All posts by Bernadette Williams
We will be adorning our altar on Christmas with poinsettias. Please consider a contribution toward the poinsettias “In Memory of” or “In Thanksgiving for” any loved ones you would like to honor. Please make all designations by clicking here and filling out our “Poinsettia Offering Form”. We will present our in memoriam and thanksgivings at our Christmas Eve services. Please send any questions to Keith Earle at kearle@saintgeorgechurch.org.
Making a Meaningful Life With God
Do Episcopalians study the Bible?
What is the best Bible to own?
Why should I read the Bible?
Come discover answers to your questions about the Bible – or any other topic!
When: Sunday, December 5th & 12th @ 9:00 AM
Location: St. John Room, Leadership Center
Save the Date for our Christmas Family Movie Night, featuring the movie ELF!
Come dressed in your comfiest of clothes (pj’s are acceptable), bring your sleeping bags, blankets, pillows, and/or lawn chairs, and join us for the World’s Best Good Time…with the World’s Best Popcorn Bar and the World’s Best Hot Chocolate Bar!
WHEN: Friday, December 10 at 6:00 PM
WHERE: St. George School Gym
MOVIE: ELF!
WHO: EVERYONE!
The Offices will be closed the week of Thanksgiving (November 22-26). All weekday programming will also be off during this holiday week.
If you have a pastoral emergency, please email Fr. Ram at rlopez@saintgeorgechurch.org.
For non-emergency pastoral care, please email stgeorge@
The Adopt A Needy Family (AANF) program is a San Antonio-based charity that matches organizations with families in the community who need basic necessities and a little holiday cheer. For over 15 years, the St. George community, through our middle school service organization, the Beta Club, has participated in this Christmas gift-giving project. This year, we have adopted nine families with the goal of providing a few special gifts and items of true need. Many of the gift items are necessities such as clothing, hygiene items, linens, housewares, space heaters and cleaning supplies.
Similarly to last year, the ornaments will be distributed electronically via a link available Thursday, November 11th. Please choose as many gifts as you wish to buy. Participation in the AANF program is strictly voluntary. However, AANF is a wonderful opportunity for St. George to give back as a community, and we hope that you will prayerfully consider participation.
In addition to gift sponsorship, Beta Club would greatly appreciate donations of tissue paper, pre-made bows and Christmas wrapping paper so that the gifts can be wrapped. If you are interested in making a monetary donation in support of larger needs, you can easily do so through a link that will also be available starting November 11th.
If you have any questions, please contact the AANF Coordinators at aanfstgeorge@gmail.com.
We wish you a blessed holiday season!
Your 2021 AANF Coordinators
Come and join us for some family fun time as we make Advent wreaths! If you already have a wreath that you use, come and make one for a homebound parishioner! Supplies will be provided and Cookies & Milk will be served!
Join us on November 21, 2021!
One Service Sunday 10:00 AM (Streamed and In-Person)
Luncheon to Follow
Once again, the vestry has selected the New Consecration Sunday Stewardship Program to teach the biblical and spiritual principles of generous giving as our stewardship education for this year. Over the next few weeks, we will receive an overview of how to approach systematic and proportionate giving. Starting this Sunday with our Senior Warden, Arden McLean, we will hear personal stories from parishioners about how NCS and the ministries of St. George have influenced their giving. We will also begin to collect RSVPs for the NCS Luncheon which occurs immediately after the NCS service. Last year’s luncheon was a wonderful celebration of fellowship and a wonderful acknowledgment of God’s gifts to us. This year we will continue to collect RSVPs both digitally and in person.
Congregations that approach financial stewardship from a biblical perspective do not view their pledges as merely a way for the church to pay its bills. Rather, those congregations see financial giving as a way to help their members grow spiritually in their relationship with God by supporting their church’s mission and ministry with a percentage of their incomes.
New Consecration Sunday is based on the biblical philosophy that spiritual development comes from the need of the giver to give, not the need of the church to receive. Instead of treating parishioners like members of a social club who should pay dues, we will treat people like followers of Jesus Christ who want to give unselfishly as an act of discipleship. New Consecration Sunday encourages people toward proportionate and systematic giving in response to the question, “What percentage of my income is God calling me to give?”
On November 21, NCS, we will all fill out an estimate of giving together. The congregation will be able to fill out this card during our streamed/in-person service electronically or in person if they are participating on campus. A guest leader will conduct a brief period of instruction and inspiration, culminating in members making their financial commitments. These commitments support the benevolent, missionary, and educational ministries in the St. George community and communities around the world.
If you choose to attend the service either in-person or virtually but do not make a financial commitment, you will not be made to feel personally embarrassed. The cards are collected in such a way as to maintain your privacy and to honor all decisions as a confidential act of worship. Even people who are strongly opposed to completing a card are encouraged to attend the service as it is still our time to worship God together.
The Consecration committee, vestry members, and ministry leadership will make every effort to inform, to inspire, and to gain commitment from everyone to attend Consecration Sunday. By choosing to attend worship on Consecration Sunday, every attendee and member who completes an Estimate of Giving Card is doing so voluntarily. We will not solicit people at home to complete their cards. However, we will contact parishioners to confirm their attendance at the virtual/in-person event.
Thanks in advance for your enthusiastic participation in Consecration Sunday events.
In a matter of days, we will be in the “Holiday Season.”
For many, this is a much-anticipated time with family and friends.
But for others, the holidays bring a reopening of deep grief brought about as the result of the death of a loved one.
If you are grieving the loss of a loved one and find yourself in need of a way to move through the holidays, you are encouraged to consider one of the following “grief and the holidays” workshops.
One workshop, entitled Healing Holidays – Making Your Grief Count, is offered in-person at various locations on various dates by Porter Loring Mortuaries and Cremation Services. Click here for the dates and locations of the workshops.
A second workshop is offered by Pathways to Promise, a nationally recognized organization whose mission is to connect “mental health, faith, and culture.” This online workshop will be led by Deacon Ed Shoener, a Roman Catholic Deacon who is a noted author and leader in Catholic mental health ministries. His topic is Grief and the Holidays and the workshop is to be held on Wednesday, November 10th from 10:30 – 11:30 CDT. To read more and to register for this workshop, please click here.
If you or any of your loved ones are struggling with grief, please consider one of these workshops. And, should you find yourself in a seemingly endless cycle of struggle, please reach out to Rev. Susan, Taylor Brown, or me. We have resources available to help you.
