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SAINTS Alive! THE NEWSLETTER OF THE PARISH All
Saints’ Church Chelmsford,
MA February |
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SAINTS Alive! THE NEWSLETTER OF THE PARISH All
Saints’ Church Chelmsford,
MA February |
From the Rector
Behold the Light of Christ!
Let others see your good works and give glory to
your God.
Epiphany is the season in which we look at the
light of Christ shining in a dark and cold world. Our buildings stand as a
witness to Christ’s importance in our lives.
They can be a beacon of hope to those seeking solace or meaning in their
lives. But we know that the buildings
are not the sum of the Church. How we
reach out to those outside of our congregation is an even more powerful beacon
of Christ’s love. All Saints’ has long
been known for our involvement in the community and the world. Some of these efforts are part of
intentional programs, and others are the efforts of individuals. Yet, I am aware that as we have many new
members, it is not always easy to figure out how to get involved in outreach.
As we begin a new year Dave Kuzara is heading an
effort to raise the visibility of our outreach efforts. Through an Outreach Summit, to be held in
February, we hope to look at what we have done in the past, what we are doing,
and how might we integrate our efforts more fully into the life of the
Congregation.
Over the past couple of years, Dave, along with
Rich Jerome, has been on the Habitat for Humanity’s Church Relations
Committee. After visiting many other
congregations, he commented to me that the strongest churches in the area are
the ones that have active and visible outreach opportunities. Now it might be that strong parishes do
outreach, or that outreach results in strong parishes. In either case, he and I believe that All
Saints is ready and willing to be this kind of beacon of Christ’s love. We do, however, need to figure out how to do
this without exhausting a few volunteers.
The Outreach Summit will gather those with interest and experience to
outline goals and procedures for our outreach activities. Please contact him if you have any thoughts
or ideas.
Meanwhile please use the list on the next page of
this issue of Saints Alive as a guide to some of the outreach opportunities and
contact people at All Saints’.
Let us all be the light of Christ!
Peace,
Tom
THE FEAST OF THE EPIPHANY
The end of
Christmas and the celebration of the three kings bringing gifts to the baby
Jesus
Thursday, January 6th
Pot Luck Dinner at 6:00 PM
Please bring a dish to pass.
Holy Eucharist with the Children,
Youth and Adult choirs in the main church at 7:00 PM
It is hard to believe, but Lent
is upon us. Lent is our time to pause
and reflect on trusting
God. It is so easy for us to think that our
lives, our work and our successes are in our own hands. That is the message of rugged individualism;, it is not the message of Jesus who suffered and
died. Jesus trusted in God’s
love and power even when the world conspired against him. In Lent we are invited to rid ourselves of
things we use to keep ourselves from the harshness of the world because
those things tend also to also keep us from trusting and relying on God’s love and
power alone.
In the Ash Wednesday service we
are called to observe a holy Lent by self-examination and repentance; by
prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s holy
Word. These are ways to
focus outside ourselves so
we can let go and trust ourselves to God.
But Lent is not simply about preparing alone, but how we as a community
trust in God’s grace and love. We will
have a number of opportunities to gather for fellowship, prayer and
service.
I pray that we might experience a
holy Lent, so that when the Feast of the Resurrection comes, we may be filled
with gratitude and joy.
Peace,
Tom
All Saints’ Church Annual Meeting
Annual Meeting of
All Saints’ Church
Sunday, February 6th,
after the 10:00 AM Service,
Reports from activity areas and
budget. Election of wardens, treasurer, clerk, vestry members, and
delegates to Diocesan Convention, Deanery, and Nominating Committee.
A light lunch will be served.
February 9, 2005 Meeting:
7:00 AM in the Chapel (Morning Prayer)
12:00 Noon in the Chapel
7:0030 PM in the Main Church
Joint service withat Trinity Lutheran Church
West
African Dinner Planned
Sierra Leone
AssociationLeone Association of Merrimack Valley (SLAM) and All Saints’ Church
are planning a
West African dinner and program on April 2nd to raise funds to
provide supplies to schools and hospitals in Sierra Leone. After years of civil war, there is peace in
Sierra Leone, but rebuilding the damage to the
country is just beginning.
