141 (864) 585-2268

FEBRUARY 2021 MONTHLY NEWSLETTER

WE WILL CARRY ON —

LOVING GOD AND LOVING EACH OTHER

Having a double-issue for December-January is a

practical necessity. It’s also a difficult time not to have

a published form of news for the Parish to read about

what has, is, and will be happening.

One of the unexpected gifts we’ve been given

through this time of social distancing and quarantining

is the opportunity for us to develop our acumen in the

area of offering services, programs, classes, concerts,

devotionals, and other offerings via Zoom,

livestreaming, recorded videos, social media, etc. I

wonder how different it will be when we are utilizing

these communication tools AND at the same time,

we’re also able to meet in person.

A wonderful result of this development of

communication tools is that many of the things we are

doing to increase our reach will continue after we are

able to meet in person again. We will be able to offer

more of a Both/And option for our ministries. We might

already be starting to take for granted the opportunity

to participate in services, classes, meetings, etc. from

places other than on the Advent domain. I hope we

won’t forget that a year ago, much of what we are

doing now was not happening. Some of these things

weren’t being explored and we weren’t investing time

and resources into developing these technological

advances because we didn’t see the need to do so as

being a priority or necessity.

In a sense, this is what I mean by “the unexpected

gift” of the pandemic. I imagine that if given the

choice between no Covid-19 or no livestreaming or

Zoom, we’d all choose the former.

Communicating God’s love to each other and to

the world is certainly apparent in our Vision and Mission

statements. We are called to be people who have the

light of Christ within us and to have such a measure of

this light that others can and will see it.

Stop and ask yourself

- How are others seeing Christ’s light in me?

- Can others see Christ’s light in me?

- What can I do in my life so that Christ’s light is

seen more easily? continued on page 9

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Gleaners and Seekers continue to meet via

Zoom every Sunday from 9-10 am. The

Seekers class continues to look at the theme

“Faith in Turbulent Times”. The Gleaners class

studies the scripture lessons to be read during

the 10:15 am Eucharist.

Because of the limitations posed by the

pandemic, all of our classes are being held

online. To receive a link to the Zoom class,

contact David Pittman

(dpittman517@gmail.com) and we will add

you to the weekly distribution list.

Book and Brown Bag 2021

We’re starting off the year with a book by renowned Episcopal au-

thor, professor, and preacher, Barbara Brown Taylor. Her 2019 book,

Holy Envy: Finding God in the Faith of Others, explores her experience

as a religion professor at Piedmont College in Georgia and what we

can discover about God in the religions of the world. We’ll begin on

Tuesday, February 9 with a discussion of the Introduction and Chap-

ter One. Books are available for $14. Please email

nmorris@churchofadvent.org if you would like to purchase a copy

and arrange to pick it up.

Women’s Bible Study

Join us on Thursdays at 10 am on Zoom

as we continue to study Revelation:

Extravagant Hope. Contact Paula Griffin

at 504.3686 or pgriffin@churchofadvent

for more information.

Forward Day by Day devotional booklets available inside the

door to the Satterlee receptionist area from 9 –5 on Tuesday

and Thursdays.

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A SEASON OF HIBERNATION – Happy 2021 everybody! Clearly the pandemic is not over, though the increasing

availability of vaccines gives cause for hope! Since the middle of December, the music ministry has treated these

winter months as a season of hibernation. All in-person rehearsals and classes have been suspended in line with

other in-person gatherings at the church, though weekly check-ins have happened this past January thanks to

“Zoom” videoconferencing technology. The possibility of in-person gatherings will be revisited by the middle of the

month.

VIRTUAL TALENT SHOW ON FEBRUARY 16th – By now

I think that all of us (myself included) are used to

all annual events becoming virtual instead of in-

person. Therefore the annual Shrove Tuesday

talent show will be offered on the church’s

YouTube page instead of via a live audience. All

parishioners ages 6 through 18 are invited to

participate. Acts can include singing, playing an

instrument, or dancing. Performers can either send

in their videos to interim communications director

Jeanelle Smith or come to the church to have

acts recorded. To sign up, please contact Brennan Szafron by February 9th at 504-3694 or

bszafron@churchofadvent.org. Acts should be no

longer than 3 minutes in length. There will be a

limit of 10 performers. Jeanelle will record anyone

who’s interested on February 11th. Videos should

also be submitted by that date.

MEANWHILE COME JOIN THE MUSIC AND FORMATION CLASS, OPEN TO ALL

PARISHIONERS! – In February, all adult ensembles will be merged into

cyberspace every Wednesday night between 6:30 and 7:15 for a weekly

Music and Formation Class. This class is open to the entire parish. It’s a chance

for people who are inside the music ministry to get to know those outside of

the music ministry and vice versa. Those that join will get to learn about various

aspects of sacred music, including its history, its theory and different pieces.

