Weekly for July 12, 2023
St. Michael’s Weekly News – July 12, 2023
Dear People of St. Michaels,
We might wonder how a person living in the 500’s could shape our lives, our church life or the life of Western Civilization. We have such a person in our calendar yesterday, July 11th: Benedict of Nursia (480-547). You probably have heard of the “Benedictine Order”, but “Benedict is generally considered the father of Western monasticism.” He started his life near Rome and being a devout person, he disapproved of the manners and morals of the surrounding society at that time and so withdrew to live in a more solitary life, devoted to prayer, scripture and work. Others were drawn to what he was doing and he soon established one monastery and another near Rome and Naples.
It was the writing of his famous monastic Rule in 540 that created a model for all the other monastic orders that follow. People still use this as way to shape their lives in and outside of monasteries. We have to remember, too, that Christianity, the orders of prayer and even the carrying forward of copies of the Bible all were anchored or held within the monastic orders: on the Continent, in the Holy Land or in England as well.
“Benedict’s firm but reasonable rule has been the basic source document from which most subsequent Western monastic rules were derived. Its average day provides for a little over four hours to be spent in liturgical prayer, a little over five hours in spiritual reading, about six hours of work, one hour for eating, and about eight hours of sleep. The entire Psalter is to be recited in the Divine Office once every week. At profession, the new monk or nun takes vows of “stability, conversion of life, and obedience.” You can see how this balanced approach of work, sleep, prayer, scripture, in reasonable proportions could form the basis for any life and even later, of the 8 hour work day.
Our forms of Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer are later creations in England and other places to condense the many other times of prayer in the monastery to be something people could incorporate in their daily lives; modeled on this idea of surrounding the routine of the day with prayer. Benedict’s Rule of Life still gives inspiration to millions of people on how to balance their lives; to incorporate prayer and scripture reading into their daily lives and remind us of the importance of earnest and honest work in the life God lays out before us all.
In Christ,
Pastor Randy Knutson
Altar Flowers
Dear St. Michael’s Friends,
We hope you enjoy the altar every Sunday, especially the flowers which are lovingly arranged to enrich the service. If you would like to help us in this ministry of beauty, and perhaps remember a special birthday of anniversary, there are several ways that you can help. 1) A check can be given to the altar guild and we will arrange the flowers. (You can let us know if there is a particular type and color of flower you prefer and we will try to purchase it.) 2) You can bring flowers from your garden and we will arrange them. 3) You can bring flowers and arrange them yourself if that is something that pleases you. There is a flower chart in Larsen Hall and you can put your name on a particular Sunday. and we will contact you,( or just let Marcia, Teresa or I know if you want to provide flowers when you see us in church. Thank you very much for considering helping out.
Sincerely, Anne Blanton
St Michael & All Angels Green Team
St Michael’s Green Team has set in motion the project to calculate the present day combined carbon footprint of the Church, Larson Hall, and St. Veronica’s Hall. This effort helps us to take better care of our environment, working to save money on our energy bills, and providing more funding for our ministries.
Green Team Mission Statement:
As Stewards/Caretakers of God’s Creation - our shared home Earth - it is our responsibility to preserve and protect God’s gift. As part of being good stewards, St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church of Fort Bragg is committed to determine the carbon footprint of our Church buildings and grounds, develop a plan to try to reach carbon neutrality by 2030, and follow through with our plan.
The Green Team of St Michael’s is open to all who are interested in working on this very important project. If interested, contact any Green Team Member.
Please join us.
Your St. Michael’s Green Team:
Heather Anderson, Rev Randy Knutson, Robin Knutson, Marcia Waters, Rick Bondor, Renee Jones
Blessings
The Mendocino Music Festival is beginning at the end of this week on July 15 and goes through the end of July, concluding with a concert on Saturday, July 29th at 7:30 pm in the tent. Three of our members, Jim Blanton and Randy and Robin Knutson will be singing in the large choir in that final concert; performing the Faure Requiem and also joining the orchestra for Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloe Suite Number 2.
July Birthdays: Jerry Mitchell, Mitchell Navarro, Patrick Scully, Terese Roberts, Dewey Turner, Harriet Gleeson
Online worship will be back to our normal routine this week:
Live on Facebook at 10:45 am and then it remains there.
Also recorded and downloaded later on YouTube.
Online Worship Information
This Sunday we will offer in-person worship and at the same time offer the online broadcast of our service at 10:45 am in the ways posted below:
Our Sunday Service will be on St. Michael’s Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/StMikesFtBragg
https://www.facebook.com/StMikesFtBragg/videos
It will also stay there on the Facebook Pages and you can watch it later.
You can also watch it on this YouTube Channel later that day as well.
This is a NEW St. Michaels YouTube Channel and also on our website!
https://www.youtube.com/@st.michaelsepiscopalfortbragg
Website
When you can, check our new website: https://www.stmichaelfb.com/