Dear Friends in Christ,
Thanks to everyone who participated in our Snow Day Morning Prayer on Facebook Live last Sunday. We had twenty-two people praying and worshiping together. Then the video of our prayer time was seen by another six-hundred-and-seventy-four people! It’s always fun to experiment with different ways of gathering, worshiping, and sharing faith.
Please see the rest of the announcements, especially:
ANNUAL MEETING
The Annual Parish Meeting of All Saints’ Church will be held on Sunday, February 10 at 11:15 am in the Parish Hall. This is an important time in our community life to hear from our leadership, to elect new Vestry members and diocesan convention deputies, and to gather for conversation with fellow parishioners. Please plan to be there. Childcare will be available during the meeting.
WORSHIP
Funeral Service for Martha Wyatt (1923-2019) is Sunday, February 3 at 12 noon. Martha was an active and dedicated member of All Saints’ Church for the majority of her life. Please keep Martha’s daughters Jeanne Wyatt and Kathy Conley and their family in your prayers. May Martha rest in the peace of Christ and rise in the glory of God.
Candlemas Procession Next Sunday – The Feast of the Presentation (“Candlemas”) is Feb. 2, the fourtieth day after Christmas. It celebrates Mary and Joseph taking the infant Jesus to the Temple to be dedicated to God. At both services next week we’ll begin with a candle-lit procession, prayers, and hear the story from Luke.
MUSIC EVENTS
All Saints’ Choirs and Friends will present a benefit choral concert on Feb. 24 at 4:30 pm. Titled “Holy is the True Light”, the program will include music by Bach, William Harris, Howard Helvey, John Ferguson, Karen Marrolli, traditional South African, William Byrd, Bruce Neswick, Nicholas Palmer, and others, all based on the theme of light. There will be selections for full choir, men’s voices, women’s voices, and children. A reception will follow in the Parish Hall. Please sign up to contribute an appetizer, chese & crackers, or fruit.
All proceeds from the concert will go towards the start of a repair and restoration fund for our Resurrection altar window, which will be 100 years old at Christmas 2019. It was given by parishioner Thomas G. Clynes in memory of his wife Edith Seamon Clynes who died in February 1917, shortly after the birth of their second child. Admission to the concert is by free will offering; minimum suggested donation is $10. Please invite your friends and neighbors!
CHRISTIAN FORMATION
Bible Study meets on Wednesdays at 10:15 am in the Rath House. We are reading and discussing the Gospel of Mark – this week, Chapter 10. We’d love to have you join us. Questions? Speak to Mother Vicki.
Our Narnia Book Club for families, kids, and adults is continuing this winter/spring. We’ll be reading “The Magician’s Nephew” from The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis starting February 24, with the first discussion after the 10 am service on March 3. Brochures with a reading schedule are on the book case in our Narnia Corner near the choir stalls. Copies of the book will be available soon for $5. And in the summer, our inter-generational Vacation Bible School will be Narnia-themed: Aslan On the Move (June 23-27, 6:00-8:30 pm).
Why Narnia? The Inklings were a Christian literary circle with ties to Oxford University from the early 1930s through the 1950s. It included C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Williams, Dorothy Sayers, and Owen Barfield, among others. They were particularly interested in the way creativity, imagination, theology, and spirituality all worked together to reflect God’s truth and the Christian life. Their writings (fiction for adults and children, poetry, and non-fiction) are a treasure of the Anglican spiritual tradition and have much to offer us today.
STEWARDSHIP
Pledge Envelopes – if you requested envelopes for your pledge of donations, they are available on the table in the Narthex with your name on them. Please pick them up today. And if you would like information about making a pledge of financial support to the ministry of All Saints’, pledge packets are available in the Narthex.
ShopRite Cards– everyone needs groceries! You may purchase ShopRite cards on Sundays during Coffee House or at the parish office. You pay face value and 5% goes to All Saints’ ministries. Please speak to Barbara Barbeau.
Rectory Changes: Take Tour Sunday, 11:30-12:30 pm, 37 Northfield Road, Millington – assuming that the weather cooperates! This is an opportunity for you to visit the house that the parish owns. We are between tenants, and it is listed for rent with Weichert Realtors. Enter through the mud room/breezeway door next to the garage. Tom Day, Max Kosempel, and Roger Kosempel have been working on the house to make some minor repairs as well as having the interior freshly painted. Thank you to Tom, Roger, and Max for all their hard work! If you know someone who might be a good tenant, please contact our realtor, Beth Lohner at Weichert. And please pray that God brings us the right tenant at the right time!
PRAYER & A PARTY
Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper on March 5, 5:30-7:30 pm. This year we’ll be inviting our Veteran friends and Seniors in our community, as well as parishioners. Shrove Tuesday is the day before Ash Wednesday – traditionally a time for using up all the butter/oil/sweets in the house – hence the pancakes! $5 per person/$20 maxmum per husehold/kids under age 3 are free. Sign up on the sheet in the Narthex so we know you are coming. And if you would like to help cook/set-up/serve, please also indicate that on the sign-up sheet.
