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SAINTS Alive! THE NEWSLETTER OF THE PARISH All Saints’ Church Chelmsford, MA March 2007
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SAINTS Alive! THE NEWSLETTER OF THE PARISH All Saints’ Church Chelmsford, MA March 2007
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From the Rector
I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting and self-denial; and by reading and meditation on God’s holy Word. (Book of Common Prayer p. 265)
By the time this reaches you we will be well into the season of Lent. Yet, I know for me, it is precisely a week or so into a season that I need to be reminded of all of my good intentions. On Ash Wednesday, which this year was on February 21st, we heard the above invitation to observe a holy Lent. I know that I intend to resume saying Morning Prayer every morning, a practice that I have let slide. It is a disciple that I find much easier when I do it with other people. I am especially grateful for the small group that gathers on Wednesday mornings to pray the office together. On Thursdays, Amy Hunter and I will be resuming our weekly meeting with coffee and Morning Prayer. On the other days, when I am on my own, it is easier to read the paper and check on my email. So why should I bother? Will it make me holy?
The answers are: Because and No. Let me address the second question first. Doing holy things will not make me holy. God alone is the source of holiness. The best I can do is to make myself open to God’s holiness. In the season of Lent we are invited to let go of some of our control so that there is room for God’s holiness in our lives. Repentance, prayer, fasting, study and the other spiritual disciplines are useful techniques, as long as I do not let my pride choke out any opening they produce. It can seem like a tricky business except for the fact of God’s incredible patience and love.
So why bother? In gratitude for what has already been done for us. In the season of Lent we remember Jesus' journey towards Jerusalem and his betrayal, suffering and death. It was a road that even his closest apostles could not keep. Even so, Jesus continued and was even willing to give his life for me and for the whole world. Sometimes, when I make enough time to reflect on these facts, I realize how deeply I am loved. It is then that I am touched by the holiness of God and it all makes sense.
Peace,
Tom
Taken from Everyday Simplicity by Robert J. Wicks
“The contemplative is not the one who prepares his mind for a particular message…but [someone] who remains empty” (Thomas Merton).” As I sit in prayer with you, Lord, help me not to look for you in a particular way. Help me not to simply seek answers from you or for you to meet the needs that I perceive I have, but to let you reveal yourself to me in your own surprising way. Amen.
Taken from The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
Lynne Grillo
On Sunday, April 15th the Right Rev. Simon Oketch, Bishop of the Diocese of Maseno North in Kenya will be visiting All Saints’ Church. Tom Barrington’s sabbatical in Kenya was in Bishop Oketch’s diocese. He will be in Massachusetts for four weeks and specifically asked to come to All Saints’.
Nearly twenty years ago, I joined All Saints. Some of you may know the story that back then a lovely woman 'invited' me to climb a tall ladder and paint. As a 'newbie', I didn't want to refuse with the weak (but true) excuse that I kind of don't like tall ladders (fear, sweat and poor balance).
But I did it because I had come to believe that I needed to 'get out of myself' and try to get into a community of people with purpose. My life wasn't that great then, and has had its ups and downs since. In all that time since, while I still very much enjoy the 'mission' of our physical plant, I've come to see how that more broadly serves others and that that service has been a sustaining force for me.
Many of us would readily say that we are not very advanced spiritually, and I can certainly make a case for myself being so impaired. Yet, our bishop Tom Shaw hosted a most incredible series of meetings at our church, only the last of which I attended. In that, he assured us that all our humble strivings were indeed in keeping with the Spirit, of which opening our house is a part.
There was a great part of that conversation directed to the new Vestry to share with all the community in the service to all God's children. I thank you for allowing my first try in that role.
I think that I am writing this still in the 'glow' of that vision of Mission, not only with our facility to serve the community, but also in those issues beyond. Mission is our vehicle, others and elsewhere will be talking of this more, much more. Whether it is our own piece of Environmental Stewardship through energy savings or the bigger pieces to the world, it seems that there is always something new and wonderful to the phrase, "in Christ.”