We’ll even have some guest speakers. To join the class, please call 504-3694 or

e-mail bszafron@churchofadvent.org. There’ll never be any homework!

WORD AND MUSIC SERIES TO BE OFFERED VIRTUALLY THIS YEAR – Last year’s Lenten “Word and Music”

series came to an abrupt halt with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. By now we’ve learned how to

adapt to it, meaning that weekly Lenten programs will be available for viewing every Wednesday dur-

ing Lent between 12:05 and 12:30 p.m. The first program, offered on February 24th will feature a guest

preacher in the context of a Noonday Prayer service. The musical programs will take place in March,

and be announced in next month’s Parish Paper.

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ONLINE CHOIR AVAILABLE FOR CHILDREN IN

FEBRUARY! - Children of all ages

(particularly those in grades 2-5) are invited

to tune in to the church’s YouTube page

every Wednesday at 5:15 for an exciting

half hour long online experience. Come

sing along with Mrs. Frick and Dr. Szafron all

throughout the month as we teach you

some great songs of the faith that you can

sing from the comfort of your own homes.

We are looking forward to “seeing” you!

To donate please contact

Cathy McCabe at 864.706.1845

or email

cathy.mccabe78@gmail.com

Location: PCLC circular Drive

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Hello Advent Family! We are excited to share this time with

you all, one of our favorite times of the year, the season of

Mardi Gras. With the season of Mardi Gras comes our

famous Shrove Tuesday pancake supper. While this year’s

pancake supper might look different, we are still moving

ahead full force to bring you all the joys that Shrove

Tuesday should bring.

Moving Forward: As each day passes we look forward to

what the next day will bring. Right now, we are looking

forward to our pilgrimage trip to Nova Scotia, Canada in

June with our pilgrims. We are so excited to share that our

pilgrims only have $1,000 left to raise to meet their

fundraising goal for this trip.

Please join us in supporting our pilgrims by purchasing an

Advent EYC sweatshirt! The sweatshirts are $35 and come in

navy, blue, and pink. We hope you all buy one and feel the

embrace of EYC as we are socially distant and spiritually

connected!

All of our regularly scheduled EYC activities have been

postponed until further notice. Please stay tuned on social media each week for updates to be notified of any

changes. We love you all and we’re praying for you daily!

Zac & Caroline

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The 2021 Grant application is now

available for nonprofits! Please pass the word! The deadline to apply is February 10th.

Here is the link to apply:

https://form.jotform.com/203484423285153

The ECW Bazzar raised over $24,000

in November. The money raised will

be awarded to nonprofits in our

community.

Spring Adult Confirmation Class

We encourage every person at the Church of the Advent to deepen his/her understanding

of the Episcopal Church, Christianity as a whole, and how to live faithfully. You are invited to

join the Spring Adult Confirmation Class beginning in March. The class is required for Confir-

mation or Reception in the Episcopal Church. To register, please contact Elisabeth Hayes

@ehayes@churchofadvent.org or 864.586.2150.

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Operation Magi

Thank you to everyone that helped 50

children at Mary H. Wright have a Merry

Christmas this year. And a special thanks

to Isabel Barber and Pat Jennings for co-

ordinating this special Mary H. Wright pro-

ject.

It was a snowy day at Mary H. Wright!

Using Outreach Funds, the Advent is delivering

homemade “Gail and Jessica“ meals to our

residential non profit programs in Spartanburg.

Our Young Families made cards to include with

the meals. Here, guests at GoForth say

Thanks!”

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I often ask these questions of myself. I ask you to consider them. I ask without implying any judgment. Again,

there is no judgment attached in my asking this of you. I save the judgment for myself, and I imagine I’m not a very

fair judge of myself. My tendency is to be fairly critical of my own efforts to live my life in such a way that others

can see Christ’s light in me.

This month, we’ll enter into Lent with Ash Wednesday falling on February 17. I hope you’ll join in as much possi-

ble in the offerings our staff and commission members have been working hard to plan and execute. Read on and

discover the many things that are awaiting us so that we might better observe a “holy Lent”.

One of the things we will offer is drive-thru ashes from 7:30-9am, 11:30am-1pm, and 5-6pm on February 17.

Please stay tuned for more details.

We will carry on. We will Love God. We will love each other. We will do so in order that “Christ’s light be seen in

us.”

