Dear Friends in Christ,
Here are this week’s announcements, “For All the Saints’”, and the daily prayer for Lent.
Please remember that this Sunday the clocks move ahead one hour to start Daylight Savings Time!
Why do we celebrate Holy Week? Why not go right from Palm Sunday to Easter? Holy Week is the pivot and center of the whole Christian year. As we walk with Jesus through these days, we share with him the last week of his earthly life. We experience once again the profound depths of God’s love for us – even in the face of human weakness, betrayal and sin. At the same time, we make this journey together as a community, and we are renewed as the Body of Christ as we celebrate the new life of Resurrection upon which our faith is based. Holy Week centers us, grounds us, connects us to Jesus in a way that nothing else does. I hope and pray that your participation will bring you strength, truth, hope and joy. ~ Vicki+
We hope that today is the last snow, but just in case: If there is snow and/or ice on Sunday, please check your e-mail in case there is a cancellation. You can also check the parish Facebook page, and listen to the church answering machine for an update. We try to have the information go out by 6:45 am.
+ + + + + + + + +
WORSHIP and MUSIC
Compline, Thursday: March 19; 9:00 pm. A peaceful candlelit service of sung prayer, chant, and meditation ~ the ancient “bed-time prayer” of the Church. Led by members of our Choir, you are invited to join the singing, or you may simply join the prayer by listening. The Church will be open for candlelit private prayer and meditation at 8:30 pm. The service lasts about 20 minutes. Stop by on your way home if you are working late; or come over after you get the kids in bed; or stop in if you are out for an evening stroll around the neighborhood – you’ll be glad you did!
Special Needs Worship – March 15, All God's Children Service, at 12 noon (on the 3rd Sundays of the month). Designed for children and families with a range of special needs – including anyone who has a hard time sitting still! A 30-minute service, no segment is longer than 3 minutes each; optional Communion. Pass the word to friends and neighbors who can benefit from this. Contact Mother Vicki for details.
Easter Flowers - If you would like to make a donation for Easter flowers in memory of a loved one or in thanksgiving for a particular blessing, please use the envelopes found in the pew on Sundays. Please be sure to include the names of the people being remembered or honored; they will appear in all the Easter bulletins. You may also e-mail or call in the names of those you want remembered, or drop your check and list through the mail slot in the Rath House door. The deadline for the names is March 26. Thank you.
Foot Washing is an ancient and traditional part of Maundy Thursday, and was part of our liturgy here at All Saints’ many years ago. It will be included in our worship this year - a sign of our serving one another in humility as part of our community life. You can choose whether or not to have your feet washed. If you do choose to come forward, you’ll be seated on a chair in front of the pews facing away from the congregation. You’ll remove a single shoe and sock, have water poured over your foot and dried with a towel, and then you’ll wash the foot of the person who comes after you. During the foot washing, there will be congregational singing. The text of the chant we’ll be singing is from the Prayer Book, page 272:
The Lord Jesus, after he had supped with his disciples and had washed their feet, said to them, "Do you know what I, your Lord and Master, have done to you? I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done."
Peace is my last gift to you, my own peace I now leave with
you; peace which the world cannot give, I give to you.
I give you a new commandment: Love one another as I have loved you.
Peace is my last gift to you, my own peace I now leave with
you; peace which the world cannot give, I give to you.
By this shall the world know that you are my disciples: That you have love for one another.
After this the service proceeds with Communion and the Stripping of the Altar, as is our usual practice. I hope that you will be willing to give it a try ~ VGM+
Prayer Watch – Jesus asks us to keep watch with him in our own Garden of Gethsemane (Altar of Repose) on Maundy Thursday night. Please sign up for a 30-minute time slot (between 8:30 pm and midnight) of personal prayer and meditation as we keep watch, making sure that there is always someone in the Church during that time. Please sign up on the sheet in the Narthex.
CHRISTIAN FORMATION
Women’s Book Group will meet on March18 at 7:30 pm in the Rath House. The book for discussion is Deep Down Dark: the Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine, and the Miracle that Set Them Free, by Héctor Tobar. Come for an evening of fellowship and learning.