Rich Jerome
Saturday, March 31, 10:30 AM at All Saints’ Church, Chelmsford
We will be hosting the Deanery Confirmation Service this year. Bishop Bud Cederholm will be officiating. All are welcome.
We do need some individuals to assist setting up and running the reception after the service. If you are able to help, please let Tom or the office know.
A guide to faith in the
real world.Mondays in Lent, Feb 26, Mar 5, 12, 19, 26
6:30 PM – Soup and Bread
7:00 to 8:45 PM Presentation and Discussion
We are delighted to have the Rev. Ray Bronk back at All Saints’ to teach this class. Please bring your Bible. All are welcome.
The vestry and the Mission/Outreach team are forming a working committee to oversee a parish partnership with Nyehela Sub Parish Parish, one of the churches that Tom visited last year during his stay in Kenya. They have recently started an orphan feeding program and could use a stable source of funds to keep it going.
We will meet on Wednesday, March 14th at 7:00 PM in the Blue Room.
The Agenda will include:
Defining the scope of the partnership to be submitted to the Vestry and the congregation.
Establishing fundraising goals to support their Mothers’ Union orphan-feeding program.
Working on better communication with Rev Isaac Emisiko and the people of Nyehela Sub Parish parish.
We encouragement parishioners to get in on the beginning of this exciting mission opportunity!
If you are interested in participating, contact:
Dave Kuzara at 978-256-5484
or
Derick Gates at 978-250-1569.
In conjunction with other congregations in Chelmsford, we will be holding a light bulb exchange in mid to late March. Every family is invited to bring in one incandescent light bulb and we will exchange it for free with a compact fluorescent light bulb. Instead of lighting a room with at 60, 75 or 100 watt light bulb you will be using only 18 watts.
This program has been started by Congregation Shalom in Chelmsford in cooperation with nationalgrid who are supplying bulbs at a low cost. The All Saints’ Environmental Stewardship Committee has taken it on and the Confirmation Class will oversee the exchange. We do not yet have a date when we will begin since we are not sure of the exact delivery date of the bulbs so keep an eye out for further postings.
The next meeting for those interested in the West Virginia workcamp mission will be Sunday, March 4th at Central Congregational Church at 7:00 pm in room 308. Please bring your checkbook for an initial $75 deposit (made out to Central Congregational Church). If you’re not sure if you want to go, please talk to Dave Kuzara, who will be happy to tell you all about it.
Dave Kuzara
djkuzara@mail.com
Home: 978-256-5484 Work: 978-659-2816
A reminder from last month, for this month:
The first B&G Volunteer Day will be Saturday March 24th starting at 9 AM.
This will be for the cleaning and dusting of the Main Church. Please bring soft rags for Woodwork wiping. That's all we need do... a dozen people gets this whole task done very quickly!
The next Volunteer Day will be Saturday May 5th. This one will be for "Grounds"
Rich Jerome
The annual St. Patrick's Day Dinner will be held at 6PM on Saturday, March 10th in the Parish Hall. The menu is as follows: Corned Beef & Cabbage with Potatoes, Turnip and Carrots, served with homemade Irish Bread; coffee, tea and beverages. For dessert there will be ice cream and sherbet. Hot dogs will be provided for those who do not eat corned beef.
The entertainment will be provided by the Mary Heavey-Quinn Irish Step-Dancers. These dancers are fantastic and we have enjoyed them the past 3 years.
The price for the evening is $8 per person ages 10 and over, all children ages 4 to 9 are $4, and 3 and under are free.
Reservations will be limited to the first 100 people who sign up. We will not be able to accept reservations later than Thursday, March 8th. Please call Carol & Ron Cannistraro at 978-256-0929 to sign up or you may e-mail us at carolron@comcast.net.
Amy Hunter, the Associate for Adult Formation, has been recovering from surgery. The excerpt below is from her January 2007 column. It is particularly timely in Lent, too.
