This Sunday is the final week before Lent starts. At our 10 am service we’ll retire our Alleluia banner for the season, we’ll welcome Scouts from our wider community, and we’ll baptize a new member of the parish -Mason Christopher Birckhead. As we look ahead to Lent, in addition to making some liturgical changes (dropping the “Alleluias”, praying with the Rite I language at 10 am , and changing the service music) we’ll be offering several opportunities for spiritual growth and prayer during the season. Please take a look below.
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EVENTS
Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper, March 4 – 5:30 -7 pm in the Lower Room of the Parish House. Come for pancakes and sausage as a final fling before the start of Lent. Cost is $5 per person; kids under age 3 are free; maximum fee is $20 per household. Our pancake chefs Gary Stapperfenne and Geof Kimak welcome any and all “sous chefs.” Sign up oin the sheet in the Narthex. The high school and middle school youth will decorate the room, set tables and serve – please sign your youth helpers up on the Narthex sheet, also.
WORSHIP
Scout Sunday@All Saints’ - March 2 at 10 am. All Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts and Police Explorers and their leaders are invited to come and be part of the celebration of the Scouting movement. Wear your uniform – and pass the word to your fellow Scouts!
Ash Wednesday is March 5. Services will be at 9:30 am and 7:30 pm, with Imposition of Ashes and Holy Eucharist at both services. Come and start the Lenten season with prayer and a purposeful connection to God.
Lenten Evening Prayer ~ Wednesdays 7:00 pm (March 12, 19, 26, April 2, 9). Half an hour of Scripture, prayer, hymns, canticles, silence and candlelight. Come and rest and be refreshed in God’s presence.
Seaman’s Church Institute Chaplain to Preach – On March 16 at both the 8 and 10 am services the Rev. Marjorie Lindstrom will be our guest preacher. She will also be available for a short presentation and discussion during coffee hour about the work of SCI with merchant seafarers. All Saints’ supports SCI year-round with hand-knit caps and scarves that are distributed as part of the Christmas-at-Sea program.
All God's Children, March 16 at 12 noon, is our monthly service for special needs kids and their families. It’s under 30 minutes long, very casual, with opportunity for movement, music, and optional Communion. Please extend an invitation to others in the wider community who might be interested; all are welcome! Contact Mother Vicki with questions.
HELPING HANDS
Wonderful Offerings ~ North Porch Women and Infants’ Centers
Destitute families have a growing need for necessary supplies, especially diapers, for babies and toddlers. In 2013, North Porch served 2600 babies and toddlers; this number is expected to increase to 3000 in 2014. Disposable diapers cannot be purchased with food stamps and for sanitary reasons, cloth diapers are often not permitted at coin-operated laundromats. Without transportation, destitute families cannot take advantage of cheaper prices at large discount stores. To stretch the ‘life’ of disposable diapers, families may have a baby spend a day or more in a single diaper or may dry and re-use the diapers, practices which lead to rashes and infections. Thank you all for your support for this worthy ministry and your generous gifts to the baby shower this past Sunday. Your donations were very gratefully received at the collection center at St John’s Dover. ~ Carol Berry
For Kids ~ Lenten Mite Boxes are available to be picked up in the Narthex this Sunday, and will also be available in Sunday School classes March 9. The children are asked to decorate their boxes and collect change (from their pocket money or chores) to deposit in them every day. On Easter Sunday the boxes will be collected and the money raised will be donated to North Porch, our Diocesan ministry in our for babies and toddlers in need.
Thank you to our volunteers who served at the Family Promise Homeless Shelter at the Shrine this past week – Randy Gaulke, David Dawson, Hugh Wallace and Joann Behr. Our next time to serve at this ministry will be in the fall. For more information please speak to Kathy Pfeil.
FORMATION
Lent is Not Rocket Science: An Exploration of God, Creation and the Cosmos. Following on our Hubble space telescope pictures in Advent, our Lenten daily meditation booklet was written by Nick Knisely, Bishop of Rhode Island and a former professor of astronomy and physics. Published by Forward Movement (Day by Day, The Bible Challenge) the booklet is available on the table in the Narthex. It will fit on your briefcase, pocket, purse or bedside as you pray your way through Lent, aware of God’s presence all around us.
Wednesday Lenten Study Group ~ What Do We Say We Believe? 7:30 pm in the Rath House ~ March 12, 26, April 2, 9 - An exploration of the Church’s creeds, the communities that formed them, what they mean to us, and how we put our own faith into words. Please sign up on the sheet in the Narthex. (This program will also be repeated on Wednesday mornings at 10:15 am). Questions? Speak to Mother Vicki.
Women's Book Group will meet March 19 at 7:30 pm at 7:30 pm in the Rath House. The book for discussion is The Aviator’s Wife, by Melanie Benjamin. It’s a portrayal of the marriage between Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh. Come for a fun evening of friendship and discussion.
Parish Calendar this Week
Does not include community and private groups that meet in our facilities. For a full listing check our Google calendar on the parish website www.allsaintsmillington.org.
Sun 3/2 Confirmation Class 12 noon, PH, Lower Room
Wed 3/5 Eucharist & Ashes 9:30 am, Church
Bible Study 10:15 am, Rath House
Eucharist & Ashes 7:30 pm, Church
Thur 3/6 HE & Breakfast 7:00 am, Church
Junior Choir 5:00 pm, Choir Room
Adult Choir 7:30 pm, Choir Room
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Transfiguration
For that one moment, ‘in and out of time’,
On that one mountain where all moments meet,
The daily veil that covers the sublime
In darkling glass fell dazzled at his feet.
There were no angels full of eyes and wings
Just living glory full of truth and grace.
The Love that dances at the heart of things
Shone out upon us from a human face
And to that light the light in us leaped up,
We felt it quicken somewhere deep within,
A sudden blaze of long-extinguished hope
Trembled and tingled through the tender skin.
Nor can this this blackened sky, this darkened scar
Eclipse that glimpse of how things really are.
~ Malcolm Guite
Blessings,
Vicki McGrath+