
Thank You! The Rummage Sale was a great success – as a community builder, a de-clutterer, an outreach to financially needy people, a way to spend time with friends and parishioners, and finally – as a fund raiser. The majority of our “left over” rummage was donated to the Salvation Army—it filled a full size box truck. Some went to the Senior Center for their sale, and Kit Cone from the Recycling ministry at Grace Church in Madison took items for clients who are getting on their feet again. He wrote us a very nice note. Here it is:
“Excellent Rummage Sale! Thank you for the invitation to your church's rummage sale. I went there not knowing what to expect, and came back with a truck full of stuff! I also went there not knowing how I would load the truck, because my usual Saturday h had already been with me on a delivery in the morning to a Jersey Battered Women’s Shelter client ... and he had run out of time. But I need not have been concerned, because Behold! A platoon of Boy Scouts was there and I never lifted anything bigger than a lamp shade. So I thank you and the people of All Saints for your great generosity in allowing me to glean treasures after your sale. Our Recycling Ministry clients will make use of the furniture for years to come. Kit”
The rest was cleared out by our wonderful Rummage Team. We are all set up and ready for the Parish Hall to be used again. This was by far our most profitable rummage sale – we made $9657. We are grateful and thankful for so much!
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St. Michael and All Saints’, Millington – On September 29, 1906 our Church building was dedicated and consecrated after the building was finished earlier in the summer. Fifty years later the Church addition was dedicated on the same day; and two years ago we blessed the new entryway in the Parish House on this day. September 29 in the liturgical calendar is the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels, when the church remembers and celebrates the presence of God’s holy angels in our lives. St. Michael, one of the four archangels, is considered to be the guardian of the Church. Because of this, many churches in England have near their main door an icon, or painting, or carving of St. Michael – a reminder of God’s protective hand. This Sunday (9/27) at the 10 am service, we will bless a St. Michael icon, hanging by the main door into the Church nave. And our Saints’ shields (all twelve of them, representing the twelve Apostles) will be re-hung soon. We are, indeed, surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses! (Hebrews 12:1)
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Recent Joys and Sorrows in our Parish Family – over the past few weeks there have been deaths in two All Saints’ families. Sue Traub’s sister-in-law Ginny Lumis died after having been in declining health for some time. Ginny, and her husband Jack, had often worshipped at All Saints’ on major feast days – particularly at Easter. Kate Baker Schnabel, aunt of Ellen Lewis and great-aunt of Martha Story, also died recently. May Ginny and Kate rest in peace and rise in glory. Please keep these families in your prayers. And Alison Siener Brown has a new nephew – Desmond Siener. Congratulations to Alison and her family!
This week’s announcements are below. Please look particularly at:
· Argyle’s Fish & Chips (“Fish Fryght”) – Fun & Fundraising
· Blessing of the Animals – Worship and Music
· Community Art Show – Events
· A Christening Party - Events
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FUN & FUNDRAISING
It’s a “Fish Fryght” on Thursday, Oct. 29. Our annual Fish & Chips Dinner catered by Argyle of Kearny. Our annual Fish & Chips Dinner catered by Argyle of Kearney. Tickets (in advance) are $18 for adults/$9 for kids under 12; available next week. Please spread the word! And sign up on the poster in the Narthex to let us know how you can help – the ways you can help are listed below. This is always a wonderful community event. Put the date on your calendar now, and invite your friends!
· Sell Tickets after Church
· Tickets/Door at the Dinner
· Publicity/Signs (change date on sign, submit application to town hall, place signs on approved lawns and intersections)
· Are you willing to have a sign on your lawn?
· Bake Cookies & Desserts (especially pies & chocolate chip cookies)
· Serve Desserts; Package Take-out Cookies
· Provide & Serve Cold Drinks (Iced Tea/Lemonade) Set Up Room
· Set Up Eat-in Plates
· Pack Take-Out Bags
· Serve Tables ~ Teens & Adults
· Clean Up
Trunk or Treat – Sunday School kids wear their costumes, and adults provide Hallowe’en treats. The kids trick-or-treat from car to car in the parking lot, and we have refreshments outside on Sunday, October 25 at 11:15 am. Please sign up in the Narthex to participate – kids and adults!
WORSHIP and MUSIC
Blessing of the Animals in honor of St. Francis – Next Sunday, Oct. 4 at 5 pm in the Memorial Garden. Bring your pets (on a leash or in their cage) for this simple service giving thanks for the companionship of our animal friends. Your neighbors and their pets are welcome, too.
All God’s Children Service for kids and families with special needs. This service is 30 minutes long (no segment is more than 3 minutes), with a Bible story, singing, movement, prayers and Communion. All families and children of all abilities are welcome. Third Sundays of the month; next AGC is 10/15. For more information, speak with Mother Vicki.
Compline - Thurs., Oct. 19, 9 pm. A short reflective service at the end of the day, with simple chanting, candlelight, and prayers in the Church.
All Saints’ Day Festive Evensong, Sunday, November 1 at 4 pm. We will celebrate our parish feast day with this beautiful service of music and readings. We’ll also mark and give thanks for the installation our new Presiding Bishop, the Most Rev. Michael Curry, which will take place that morning at Washington National Cathedral. Refreshments will follow. Put the date on your calendar now.
