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April 21, 2021
The Episcopal Church of the Holy Family
419 Turnpike Road
Mills River, NC 28759
828-891-9375
Priest in Charge: The Rev. Dr. Chris Mason
email: rector@ourholyfamily.org
secretary@ourholyfamily.org
Website: www.ourholyfamily.org
Office Hours:  Monday & Wednesday 9 am - 12 pm

Meditation of the Day:   A Spring Blessing  

By Joyce Rupp and Macrina Wiederkehr

Blessed are you, spring, 
Bright season of life awakening. 
You gladden our hearts
With opening buds and returning leaves
As you put on your robes of splendor.

 

Blessed are you, spring, 
In you is a life no death can destroy.
As you exchange places with winter
You harbor no unforgiving spirit
For broken tree limbs and frozen buds.

 

Blessed are you, spring.
You open the closed buds of our despair
As you journey with us
To the flowering places. 

 

Blessed are you, spring.
You invite us to sing songs
To the frozen regions within
And to bless the lessons of winter
As we become your partner in a new dance. 

 

Blessed are you, spring.
Like Jesus, standing before the tomb of Lazarus,
You call to us:  “Remove winter’s stone, come out, 
There is life here you have not yet tasted.”

 

Blessed are you, spring.
Free gift of the earth. 
Without cost we gaze upon your glory.
You are a gospel of good news
For the poor and rich alike.

 

Blessed are you, spring. 
Your renewing rain showers and cathartic storms
Nurture the potential that sleeps in Earth’s heart
And in our earthen hearts.

 

Blessed are you spring, 
Season of resurrection, sacrament of promise. 
Like Jesus you rise up out of the darkness,
Leaving around you a wake of new life. 
Blessed are you, spring, 
Miracle child of the four seasons.
With your wind of many colors
You work your magic in the corners of our darkness.

 

Blessed are you, spring, 
Season of hope and renewal.
Wordless poem about all within us
That can never die.
Each year you amaze us
With the miracle of returning life.

 

From Father Chris

The Good Shepherd

The life of a shepherd was anything but picturesque.  It was dangerous, risky, and menial.

Shepherds were rough around the edges, spending time in the fields rather than in polite society.  For Jesus to say, “I am the good shepherd,” would have been an affront to the religious elite and educated. The claim had an edge to it.  A modern day equivalent might be fore Jesus to say, “I am the good migrant worker.”

Nancy R. Blakely, author of article on “The Good Shepherd.”

Family News
 
Teacher appreciation week (May 3 - May 7) is approaching and Holy Family is being asked to support Rugby Middle School teachers by donating supplies from the following list. Please have your donations in by May 2. 

 Supplies for Teachers at Rugby Middle School:

Black Expo dry erase markers
Post It brand post it notes
Magnetic white board erasers
Ticonderoga pencils
Bic Mechanical pencils
magnets
magnetic clips
good strong magnets
Pentel Energic pens
 Papermate Flair tip pens
jolly raiders, mints and other candies to hand out during tests etc.
Help Needed
 
Now that we are semi back to normal, a big shout out and thanks go to the 10 or so folks that helped with worship over the past year so that we could have a live stream or recorded service. It’s time to give the worship team that has so faithfully served this past year a much needed break. 

So let’s offer ourselves as readers, greeters, prayers of the people, and acolytes. If you are interested in perfoming one of these ministries, please email Linda Bregartner at lindabregartner@bellsouth.net and let her know what you would like to do or utilize the hallway sign up sheet. 
Hello All! 
What a great job we all did joining the children in flowering the cross last Sunday! I truly hope you all enjoyed that as much and we did, and great news, we will be doing year after year mid Easter season! 
This week our sweet kiddos are going to work on a team building activity, using bible verses. With the wide variety of ages we have it’s important to have the kids work together and really feel like a team, even through the age gap I want them all to help each other learn about the love the Lord has for them! 
Over the last few weeks the children have all worked very hard on Easter coloring pages, they are displayed on the bulletin board in the hall way, just right of the double doors to the sanctuary. Please be sure to check out their beautiful pictures! 
I wanted to include the link to the Amazon wishlist I have created for the Children’s program. As you all know we have a wide age range of children and so the needs of the “playroom” have changed, we need toys that are both safe for the little ones and can be played with by the bigger children too. The books are obviously very nice and would be so appropriated, but not as big of a need as the toys and activities on the list. 
https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/PBLDV8S6VEE4/?ref_=lol_ov_le
I want to thank you all again so much for the love, support, and encouragement you all give me. I means so much to me that you all love the children as much as I do. 
I hope you all are having a blessed week, 
Charlotte Garcia 
Men’s Breakfast now at 8:30 am
 Men’s Weekly Breakfast

