Slowly by Slowly

This article has to be written before it is ready. There is a deadline and it is perilously close, but that’s not the reason. I’m thinking that a lot of life has to be lived before we’re totally ready for it. Decisions have to be reached and actions taken right away, too soon. Early this morning I found some help. I was reading Becca Stevens’ book, “Love Heals”. She is founder of Thistle Farms, the largest social enterprise in the U.S. run by survivors, and she spoke at our Diocesan convention this year. In the little part of the book I read today she wrote about a glass of water, and how easily you can see right through it. But if you add a handful of dirt, the clarity is quickly lost. If you continue shaking the glass, the problem persists. When you sit the glass down, however, and leave it alone, the process of settling begins. Soon it clears and you can see through it again. That’s an old lesson. Jesus taught it all the time. The 23rd Psalm is about green pastures, still waters and the restoring of our souls. Jesus took the disciples to quiet places when the crowd gathered and work intensified so that the sky could open up again and they could find healing and strength for their work. An old lesson, but one I forget. Becca Stevens encourages us to remember. “Go find a green pasture, sit on a pew, stretch out on an exercise mat, soak in a bathtub - go anywhere that is your quiet space so you can get still enough to hear the voice of God again.” So I pulled out my old yoga mat and did some simple stretches. I rode my exercise bike and it seemed to help my bum knee along with my soul. I stopped by Momentum Yoga and Fitness on my way to work. It was closed, but I stood in front of it - and remembered. The best of all my quiet places is St. Francis by the Sea. I am here now, writing this note to you, joining my voice with Becca’s and hoping for us all that the season of Lent will be a quiet time for us, that we will hear the still small voice, the whisper of God. We shall know the peace that passes understanding. Here we can remember the old African phrase, “slowly by slowly.”

Welcome, Lent, and later, welcome Happy morning. Everett+

The Song of Saint Francis

Saint Francis by the Sea Episcopal Church ● Salter Path, North Carolina March 2019

It’s a Date!

March 2019

3/1- March Art Gallery featured

Roger Hahn

3/5 - Shrove Tuesday Pancake

Supper 5:30pm

3/6 - Ash Wednesday Service

12:00pm & 5:30pm

3/8 - Quaker International

Friendly Folk Dancers

7:00pm

3/9 - ECW Lenten Retreat

3/13 - Poetry Class with Penn

Perry 11:00am

3/15 - St. Clare Coffeehouse

featuring Becky Warren

7:00pm

3/19 - Community Lunch at St.

Francis 11:00am-12:30pm

3/22 - Boys and Girls Club Trivia

Bee, 7:00pm

Page 2

On Volunteering, from Layne Helwig

Parish of St. Francis, you humble me.

Look at our congregation on Sunday mornings and be amazed. You see kind-hearted, caring indi-

viduals who have donated and volunteered to keep this peaceful gentle place safe and well. You will

see many kind friends who have volunteered in the past, present and will in the future.

It has been a goal of the vestry to recognize, appreciate our rare individuals who so generously give

of themselves in so many ways, of their valuable time to make our church, our parish a better place.

It has been pondered on the best way to achieve this but it didn’t take very long to realize we need to

thank most of our parish, if not all of our parish. We thrive because of our volunteers. We thrive

and can only thrive because of you.

We have volunteers we see every week including our choir, sound system, youth ministry, shawl

ministry, vestry and not so obvious our alter guild, who do so much behind the scenes. We have nu-

merous quiet behind the scenes volunteers who work hard planning, pruning and maintaining our

grounds, our shrubs, our labyrinth, outside lighting and parking lot and so on and so on.

We have concerts, bible studies, poetry, art shows, receptions all based on volunteers. We have an

amazing outreach, our lobster fest which would fail without you, and I mean all of you. We have

volunteers who paint, clean, cook for our panty and clean up the grounds. We have office volun-

teers, ticket sales, book sales, delivering books to retailers. We have volunteers who work wed-

dings, receptions and anything else that is asked of them. Everything we do, everything we accom-

plish, we accomplish together and by volunteers.

They come willingly, freely, happy at heart and many times last minute notice. They smile, they

chat while they lovingly attend to our parish’s needs. They come. You come. You make us Us.

Our volunteers are an amazing group of amazing people of all ages. Your vestry has spoken in awe

and appreciation of your efforts numerous times. We will show our appreciation to you all but until

then…

Thank you for the bottom of our hearts.

"Hands to work and hearts to God."

Vestry View

Page 3

Art Gallery - March

This month’s local featured artist for March is our own Roger Hahn. Roger is a photogra-pher, and his exhibit will be on display for the month of March Please come and join us and enjoy Roger’s work!

