News from “The Father”

Looking to the Future…

This is the holiest week of our church year.  We are called on to reflect on the mission of Christ and His sacrifice for humanity.  At the same time, we are also in a key time of transition as the people of St. Stephen’s.  As we continue to live into our new realities as a community of faith, we are called on to reflect on who we want to be as a worshiping community.  The question we now face is, what do we want to do and be?  We are called on to be a mission-minded or missional people as followers of Christ.  So, the question for all of us is what sort of ministries do we want to be involved with? 

Each year the Episcopal Church asks congregations about the Outreach Ministries and Volunteer Activities they are involved in.  Here are some of those they list: 

• Food pantry, soup kitchen, or meal projects 

• Sustainable food garden/cooperative 

• Day care, preschool, before- or after-school programs 

• Tutoring or literacy programs 

• Health programs (parish nurse, clinics, health education, etc.) 

• Community organizing, organized social issue advocacy 

• Job placement, job training, employment counseling 

• Building projects (such as Habitat for Humanity) 

• Support groups (bereavement, divorce, job loss, 12-step, etc.) 

• Programs for the elderly and homebound persons 

• Clothes closet, thrift store

• Homeless or no-freeze shelter 

• Overseas sponsorships, microloans, Heifer Project, Haiti relief 

• Refugee resettlement

On Easter Sunday, I will be asking those in attendance to think about what they want us to be involved in.  There will be a place where people can write down their ideas or suggestions.  We wanted to give everyone a chance to start thinking about this now.  

– Father Stephen

Holy Week 2024

Dear friends in Christ,

The most holy days of our Church year are nearly upon us.  During this season of Lent, we have been reminded of Jesus’s messages to the world.  Jesus came to shake up the power structure of our world, to tell us to believe without seeing, to be open to all people regardless of human labels, that we must look on the world with new eyes, and that God has the power to bring life even in the midst of the darkness of death.  As we prepare to remember Jesus’s sacrifice, let us also remember that we are an Easter people.

Our Holy Week liturgies will be as follows:

Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday

                        Sunday, March 24                    10 am               Holy Eucharist: Rite II

Maundy Thursday

                        Thursday, March 28                 7 pm                Holy Eucharist: Rite II

Good Friday

                        Friday, March 29                      Noon               Good Friday Liturgy

Easter Sunday

                        Sunday, March 31                    10 am               Holy Eucharist: Rite II

Let us come together to worship and rejoice.  Now we are called on to give thanks to God for the gift of God’s Son and the opportunity to enter into God’s kingdom.  Join us for worship at Ocee Johnson Chapel located within Chapel Court at St. John’s United, 3940 Rimrock Road in Billings.

Yours in Christ,

Father Stephen