Private Confession - Self-examination and repentance are an important part of Lent. The Episcopal Church makes provision for private confession and spiritual counsel, if that is helpful to you. There is an old maxim about private confession in the Episcopal Church: “All may, some should, none must.” If you would like more information about making a confession, please e-mail or call me: allsaints_rector@verizon.net; 908-647-0067. ~ Mother Vicki+
Bible Study, Wednesdays, 10:15-11:30 am in the Rath House. We are currently reading through the Gospel of John. Come and explore Scripture and your faith in a relaxed setting where your questions are welcome and laughter and sharing is expected. Use one of our Bibles or bring your own!
Maundy Thursday Agapé Meal, April 2, 6 pm– Come for a pot-luck meal before our Maundy Thursday worship. Agapé is the Greek word for God’s love – and the way we share it in community. A change from last year – there will be some Middle Eastern-themed foods as part of the menu, but feel free to bring whatever you like, except dessert which will not be part of the meal. Sign up on the sheet in the Narthex to let us know what part of the meal you can bring and how many people will be attending.
Holy Saturday Kids’ Service, Easter Egg Hunt and Ribbon Banner Making - April 4, 10 am. Sign up on the sheet in the Narthex. And we need donations of candy for the eggs, volunteers to hide the eggs, and provide refreshments; and older kids and adults to make the banners and hang them on the lamp posts. Please sign your kids up on the sheet in the Narthex and let us know how you can help. Thanks.
The First Party of Easter follows the Easter Vigil on Saturday, April 4, in the Narthex. We need some simple refreshments to continue the best service of the year! Take a look at the sign-up sheet for what we need.
HELPING HANDS
Food for Friends - Thank you for your continuing contributions to the Food for Friends program at St. John’s, Dover. This important ministry helps to feed hungry people. The pantry always needs non-perishable, nutritious foods, both for families who run short at the end of the month, and for people who are living on the street. People in apartments/houses need regular sizes of things that can be cooked: rice, beans, canned vegetables, pasta, sauce, canned meat and fish, also canned/dried fruit, crackers, peanut butter, etc. For homeless folks cans with pop-tops work well: soups, stews, fruit, veggies, juice packs, milk boxes, granola bars, etc. – things that can be opened easily without a can opener.
STEWARDSHIP
Wooden Indoor Climber for Sale – made by Community Playthings, has two moveable platforms, a removable slide, and can be folded up for storage. A memento of All Saints’ Nursery School that needs a good home! Asking $50. Speak to Mother Vicki.
From the Finance Committee – During this winter we’ve had some bad weather which has kept people home from Church, and on one Sunday we had no worship at all, due to the ice storm. That has had a negative effect on our income. While we know that parishioners will make up missed pledge payments during the year, it will be very helpful if you can do so soon when our heating costs are high. Thank you!
COMMUNICATIONS
Facebook Please be sure to connect with us on Facebook through the week! Like our page: “All Saints’ Episcopal Church, Millington, NJ”
Voice Online, the diocesan weekly e-lettter can be found here: https://col128.mail.live.com/?tid=cmRG4cmUbD5BGzmQAhWtamRA2&fid=flinbox . You can also subscribe to it yourself via the diocesan website; www.dioceseofnewark.org .
+ + + + + + + + +
PARISH CALENDAR THIS WEEK
3/10 Finance Committee 7:30 pm, Rath House
3/11 Bible Study 10:15 am, Rath House
3/12 HE & Breakfast 7:00 am, Church
Junior Choir 5:00 pm, Choir Room
Adult Choir 7:30 pm, Choir Room
And please check the calendar on our website for the full listing of groups and events in our buildings.
+ + + + + + + + +
For All the Saints – March 9, Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa ~ died c. 394
Gregory was a man enchanted with Christ and dazzled by the meaning of his Passion. He was born in Caesarea about 334, the younger brother of Basil the Great, and, in his youth, was but a reluctant Christian.
When he was twenty, the transfer of the relics of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste to the family chapel at Annesi quickened Gregory’s faith, and he became a practicing Christian and a lector. He abandoned this ministry, however, to become a rhetorician like his father.
