Praise God from whom all blessing flow…..If y’all could have been with us today you would have felt the Holy Spirit! The calla lilies at the foot of the altar were actually crying! Each leaf had a drop of dew hanging from its tip and I immediately felt they were tears…..tears of joy! The mission Church of the Ascension was lit up with glory as we celebrated the renewal of worship in that building. The owner of the building even told me to change the sign out in front of the building to show The Episcopal Church of Wise County–because he said, “your people will want the service times posted.” We never even asked him.Twenty people worshipped today and we sang our hearts out. We were honored to have Father Bruce Coggin celebrate and preach and his sermon was wonderful as he told us about Jesus’ ascension and how his disciples may have reacted to such an event. Also, we are supposed to go on doing what Jesus has taught us and touch others as we have been touched by Him. Very inspiring and comforting. We had four folks drive from Wichita Falls to be with us, several from the Decatur area, and a few others from Peaster and Weatherford.JD Todd brought 6 blessed prayer shawls for us to have and to use for those who are ill, in need of special prayers or even for warmth when the church is a little too cool. What a wonderful ministry this is and we are very thankful that JD shared these beautifully crochets shawls with us.Mark made an an announcement that Bishop High will be with us on May 31 for Holy Eucharist and Confirmation…..Mark’s Confirmation! We are so excited! You might not realize it but we will have had Holy Eucharist 3 times in May. May has 5 Sundays; we had Canon Janet on the first Sunday, Father Bruce today, and we’ll have Bishop High on May 31. WOW!I am attaching a few pictures for you to see the work in progress and then how the church looked with the altar prepared and ready for Holy Eucharist.Thank you all for your prayers and support of our journey. Like I mentioned to Bishop High, “When God starts to work when His timing is right, He doesn’t mess around, does He? We are so thankful.”Love,For His Sake,Ellen
Fifth Sunday of Easter
Well folks, today it sounded like we had a full house. Eighteen strong, we were, and we sang our hearts out as Sarah Walker played beautiful tunes to some lovely hymns. It was an emotional service for me because the hymns spoke of such love, and I felt the outpouring of love of all who are praying for us.
We had Canon Janet Waggoner preaching and celebrating along with Deacon Tracie Middleton. Canon Janet’s husband, Ed, and their children, Wynne and Ben also came to worship with us. It was so nice to have them. We were blessed to have three additional people with us and it is our hope that they again join us for worship–good to have you with us Hailey Hollingsworth, Mildred Bolin, and Elinor Normand.
During the announcements Mark spoke from his heart as he offered the portable altar he constructed. He told of how it is a work in progress, just as our church is in the beginning stages. The forty-inch tall altar has removable legs and still has much sanding, wood filling, more sanding, and then staining to be done. There are no screws or nails; he fashioned pegs to hold all the pieces together. He said that it was a work of love and it was extremely important for him to give back for all the love we as a community have been shown. He also constructed a Paschal candle holder we are already using and an altar book stand which still needs finishing.
After the service we had refreshments and fellowship. Canon Janet and Deacon Tracie told us they are available to help us in any way possible to get the word out that we are having services every Sunday. Deacon Tracie fashioned some cards for us to use to get the word out with our name and location of services. It will also show a website address that will take people to a page with pictures, perhaps some of my updates, and ways to contact us to get further information. We will decide the final format of these cards and let Deacon Tracie know. She has volunteered her time to help us set this all up and to also set up a Facebook account.
All in all, things are moving right along. Our Lord is guiding us in the right direction and we are very, very thankful.
