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This Week @ All Saints'

6/28/2012

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Dear Friends in Christ,

This coming week will bring the celebration of our nation’s birth on July 4.  If you are traveling during the holiday, please be safe and have a good time, but please also remember what the celebration is all about: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their  Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” (Declaration of Independence).  Many of the signers of the Declaration and framers of the Constitution did not hold theological views that were really Christian; the Deist philosophy of the time under-girded much of their thinking. Nevertheless, the impulse toward equality and rights based on one’s humanity, and the freedom to speak, think and act on one’s own behalf, while taking thought for one’s neighbor are very much Christian ideals. And the Episcopal Church came into being in 1789 on the heels of the American Revolution, with gratitude for the opportunity to create a new expression of the Church and the Anglican tradition in a new land, and with a church governing structure (at the national level) that mirrors our national bicameral government. The first American Book of Common Prayer designated Independence Day to be a Prayer Book Holy Day (see the Collect below).

This Sunday at All Saints’ we’ll give thanks and pray for our nation, and at the 10 am service we’ll have a kid’s sermon and close our worship with the singing of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.”  I hope you’ll join us if you are in town!
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Christian Arts Camp finishes on Friday.  At 11:30 am we’ll stage a production of “100% Chance of Rain.”  You are invited to come and see our show (30 minutes long). We’ve had had a great week with twelve children (from All Saints’ and from the wider community).  We learned all about Noah, animals, the ark, and some of the faith traits that Noah needed to build the ark, and that we need to be Jesus’ followers.  Take a look at our rainbow of faith traits on the poster in the bell tower!  Thanks to Dr. Jody, Meg McGrath, Mother Vicki & helpers Charlene Teo, Jeanette Caldwell, Matt Hunt, Audrey Godwin, Angela Celeste and Julia Celeste.

Welcome to the Beach Family on July 8! Some of you remember Mark, Annabel, and Ellie Beach from the time Mark served here as a sabbatical priest back in 2000 when our then-rector Richard Wrede was on a clergy exchange to England.  Since you last saw him, Mark has become the Very Rev. Dr. Beach, Dean of Rochester Cathedral.  Rochester is the second-oldest cathedral in England, established in 604 AD.  Mark and his family will be here at All Saints’ on Sunday, July 8 for a visit.  Anyone who knew the Beaches is invited to Jean and Geof Kimak’s house after the 10 am service on that day.  We are looking forward to Mark’s visit!

Summer Discussion Group - Join us for a discussion of the book Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives by Richard Swenson, M.D.  Whether or not you are able to participate in the Discussion Group, the book will be helpful to you.  You can sign up for the book and/or the group on the sheet in the Narthex. The group will meet on Wed. July 11 & 18 @ 7:45 pm in the Rath House.

Picnic & Praise/Summer Mid-Week Worship - Away on summer weekends?  Need a mid-week faith boost? Come for a simple, outdoor service of Eucharist on Wednesday nights!  Bring a picnic supper to the Parish House lawn at 6 pm (if you like), we'll supply cold drinks. The service starts at 7 pm and lasts 30 minutes. This will run through the end of July (but not July 4th). 

Rummage Sale - Got Rummage?  We'll take it!  If you have furniture, housewares, linens, tools, electronics, small appliances, toys, games, children's books, yard & garden items, jewelry, boutiques item, etc. - anything except clothes, tires, books for grownups - we can use them.  All donations must be clean and in good repair.  Please also let your neighbors know.
1st Rummage Drop Off: August 5 from 8 am to 2pm in the Parish House.
Rummage Help Needed: If you can sort, price, bake, set-up, clean-up, staff the sale, etc., please sign up on the poster in the narthex.  If everyone does at least a little bit, the whole event will come together well, for the benefit of the Church and all those who will come to shop at our sale.  Questions?  Speak to Kimberly Celeste.  Thanks!
Mark your calendar: Rummage Sale will be Saturday, September 22. 

Summer Refreshments Hosts Needed - On summer Sundays we gather on the Parish House Lawn with iced tea or lemonade and cookies following the 10 am service.  This is a fun and easy opportunity to host your fellow parishioners.  Please sign up on the sheet in the Narthex.  If you have questions about what's involved, please speak with John McGrath. Thanks!

