|
St. Philips Church Offers Full Range of Fall Programs
Sunday School, Adult Class, Stewardship, Children's Sunday, Harvest Sale Blessing of the Animals, Clean Up Day Details Announced
St. Philips Church would like to let the public know of the many adult and childrens' activities and services in the upcoming months:
Sunday School
After leading St. Philips' Sunday School for over five years, Tam Benjamin has asked the Church to begin the process of transition to a new Sunday School director. With two of her own children at school away from home, Tam realizes that she will need to be away from Garrison on the weekends much more often. According to Rev. Francis Geer "Tam's work with the children has been an extraordinary gift to our congregation and we give her heartfelt thanks for loving hard work. The promise of this transition gives us the opportunity to evaluate our Sunday School program and set goals and directions for the future. With this in mind, we will be holding a meeting of all parents with children of Sunday School age after services on Sunday, September 30th. That Sunday has already been designated as 'Children's Sunday'. We will have a special worship service designed for the children with a Junior Choir anthem and a special sermon by the Rector. After services there will be extended childcare and special activities and refreshments for the children while their parents meet. Please plan to join us."
Adult Class
The Adult Class will begin its fall program on Sunday, September 9th by studying the book The Worst Hard Time, by Timothy Egan. The book is the untold story of those who survived the great American dust bowl. Walter Cronkite called it "a dramatic, exciting and accurate account of the incredible and deadly phenomenon that struck the American plains in the 1930s." A few years ago Steinbeck's masterpiece The Grapes of Wrath, a fictional work about the same period, was read and discussed. Readers were amazed at the depth of insight into the human condition that was gained by studying the drama of common people caught in such an immense tragedy. Mr. Egan's book promises to give readers more of that insight, this time with a chronicle of real people facing events and issues that are part of our history. The Adult Class meets in the Parish House from noon to one on Sunday mornings. Copies of the book will be available in class during September.
Stewardship
The theme for this fall's Stewardship campaign will be Imagine the Future. The purpose of the campaign will be to challenge the members of St. Philip's to look forward and imagine what kind of church they want to be ten years from now. On September 16, at the celebration of the completion of this summer's project to restore the church's roof, they will look back at conditions at St. Philip's ten years ago. They will reenact the moment when Harvey Best brought a deteriorating slate into a Sunday morning Vestry meeting to make graphically aware the amount of work that needed to be done to preserve the historic buildings and grounds. They will chronicle and celebrate the efforts of the past ten years and then look for to ten years from now. What sort of church will they be? What sort of changes are in store? How can they continue to generate the enthusiasm, courage, resources and will to face those challenges? Throughout the fall they will revisit those questions in special services and discussions and then in two evenings of dinners, hosted by members of the congregation, where trained facilitators will help all to 'imagine the future' of St. Philip's.
Children's Sunday
On Sunday, September 30, there will be a special Children's Sunday celebration to give thanks for and bless our children, who bring so much vitality, energy and warmth to our congregation and all of our activities and programs. They are our future and this Sunday is dedicated to them. The St. Philip's Nursery School will also be celebrated. Under the leadership of Anita Prentice and he dedicated staff of teachers, the Nursery School is the foundation of St. Philip's outreach programs. It provides a vital service to the children and parents of our community and creates an enormous amount of good will towards the congregation. The wonderful Junior Choir will sing a special anthem and hold a special parent's meeting to discuss the future of their Sunday School program. There will be special activities and refreshments for the children.
Blessing of the Animals
This fall the service of the Blessing of the Animals will be held on Sunday, October 7th. On that day members of the congregation and their guests are invited to bring their pets and other animals to the service itself for a special blessing and procession. There will be special animal friendly music and a four-legged sermon by the Rector. There will also be treats galore at our Pet Friendly coffee hour. Please plan to join us at this wonderful service to honor and give thanks for our 'Horizontal Brothers and Sisters'.
Harvest Sale
This falls Harvest Sale is only ten weeks away. It will be held on Saturday, November 17. There are plenty of ways to help out. Projects and special activities can be planned. Raffle prizes can be lined up posters and displays need to be printed. Please help make this year's harvest sale the best ever. Call Frank Geer, Judy Hayes or Karen Lindros to find out how to help.
Indoor and Outdoor Clean Up Day
The roof project this summer has been a rousing success. The new church roof looks beautiful and the copper work that supports it is breathtaking. The project has, however, left the interior of the church a little gritty and the exterior looking like the aftermath of a construction project. With this in mind an indoor and outdoor work day is planned for Saturday, September 8 from 9am to 2pm. Plans are to give the interior of the church a good scrubbing and groom the exterior in preparation for the celebration of the roof project on September 16. Please join - remember, many hands make light work.
| 