His brother Basil, in his struggle against the Emperor Valens, compelled Gregory to become Bishop of Nyssa, a town ten miles from Caesarea. Knowing himself to be unfit for the charge, Gregory described his ordination as the most miserable day of his life. He lacked the important episcopal skills of tact and understanding, and had no sense of the value of money. Falsely accused of embezzling Church funds, Gregory went into hiding for two years, not returning to his diocese until Valens died.
Although he resented his brother’s dominance, Gregory was shocked by Basil’s death in 379. Several months later, he received another shock: his beloved sister Macrina was dying. Gregory hastened to Annesi and conversed with her for two days about death, and the soul, and the meaning of the resurrection. Choking with asthma, Macrina died in her brother’s arms.
The two deaths, while stunning Gregory, also freed him to develop as a deeper and richer philosopher and theologian. He reveals his delight in the created order in his treatise, On the Making of Man. He exposes the depth of his contemplative and mystical nature in his Life of Moses and again in his Commentary on the Song of Songs. His Great Catechism is still considered second only to Origen’s treatise, On First Principles.
In 381, Gregory attended the Second Ecumenical Council at Constantinople, where he was honored as the “pillar of the Church.” In the fight for the Nicene faith, he was one of the three great Eastern theologians, known with Basil the Great and Gregory of Nazianzus, as the Cappadocian Fathers. ~ Holy Women, Holy Men
Question for reflection: How has your family either encouraged your faith, or seemed like a stumbling block to it?
LENT@ALL SAINTS’: DAY 15
Lord God we say to you: Give us bread.
Not delicacies or riches, nor magnificent purple robes, golden ornaments,
and precious stones, or silver dishes.
Nor do we ask You for landed estates, or military commands, or political leadership.
We pray neither for herds of horses and oxen or other cattle in great numbers,
nor for a host of slaves.
We do not say, give us a prominent position in assemblies or monuments and statues raised to us, nor silken robes and musicians at meals, nor any other thing by which the soul is estranged from the thought of God and higher things;
no--but only bread! Amen. ~ a prayer adapted from a quotation of Gregory of Nyssa
Blessings,
Vicki McGrath+
Here are this week’s announcements, “For All the Saints’”, and the daily prayer for Lent.
Please remember that this Sunday the clocks move ahead one hour to start Daylight Savings Time!
Why do we celebrate Holy Week? Why not go right from Palm Sunday to Easter? Holy Week is the pivot and center of the whole Christian year. As we walk with Jesus through these days, we share with him the last week of his earthly life. We experience once again the profound depths of God’s love for us – even in the face of human weakness, betrayal and sin. At the same time, we make this journey together as a community, and we are renewed as the Body of Christ as we celebrate the new life of Resurrection upon which our faith is based. Holy Week centers us, grounds us, connects us to Jesus in a way that nothing else does. I hope and pray that your participation will bring you strength, truth, hope and joy. ~ Vicki+
We hope that today is the last snow, but just in case: If there is snow and/or ice on Sunday, please check your e-mail in case there is a cancellation. You can also check the parish Facebook page, and listen to the church answering machine for an update. We try to have the information go out by 6:45 am.
+ + + + + + + + +
WORSHIP and MUSIC
Compline, Thursday: March 19; 9:00 pm. A peaceful candlelit service of sung prayer, chant, and meditation ~ the ancient “bed-time prayer” of the Church. Led by members of our Choir, you are invited to join the singing, or you may simply join the prayer by listening. The Church will be open for candlelit private prayer and meditation at 8:30 pm. The service lasts about 20 minutes. Stop by on your way home if you are working late; or come over after you get the kids in bed; or stop in if you are out for an evening stroll around the neighborhood – you’ll be glad you did!
Special Needs Worship – March 15, All God's Children Service, at 12 noon (on the 3rd Sundays of the month). Designed for children and families with a range of special needs – including anyone who has a hard time sitting still! A 30-minute service, no segment is longer than 3 minutes each; optional Communion. Pass the word to friends and neighbors who can benefit from this. Contact Mother Vicki for details.
