Many Thanks to Our Altar Guild!

This past Saturday, our fantastic Altar Guild met to train, refresh, and fellowship with one another. Thanks to the leadership of Altar Guild chair Liz Dixon and Vestry liaison for Worship, Sharon Cheatham, the crowd looks like they had a good time with one another.

The Altar Guild are “behind the scenes” people who set up the bread, wine, altar hangings, and so on. They learn a lot about liturgy and handle the very important and delicate elements of our worship. They are responsible for enhancing our worship in ways that most people don’t recognize. They handle the “holy things” and without them, our worship would be sorely hindered.

Many thanks to our whole Altar Guild for their incredible service to St. Nicholas! If you are interested in being a part of this wonderful group, contact Liz Dixon at Jcemdixon@aol.com.

Hamilton MLK Day Parade

15 marchers from St. Nicholas gathered at the old Carver Middle School in Hamilton Monday afternoon under a beautiful sunny sky to march in the 2010 Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Parade. We were greeted by everyone we saw and many were surprised and joyful at our presence. We carried our processional cross, the St. Nicholas banner, and colorful kites as we made our way through the streets of Hamilton.

St. Nicholas is proud to be the only “traditionally white” congregation (although our congregation is wonderfully arrayed with people from all races and colors) that marches in the parade. We have now marched in the parade two years, and have been welcomed whole-heartedly both years.

As one marcher said, “We’re all going to spend eternity together, we might as well start being together now!”

As an added bonus, I was honored to be asked to pray the opening prayer at the annual MLK Day Program following the parade at Harris County High School. “Ignite the flame of unity in each of our hearts,” I prayed. May it be so.

Thank you to everyone who marched with us as we continued to be an example of Christ’s love to the world.

Youth Christmas Party 2009

This year’s Youth Christmas Party was a blast! Peggy and Doug Martin hosted at their home in Pine Mountain Valley. Everyone brought appetizers, which ended up being quite the feast! Terri Townsend led the youth in a ton of fun games including the Santa Suit Hunt, the Christmas Bow Challenge, Blindfolded Cookie Decorating, and Hide-and-Seek for Fr. Jeff. Throughout the night, the teens accumulated points to be used in the final game, ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas Dirty Santa, where they had gifts that they rotated whenever their special word from the story was said. Sheila Dixon took the littler ones and played Pictionary and other games with them, as well as making some beautiful Christmas ornaments. Afterwords, Father Jeff led a cold worship service on the back porch, reminding the teens of the discomfort Mary and Joseph must have felt being stuck out in a manger.

Many thanks to all the parents, youth leaders, and especially the youth who came and participated! It was a great night! Below are some pics of the event:

A Very Merry St. Nicholas Day!

Forget Christmas! The busiest couple of days of the year at St. Nicholas are the days around St. Nicholas Day (December 6). St. Nicholas Day, of course, is our patronal feast day, and this year we celebrated in style! Read more

Trunk or Treat Success!

St. Nicholas’ 2nd Annual Trunk or Treat was a smashing success, despite inclement weather! There were 14 cars lining the parking lot and participants decorated their trunks to hand out candy and play games with the many children who came. The youth of St. Nicholas voted on Chris and Jackie Lintner’s spooky trunk as the winner of the best-decorated trunk! We handed out food and also provided pizza and popcorn to all-comers. In addition to giving out tasty treats, we also fed a bunch of people! Estimates were that over 50 families came through St. Nicholas. In addition to the food, the Daughters of the King also made gift boxes with a St. Nicholas pen and magnet, in hopes that someone might make St. Nicholas their church home. It was a truly wonderful event for everyone!

Many thanks go to Andy Butzon, Michelle Moody, Marci Horne, and all the Daughters of the King who sponsored the event! Also, thank you to all who brought their trunks and dressed up to make the event special. Thank you to everyone who participated! What a great outreach to our community!

Here are some pictures from the event, thanks to Lynn Hall and Drucye Price.

The Blessing of Animals

To celebrate the Feast of St. Francis, St. Nicholas and their beloved pets gathered on the lawn. Thanks to Ben Brooks, who set up tables and provided treats and water buckets, our animal friends were treated with great hospitality. Also, Dr. Hank Hall, a veterinarian from Columbus, joined us to be on hand to provide information and to give free check ups to any animal. The Harris County Humane Society brought a truckload of dogs to be blessed, in hopes that they might find a home. Thanks to Virginia Brooks, at least one puppy was adopted!

At the brief liturgy, we gave thanks to God for all of our many gifts, especially our pets, and prayed for them. We also remembered beloved pets who have died. Even stuffed animals were blessed, as Bronwyn Jackson brought her stuffed Little Mermaid doll to be blessed by her dad.

It was a great turnout! Thanks to Nick Simpson for set-up and take-down help, Lacy Razor for providing homemade treats, Lynn Hall for her great pics (see below), and to everyone who showed up! Fr. Jeff is always available for animal blessings even when it’s not the Feast of St. Francis, so feel free to give him a call.

Church in the Wildwood

Today, St. Nicholas received a true gift. Thanks to Cason and Nancy Callaway, the Summer Chapel Band from Cashiers, North Carolina visited once again to play their Southern Gospel/Bluegrass music for our 11:00 am service. Led by Mark Lassiter on piano, the band graced us with old-time gospel tunes like In the Garden, Amazing Grace, and I’ll Fly Away. They also played Church in the Wildwood, which described our beautiful church to a tee. The church was packed, and we had many guests and friends who came long distances to hear the band. Nancy Callaway even had a friend from St. Simons Island, GA who was with us!

Afterward, we were treated again with a delicious fried chicken dinner on the lawn, thanks to Linda Sawyer and her crew of faithful and dedicated volunteers. Overall, it was a fantastic day! Check out the podcast to the right of the screen to listen to a portion of the service. Also check out the gallery below, with photos taken by Lynn Hall.

Lobsterfest a HUGE Success!

Here are some great shots of the event, courtesy of Drucye. It was a fantastic evening! Thank you to everyone who came and everyone who worked so hard to make it happen. If you have more pictures of the event, please send them to Fr. Jeff.

The winner of the golf cart was Mr. Dick Grifenhagen of Midland. Congratulations Dick!

St. Nick’s Kids Get Fired Up!

This past Sunday, the children of St. Nicholas were treated with a great surprise! As we sang the final hymn, we heard the “WHOOP-WHOOP” of a fire truck from the volunteer fire department in Hamilton. The kids were able to hop in, run the lights, test the siren, and talk to a local firefighter. 2-year-old Will Bailey was ecstatic to see the truck and cried his eyes out when it left. This was all to signify that St. Nicholas’ Sunday School program for the year is “fired up” about Jesus and a new year of learning, fun, and fellowship. Parents and children also enjoyed some wonderful refreshments as they looked over the truck. Many thanks go to Peggy Martin and her battalion of fantastic Sunday School teachers!

Snoots Wedding

On August 8, Barry Snoots and Nancy Johannaber entered into the covenant of marriage at St. Nicholas. This was a wonderful wedding, and a whole church effort. Barry and Nancy are relatively new to the area and St. Nicholas. Luckily, they became regular attendees, and asked to be married at St. Nicholas. By the time the marriage rolled around, the photography was handled by Lynn Hall, the flowers by Barbara Bradley, the readings by Michelle Moody and Sue Halmrast, the acolyte duties by Sean Moody, and the music by our consultant Trey Clegg! It was a truly an example of how St. Nicholas pulls together to help one another! Kudos to everyone!

Below are a few of the pictures that Lynn took and here is a link to her friend John’s site, who also took pictures.

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