
Here is this week’s e-letter. Our Rummage Sale is ready to launch! Please look at the particulars below, as well as these other highlights:
- Rummage Drop-Off Times and Help Needed (Fun and Fundraisers)
- Dinner for Vets (Helping Hands)
- Family Service Updates (Worship)
- Blessing of the Animals (Worship)
- Millington Downtown Day (Around the Neighborhood)
- An Autumn Prayer (Christian Practices)
FUN & FUNDRAISERS
THE RUMMAGE SALE IS HERE! Saturday, September 23, 9 am- 2 pm. We need help in the following ways:
- Set up rummage on tables day of the Sale 6-8:30 am – Very Important!
- Clean up after Sale, move and box leftovers – 3-6 pm – Very Important!
- Come and Enjoy the day, meeting friends, neighbors, and our wider community. Be open to the stories and conversations you hear about community, humanity, and the goodness of God in people’s lives, while you welcome visitors and shoppers – Very Important!
Fall Fish ‘n Chips with Argyle of Kearney, Thursday, October 26, 5:30-7:30 pm! This is always a fun event. More information about help that will be needed is coming soon. Put it on your calendar and invite your friends and neighbors!
VESTRY NEWS
The Vestry has selected a contractor to do the work of excavating the collapsed, outdated stormwater drain pipes between the Church and the Rath House, and laying new drainage. The work will include filling and sealing an old underground water collector pot that had opened up to the surface, digging up the asphalt between the Church and the Rath House (it is breaking up and sinking due to underground erosion) and repairing the steps to the side Church doors and the sacristy door steps. The work is scheduled to begin October 2, and Linda Kessler will be the project manager. Thanks, Vestry, for all your hard work!
CHRISTIAN FORMATION
Bible Study meets on Wednesdays at 10:15 am in the Rath House. This is a lively, prayerful, and inquisitive group. You and your questions are welcome here. This week: First Corinthians, Chapter 4. You can bring your own Bible, or use one of ours. Hope to see you there!
Pilgrim: A Course for the Christian Journey meets Monday nights at 7:00 pm in the Rath House. This is a group for people who want to grow more in Christian faith. There will be four six-week sessions throughout the year, and a short book accompanies each topic. We start the fall with The Creeds. We’d love to have you be a part of it. Questions? Speak to Mother Vicki.
Parish Directory We are updating our Directory and will be including PHOTOS. Please send a photo of yourself or your family, and any changes to Susie Harris at her new email: allsaints_church@hotmail.com. A headshot is best! If you need your photo scanned, drop it off and we will scan and return it!
WORSHIP
Family Service, next week, Oct. 1, 10 am. We’re experimenting with updates to our Family Service so that our children and families have more options to participate. Kids and parents can help “dress” an altar table, carry in candles and the Gospel book, hear an Old Testament Bible story as well as the Gospel, and offer prayers with simple sung responses. Families are encouraged to meet Mother Vicki in the Narthex at 9:50 am to take their roles in the service. A more detailed e-mail will be sent to parish families this week. Why are we doing this? At every baptism, we promise to support the newly baptized in their life in Christ. This is another way that we can gather as the Family of God around the Table of the Lord.
Mid–Week Worship
Monday, 6:30 pm, Evening Prayer (note the new time, 30 minutes later);
Scripture reading and prayers: calm at the end of the day.
Thursday, 7:00 am, Communion & Healing Prayer.
A light breakfast is available following the service. Come start your day with prayer and fellowship.
Sponsor-a-Hymn
Dedicate a hymn in honor of a birthday, anniversary, baptismal anniversary, graduation, or other special event. Cost is $35 per Sunday for one hymn, and your dedication will be printed in the bulletin, and the person being remembered will be included in the prayers. There is a sign-up poster in the Narthex. Thanks!
Blessing of the Animals, Oct. 1 at 5 pm in the Memorial Garden. This simple service honors the spirit of St. Francis, who saw God’s presence in all of Creation. Bring your pet (on a leash or in a cage for their own comfort). You can also bring a photo or toy “proxy”! Give thanks for the companionship and joy of our animal friends.
HELPING HANDS
Our Next Dinner for Vets from the V.A. Hospital in Lyons and Vets in our wider community is Sat., Oct. 7 at 5:30 pm in the Parish House. We welcome parishioners to offer hospitality through cooking, serving, sharing dinner table conversation, clean-up. This one of the ways we are joining God in our neighborhood. Want to be part of it? Sign up on the sheet in the Narthex or speak to Kerrie Stepko.
AROUND THE NEIGHBORHOOD
Millington Downtown Day – Sunday, Oct. 15, 11 am-3 pm. All Saints’ will have a table at this street fair, selling our parish cookbooks, offering church brochures and information, and being a friendly face of All Saints’ in our community. We need people to staff the table for an hour or two on the day and be part of this ministry of connection and awareness. There’s a sign-up sheet on the table in the Narthex. Thanks!
DIOCESAN NEWS
Bishop’s Search - all information about the process and progress of our diocese’s search for a new bishop can be found here: http://dioceseofnewark.org/bishop-search. Bishop Beckwith retires next September. The election by our diocesan convention deputies will take place May 19.
And to subscribe to The Voice Online, our diocesan e-letter, or to read archived e-letters, take a look here: http://dioceseofnewark.org/e-news
Community of St. John Baptist in Mendham – one of the Sisters, Victoria Michelle, will take her final vows at the Convent on Friday, 9/29 at 10:30 am. This is always a wonderful event in the life of our local Episcopal religious order. Your prayers and presence are invited. Several of the Sisters have been part of our life here at All Saints’ over the years: Eleanor Francis and Monica Clare. The Convent grounds and chapel are always open for visits, walks, and retreats.
PARISH CALENDAR
9/25 Evening Prayer Church, 6:30 pm
Pilgrim Group Rath House, 7:00 pm
9/27 Bible Study Rath House, 10:15 am
9/28 Communion & Church, 7:00 am
Healing Prayer
Small Saints Choir Room 5:15 pm
Junior Choir Choir Room 5:30 pm
Adult Choir Choir Room 7:30 pm
For a full schedule of our buildings check the website calendar www.allsaintsmillington.org.
CHRISTIAN PRACTICES
The First Day of Autumn
The changing seasons give us an opportunity to pause and reflect on what has taken place in the last months, and what might lie ahead of us, all held in God’s care and loving-kindness – even the things that might have been hard or painful. In the Autumn, particularly, the rapidly changing colors, harvest themes, and cooling temperatures remind us of God’s abundance and provision.
Here is a prayer to help you stop and reflect:
All your works praise you, O LORD, *
and your faithful servants bless you.
They make known the glory of your kingdom *
and speak of your power;
The eyes of all wait upon you, O LORD, *
and you give them their food in due season.
You open wide your hand *
and satisfy the needs of every living creature.
For all that has been, for all that is, and for all that is yet to be: Thanks be to God. Amen.
~ drawn from Psalm 145:10-11, 16-17
And here are two versions of the hymn “We plow the fields and scatter.” The first is the version from the musical Godspell. The second is an organ performance of the tune we have in our hymnal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3y_TS8gTgQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=du-5yPKfSRc
Blessings, Vicki+