Easter Flowers - If you would like to make a donation for Easter flowers in memory of a loved one or in thanksgiving for a particular blessing, please use the envelopes found in the pew on Sundays. Please be sure to include the names of the people being remembered or honored; they will appear in all the Easter bulletins. You may also e-mail or call in the names of those you want remembered, or drop your check and list through the mail slot in the Rath House door. The deadline for the names is March 26. Thank you.
Foot Washing is an ancient and traditional part of Maundy Thursday, and was part of our liturgy here at All Saints’ many years ago. It will be included in our worship this year - a sign of our serving one another in humility as part of our community life. You can choose whether or not to have your feet washed. If you do choose to come forward, you’ll be seated on a chair in front of the pews facing away from the congregation. You’ll remove a single shoe and sock, have water poured over your foot and dried with a towel, and then you’ll wash the foot of the person who comes after you. During the foot washing, there will be congregational singing. The text of the chant we’ll be singing is from the Prayer Book, page 272:
The Lord Jesus, after he had supped with his disciples and had washed their feet, said to them, "Do you know what I, your Lord and Master, have done to you? I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done."
Peace is my last gift to you, my own peace I now leave with
you; peace which the world cannot give, I give to you.
I give you a new commandment: Love one another as I have loved you.
Peace is my last gift to you, my own peace I now leave with
you; peace which the world cannot give, I give to you.
By this shall the world know that you are my disciples: That you have love for one another.
After this the service proceeds with Communion and the Stripping of the Altar, as is our usual practice. I hope that you will be willing to give it a try ~ VGM+
Prayer Watch – Jesus asks us to keep watch with him in our own Garden of Gethsemane (Altar of Repose) on Maundy Thursday night. Please sign up for a 30-minute time slot (between 8:30 pm and midnight) of personal prayer and meditation as we keep watch, making sure that there is always someone in the Church during that time. Please sign up on the sheet in the Narthex.
CHRISTIAN FORMATION
Women’s Book Group will meet on March18 at 7:30 pm in the Rath House. The book for discussion is Deep Down Dark: the Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine, and the Miracle that Set Them Free, by Héctor Tobar. Come for an evening of fellowship and learning.
Private Confession - Self-examination and repentance are an important part of Lent. The Episcopal Church makes provision for private confession and spiritual counsel, if that is helpful to you. There is an old maxim about private confession in the Episcopal Church: “All may, some should, none must.” If you would like more information about making a confession, please e-mail or call me: allsaints_rector@verizon.net; 908-647-0067. ~ Mother Vicki+
Bible Study, Wednesdays, 10:15-11:30 am in the Rath House. We are currently reading through the Gospel of John. Come and explore Scripture and your faith in a relaxed setting where your questions are welcome and laughter and sharing is expected. Use one of our Bibles or bring your own!
Maundy Thursday Agapé Meal, April 2, 6 pm– Come for a pot-luck meal before our Maundy Thursday worship. Agapé is the Greek word for God’s love – and the way we share it in community. A change from last year – there will be some Middle Eastern-themed foods as part of the menu, but feel free to bring whatever you like, except dessert which will not be part of the meal. Sign up on the sheet in the Narthex to let us know what part of the meal you can bring and how many people will be attending.
Holy Saturday Kids’ Service, Easter Egg Hunt and Ribbon Banner Making - April 4, 10 am. Sign up on the sheet in the Narthex. And we need donations of candy for the eggs, volunteers to hide the eggs, and provide refreshments; and older kids and adults to make the banners and hang them on the lamp posts. Please sign your kids up on the sheet in the Narthex and let us know how you can help. Thanks.
The First Party of Easter follows the Easter Vigil on Saturday, April 4, in the Narthex. We need some simple refreshments to continue the best service of the year! Take a look at the sign-up sheet for what we need.
HELPING HANDS
Food for Friends - Thank you for your continuing contributions to the Food for Friends program at St. John’s, Dover. This important ministry helps to feed hungry people. The pantry always needs non-perishable, nutritious foods, both for families who run short at the end of the month, and for people who are living on the street. People in apartments/houses need regular sizes of things that can be cooked: rice, beans, canned vegetables, pasta, sauce, canned meat and fish, also canned/dried fruit, crackers, peanut butter, etc. For homeless folks cans with pop-tops work well: soups, stews, fruit, veggies, juice packs, milk boxes, granola bars, etc. – things that can be opened easily without a can opener.
