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+
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 .
+ + + + + + + + +
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
+ + + + + + + + +
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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