Dear Friends,
Greeting from St. Anne's Episcopal Church! If you're experiencing an unaccountable burst of the Christmas spirit, it's because today is set aside in the lectionary for John Mason Neale, an Anglican priest best known for his translations of Advent hymns, including "O Come O Come Emmanuel." Neale also popularized "Good King Wenceslas," a carol that contains a social gospel message and a call for more partying ("bring me flesh and bring me wine!" says the Good King at one point). Father Neale sounds like one of those awful Episcopalians you've heard so much about. The rascal.
WORSHIP
We meet at Lackey Chapel at 10am on Sundays for Eucharist.
Please
make a note that our August 18 Eucharist will be a joint service with
the Episcopal Church in Myrtle Beach. We'll be meeting at 79th avenue
and HWY 17 bypass, at the CCU Myrtle Beach campus. There will be no St.
Anne's Service at Lackey Chapel in 8/18. We'll be at 79th, celebrating
with our cousins from the other side of the waterway. That service
starts at 10:30 am. No groaning about having to drive to the beach! The
Intracoastal Waterway might just like the Red Sea at your coming.
We'll resume our normal 10am Lackey Chapel services the following week, August 25.
MINISTRY
*Speaking
of the Myrtle Beach congregation, I hear tell that their August 4th
service (their first at 79th avenue) was a great success, with 33
participants, a wonderful sermon by Fr. Merchant, and plans for their
first confirmation class. I have in hand a note:
"Dear Friends at St. Anne's --
Thank
you for being an inspiration to us at the new Episcopal Church in
Myrtle Beach. Your dedication and passion to keep the Episcopal Church
alive in our community surely encourages us to move forward.
Your
generous support in providing pastors for our Eucharist in our first
month is truly a gift. We are honored to be able to use the
processional cross you used in your first service at St. Anne's.
We look forward to having you worship with us on August 18.
Sincerely
Sincerely
The Leadership Team
The Episcopal Church in Myrtle Beach"
*The
Diocese is sponsoring a Congregational Development workshop on Tuesday,
August 20 at 2:00-4:00 p.m at The Church of the Holy Communion (218
Ashley Ave., Charleston). We've been invited to send a delegation. If
you're interested in attending, send a note to Andrea McKellar [andreamckellar@gmail.com].
*The
Rev. Lucia Lloyd of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Heathsville, VA
is coming down to celebrate Eucharist with the Episcopal Church in
Myrtle Beach on August 11th. Rev. Lloyd's TEC congregation lost their
building for a few years when an portion of the congregation voted to
leave the Episcopal Church. Eventually, TEC prevailed in court and
Lucia's congregation was able to resume worshiping in their church
building. Rev. Lloyd taken a special interest in our Diocese because of
that experience, and her congregation has twice sent packages of
liturgical items to us. We still use altar cloths from her parish.
The mission committee is assembling a thank-you basket to be presented to the St. Stephen's congregation. We are looking for items that represent our community, such as local foods.
There is a basket ready to fill with thank you gifts for the congregation. Amy Shea will be happy to help anyone gather an item, or be available to receive something anyone in Conway may like to drop off at her house. Anything from the area or SC would be great. Some of the local grocery stores, such as IGA and Piggly Wiggly, as well as Bodega in downtown Conway have items that anyone would appreciate. You may also bring items to Lackey Chapel this Sunday.
Amy and Kevin's address is 907 Lakeside Dr (843-742-9142).
The mission committee is assembling a thank-you basket to be presented to the St. Stephen's congregation. We are looking for items that represent our community, such as local foods.
There is a basket ready to fill with thank you gifts for the congregation. Amy Shea will be happy to help anyone gather an item, or be available to receive something anyone in Conway may like to drop off at her house. Anything from the area or SC would be great. Some of the local grocery stores, such as IGA and Piggly Wiggly, as well as Bodega in downtown Conway have items that anyone would appreciate. You may also bring items to Lackey Chapel this Sunday.
Amy and Kevin's address is 907 Lakeside Dr (843-742-9142).
VISION
Our proposed mission statement has been positively received thus far:
St. Anne’s Episcopal Church strives to be a joyous community that welcomes all people who seek to know Christ in their minds, hearts, and lives.
We gather together at God’s table, offering diverse gifts but of one spirit, becoming the body of Christ and gratefully receiving God’s grace.
We go out into a broken world, guided by scripture, tradition, and reason, honoring Christ’s command to serve others, believing that through God’s presence in our community, we can advance God’s kingdom in the world.In the coming weeks and months, we'll be talking about how to put those lofty ideals into practice. There is, if I may says so, a growing sense among us that our coming together in this place at this time was for something more important than maintaining an Episcopal outpost in Horry County. We've seen hints of our special purpose as a congregation, and far be it for a worldly layman like yours truly to suggest that there's a Providential hand at work at St. Anne's, but each Sunday, when the "Steady Sixty" assemble, it is hard not to believe that we've been gathered. We haven't been gathered for wallow in bitterness over deeds and injunctions. We surely haven't been gathered to exist as a competing franchise in the business of Christianity, Incorporated. Nor have we been gathered merely to hang out on Sundays with the comfort of a beautiful liturgy and familiar old hymns.
But we've been gathered, sure enough. Let's find out why.
See you Sunday,
Dan Ennis
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