Palm Sunday and Holy Week Worship Update from Mother Nikki

Hello and Be Well Beloveds!

Be of good courage! While we cannot live stream services from church, we have found a way to pre-record services from home. So we WILL have Palm Sunday Morning Prayer, and Easter Morning Prayer, (Sundays at 10:30am) with musical video meditations and sermons. (Yay!) The Easter morning sermon will still be from our very own +Bishop Robert Wright. We will also have compline each day, Monday through Saturday at 7:30pm, done by various folks in our congregation. These will be available both on our Youtube Channel (yes, we have one!) and on our Facebook page. (Again, you do not have to be a member of Facebook to watch services on our page. If they ask you to sign in, just DON’T and keep scrolling.) All the services will be on both platforms from now until Jesus comes back so if you don’t catch it at exactly the time of the ‘premiere,’ know that you can always watch it later. You won’t miss a thing. You can get to everything from our webpage, https://www.stgregoryathens.org/

Huge thank you's to all our staff, Terri Tillman, Anthony Barkdoll, Missy Hamlin (lovely congregation art in my home office...you'll see what I mean), Jonathan Klein, Dakota Hamlin, David Stooksbury, and all who are leading Compline for us.

Also, our sisters and brothers at Emmanuel Episcopal Church worked late into the night, this past Thursday night to pre-record Eucharists for Palm Sunday and Easter, to my knowledge. So please know that worship is available there as well. http://www.emmanuelathens.org/

And we'll keep you posted on any updates on our corporate worship as changes come. And always remember this:

Romans 8:31-39 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

God's Love in Christ Jesus

31 What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? 33 Who will bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us.[a] 35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written,

"For your sake we are being killed all day long;
    we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered."

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Christ's Blessing, Healing, and Peace to you,

Mother Nikki+

Passing the Peace, but nothing else with it: a note from Mo. Nikki

There is no doubt that the Coronavirus has had serious and fatal consequences worldwide. Please pray especially for those in China, Italy, Iran, and South Korea, whose populations have been most affected by this pandemic. We have experienced losses in the US as well, with all almost all fatalities so far currently being from Washington state. Single digit cases have been reported in Georgia, and it is understandable that people will want to be more cautious, while maintaining the loving bonds of community.

If, in our church services, you feel uncomfortable at the peace about shaking hands or hugging, feel free to cross your arms over your chest, nodding your head in greeting and saying “peace be with you.” And while there is no means of avoiding contact when coming up for communion, feel free to ask for a blessing, or communion in one kind only, again, crossing your arms over your chest when the chalice comes to you. If, in the receiving line at the close of service, you don't want the rector to hug you (because otherwise, I will), again cross your arms over your chest, and I will refrain. 

Blessings and joy,
Mo. Nikki+ 

Become a Part of Nourish, Grow, Go!

Over the past few months, Gregorians have been instrumental in shaping the future of St. Gregory the Great  through participating in focus groups and completing the online Congregation Assessment Tool (CAT) survey. The congregation expressed the desire to move in three main directions.
We want to be a church that:

1. nourishes the spiritual, intellectual, and emotional lives of its parishioners

2. grows into a multi-cultural and multi-generational church responsive to the needs of all

3. identifies, communicates, and focuses our particular gifts and talents to help meet the needs of others in the wider community and the world.

Moving forward, a Strategic Planning Committee has been convened to facilitate the development and implementation of a list of actions that will achieve our desires of Nourish, Grow, and Go.  You are invited to become involved in this important work by volunteering as a member of one of the three subcommittees.

To become part of this ministry, contact:
Ron Balthazor, Nourish Subcommittee Chair 

Joan Curtis, Grow Subcommittee Chair 

Mark Tavernier, Go Subcommittee Chair 

Thank you for helping St. Gregory the Great go where God leads.
Rhonda Packer, Strategic Planning Chair

Beth Thornton, Co-Chair

Kelly Black, Co-Chair  

Wednesday Evening Lenten Program

LeeAnne Krause will be leading a class on the topic of the Seven Deadly Sins. We will be viewing clips from popular films, discussing the behaviors of the characters, and identifying which, if any, sins they are committing. Examining the behavior of fictitious characters is more objective and friendly than examining each other's behaviors. Don't worry, we won't be watching anything very racy or violent! 

The Healing Service will begin at 5:30PM during Lent to accommodate those who wish to attend both that and the program. A simple supper will begin at 6PM. Please sign up for this program in the narthex or call Kendall, Parish Administrator, at the church office so that we know how many to expect for supper and/or if you need childcare.

Join us in the chapel each Wednesday during Lent (beginning March 4) around 6:45 immediately following supper. If you have additional questions, please contact LeeAnne. There will be more information in the March issue of the Gregorian Chant.

Valentine's Day Romantic Dinner

The Youth of St. Gregory’s will host the Valentine’s Day Romantic Dinner on Saturday, February 15, with two seatings: 5:30pm and 7pm.  Tickets are $20/person (tips are greatly appreciated!) and include an Italian dinner with multiple entree choices, fresh salad, hot bread, homemade desserts, wine, iced tea, and coffee.  There will be complimentary childcare as well (5:30 seating only), including dinner and entertainment for your children! Proceeds go toward financing EYC Pilgrimage. No tickets -- pay when you finish dinner! Click here to make your reservation today!

Epiphany Drive

Over the past few years, St. Gregory's has helped to address some of the unmet needs of students in Clarke County Schools' Migrant Program.  Thanks to the generosity of St. Gregory's parishioners, we were able to make significant contributions to families by providing backpacks, personal hygiene products and household/laundry cleaning supplies.

Our Epiphany focus this year is on helping to provide after-school care for migrant children who need but cannot afford this program. According to our own Elizabeth Dubberly, Specialist for Clarke County Schools' Migrant Program, "The number one thing we need are sponsors for our after-school program. This is the best way for kids to be safe, entertained, happy and fed while their parents finish working. It is so important that we have committed to pay for it whenever they need it. This costs $3/day/child, and we pay for it out of donations."

Donations can be made online under the existing Giving section of our website here. Be sure to click on the Fund drop-down menu to choose "Outreach" as the recipient of your gift, and if prompted, please include in the memo that this is for the Epiphany Drive.  Of course, personal checks can also be sent to the Church, earmarked for this purpose, and made out to St. Gregory the Great Episcopal Church with "Epiphany Drive" in the memo line