
Here is this week’s e-letter. This Sunday we have two particular events: the Blessing of the Animals, and our newly re-vamped Family Service at 10 am. Please check out the details below, as well as other highlights. Also note, our Parish Administrator Susie Harris is away on a well-deserved vacation and will be back in the office on October 9.
- Family Service (Worship)
- Blessing of the Animals (Worship)
- Dinner for Vets (Helping Hands)
- Millington Downtown Day (Around the Neighborhood)
- Excavation (Vestry News)
- Final Rummage News (Fun and Fundraising)
WORSHIP
This Sunday, Oct. 1, Family Service, - newly updated, 10 am.
Families are invited to meet Mother Vicki in the Narthex at 9:50 am to carry in some of the objects we need for our worship: candles, Gospel book, fair linen, chalice & paten, etc. We’re experimenting with updates to our Family Service. Why are we doing this? At every baptism we promise to support the newly baptized in their life in Christ. Having a more hands-on experience and simplifying some parts of our liturgy is another way that we can gather as the Family of God around the Table of the Lord.
This Sunday Blessing of the Animals, Oct. 1 at 5 pm in the Memorial Garden. This simple service honors the spirit of St. Francis, who saw God’s presence in all of Creation. Bring your pet (on a leash or in a cage for their own comfort). You can also bring a photo or toy “proxy”! Give thanks for the companionship and joy of our animal friends.
Service Music at 10 am – this Sunday’s service music is for our updated Family Service. But on our regular Sundays this fall we have been learning a new setting of the Sanctus (Holy, holy, holy) and the Fraction Anthem (Lamb of God). As the month goes on we will begin learning a new setting of the Gloria, as well. And then when the season changes we’ll go back to some of our well-known settings. Learning new things keeps our worship fresh. But if you find it challenging, be patient with yourself and hang in there. God loves it when we sing the Lord’s praises, no matter how we think it sounds!
Mid–Week Worship
Monday, 6:30 pm, Evening Prayer (note the new time, 30 minutes later)
7:00 am, Communion & Healing Prayer. A light breakfast is available following the service. Come start your day with prayer and fellowship.
VESTRY NEWS
Excavation Work - The work of excavating the collapsed stormwater pipes that have been causing the ground sinking between the Church and the Rath House (as well as opening up small sink holes in the path to the Memorial Garden), laying new drainage, and filling and sealing the old underground water collector pot in that same area will begin Monday or Tuesday of this week. The collector pot is about six feet deep, made of brick, and shaped like a beehive oven, and has standing ater in it that rises and falls depending on the rainfall. A few years ago the cover on it opened up. We have hade it covered with flat rocks for safety, but it has been a major mosquito breeder, as well a structural problem.
The steps to the side Church doors and the sacristy door steps will also be repaired as part of this project. We are submitting a grant application to the Diocese’s Ward J. Herbert Fund for fifty percent reimbursement of these costs - $7,800 of $15,000. Vestry member Linda Kessler is our project manager for this effort. Please pray that our application is accepted! Thanks for your patience.
FUN & FUNDRAISERS
Rummage Sale Final News - The Rummage Sale made at least $9000. We still don’t have a full count yet, because there are still some outstanding rummage IOUs, but this was a great effort with a great result. Thank you so much, everyone! This is always such a great time to connect with our neighbors and visitors and see how God’s spirit is at work in our neighborhood! The tents are down (thank you Gary Stapperfenne and Geof Kimak), the front lawn is clear. Now we are waiting for the Salvation Army to come back and take the things they didn’t have room for before. That second pick-up was scheduled for Friday, but it didn’t happen on our end, so during Sunday’s Coffee Hour it will be very helpful if we can take 10 minutes and move the remaining rummage into the corner of the room where the couches usually are. Thanks so much!