Thanks to…
·        Tom Day and Charlie Hogan for installing the bulletin boards and white boards in the Sunday School classrooms.  Looking ahead to September already!
·         Everyone who made our hymn-sing such a great success! Two of our youth participants said: “We should make this a tradition!” We raised over $400 for two of our choristers to go to choir camp.  If anyone else would like to make a donation towards this effort, please speak to Mother Vicki.

Summer Food Donations for Kids Needed - School is out, and that means that school lunch and breakfast programs for kids from low-income families also take a break for the summer.  The need for kid-friendly lunch items increases in the summer: peanut butter, jelly, tuna, whole wheat crackers, juice boxes, individual milk boxes (Parmalat), raisins, canned fruit, granola bars, dry cereal (Cheerios).  When you go shopping, please consider purchasing a few items with children in mind to go into our Food for Friends basket.  Thank you!  Your contributions mean so much for so many hungry families! And thanks once again to our outreach partner Whole Foods Market for the new contributions they have sent our way.

Women's Book Group – is on hiatus for the summer, but will reconvene on Wednesday, September 19.  The book for discussion is “Little Bee” by Chris Cleave. Happy summer reading!

Stewardship ~ It is well with those who deal generously and lend, who conduct their affairs with justice. Psalm 112:5
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Collect for Independence Day   

Lord God Almighty, in whose Name the founders of this
country won liberty for themselves and for us, and lit the
torch of freedom for nations then unborn: Grant that we and
all the people of this land may have grace to maintain our
liberties in righteousness and peace; through Jesus Christ our
Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one
God, for ever and ever. Amen. ~ Book of Common Prayer, page 242

Blessings,
Vicki McGrath+

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This Week @ All Saints' - March 8, 2012

3/8/2012

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Dear Friends in Christ,

Thanks to everyone who helped to move and install our two donated refrigerators in the Parish House kitchen last Sunday – and thanks to the Ribon and Lettieri families for the donations! We are moving along with the kitchen and other repairs – the countertops will be installed on Friday and then the contractors can come back and do the finishing details. The meeting room is back in use by Kumon, Long Hill Township Girls Scout Leaders, Boy Scout Troop 56 Committee, and some of the A.A. meetings.  While there are still a few things to do, we are getting very close to being done.  Very exciting!

Please be sure to take a look at the bulletin covers this Sunday.  Our featured artist is Julia Celeste.  We are always looking for black and white art work to use for our bulletin covers, with either a Bible or Church-related theme.  Have something to offer?  Please contact Susie Harris in the parish office.

Here are the announcements for the week, and the link to the diocesan website.  Be sure to look for the Voice On-line (the diocesan newsletter): www.dioceseofnewark.org .
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Bishop Mark Beckwith will be making his parish visitation with us on Sunday, March 25 at the 10 am service.  Please plan to be here when Bishop Beckwith will preach, celebrate the Eucharist, lead an Adult Forum, meet with the Vestry, and learn from us all the good things that are happening at All Saints’!  We’ll be having a special reception for the Bishop that day, with appetizers and sweets.  If you can help with the reception, please sign up on the sheet in the Narthex – we need bakers, chefs, coffee makers, people to do set up and clean up.  Thanks!

Taizé services for Lent! Wednesdays at 7 pm.  Half an hour of candlelight, chanting, silence, and resting in the presence of God.  Taizé (pronounced tay-zay) is an ecumenical monastic community in southern France that has developed a simple, moving and distinctive style of worship that is used by churches and Christian communities throughout the world.  Taizé’s mission is reconciliation between individuals, people and God – a good theme for Lent.  Come try it out.

Three Holy Week Events to Plan for Now: Maundy Thursday Seder Supper, Prayer Watch, Holy Saturday Easter Egg Hunt and Ribbon Decorating.  Each Event has a sign-up sheet in the Narthex, and friends of parishioners are warmly welcomed!  Seder Supper: A pot-luck meal with the traditional Jewish Seder elements that tells the story of the Passover and Exodus – for all ages.  April 5, 6 pm in the Parish Hall. Prayer Watch: following the Maundy Thursday service on April 5 you are invited to keep watch with Jesus. We set up a small altar in front of the baptismal font (an altar of repose), with plants and flowers to represent the Garden of Gethsemane.  The watch is kept until midnight.  We ask individuals to sign up for 30 minute time slots.  While several people can keep watch at a time, we hope that all the time slots will be covered. Easter Egg Hunt and Ribbon Decorating: Our annual Easter Egg Hunt for younger children will take place on April 7 after the Kid’s Holy Saturday Service at 10 am.  We need some parents/grandparents to fill and hide eggs and provide some refreshments.  A new feature this year (suggested by our Visual Arts Ministry) – kids in grade 5-8 are asked to come and help make ribbon streamers to decorate our parking lot for Easter!

