The Saturday before Thanksgiving, several St. Philippian youths met up with youth minister David Gilbert and youth leader Sarah Silcox to go door-to-door downtown to collect canned goods for Tricounty Family Ministries ahead of one of its busiest weeks of the year. The kids divided themselves into small groups and headed off in all directions to begin their mission to top last year’s 600-pound total. Although this year’s total––upwards of 200 pounds––seemed like a big drop from last year (many folks were already out of town for Thanksgiving), David Gilbert discovered when he made the drop-off that afternoon that the food had come at just the right time, and Tricounty Director Sue Hanshaw was incredibly grateful....
Remember when churches were open all the time? Remember how nice it was to go in and sit quietly in prayer? Remember the peace you felt? Well, the world is different now and our churches are closed and locked much of the time. I was at Bible study when Elizabeth Bowles spoke to us about the Open Door Ministry. She explained the desperate need for volunteers that were needed for just two hours a week. I was new to Charleston and new to the Anglican Church, but I knew then that God was telling me to step out of my comfort zone and join the Open Door Ministry....
Click the link below to read the St. Philip's eSPIRE, the email version of our weekly inSPIRE newsletter, which is packed with information about all that's going on in the life of our parish....
The St. Philip’s Home Missions Committee is once again partnering with Tricounty Family Ministries to help brighten Christmas for Charleston families by collecting $25 gift cards to Walmart, Family Dollar, Big Lots, and Dollar Tree so that parents in need can have the dignity of purchasing a gift for their child. The Committee is also working with St. John’s Chapel, a mission church of our diocese, to collect $25 gift cards to Walmart or Target for the teachers of Sanders-Clyde Elementary School, who have poured their hearts into the students of Charleston's Charleston's Eastside neighborhood. With Thanksgiving coming late this year, the trees, which will be decorated with the ornaments that are Home Missions Committee's gift to you to serve as a thank you or reminder, will be in the narthex for only two Sundays! ...
The church office closes at noon Wednesday, 11/27, and reopens Monday, 12/2 at 8:30 a.m. No printed inSPIRE Thanksgiving week. No Wednesdays Alive! service, supper, or classes on 11/27. No Rector’s Bible Study Thanksgiving Day. Youth Group and children’s choirs will not meet Thanksgiving week....
If you were at the last ECW meeting in October, you may have heard me mention off the cuff that if we were to lose Gene Lesesne, the Tea Room could not go on. Gene is 82 years old, rides his bike almost daily 20 miles, was a Naval aviator, and flew for Pan Am Airlines as a commercial pilot until he went to teach at the Citadel in the PE department. He was married to Ann, who was a nurse instructor at Trident Tech until she was disabled by rheumatoid arthritis. He was her caregiver until her death just about five years ago. He has two daughters: Angela, who runs the preschool with Lee Moore here at St. Philip’s, and Jessica Martin, who attends and volunteered here as a Sunday school teacher for years. His first great-grand was recently baptized here. I do not know how long the Lesesne family has been attending St. Philip’s, but I know they have a legacy of serving quietly....
On a recent November mid-week, a small group of St. Philippians traveled up to the glorious mountains of North Carolina to attend a much-touted (by our beloved priest and C.S. Lewis aficionado, Brian McGreevy ) C.S. Lewis symposium. The conference was a packed time filled with insights and sharing to encourage us and engage us on our Christian journey. People from 28 states, England, and Malta were drawn to the beautiful village of Montreat for this experience, officially titled “C.S. Lewis: Influence and Relevance Today.”...
Last weekend, high school students from across the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina came together for “ReGenerate,” a weekend retreat at Camp St. Christopher on Seabrook Island. The main verse for the weekend was Philippians 2:8-11, and our speaker, Nate Morgan Locke, a youth evangelist with Christianity Explored Ministries, talked about how sometimes we put on different hats (like different identities) when we are in different social scenes. He told us that as Christians, we should have the same integrity, rooted in Christ, in all of our social realms. Another strong point that he reminded us of is that we are never done growing in our relationship with Christ. There is always something that we can change and there are ways that we can continue to get closer and closer to Jesus!...
Once upon a time, there was a master violin maker whose greatest joy was to make the most beautiful violins in the world. With each new instrument that he created, he went to great effort and expense. When each was complete, he would spend many hours testing its limits by playing it as only he could. For he dearly loved each one. ...
When my son was in a terrible car accident in 2011, his life was in the balance, and with one phone call, the St. Philip’s prayer chain was alerted and I was able to get many people praying fast. I believe that through these prayers and many more throughout his recovery, he was saved and is now healed. St. Philip’s has had a prayer chain for about the last twenty years, and many of us have taken great comfort in knowing that our situation is getting prayed over “right now.” But now we have a new and improved prayer chain....
On November 2, St. John’s Chapel, a mission church of our diocese and one of St. Philip’s home mission partners, had its first community fundraising event. It was well attended and a huge success!unity...
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If you didn’t make it to this year’s parish retreat in the mountains of North Carolina, then you didn’t get to witness the joys of that weekend, among them the laughter at Friday’s social and sing-along, the hum of conversation as the bonds of our church family strengthened over each meal, and whatever happened at the hoedown that made the Millers and O’Dells rea...
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The 10th annual LAMB Dinner Party With a Purpose on October 24th was a very blessed night in the Lord. Thank you to all who prayed and helped make that night a true gospel success. There were many St. Philippians who came out even though they had to pack for Kanuga! Thank you. The theme for the event was God’s charge to Joshua, “Be strong and courageous ...” ...
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Have you ever looked at a hymn, wondering about the lines, dots, and squiggly things on the page? Or wanted to know why the choir paused, increased volume, or changed pace? Well, I did. While I enjoyed making a joyful noise, aka singing, I found it difficult to sing an unfamiliar hymn. I wanted to participate more fully in worship by learning how to read music....
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During Saturday’s program at Kanuga, the Rev. Dr. Kendall Harmon gave the St. Philippians in attendance a homework assignment: write a psalm of thanksgiving for a person, a place, or an event. Below are some of the psalms we wrote. ...
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That October day, Tracy Graudin was grateful just to be alive. She walked with her bare feet in the surf along the shore at Folly Beach, S.C. The sky was a vivid blue, electrifying and bright. As she meandered along, Tracy spotted the orange-and-black of a Monarch butterfly, the stained-glass pattern of its wings flitting past her in the brisk sea breeze. Its fragile b...
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Thank you, St. Philippians, for your most generous outpouring of love shown with stocking Tricounty Family Ministries’ pantry! You donated over 1,000 items...
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Last Wednesday, I attended the ECW fall dinner along with a large group of some of my favorite people ... the women of St. Philip’s! When asked if I would write about the experience, I went to prayer, and my thoughts began to revolve around the words “call,” “story,” and “kingdom.” The evening was one of food and fellowship punctuated by a talk given by th...
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Wednesday, October 9, was a beautiful fall afternoon in Charleston! If you happened to walk down Church Street, you would have seen the Red Cross Blood Mobile parked between the church and the Parish House. You would also have seen some of St. Philip’s Home Missions Committee members checking parishioners in to give blood for St. Philip’s First Annual Blood Drive in pa...
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Polly Dickson has been volunteering as a youth leader at St. Philip’s for 17 years, which means, if the middle schoolers are correct when they guess that she’s 25 now, she started when she was just eight years old. For 16 of those years, she’s worked side by side with youth minister David Gilbert, and they’ve developed a leadership style for middle schoolers that w...
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