The Church of the Holy Communion
Episcopal
St. Peter, Minnesota
An Inclusive Church -
A Welcoming People
We're glad you found our website. We hope you'll visit our church. We are a friendly congregation in a beautiful historic building. We worship in traditional liturgical style--then enjoy informal fellowship with coffee and good food.
Lenten Message from
Rev. Cindi Brickson
Please join Episcopalians around the US in keeping Lent: The Epsicopal Church Foundation is offering a number of opportunities for prayer and faith formation. Here are 3:
This year, Lent begins with Ash Wednesday on February 22 and ends on Easter Sunday, April 9th. Lent brings us to a time of self-examination and reflection about our relationship with God, and provides an opportunity for fasting from the behaviors, ideas and objects in life that pull us away from God. Below please find a collection of resources for Lent and Easter with ideas to help make good use of this time of reflection.
1. The Episcopal Church invites us to walk with Jesus in his Way of Love and into the experience of transformed life through Life Transformed: The Way of Love in Lent, which includes videos, adult forum curriculum, calendar, publicity materials, and quiet day curriculum available in English, Spanish, and French.
2. Lent Madness is an offering of Forward Movement, created in 2010 by the Rev. Tim Schenck. Instead of basketball’s March Madness, Lent Madness pits saints against each other in a tournament-like, single elimination bracket. To join in the fun and learn more about the saints, click here. To see Forward Movement’s different Lenten and Easter products, click here.
3. Living Compass offers a complete toolkit including a Lent devotional available in English and Spanish, a Facilitator's Guide, a flyer for publicity, images with quotes from the devotion to use on social media, and participants can sign up to receive the reflections for free via email as part of their series, Living Well Through Lent 2023: Practicing Compassion With All Your Heart, Soul, Strength, and Mind.
Keeping Lent 2023
At the beginning of our Sunday Service yesterday, I offered an invitation for us all to observe a Holy Lent. From our BCP, here is a part of the text I read:
Dear People of God: The first Christians observed with great devotion the days of our Lord’s passion and resurrection, and it became the custom of the Church to prepare for them by a season of penitence and fasting. This season of Lent provided a time in which converts to the faith were prepared for Holy Baptism. It was also a time when those who, because of notorious sins, had been separated from the body of the faithful were reconciled by penitence and forgiveness, and restored to the fellowship of the Church. Thereby, the whole congregation was put in mind of the message of pardon and absolution set forth in the Gospel of our Savior, and of the need which all Christians continually have to renew their repentance and faith.
I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word. And, to make a right beginning of repentance, and as a mark of our mortal nature, let us now kneel before the Lord, our maker and redeemer.
In the sermon, I asked each of us to consider how we might keep Lent this year, orienting our lives towards actively living into God’s approving gaze. James Steven Wheeler, in his book Serving a Crucified King: Meditations on Faith, Politics, and the Unyielding Pursuit of God’s Reign, writes of this invitation:
… finding rest within God’s approving gaze and the blessed assurance of Christ’s unending love and unmerited grace provides for us the psychosocial security required to live as whole, integral persons.
This year, I invite us all to observe a holy Lent, and to lean into traditional Lenten practice from within this contemporary framework. Here are some questions for your careful thought:
· what needs to be uprooted in you? (This conversation is your prayer practice)
· what is one practice you can observe to re-root yourself in God’s approving grace? (This is your Lenten fast.)
· where can you give of your time or money to extend that gaze to others? (This is a way of almsgiving.)
Passion Sunday, April 2
9:30 AM
Holy Communion, St. Peter
(with Rev. Cynthia Bronson Swiegert)
St. John’s Mankato
(with Rev. Cindi Brickson)
Holy Thursday, April 6
5:30 PM Holy Thursday Service
with Foot Washing and Eucharist
St. John’s Mankato
Good Friday, April 7
9 AM Morning Prayer
Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86884964347?pwd=SldxR3NIZzFGRFgrTVhwR2RnSlVvQT09
Noon Stations of the Cross
Hybrid
7 PM Good Friday Prayer
Holy Communion, St Peter
Holy Saturday, April 8
9 AM Morning Prayer
Zoom Link TBA
Noon Midday Prayer
Zoom Link TBA
7 PM Easter Vigil
Easter Sunday, April 9
6 AM Sunrise Service
with Easter Fire
St. John’s, Mankato
9:30 AM Easter Eucharist
Holy Communion, St. Peter
The Bishop's Choice...