Both our individual spiritual lives and our Sunday worship as a gathered parish become more satisfying and nourishing as we pay some attention and seek to live what we say we believe, even in the smallest ways. I hope you will take even a tiny step this coming year into being more intentional in how you seek to know God and your faith in a more genuine way.
in peace,
Amy Hunter
Associate for Adult Christian Formation
The parish hall kitchen clean-up teams could use a few more volunteers. There are 4 teams that help to keep our nearly new kitchen looking the best that it can. Each team meets once a month, on a day and time that is convenient for those team members.
The teams do a general and thorough cleaning of the kitchen with the exception of floors. We generally pick up and put away anything that has been left out on the counters. We clean the refrigerator by wiping it down and discarding any items that have expired. The stove top is wiped down as are all counters. We try to manage the recycle bins and if they are overflowing we take the items home to add to our own recycling efforts.
Please remember that our facility is rented out on a regular basis and our long-term renters are using the parish hall and kitchen. It is important that our space is clean and tidy for both our renters’ use and our own. If you have been looking for some small way to be involved that takes a short amount of time (usually 30 minutes or less) and that will make a huge difference, then this is for you.
Please call Carol Cannistraro at 978-256-0929 or e-mail me at carolron@comcast.net.
The Anti-Defamation League in New England is inviting high school sophomores, juniors and seniors to participate in their annual leadership program to bring together Christian, Muslim and Jewish high school students. This is a unique opportunity to explore one another’s faith traditions and develop leadership skills necessary to promote interfaith understanding in their own communities.
The five month program begins with an intensive week-long experience called Camp IF at Camps Kenwood & Evergreen in Potter Place, NH, from August 21-27, 2007. There is no cost to participants. Following Camp IF, participants meet once monthly from September to January.
For more information and an application please speak to The Rev. Tom Barrington, or contact the Anti-Defamation League at 617-406-6300 or boston@adl.org. Brochures are on the Narthex bulletin board.
Trinity Church, Topsfield is sponsoring an Antiracism Training Program conducted by the Diocesan Antiracism Team on May 18 and 19. Enrollment is open to all parish members in the North Shore Deanery and Merrimack Deanery as well as to members of other parishes.
Friday, May 18 - 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Saturday, May 19 - 8:00 am to 4:30 pm
Contact Reverend Johanna Barrett of Trinity Topsfield at 978-887-5570, or Nancy Moore at 781-275-1018.
The Worship Committee invites you to consider becoming part of the dedicated team that assists in our weekly worship services. Opportunities available at both services include reading the lessons, leading the prayers of the people and other parts of the service, and assisting with the distribution of wine and bread. Training is available for all of these areas. Please speak to Maggie Marshall or Tom Barrington if you feel called to serve in any of these capacities.
We just came to the end of a few (quite a few. Phew) weeks of rehearsals for a pantomime. Without encouragement from Susan Gates, Kurt and Cherry would still be a nice idea, but nothing more than that.
A pantomime is a children’s fairy story, embellished and told
on stage for as many laughs as can be crammed into the story. Ours was set in
an imaginary island called Caprice, and by the time it was ready it was set
deliberately for production at All Saints’ Episcopal Church, in the winter
time, in the parish hall, which would be set up with an audience seated at
tables for snacking. We called the space a Chunkytorium, borrowing a concept
(I hope not the actual word) from a chain of movie theaters, and we celebrated
how comforting it was to be in Caprice, even if Chelmsford, Massachusetts had only Chelmsford
ginger ale and working pairs of scissors going for it! The tale of Kurt and
Cherry had never been told before. I had written the play, and offered it
as a possibility for a future production at a small number of theaters in the
area. With not too much success, I should add.
If you know me, you’ll know that I’m not all that outgoing, and if you don’t, well, that’s probably why!
Prior to my joining the parish at All Saints’, I had last been on stage for about a minute in a high-school play in 1979. Twice, I seem to remember. And that wraps up my time on stage from 1972 to 2006. In 1971 and 1972, I did have small roles in class plays.
