Dear Friends,
I write you on the Feast of Margaret, Queen of Scotland. Exiled from England as a consequence of the Norman Invasion of 1066, she married the Scottish King Malcolm III and led a life of piety and service to the poor. If you don't mind a little wind noise, here's a video that provides a good overview of this remarkable woman. If you see Cathy Battle on Sunday, you might want to ask her about her recent visit to the Scottish island of Iona, a place with holy sites that were protected by Margaret during her reign.
WORSHIP
After a one-week sojourn at Palmetto Missionary Baptist Church we are back at Lackey Chapel at 10am this Sunday. Looking forward, we note that Advent is coming, and we've set our Christmas Eve service for 6pm December 24th, with Lessons and Carols scheduled for December 29th at 10am.
MINISTRY
Episcopal Relief and Development has put out a special call for donations in the light of the crisis in the Philippines. Loose offerings and designed gifts from our November 17 collection will be sent to ERD. All donations to ERD between now and December 6 will be matched by an anonymous donor, so please give what you can. For details on the special effort ERD is making in response to Typhoon Haiyan, click here.
Thanksgiving food drive: St.Anne's is teaming up with CAP to feed 50 needy local families for Thanksgiving. Thanks to a generous donor, we have 50 turkeys. We need each family to shop for the side dishes to go with the turkeys. If you didn't get one last week, please pause at the end of services this Sunday and pick up one (or two!) of the blue Walmart shopping bags, with a shopping list attached. Please bring the bags with you to church on Nov. 24(or you can drop them off at CAP - at the foot of the Main Street bridge. Be sure to tell them it's for the St. Anne's Thanksgiving project).
FELLOWSHIP
A special thanks to all those who made our one-year anniversary party a roaring success. Rebecca and Richard Lovelace opened their home. Everyone brought food and drink. Toasts were offered, backs were slapped, hugs were freely distributed. There was cake and fire and singing and priests and dogs and wine and babies. They say Disney World is the happiest place on earth. Uncle Walt never saw St. Anne's in fellowship.
ORGANIZATION
Stewardship information packets will be available at Lackey Chapel this Sunday. Please return them to the offering basket no later than Dec. 1. Your Mission Committee has agreed that our stewardship message would emphasize time and talent in particular, so please review the stewardship materials carefully and consider how you might contribute to our lay-led parish in terms of ministry and service.
Mission Committee member Michael Roberts composed this year's stewardship message, which you can read by clicking here. He closes with a wonderful reflection on our community:
"The very existence of St. Anne’s is an outward expression of an inward grace; a grace that led us then, and leads us now, to do something different, something new. In doing this we committed our time, talent, and treasure to our church, our community, and our God. St. Anne’s IS stewardship.
As we have been doing for the past year please continue give up a part of yourself to St. Anne’s. By giving up, we gain. In doing so we express our understanding that we are not merely our own, but are owned by all that touched us. Stewardship is simply an acknowledgement of this fact; that we are merely temporary stewards of the things that have been given freely to us by others, and given to us by God."
See you Sunday,
Dan Ennis
Senior Warden
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