
As Lent progresses, and we get closer to Holy Week, there are a variety of services, events, and experiences designed to help you enter more fully into Christ’s gift to us in his death and resurrection. Please take a look at the announcements below:
Please take a look at the announcements below, especially:
- Dinner for Vets (Helping Hands)
- Argyle Fish & Chips (Events)
- Piano Concert for Robotics Team (Around the Neighborhood)
- Easter Flowers (Christian Formation)
May she rest in the Peace of Christ, and rise in the glory of God.
HELPING HANDS
Dinner for Vets from Lyons and our Long Hill Community, Saturday, April 1st at 5:30 pm in the Lower Room of the Parish House. These dinners are part of our connecting with what God s doing in our neighborhood and wider community. Not only do we aim to offer Vets the hospitality of a meal, but the hospitality of listening – to their stories, concerns, experiences, point of view. Want to help? Speak to Kerrie Stepko.
Sleeping Mats for Homeless Wednesday, April 19 at 7:30 pm in the Parish Hall. We crochet mats out of “plarn” (plastic bag yarn). The mats are distributed in NYC and Newark through the Bridges program in Summit. Friends and neighbors are invited to be part of the effort and fellowship Questions? Speak to Susie Harris.
Thanks to everyone who volunteered at Family Promise Homeless Shelter, Monday night. Your efforts are helping struggling families experience the love of God as they get back on their feet.
AROUND THE NEIGHBORHOOD
This Sunday: Concert for Long Hill Robotics Team, April 2 at 4 pm at All Saints’. CMS 7th Grade pianist Sophia Chen will play Beethoven, Bach, Chopin and Schumann. The concert will raise money through free-will offerings for the Robotics Team’s travel to Kentucky and Nebraska for international competition. All are welcome! The concert will be followed by a reception, so an RSVP is appreciated to go.LH.robotics@gmail.com.
HOLY WEEK
Palm Sunday is Next Week, April 9 - Palm Procession at 8 am, starting in front of the Church door; and at 10 am, starting in front of the Parish House door, led by the bagpiper.
Maundy Thursday Agapé Meal, April 13, 6:00 pm
Agapé is the Greek word for God’s love – and the way we share it in community. We’ll gather for a simple pot-luck meal, as Jesus and his disciples did, before our Maundy Thursday worship. We’ll be sharing this meal with the Christian (Catholic) Community in the Parish House Lower Room. Sign up on the sheet in the Narthex. Hope to see you there!
Foot Washing at Maundy Thursday Worship, 7:30 pm
This action is a symbol of the loving service to others that Jesus calls us to – basic, humble, prayerful, vulnerable. It is part of Maundy Thursday worship in churches all over the world. During the singing of a chant, the congregation is invited to come forward, have one foot washed, and then wash the foot of the person who comes after them. This care for one another is deeply moving. Wearing shoes and socks that are easily removable makes this easier.
Prayer Watch, anytime Maundy Thursday night, 8:30 pm to 12 am.
Come and keep watch in the Church with Jesus for thirty minutes on the night of his trials in the Garden of Gethsemane (Altar of Repose with the Reserved Sacrament). Although this is a time for personal prayer and meditation, it is something done on the part of our whole parish community, even if you haven’t been able to attend worship earlier. The watch will conclude at midnight. Sign up for a half hour prayer time on the sheet in the Narthex.
Holy Saturday Kids’ Service, Easter Egg Hunt and Ribbon Banner Making – April 15, 10 am. Sign up on the sheet in the Narthex. And we need donations of candy for the eggs, volunteers to provide refreshments, and older kids and adults to make the ribbon banners
Please sign up on the sheet in the Narthex and let us know if your kids will participate and how you can help. Thanks.
The First Party of Easter follows the Easter Vigil on Saturday, April 15, 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.
WORSHIP
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 that were mailed home, or that are found in the pew. Please be sure to include the names of the people being remembered or honored; they will appear in all the Easter bulletins. The deadline for the names is April 10.
Evening Prayer, Mondays, 6 pm in the Church during Lent. Stop in on your way home from work and have a peaceful half hour with God and others.
EVENTS
Spring Fish & Chips by Argyle of Kearny, April 27 – 5:30-7:30 pm. This is our spring fund-raiser, and we’ll need a variety of help: setting up tables, decorating, selling tickets, making up plates, serving, working the door, helping with publicity, making desserts & drinks, clean-up. A sign-up poster will be up in the Narthex soon. Jackie Sullivan is the person to see with questions or to volunteer.
CHRISTIAN FORMATION
Pilgrim, a Course for the Christian Journey:
The Commandments. Monday nights at 7 pm in the Rath House. This discussion group is a great way to learn about the Ten Commandments, Jesus’ teaching about them, and putting our faith into daily action.
Bible Study – Wed., 10:15 am, in the Rath House. We are reading through the Book of Acts; this week, 4/5, we’ll discuss Chapter 28. Come for friendship, fellowship, and learning.
Coloring Insert – We’ve had two different coloring inserts in the last month for your reflection and meditation. Please return your return your colored-in page(s) in the collection plate. We’ll post a collection of them on a board in the Narthex. It’s a way to pray and learn from each other’s thoughts, hopes, and prayers. Extra copies are available in the Narthex.
PARISH CALENDAR
4/3 Evening Prayer Church, 6:00 pm
Pilgrim Group Rath House, 7:00 pm
4/5 Bible Study Rath House, 10:15 am
4/6 Holy Eucharist Church, 7:00 am
Small Saints’& Jr Choirs Choir Room, 5:15 pm
Adult Choir Choir Room, 7:30 pm
For a full schedule of our buildings check the website calendar www.allsaintsmillington.org.
CHRISTIAN PRACTICES
Forgiveness – “In English the verb forgive comes from the Latin perdonare, which means to give thoroughly and wholeheartedly. To forgive is to wholeheartedly give it up. It’s an offering, and act of oblation.” ~ Brother Curtis Almquist, SSJE.
Forgiveness is a daily Christian practice. As we examine our attitudes, action, and speech we discover the places where we have fallen short of acting according to God’s good purposes. The Greek word in the New Testament for this is hamartia, missing the mark. Sometimes our sin becomes visible by the way we treat others. Sometimes our sin is known to God alone. Either way, we need to have the courage and the humility to ask God’s forgiveness, and the forgiveness of those we may have wronged. And we also need to extend forgiveness to others when it is asked of us.
Often, that is the hardest thing to do. We can find a certain satisfaction in hanging onto resentments, in nursing grudges, in thinking that our hurt is bigger and more important than God’s love and grace. Lent is a powerful time for us to meditate on and practice forgiveness. As we contemplate Jesus’ death on the Cross, we remember that it was done for us, on our behalf, to forgive our sins and the sins of all humanity. Receiving God’s forgiveness is a letting go, a giving up of those hard knots and painful sores that so often stand in the way of fully being God’s person, God’s image-bearer in the world. Receiving forgiveness is an act of trust, humility, and vulnerability – a reminder that we are wholly dependent on God’s grace and mercy.
Where do YOU need to ask forgiveness – from God or others? Where do you need to offer forgiveness? What may be stopping you? How would you describe your feeling after you have received forgiveness – at Peace? Lighter? Clean? Settled? Right with God?
This is a recording of the Kyrie from J.S. Bach’s Mass in b minor, performed by The Gewandhausorchester of Leipzig, conducted by Herbert Blomstedt: https://youtu.be/cRqsdRwnqJc
Blessings, Vicki+