During this season of coronavirus infections, please demonstrate your love for your friends and neighbors by:
- Wearing a mask (covering both mouth and nose)
- Masks are optional outdoors or while leading liturgy (e.g., reading, preaching) for those who have been “fully vaccinated”
- Remaining six feet apart from anyone we don’t live with
- Refraining from touching, hugging and shaking hands
- Avoiding sharing common objects such as pens, paper, water bottles, etc.
Dear St. Thomas’,
This week at St. Thomas’, masks will be optional outdoors for those who have been “fully vaccinated.”
“Fully vaccinated” means you have had the full round of shots (two for Moderna and Pfizer, one for J&J) and your body has had time to react to the vaccinations and built up its immunity (2 weeks after your final dose).
The point of our gathering together on Sundays has never been to “get what’s mine,” whether that is a particular worship experience or the sacrament of Holy Communion. The point of gathering together is not to get a “spiritual lift” or to spend time with our friends. The primary point of our gathering is not even to learn about the Bible or to be formed spiritually. All of these are important things, and all of these things very often happen when we gather as the Church. But the reason we gather is to worship God. God is the object of our gathering, God is the reason for our gathering, God is the telos, the goal, the end, the completion, the maturity, the whole point of our gathering. The worship that God desires, testifies the whole Bible, includes loving one another and caring for one another in practical ways.
It doesn’t get much more practical than getting vaccinated (90%+ effectiveness) or wearing a mask (double masks yield 95% effectiveness!).
There are reasons why people we love might not have been vaccinated. The most obvious group is those for whom the vaccines have not yet been approved: the children under 12 who worship with us every week. For their sake, everyone who has not been vaccinated is asked to keep wearing your mask as a practical expression of your faith in God and as an expression of your care for “the least among us.”
Our vestry continues to evaluate the rapidly changing guidelines from our Diocese, always with the primary question of, “how do we love one another?” We will continue to change and adapt. Please join us for worship this week in the ways that make sense to you (outdoors, indoors, on Zoom, on a recording).
Faithfully,
Todd+
We will welcome Father Bob Fitzpatrick to preach and preside this Sunday! Father Todd will be filling his pulpit at Grace Church, Merchantville.
Don’t forget to bring three non-perishable items for Kitchen of Hope for Trinity Sunday! Please leave them in the bin outside the Kitchen of Hope building before after our services on Sunday, or in the bin provided Saturday evening.
Join the ECW (Episcopal Church Women) Annual Meeting, online June 5 at 10 a.m. We will acknowledge our Student Service Award Recipients for 2021, and we also will remember our necrology, remembering and praying for all Episcopal Church Women who went home to the Lord this past year. Register at https://is.gd/ecw2021annual
Glassboro’s Memorial Day Parade and solemnities are a great opportunity for St. Thomas’ to be out around our neighbors. The parade starts at 10am, with a service of remembrance at the town square to follow.
Are you interested in a friendly, animated series on How to Read the Bible?
May is Mental Health Month. See resources from Virginia Theological Seminary.
If you can, getting vaccinated is the surest, quickest way to end the destructive power of the Covid-19 virus. As Christians, we are about life and health and wholeness. Unless you have been advised otherwise by a medical professional, getting vaccinated is an important Christian response to a hurting world. Do you need assistance finding an appointment? The Diocese can help!
Announcements for the bulletin or parish email are due into the office by noon on Wednesday of each week. You can email them to office@stthomasglassboro.org or call the office at 856-881-9144. Announcements are subject to editing due to limited space.
Download this week’s bulletin or see the online version.