Holy Family men have resumed their weekly fellowship breakfast at Kostas Kitchen located at 4055 Hendersonville Road in Fletcher. Please feel free to join us for this time of sharing our mutual friendships and enjoying Kosta Kitchen’s fine breakfast cuisine. Look forward to seeing you there. 
Holy Family has adopted a parish goal of donating 2000 lbs of food to IAM by year’s  end.  So here is a chance to clean out your pantry and not have items go to waste. There is a monthly list of needed IAM items that will be published, however food that is not on the list is acceptable. So we are asking everyone to embrace this as part of our outreach ministry and continue the good work we began in Lent.  We can do this!
 
 
Pantry Items

5 pound Bags of Potatoes
5 pound Bags of Sweet Potatoes 
Pasta Sauce 15-20 ounce cans 
Peanut Butter 12-16 ounce 
Canned Tuna
Fruit Jelly
Soup
Cans of Jalapenos
Packages of Sopa and/or Ramen Noodles
Diapers; in particular sizes 4,5,6 
Baby Wipes
Toilet Paper
Plastic Grocery Bags
 Clothing Items

Children's Spring Clothing
Children's Shoes Sizes 13 and 3Y
Men's Shoes and Boots sizes 7.5 - 9
New Standard Bed Pillows
New Adult Underwear (All Sizes)
Queen Sheets and Blankets/Comforters
Women’s Spring Capris/Shirts/Shorts
(All Sizes)
Men's and Women's Light Spring Jackets
Ingle Cards for Outreach

It is time to start using Ingles Gift Cards again.  Every time we order $5000 of cards Ingles rebates 5% ($250) to us to be used for Outreach.  This is an important source of income for Outreach especially now that the budget amount from church income was reduced to $1000 for 2021.  Please sign up on the sheet on the bulletin board or by phone 828-891-7095 or email  jandtkelly7800@bellsouth.net  to Teresa Kelly.  Tell me the total dollar amount and how many cards of each denomination you want.  Cards are available as $100, $50, $25 and $10.  Please have orders in by Monday  April 26 so I can have cards available for you on Sunday May 2.  If you have not purchased cards before please consider trying it; you’ll be helping Holy Family reach out to those in need.  Thank you, Teresa Kelly
Father Chris Email Address

Father Chris has a new email address for church business. If you need to contact Father Chris via email, please don’t use the the cpmason1105@gmail.com to contact him or the church as this is his personal email account. The new email address is:
rector@ourholyfamily.org

Upcoming Events

Executive Committee Meetings-Every Wednesday, 1:00 pm

Harp Lessons-Every Friday, Scheduled between 11am and 4 pm (schedule varies-check with Jeanne Mason if unsure

Men’s breakfast - Every Wednesday Kostas Kitchen 8:30 am
April 21: Choir Rehersal 4:30pm
April 24- Mountain Folkharpers Harp Circle 1-3 pm
May 4- Outreach Committee 1:30 pm
May 24-Vestry Meeting 4:00 pm

 



To view the Holy Family Calendar, please utilize the following link:

https://www.ourholyfamily.org/schedules-upcoming-events

 

WiFi Worship Links


The Fourth Sunday of Easter


https://youtu.be/zhA1Xcw4Yzs


The Third Sunday of Easter

https://youtu.be/pv5Viw4fDME

Service Booklet

To obtain the service booklet, please utilize the Holy Family website Link:


https://www.ourholyfamily.org/worship
 
Prayer List
 

Shirley 

 Mickey

 Kevin

 Cody

Brent

 Devin

 Nicholas

  David

Josh

 Jan

 Lila

   Dave

Doris

Julie

  Eng

  Joy

 Penny

 Caitlin

  JB
 and Sophie

Leah

 

Courtney 

 Charlotte 
 and family  

Helen

Carolyn
and
Tyshaun

     JoAnn

     Danny

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