To know Christ, grow in Christ, and share Christ's love.
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To know Christ, grow in Christ, and share Christ's love. |
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From the Rector:
I write one day after a wonderful St. Matthew’s Day. The music was wonderful. The Associate Vestry and Holy Smokers combined to offer great food and a festive setting for much conversation, play and good Christian fellowship. The outpouring of pledges for 2007 was heartening! Thanks one and all for making this great day possible.
Schedule of Services on Sunday, October 15 – Parish Round-up Weekend
Elsewhere in this edition of the Word you will find an update about the Parish Roundup. Approximately 275 of us will be traveling to Echo Valley in the Hill Country for the Parish Round-up on the weekend of October 13-15, 2006. Here is the schedule for that Sunday, October 15:
8 AM----------- no service at St. Matthew’s - today only
9:15AM ------ no Christian Education at St. Matthew’s - today only
10:30AM----- Morning Prayer in the church at St. Matthew’s
10:30AM----- Holy Eucharist at Echo Valley for Round-up participants
5:15PM------- Holy Eucharist with music and sermon in the Sanctuary. This service will be similar to a normal Sunday morning 10:30AM service. Children’s Chapel will begin at 5:15PM in the Choir Room. A nursery for children through the age of four will be provided beginning at 5:00PM until 6:15PM.
Clergy Conference
Your clergy will gather at Camp Allen with our Bishops, Don Wimberly, Rayford High and the newly consecrated (October 7) Dena Harrison and priests from throughout the Diocese of Texas, beginning Monday, October 9 through Wednesday, October 11.
Clergy Conference is an excellent time for the clergy to reconnect, pray and sing, gain valuable opportunities for continuing education with great teachers and speakers, and for plain good natured fun. We work hard and try to play along with the hard work. Since General Convention, many of us have tried to figure out what might happen within the Episcopal Church and in the Anglican Communion relative to the issues that divide the church here and abroad. As a priest that was ordained in the Episcopal Church and wants to forever remain in the Episcopal Church, I remain hopeful that the Diocese of Texas will be a leading force for reconciliation within the Episcopal Church and Anglican Communion, using the Windsor Report as a reasonable standard. Bishop Wimberly has promised to share his views on these topics with the clergy at the Clergy Conference and Susan and I will be sure to pass on important information we learn.
Rector’s Downtown Women’s Group
I would like to host a women’s group in downtown Austin that could meet to study or pray together once a week for 6 weeks. I have thoroughly enjoyed the Men’s Group that has been meeting weekly downtown and would sincerely appreciate an opportunity to lead a group for women. We could study Scriptures, work issues, or any topic of interest to the group. Our group will meet at Paul Williams' office located near 12th and Nueces. Those who attend gather from 11:30 AM to 12 Noon to eat and the class begins promptly at Noon with Noonday Prayer and ends at 1:00 PM sharp. I would recommend that we meet six consecutive Mondays beginning November 13 through Monday, December 11. Please email me at Merrill@stmattsaustin.org if you are interested in this gathering. I would like to have a group size of 12 minimum and 18 maximum. Let me hear from you!
Youth Confirmation Classes
Our new Bishop, Dena Harrison, will be present at St. Matthew’s on Sunday, December 10, at 10:30 AM for confirmation. We have a large group of adults preparing for confirmation that day.
If your child is age 12 or older and would like to be confirmed it would be my pleasure to lead a confirmation class or classes for youth before December 10. Please email me at Merrill@stmattsaustin.org and let me know if you are interested in this opportunity and I will set class times based on availability of the youth!
For all of you that have made a pledge for 2007, I am very, very grateful. If you have not sent in your pledge card or have not received one, time is of the essence as the church makes its plans for 2007. We are a church on a mission and each one of us bears the responsibility for that mission to the best of our capability – for together and as individuals we yearn “to know Christ, grow in Christ and share Christ’s Love”!
Faithfully, Merrill