Lectionary readings for this week: Isaiah 6:1-8, Romans 8:12-17, John 3:1-17, Psalm 29
Lectionary readings for next week: 1 Samuel 8:4-20, 11:14-15, Psalm 138, 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1, Mark 3:20-35
Please continue in your daily prayers for: Dennis, Marge, Joann, Andrea, Bob, Jimmie, Bill, Kass, Sandy, Floss, Mary-Esther, Patty, Dean, David, Lois, Michael, Bianca, Kayla, Evelyn, Tal, Jackie, Richard, Taylor, Sid, Becky, Dorothy, Chuck, Jo-Ann, Sally, Ethan
This Weekend at St. Thomas’
- Saturday, 6.00pm: Holy Eucharist in the Nave (limited capacity: RSVP here)
- Sunday, 8.00am: Holy Eucharist in the Parish Hall and on Zoom (limited capacity: RSVP here)
- Sunday, 9.00am: Online Sunday School for pre-school to pre-teens
- Sunday, 10.30am: Holy Eucharist Outdoors at St. Thomas’
- Sunday, afternoon: Holy Eucharist at St. Thomas’ (recorded)
- Sunday, 6.00pm: Youth Group Online
Contact Dan O. for details.
Weekdays at St. Thomas’
- Daily Morning Prayer (Monday through Saturday)
- Monday, 4pm: Centering Prayer (online)
- Monday, 7pm: Book Group (online – contact the office for link)
- Tuesday, 7pm: Small Group Bible Study: Hebrews (online)
- Wednesday, 5.30pm: Holy Eucharist (outdoors at Lychgate)
- Wednesday, 7pm: Bible Study: Ruth (online)
Online events hosted by St. Thomas’ are accessed via Zoom: instructions here.
What do you think of when you hear the word “reparations”? What does that word really mean? You might be surprised!
When a wrong has happened, how do we effect “repair?”
Hear a conversation within the Diocese of New Jersey.
Or come hear Bishop Stokes speak as a part of a march and rally in Newark on 19 June. Click here for more information.
Summer 2021 at St. Thomas’
Last day of Sunday School: 13 June
Summer Worship Schedule begins on 14 June:
- Holy Eucharist on Lawn: Sundays, 10am (note change in time!)
- Centering Prayer Online: Mondays, 4pm
- Holy Eucharist at Lychgate: Wednesdays, 5.30pm (except in July)
- Holy Eucharist in Nave: Saturdays, 6pm (Evening Prayer in July)
- Recordings and live-streamed access to worship services will continue to offered online.
Adult Formation (all online):
- Book Group: Mondays, 7pm (except July)
- Bible Study: Tuesdays, 7pm
- “Seeing Dead People”: Historical Controversies of the Christian Faith, led by Jonathan Wilson: Wednesdays, 7pm (7, 14, 21 July)
VBS in person: See registration info. below (18-22 July)
Church Picnic at Camp Sun N’ Fun: 7 August, Noon
Family Movie Night on the Lawn: 27 August, 7.30pm
Rally Day & Picnic: 12 September, Picnic follows 10am service
See a calendar of Saints of the Episcopal Church.
Which Saint will you remember today?
See the official St. Thomas’ calendar or a list of upcoming events.
Are you serving in liturgy? Check the rota!
Saturdays, 6pm: Holy Eucharist
in the Nave: limited to 12 pews of up to two people each
Sundays, 8am: Holy Eucharist
in the Parish Hall and online
Sundays, 9am: Sunday School
online: for children
Sundays, 10.30am: Holy Eucharist
outdoors, rain or shine
Sundays, 6pm: Youth Group
online: for teens
Mondays, 4pm: Centering Prayer online
Mondays, 7pm: Book Group online
Tuesdays, 7pm: Small Group Bible Study online
Wednesday, 5.30pm: Holy Eucharist
outdoors, rain or shine
Wednesdays, 7.00pm: Bible Study: Ruth online
Daily on Weekdays: Morning Prayer
online: recorded
https://www.stthomasglassboro.org/
OFFICE:
office@stthomasglassboro.org
Office telephone:
856-881-9144
Emergency Pastoral Care:
856-881-2841
Call this number if you have a pastoral emergency, such as an alert about an ailing parishioner, a hospital stay, a death in the family, or to request last rites. Leave a message and with a phone number for your call to be returned.