Author: Alice Lebow

Walking in Faith Together

Post author By Alice Lebow
Post date March 6, 2018
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Kelly Truax

Happy February everyone! I have enjoyed these past few weeks getting to know many of you and reconnecting with many familiar faces! As volunteer coordinator, I am exploring different ideas on how to better connect us and our families to each other and help grow our faith. Family Faith Formation is a great way for us to connect, amongst many endless opportunities for us to learn and grow together. I am thankful for you all and am enjoying sharing life with you. Please do not hesitate to share your ideas or find me and ask how we can work together. Let’s do faith together!

Congregational Life Ministries

Ministry All Around

Laura Latham

Wow! St. Philip has been alive with ministry the first 6 weeks of 2018: Souper Bowl of Caring, Fat Tuesday Steak Dinner, ForwardingFaith, Elijah’s Backpack, St. Philip Preschool, Lenten worship services, Witnessing Paws and more! Every day there are volunteers and congregation members in the building active in inreach and outreach. As part of my new role at St. Philip, it’s my honor and pleasure to work with folks more closely to make ministry happen.

While you are in the building through the week for ministry, worship, or service to our community, please check out the screens on the wall in the gathering space and near the kitchen in the hallway. The goal is to run a slideshow on these screens daily to welcome members and guests in our building and to remind folks of upcoming events in our congregation and among the Hollins area. I’ve been putting together these slides as I finalize announcements, so if you would like to include information about your ministry, please let me know by noon on Thursdays.

Council Notes News

State of the Parish

Pastor David and Sue Huntington, Council President

Ministry is alive at St. Philip! We are planning and praying, discerning and discovering the best possible ways for ministry to continue in great ways but also grow and be strengthened. Your St. Philip leadership is dedicated to empowering our ministry together as we work toward staffing the ministry we live in the most effective ways. We also are committed to communicate well as these processes and conversations unfold.

Where are we now? Because this community of faith is exceptionally gifted and has admirably stepped into ministry gaps so much continues. Over 20 people have either added new responsibilities in areas where they currently serve or have taken on completely new tasks. They are too many to name specifically, but I am most grateful.

News Worship Events

2018 Lenten Worship Schedule

Post author By Alice Lebow
Post date February 16, 2018
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February 14, 2018 – 7:00 p.m., Ash Wednesday, St. Philip Lutheran Church
Ash Wednesday, is the first day of the season of Lent and begins a 40 day journey intended to be a time of confession, reflection, preparation, and fasting. It is a time for Christians to remember that our hope comes from the Christ of the cross and is assured by Jesus’ Easter resurrection. Come and experience the powerful promise of Jesus as we gather for worship in the sanctuary.

Lenten Worship Series: Open My Life Lord
When we cannot see the beauty of your creation, open our eyes, that all living things thrive and grow. When we neglect the poor, the sick, and the grieving, open our hands to do your work in the world. When we ignore the cries of injustice in our midst, open our ears, that all will know your love. When we are hardened against our neighbor, open our hearts and heal our resentment. When we are closed to the grace you long to give us, open our lives and turn us to follow in the way of the cross.

February 21, 2018 – 7:00 p.m., St. Philip Lutheran Church, Rev. John McCandlish
Open My Eyes Lord: Paul saw the light of Christ shining around him on the road to Damascus. As individuals and communities, what do we have difficulty seeing?

February 28, 2018 – 7:00 p.m., Glade Creek Lutheran Church, Rev. David Derrick
Open My Hands Lord: We use our hands to pick up a child, to serve a meal, to play an instrument, to wipe away a tear. Jesus used his hands for healing and for deeds of great power.

March 7, 2018 – 7:00 p.m., St. Timothy Lutheran Church, Rev. Ken Lane
Open My Ears Lord: Ancient Greek philosophy notes that we have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak. Jesus reminds us that we sometimes hear but don’t listen, listen but don’t understand.

March 14, 2018 – 7:00 p.m., St. Philip Lutheran Church, Rev. James Davis
Open My Heart Lord: Listening to Paul’s teaching, Lydia opened her heart to God and was baptized. Her willing, trusting faith echoes down through the centuries as we witness her “open heart procedure.”

March 21, 2018 – 7:00 p.m., Trinity Lutheran Church, Lutherans of the Roanoke Valley – CANCELLED
Open My Life Lord: Writing to the Galatians, Paul tells us that we have died to the law so that we might live to God. It is no longer we who live, but Christ who lives in us.

*All services except Ash Wednesday preceded by Soup and Bread at 6:00p.m.

Elijah's Backpack Ministries Newsletter

600 Jars for 60 Years

On February 25, St. Philip will celebrate 60 years of ministry in the Roanoke Valley. (see page 1) Throughout the church’s history, congregation members have seen a need in our area and around the world and have sought a way to fill that need through mission and ministry. From creating a preschool – one of St. Philip’s first ministries – to 20 plus years of blood drives to community holiday meals to support of sister parish in Mponela, Malawi to Elijah’s Backpack, a feeding program that reaches children in five local schools.

In celebration of 60 years of ministry in the Roanoke Valley, the coordinators of Elijah’s Backpack have issued a challenge to the congregation – raise 600 jars of peanut butter in the month of February. That’s 100 jars of peanut butter per decade of service to St. Philip’s neighbors. Each week Elijah’s Backpack serves 64 children in need at Burlington Elementary, Mountain View Elementary, Glen Cove Elementary, Northside Middle, and Minnick School Main Campus. Six hundred jars of peanut butter will help feed these children through the end of the school year.

Beginning February 11 and running through Anniversary Sunday on February 25, you are invited to donate jars of peanut butter to Elijah’s Backpack. There will be a display set up in the Fellowship Hall for you to place your donations. The size peanut butter the ministry uses is 16-ounce jars, any brand. If you have any questions about Elijah’s Backpack or the 600 Jars drive, please speak to Judy Brammer or Nancy Shadix. Elijah’s Backpack also welcomes volunteers to help pack bags.

Let’s have a big tower of 16-ounce jars of peanut butter in the Fellowship Hall as the congregation moves into its 7th decade of ministry. St. Philip is truly a congregation that Lives Like †hat!

Congregational Life Youth Ministry

Fat Tuesday Steak Dinner

February 13, 5:30 – 7:30pm

The meal includes steak, baked potato, green beans, fresh bread, and fine desserts. But the best part is gracious pampering and service provided by our youth. We will meet you at the front door, hang up your coat, seat you in the dining area, get your drink order, and find out how you want your steak fixed – all while you relax.

This event is not only a great time to catch up with members of St. Philip, but it is also a great time to invite someone to some great hospitality at your church then be sure to invite them back for Ash Wednesday services the next evening. Tickets are available from any St. Philip youth or online! (Select Youth Sponsored Activities)

This is an important fundraiser for the youth groups so they can attend youth retreats for all ages. Tickets are $15 in advance/$18 the night of, for adults, and $3 in advance/$6 the night of, for a kids hot dog meal. You can also add a bowl of gumbo to your meal for an extra $2. Yum!