
Alleluia. Christ is risen. The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!
Please take a look at the week’s announcements, in particular:
- Pentecost (Worship)
- Rummage Sale Sign-ups (Stewardship)
- Narnia-themed Vacation Bible School for All (Christian Formation)
- Cell Tower Proposal (Parish & Neighbors Meeting)
WORSHIP
This Sunday: Pentecost, June 9 celebrates the giving of the Holy Spirit, the birthday of the Church, and our commissioning for ministry in God’s world. The color of the day is red – for the Holy Spirit. Please dress accordingly and come celebrate!
Coffee Hour after the 10 am service will be in the Lower Room of the Parish House this week, due to a birthday party rental in the Hall.
Choir Sunday/Trinity Sunday, June 16 – we’ll have the first performance of the anthem “Ubi Caritas” that All Saints’ commissioned in honor of Bill Smullen’s fifty years in our choir. And as a special treat, the composer R. Douglas Helvering will be here and will conduct his piece. You won’t want to miss this wonderful celebration!
CHRISTIAN FORMATION
Vacation Bible School - for Kids, Adults, & Families - Aslan is on the Move: based on ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ Sunday, June 23–Thursday, June 27, 6:00-8:30 pm. This is an inter-generational Christian experience for kids, adults, and families...in evening time slot, starting with a simple dinner. Invite your friends and neighbors! The program is open to anyone age 6 and older. The cost is $75 per family for the week. For more information please contact Alison Siener Brown (Director of Music at All Saints’): asienerbrown@gmail.com or call the parish office at 908-647-0067.
Themes that are part of this program:
- How our view of truth & reality affects our behavior.
- How our values lead us to action.
- The difference between fear and love.
- The power of forgiveness and reconciliation.
- Willing sacrifice, abiding belief, grief, and joy.
Bible Study this week, Wed. at 10:15 am in the Rath House. We’ll discuss Chapter 8 of Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense by N.T. Wright – “Jesus: Rescue and Renewal.” Questions? Speak to Mother Vicki.
PARISH & NEIGHBORS MEETING
AT&T Cell Tower Meeting this Sunday at 11:30 am will be in the Lower Room of the Parish House – not upstairs as previously announced, due to a birthday party rental upstairs.
As a reminder of the details of this meeting, AT&T has approached us asking to locate a new cell-phone tower on our property on the Long Hill Road side of our Parish House.
Why here?
- The elevation of the land.
- Our township suffers from significant areas of cell signal dropout. For our first responders and those of adjacent towns this is a life-threatening issue.
- AT&T has been granted the license for a new national network exclusively for first responders called FIRSTNET and a cell tower on our property would enable this network to operate at full reach for all responders across our area.
- The benefits in terms of regular cell service would also be enhanced.
But as a responsible neighbor and caring steward of our community we believe the decision making in this matter involves you. So, we are inviting you to come and hear full details of the proposal.
We all have a stake in what this means for the future. So please come, learn, ask questions and share your thoughts.
STEWARDSHIP
The Rummage Sale is Coming! September 28! And we need your help. There are jobs that everyone can do – including praying for good weather, safety, and the success of the Sale. This is a multi-purpose event: our biggest fund-raiser; an outreach for families on a tight budget; a community festival; and an environmental ministry to help reuse, recycle, and keep items out of the landfill. The volunteer sign-up poster is in the Narthex. Maybe there is a job that you’d like to take on that you need more information about. Speak to Kimberly Celeste. And invite a friend of parishioner to join you in what you are doing – it’s more fun that way, and gets others involved. Thanks!
PARISH LIFE
The Altar Guild summer social will be a dinner on Wednesday, at 6 pm, June 12 at Bruno’s Bistro restaurant in Warren. Please RSVP to Liz Gorny to let her know you will be there. And the Altar Guild is always looking for people to join in the ministry of caring for the altar and preparing the Church for worship each week. Want to know more? Speak to Liz Gorny or Mother Vicki.
THY KINGDOM COME
Prayer Cards – this Sunday at both services we’ll gather the cards with the names of those for whom you have been praying during this period between Ascension and Pentecost. They will be offered at the altar. If you forget your card, or only now have thought of someone who could benefit from knowing the love of God in Christ, you can write name on a card and include with the others. The Facebook Live Prayer Event at 5:45 pm each day will continue through Sunday afternoon. Thank you for being part of this global wave of prayer that the Archbishop of Canterbury has called us into.
PARISH CALENDAR
6/11 Finance Committee Rath House, 7:30 pm
6/12 Bible Study Rath House, 10:15 am
Altar Guild Social Bruno’s in Warren, 6:00 pm
6/13 Eucharist & Healing 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
Pentecost is the fiftieth day of Easter. It is the time after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension when faithful Jews from many different places had gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate the first wheat harvest of the season. More importantly, they were there to celebrate the giving of the Law, the Torah, to Moses on Mt. Sinai. When the Holy Spirit was poured out on the disciples gathered in prayer and they began to proclaim God’s mighty deeds in languages that they did not know (at the Spirit’s prompting) the words were heard and understood by these travelers from far-off places – their own languages.
In many ways Pentecost can be understood as a reversal and healing of the Tower of Babel story from the Book of Genesis, when God dealt with the arrogance of humankind by confusing their languages so that we could not understand one another, beyond our own group. Pentecost makes the point that the power and ability to come together in common mission is given by the Holy Spirit for the benefit of God’s mission and purposes.
But even on the Day of Pentecost the people hearing the disciples’ proclamation had to stop, pay attention, and listen before they could understand what was being told them.
How might God be trying to get your attention? What might the Spirit want you to notice that God is doing in your life, your family, the world?
Blessings, Vicki+