If you are interested in helping
with the planning of this fun event, please contact Dave Kuzara, Stephanie
Ackert, or Lois Freeman.
“My Election as Bishop of New
Hampshire: Why I Would Do It
Again”
The Rt. Rev. Gene Robinson,
Bishop of New Hampshire, will be speaking at St. Anne’s Church, in Lowell on Thursday, February 10th at 7:00 pm.
All are welcome.
The
British Are Just About Here!!
About 50 students from St.
Peter’s Collegiate High School band in Wolverhampton, England will arrive in
Chelmsford on Friday, February 11th.
We are looking forward to an
exciting week of music and fellowship.
Saturday February 12th
2:30-5:306:00 pmPM -– Rehearsal followed by potluck supperdinner for band members and host families
7:030 PM CONCERT AT ALL SAINTS’: INVITE
YOUR FRIENDS
Sunday, February 13th -–
Special music for first Sunday in
Llent.
Monday, February 14th - They will travel by “big
yellow school bus” to Boston
Tuesday, February 15th - Ttwo concerts at Harrington Elementary School
6:00
PM – Family potluck dinner at All Saints’for all band members and host families
Wednesday, February 16th – Concert at Senior Center
Thursday, February 17th – Depart for New York CityNYC
Host families still needed. If you are able to open your home to students, please call Deb Dutton at
978-692-6301.
Drivers are needed to support host families who
have to work during the day. Contact
Deb Dutton.
OUTREACH
OPPORTUNITIES: The partial list begins on the following page.
Outreach
Opportunities
-- A Partial
Listing
St. Paul’s Feeding Program – Preparing and
serving a hot meal on the second Wednesday of the month at St. Paul’s Methodist
Church on Hurd Street in Lowell. Contact Esther Davenport 978-256-0638
Thrift Shop – Selling gently used clothes at
low prices with the proceeds going to support the Children’s ministries, the
Rector’s Discretionary Fund and a wide variety of social service agencies in
the greater Lowell area. Open on Wednesday, Saturdays and some Thursdays. Contact Carol Cannistraro 978-256-0929
Refugee Immigration Ministry (RIM) – Working with
other Chelmsford churches to sponsor refugees and asylum seekers. We are
currently sponsoring a family from Uganda. There will be a meeting on
Wednesday, January 5th at 7:30 PM at Trinity Lutheran
Church. Contact Deb Dutton 978-692-6301
Habitat for Humanity – Building houses
for low income families. We currently do not have a team working with Habitat.
Contact Dave Kuzara 978-256-5484
Merrimack Valley Project (MVP) – MVP works to
organize individuals and groups to address issues of employment and housing.
The Lowell branch is beginning to research organizing around Section 8 and
affordable housing. Interested persons are invited to join them on Tuesday,
January 11th at 8AM (over breakfast) at
Brazilian's Bread House on Merrimack Street in Lowell. Contact Tom Barrington –
978-256-5673. See article in
this issue of Saints Alive.
Greater Lowell Walk for Hunger- Held every
Good Friday to raise funds for a number of agencies addressing hunger and
homelessness. They are especially interesting in reconnecting with folks from
the churches in Chelmsford. Organizational meeting on Monday, January 3rd at 7:30 PM at
the Roudenbush Community Center, 73 main Street Westford. Contact David Eberiel -
978-256-3539
Forum on Faith & the World - On January 26th at 7:00 PM,
the Forum on Faith in the World is presenting
a program on affordable housing and the work MVP is doing to address it. All
are invited to learn and share how affordable housing is an issue that affects
all of us. The meeting will be in the Cranberry Room.
Working with group from Sierra Leone – Last fall a
group from Sierra Leone addressed the Forum on Faith and the World about
gathering school supplies to be sent to schools in their war ravaged home
country. On Friday, January 14th at 6:30 PM we
will be hosting a pot luck dinner with members of their group to continue this
conversation. We hope to have a dinner
in the spring featuring African foods with the proceeds going to help pay for
shipping of supplies. Contact Tom Barrington or Dave
Kuzara.
