Weekly Notices - March 19th, 2025

This week, many people got their green on as we remembered St. Patrick. But while the day often gets lost in stories of leprechauns, shamrocks and consuming unnaturally green food, Patrick himself was known for some pretty amazing things. Patrick lived a full life, but not without his share of suffering and adventure. He was born in Britain, in the fourth century A.D., during a time of great uncertainty for the Roman Empire. The Roman legions that once protected civilized Britain from barbaric invaders were called away to defend other regions of the Roman Empire, and Britain was left vulnerable to attacks.

 

When he was only 16 years old, Patrick was on the coast with his family when it was invaded, and while his family got away, legend has it that Patrick ended up captured en route to Ireland, where he was sold as a slave. It was during these years, when he was put to work as a herdsman, that Patrick’s faith began to take root. Among the sheep and the fields, he learned to pray and grew closer to God, able to see and feel the Holy in every moment of every day, no matter what the circumstances. Patrick experienced the strength that can come from a life of faith first hand, and when he finally escaped and returned home to England at age 24, it didn’t take long before he was ready to go back to Ireland as a missionary of God’s love.

 

Patrick’s life mission was to share the good news of Christ in all the places where the ways of the world had taken hold of people’s hearts, and he was not without hardship, imprisonment and near-death experiences. But Patrick never gave up and always held fast to God, knowing that Christ was with him in and through all things. A man of great courage and deep faith, we can learn a lot from Patrick as we continue to deepen our relationships with Christ and trust that He is with us – behind and beside, within and without, above and below us no matter what comes our way.

 

Kirsten+

A reminder: March 29^th at 2 pm there will be a Celebration of Life service for Shirley Greenwood. Interment and ashes will occur on Sunday March 20 at 2 pm at St. Peter Quamichan. All are welcome to attend.

After Service on Sunday, we will be having a "Finger Food" potluck lunch. We have invited St. Edmund's to join us.  Canon Jenny Reploge will also be joining us for lunch. Afterward, she will be presenting the Model on Congregational Development to everyone who is interested in learning about how to grow our fabulous church community! This is sure to be a great event, so please attend if you can.

This Sunday, March 23rd, as we will have folks from St. Edmunds joining us, we will have a combined choir at the 10am service. If you would like to be part of the choir, please come at 9:30am to meet with Margaret and the singers from St. Edmunds to review the songs and prepare ourselves for our time of worship together.

St. Mary is creating a new protocol for recognizing birthdays, anniversaries and other celebrations. To help us ensure we are being as inclusive as possible, please let Linda know in the office if you have not already provided your day and month of birth and/or anniversary. Thank you!