
Saturday is the consecration of our new Bishop, the Rt. Rev. Carlye J. Hughes. All Saints’ will be well-represented by about 25 people - in the congregation, in the choir and children’s choir, as a banner bearer, as a flag bearer, and a Eucharistic minister. And a little piece of All Saints’ will be on the stage! The diocese borrowed our free-standing lectern and our Bishop’s chair (the one at the altar the Celebrant usually sits in). The needle-pointed cushions on the chair depict the seal of our Diocese. This is the chair that Presiding Bishop Michael Curry (as the chief consecrator) will preside from for the consecration. The Presiding Bishop is the senior clergy person for the entire Episcopal Church – which means all fifty U.S. states, and diocese in nine different countries, including Haiti and Honduras. You may also remember that Bishop Curry was the preacher at the Royal Wedding back in the spring. It will be an honor and an inspiration to have him here in our diocese for this event!
Sunday afternoon at 3 pm during a service of Evensong, Bishop Hughes will be formally seated and installed in her seat (cathedra) at Trinity & St. Philip’s Cathedral in Newark. Everyone is invited to attend.
Thanks be to God for this new chapter in the life, work, ministry and mission of our diocese. Please keep Bishop Carlye in your prayers!
Here are the week’s announcements. In particular please see:
- Rummage Sale Final Week (Fun & Fundraising)
- Good Scout Award Dinner: Carol Prasa (Around the Neighborhood)
- Blessing of the Animals (Worship)
- Narnia Book Club (Christian Formation)
- Murder Mystery Dinner Night (Parish Life)
We are on the home stretch of Rummage Collection. Sunday 9/23 is the last collection day—from noon until 2pm. Saturday, September 29 is SALE DAY from 9 am-2 pm. This is our biggest fundraiser of the year! We need your help in these ways especially: sort and price this week (very important!),;bake for the bake sale; unpack boxes and put rummage on tables during set up and throughout the sale; staff the different areas - especially linens and furniture; bring pop-up tents and portable tables in case of weather. Sign up on the poster in the narthex or speak with Kimberly Celeste to find out ways to help!
NEW! ShopRite gift cards are available in $25 increments. Buy gift cards at the Rummage Sale (at the check-out table) to purchase your groceries. It does not cost you any more than what you would have spent at the store and 5% goes to All Saints’ ministries. The cards will also be available at Church on Sundays. Speak with Mother Vicki or Jane Hayden if you have questions.
CHRISTIAN FORMATION & SPIRITUAL PRACTICES
Narnia Book Club Comes to All Saints’ Oct. 7: Bring your imagination, creativity, and curiosity to faith in Jesus as a child, an adult, or a family in this home-based effort. We’ll read C.S. Lewis’ book The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and have opportunities for conversation and activities. Pick up a brochure with full information, copies of the book are available for just $5—both are in our Narnia Corner at the rear of the church!
Who was C.S. Lewis? Clive Staples Lewis (1898-1963) was a British novelist, poet, academic, medievalist, philosopher, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian, broadcaster, lecturer, and Christian apologist. He held academic positions at both Oxford University and Cambridge University. He served in the British army during World War I and came to active Christian faith in his 30s. During World War II he broadcast talks on faith and Christian living at the invitation of the BBC. Lewis was part of a circle of friends that included JRR Tolkien, Charles Williams, and Dorothy Sayers who met weekly to talk about literature and Christianity. While Lewis was a brilliant scholar and wrote primarily for adults, the Chronicles of Narnia books were written for children, to be enjoyed by all ages.
Bible Study meets on Wednesdays at 10:15 am in the Rath House. We are reading and discussing the Gospel of Mark. This week we’re covering Chapter 2. No experience is needed or expected, only a desire to learn, ask questions, laugh, and grow with others. Questions? Speak to Mother Vicki.
WORSHIP
Blessing of the Animals is in honor of St. Francis. Bring your leashed or caged pet on Sunday, October 7 at 5:00 pm to the Memorial Garden for a prayer and a blessing.
Choirs for Adults and Children are a wonderful way to offer your time and voice to God and our Christian community, and to get to know others in our parish. Rehearsals are on Thursdays – Junior Choir at 5:15 pm and Adult Choir at 7:30 pm in the Choir Room in the Undercroft. Anyone who enjoys singing is welcome and wanted! For more information, speak to Alison Siener Brown.