Sponsor-a-Hymn - Dedicate a hymn in honor of a birthday, anniversary, baptismal anniversary, graduation, or other special event. Cost is $35 per Sunday for one hymn, and your dedication will be printed in the bulletin, and the person being remembered will be included in the prayers. There is a sign-up sheet in the Narthex. Thanks.
HELPING HANDS
Our Next Dinner for Vets from the V.A. Hospital in Lyons and Vets in our wider community is Sat., Oct. 7 at 5:30 pm in the Parish House. We welcome parishioners to offer hospitality through cooking, serving, sharing dinner table conversation, clean-up. This one of the ways we are joining God in our neighborhood. Want to be part of it? Sign up on the sheet in the Narthex or speak to Kerrie Stepko.
AROUND THE NEIGHBORHOOD
Millington Downtown Day – Sunday, Oct. 15, 11 am-3 pm. All Saints’ will have a table at this street fair, selling our parish cookbooks, offering church brochures and information, and being a friendly face of All Saints’ in our community. We need people to staff the table for an hour or two on the day and be part of this ministry of connection and awareness. There’s a sign-up sheet on the table in the Narthex. Thanks!
CHRISTIAN FORMATION
Coffee Hour Hosts – after our 10 am service we gather for refreshments: coffee, tea, juice, and some munchies. We ask parishioners to take a turn at hosting this ministry of hospitality. If you are unsure about how to make coffee for a crowd, fear not! John McGrath will either teach you how or make it for you. If you have other coffee hour questions, John is the person to see. Please sign up today on the sheet in the Narthex. Thanks!
Bible Study meets on Wednesdays at 10:15 am in the Rath House. This is a lively, prayerful, and inquisitive group. You and your questions are welcome here. This week: First Corinthians, Chapter 4. You can bring your own Bible, or use one of ours. Hope to see you there!
Pilgrim: A Course for the Christian Journey meets Monday nights at 7:00 pm in the Rath House. This is a group for people who want to grow more in Christian faith. There will be four six-week sessions throughout the year, and a short book accompanies each topic. We start the fall with The Creeds. We’d love to have you be a part of it. Questions? Speak to Mother Vicki.
Parish Directory We are updating our Directory and will be including PHOTOS. Please send a photo of yourself or your family, and any changes to Susie Harris at her new email: allsaints_church@hotmail.com. A headshot is best! If you need your photo scanned, drop it off and we will scan and return it!
DIOCESAN NEWS
Diocesan Website – here’s the link for news and information fro our Diocese of Newark: http://dioceseofnewark.org/
PARISH CALENDAR
10/1 Blessing of the Animals 5:00 pm
10/2 Evening Prayer Church, 6:30 pm
Pilgrim Group Rath House, 7:00 pm
10/4 Bible Study Rath House, 10:15 am
10/5 Communion & Church, 7:00 am
Healing Prayer
Small Saints Choir Room 5:15 pm
Junior Choir Choir Room 5:30 pm
Adult Choir Choir Room 7:30 pm
For a full schedule of our buildings check the website calendar www.allsaintsmillington.org.
CHRISTIAN PRACTICES
For All the Saints – Michael and Francis
September 29 was the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels, one of the most popular saints’ days in England, called Michaelmas. It is special to us here at All Saints’ because it is the date in 1906 when the original church build was dedicated and consecrated for worship. Following the tradition of many English parishes, we have an icon of St. Michael (Archangel and guardian) by our main Narthex door, next to the choir. It reminds us of the protection of God’s holy angels for God’s people. Here is the collect for this feast: http://prayer.forwardmovement.org/the_calendar_response.php?id=LS0929
October 4 is the Feast of St. Francis, the 13th century Italian friar who made friendship with the poor and with all God’s creation such an important part of his spirituality. You can read more about Francis here: http://prayer.forwardmovement.org/the_calendar_response.php?id=401004
And here is the hymn “Christ the fair glory of the holy angels” (Hymn 282) which is appropriate for Michaelmas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTK4dE-_OP4
Blessings, Vicki+