Green Faith to Host Residential Solar Screening Event for the Wider Community @ All Saints’ on April 29, 12:30-3:30 pm  – Interested in learning about how you might be able to have solar power installed at your house (at no cost to you), save money and benefit the Church at the same time?  Green Faith, in partnership with Google and AP Solar, will conduct a Solar Screening Event here.  We’ll have more information available soon, but put the date on your calendar now, and let your neighbors know that this might both interest and benefit them.

Argyle’s Fish and Chips – Save the Date: Thursday, May 3!  We’ll need help with selling tickets, setting up, desserts, drinks, serving, etc.  You can start now by saving the cardboard trays that seltzer and water bottles come in.

Kid’s Mite Boxes for Lent are available in the Narthex.  The tradition of mite boxes is a daily practice of children (and adults!) putting a portion of their pocket money or funds earned from doing chores into a small box to donate to someone in need.  The idea is that when you put coins (like “the widow’s mite” in Jesus’ parable) into the box, you also pray for the people who will be receiving the funds.  This year the monies collected will go to buy medicine for babies and moms in areas of greatest need, via Episcopal Relief and Development. The particular project was chosen by the children at the Lenten Arts Workshop.  Kids are asked to return their mite boxes to Church on Easter Day. 

Wednesday Lenten Bible/Study Group meets Weds.at10:15 am. We’ll read and discuss a play The Cup of Trembling, based on the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German pastor and leader in the resistance movement against the Nazi government in World War II.  We’ll connect to Scriptural themes of courage, guidance, and making hard decisions. We’ll read the play during our meeting time – so there’s no homework.  Come try it out.

Women’s Book Group - The book for this month is The Invisible Wall by Harry Bernstein. We’ll be meeting to discuss this on Wednesday, March 21 at 7:30 pm in the Rath House.  meets this Wednesday at 7:30 pm in the Rath House. 

StewardshipYou can’t out-give God!  ~ Joyce Kulzer
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Why do we have the Book of Common Prayer (BCP)?  There are several answers.  First of all, it is a book to help us get through the worship services so we are all literally “on the same page.”  Then there is the historical answer; the BCP was compiled by Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cramner in 1549 for the newly-formed Church of England during the Protestant Reformation.  While Cramner wrote some of the prayers and pieces of liturgy, much of it was newly-translated and compiled from other Christian sources: Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Lutheran/Reformed, and monastic.  Finally, the BCP is a devotional book for individuals and families.  Cramner’s aim was to provide ordinary lay folk with the same kind of prayer and devotional resources that clergy, monks and nuns had.  Using the Prayer Book on a regular basis can help us develop “holy habits.”  Certainly, that would be prayer and Bible reading, but it also includes practices such as being quick to ask forgiveness when it is needed, making good and careful use of the gifts (material and environmental) that God has given us, keeping right relationship with our family and neighbors, creating an attitude of joy and wonder in all God’s works, giving to others who are in need, keeping your temper….the list can be as varied and full as there are human personalities.

So, by all means use the Prayer Book when you worship on Sundays, but use it in your daily life as well.  If you need a copy, we have a collection of second-hand BCPs that could use a good home.  You can even find the Prayer Book on-line: www.bcponline.org .  If you’d like a few pointers about how to use it at home, Beth and I would be willing to help you out.   It is a tool to help you draw closer to God and to become more like Christ.

A Prayer of Self-Dedication
Almighty and eternal God, so draw our hearts to thee, so
guide our minds, so fill our imaginations, so control our
wills, that we may be wholly thine, utterly dedicated unto
thee; and then use us, we pray thee, as thou wilt, and always
to thy glory and the welfare of thy people; through our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
                                                                      Book of Common Prayer, page 832

Blessings,
Vicki+
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    This Week
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All Saints' Episcopal Church

 15 Basking Ridge Road, Millington NJ 07946    phone: (908) 647-0067    email: allstsmill@hotmail.com
Photo used under Creative Commons from Dustin A. Lewis