God bless you and keep you, and remember that you are loved. Ned+

CONTINUED “FROM THE RECTOR”

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AS OF JANUARY 25, 2021

DIOCESAN CYCLE OF PRAYER: Grace Church, Anderson

ANGLICAN CYCLE OF PRAYER: The Church of Bangladesh

WE ARE ASKED TO REMEMBER THESE PARISHIONERS: Beverly Barrs, Gloria Bock, Allie Boyd, Cecil Brown,

Katie Burris, Mac Cates, Judith Chase, Terry Clark, J.D. Clarke, Ted Conwell, John Dargan, Ginger Davis, John

Davis, Phyllis Delapp, Dale Dixon, Roy Ellis, Eddie Fargis, Bill Ferguson, Aly Goodwin, Ed Hall, Daniel Haskell,

Kate Haskell, Linda Hays, Bob Heim, Nancy Holland, Jackie Hollis, Richard Hollis, Robert Hunt, Taft Hunt,

Pinckney Irwin, Julian Josey, Brenda Lytle, Jesse Martin, Jim McCullough, Tania McDuffie, Glenn McGee,

Kathleen McGee, Linda McGee, Phil McGee, Anne McIntyre, Cynthia Moseley, Dinny Moses, Mary Ann Munn,

Herb Neely, Julie Oates, Montgomery Oates, Jack Rutter, Katherine Scoggins, Lindsey Scoggins, Prudy Scott,

Molly McCuen Sherard, Shawn Simpkins-Arganbright Reddick Still, Susan Taylor, Jay Wakefield, Rusty

Washburn, Joe Whisenant, Reecie Wilkes

AND FOR THESE PERSONS: Suzanne Wynn Brown, Jim Burchfield, Marjorie Burnett, Jim Carlisle, Joann Carlisle,

Mason Carlisle, Nancy Carlisle, Jimmie Cannon Glen Carson, Danny Cash, Hilda Chapman, Peach Collins, Chase

Comer, James Henry Cook, Lizzey Cook, Patrick Cook, Steve Cook, Aiden Rito Cope, Steve Crane, Charles

DeMars, John Ebert Devin Edwards, Talon Edwards, Inge Eubanks, Libby Eullory, Elizabeth Flowers, Al

Folcher, B B Gaylord, Florence Watters Godfrey, Shirley Griffin, Art Grotz, Faye Guy, Nora Haskell, David

Harrelson, Donnie and Lynn Haus, Keith Henson, MacKenzie Hines, Fergie Horvath, Joan Horvath, Barbara

Humphries, Dick Humphries, Jan Hunter, John, Peggy Karpick, Steve Kelly, Grace Koehler, Marlene Lancaster

Donghee Lee, Susan Lockhart, Kevin Maffey, Maria McCall, Carroll and David McCullough, Tony Messel, Aidan

Milanowicz, Jean Gray Drake Mohs, Bob Monkouski, Chrissy Monaghan, Joyce & Mario P., Bobbie Parrish,

Kaelyn Porter, Rosemary Roberts, David Rowland, Denise Shoop, Grayson Spring, Mickey Suarez, Sylvia Sutka,

Robert Swager, David Taylor, Betty Thrower, Amoret Brown Tully, Nicholas Voyadgis, Peter Waid, Sarah

Williams, Deborah Worley, Justin Daniel Wyatt

FOR THESE PERSONS SERVING IN THE ARMED FORCES: Michael Brooks Bock (Army), Halcott R. Carter

(Navy), Maren W. Catolico (Army National Guard), Lundon Dudley (Army), Henry M. Graham (Army National

Guard), Christopher Guyne (Air Force), Michael R. Hall (Air Force), Alex Holland (Army), Jason Kopp (Navy),

Tripp Lynn (Navy), Morgan Milanowicz (Army), Travis Moore (Army National Guard), Michael McCraw (Navy),

Wayne Pennington (Army), Joshua Scybert (Army), Keytrick Thompson (Army), John Watters (Navy), and

Russell Westenhaver (Army Special Forces)

FOR THESE EXPECTANT COUPLES: Caroline and Donnie Stinson

FOR THE BIRTH OF THESE CHILDREN: Tate Hall and Layton McQueen Graham, sons of Lindsey and Chad

Graham and grandsons of David Graham and Karen and Mike Fradua

FOR THESE PERSONS WHO HAVE DIED: Allene Taylor, Tom Borowski, Josh Smith, Iris Milhous, Wayne

Simmons, Anne Porcher Perrin, Mary Mills, Stephanie Stewart, Max Poteat, Gloria Kiriakides, Beverly

McCutchen, Tom Huesman, Marsha Rudolph, Annie Holland, Helen Farmer, Ginger Watson

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