"A Future That's Bigger Than the Past"
Book Club and Soup!!
(with a Hybrid Option)
Wednesdays in March: 1, 8, 15, 22, 29
7 PM on Zoom
The book is available at Amazon (and other booksellers)
in print and electtronic versions
https://www.amazon.com/Future-Thats-Bigger-Than-Past/dp/1786221772
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89301656424?pwd=Y3FCRHR3V3I3RG9vWVdaMWxkRFJ4UT09
Vineyard Stewards Small Group Ministry
Time is short! The first day on the farm will be either March 4th or 11th, weather depending
Ready to root deeply in the gift economy/ecology of God's good Creation?
Join others from St John's and Holy Communion as a Vineyard Steward at the ECMN Mission at Good Courage Farm in Hutchinson https://www.goodcourage.farm/.
The Vineyard Stewards Small Group Ministry is a commitment to seasons-long relationships with one another, with Hebrew scripture and the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and most notably, with a row or 2 of cold-hardy grape vines at Good Courage Farm. Our goals are to experience reciprocity with Creation, deepen our understanding of vineyard metaphor and imagery in Jesus' teaching and in our lives, and end the season with bottles of Eucharistic wine for sharing in our parishes or congregations.
Reach out to Margo W. Druschel with questions? mdruschel@gmail.com
for more information about Good Courage Farm:
https://www .goodcourage.farm/smallgroupministry
Photo by jose alfonso sierra on Unsplash
Presentation on Ukraine
With Mykola (Nick) Pashkovskyi,
Sibley East Foreign Exchange Student
April 16
At the Social Hour following the Sunday Service
Ten Great Things about the Episcopal Church
Our church...
Warmly welcomes, loves, and includes all.
Ordains women, as well as men, to the clergy and bishophood.
Attracts an eclectic people, as 70% of Episcopalians are from other faith traditions
Includes many famous people, such as Colin Powell, Judy Garland, Sandra Day O'Connor, Bobby McFerrin, John Steinbeck, and Garrison Keillor - to name a few!
Encourages and treasures the service of lay members.
Provides open communion where all are invited to partake in the Lord's Supper.
Welcomes an open discussion of controversial topics and is open in matters of faith.
Works for social justice, an end to poverty and hunger, a greener environment, and better education worldwide.
Seeks to understand rather than judge.
Loves to sing and praise God through beautiful and uplifting liturgy and music.
We are a Family!
We would love to have you join us!
All are Welcome!
Services and Location
We celebrate at 9:30 AM on Sunday morning.
We're located at 118 North Minnesota Ave
(Hwy 169) in St. Peter, Minnesota:
1/2 block north of Broadway, on the west side.
We are Proud of our History
Founded October 27, 1854
Please click on the Parish History
in the top menu to view our extraordinary history.
Meet Transition Priest,
Rev. Cindi Brickson
Cindi has spent her professional ministry serving in a number of parishes and in a variety of positions, including Liturgist, Pastoral Care Giver, Director of Music, and in Sacramental Preparation/ Faith Formation. The parishes in which she served ranged in size from 12 to 2800 family units, and at one point she was responsible for the recruitment, coordination, and training of over 500 concurrent volunteers; ages 3 to 80, in multigenerational groups serving Liturgy or Faith Formation ministries. Cindi has also served in Chaplaincy positions within the Allina network as well as with the Children’s Hospitals of MN; and as the Director of Chaplaincy and CPE Educator for the Good Samaritan Society Specialty Care Community in Robbinsdale MN.
Meet Bishop Craig Loya
The Rt, Rev. Craig Loya was consecrated the X Bishop of the Episcopal Church in Minnesota on June 6, 2020. Bishop Loya served as Dean of Trinity Cathedral in Omaha, Nebraska from 2013-2020, and was teh Canon to the Orinary in the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas from 2009-2012. He received his Master of Divinity from Yale University and a Diploma in Anglican Studies from Berkeley Divinity School at Yale in 2002.
Please note: Most attendees enter through the parking lot entrance, which is accessed from West Chestnut Street and is handicapped accessible.