksgiving. With the latter, we recognize how repentance sometimes goes beyond our own ‘skins and sins’, especially given how everything in the world is interconnected.
At Trinity, our Season of Creation parish events will begin on September 1 and end on October 4 with two special prayer services. During the month of September, we will host Lectio Tierra services, horseback riding at Cape San Blas, and a special Eucharist held on the waters of Apalachicola Bay (called a “Canoeucharist”). The details for each of these are in the “Around Trinity” section of this issue of Bay View.
We live on a coast that knows all too well the importance of the
environment to everything we do. How we care for the world to which
we have been entrusted says everything about who we are as a people.
Let’s answer the call to love and serve, because living out a gospel means
acting on the hope we carry within for the benefit of God’s Creation.
Love Big and Be Well,
Stephen +
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Season of Creation Events Coming Up | |
In addition to some creation-centered prayers and readings throughout our regular September services (Sunday Holy Eucharist 10:30 am, Wednesday Morning Prayer 8:15 am, Wednesday Compline 8 pm), there are several events scheduled outside the church to draw us into this special ecumenical season: | |
Sunday, September 1, 5:30 pm | |
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We will host a Season of Creation Opening Liturgy on the front porch of Benedict Hall, followed by an optional supper at the Red Pirate food truck at High Five Dive Bar (131 Commerce Street)
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Saturday, September 7, 8:00 am | |
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We will meet at the Boardwalk at Scipio Creek for Lectio Tierra. You may be familiar with Lectio Divina (“divine reading”), which is a method of intentional prayer and Scripture study. Lectio Tierra (“earth reading”) uses the same approach but with Scripture that are creation-focused. It is a great way to enter into a meditative space centered upon our role and relationships with all other living beings.
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Friday and/or Saturday, September 20/21, 5:00 pm | |
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A group from Trinity will meet at Cape San Blas to go horseback riding on the beach! If you have never done this, it is a fantastic way to experience our fragile shores. Cost is $100 per person, signup due September 8 and payment due by September 15. There will be a signup sheet in Benedict Hall with all the particulars or call Travis Pecot. A Lectio Tierra will occur simultaneously for those who do not wish to ride.
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Saturday, September 28, 5:00-7:00 pm | |
We will celebrate the much-loved CanoEucharist in Apalachicola Bay. We will meet in the waters off of Seafood Landing Park (near the intersection of US Hwy 98 and Pal Rivers Road) for a Holy Eucharist like you’ve never experienced! Any sea-worthy vessel is invited. | |
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There will be a signup sheet in Benedict Hall so we can get a headcount and know how many vessels are needed. If you are willing to bring your boat, let us know how many people you can transport.
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Friday, October 4, 5:30 pm | |
We will host a Season of Creation Closing Liturgy at the Chapman Botanical Gardens (177 5th St), followed by an optional supper at Half-Shell Dockside (301 Market St). | |
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Fall Stewardship Campaign. Summer is winding down. We do not see everyone on Sunday because of summer travel, and some Trinity activities are on summer hiatus. When September comes, the pace will quickly change with the Stewardship campaign one of many things requiring our attention. Now is a good time to start thinking about making a pledge for Trinity when the campaign starts this fall. The theme for the Fall Stewardship campaign will be “Walk In Love”. We are reminded of that call with the offertory sentence, one of which comes from Ephesians 5:2: “Walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself for us, an offering and sacrifice to God.” Please take some time during the summer to prayerfully consider what you will share with Trinity next year.
– Barry Lawson, Stewardship and Finance Committee
Wednesday Compline. If you love the Order for Compline from our Book of Common Prayer and want to participate from the comfort of your home, you are in luck! On Wednesdays at 8 pm Eastern, Trinity is pleased to host an online Compline via Facebook Live. And don’t forget that we have Morning Prayer on Wednesdays at 8:15 am.
Looking For A Few Good People. With four vestry members ending their term in December, Trinity is looking for people who want to help guide this church into an exciting future. A desire to be part of shaping the next few years of this church as we move closer to the bicentennial decade (!!!) is required.
Trinity is currently accepting nominations to fill four vestry positions for the year 2025. Vestry members are elected for a three-year term. They are required to be confirmed, active communicants, and current pledgers. These are qualifications not only for election but for continued service on the vestry.
Nomination forms are available in the office and in Benedict Hall, and may be returned to the office or emailed to info@trinityapalachicola.org. Nominations are due by Sunday, November 3, 2024. Short bios of candidates will appear in the Bay View newsletter between November and the Annual Meeting and will be posted in Benedict Hall.
You may have served on the vestry before (thank you!) and wish to be part again. Or you may not even know what the vestry does. In this attached article we want to explain the role of the vestry and how it works closely with the rector to meet the goals of care and ministry. Much of the information is derived from Crossroads, a ministry of the Episcopal Church Foundation.