Love,
For His Sake,
Ellen
Sunday, Morning Prayer II
Hi everyone:
Yesterday we had 11 people worshipping with us at the Boonsville Community Center. It was a very nice service, with music/hymns and all. We are incorporating intercessory prayer at the proper spot in the prayer book to pray for those with special needs, for those who have died, and also prayers of thanksgiving for our many blessings. Two special women were there on Sunday, one is a recent lung transplant recipient, and the other survived a horrible, horrible car wreck some years back. Then when you think of all the medical problems Mark has been through with his amputations, strokes and seizures, along with my own medical near death experience, Mark likes to say, “there are 4 miracles in this room today.” And, people say that God does not perform miracles today. Yes, He does, and we are witnesses to them. When you witness miracles, you must “go and tell……….” The women at Jesus’ tomb didn’t go to tell the disciples that their Lord had risen. But, we today go forth and tell of the miracles we have seen.
God has been so very good to us and has placed all the right people in our path so that our little Episcopal Church of Wise County will prosper and grow. We thank each and every one of you for your support, love, gifts, and prayers. We feel the prayers and are blessed.
Thank you and God bless.
Love,
For His Sake,
Ellen
p.s. Attached are pictures of the Paschal candle holder/stand Mark made for us. It was so cool to have our Christ candle lit on Sunday.
Easter Sunday Service, 4-5-15
Hi everybody:
Today was one of the most beautiful days EV-ER! The rain was a blessing even though it made it just a tad messy this morning…no complaints here.
Today we had 16 people at the service. We were so proud to meet Canon Janet’s husband, Ed, and their children Wynne and Ben. All of them were participants in the service with the children being acolytes and Ed carrying the cross and taking up the collection. We sang like we were a huge church….maybe louder than we were good, but we definitely made a “joyous noise unto the Lord.” Our music, which makes our services so joyful, is beautiful and we really enjoy it….thanks to Sarah Walker.
We received a gift of a brass chalice, paten, and a ciborium that was purchased by Fr. Bruce Coggin and Owanah Anderson and used by All Saints for their services. This is a beautiful addition to what we already have and we will take extra special care of these items which are on loan to us. JD Todd was gracious enough to drive from Wichita Falls to our house to deliver them and we can’t thank him enough for doing that. Canon Janet brought us a Paschal candle to keep burning during the Easter season and we will try to make a candle holder for it. It is from the Episcopal Church in Wichita Falls and originally from Ascension in Lewisville. We received a veil and two burses and we used the gold side of the veil today and the white burse on the altar….these were gifts from St. Stephen’s in Hurst. Thank you cards were written by Sarah Walker and we all signed them today; they will be mailed tomorrow.
I am attaching a few pictures of the altar, the chalice, paten, ciborium, and the Waggoner family.
Thank you all for celebrating today with us.
Allelulia! Christ is risen.
The Lord is risen indeed. Allelulia!
For His sake,
Ellen
March 23
Oh Boy! How wonderful it was to have Bishop High celebrate Holy Eucharist at our little Community Center on Sunday, March 22. We had three days to get something together that would be appropriate and everyone did his part to make it happen. So many thanks to folks; JD Todd got prayer books and candlesticks for us along with an altar book and Gospel book, hymnals from St. Stephen’s in Hurst, palms from Elinor Normand, a register from Janet Waggoner (plus she and her family will be with us for Easter…Yay!), Tracie tracked down some altar kits, Sarah Walker brought her organ and sweet music, Katie Sherrod brought her camera and took photos throughout the service. Pictures should be up on the website tomorrow sometime.
Not only all that, but we know we are being prayed for. In fact, we received a letter from a sister church, St. Stephen’s in Heathsville, VA, telling us that they were praying for us on the very first day we met for Morning Prayer at our house. These folks went through similar circumstances and lost their church building for five years before the litigation was resolved. They pray that God will continue to guide, inspire and bless us. All of the congregation signed the letter. The Rev. Lucia K. Lloyd is the Rector of St. Stephen’s. They know what we are going through and so they wanted to encourage us. What a beautiful thing!
If I have forgotten anyone, please forgive me.
For His Sake,
Ellen
p.s. Y’all come be with us on Palm Sunday. We’ll have Morning Prayer and fellowship.
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