PhilippianPix

July 24, 2009

Things are ALWAYS happening around St. Philip’s. 


Here's just a sampling of some of what you might have missed.

Everything has its season at St. Philip’s, and during the summer months Jeanne gets the urge to purge in the church office. First up is the reorganization of the vestry minutes from the 1940s to the present. Inexplicably, they were lodged in four different places in the parish office. Sometimes there were duplicate years in two different spots; sometimes there were 30 copies of one month. Here, Jeanne and Steve sort looking for trash (you’d be surprised) and duplicates.

In contrast to these old documents from the 1940s, the weekly digital E-pistle to the Philippians is almost two years old! How far we’ve come from those handwritten minutes. When we named the E-pistle, we actually polled e-maginary friends on a online message board. There were several good suggestions (I was fond of “E-piscomail”….), but the E-pistle seemed the best fit. Imagine our surprise when Steve dug out this newsletter from 1960:

One way to get a big smile from everyone in the parish office is to have smiling visitors. Steve is quite partial to this visitor: his granddaughter!

And, a few pictures that have been waiting for the PhilippianPix Editor to get moving again… On Memorial Day weekend, St. Philip’s celebrated another successful year of Christian Formation – what we call Sunday School. All children and teachers received a token of appreciation of the time spent together learning. Cindy did a bang up job recognizing the children and teachers! First off, the teachers received a crinkly bag containing a lovely paperweight with a holographic-like fish and note.

Jesus said to them, “Come with me. I’ll make a new kind of fisherman out of you. I’ll show you how to catch men and women (and children) instead of perch and bass.” (Matthew 4:19, The Message)

Thank you so much for the time and effort and love you have put into our Godly Play program this year. Your work as fishers of children has been graceful and fruitful. Those little fishes swim fast! But your quiet telling of stories, the kindness of your touch, and the gifts given from your heart will go with them as they continue to swim onward!

Have a wonderful summer break! Hope to see you all next fall! We think you are AWESOME!

The children each received similar bag, but theirs contained the following: a notecard, a tiny little pot, a disk of potting soil, a tiny paper with snapdragon seeds, and a bag of chocolate covered sunflower seeds.

A farmer planted seed. Some of it fell on good earth and came up with a flourish, producing a harvest exceeding his wildest dreams. The seed planted in the good earth represent those who heard the Word, embrace it, and produce a harvest beyond their wildest dreams. (From Mark, chapter 4, The Message)

I wonder if you can plant these seeds and grow some flowers? (Instructions are on the back.)

I wonder if you can plant the seeds of God’s Word in your heart and produce a harvest beyond your wildest dreams? (Instructions are in the Bible.)

We love sharing and learning with you in Godly Play. See you next year!

From your Godly Play teachers

The PhilippianPix sometimes has to work in under less than ideal situations with her limited photographic skills. Here’s a few outtakes from today’s shoot, with the ever helpful Milo: