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SAINTS Alive! THE NEWSLETTER OF THE PARISH All Saints’ Church Chelmsford, MA June 2007
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SAINTS Alive! THE NEWSLETTER OF THE PARISH All Saints’ Church Chelmsford, MA June 2007
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Christ, whose insistent call disturbs our settled lives: give us discernment to hear your word, grace to relinquish our expectations, and courage to follow empty-handed wherever you lead, that the voice of your truth and love may reach to the ends of the earth. Amen. (Prayer written by Stephanie Spellers)
Last month I wrote about welcome and the four actions in an embrace: opening one’s arms, waiting, closing one’s arms, and opening again to let go. In May we offered a class called “Living Hospitality at All Saints’.” We spent some time reflecting on Stephanie Spellers’ book Radical Welcome and the implications for us.
The main insight I gained is the fact that hospitality is not simply welcoming someone who is new. Rather, hospitality is about seeing Christ in another and then intentionally responding to them. This happens on a first meeting but also must happen over time. Hospitality is not passive; it is not giving space and saying “whatever.” Hospitality involves going out of my way to pay to attention to another and then to respond. As the prayer above reminds us, Christ’s insistent call disturbs our settled lives. As a member of the Body of Christ I am called to offer hospitality not as a strategy to grow the church, but because in this other person I am encountering Christ.
What has come out the classes for me is to seek to be more intentional about offering hospitality. I know I will not do it perfectly, but if I try to be more intentional and you are also trying to be more intentional about offering hospitality, maybe together we can truly welcome Christ in our midst.
Peace,
Tom
Fundraisers are great. They're one of the ways in which one can exercise one's talents and enjoy the importance of working with other parishioners.
If you've participated in a fundraiser before, you know what I'm talking about - but it's helpful to be reminded. If you've never participated before, here's a chance for you to jump in and help.
Please do not bring computer equipment or skis. They only create a disposal problem. Donated toys must be made of all plastic or metal (no material, as it harbors germs) … and further-less: no bowling balls or car seats; cribs must be less than 5 years old and have the proper spacing of rails.
We've scheduled a Plant and Yard Sale for June 2. Plants may be self explanatory. Yard sale - like garage sale. This is a good way graciously to separate oneself from things one no longer uses and make such items available for those who might not be able to obtain such things at standard prices. You also help out All Saints' Church. Start thinking about items you'd like to donate. Of equal importance, think about helping out.
We'll keep you informed about further details as to whom to contact and ways in which you can help via future e-mails from All Saints' and the Sunday leaflet.
Harry Taplin
Paul Onyoyo is the seminarian pastor of Nyahela Parish
I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you at All Saints’ Church, Chelmsford, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this: that he who began a good work in you will carry it onto completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
All in all Nyahela Parish is doing well and last Saturday I met all guardians and Christians. For sure when learning about the support and contribution collected through the Vestry of All Saints, everybody rejoiced, praised God and sang songs all over of how great it is. Afterwards we held hands together and offered prayers for you all.
I do believe that we still take time to pray for Lois Freeman's son, for God to do His miracle, as a prayer request. All the same to Derick, Carl Clark and David Kuzara for God to bless them abundantly in their daily activities and duties. Not forgetting all Christians for God to pour on them the continual dew of his blessings and strength.
Let them remember that God loves them all.
Please keep in your prayers the members and leaders of Nyahela Parish in the Diocese of Maseno North in Kenya. A parish consists of a number of congregations.
Paul Onyoyo – Seminarian and Pastor of Nyahela Parish
Dorcus Esilaba - Assisting in St. Paul’s church.
Shem Bwonya - Assisting in ACK Munyenyi church.
Elizabeth Osiolo - Assisting in ACK Mwinyelo church.
ACK: Anglican Church of Kenya
Blessings and peace. AMEN
Says Paul (Fri, 18th May, 2007)
ACK NYAHELA PARISH
P.O. BOX 201
LUANDA - KENYA
CODE: -50307.
e-mail address: onyoyo_06@yahoo.com
On behalf of Susan Gates, the entire class of Firelight I & II students and myself, we would like to say thank you to all who came out in the rain on Saturday May 19th and made a bike and cash donation to the Bikes Not Bombs collection drive. We collected approximately 140 bikes (final tally to be posted soon on the BNB website) and $600.00 in cash.
Steve and Louis from the BNB organization taught us how to “flatten” a bike in order to get them ready for shipping. Once we mastered the tools and got the hang of it, we had a real assembly line going. By doing 3 simple steps, it increases the number of bicycles that can be stacked and transported. We were told that the bicycles collected yesterday would serve two purposes. First, the majority of the bikes would be crated up in a few weeks and sent to Ghana, West Africa. Since 2002, BNB has shipped nearly 2,000 bicycles and tons of parts to the Village Bicycle Project located in Ghana. Second, many of the bikes collected might not be a type that would suitable for the rough terrain of Africa and were tagged as “shop bikes”. In addition to shipping bikes oversees, BNB also operates a youth training program where inner city teen “apprentices” learn communication skills and a strong foundation in mechanics in order to repair bikes and prepare them for sale. A year-round bike shop at the Center provides on-going, on the job training.
Thank you also to everyone who helped out in so many ways – the distribution of flyers in and around the surrounding towns, e-mailing reminders and mention in the local paper. Also worth noting is the donation of bicycles collected at the Central Baptist Church and the passing on of bikes left over from the May 12-13 weekend’s yard sale by the Boy Scouts in affiliation with Central Congregational Church. I want to especially thank our Saturday volunteers who learned first hand what it really meant to “flatten a bike” – Abby and Sally Warren; Connor and Linda Cahill; Christopher, Catherine and Elizabeth Danieli, Derick Gates and my own special support crew, Mike Thompson and Ethan Flewelling.
In peace and with much appreciation,
Melissa Flewelling
Brainstorming and planning meeting on June 3 after the 10AM service to improve our welcome to and inclusion of families with small children into our worship and parish life.
Top 10 Reasons Children Are Welcomed in Our Church
10. Repeated exposure to the sights, sounds and symbols of Eucharist help form all Christians.
9. Children actually LIKE sitting in those usually-empty front row seats so they can see and hear what's going on.
8. It would be expensive to repaint all those signs to read "The Episcopal Church Welcomes Only Adults."
7. Practice Makes Perfect - Teaching young children to enjoy and participate in the service helps them become active and receptive worshipping adults.
6. There are no pop quizzes at the communion rail! We all experience the Eucharist as a mystery . . . you don't have to be able to explain it in order to benefit from it.
5. Children have their own unique relationships with God. Being in church helps them learn how to pray, sing, worship and otherwise strengthen that relationship.
4. If children aren't in church, who are the candy-unwrapping, restless, coughing, whispering adults going to blame for the noise?
3. Sunday services make great family-togetherness time. Use the quiet space for extra hand-holding or snuggling time that may get lost during a busy week.
2. Children teach us what absolute joy looks like - and what better place to experience that than in church?
1 . . . . And the Number One reason children are welcomed in our church: The Circle of God's family is incomplete without them!
Tracy E. Herzer, President, 2007
National Association for Episcopal Christian Education Directors.
We here who are the Christian faith community of All Saints’ have myriad opportunities to be welcoming. One sign of the health and vitality of our parish is the number of children, from infants through college students, who regularly participate in our worship. Welcoming all regardless of age is multi-faceted. One key dimension is looking at the needs and desires of those who are coming together on Sunday morning. Although the parish has offered a nursery, very ably staffed by Ashley Thomas throughout the past year, almost no families have taken advantage of that service. We are blessed with a bumper crop of young ones (0-3) and recognize that we need to re-examine the needs of these parishioners.
To that end, we ask all with a concern for our parish’s ministry for, with and to children to meet briefly after the 10a.m. service on June 3 to brainstorm ideas and plan for the fall. We need and welcome input from parents of our youngest generation about your needs and desires concerning childcare and support for worshipping with children. We need and desire input from parishioners who have a concern for creating a worship environment that welcomes all who come through our doors – whether families with infants, long time members, contemplatives yearning for prayerful time, young adults, first-time comers to our parish unsure about our ways – and who recognize welcoming and supporting our youngest members as a key part of creating that space for all who are seeking the love of God as known in Jesus Christ. Please plan to join Maggie Marshall in the nursery (off of the parish hall) after the service to meet each other and to share ideas.
The Worship Committee invites you to become 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.
As always to start with ‘Thanks and Praise’ to those fine people who shoveled and raked for “Grounds Day” on May 5th. This was the first time our lawn has seen any fertilizer in about 20 years. Obviously, we will now have to mow the stuff. Please consider signing up for one ‘lawn-mowing’ this summer. Our self-propelled mower makes this about a 2 hour job to complete with only a modest exertion.
A new high efficiency furnace is installed in the back furnace room. As readers know, this is estimated to pay for itself in energy savings in less than 2 years, at current energy prices. This is the one that is most used, as it ‘drives’ the classrooms and Meeting Room.
I hope you all picked up your compact fluorescent light bulbs! We continue to increase the usage of these in the Church, especially as the newer products keep coming on-line that fit our needs. I was recently charged with reporting to the Diocese on all our energy (and water) usage; and be assured that All Saints has one of the more active conservation programs!
We now know (scientifically!) why the Parish Hall is so LOUD! (I’m in there, talking – RJ). The natural resonance of the Hall peaks at the 2nd harmonic of human voice (about 1 kilocycle per second, 1 kHz) and it takes that resonance over 2 seconds to die down! The Acoustic Study Committee is working on the cost effective, aesthetically pleasing and SAFE ways to mediate that problem.
Please enjoy our Parish home and check the on-line Calendar for upcoming B& G Events!
Rich Jerome
Now that spring has arrived, where do all the children go during coffee hour? Very frequently it is into the Memorial Garden. Since this is a public place and meant to bring peace and solace to all those who choose to rest, meditate or pray there, the children are welcome. However, the garden is not designed as a playground. There are many delicate flowers, bushes and shrubs that will not stand up to rough treatment.
Some people may not be aware that the cloister area is a Memorial Garden and burial site for a number of former parishioners. That is how it is designed and cared for.
The gardeners who care for this beautiful part of our facility would like to ask that parents take a moment to discuss this with their children. The kids have not been willfully destructive. They have simply been children who found a fun place to play. If the play can be scaled back to passive they are welcome to share the communal garden! If they want to run, romp and climb, they are welcome to use the new wall, which is designed with little feet in mind.
Thanks for your consideration.
The Garden Committee
I recently saw a possibly novel way to use rocks. I say “possibly novel” because I may have simply missed the wave!
While I was accompanying a visitor from out of town on a tour of Boston, we noticed, when we stopped in at St. Paul’s cathedral, that several displays, most notably one at the altar, were decorated with rocks. These were marble-sized rocks, and mostly smooth. We asked the Dean about them, and he explained: around Ash Wednesday, some little children had asked if they could place the rocks at the altar, along with the more formal tokens of our sense of respect for God. He was not sure what he might be doing with them at the end of Lent. We later stopped at the Holocaust Memorial at the North End. Again, there were pebbles, laid out with apparent care, at several of the building entrances.
You might think this a mere extension of the role that pebbles have assumed in certain recent animated movies on penguins. But I started to wonder if a collection of little rocks might be just what’s needed to start a model of the City of Jerusalem. After all, the syllabus of the catechesis of the Good Shepherd does call for a model of that city.
All too soon, it will be time for little people to put away their childlike pursuits: in the meantime, here’s a way to add meaning to them
Patrick Blumeris
Editor
June 10 Last Day of Church School for Children and Adults
June 12 Prayer as First Resort 7:30pm, Blue Room
June 17 Remembering Bernard Mizeki
June 24 Celebrating with W. VA Workcamp participants
Just what is radical welcome? Most people hear the term and think it’s about having a warm, dependable welcome at the door of the church and a really good cup of coffee and snacks in the church hall. They assume it’s the province of the Hospitality and Greeters Committee or maybe, just maybe, the Outreach and Justice Group. Those are wonderful goals. But that’s not where radical welcome is aiming. Radical welcome is a fundamental spiritual practice, one that combines the universal Christian ministry of welcome and hospitality with a clear awareness of power and patterns of inclusion and exclusion.” (Spellers, Radical Welcome, p. 11)
Throughout the month of May, folks gathered on Monday evenings and Wednesday mornings to consider the question of what the spiritual practice of hospitality and welcome might look like. The groups asked themselves about experiences of being welcomed, of extending welcome, and of facing changes, both welcomed and resisted, in their lives. Participants asked themselves to imagine the experience of a single mother with two children walking into All Saints’ for the first time. They looked at the parish’s Statement of Inclusion and asked what it made them dream for All Saints’ and how the parish already lives out that statement. They talked about the losses involved in opening up to others and about the gains. And each week the groups returned to the core ideas that we are called to offer welcome and hospitality because Jesus modeled that call, that we can do so when we come from a place of trusting God with the outcomes, and that those who come to us seeking welcome are seeking Christ in us. We left knowing that this conversation will continue to bubble through the parish.
As Tom has announced, I will be away for the month of June. I am taking a few weeks of retreat time at Pendle Hill, a Quaker retreat and study center, to rest and study and write. Pendle Hill is outside Philadelphia and close to where I grew up. It will be good to be near my family with my father so ill. I plan to stay with him and my stepmother for a week. Dad is frail and feisty, and he has said firmly that he and I will “play” when I am there. Brian will join me at the end of the month and we plan to check out sights in the Philadelphia area.
I look forward to returning in July. I will hold all of you in my prayers and am glad for all your prayers.
in peace,
Amy Hunter,
Associate for Adult Christian Formation
Some of you may know that in his youth (a relative term), Steve Grillo was a mighty fine trumpet player. I have waited patiently for Steve to pick up his horn again, and after twenty short years, my wait is over! Steve is not only redeveloping his embrasure, as we speak, but he is also envisioning an All Saints’ brass choir that would get together for special occasions.
We know who some of you are, but if you play a brass instrument and would like to join this worthy cause, please let Steve or me know. Experienced youth as well as adults are welcome. We hope that his choir will be yet another way to “make a joyful noise unto the Lord!”
Maggie Marshall, Minister of Music
maggie@ccc.com, (978)251-1296
In recent months, the vestry has undertaken an assignment to examine our current coffee hour practices, to look at what works and what doesn’t work and why. The reasons for doing this are many and varied but the idea came from a workshop exercise given to the vestry at their annual retreat. What came out of that discussion, and many more since, is the realization that our coffee hour needs revitalizing. The discussion group on Living Hospitality at All Saints’ Church (using Stephanie Spellers’ book, Radical Welcome) also contributed to this effort. Our goal is to offer a truly hospitable welcome to anyone (and everyone) who walks through the front doors of All Saints’.
The Fall 2006/ Winter 2007 Episcopal Times included an article written by our very own Tom Barrington. Its title was “Karibu: Kiswahili for Welcome”. Tom describes the importance of, and attention paid, in the Kenyan culture, to making all guests feel truly welcomed, even when they had next to nothing to offer. Tom relates a story about a visit that he and Linda made to the home of a young deacon to meet his family. Although this family had next to nothing, they used a good portion of a day’s wages to offer Tom and Linda refreshments. In Tom’s words: “We were welcomed and invited to sit in the best chairs…We sipped the warm soda and nibbled cookies while we talked. I knew that this was a luxury they would rarely have themselves … They made us feel like truly honored guests.”
In redesigning coffee hour, it is our hope that our coffee hour will be a truly warm, hospitable and welcoming environment, making all who gather feel like “truly honored guests”. Our goal is to infuse a spirit of hospitality into this weekly opportunity to come together (including our children) and visit on a Sunday morning. This is a work in progress; it is not a finished product and we welcome input and feedback from all. As we implement these changes over the next few months, please tell us what you think.
Some of the changes that we are considering are:
· First and foremost, we are going to change the name. Not all folks drink coffee (certainly the younger members of our parish do not) and although coffee will still be offered, the name will change to Fellowship Hour.
· We are going to be proactive about creating a sign up list. It is often easier on the hosts (and more fun) if you sign up with another person (or couple or family) so that you can work together.
· A new instruction sheet will be created.
· The layout of the room (which has already begun) is going to change to accommodate better traffic flow and increase the amount of seating available.
· We are going to ask certain groups to consider hosting occasionally, such as the choir, the altar guild, and the Sunday School (e.g. Strawberry Sunday).
· The kitchen committee has been asked to make the kitchen more “user friendly” and develop a system for all users of our kitchen to be able to find their way around more easily.
· A very energetic subcommittee has researched ways in which we can improve the acoustics in our parish hall and will be making specific proposals to this end in the near future.
These are only a few of the ideas that we have come up with, but we sincerely hope that above all, we can promote a more energetic, more intentional, more welcoming environment at coffee hour, both for our current members and also to show our visitors that we are a warm and hospitable and caring congregation. Look for future articles on this subject, especially as we evolve; look for the changes to be implemented gradually over the next few months, and please let someone on the vestry, or Tom, know what you think, and above all – please sign up to be a host at least one Sunday a year.
Liz Landers, Lois Freeman and Bethanne Economou
Vacancies in the Parish
There are leadership positions still to be filled for:
Fellowship;
Youth Group;
a representative for United Thank Offering.
If any of these interests you, please contact the parish office at 978-256-5673.
It has been a while since there was an article in Saints’ Alive about donating altar flowers in memory of a loved one and so, I thought it was time to bring the subject up again. Every Sunday (with the exception of the Lenten and Advent seasons), the altar guild arranges flowers for the pedestal shelves on the altar. These floral arrangements are made with flowers that we purchase wholesale from a local florist (as needed) as well as from any remaining flowers from a wedding or funeral service. Often in the summer, altar guild members have made contributions from their own personal gardens. A donation of $35 can be made for a particular Sunday, and the person’s name will be mentioned in the bulletin. This donation also helps defray the cost of providing the flowers. It is recommended that dates be arranged with the office well in advance of the particular weekend wished for, because we have traditionally only accepted a single memorial donation for a given Sunday and you might find that your date is already taken.
For the majority of the floral arrangements, content is determined by seasonal availability and cost and is at the discretion of the guild members. Occasionally someone will request that a certain type of flower, or a certain color, be used in memory of their loved one, as they know what kinds of flowers their loved one preferred. While an attempt is always made to honor these requests, they cannot always be fulfilled. We do not purchase flowers every week, as we may have an oversupply due to weddings/funerals or left-over inventory. This allows us to manage our flower budget in a reasonable way. Also, the florist we use cannot always supply the flowers requested – they have a good supply, but not an unlimited one, and they are also under the constraints of what is available from their wholesalers. However, to increase your chance of having the appropriate color or flower in the arrangements, there are a few simple things you can do.
· First and foremost, sign up for dates using the schedule located in the connecting link for the parish hall. Darlene will use this information to make sure there is announcement in the Sunday bulletin.
· Second, if you do have a special flower request, please indicate it on the sign-up sheet and let Liz Landers know well ahead of time.
· Third, make sure your $35 donation is received by the office, preferably before the requested date.
The altar guild will keep these requests in mind as the date approaches and will do everything in our power to honor such requests (within reason).
I hope this clarifies the process for everyone. Please let me know if you have any questions. As always, we thank you for supporting this aspect of our parish life and helping to beautify our altar.
Liz Landers
Over the years, we have received gifts to support the planting of the Memorial Garden outside the Narthex. This year is no different with gifts having been given in memory of:
Tom Firth - husband of Nancy Firth
Ed Marshall – husband of Liz Marshall, father of Maggie Marshall
David Willman – Son of Barbara Willman
Sarah Twelves – Daughter of Paul Twelves
Take a few moments to walk through the garden and enjoy the beauty and tranquility. It is a very special place honoring some very special people!
The Garden Committee
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
· Debbie Anderton, Dora Carr’s daughter
· Dorothy Eaton, Willow Manor
· Richard Shaffer, Amy Hunter’s father, hospice
· Alistair Redman, son of Edwin and Janet Redman, has returned home!
At Nyahela in Kenya:
Churches and institutions we are asked to consider especially during the month of June are listed in this section.
Sunday, June 3, 2007 Trinity Sunday
St. Luke's Church, Malden
St. Paul's Church, Malden
Church of St. John the Evangelist, Mansfield
St. Andrew's Church, Marblehead
Mystic Valley Deanery
Cursillo
Sunday, June 10, 2007 The Second Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 5)
St. Michael's Church, Marblehead
St. Gabriel's Church, Marion
Church of the Holy Trinity, Marlborough
Episcopal City Mission
Episcopal Marriage Encounter
Sunday, June 17, 2007 The Third Sunday after Pentecost;
Bernard Mizeki, Marondera Martyr (see also the entry for June 25, 2007).
Trinity Church, Marshfield Hills
Church of the Holy Spirit, Mattapan (Boston)
Church of the Advent, Medfield
Grace Church, Medford
Christ Church, Medway
Tufts University Chaplaincy, Medford
Tufts University Chaplain: (617) 627-3427.
Episcopal churches near Tufts University include:
Grace Church 160 High Street, Medford;
Christ Church 66 Fellsway West, Somerville;
St. James' Church, 1170 Broadway, Somerville
St. James’ Church, 1991 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge
St Peter’s Church, Central Square, Cambridge
Sunday, June 24, 2007 The Fourth Sunday after Pentecost
Trinity Church, Melrose
St. Andrew's Church, Methuen
Church of Our Saviour, Middleborough
St. Paul’s Church, Millis
Wider Mission Ministry Area
Deputies to General Convention
Monday, June 25, 2007: Birth of John the Baptist.
Bernard Mizeki (See June 17), while fatally wounded, instructed his wife to make sure that their unborn child should be baptized.
It's time to start thinking about the second annual Gingerbread Village Display! A Gingerbread Village Board has started meeting about this year's event that will take place Nov 30-Dec 2. All entries will be enthusiastically received and we will have a special Gingerbread Challenge this year -- a builders challenge to build Chelmsford center! We hope you will consider joining one of the festive gingerbread committees:
Builders’ Committee
This committee will work out a plan to implement the participation goals and focus on recruiting builders, providing information, and tracking registrations. They will be the contact point for all builders’ questions and they will work with the Village Planners and Gingerbread Tech Committee to ensure that entries are logged in and tracked once they are at the event.
Village Planners
This committee will focus on creating a display that makes the most out of the entries. This might entail working directly with some of the builders who have specific display needs. They will create floor plans for the event, a timetable for setup, and handle any special lighting or display needs. They will have a budget to create effects for the display and will be responsible for the setup and breakdown of the Gingerbread Village.
Gingerbread Tech Committee
This committee will be responsible for setting up a website for the event. They will designate a process for keeping the website current and accurate. They will also be the lead on running the technical side of the Silent Auction, including photographing and uploading pictures to the site. They also might help set up an internal web-tracking of the Builders Committee.
Village Criers
This is the advertising end of the event. This group will develop the promotional materials to support the Builders Committee and info/text for the website. They will also pursue a wide and fun exposure of the event through newspapers, community resources, and whatever they can think of to get people excited to participate and excited to come.
Village Merchants
This group will focus on creating and implementing a plan to help All Saints’ raise money at this event. They will decide the best way to make the most of the event from All Saints’ perspective. They will be responsible for recruiting parishioners to staff these efforts.
Auctioneers
They will manage all aspects of the sale of the Gingerbread Houses. They will manage the silent auction, recruit buyers for the bigger houses, and contact winners, record sales and collect monies.
Village Welcome Wagon
This committee is all about making this fun. They will be responsible for planning the Builders’ Party for Friday Night, plan and run any games or activities during the event, and send thank you cards to all the builders and people who buy houses.
Look for sign-ups at church or speak to one of the Board Members (Laura Marshall, Adrienne Spear, Derick Gates, Becky Malone, and Edith Parekh). Please join us to help build another successful event for Habitat for Humanity.
Gingerbread Village Board
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 Meyers, Clerk
The vestry and the Mission/Outreach team would like to form a group of people to oversee the relationship we have begun with Nyahela Parish in Kenya. Nyahela Parish is one of the churches that Tom visited last year during his stay in Kenya. They have recently started an orphan feeding program and All Saints’ has pledged funds to support that work. We need people who are excited and energized by this opportunity God is offering us to form a team that will investigate how best to establish and facilitate a long-term relationship and look for opportunities for each parish to be of service to the other We invite you to pray about this call.
If you are interested in participating, contact:
Dave Kuzara at 978-256-5484
or Derick Gates at 978-250-1569.
June 18, 1896 and June 17, 2007
This year, Bernard Mizeki’s death is being marked in Massachusetts on June 17, the closest Sunday to the formal date of the feast of Bernard Mizeki.
Mizeki’s work in translating the prayer book and Bible into Shona is easily forgotten as the church recalls his bravery and death in a time of rebellion.
In the prayer book calendar, he is remembered as a catechist and martyr in Rhodesia. The place he was serving was the then-new Diocese of Mashonaland, which roughly covered the borders of today’s Zimbabwe.
While Bernard Mizeki died at Theydon near Marondera (formerly Marandellas), he did so while serving Zimbabwe, after being trained in Cape Town in South Africa, several years after he left his home village for a port in Mozambique and the promise of bigger things elsewhere.
On June 17, All Saints’ will be remembering Bernard Mizeki – and changing the references in our prayer books to say Zimbabwe.
Patrick Blumeris,
Editor
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 ........... Oliver Chamberlain
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 July 2007 Saints Alive! is
June 17th, 2007
Please leave your articles in the Saints Alive! mailbox in the church office, or send them via email to SaintsAlive@yahoo.com. Thanks.