Please stop during the week (Tuesdays 9am-3:30pm, Wednesdays 9am-4pm, Thursdays 9am-3pm and Sundays prior to and after the 10am Eucharist service) to view and purchase Roger's art!

Tim Bradford

St. Francis by the Sea

Winter Concert Series

The next St. Clare Coffeehouse concert performer will be, Becky Warren on Friday, March 15 at 7:00 pm. Sweet Beans Coffee and Cafe from Morehead City will be back with coffee and hot chocolate available to concert attendees. Admission to the concerts is free, though we will “pass the hat” for donations for our performers. Contact Charlie McCurry at 336-970-3402 if you have any questions.

Openings:

Artistry In Small Bites

This cookbook is available for purchase on Sun-days for $30. Shipping is an additional $5. Businesses may purchase multiples of 6 for $108 (40% discount) with payment in advance. Also available is a consignment price of 20% off when sending a check for those sold during the month to SFBTS, 920 Salter Path Road, Salter Path, NC 28512. For additional information, please contact the Parish Administrator or Bob-bie Hill by phone or email.

SHROVE TUESDAY!

The Men of St. Francis want you to mark your calendars! IHOP (Incredible Heaps of Pancakes) will be returning to St. Francis on Tuesday, March 5th and 5:30pm in the Parish Hall. All are welcome!

COMMUNITY LUNCH

DON'T EAT ALONE--FOOD, FUN AND CONVERSATION.

Your Outreach Committee is implementing a monthly Community Lunch to be held at St Francis on the THIRD TUESDAY of every month. Our first meal will be on Tuesday, March 19, serving time will be from 11-12:30. Lunch is free and all are welcome, bring a friend or two or three. What a powerful way to create a community of support and caring. Please contact Denise Throckmorton for additional information.

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St. Francis by the Sea Outreach

“Reaching out with the Love of Christ to others in need”

SOUPER BOWL OF CARING

Through this year’s SFBTS Souper Bowl of Caring, we were able to donate $245.67 and 273 food items to Hope Mission in Morehead City. All totals were reported to the national Souper Bowl of Caring organization. Thank you to all who helped make the event a great success! So far, nationwide, this year 3,819 organizations participated, collecting over $8,393,172 in cash and food items.

A youth group in Columbia SC gave birth to an idea. Why not use Super Bowl weekend, a time when people come together for football and fun, to also unify the nation for a higher good: collecting dollars and canned food for the needy where every dollar goes DIRECTLY to a local charity of THEIR choice. On Wednesday, February 20, 15 women gathered at St Francis to play Bunco and join in the fight against hunger.

All money collected went directly to Hope Mission Soup Kitchen in MHC. Hope Mission fights hunger by providing lunch to as many as 100 persons daily, they also prepare approximately 40 meals for delivery through meals on wheels, and provide emergency food boxes for new guests of local shelters or recovery houses.

Page 5

If anyone is interested in being part of the Outreach Committee, please contact Denise Throckmorton at THROCKDL@GMAIL.COM

THANK YOU everyone who came out on a rainy

night to play Bunco and make a donation to Hope

Mission. The total amount collected from BUNCO

was $400. TOTAL AMOUNT COLLECTED FOR

SOUPER BOWL OF CARING and given to Hope

Mission was $645.67. All money amounts were

reported to the National Souper Bowl of Caring

as a St. Francis donation.

TRINITY CENTER CAMPERS

Beginning in April and continuing through mid-June, we will be collecting for Trinity Center Campers. Summer camp time will be here before you know it! Please help Trinity Center Campers have a great camp experience by donating new beach towels, flip flops, swim clothes, sun screen, other beach gear, or cash which is most helpful. There will be a table in the parish hall set up to accept your donated items beginning in April. If you prefer to contribute money, please make checks out to St Francis by the Sea with “Trinity Center Campers” in the memo line and place your check in the collection basket or mail it to the church. Donations will be accepted through mid-June. CAMP TRINITY SUNDAY will be Sunday, May 26, watch for details in the May Song of St Francis.

MARTHA’S MISSION CUPBOARD

Marth’s Mission in MHC is looking for volunteers to deliver fresh fruits & vegetables donated by Publix in Emerald Isle to the Martha’s Mission food bank facility. They need people to make delivery on weekday (M, W, or F). Please contact Betsy Randall for details at betsyrandall@hotmail.com.

THANK YOU AGAIN FOR ALL YOU DO!

