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SAINTS Alive! THE NEWSLETTER OF THE PARISH All Saints’ Church Chelmsford, MA March 2009
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SAINTS Alive! THE NEWSLETTER OF THE PARISH All Saints’ Church Chelmsford, MA March 2009
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This Lent we are going to be talking a lot about hope in the light of hard times. Lent is a season of reflection as we journey with Jesus towards the cross and the resurrection. This year we are also keenly aware of the economic recession and how that filters down to real pressures in our day to day lives. Layoffs, cut backs and disappearing services are a fact of life these days. So what does our faith have to say to us in these times? We will try to address this question though our worship, teachings, and outreach. Sometimes it will be obvious; sometimes it will be subtle. Most importantly, it will involve each one of us reflecting upon, and sometimes struggling, with the realities of our times.
Jesus invites us to take up our cross and follow him. Let us make this season a time when we reflect on the implication of following him in our own lives as well as giving hope to those around us.
Peace,
Tom
Our Gospel lessons for the five weeks of Lent
March 1st – Jesus’ baptism and temptation in the wilderness. Mark 1:9-15
March 8th - Jesus talking about his passion, having to rebuke Peter who could not conceive of Jesus suffering, and how we must take up our cross and follow him. Mark 8:31-38
March 15th – Jesus driving the merchants and money-changers out of the temple. John 2:13-22
March 22nd - Jesus being lifted up as the light of the world, but the people love the darkness. John 3:14-21
March 29th - Jesus predicting his death and resurrection, “When I am lifted up from the earth I will draw all people to myself.” John 12:20-33
May I tell you a little about the Penny Basket in the Narthex? Since 1990, parishioners and friends have been saving our pennies, receiving a total of $2,951 over the years. One year the high was $327, but last year was only $53. Perhaps by telling you the purpose of this little white basket, we can increase the monies available to the St. Paul’s Feeding Program. Each week we check the basket for pennies, silver and sometimes even bills. The coins are wrapped and go directly into the fund to support those teams that serve a meal at the Eliot Church in Lowell once a month, for the St. Paul’s Feeding Program. This program assists many people in Lowell, sometimes as many as 100 — such a worthwhile program, deserving of our extra pennies in support. Kindly drop your coins, and/or even bills, in the little white basket that sits under the tract rack in the Narthex. St. Paul’s Program thanks you sincerely.
Barbara Willman
Please save the date of Saturday, March 21st
for All Saints’ St. Patrick’s Day Dinner with entertainment by the Heavey-Quinn
Irish Step Dancers. Proceedings to begin at 6 pm!
We will be serving a dinner of corned beef and cabbage with all the trimmings including homemade Irish Bread. The cost is $8 per person, children age 3 to 10 years $4, under age 3 free. For food planning purposes this is a reservations-only event.
For reservations please contact Carol or Ron Cannistraro at 978-256-0929 or by e-mail at carolron@comcast.net
(reflection on the Transfiguration)
a friend
newly returned from the mountain
reminds me never stop
with the reflection
the flame so lovely in the mirror
still can never warm
I nod
hammer in hand
nails in mouth
hammering the boards together
saying to the reflection
it is so good I am here
for the mirrors building booths
for the Presence a cross
-abh-
It is a framework of doing as we’re told. The nod (above) of -abh- is quite a nod. Bright lights on the mountain to be followed by harsh purpose, bleak for a distance, but hardly bleak forever. Without that cross, there might always be a draft in the house. Without that turning away from the brilliant light and its fading memory, there might never be a here here.
There would be a promise unfulfilled, a duty undone, a feast untasted. The Kingdom of God is a fellowship around the table, a partnership of working side by side in the rich man’s fields, a kinship that keeps friends friends, even if there are oceans between them, even when the “oceans” separate us from the hereafter.
Jesus’ mission was to promote this Fellowship. He knows us by name. His own path towards Jerusalem that last time was the final effort of God’s Gardener to redeem God’s creation to Godly fellowship by digging around the weak tree and adding food by giving of Himself.
