St. Alban’s Church, St. Pete Beach
open, inclusive, welcoming
St. Alban’s is a faith community where diversity is honored and celebrated; where acceptance, encouragement and love are given so that all people may explore their journey in faith; and where, through our many gifts, we cultivate a desire to give in thankfulness for all God has given us.
We are a parish of the Episcopal Diocese of Southwest Florida and are part of the world wide Anglican Communion. The Rt Rev. Dabney T. Smith is the Bishop of the Diocese. The Rt Rev. Barry Howe and J. Michael Garrison are Assisting Bishops.
The Rev. Gigi Conner is the Priest in Charge.
CELEBRATING 50 YEARS – THE ATTIC SHOPPE
March 8 @ 11:30am - Luncheon and Fashion Show
The Attic Shoppe, a thrift store on Corey Avenue celebrates 50 years this year. The Shoppe has been continually open since 1964. The annual fashion show will be featuring fashions from the 60′s. There is no charge for this event – please do bring a salad to share (maybe a recipe from the 60′s) Please Come, invite friends. Call the church office (727) 360-8406.
LENTEN QUIET DAY
Saturday March 29, 10:am – 2:00 pm
Our Lenten Journey Continues
Led by the Rev. Muriel deBussy, Assisting Priest
What better way to enter into the mysteries of Holy Week as it approaches, than to spend some time together in stillness and peace, seeking God’s face, meditating on God’s word. Three brief reflections will be offered, followed by periods of silence, in which you can pray, walk around the grounds, read or even nap. Keeping silence is really not such a difficult discipline, and it is in these times of silence that God can best speak to our hearts.
We will begin in the Church Chapel. Please try to arrive a little early so that we are all settled in and can start promptly at 10:00. Please bring a bag lunch. Coffee and tea will be provided. You will even have the option of talking at lunch time, if you so choose! Please sign up in the Welcome Center or call the church office so we may prepare properly. Come with an open heart, and let God fill you up.
ASH WEDNESDAY SERVICES – March 5
12 Noon and 7:00 PM
IMPOSITION OF ASHES AND HOLY EUCHARIST
The custom of putting ashes on our foreheads began long ago when people used the ashes as a way to express sadness. In the Old Testament, Job thinks about his sins and says “I repent in dust and ashes.” Job is saying that ashes show repentance. This practice of using ashes to make a cross on the forehead is over 1100 years old. When the priest make the sign of the cross in ashes on our foreheads, we are saying “I am sorry for my sins.” The words said by the priest “you are dust and to dust you shall return” remind us that we are all like Eve and Adam: We have come from the earth, and we shall return to the earth. The ashes used are residue from last year’s Palm Sunday service. The palms were burned on Shrove Tuesday evening.
LENTEN SERIES - Singing the Unsung: a DVD discussion series featuring
Scottish minister and composer John L. Bell
Wednesdays beginning MARCH 12 -April 9 @ 6pm
please bring simple dish to share.
We are partnering with St. Augustine’s Church in St. Petersburg for the series. Each week we’ll go back and forth between churches – car-pooling on the times we go to St. Augustine’s. A sign-up sheet is located in the Welcome Center in the Church or you may call the Church Office to register 360-8406. Topics for this series include: Why we worship, why we sing, Christian Music around the world, becoming the Body of Christ, how to live the Gospel. All are welcome – a wonderful way to discover and discuss new insights.
“What we sing shapes our faith: do we sing about God’s creation, the equality of men and women? About God’s love for justice, about our concern for other people? Or do we just sing about “me”? Ultimately, what we sing repeatedly shapes our belief, our discipleship, and our faith.” John L. Bell, The Iona Community
THE FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT
We claim our Anglican heritage by using the Great Litany in worship on March 9th. The Litany was the first English language rite prepared by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, the first Protestant archbishop of Canterbury. It is hard to understand at this point in history, but at that time all church services were in Latin. It was not until the Protestant reformation that liturgy began to be performed in the vernacular language. Henry VIII commissioned Cranmer to write the Litany because at the time it was the practice for litanies to be offered in procession through public neighborhoods. Henry was disappointed that people were not responding and joining in the prayers. He keenly perceived that this was because the people “understode no parte of suche prayers or suffrages as were used to be songe and sayde.” He accordingly decreed that a litany be written in English. Cranmer compiled the litany from a combination of Catholic, Lutheran and Greek Orthodox sources. It remains to the present day almost entirely the same, sung to the same chants Cranmer originally assigned. In the Episcopal Church’s 1979 Book of Common Prayer, the Litany was changed to “The Great Litany” (p. 148), distinguishing it from other litanies in the Prayer Book.