Parish Picnic Tomorrow, September 23

Our parish picnic is tomorrow, September 23, immediately after Mass. Our friends from Holy Life Missionary Baptist Church will be joining us. Holy Life has recently regained access to their building for worship, and we're excited to celebrate their return to their space and our period of partnership together.

Burgers, hot dogs, and drinks will be provided by the Parish Events Committee. Here's what you should bring:

Last name A-I: Salad
Last name J-R: Dessert
Last name S-Z: Vegetable
EVERYONE: Please bring a source of canned protein (SPAM, tuna, chicken, turkey, chili, etc) to support the food pantry at St. Philip's Episcopal Church.

Bringing back the Red Letter Days

Today is Holy Cross Day, the day our church celebrates the cross itself. Celebrating the instrument of Christ's execution is a strange thing. But we do this for the same reason we call Good Friday "good". The event is simultaneously tragic and the means by which God implements the plan of salvation.

It's traditional on Holy Cross Day to bring a cross or crucifix to the service to receive a blessing. Today is also Mother Suzanne's first worship service with us. We hope you can join us at 6pm tonight.

One of the things we're doing at All Saints is bringing back the observation of the red letter days. These are the major holy days identified in the Book of Common Prayer, and are called red letter days because they used to be marked on calendars in red ink.

Some of these dates are familiar, some less so. Their role in the life of the church is twofold. First, it is an opportunity for us to pay special attention to the events in Christ's life and the role of those figures in the early church who perpetuated Jesus' message. Second - and this is a more modern development - they are a way that the life of the spirit breaks into the world, a reminder that God is calling to us not just on Sundays, but any day of the week. Or, as the Pet Shop Boys put it in their 1997 single, "Red Letter Day", "I'm always waiting...for something special, somehow new, someone saying, 'I love you'." The red letter days are just that.

So join us tonight, or, failing that, join us next Friday, September 21, at 6pm as we celebrate the life and work of St. Matthew, author of the Gospel bearing his name.