A future issue of the Bay View will feature an article by Father Stephen discussing how he and the vestry work together to keep Trinity moving forward. Throughout the fall the Bay View will also include writings by vestry members and candidates on their observations regarding Trinity’s strengths and challenges.
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BINGO NIGHT AT TRINITY - Thursday, September 19, 2024 - Don't miss it! | |
Diocesan Cycle of Prayer. For churches and ministries: on September 1, pray for the Lay School and School for Ministry as well as St. Stephen’s in Brewton, AL; and on September 8 pray for St. Mary's By-the-Sea in Coden, AL. For prisons: on September 1, pray for the prisoners, families, and staff of the Crenshaw County Jail, Luverne, Alabama; and on September 8 pray for the prisoners, families, and staff of the Covington County Jail, Andalusia, Alabama. | |
Cursillo Weekend Coming Up! Cursillo is a three-day retreat offered to persons who wish to deepen their faith and walk with Christ. Many in our Trinity family (including Stephen and Travis Pecot, Ina Margaret Meyer, Brooks Jones, Patti McCartney, among many others) have attended this fulfilling and life-changing program. It is offered through our diocese at Beckwith Conference Center in Fairhope, AL. | |
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Cursillo is currently offered two weekends each year, and it is free to attendees. Cursillo #171 will be held September 12-15, 2024, and there are three slots left! To learn about Cursillo, the diocese has a great website or talk to someone who has been. Check it out. Who wouldn’t want to be loved on and pampered for three days? You deserve it! De Colores! | |
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The Bay View is introducing a new feature - TRINITY TEN - so we can get
to know each other a little better. We have developed a ten-point
questionnaire designed to provide a light-hearted, yet sincere, profile
of Trinity parishioners. Your responses, along with a photograph,
will appear regularly in the Bay View.
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Our inaugural TRINITY TEN features Ralph Wagoner, a vestry member and worship greeter. He and Susie relocated to Apalachicola from South Dakota about 10 years ago. Who doesn't feel a certain comfort and joy seeing Ralph with a warm smile and cheerful welcoming words on Sunday morning? | |
Greatest influence on your life (person or experience):
My mom, Charlotte Wagoner, my stepdad Dick Wagoner, but most importantly, my wife, lover, best friend, and awesome mom, Susie. We have been together for 64 years.
How would someone else describe you:
Hopefully: honest, thoughtful, competent, sincere, loyal.
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One thing people might be surprised to know about you:
For three years in the 60’s I worked as a State Patrolman on a huge lake bordering Pennsylvania and Ohio. One of my responsibilities was to make certain no one was hassling the life guards. Guess who was the only female lifeguard?
Favorite part of living here:
Trinity, friends, oysters, warm weather, our home.
Dogs or cats:
Dogs
Bacon or broccoli:
Bacon
Coleslaw - vinegar or mayo:
Mayo
One thing you are good at:
While it might seem a little impertinent, leading within organizations. I did it for 45+ years of my 50 years of working both as a professional and a layperson.
One thing you’d rather not do:
Sit and watch people screw up an organization for whatever reason, especially personal gain.
What drew you to Trinity:
Faith. The deep need to have a church home and to develop friendships as a result of having found that home. Hence, people such as Tom and Patti and many, many more folks who have become friends and fellow travelers, such as I found at Trinity. A typical college slogan is “enter to learn, leave to serve”. In my heart, that is Trinity; we enter seeking something - peace, a deepening of faith, quiet, whatever. Trinity is my special place and I thank my God I found it! Now, I hope I serve with an open and glad heart and spirit.
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CELEBRATING FAMILY & FRIENDS | |
Rennie & Tom Edwards gathered with all of their grandchildren for a summer visit in Midlothian, VA. | |
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Watch our Sunday sermons online:
Generosity is a key component of our successful ministry: You can share your generosity easily and safely through our secure Electronic Giving platform.
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COMMUNITY EVENTS OF INTEREST | |
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Your Bay View: Trinity's bi-weekly e-newsletter, the Bay View, reaches members and friends every other Friday, sharing news and inspiration for and about our parish. Please send information and announcements, as well as photographs, to info@trinityapalachicola.org or call the church office at 850-653-9550. The deadline for submission is noon on Wednesday of each publication week. (next deadline is September 11)
-- Kay Carson, Editor
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Worship Service at 10:30 am Sunday
Morning Prayer at 8:15 am Wednesday
Church address: 79 6th Street, Apalachicola, Florida 32320
Office address: 76 5th Street, Apalachicola, Florida 32320
Mailing address: PO Box 667, Apalachicola, Florida 32329
Phone number: (850) 653-9550
Email: info@trinityapalachicola.org
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