CHRISTIAN FORMATION
Bible Study - Wed., 10:15-11:30 am in the Rath House. This week we’ll discuss Hannah, the Wife of Phneas, and the Women Attending the Wife of Phineas: pages 166-177 in Bible Women: All Their Words and Why They Matter. We are always happy to have new people join the group. Questions? Speak to Mother Vicki.
Women's Book Group will next meet Wednesday, October 21, 7:30 pm in the Rath House. The book for discussion will be A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail, by Bill Bryson. Come for a relaxing and informative evening. Feel free to bring a friend.
EVENTS
A Christening Party - and you are invited! Next Sunday, October 4 at the 10 am service Kathryn Velloso, daughter of Shea and Jody (Doktor) Velloso, will be baptized! The parish is invited to celebrate with them and stay for a potluck lunch in the Parish House after Coffee Hour. Sign up on the sheet in the Narthex to let us know you are coming, and what you can bring.
Community Art Show, Sunday, October 18, 3-6 pm, All Saints’ Parish Hall. Artists of all ages are invited to enter their work! Painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, mixed media...whatever your art is, please share it with us. And invite your friends to share their work also. The entry fee is $20 and will allow you to submit up to three pieces. There is a flyer with information on the Narthex table. Speak to Nancy Mink for more information.
HELPING HANDS
Knitting for Seafarers – All Saints’ has a dedicated group of volunteers who knit scarves and caps for Seamen’s Church Institute’s Christmas-at-Sea ministry. If you are interested in knitting for this ministry, please speak to Janet Mansfield. She can give you directions and yarn, and then you work on the project on your own time. Your gift will help keep a seafarer warm this winter!
COMMUNITY HOSPITALITY
Sacred Thread Ministries, led by Fr. Peter Krebs and the Retreat Team from the Christian, is offering a retreat day on Friday, Oct. 2 in All Saints’ Parish House, from 9:15 am-2:30 pm. The theme is: “Why Would God Want to Journey with Me?” The daylong retreat includes contemplation, prayer and thoughtful dialogue, and a hot lunch. The Retreat Team will also be available for private spiritual direction.
Register at www.sacredthreadministries.com or call Pat Hughes at 908-608-3160 or 908-419-5460.
Musikgarten classes for children from birth through age eight are available at All Saints’ and other area locations, offered by Music in the Somerset Hills. They are taught by Alison Siener Brown.
For classes, registration, and fees please go to http://musicsh.org/musikgarten/.
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PARISH CALENDAR
9/30 Bible Study 10:15 am Rath House
10/1 Holy Eucharist 7:00 am Church
Small Saints & Junior Choirs 5:15 pm Choir Room
Adult Choir 7:30 pm Choir Room
For a full schedule of our buildings check the website calendar www.allsaintsmillington.org.
Parish Office Hours: 9:30 am-4:00 pm, Mon., Tues., Thu.
Rector’s Sabbath day: Friday
FOR ALL THE SAINTS
September 29, St. Michael and All Angels
“The scriptural word “angel” (Greek: angelos) means, literally, a messenger. Messengers from God can be visible or invisible, and may assume human or non-human forms. Christians have always felt themselves to be attended by healthful spirits—swift, powerful, and enlightening. Those beneficent spirits are often depicted in Christian art in human form, with wings to signify their swiftness and spacelessness, with swords to signify their power, and with dazzling raiment to signify their ability to enlighten. Unfortunately, this type of pictorial representation has led many to dismiss the angels as “just another mythical beast, like the unicorn, the griffin, or the sphinx.”
Of the many angels spoken of in the Bible, only four are called by name: Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, and Raphael. The Archangel Michael is the powerful agent of God who wards off evil from God’s people, and delivers peace to them at the end of this life’s mortal struggle. “Michaelmas,” as his feast is called in England, has long been one of the popular celebrations of the Christian Year in many parts of the world.
Michael is the patron saint of countless churches, including Mont Saint-Michel, the monastery fortress off the coast of Normandy that figured so prominently in medieval English history, and Coventry Cathedral, England’s most famous modern church building, rising from the ashes of the most devastating war of our time.” ~ Holy Women, Holy Men
Coventry Cathedral in England is dedicated to St. Michael. It was destroyed by bombing in World War II, yet out of the destruction a new building was built and dedicated to the work of peace and reconciliation, especially through the Community of the Cross of Nails. One enters this beautiful cathedral through a courtyard that is framed by the remaining walls of the bombed building. Inscribed behind the altar of the ruined building are the words “Father Forgive.” The windows in the new building were designed by artist Marc Chagall, who also designed the window at the United Nations that is a memorial to Dag Hammarskjold. Here are two links that will tell you more about Coventry (St. Michael’s) Cathedral:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coventry_Cathedral
http://www.coventrycathedral.org.uk/wpsite/
Question for reflection: When have you felt the presence of God’s holy angels?
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The Coventry Litany of Reconciliation
~ prayed in the new Cathedral every weekday at noon (in the Ruins on Fridays),
and used throughout the world by the Community of the Cross of Nails.
All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
The hatred which divides nation from nation, race from race, class from class,
Father Forgive.
The covetous desires of people and nations to possess what is not their own,
Father Forgive.
The greed which exploits the work of human hands and lays waste the earth,
Father Forgive.
Our envy of the welfare and happiness of others,
Father Forgive.
Our indifference to the plight of the imprisoned, the homeless, the refugee,
Father Forgive.
The lust which dishonours the bodies of men, women and children,
Father Forgive.
The pride which leads us to trust in ourselves and not in God,
Father Forgive.
Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
Blessings,
Vicki+