Parish Office
- Feb 5, 2020
- 5 min read

"The Curate" February 2020

Updated: Feb 27, 2020

Rector's Corner

St. Philip’s Parishioners,

Much has happened since our last issue of The Curate in January. We have wrapped up the Christmas Season and held our Annual Parish Meeting on January 14th. Your presence and desire to participate in the work of the church at that meeting is essential and commendable—thank you! I enjoyed the opportunity to look at what we have accomplished as a church this past year and look to the future of St. Philip’s with you all. As you well know, we’ve recently added two new members to our staff, Martín Rodríguez as our new Sexton and Joshua Lang, M.M. as our new Organist/Choirmaster. Please make them feel welcomed and know that Martín is hard at work keeping our facilities clean and orderly so that they might be safe and welcoming and that Joshua is hard at work enriching our worship and providing a place to share your love of music and signing unto the Lord.

As you read this, we are on the very heels of our Chili Fiesta on February 4th from 11

a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Please make every effort to be a part of this tremendous fundraising event for local nonprofit organizations. This is St. Philip’s most visible event and we want the community to know that we both love and care for them, and that is the main driving force behind this grand meal.

As we think about who we are as the Body of Christ in Palestine, something we should frequently think about, let’s ask ourselves how we make ourselves accessible as Christians. Do we hide the gifts and talents we have? Or, do we let those gifts and talents flow from who we are, regardless of where we are, at church, or around town? Do our actions, which well up in us as an outpouring of the Holy Spirit at work, draw people in to the person of Jesus Christ? When we interact with acquaintances around Palestine, as they see the light of Christ shining through you, it’s worth it to ask if they have a place of worship. And if not, invite them to worship with you at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church. Offer them the very thing that we ourselves receive time and time again, a welcoming and loving community that gathers together to be built up by receiving the Body and Blood of Jesus around a table, at the holiest of meals, with our finest china. What I’m saying is, invite people to our Sacred Meal to meet Jesus with you! What’s better than that?! This is how we begin to restore others to unity with God and each other in Christ—the main mission of the Church.

Lastly, please remember that we will celebrate new Confirmations and Receptions together with Bishop Fisher on February 16th at 10:30 a.m. Make plans to join these people as we ourselves renew our own baptismal covenant.

Faithfully yours in Christ,

Fr. Justin +

The next DOK meeting will be Sunday, February 2nd, following the 10:30 a.m. service.

The next meeting will be Monday, February 17th,

at 6 p.m. in the Parish Hall.

Will meet Tuesday, February 11th, at 10 a.m. in the Parish Hall. Refreshments will be at 9:45 a.m.

February Birthdays

1 John Myers

8 Judith Nemer

11 David Brown

12 Jenny Cunningham

13 Helen Elliot

18 Fr. Justin Briggle

18 Barbara Kolstad

22 Bill Stites

23 Marcus Briggle

24 Clinton Taylor

February Anniversaries

5 Jim & Chauncey Boone

8 George & Kayte Monahan

Ushers - February 2020

Bob Snow & Curtis Winkler

Ushers - March 2020

Curtis Winkler & Mike Tisdale

December 2019 Year-to-Date

Beginning Balance 47,233.79 144,539.49

Total Income 68,162.46 278,949.27

Total Expenses 17,809.53 325,902.04

Ending Balance 97,586.72 97,586.72

To give Altar Flowers please call Nancy Waggoner, at 903-727-2030 or the Church Office at 903-729-4214.

Altar Guild:

Feb 1 – Feb 7----------Team 4 Linens: Jeanette George

Sara Minton, Kathy Stites, Hilda Garcia-Castillo

Feb 8 – Feb 14---------Team 1 Linens: Joanne Evans

Nancy Waggoner, Jane Biddle, Sherry Snow, Lucie Broyles

Feb 15 – Feb 21-------Team 2 Linens: Deborah Morton

Becky Myers, Cathy Summers, Deborah Morton

Feb 22 – Feb 28-------Team 3 Linens: Kirsten Knippers

Katheryn Fagalde, Alex Nemer, Vicki Mayberry

(Ash Wednesday)

Feb 29 – Mar 6 --------Team 4 Linens: Jeanette George

Sara Minton, Kathy Stites, Hilda Garcia-Castillo

Lay Minister Schedule:

Feb. 2020 Reader Chalice I/Server Chalice II

Sun. 2/2 8:00 Phillip Morton

10:30 Pat Redding David Brown Barbara Kolstad

Wed. 2/5 5:30 Phillip Morton

Sun. 2/9 8:00 Bob Blackwell

10:30 Phillip Morton Scott Nicholson Charlie Nichols

Wed. 2/12 5:30 Sparky Kolstad

Sun. 2/16 10:30 Pat Redding Scott Nicholson Charlie Nichols

Wed. 2/19 5:30 Phillip Morton

Sun. 2/23 8:00 Bob Blackwell

10:30 Martha Polasek Phillip Morton David Brown

Wed. 2/26 12:00 Phillip Morton

7:00 Sparky Kolstad

To the Congregation of St. Philip Episcopal Church,

I am very honored and gracious to have been selected to be your organist/choirmaster. I feel like one of the lucky ones in getting to do both things with my career that I have always wanted; church music, and railroading. Most of you know that I work full-time at the Texas State Railroad, as a conductor, fireman, and other shop-related duties. I look forward to serving this parish in music ministry and enhancing our worship to the best of my abilities.

I would like to share with you a few visions and goals I have for our music ministry. One of them is to gradually introduce a few new hymns and service music in our congregational song. Be ye not afraid of new things! They only enhance us and make our wealth of knowledge expand. There are two choirs in every congregation, one is trained, the other is untrained. The untrained choir is of course the parishioners not in the choir stalls. Even though the untrained choir does not rehearse, let us never forget to listen to one another as we praise our Lord with songs and gladness.

Another vision I have for us is to work towards growing our choir and singing anthems more regularly. If singing in the choir is something you have ever remotely considered, please do not hesitate to ask me about it. Increasing the number of choristers is a goal that we can work on continuously. The more we have in the choir, the more support the congregation can gain. After all, supporting the congregation is the main purpose of the choir. For our special feast day Masses, hiring instrumentalists to be with us would be a wonderful enlightenment for those occasions. A long-term goal for the choir is to work towards a service of choral evensong. If you have never been to one in a church that does it, I highly recommend it. Each one I have been to has been a spiritually moving experience.

I of course have other things in mind, but will be glad to share them with you over time. I hope these things above are favorable to all of you, and that I do them gradually enough that they become our habits in worship. Thank you all once again for this opportunity and I look forward to serving you!

Sincerely,

Joshua Lang