Christmas at Nativity

Join us this year for worship at Christmas time! We will gather on the morning of December 24th at 9am for Rite I Eucharist with Hymns. Then at 5:00pm, our special Christmas Eve music will begin as a prelude for our 5:30pm Christmas Eve Candlelight Eucharist service with incense. On Christmas morning there will be a 10:00am Eucharist service with piano and carols. If you have any questions, please call the church office at 662-453-7786.

Nativity Day School

The Nativity Day School welcomes children ages 10 weeks through the 3k year. The school is open Monday to Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Our school is staffed with highly qualified teachers and caregivers to ensure that the students of the Nativity Day School receive the best care and instruction possible. If you are interested in enrolling your student in the Nativity Day School please contact the Director of the Day School, Landi Mohamed at 662-453-7786.

A Note from Peter (June/July 2017)

Following the example of both St. Stephen’s, Indianola and The Atlantic, the Nativity newsletter will only have one issue this summer. So, don’t go calling the office around Independence Day looking for another mailing! Everything you need for the next two months of Nativity programming is in here, server schedule and all.

Part of the reason for doing this, of course, is that this summer Sarah will be away for six weeks on educational leave as she continues pursuing her Masters Degree in Non-Profit Management at Notre Dame. As most of you all know, Sarah has been pursuing this degree through distance learning for the past two years, but the program requires a total of ten weeks of residential learning during the summer. She will complete that requirement this summer and is hoping to complete the program in December! While Sarah is away, I will be assisted in the office by Mary Gregory Porter – working on behalf of Fred T. Neely, Alicia Dallas, and Caroline Colquett. Thanks to these great leaders for their time and commitment to keeping the trains running on time!

In the meantime, we are looking forward as a community to two fun summer time activities. Vacation Bible School will kick into gear July 11-13 from 5:30-7:30pm, and our theme will be The Greatest Commandments. Over three nights, we’ll lead those kids entering 3K to 5th grade through activities that explore Jesus’ simple instructions for faithful living: Love God. Love your neighbor as yourself. As we have for the past many years, this program will be created entirely from scratch. VBS doesn’t come from a pre-planned curriculum at Nativity, which is both more challenging and more rewarding. As always, we will need volunteers both to assist in the programming and in the meals for these three nights.

But even before VBS, it’s time for the Nativity softball team to hit the field once again! In- side, you’ll find a schedule of all of our games. We have over thirty players who signed up to be on our team, which is about the size of an 8am Eucharist at Nativity! What that means is that every single game will be a great fellowship opportunity, both for the players as well as the fans who come to cheer them on. This was a highlight of last year for me, and I can’t wait to be a part of it again.

It should be a great two months together! After all this fun, I look forward to telling you what’s happening in August!

Peace,
Peter+

A Note from Peter (May 2017)

One of the constants in my life in the Episcopal Church has been the springtime tradition of Youth Sunday. We did it growing up at St. Peter’s, Oxford; as a youth minister at St. Philip’s, Jackson, it was my job to corral the EYC into the roles of usher, preacher, etc.; and at Nativity, Youth Sunday remains a must-see event.

This year, Youth Sunday falls on May 14, and as usual, our young people will help carry the roles of lector, usher, and intercessor at the 10:30 service. Their presence around the altar will remind us, if we’ve forgotten, that the Church is much broader than the boring grown folk who sit in vestry meetings. Each of us – from screaming infant to senior warden – is as essential to this church family as the next. Youth Sunday reminds us of this.

Our custom at Nativity is to celebrate Youth Sunday the Sunday before graduation, which almost always falls on Mother’s Day. And because the task of preaching typically falls to a senior, our Youth Sunday sermon is often an occasion for graduating students to thank their mothers, the congregation, and others. Nonetheless, what I most look forward to in these youth sermons is hearing how our young people read, interpret, and connect the scripture of the day with their experience and life of our church family.

This year, we don’t have any Nativity seniors. Evan Lindsay is a regular at EYC, but he’s a member of Church of the Advent, Sumner. When the issue of preaching came up, this presented a problem for a moment, until finally we decided: we don’t need a graduate; we need a preacher! I am grateful that Ellie Knight accepted my invitation to preach to us on May 14. Perhaps all of you know Ellie already, but what you might not know is that she’s already taking up the mantle of church leadership, serving on Happening Staff this March. I am thrilled to hear how she wrestles with scripture, and what word of encouragement she brings from it to us.

One of the great gifts of this church family is the way that it raises up young leaders, nurturing them in the faith, and then sending them out into the world to love and serve the Lord. I look forward to celebrating them with you in a few weeks!

Peace,
Peter+

A Note from Peter (March 2017)

With the 2017 Speaker Series this weekend and Nativity hosting Happening #85 the following weekend, one could be excused for forgetting that Ash Wednesday is March 1! But indeed it is, and so, at 12:05 and 5:30pm we will gather to pray for the world; to have ashes imposed on our foreheads; and for the invitation, once again, “to the observance of a Holy Lent.”

For the last ten years, my observance of Lent has always included listening to the St. Matthew Passion by J.S. Bach. This massive work of classical music recounts and reflects upon the story of the last supper, Jesus’ arrest, trial, and crucifixion. It was originally written to be performed on Good Friday in the church where Bach served as church musician. Truly, this is a piece of classical music meant to be an act of worship. It is crushingly beautiful, and at times inspiring, mournful, and surprisingly joyful in places. Each Lent, it allows me to dwell deeply in the story of our Lord’s suffering and death and his love for us.

My hope, this Lent, is to share that gift with you all in an adult forum class I’m calling “Bible Study with Bach.” We’ll read together Matthew 26 and 27, pausing periodically to watch a performance of the Passion from the Basilica of Saint-Denis in Paris. In the performance, you get a sense for Bach’s own spirituality, how he interprets the biblical text, and what he thinks it all means. And just like reading scripture with any other friend, how Bach reads the story might shape how you read the story. These days, when I read of Judas giving back the money for which he betrayed Jesus, I hear the depth of his repentance that Bach puts into music. When I think of Peter in the garden denying Jesus, I hear the mourning that Bach puts into Peter’s voice. Two years ago, my entire Palm Sunday sermon was inspired by the music Bach composed for two words St. Matthew wrote: “wept bitterly.”

I’ll be assisted in this undertaking by our friend Ben Arnold, assistant professor of music at MVSU and known to many as a bookseller at Turnrow. St. Matthew Passion moves me on a deep level, but when it comes to talking music history and theory, I get out of my depth very quickly. I am grateful to Ben for helping me out in that department. In addition, David Williamson has given an introduction to Bach and the Passion elsewhere in this newsletter. As David points out, all of you already know music from the St. Matthew Passion. It’s in our hymnal, and it’s in a lot of weddings too!

This offering begins March 19 and will continue through Easter Day. Whether you’re a big music lover or not, why not take this Lent and this opportunity to spend a little more time with the story that makes all the difference in the world?

Peace,
Peter+