Are you interested in learning more about Parish of the Epiphany? We invite you to our Newcomer Coffee Hour on Sunday, October 24 at 11:15 am, immediately following the 10:00 am worship service. Join us in Upper Parish Hall to find out more about who we are as a parish and how to get connected! 

All are invited to our next Midweek @ Epiphany on Wednesday, October 20. Dinner will be held from 6:15 - 6:45, followed by formation for all ages from 6:45 - 7:30. Adults and teens (grades 8-12) can join Rev. Nick in the Upper Parish Hall for clergy-led Bible study, and children can join Bryn and Craig outdoors for creative programming. We look forward to seeing you!

This week's menu includes pumpkin leek soup, roast pork with Brussels sprouts and potatoes, pizza for the kids, and cookies. 

On Sunday, October 17 at 11:15 am, immediately following the 10:00 am Holy Eucharist, we invite you to our seventh annual Cider Fest! Celebrate fall with Epiphany friends, and enjoy fresh apple cider donuts and cider. We hope you will join us for this beloved Epiphany tradition! 

Ever since I arrived at Epiphany four and a half years ago, I have wanted the choir to be able to sing from the beautiful choir stalls in the chancel. I have always found that it is much easier for a choir to lead in worship when they are visible and up where the action is taking place. While we have sung an occasional acapella anthem from the choir stalls, our limiting factor was the lack of an instrument in the chancel that could accompany a wide variety of music.

Last spring, Rev. Nick and I began to explore possibilities that would allow us to use this space again. A new piano for the chancel seemed like the obvious solution. After realizing that there was no room for a grand piano, we found that an upright piano would fit perfectly where the original organ console was many years ago. The Vestry was supportive of our efforts to find a piano, so Corey Hollenbeck and I were charged with finding the right instrument. After doing some searching and playing several instruments, we decided on a beautiful Yamaha upright piano. The piano arrived last week and will be used for the first time on Rally Sunday when the choir will sing the communion anthem from the choir stalls!  

Faithfully, 
Craig Benner

Join us on Sunday, September 12 for the Blessing of the Backpacks immediately following our 10:00 am Holy Eucharist. This is the Sunday each year when our children physically bring a piece of their school lives into our church, and we as a community pray for them.

Following the 10:00 am service, all are invited to Epiphany's annual Rally Day celebration! Join us for fellowship and a lunch catered by Bella Isla. Children can enjoy a bounce obstacle course, an outdoor scavenger hunt, a collaborative art project, and more. To register to volunteer, please use our SignUpGenius form. We hope to see you at this fun event! 

This year our children’s programming focuses on sharing stories: Bible stories from long ago that are central to our faith; stories from our community; and stories from our own lives. Through our stories, our faith, our love for God, and our love for one another take root and flourish.

In Sunday School we all will become Storymakers. Our Storymakers curriculum creatively retells stories from the Old and New Testaments through art, fun facts, theater, hands-on projects, and social-emotional prompts. Each child will receive a “zine,” which is a combination guide, workbook, and magazine (get it, “zine”). This is a fabulous program that will bend and flex with us, as we continue to adapt to the ever-changing realities of community health—whether we’re gathered under fresh-air canopies in our Cloister garden (tents like Abraham and Sarah!), or within our homes. We’ll share details and ways to participate in September.

Registration for Sunday School begins on Rally Day, Sunday, September 12. Our first day of Sunday School will be on Sunday morning, September 26. Sunday School is open to all children in PreK through 5th grade; and 6th graders, we have a special invitation for you this fall, as well. It’s going to be a great year!

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ, 

When we began our search for a new rector in 2020, none of us could have imagined how transformed the world, our lives, and our life together as a parish would be by the ensuing months. Many things have shifted over the year and a half, but our core commitments and vision for the future of our parish have remained clear. “We are called to seek and serve Christ in all people and work with God to transform our world through love and generosity.” Core to this way of being together is having the leadership and staff to help guide and nurture our shared ministry. Since the leave-taking of our previous rector, we have remained understaffed for the work we believe God is calling us to as a parish.

