Youth Group Update

The EYC had a great September as we participated in several outreach activities. These included our first trip to Beacon Harbor and the Greenwood Canned Food Drive. When we were not participating in outreach, we were taking time to reflect on “who God has called us to be.”

We are taking time over the next several weeks to ask the question, “who am I?” We have started by looking at our relationships with each other, with our friends, and with our families. We have spent time exploring our “likes” and “dislikes” and our “hopes.” We will continue this exploration of “who am I?” over the next several weeks by exploring our Christian identity.

The EYC will help with the Blessing of the Animals on October 7th. Please bring a pet and enjoy this fun-filled, Spirit-led service. We have heard that we could have pet pigs here to be blessed! After the Pet Blessing, EYC will stay to enjoy a meal and game.

EYC will host a Halloween themed party for Beacon Harbor on October 21. Our September visit meant so much to the residents of Beacon Harbor that we are still hearing from them about it. To say that they are excited about the Halloween Party would be an understatement! The plan is to have cupcakes, candy corn, and punch while we listen and dance Halloween themed music. We will also decorate pumpkins and make paper Halloween masks. This should be a wonderful time as we continue to nurture these relationships.

Instructed Eucharist

Wednesday, September 19 at 5:30pm

Before tonight's Inquirers' class, participants should take a moment to watch this week's video, which is a brief Instructed Eucharist.  Step by step, the video walks you through what happens in Episcopal worship and the meaning behind all the symbols and movements.  After we gather in the parish hall, we'll move to the church together and ask all those questions we have about Sunday morning but have never had a chance to ask.  All are welcome, and childcare is available!

Pastoral Care Committee

Monday, September 24 at 2:00pm

Those who are or wish to participate in this ministry of prayer, visiting, and card-writing are invited to gather in the office conference room next Monday.  We'll pray over the prayer list, write birthday and anniversary cards, and then volunteer to visit homebound and sick church members.  If you'd like to make a visit but can't be at the meeting, call the church office at (662) 453-7786.

Family Night / Trivia Night

Wednesday, September 27 at 5:30pm 

Next Wednesday night we'll take a week off from Inquirers' Class as we gather for an informal potluck dinner at 5:30pm. At 6pm, the youth choir will rehearse in the choir room, the nursery will be open for infants all the way up to 5K, and in the parish hall, round 2 of The Bible Challenge Trivia Night commences. About 40 of us gathered last month, why not join us this month?

Katherine Pack Stuckey

Services for Katherine Pack Stuckey, 72, who died Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2018 at Greenwood Leflore Hospital, will be at noon Monday at the Episcopal Church of the Nativity.

Visitation will be at the church from 10 a.m. until the time of services.

Mrs. Stuckey, an attorney, held a law degree, a master’s degree in remedial reading and a bachelor’s degree in education, all from the University of Mississippi.

She was a fan of Ole Miss football but a convert to Mississippi State women’s basketball, and she never missed a home game.

She was a member of the Mississippi State Bar Association and a former officer of the Leflore County Bar Association. She practiced law from 1989 until her death.

Mrs. Stuckey was a member of Matinee Musicale, the Greenwood Rotary Club, Altrusa International of Greenwood, the Greenwood Garden Club and several boards at Life Help, including its advisory board for more than 15 years.

She was a lector during worship services at the Church of the Nativity, where she was a parishioner. On Wednesdays, she read to preschool children at the Nativity Day School, and a fund at the church has been set up to establish a reading center in her memory at the school.

In spite of having multiple sclerosis for 35 years, Mrs. Stuckey was a private pilot who had owned two Piper Cub aircraft which she enjoyed flying.

She had been looking forward to a reunion of her 1964 graduating class from Senatobia High School, which will take place Oct. 6.

In her law practice, Mrs. Stuckey and Marsha Gentry, a paralegal in the law firm, developed a close personal relationship. They enjoyed traveling, shopping and attending basketball games together.

Survivors include her husband of almost 43 years, Wallie Stuckey; three sons, Jeff Veazey of Hawaii, Hunter Stuckey and his wife, Natalia, of New Smyrna Beach, Florida, and Joshua Stuckey and his wife, Robin, of Carrollton; a granddaughter, Katherine Lynn Stuckey, the light of her grandmother’s life; and two brothers, Brooks and John Pack, and a sister, Evelyn, all of California.