This time, I was happy to be in a supporting role, speaking a little but off-stage for the whole show, but when we realized that we would not be filling the roles of any of the Wombles, or the 40 thieves (well, not even five), then the only solution was to dispense with the Mesopotamian marine whose messing about in boats had come to the attention of the legendary Scheherazade. So off went Sinbad, and the Wombles, and the thieves. And off went the craziness of a huge fight at the end of the show, to be replaced by a “dragathon.” Off went twelve of the original thirteen witches (the thirteenth was a true keeper!) And, sadly, off went Eugene Lamplighter the Genie, a role that was in fact filled at the time. The King of Caprice stated, after slamming his fist into his own crown, that neither crowns nor knuckles came cheap. The written characters disappeared easily enough, but when they were gone, pulling the story back into line gave me insights into the lives of the people who write for television’s sitcoms. Actors and actresses with time and inclination aren’t easy to come by, either.
In December, Tom Barrington proposed the new performance date of Shrove Tuesday. It worked for many reasons: it’s the last day before Lent, so it supplies a “last hurrah” before a more solemn time. It gave us enough time to practice (and find all the actors we needed for the missing roles). The date gave us a sure audience of Mardi Gras pancake-dinner-fans (we joked at length among ourselves about this!) And, by coincidence, the play speaks of a six-week wait before wrongs get righted; Lent is six weeks long.
There were the real people who were affected by the date-changes, too. Basketball in two towns, boy scouts, concerts, and school plays all vied for the attention of the cast on Monday nights. We lost a Queen to night school that would clash with the performance night (not the rehearsals).
Soon enough it was January and we had a performance date set for February, only five – no, four – rehearsals away… and we needed a mayor, a Fairy Queen, and, would you believe it, a hero! All of whom materialized around the time that we lost the gypsies and needed an edited conclusion. At this time the mayor planted a few seeds when she supplied about a page of rewritten text: of course, if your cast is limited, then you don’t have a mayor’s spouse, and this became a part of the story. And about changes: What’s an off-stage Producer good for anyway? Let him provide a clue or two, or be the target of a few more jokes. And that was my now expanded, still only almost-on-stage, role.
The Producer was a character in the play, but from time to time, I was being asked questions that some “In Charge” type should be asked. Somehow, the evolving cast chose to make the glitches go away, even when my suggestions turned out to be impractical, and working solutions had to be employed instead! If the play was about persuading a dragon to part with his head, well, this theme of headlessness felt appropriate. I don’t often give direction, and it felt very odd to be trying. The initial suggestion had been to put on the play “for fellowship,” as opposed to “for raising funds.” Fellowship was one of those “missions” that, in the weeks when we were beginning to meet, suffered a resignation of its own head. Our mission, as I saw it, was to put on a play for fellowship, regardless. Once there was a person in charge of Fellowship, I planned to let them know that this was the plan, and see how, if not whether, to change it.
With a week to go, at the annual parish meeting, one of our
cast, Leah Cole, put into words her feelings during Sergey Furs’’s
recent stay at her house. She had had to leave her bedroom to Sergey when he
was found to be more seriously ill than had been expected. His mother had
joined him in Massachusetts, making the “eviction” essential for the two
families concerned.
At one point, Leah’s character feigns willingness in agreeing to prepare the spare bedroom for the mayor -- who’s just been evicted from her house by the king. I then realized how close the incident was to her, personally. It was made more poignant by the fact that her own mother makes the suggestion to her in the play. It was just two lines, but it was a question of who rules your thoughts: the upstanding Cherry, or the scheming Witch? Right, or wrong? I hadn’t intended to write a morality play, and yet the play (at least, the cast) was teaching me life lessons.
I wanted to say something, at least in writing (my preferred medium), but not until after the show. Thank you Leah; thank you Maggie.