HELPING HANDS
Family Promise – January 28 is our next date for hosting homeless families with Family Promise at Trinity House in Stirling. Please keep the shelter famlies in your prayers, as well as our volunteers who cook, serve the meal, act as hosts to the shelter guests, and spend the night. Want to know more? Help out the next time? Speak to Afsaneh Thursfield or Kathy Pfeil.
PARISH CALENDAR
1/27 Confirmation Class Parish House 12:00 pm
1/30 Bible Study Rath House 10:00 am
1/31Communion & Healing Prayer Church 7:00 am
Junior Choir Choir Room 5:15 pm
Adult Choir Choir Room 7:30 pm
2/1-2/2 Diocesan Convention Meadowlands Hilton
For a full schedule of our buildings check the website calendar www.allsaintsmillington.org.
CHRISTIAN PRACTICES
Go (Way of Love practice) – Jan. 25 is the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul. Paul (originally called Saul) was a highly proficient and intelligent student of Torah – the Hebrew Scriptures. He was zealous for the Jewish practice of faith in God, and for the traditions of the ancestors. He even held the cloaks of the religious authorities who stoned Stephen, the first martyr for Christ.
But while Saul was going – traveling to the town of Damascus to arrest and imprison Christians who were there – he had a profound encounter with the Risen Lord. It temporarily blinded hum, knocked him from his mount, and ultimately turned his life upside down....including changing his name to the more Gentile-friendly Paul.
After some years of further prayer and study and worship of Jesus as the Messiah, Paul was called by Christ to begin traveling through what is now Turkey and parts of Greece, in order to share with them what he had come to understand as Good News – that Jesus the Jewish Messiah was also the Savior and Redeemer of all people. His message was that God called everyone – Jew and Gentile alike – into God’s family, just as He had promised to Abraham long ago.
Paul met the Risen Lord while he was go-ing. He then epitomized the practice of go-ing as he travelled and preached and taught new groups of Gentile followers of Jesus.
Whenever we go beyond ourselves and our comfort zone for God, we will encounter Jesus in our own hearts and minds, and in the face and form of those we meet. To go is to risk, but it is also an opportunity to see Christ in new and different ways.
Blessings, Vicki+
Thanks to everyone who participated in our Snow Day Morning Prayer on Facebook Live last Sunday. We had twenty-two people praying and worshiping together. Then the video of our prayer time was seen by another six-hundred-and-seventy-four people! It’s always fun to experiment with different ways of gathering, worshiping, and sharing faith.
Please see the rest of the announcements, especially:
- Annual Parish Meeting (Annual Meeting)
- Family Promise (Helping Hands)
- Choral Benefit Concert (Music Events)
- Rectory Changes (Stewardship)
- Funeral Service for Martha Wyatt (Worship)
- Pancake Supper (Prayer & a Party)
ANNUAL MEETING
The Annual Parish Meeting of All Saints’ Church will be held on Sunday, February 10 at 11:15 am in the Parish Hall. This is an important time in our community life to hear from our leadership, to elect new Vestry members and diocesan convention deputies, and to gather for conversation with fellow parishioners. Please plan to be there. Childcare will be available during the meeting.
WORSHIP
Funeral Service for Martha Wyatt (1923-2019) is Sunday, February 3 at 12 noon. Martha was an active and dedicated member of All Saints’ Church for the majority of her life. Please keep Martha’s daughters Jeanne Wyatt and Kathy Conley and their family in your prayers. May Martha rest in the peace of Christ and rise in the glory of God.
Candlemas Procession Next Sunday – The Feast of the Presentation (“Candlemas”) is Feb. 2, the fourtieth day after Christmas. It celebrates Mary and Joseph taking the infant Jesus to the Temple to be dedicated to God. At both services next week we’ll begin with a candle-lit procession, prayers, and hear the story from Luke.
MUSIC EVENTS
All Saints’ Choirs and Friends will present a benefit choral concert on Feb. 24 at 4:30 pm. Titled “Holy is the True Light”, the program will include music by Bach, William Harris, Howard Helvey, John Ferguson, Karen Marrolli, traditional South African, William Byrd, Bruce Neswick, Nicholas Palmer, and others, all based on the theme of light. There will be selections for full choir, men’s voices, women’s voices, and children. A reception will follow in the Parish Hall. Please sign up to contribute an appetizer, chese & crackers, or fruit.
All proceeds from the concert will go towards the start of a repair and restoration fund for our Resurrection altar window, which will be 100 years old at Christmas 2019. It was given by parishioner Thomas G. Clynes in memory of his wife Edith Seamon Clynes who died in February 1917, shortly after the birth of their second child. Admission to the concert is by free will offering; minimum suggested donation is $10. Please invite your friends and neighbors!