STEWARDSHIP
Wooden Indoor Climber for Sale – made by Community Playthings, has two moveable platforms, a removable slide, and can be folded up for storage. A memento of All Saints’ Nursery School that needs a good home! Asking $50. Speak to Mother Vicki.
From the Finance Committee – During this winter we’ve had some bad weather which has kept people home from Church, and on one Sunday we had no worship at all, due to the ice storm. That has had a negative effect on our income. While we know that parishioners will make up missed pledge payments during the year, it will be very helpful if you can do so soon when our heating costs are high. Thank you!
COMMUNICATIONS
Facebook Please be sure to connect with us on Facebook through the week! Like our page: “All Saints’ Episcopal Church, Millington, NJ”
Voice Online, the diocesan weekly e-lettter can be found here: https://col128.mail.live.com/?tid=cmRG4cmUbD5BGzmQAhWtamRA2&fid=flinbox . You can also subscribe to it yourself via the diocesan website; www.dioceseofnewark.org .
+ + + + + + + + +
PARISH CALENDAR THIS WEEK
3/10 Finance Committee 7:30 pm, Rath House
3/11 Bible Study 10:15 am, Rath House
3/12 HE & Breakfast 7:00 am, Church
Junior Choir 5:00 pm, Choir Room
Adult Choir 7:30 pm, Choir Room
And please check the calendar on our website for the full listing of groups and events in our buildings.
+ + + + + + + + +
For All the Saints – March 9, Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa ~ died c. 394
Gregory was a man enchanted with Christ and dazzled by the meaning of his Passion. He was born in Caesarea about 334, the younger brother of Basil the Great, and, in his youth, was but a reluctant Christian.
When he was twenty, the transfer of the relics of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste to the family chapel at Annesi quickened Gregory’s faith, and he became a practicing Christian and a lector. He abandoned this ministry, however, to become a rhetorician like his father.
His brother Basil, in his struggle against the Emperor Valens, compelled Gregory to become Bishop of Nyssa, a town ten miles from Caesarea. Knowing himself to be unfit for the charge, Gregory described his ordination as the most miserable day of his life. He lacked the important episcopal skills of tact and understanding, and had no sense of the value of money. Falsely accused of embezzling Church funds, Gregory went into hiding for two years, not returning to his diocese until Valens died.
Although he resented his brother’s dominance, Gregory was shocked by Basil’s death in 379. Several months later, he received another shock: his beloved sister Macrina was dying. Gregory hastened to Annesi and conversed with her for two days about death, and the soul, and the meaning of the resurrection. Choking with asthma, Macrina died in her brother’s arms.
The two deaths, while stunning Gregory, also freed him to develop as a deeper and richer philosopher and theologian. He reveals his delight in the created order in his treatise, On the Making of Man. He exposes the depth of his contemplative and mystical nature in his Life of Moses and again in his Commentary on the Song of Songs. His Great Catechism is still considered second only to Origen’s treatise, On First Principles.
In 381, Gregory attended the Second Ecumenical Council at Constantinople, where he was honored as the “pillar of the Church.” In the fight for the Nicene faith, he was one of the three great Eastern theologians, known with Basil the Great and Gregory of Nazianzus, as the Cappadocian Fathers. ~ Holy Women, Holy Men
Question for reflection: How has your family either encouraged your faith, or seemed like a stumbling block to it?
LENT@ALL SAINTS’: DAY 15
Lord God we say to you: Give us bread.
Not delicacies or riches, nor magnificent purple robes, golden ornaments,
and precious stones, or silver dishes.
Nor do we ask You for landed estates, or military commands, or political leadership.
We pray neither for herds of horses and oxen or other cattle in great numbers,
nor for a host of slaves.
We do not say, give us a prominent position in assemblies or monuments and statues raised to us, nor silken robes and musicians at meals, nor any other thing by which the soul is estranged from the thought of God and higher things;
no--but only bread! Amen. ~ a prayer adapted from a quotation of Gregory of Nyssa
Blessings,
Vicki McGrath+
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