With a day to go, I finally felt that we were ready. By then, we had even had one rehearsal with a full cast!
Our parish is full of team players you may not know too well. But having a team that’s dressing up for ribbon-cutting ceremonies, and painting their nose blue, getting thrown out of their house by an irate king, getting food thrown at them, getting pulled around by a dragon, hobnobbing with a jackdaw, being politely belligerent in Latin, creating Miss Village sashes, shepherding fairies through Chunkytoria, certainly leads one to think we have a sense of our strengths and preferences (I’m not falling down: I might not get up again !… No, I won’t call him “love” … I’d rather not sing! …).
So Fellowship’s quite a mission! Is somebody in charge yet?
Patrick Blumeris, playwright
Churches and institutions we are asked to consider especially during the month of March are listed in this section.
Sunday, March 4, 2007 The Second Sunday in Lent
St. Stephen's Church, Cohasset
Trinity Church, Concord
Calvary Church, Danvers
Chaplaincy at University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth
Concord River Deanery
Sunday, March 11, 2007 The Third Sunday in Lent
Church of the Good Shepherd, Dedham
St. Paul's Church, Dedham
All Saints' Church, Dorchester (Boston)
St. Mark's Church, Dorchester (Boston)
Social Ministries/Public Policy Ministry Area
Sunday, March 18, 2007 The Fourth Sunday in Lent
St. Mary's Church, Dorchester (Boston)
Epiphany Middle School, Dorchester
St. Dunstan's Church, Dover
Deanery Co-conveners
Hospitality Homes
Sunday, March 25, 2007 The Fifth Sunday in Lent
Church of St. John the Evangelist, Duxbury
St. Andrew's Church, East Boston
St. Andrew's Church, Edgartown
Grace Church, Everett
Congregations: Organists, Choirs and other Church Musicians
Sunday, April 1, 2007 The Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday
Church of the Good Shepherd, Fairhaven
Church of the Ascension, Fall River
St. John's/St. Stephen's Partnership, Fall River
St. Luke's Church, Fall River
Formation/Education Ministry Area
Sunday, April 8, 2007 Easter Day
St. Mark's Church, Fall River
St. Barnabas' Church, Falmouth
St. Mark's Church, Foxborough
St. Andrew's Church, Framingham
Merrimack Valley Deanery
Sunday, April 15, 2007 The Second Sunday of Easter
St. John's Church, Franklin
St. John's Church, Gloucester
St. John's Chapel, Groton School, Groton
Congregations: Sextons and Custodians
Ministries to the Homeless
Current Vestry Members
David Cahill Tom Decker Deb Dutton
Beth-Anne Economou Rich Jerome Liz Landers
Edith Parekh Rebecca Ricard Harry Taplin
Derick Gates, Senior Warden
Melanie Hickcox, Treasurer
Kevin Myers, Clerk
Adam and Eve are being cast out of Eden now. Moses has just slain an Egyptian and is fleeing into the desert – now. The first born son of the Egyptian is being slain – now. The Israelites are fleeing into the wilderness – now. They stand at the banks of the Red Sea – now. Jesus is being born – now. He is being baptized – at this moment. And we find him in the desert at this very instant. He is teaching, we are listening – now. Peter is warming is hands at the fire and swearing. Jesus is hearing Pilate’s awful injustice and nails are being driven into the cross. The tomb is empty. The disciples are wandering about wondering what to do. All of this is now.
On Passover Night, the Jews don’t ask the youngest at the table “Why is that night important?”: They ask “Why is this night important above all others?” Listening to the Bible is not like listening to the news to hear about “that” or “that” or “that” – designed to turn events into entertainment, designed to remove us from the experience of our own lives. Listening to the Bible is to hear the events of our lives displayed before us.