CHRISTIAN FORMATION
Bible Study meets on Wednesdays at 10:15 am in the Rath House. We are reading and discussing the Gospel of Mark – this week, Chapter 10. We’d love to have you join us. Questions? Speak to Mother Vicki.
Our Narnia Book Club for families, kids, and adults is continuing this winter/spring. We’ll be reading “The Magician’s Nephew” from The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis starting February 24, with the first discussion after the 10 am service on March 3. Brochures with a reading schedule are on the book case in our Narnia Corner near the choir stalls. Copies of the book will be available soon for $5. And in the summer, our inter-generational Vacation Bible School will be Narnia-themed: Aslan On the Move (June 23-27, 6:00-8:30 pm).
Why Narnia? The Inklings were a Christian literary circle with ties to Oxford University from the early 1930s through the 1950s. It included C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Williams, Dorothy Sayers, and Owen Barfield, among others. They were particularly interested in the way creativity, imagination, theology, and spirituality all worked together to reflect God’s truth and the Christian life. Their writings (fiction for adults and children, poetry, and non-fiction) are a treasure of the Anglican spiritual tradition and have much to offer us today.
STEWARDSHIP
Pledge Envelopes – if you requested envelopes for your pledge of donations, they are available on the table in the Narthex with your name on them. Please pick them up today. And if you would like information about making a pledge of financial support to the ministry of All Saints’, pledge packets are available in the Narthex.
ShopRite Cards– everyone needs groceries! You may purchase ShopRite cards on Sundays during Coffee House or at the parish office. You pay face value and 5% goes to All Saints’ ministries. Please speak to Barbara Barbeau.
Rectory Changes: Take Tour Sunday, 11:30-12:30 pm, 37 Northfield Road, Millington – assuming that the weather cooperates! This is an opportunity for you to visit the house that the parish owns. We are between tenants, and it is listed for rent with Weichert Realtors. Enter through the mud room/breezeway door next to the garage. Tom Day, Max Kosempel, and Roger Kosempel have been working on the house to make some minor repairs as well as having the interior freshly painted. Thank you to Tom, Roger, and Max for all their hard work! If you know someone who might be a good tenant, please contact our realtor, Beth Lohner at Weichert. And please pray that God brings us the right tenant at the right time!
PRAYER & A PARTY
Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper on March 5, 5:30-7:30 pm. This year we’ll be inviting our Veteran friends and Seniors in our community, as well as parishioners. Shrove Tuesday is the day before Ash Wednesday – traditionally a time for using up all the butter/oil/sweets in the house – hence the pancakes! $5 per person/$20 maxmum per husehold/kids under age 3 are free. Sign up on the sheet in the Narthex so we know you are coming. And if you would like to help cook/set-up/serve, please also indicate that on the sign-up sheet.
HELPING HANDS
Family Promise – January 28 is our next date for hosting homeless families with Family Promise at Trinity House in Stirling. Please keep the shelter famlies in your prayers, as well as our volunteers who cook, serve the meal, act as hosts to the shelter guests, and spend the night. Want to know more? Help out the next time? Speak to Afsaneh Thursfield or Kathy Pfeil.
PARISH CALENDAR
1/27 Confirmation Class Parish House 12:00 pm
1/30 Bible Study Rath House 10:00 am
1/31Communion & Healing Prayer Church 7:00 am
Junior Choir Choir Room 5:15 pm
Adult Choir Choir Room 7:30 pm
2/1-2/2 Diocesan Convention Meadowlands Hilton
For a full schedule of our buildings check the website calendar www.allsaintsmillington.org.
CHRISTIAN PRACTICES
Go (Way of Love practice) – Jan. 25 is the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul. Paul (originally called Saul) was a highly proficient and intelligent student of Torah – the Hebrew Scriptures. He was zealous for the Jewish practice of faith in God, and for the traditions of the ancestors. He even held the cloaks of the religious authorities who stoned Stephen, the first martyr for Christ.
But while Saul was going – traveling to the town of Damascus to arrest and imprison Christians who were there – he had a profound encounter with the Risen Lord. It temporarily blinded hum, knocked him from his mount, and ultimately turned his life upside down....including changing his name to the more Gentile-friendly Paul.
After some years of further prayer and study and worship of Jesus as the Messiah, Paul was called by Christ to begin traveling through what is now Turkey and parts of Greece, in order to share with them what he had come to understand as Good News – that Jesus the Jewish Messiah was also the Savior and Redeemer of all people. His message was that God called everyone – Jew and Gentile alike – into God’s family, just as He had promised to Abraham long ago.
Paul met the Risen Lord while he was go-ing. He then epitomized the practice of go-ing as he travelled and preached and taught new groups of Gentile followers of Jesus.
Whenever we go beyond ourselves and our comfort zone for God, we will encounter Jesus in our own hearts and minds, and in the face and form of those we meet. To go is to risk, but it is also an opportunity to see Christ in new and different ways.
Blessings, Vicki+
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