
Happy New Year, everyone!
Please take a look at this week’s announcements, especially:
- Family Promise Homeless Shelter (Outreach)
- Chalk Blessing for your House (Christian Formation)
- Epiphany Soup & Sandwich Lunch (Parish Life)
- Guest Preacher & Sunday Forum (Worship)
PARISH LIFE
THIS SUNDAY: Epiphany Soup and Sandwich Lunch & Fruitcake Bake-off, 11:15 in the Parish Hall. Come share a relaxed meal with your fellow parishioners, pull a Christmas party “cracker,” and join in the Christmas fruitcake bake-off – either as a baker or as a judge! The cost of the event is $5 per person; $20 maximum per household. Kids under age 3 are free. This is a fun way to close out the holiday season and start the New Year!
Annual Parish Meeting is scheduled for Sunday, February 9 at 11:15 am in the Parish House. Please put it on your calendar and plan to attend this important discussion in the life of All Saints’.
WORSHIP
THIS SUNDAY: Family Service at 10:00 am. Children remain in worship. No Sunday School.
Thank You to everyone who contributed their time and efforts to make our Christmas season worship so beautiful and meaningful – choirs, Altar Guild, ushers, Lectors & LEMs, and all who participated in worship. Christmas and the mystery of the Incarnation was well and truly celebrated.
Next Week, January 12: Teri Prasa Lawvor will be our guest preacher. Teri is the president of the Board of Episcopal Relief and Development, recently returned from a pilgrimage to Sri Lanka with the Presiding Bishop and others. Teri, daughter of Carol Prasa, grew up at All Saints’. She will also lead a discussion of the work of ER-D during our Coffee Hour/Sunday Forum time. Please be on hand to hear Teri’s informative and inspiring message.
Thursday Morning Eucharist & Healing Prayer – looking for mid-week connection with God and others? Our weekly service of Eucharist and Healing Prayer may be just what you are looking for! 7:00 am in the Church. We are finished by 7:45. Optional breakfast at the Millington Station Café afterwards. Try it out.
OUTREACH
Family Promise Homeless Shelter – our next time to serve at this program for homeless families will be January 13 (Monday evening-Tuesday morning) when they stay at Trinity House in Stirling. Please look at the sign-up sheet in the Narthex to see what help we still need with this important ministry. Questions? Speak to Afsaneh Thursfield.
Soup Ministry - Winter Soup is available to take home after Church on Sundays during coffee hour ($5 quart/$3 pint – frozen; please return the containers). It is also available to take to sick or shut-in parishioners. Chicken Noodle is available this week. Questions? Speak to Jane Hayden or Kathy Pfeil.
Twelve Baskets Food Pantry provides food for individuals and families in need. The food pantry is available throughout the year by calling the Parish Office. We offer a monthly outreach at the Long Hill Senior Center, and also at the Valley Brook housing complex at the Veteran’s hospital in Lyons. If you know someone struggling with food insecurity, please pass the word along to them.
STEWARDSHIP
Gratitude in 2020 – All Saints’ is very grateful for all of the support – money, ministry, and prayer – that is given throughout the year to provide the means to carry out God’s mission in and through this parish and our wider community. As we begin the new year we are blessed with a healthy base of pledged financial support. It is also important to have every person who calls All Saints’ home be part of the ministry support in whatever way they can. If you have not yet made your pledge for 2020, please do so as soon as possible. There are extra pledge packets in the Narthex, or you can make a pledge via confidential e-mail to allsaints_rector@hotmail.com. Thank you!
CHRISTIAN FORMATION
Blessing Your House with Chalk for Epiphany - Since the Middle Ages there has been a tradition that on (or near) the feast of the Epiphany we pray for God’s blessing on our homes, marking the entrance with a Christian insignia in chalk (an incarnational image reminding us of the dust of the earth from which we were made). We will bless chalk in Sunday’s services. You may then take a packet home with you on your way out of church; it contains chalk and directions.
Sunday School meets next week 1/12 in the Undercroft (lower level) of the Church at 10:00 am. Children then join their families in worship at the time of the Peace.
Bible Study meets Wed. 1/8 at 10:15 am in the Rath House, covering Revelation, Chapter 15. We’re always glad to have new people join us and learn more about the Bible and its connection to our lives. Questions? Speak to Mother Vicki.
AROUND THE NEIGHBORHOOD
Chair Yoga in the Parish House Lower Room – gentle Hatha yoga for body posture, breath control, flexibility, balance, stress-relief, and meditation. Exercises can be done standing or sitting in a chair. The class is open to all skill levels. Classes meet Tues 1:30-2:30 pm and/or Fri 1:00-2:00 pm. Sessions run for 8 weeks. Cost is $40 for 8 weeks 1x per week/$80 for 8 weeks 2x per week. Please come to a class to observe or participate.
CONVENT CORNER
The Epiphany Party!
Sunday January 5, 2020; 5:00 - 7:00pm, at the Convent of the Community of St. John Baptist, 82 West Main Street, Mendham, NJ. This event is for old and new friends of the Community. Enjoy an evening of music and fellowship with the Sisters. Vespers and Reception of Associates 4pm. Informal Supper and Hymn Sing at 5pm. Come when you can!
PARISH CALENDAR
1/8 Bible Study Rath House, 10:15 am
1/9 Holy Eucharist Church, 7:00 am
Junior Choir 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
Way of Love: Pray – In this New Year many of us have tried to refocus on things that are important – health, family, community, care for God’s creation, and prayer.
Here are two resources that might help you with prayer. The first is a Morning Prayer podcast, produced by Forward Movement. It’s a 15-minute audio version of Morning Prayer from the BCP with readings, Psalms, prayers – everything you need on the go. It’s called “A Morning at the Office”. Here is a link to it, but you should be able to find and download it wherever you get podcasts: https://amato.podbean.com/?fbclid=IwAR2uk34ljeWBDYQekPQU4dml9g45zKwHKb0Z4axLDbt3YSHwHliARqq4Jv8 .
You can listen and pray in the car, while you walk, on the train...wherever your morning takes you.
A second resource is visual, rather than auditory. It is the Daily Office app, from the Brotherhood of St. Gregory https://dailyoffice.app/ . You can download this to your phone or tablet. Depending on the time of day it connects you to Morning Prayer, Noonday Prayer, Evening Prayer, and Compline. While it gives you all the readings and Psalms, you can customize some selections (the font, the Canticles, etc.). This is like having a fully inclusive worship bulletin in your pocket!
Try one or both of these and see if this helps your prayer to be more consistent, while being more mobile.
Blessings, Vicki+