For many years, we have proclaimed and worked to live into our core commitments of nurturing faith for all generations. We believe it is time to invest in this commitment in new and vital ways by hiring a full-time Director of Youth and Lifelong Formation. This position will bring a steady leadership to the lives of our youth and their families in spiritual growth, as well as work alongside the staff and leadership of the parish to help create opportunities for connection across the generations of the parish. Hiring this position is an essential step in strengthening our ministry here at Epiphany and reaching out to the larger community of Winchester and beyond. Bryn Hollenbeck will remain on staff in the part-time position of Director of Children’s Ministry and Parish Life. She will focus on formation for children and our Midweek at Epiphany programming. We believe that now is the perfect time to deepen our commitment to the future of our parish as we regather and renew our life together.

In addition, the rector and vestry believe that we must work to hire an additional clergy person to help support and grow our parish ministry. As a parish, we have flourished under a clergy team where there was creative, collaborative, and shared leadership. This vision for our staffing returns us to where we were before the pandemic and we believe that now is the time to renew our commitment to a strong future that is dedicated to care, support, nurture, and growth across the generations.

With this in mind, we write to tell you of the vestry’s support and approval for the hiring of these two crucial staff positions. Indeed, these actions will increase our annual budget and ask a commitment from us all to sustain them into the future. However, we believe that this is the future God is calling us to as a parish—committed to the nurture and growth of the children, youth, and families of the parish, as well as expanding our current ministry together as a fully intergenerational parish. With our support, Rev. Nick will begin the search process for hiring both a minister for youth and a clergy associate here at Epiphany.

We are excited for the coming years even as we acknowledge the challenges that are ahead for us and our world. Let us not tire from doing what is good and right and faithful to God’s call in our life together as the Parish of the Epiphany, for indeed, God is with us, leading us on, and it is here that growth and new life is before us always (Galatians 6:9). We are very grateful for your trust in us and commitment to our parish family as we seek to lead and respond to God’s directing Spirit among us. We give thanks for you and rejoice in what lies ahead for us all.

God’s peace to you,
The Rev. Nick Myers, Rector
Suzanne Owayda, Warden
Dave McSweeney, Warden

We invite you to join us this fall as we renew our relationships through Midweek @ Epiphany. All are welcome every first and third Wednesday of the month beginning September 22 for a time of community, fellowship, and formation. 

Midweek begins with a dinner served by masked volunteers from 6:15 - 6:45 pm, with outdoor seating under canopy tents in the Cloister Garden, as well as indoor seating in Hadley Hall. 

From 6:45 - 7:30 pm, we will offer formation for all ages. A clergy-led Bible study for adults will take place in the Upper Parish Hall. Children’s programming will occur outside as we explore our faith in creative ways. Children will be divided into two age groups — Pre-K through 3rd grade, and 4th through 7th grade — and rotate between activities led by Bryn Hollenbeck, Director of Children’s Ministry, and Craig Benner, Director of Music.

Find nourishment at Midweek.

The Wardens and I are pleased to share the news that the Rev. Bob Davidson will act as Assisting Clergy among us at Epiphany. Bob is my father-in-law and has been licensed to preach and preside within the Diocese of Massachusetts as a retired clergy person. The role of an Assisting Clergy is to assist in the liturgical and worship life of the parish and support other areas of our shared ministry together. The role of an Assisting Clergy is not a paid ministry position. Bob will assist with preaching and presiding at Sunday worship on occasion, help provide sacramental ministry to parishioners, and offer his gifts as a trained Social Worker to support the care and social justice ministries of the parish when needed. Bob earned a Master of Social Work degree from the University of Kentucky in 1978 and was ordained in the Diocese of Colorado, having served in both parochial and community ministry partnerships.

God's peace, 
Nick