The Rev. Peter Gray will officiate at the services, which will be followed by entombment in the church’s columbarium.

Wilson & Knight Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. An online guest book may be signed at www.wilsonandknight.com.

The family requests any memorials be made to the Episcopal Church of the Nativity for the reading center.

Inquirers’ Class Starting Soon

Interested in learning more about the Episcopal Church or in becoming a confirmed member of Nativity? Mark your calendar for Wednesday evenings in September and October. Childcare will be available.

Family Night / Trivia Night

On Wednesday, August 29, we’ll have a casual potluck at 5:30 pm and then an hour of team trivia on the scriptures we’ve read this month. Bragging rights are on the line! Childcare and activities for children up to 6th grade are available from 6 pm to 7 pm.

Youth Group

All Nativity youth and friends grades 6-12 are invited to our first Sunday evening gathering of the new school year on Sunday, August 19. Join us for dinner at 5 pm and programming with Phillip, Brantley, and others at 5:30 pm. We'll play games, we'll get to know more about Phillip and how he found his way to Nativity, and we'll close with prayer as always. The EYC is always in need of adults willing to provide dinner. If you can help feed our youth, sign up for a spot on the sheet in the church kitchen.

Softball End of the Season Party

To celebrate another great season of softball, the team and fans will gather at Serio’s Restaurant Wednesday, August 22 at 5:30pm. Join us for food and fellowship and so we can hand out team awards!  Who will win the coveted Colquett prize for excellence in the field of falling down on the base path?  You'll have to come to find out!  This event is open to all team members and fans.  We'll purchase appetizers and a little pizza; heavier food and drinks are on you.

This Is Our Story

Let’s face it.  Episcopalians have feelings of inadequacy when it comes to the Bible.  We hear more scripture on Sunday mornings than almost any other denomination.  But let a Baptist friend of ours start talking about the Bible, and we get squirrely, saying things like, “I’m an Episcopalian; we don’t know much about all that.”  If I never heard that statement again in my life, I would die a happy man!

As I say to Inquirers' classes, we Episcopalians don’t take the Bible literally, we take it seriously.  We take it seriously because it is the principal source of our knowledge about who God is, who we are, and what our purpose is in this God-given life.  We take the Bible seriously because in its stories, we find our story.  Our Muslim brothers and sisters call Christians and Jews “People of the Book.”  That’s exactly right.  Like all people, our identity comes from the stories we tell.  Christians are those who tell the stories of the Old and New Testaments and let those stories reorient their lives.

In 2011, a fellow with a funny name tried out a simple idea.  The Rev. Marek Zabriskie serves an Episcopal church in the Philadelphia suburbs, and as a New Year’s resolution he decided to read the Bible cover to cover in a year.  On a lark, he invited his congregation to join him.  Before he knew it, more than half of his church and another 90 of their friends had joined in.  And what he found was profound renewal for himself and for his people as they read Bible stories not usually heard in church and other stories that were familiar, but that they had never read in context, as a part of a whole.

In the years since, Marek has been an advocate for similar programs across the Episcopal Church.  The way it works is simple.  All of us read the same parts of the Bible at the same time – about five chapters a day, six days per week.  We each take personal responsibility for our growth as Christians.  Then, the church builds programming to support us as we do that work.  At Nativity, that means adult Sunday School is a place to get oriented to what we're reading and ask questions.  It means we’re encouraging small groups to nurture relationships and to encourage each other on in the marathon.  It means we've dreamed up a monthly trivia night to compete among friends and test our newly gained knowledge!  For more information on these and other offerings, check out our website.

Whether you think you’re up for the challenge or not, I hope you’ll make plans to join as a church family on Sunday, August 12 at 9:30 for the launch.  This is chance to hear more; ask questions; join a small group; and, crucially, vote on who we want to be our first trivia night’s Master of Ceremonies!  The marathon begins Monday morning! 

Let’s say it plainly.  If we feel embarrassed or unfamiliar with this, our own story, there is literally only one way to address those feelings:  pick it up and read!  This is our chance to do it with all the love, support, and encouragement we’ve come to expect from this wonderful church family.  Let’s do it!

Peace,
Peter

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