Chelmsford at
350:
Town Birthday
Parties Begin
Sunday, January 30th at 3:00 PM at
the Chelmsford Senior Center on Route 40, North Chelmsford
The event will feature music from many of the
Chelmsford churches and congregations. Our choir will be performing. This is the kick-off event for a year full
of special events to recognize the founding of Chelmsford 350 years ago.
All Saints’
Church Annual Meeting
The parish’s
annual meeting will be held on Sunday February 6th after the
10:00 AM service.
“Angel Tree 2004” ThanksBottles and
Cans
Through your generous contribution of bottles and
cans over the past year, we have collected $295.50! This is a banner year
and brings the 7 year total to $1,465.45. The money has gone to a number
of special funds over the years including Building and Kitchen
Funds. It is a very easy way to raise funds. If more
people would contribute their empty redeemable beverage bottles and cans,
we could raise even more. Just drop them off in the storage area just
outside the kitchen. This is where the tables and chairs are
stored. The area is checked every week and the bottles and cans redeemed
at local stores or, when there is a large quantity, at the redemption
center in Lowell.
Angel Tree is a national program
originated by a former prison inmate who noticed how prisoners, unable to buy
Christmas gifts, would wrap up toiletries donated to them by churches in order
to have something for their children. Today, the program connects churches with
incarcerated parents who place applications through their prison chaplains. All
Saints’ has participated in this ministry for a number of years.
For Christmas 2004, All Saints’ parishioners assisted four families with a total
of eight children. Many thanks to all the parishioners who generously fulfilled
the gift requests and more, to those who wrapped gifts on December 11, to Joe
Sala for making phone calls to the families, to Charlie and Gail Mulcahy and
Kevin Ackert for gift delivery.
In 2004 for the first time the
parent in prison was able to select two gifts for each child from a brochure of
general categories. Although in a way
this made gift shopping less exciting for some of us as volunteers, I do think
it serves to reinforce that we are giving these gifts in the name of the absent
parent. We write a personal message on
every gift tag using the parent’s own words, but we rarely know exactly what
effects our actions have ultimately. It
is our hope that these presents will strengthen the child-parent bond, which is
naturally under great stress due to the circumstances.
I would like to share the story
of Scott, a former Angel Tree child in North Carolina. Having been abandoned by their father, Scott
and his brother lived in grinding poverty with their mother, who picked up all
the menial jobs she could. When his
mother was sent to prison for a violent crime, the boys went to an orphanage. For several years, Angel Tree provided gifts
to Scott, who felt very appreciative that his mother managed to apply to Angel
Tree, trying to make amends for a miserable past. The gifts were some of the few new things he had ever received,
and he could feel normal returning to school and showing the gifts to
classmates. Scott said, “Angel Tree let
me feel chosen,” noting that he felt Angel Tree represented a turning
point in his view of himself and his mother.
There’s much more to his story, of course, but today Scott has his own
family and is a Baptist minister.
Stephanie Ackert
We’re already thinking Spring!
Spring is coming. I know that may seem like a ridiculous
thought considering today’s frigid temperatures. Very soon it will be time to go through the boxes and wardrobes
of clothes that were put away last fall and think warm thoughts. Please consider consigning or even donating
those gently used clothes to the Thrift shop.
The Thrift Shop will stop taking
winter things at this time of year and start taking in and pricing spring clothes.
If you haven’t been to the Thrift
Shop yet, come visit. The hours are
every Saturday from 10 AM to 3 PM and the first and second Thursday of the
month from 10 AM to 3 PM.
The
proceeds of this shop help to support Youth Programs and community outreach.
Thank you
Adrienne Jerome
Affordable
Housing
– What Can We
Do?
Building and Grounds News
The next VOLUNTEER DAY will be
Saturday February 19th. BREAKFAST will
be served at 8 AM. We need a good crowd
of people to do the dusting and cleaning of the Church pews and woodwork. The downstairs uUnisex bathroom needs to be painted, and several
other tasks came to mind (e.g. kneeler repair). We may have a very
interesting (and, yes, unexpected) Sacristy/ Choir rRoom project to do. We should finish not later than noon. As there will be BREAKFAST served, I will be compiling another dreaded signup sheet.