We are in the liturgical season of Lent: we are in the wilderness. The church has traditionally structured Lent as a time for self-examination, penitence, spiritual insight. Appropriate and helpful as this may be, we lose something if we forget that we are always in the wilderness. Sickness and death occur all year. We lose those we love either expectedly or unexpectedly. The stories of our lives take turns different from what we planned. We suffer in the memories of long-ago events that are still present with us. Anger knots our souls. We drown in grief. We long for the good mommy or good daddy to show up to comfort us, to assuage us in our misery. We feel betrayed when we discover that they are just as human as we. All their plans to lay out paths for us have become our realization that we must walk our own paths. We discover that life has become like stepping on a loose plank to have the other end snap up and hit us in the face. Then, we may be ready to hear.
In our tradition, God shows up in the whirlwind, the burning bush, at the Red Sea, as an angel telling Sarah that (in her old age) she is going to have a child, making sure that the Widow of Zarephath has enough dough to keep baking bread for Elijah. God shows up in the manger of Bethlehem, at Golgotha, at the empty tomb. In our own mode of thinking, we have structured our minds to view these as sequential events. But our structured minds often misconstrue our experience. Equally as important as being able to see those events as happening then – at some far off time in the past – must be our realization that they are our events – now. Often unseen, they flow in the deeper currents of our lives. Formed by our traditions and bonded by hearing them, the community of faith helps us to hear them in our own lives. If we can perceive the mystery in our own lives – even if we can never, nor ought to, capture such mystery – we are blessed. This may be a true gift of Lent – the true gift of being in the wilderness.
Harry Taplin
Parish Historian
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PARISH PRAYER LIST
March 2007
In the Sunday Bulletin under the section on “those in our parish in need of healing,” we list those with more acute needs. Saints Alive now carries a list of more “on-going” concerns to bring to God in prayer.
We will make the description you provide as general or specific as you indicate. Please let us know what you would like included. We encourage you to clip out these names and keep them in your prayers.
If you would like your name to be added or removed from any of the prayers lists, please contact Darlene in the Church Office.
· Gladys Stephens, Palm Manor Nursing Home
· Eleanor Ferreira at home
· Millie Adams at home
· Mary Buote at home
· Grace Wardell, Sunny Acres Nursing and Rehab Center
· Dora Smith, Betsy Eisemann’s Mother
· Priscilla Smith at home
· Doug Grant at home, chronic back pain
· Chaz Freeman, waiting for placement
· Alistair Redman, son of Edwin and Janet Redman, missing
· Sergey, Chernobyl victim, ongoing chemo
· Richard Shaffer, Amy Hunter’s dad, ongoing health concerns
Vacancies
in the Parish:
Leadership positions to be filled for:
Fellowship;
Endowment;
Youth Group;
a representative for United Thank Offering.
“Happy are those who hear the word of God and obey it!”
(See Luke 11:27-28.)
Church Office............................. 978-256-5673
Senior Warden....... Derick Gates
Junior Warden........ Lois Freeman
Treasurer............... Melanie Hickcox
Clerk..................... Kevin Myers
Acolyte Director.... Clem Cole
Adult Education...... Amy Hunter
Altar Guild............. Liz Landers
Buildings and…….. Rich Jerome
Grounds
Christian School..... Laura Marshall
Michelle Thomas
Elizabeth Danieli
Coffee Hour.......... Cindy Dussault
Endowment ........... to be filled
Environmental Stewardship
Committee............. Liz Marshall
Fellowship.............. to be filled
Finance.................. Clem Cole
Music Minister....... Maggie Marshall
Outreach............... Dave Kuzara
Pastoral Care......... Joy Chadwick
Saints Alive............ Patrick Blumeris
SaintsAlive e-mail:.. ... saintsalive@yahoo.com
Stewardship........... Steve Grillo
Thrift Shop............. Carol Cannistraro
Youth Group.......... to be filled
Webmaster............ Richard Coles
Web site................ www.allsaintschelmsford.org
… for the April 2007 Saints Alive! is
March 18th, 2007
Please leave your articles in the Saints Alive! mailbox in the church office, or send them via email to SaintsAlive@yahoo.com. Thanks.