AROUND THE NEIGHBORHOOD
Good Scout Award Dinner--one of this year’s honorees is our own Carol Prasa for her work on LHT’s Historic Preservation Advisory Committee. Congratulations Carol! The dinner is on Oct. 2, 6:30 pm At the Primavera in Stirling. It is an annual event of Patriot’s Path Boy Scout Council. For information and tickets, see their website: www.ppcbsa.org/special-events.
Musikgarten: Early Childhood Music Classes – for babies & toddlers; preschoolers; and young elementary group piano lessons. Taught here at All Saints’ by our director of Music Alison Siener Brown, under the auspices of Music in the Somerset Hills. Classes star the first week in October. For information speak to Alison or check the website http://musicsh.org/musikgarten/.
PARISH LIFE
Save the Date – Nov. 17 for Grateful Gathering: Murder Mystery Dinner Night! This is an event for adults and youth in middle school and older. Table teams will work together to solve the mystery of a murder drama titled: Thou Shalt Not Kill. Laurie Gaulke is our organizer, and she needs help: seven people to play roles, folks to set up and decorate the Parish Hall, and other to organize appetizers and desserts (the entrée will be catered). There is a sign-up sheet in the Narthex to volunteer. More information to come.
ALL SAINTS’ PRIDE
Get your All Saints’ Shirts! Red polo shirts (short or long sleeve) with our name and the Episcopal shield are available for purchase. Cost is $26 or $30. Wear them for parish events, Rummage Sale, whenever you want to send a simple message about our parish! Order forms are in the display in the Narthex.
PARISH CALENDAR
9/23 Last day to donate to Rummage
9/26 Bible Study Rath House, 10:15 am
9/27 Eucharist & Healing Prayer Church, 7:00 am
Junior Choir Choir Room, 5:15 pm
Adult Choir Choir Room, 7:30 pm
9/29 RUMMAGE SALE! 9am-2pm
For a full schedule of our buildings check the website calendar www.allsaintsmillington.org.
CHRISTIAN PRACTICES
For All the Saints: St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist, Sept. 21
“Matthew, one of Jesus’ disciples, is probably to be identified with Levi, a tax collector (“publican”) mentioned by Mark and Luke. In the Gospel according to Matthew, it is said that Matthew was seated in the custom-house when Jesus bade him, “Follow me.” When Jesus called him, he at once left everything, followed the Master, and later gave a dinner for him. Mark and Luke also note that Levi was a tax collector. In all three accounts, Jesus is severely criticized for eating at the same table with tax collectors and other disreputable persons.
Tax collectors were viewed as collaborators with the Roman State, extortioners who took money from their own people to further the cause of Rome and to line their own pockets. They were spurned as traitors and outcasts. The Jews so abhorred them that pious Pharisees refused to marry into a family that had a publican as a member.Clearly, Matthew was hardly the type of man that a devout Jew would have had among his closest associates. Yet Jesus noted that it was the publican rather than the proud Pharisee who prayed the acceptable prayer, “Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner.” There are several favorable references to publicans in the sayings of Jesus in the Gospel according to Matthew.
Matthew was called early in Jesus’ ministry, but whether he wrote the Gospel that bears his name is seriously doubted by scholars. It is, however, more generally accepted that his “logia” or “sayings of Jesus” have probably been included in that Gospel. It may be that the author of the First Gospel took from Matthew’s work some of the numerous parables and comments that make that Gospel so popular a source for homilies and teaching. Through this Gospel, especially, Jesus speaks not only of faith and eternal life, but of duties toward one’s neighbors, family, and even enemies.
Tradition has it that Matthew, having converted many persons to Christianity in Judea, traveled to the East; but there is no certain evidence for this. He has been venerated as a martyr, but the time and circumstances of his death are unknown.” ~ Lesser Feasts and Fasts, 2018 (The photo above is "The Calling of Matthew" by Caravaggio)
And here is a link to the final chorus of J.S. Bach’s “St. Matthew Passion”, performed by a Swedish choir and orchestra: https://youtu.be/-miQ6_FTtN0
Coffee Hour Conversation Starter At coffee hour on Sunday, ask someone: How has God surprised you this week? Listen to the other person’s answers, and then share yours.
Blessings, Vicki+