This year will see many 'cool' projects’cool’ projects, needing good help, happening: issues involving lighting, phone systems,
HVAC, windows and contracting for some 'high' painting – and some thinking
about some old fire code issues. See me for your ad hoc volunteer leadership roles.
Help decide what is in 'active' storage, 'seasonal' storage and stuff to be identified (before it’s
thrown out!)
I trust that
our congregation can see how our facilities are really starting to advance
our mission to our own and the wider community.
Rich JeromeNobody needs to be told that
there is an affordable housing crisis in this region. There are many individuals in Chelmsford who are a paycheck or
two from being homeless. If you do not
have a paycheck, if you are retired and on a fixed income or if you are not
able to work, you are in trouble. There
are some subsidized housing units in Chelmsford but the waiting list is very
long. There is also Section 8 Housing,
a federal housing program which provides housing assistance to low-income
renters and homeowners. Unfortunately,
here too there is a much greater demand than availability. Section 8 is also being squeezed by budget
cuts.
So, what can you do?
The Merrimack Valley Project (MVP) is beginning an
initiative to gather local information about Section 8 Housing in order to
organize and communicate to policy-makers how Section 8 could work better in
the Greater Lowell region. If you are
interested in getting in at the ground floor of this effort please plan to join
them on January 11th at 8AM (over breakfast) at
Brazilian's Bread House on Merrimack Street in Lowell. For more information please speak to the
Rector or call Joy Cushman at MVP, 978-686-0650.
On January 26th at 7:00 PM,
the Forum on Faith in the World is presenting
a program on affordable housing and the work MVP is doing to address it. All are invited to learn and share how
affordable housing is an issue that affects all of us. The meeting will be in the Cranberry Room.
Vestry Corner
At an early December Vestry meeting we pretty much
wrapped up the 2005 budget. The process was much less painful than in
recent years, even in light of the fact that we are now paying finance charges
on the loans covering the renovation project. Two significant factors led
to this year's relatively easy budget cycle.
First, our new Stewardship Ministry team did an
excellent job with the fall pledge drive. The response from the parish
was incredible, raising our pledges from around $168K in 2004 to over $191K in
2005, with several more pledges still expected over the next several
weeks. We are also blessed that those who are retired or on fixed income
still maintained very generous pledges for 2005.
Significantly for the budget process, Stewardship
got their job done early. We had fairly accurate initial projections by
Mid-November, meaning that the Vestry could do real budget work starting in
November rather than having to wait until later in December.
Second, rental income is poised for incredible
growth in 2005. 2004 rental income is expected to clear $15K, which is
$3K higher than the 2004 budget. We may exceed $25K in rental income
during 2005 if several long-term renters come through as anticipated. I
suppose we shouldn't be so surprised about this. After all, one of the
selling points for the renovation project was that rental income would increase
dramatically.
As this year comes to a close, I reflect back on an
emotional 12 month period. We started the year with a new facility and an
uncertain economy. We were rocked by deaths of parishioners, but
refreshed by baptisms and new faces. The only explanation for why we
become stronger in spirit while the world around us lurches forward in fits and
starts is because of the grace of God. Powerful stuff, that grace.
I hope everyone has a peaceful Christmas. We
all deserve it!
Matt Hickcox, Sr. Warden
All Saints’ Adult Christian
Formation
Upcoming Events
February 3 Final
Session of Inquirers’ Class 7:30- 9:00pm
February 8 Silent Night 7:00- 8:30pm
February 9 Ash
Wednesday—Beginning of Lent
February 26 Lenten
Day of Reflection
The season of Epiphany is nearly
over. It is almost the season of
Lent. Our Book of Common Prayer invites us (as Tom also quoted earlier!) “…to the observation of a Holy
Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial;
and by reading and meditating on God’s Holy Word.”
My primary recommendation for how
you mightto observe Lent this year is to take advantage as fully as
possible of the opportunities offered to attend the services and the activities connected
with the season of Lent. In addition to
paying attention to how our liturgy changes during the Sunday services,
consider:
· celebrating Shrove Tuesday, the fin
