St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church

09/06/2026

Our wonderful new Blessing Box and Book Box was built under the leadership of Rhys Djordjevic and BSA Troup 45. Thank you!

09/05/2026

08/28/2026

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy.
O, Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love; For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; it is in dying that we are born again to eternal life.

Painting by Kate Johnson

08/25/2026

Join us tomorrow, Wednesday Aug 26 at 6 pm for Game Night in the Parish Hall. All are welcome!

08/25/2026

The ARISE Ensemble is coming to Greenwood September 26! Invited by the U.S. Embassy to perform at the American Cathedral in Paris, their first stop in France was this venue where the audience joined them onstage. Come and be a part of it all. Saturday, Sept 26, 6 PM at the Greenwood Performing Arts Center, 515 E. Gary Street. FREE! Sponsored by St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church of Fort Smith.

08/24/2026

Luke 22:27. For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.

Today we commemorate one of the twelve disciples, Bartholomew. What do we know about him? Virtually nothing! He is listed among the disciples in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. His name tells us his father was Tolmai. He seems to have hung out with Nathanael, the guileless one, according to John's Gospel. Bartholomew doesn't appear anywhere else in the four gospels.

It's rumored that Bartholomew wrote a gospel himself, and the ancient historians Jerome and Bede referred to it, but it is lost to us. Tradition holds that Bartholomew went to India to evangelize. The historian Eusebius reported that a visitor there in the second century found a Gospel of Matthew in Hebrew that Bartholomew had left behind. Tradition also holds that Bartholomew was tortured to death in service to his Lord. But we just don't know.

It sounds like Bartholomew might be a good example for us of what Jesus is talking about in our gospel today: one of the least, who serves quietly, humbly, even unto death.

MOVING FORWARD: How might you serve Jesus quietly and humbly today?