
Here are this week’s announcements. Life has been busy around the parish, and I have been grateful for everyone’s efforts and energy on a number of different fronts. It is always the Saints (that is all of you!) who make All Saints’ such a wonderful community of faith, joy, and service.
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Please take a look at this week’s announcements, especially:
- A Story of Stewardship & Neighborhood – please make sure to read this (Christian Practices)
- Register for Breakfast with the Bishop (Diocesan News)
- Sunday Forum (Christian Formation)
- Blessing of the Animals – this Sunday (Worship)
- Rummage Huzzah! Party (Parish Life)
- Fall Clean-up & Pruning Party – this Saturday (Stewardship)
- Family Promise (Outreach)
Rummage Sale – thank you, again, to everyone who helped with the sale in any way. The proceeds from the day came in over $10,000...and we’re still receiving a few outstanding payments. Good job, everyone!
Fall Clean-up & Pruning Party - Oct. 5, 9 am – 12 noon. We have shrubs that need pruning, brush in the back corner of the parking lot to go to the dump, and bricks to go to our garage (eventually to make a path on one of the parking lot islands), and ivy to pull off the church building – all before Bishop Hughes and our guests from around the diocese come on Oct. 26 for Breakfast with the Bishop. Please come and help us out. Bring whatever tools you think you need.
ShopRite Cards – buy a ShopRite gift card for your own groceries or as a gift for someone else. You pay face value and All Saints’ gets 5%. See Barbara Barbeau.
DIOCESAN NEWS
Breakfast with the Bishop – Saturday, Oct. 26, 9:30-11:30 am – doors open at 9 am. Bishop Hughes will be here at All Saints’ to meet parishioners and some of our Episcopal brother and sisters from around the diocese. She’ll discuss the vision, hopes, dreams, and sense of where the Holy Spirit is leading us as Jesus’ disciples. This is a wonderful opportunity to hear from our bishop and ask questions. Hope to see you there! Registration is required here: https://dioceseofnewark.org/event/breaking-bread-bishop-hughes-millington
OUTREACH
Family Promise is the Morris County program for families who have become homeless and are working to regain their footing in life with jobs, education, and, most of all, housing. Several times a year these families are housed in Long Hill Township at Trinity House/Shrine of St. Joseph in Stirling. All Saints’ is a support congregation for this ministry. Our next date to serve at Family Promise is November 1 & 2. We provide two meals: dinner Friday night and Saturday breakfast. We’ll need people to cook and serve for each meal; two greeters/hospitality folks for each meal; and two people to sleep overnight at Trinity House – one male and one female. If you can be part of this ministry team, please sign up on the sheet in the Narthex. Questions? Speak to Afsaneh Thursfield.
WORSHIP
Family Service this Sunday, Oct. 6 at 10 am – kids’ homily, birthday & anniversary prayers, no Sunday School.
Blessing of the Animals in honor of St. Francis – Oct. 6, 5 pm in the Memorial Garden. Bring your pet (on a leash or in a carrier or cage for their comfort) for a blessing and a celebration of God’s goodness and love for creation.
PARISH LIFE
To our fellow Rummagers – please join us for a Rummage Huzzah! Party on Wednesday, October 9 at 7 pm in the Parish House. This is a way to celebrate all the hard work together --pricing, boxing, schlepping, sorting, advertising and more. Please bring some random snack (whatever you can rummage from your kitchen or pantry) and your favorite story from the rummage sale and we will feast Rummage-style. Hope to see you there! ~ Kimberly Celeste
Altar Guild Annual Meeting – Oct. 10, 6 pm in the Rath House. Bring a side dish or beverage. Main meal will be provided. And if anyone is interested in the ministry of the Altar Guild, please come to the meeting and find out more about it! RSVP to Liz Gorny egorny@optonline.net.
All Saints’ Cabaret Night is coming on November 23, 7:00 pm in the Parish Hall! Music, dessert, adult beverage (optional). Performances by some wonderful local talent. Would you like to perform or help with the event? Speak to Alison Siener Brown or Melissa Pagliaro. Save the date, invite a friend, and plan to party!
CHRISTIAN FORMATION
Sunday Forum, Oct. 13, 11:15 am in the Parish Hall - “The Anglican Communion’s Best-kept Secret: Religious Communities”. Sister Monica Clare kicks off our new monthly adult Christian formation/education opportunity during Coffee Hour. This month’s presentation and Q&A will focus on Episcopal monks and nuns. Get some coffee or tea, take a seat, and come learn something new!
Bible Study meets this Wed. 10/9. We will be discussing Chapter 4 of the Book of Revelation. This group is for anyone interested in learning for about the Bible and its connection to our lives. Questions? Speak to Mother Vicki.
Narnia Book Club resumes next week, October 13. We’ll read and discuss Prince Caspian, from The Chronicles of Narnia series by C.S. Lewis. There will be a Facebook-based discussion group, and also an in-person group that will meet during Coffee Hour. Sign-up on the sheet in the Narthex to let us know you’ll be participating, and let us know if you need a book.
PARISH CALENDAR
10/9 Bible Study Rath House, 10:15 am
Rummage Huzzah Party Parish Hall, 7:00 pm
10/10 Holy Eucharist Church, 7:00 am
Junior Choir Choir Room 5:15 pm
Altar Guild Meeting Rath House 6:00 pm
Adult Choir Choir Room 7:30 pm
For a full schedule of our buildings check the website calendar
CHRISTIAN PRACTICES
Way of Love: Bless – A Story of Stewardship & Neighborhood
Last spring the Vestry was considering a proposal from AT&T for All Saints’ to be a site for a new cell tower. We believed that it would be a benefit to the communications of our first responders in town. The rental of the land would have generated significant income for All Saints’ ministries and outreach. We held a public meeting with neighbors and parishioners from which we learned two very important things: 1) a cell tower would not help our first responders; 2) proceeding with the project would squander the good will of our neighbors and wider community. Based on those two factors we decided not to proceed with the project.
As a result of all the conversations and emails during and after the meeting there were several very important take-aways:
- our neighbors and wider community value our church as a community of connection, openness, and welcome. They also hold our church building dear for a variety of meanings and values.
- we listened to our neighbors’ concerns and valued their input at a time when they expected that our decision had already been made, showing them that we were true to our word. At a time when trust in churches and other institutions is often suspect, we showed that we are trustworthy.
- our parish can always make good use of funds – our operating budget is rarely in surplus - but God showed us that a cell tower was not the way to raise those funds.
Blessings, Vicki+