Bishop Seage Visits Nativity on Oct. 28

Since the earliest days of the Church, the faithful have had folks called “bishops.” They haven’t always worn funny hats, but what they have always done is bind together Christians in different congregations and in diverse parts of the world into one fellowship. It used to be that on Easter, bishops would celebrate Communion, and a little bit of the Body of Christ would be taken from the bishop’s altar and carried out for the inclusion in the Easter communion of all the churches to which he was connected. It was a sign of the Body being bigger than any one locale.

Sunday, October 28, our bishop, the Rt. Rev. Brian Seage will make his biannual visit to Episcopal Church of the Nativity. His presence is a reminder to us in Greenwood that as Christians (and as Episcopalians) the capital-C Church is way bigger than just what happens inside our four walls at Nativity. Bishop Seage spends his weekends traveling across Mississippi, visiting big urban churches and tiny rural ones. As he zigzags about, he reminds us that all of us are connected in ministry, in relationship, and in mission.

Bishop Seage will preach and celebrate at both the 8am and 10:30am services. At 10:30, he will confirm and receive some youths and adults as they make adult affirmations of faith and join the church officially. Some of those being confirmed or received have been here a while, some only a short time. Regardless, taking this step with the bishop present is a way of saying, “In this Episcopal tradition, not just Nativity, I’ve found a home and a place where I can grow in faith.”

Since Bishop Seage will be present at both services, we will welcome him with a large parish breakfast at 9am. If you can help provide hospitality for this event, please contact Frances Knight, who coordinates our Sunday breakfasts. Following breakfast, the kids will dismiss to Sunday School and adult forum will turn our attention to Bible Trivia! Since Halloween interrupts our family night schedule, Bishop Seage will be our guest M.C. for two rounds of trivia as we continue our march toward the Nativity Cup. This week's winner not only wins gift cards, but also will be featured in one of Bishop Seage's signature selfies!

It’s a lot going on and we have a lot to celebrate. Join the celebration!

Peace,
Peter+

The Bible Challenge: Trivia Night

Now is the time to begin building your team. Look around Nativity and ask yourself, which five church members do you want competing with you as you compete for the Nativity Cup?

Next Fall, everyone at Nativity will be invited to take up the challenge of reading the Bible in full over the course of about 18 months. To keep this challenge fun, we'll gather monthly for a potluck dinner, followed by a Webster's-trivia-night-inspired competition. Teams of six will answer a few rounds of questions drawn from the previous month's readings. We'll finish in an hour (if our M.C.'s stick to the script) and the winning team takes home gift cards to local businesses. During all this, the nursery will be open for small children and study hall and other light programming will be available for older kids.

The Nativity Cup, you ask? That'll be the garishly oversized trophy awarded to the team with the highest cumulative score as we read the entire Bible together. Now, you know you want your name on that. Better start building your team!