It's a Happenin' Place!

With September this year comes a full slate of activities at St. Cyprian's: opportunities for fellowship, fun, faith practice and formation...pretty much always accompanied by good food!  ;-)

Here are some things to watch for as the month unfolds:

Prayer Group

A twice monthly opportunity to gather to pray

for yourself or others,

OR 

to be prayed for.

The first and third Saturday of each month, 1:00 p.m.

Begins September 2.

Sundae Sunday!

Sunday, September 11 - following the service

An annual opportunity to "have it your way"

with a delectable delight of your own design.

Bring a friend!

Financial Peace

can be yours with this course!

Weekly for 8-10 weeks, Mondays at 7:00 p.m.

Starts September 12.

Book Study

Learn something new, enhance and deepen your faith...

Weekly, Saturdays at 10:00 a.m.

Begins September 24.

Ladies' Night

The Fourth Friday of each month, 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.

starting September 30.

The first gathering will be in the Parish Hall.

For other events around the Parish, check out "Save the Date" and "Calendar at a Glance" in the right side bar.  

Audio Divina: Fr. Richard Rohr on Contemplation

Something to think about for the last weekend of August...preparation for starting the "new" year...

Poetry in Ordinary Time

This week, a poem about gardening (or so it seems...) by Marge Piercy -- with thanks to Parker Palmer for bringing it to my attention so I could share it with you...

The Seven of Pentacles - Marge Piercy

Under a sky the color of pea soup
she is looking at her work growing away there
actively, thickly like grapevines or pole beans
as things grow in the real world, slowly enough.
If you tend them properly, if you mulch, if you water,
if you provide birds that eat insects a home and winter food,
if the sun shines and you pick off caterpillars,
if the praying mantis comes and the lady bugs and the bees,
then the plants flourish, but at their own internal clock.

Connections are made slowly, sometimes they grow underground.
You cannot tell always by looking what is happening.
More than half a tree is spread out in the soil under your feet.
Penetrate quietly as the earthworm that blows no trumpet.
Fight persistently as the creeper that brings down the tree.
Spread like the squash plant that overruns the garden.
Gnaw in the dark and use the sun to make sugar.

Weave real connections, create real nodes, build real houses.
Live a life you can endure: make love that is loving.
Keep tangling and interweaving and taking more in,
a thicket and bramble wilderness to the outside but to us
interconnected with rabbit runs and burrows and lairs.

Live as if you liked yourself, and it may happen:
reach out, keep reaching out, keep bringing in.
This is how we are going to live for a long time: not always,
for every gardener knows that after the digging, after the planting,                                                                                   after the long season of tending and growth, harvest comes. 

Hats on for Sunday!

Ladies! D'you own a really cool hat that you've longed to wear to church but were afraid to because hardly anyone does that any more? Well! This Sunday -- August 14 -- at St. Cyprian's is your chance to Wear Your Hat!

This is in response to Margaret S., mother of dear Sonia...who's been wanting Margaret B. to wear the hat she wore to her son's recent wedding.  Margaret B. has agreed to do so -- complete with the rest of her "wedding duds" on Sunday, August 14...so Margaret S. -- you're on! And so is any other woman (of any age) who wishes to be a Mad Hatter or a Fascinator...put your hat on and come to church!

NOTE: This is pure fun -- not a competition. Just show up and be admired in your chapeau.  (And Rev. Lee Sinclair...do feel free to wear your tiara.)  :-)

Coming in September...

Watch this space for more information about these new series starting at St. Cyprian's in September:

Prayer Group

First and Third Saturdays

Ladies' Night Out

Fourth Fridays

Financial Peace - 9-week program

Starts September 12

So Far, We've Been Blessed...

For those of you not on Facebook, here's a "meme" shared from the Episcopal Church in the U.S. - a wee smile for the middle of the week...  :-)

Photo Credit: https://www.facebook.com/E.C.M.churchhumor/