Gifts of Time February 2019

Follow this link to see the February 2019 Gifts of Time chart.

By the way, if your computer is not set up to read PDF files, you can download a free reader program by following this link.

Super Bowl Chili Cook-Off

Two big events happen on February 3: Super Bowl Sunday and our annual Chili Cook-Off.

Congregation members will bring their best chili creations and the rest of us will vote to declare a winner.

Church cancelled January 20

It's official now. Church is cancelled for Sunday, January 20, due to extreme weather conditions.

Church cancellations January 20

Because of the predicted snowstorm

• Annual Meeting and Pot Luck will be postponed until January 27th.
• Church will be cancelled if the level snow warning is 2 or above.
  • If church is cancelled one of the Fullers will open the church doors between 9:30am and 11:30am just in case folks close by want to stop by for quiet time and prayers.
• If any of you know members who don't have or watch emails please let Kay Ashby know or contact them yourselves.

Monthly Lunch Group

The St. Matthew's Monthly Lunch Group will meet at the Accent Room at Ashland University Thursday, January 17, at noon. Call Betty Wilson to add your name to the reservation list.

Funeral Arrangements for George Fessenmeyer

Thursday January 10, 2019
Visitation 10am Heyl Funeral Home
Memorial Service 11am Heyl Funeral Home

Heyl Funeral Home
227 Broad Street
Ashland, Ohio

Parish Meeting January 20

The annual Parish Meeting will take place on Sunday, January 20, after morning worship, and followed by coffee hour.

A major piece of business is electing new Vestry members. Two members, Erin Fuller and Sister Nadine, are rotating off Vestry, and we need to replace Mike McKinley. The nominees are Allan Andersen, Dawn Peters, and Sister Rachel.

Thursdays at St. Matthew's

• Thursday Morning Bible Study at 10:30 AM
• Eucharist at 5 PM

Lessons and Carols

On the first Sunday after Christmas (December 30), we will have the Holy Eucharist and an abbreviated Lessons and Carols service.

Advent Events

• December 9
• Jeffery Fuller will be baptized during the 10 am service. Please come and join in the celebration.
• Following this Service will be our Advent Banquet
• Meat will be provided.
• Everyone else please bring a side dish and remember that there will be guests attending the baptism
• Mini Christmas Bazaar will be held on December 9 and 16. Please bring items to sell.
• December 13
• The Thursday morning 10:30 am class will be filling and wrapping shoe boxes to give to Ashland children for Christmas.  Bring items, small toys, winter gear (gloves, socks), candy, personal items (tooth brushes) to church by December 13.  Thanks to Ann Shelly for organizing this wonderful outreach.
• December 24
• Christmas Eve service will be held on December 24 at 7pm.  Please invite friends. There will be special music for this Holy Night
• December 29 
• The Boar's Head and Yule Log Festival will be held at Trinity Cathedral on Saturday December 29.
• There is only one rehearsal which is on December 27th.  If you want to be a participant or attend this Diocesan Celebration look on this website: Boar's Head and Yule Log Festival http://www.boarsheadcleveland.org/

Free Concert

Kechi Okwuchi — You may remember her from the 2017 season of "America's Got Talent" — will be at St. Matthew's Saturday evening, July 7 and Sunday morning July 8 for our Sunday service. Kechi is a young Nigerian woman who sings like the angels.
Saturday, July 7

• 4:00 to 5:00 pm: Kechi will share her story and answer questions.
• 5:30 pm: Light supper will be provided
• 6:30 pm: An evening of testimony and praise

Sunday, July 8

• Kechi will be with us for our regular 10:00 am worship service

Memorial Service Laurel June Andersen

There will be a memorial service for Laurel June Andersen, who died recently in Colorado, at St. Matthew's on Saturday, July 7 at 11 AM. A reception will follow at the Clubhouse at "The Meadows at Pheasant Run Townhouse Community" (1035 Deer Crossing in Ashland).

We're invited to Bellwether Farm

Thursday, June 21, we are invited to Bellwether Farm, the camp and conference center being developed by the Diocese of Ohio. The event is the meeting of the Mission Area Council (MAC), an association of seven local Episcopal churches.

The meeting will be an informal potluck picnic. Meat to grill will be provided, as will plates, napkins, and silverware. We should bring potluck picnic dishes (along with serving utensils).

Date and time: 6 p.m., Thursday, June 21.

Place: Bellwether Farm, 4655 State Route 60, Wakeman, Ohio 44889

Story of our Crosses Sunday

Please bring crosses to be blessed this Sunday, August 20th.

During sermon time everyone will be invited, but not required, to tell their story about their favorite crosses. For example I plan on bringing my Seminary Cross.

This is part of our 200 Diocesan event. Hopefully, we will have 200 crosses to bless, so bring as many as you want. They will be blessed during the service and we will take pictures following the service for the upcoming Diocesan Convention. Don't worry, your crosses are not to be given away. They will be blessed and you can take them home. Thanks so much.

Rev. Kay

Welcome-Back Potluck

Sunday, August 20, will be a special Welcome Back Potluck during coffee hour to celebrate Rev. Kay's return.

Organ Dedication

Dedication of the Norma Elizabeth McKinley organ

Sunday, June 26

4:00 p.m.

Reception following

Why old announcements are still here

While I do delete old announcements that might cause confusion , I tend to leave most of the old announcements in place. I've got two reasons for doing so:

1. When a visitor comes to our website, I want send the message that we actually are doing things. We have a lot more going than a single one-hour Sunday morning service.
2. Looking back over the months, it's fun to see where we have been. Yes, we did a Lenten study series. There was a mid-day Bible study group. (By the way, it's stopped for the summer, but will resume in the fall.) 

I do, however, take off old calendar events when it would be confusing to leave them.

Martha Unger Memorial Service

The memorial service for Martha Unger will be April 2nd, at 3pm (reception beforehand, details tbd), Trinity Episcopal Church, Alliance, OH.