Serving others in need, with resources of money, time and talent,

Your Outreach Committee

FAMILY PROMISE

We continue to collect items (cleaning supplies, napkins, toiletries, twin size bedding, and diapers) for Family Promise in Morehead City. Additionally, if you’d like to volunteer to help out in their office, they are in need of volunteers to answer phones, help people fill out forms, take donations, sort donations, craft or read to children. As little as an hour a week would be a tremendous help!

Page 6

Lay Ministry Schedule for March 2019

March birthdays

March 6 Ash

Wednesday

March 10 March 17 Kids’

Sunday

March 31 March 3 March 24

Vestry Ted Goetzinger

Barbara McCreary

George Hirasawa

Sharon Watling

Katherine Hidecavage

Tom Haigwood

Greeters

Kids

Barbara Bagby

Lector Libba Shelton

Meg Bradford

Kids

Marian Goetzinger

Craig Griffin

Romaine Riddle

Prayers Pat Jones Robin Smith

Kids

Robin Smith Robin Smith

Pat Jones

Crucifer Scott Shelton

Pat Jones Kids

Beth Beswick Scott Shelton

Pat Jones

Chalice Martha Edwards

Pat Jones

Richard Seale

Marian Goetzinger

Marian Goetzinger

Tim Bradford

Richard Seale Tim

Bradford

Jolene McCann

Tim Bradford

Pat Jones

TBD

Altar Guild Meg Bradford

Linda Seale

Linda Davies

Meg Bradford Betsy Randall

Meg Bradford

Linda Seale

Meg Bradford

Terry Griffin

Betsy Randall

Linda Davies

Torchbearers Linda Davies Martha

Edwards

Sharon Watling

Scott Shelton

Kids

Jami Turner Scott Shelton

Terry Griffin Jami

Turner

Sharon Watling

Beth Beswick

Audio Stover Morris

Larry Castle

Jim Turner Gary Keeter

Gary Keeter John Clarke

Nursery TBD Betty Watson

Geraline Castle

TBD TBD TBD

Coffee Hour No Coffee

Hour

Katherine & Josh

Hidecavage

Linda & Gary

Keeter

Mary Kurek

Bobby Hill Harold

O’Briant

Pegge & Bill

Knecht

Jay Randall - 5

Leigh Westbrook - 5

Dale Elks - 6

Bowen Ellis - 8

Sharon Whitehurst - 10

Tom Tempel - 12

Jean Turner - 12

Larry Gracie - 13

Andrew Burns - 14

Pat Shuping - 17

Layne Helwig - 24

Christian Pruitt - 24

Graham Pittman - 26

Tim Bradford - 27

Jean Nelson - 31

Martha Taylor - 31

The Song of St. Francis is a monthly publication of

St. Francis by the Sea Episcopal Church.

Sound side of NC 58 between Mile Marker 10 and 10½

920 Salter Path Road ● Salter Path, North Carolina ● 28512

(252) 240-2388 ● © 2017 All rights reserved

St. Francis by the Sea Episcopal Church

920 Salter Path Road

Salter Path, NC 28512

First Class Mail Save the dates!

Rector The Rev. Everett Thomas, Ph.D.

Priest in Residence The Rev. Chris Carlin

Vergers Tim Bradford Marion Morris

Parish Administrator Vivienne Sieker

Treasurer Sharon Watling

Asst. Treasurer Stover Morris

Sexton Frank Barrett

Vestry Class of 2019 Layne Helwig

George Hirasawa, Junior Warden Barbara McCreary

Vestry Class of 2020 Ted Goetzinger Sharon Watling

Stover Morris, Senior Warden

Vestry Class of 2021 Korin Gagnon Tom Haigwood

Katherine Hidecavage

Clerk of the Vestry

Korin Gagnon

Music Director Craig Everett

Art Gallery Director Tim Bradford

ECW Chair

Bobbie Hill

Outreach Chair Denise Throckmorton

Director of Youth Ministry Marian Goetzinger

Sunday Schedule

10:00 am - Eucharist Service

Nursery available; casual dress welcome

Wednesdays

12:00 noon - Celtic Eucharist

St. Francis by the Sea Episcopal Church is a parish in the Diocese of East Carolina

The Right Reverend Robert Skirving, Bishop

Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper - March 5, 5:30pm

Ash Wednesday - March 6, 12:00pm & 5:30pm

Quaker Folk Dancers - March 8, 7:00pm

ECW Lenten Retreat - March 9, 9:30am - 2:30pm

Poetry Class - March 13, 11:00am

Concert featuring Becky Warren - March 15, 7:00pm

Community Lunch - March 19th, 11:00am - 12:30pm

Boys & Girls Club Trivia Bee - March 22, 6:00pm - 8:30pm