Patrick Blumeris, Editor
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 carries a list of more “on-going” concerns to bring to God in prayer.
We will keep the description you provide as general or specific as you indicate. Please let us know what you would like included. We also 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 prayer lists, please contact Darlene in the Church Office.
· Gladys Stephens, Palm Manor Nursing Home
· Eleanor Ferreira at home
· Mary Buote at home, who celebrated her 102nd birthday on January 29th
· Bea Iams, in rehab at Sunny Acres
· Dora Smith, Betsy Eisenmann’s mother
· Priscilla Smith at Willow Manor in Lowell
· Doug Grant at home, chronic back pain
· Chaz Freeman, Lois Freeman’s son
· Debbie Anderton, Dora Carr’s daughter
· Bob Moorehouse at Nashoba Park#2 in Ayer
· Al Gorham, at home
· Lillian Doris Johnson, Loisann Grant’s mother, at D’Youville Manor
Ministering at Nyahela Sub-Parish in Kenya:
Rural Dean Rev. Jacob Mbunjiro, Dorcus Esilaba, Shem Bwonya, Elizabeth Osiolo, and Phanice Otenyi, Chairlady of the orphan feeding program.
Nyahela sub-parish currently receives SaintsAlive. If you would like to write directly to them, please note their address:
ACK: Anglican Church of Kenya
ACK NYAHELA PARISH
P.O. BOX 201
LUANDA - KENYA
CODE : 50307
Upcoming Formation Dates and Events
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Sun Mar 1 |
Discussion to prepare for |
Meeting Room |
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Wed Mar 4 |
Lenten Supper and Study begins |
Meeting Room |
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Sat Mar 7 |
Diocesan Spring Learning Event |
BU campus |
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Sun Mar 8 |
Discussion to reflect upon |
Meeting Room |
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Tues Mar 10 |
Prayer as First Resort |
Blue Room |
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Wed Mar 11 |
Lenten Supper and Study begins |
Meeting Room |
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Sun Mar 15 |
Final class with Elphas Wambani |
Meeting Room |
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Wed Mar 18 |
Lenten Supper and Study begins |
Meeting Room |
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Sat Mar 21 |
St Patrick’s Dinner |
Parish Hall |
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Wed Mar 25 |
Lenten Supper and Study begins |
Meeting Room |
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Sun Mar 29 |
Training Event for |
3:00- 6:00pm |
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Sun Apr 5 |
PALM SUNDAY |
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Apr 5- |
HOLY WEEK |
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Sun Apr 12 |
EASTER |
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From the Associate for Adult Christian Formation:
I was handing out Lenten calendar posters and a parishioner looked at the suggestion that one give up coffee for Lent and said to me, “I know that you would never do that, Amy!” How well folks here know me! But, believe it or not, I have—more than once even!—given up coffee. Our older son Michael told me that I became “more fair” when not caffeinated.
Over the years I have focused more on the aspect of preparing for Holy Week and Easter than on that of deprivation during Lent. I usually do a personal Lenten study. I often fast, not from food but from noise and distraction by giving up listening to the radio or CDs in the car. Most importantly, I participate in worship, both on Sundays and then through Holy Week. Year after year, I find it so powerful to enter into the story of Jesus’ last days, death and resurrection. The power of Easter comes from facing the grief and darkness of Holy Week. As I face personal losses, as I worry about the state of the economy and the environment, as I long for peace in this world, I find the Cross of Christ with its promise of God’s presence in the darkness corners of human experience to offer hope and power.
On Ash Wednesday we are invited “…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 meditating on God’s holy Word.” Whether you give something up or take on a spiritual practice or go on as usual, I hope that each of us and all of us together as a parish have moments when we know the power of God’s love and grace which are with us, even in our darkest moments. I wish you a Holy Lent.
in peace,
Amy Hunter
St Paul, Conversion, Community and Hope: A Lenten Study of the Teaching of St Paul: A significant portion of our New Testament consists of the letters written by the apostle Paul to churches at the beginning of the Christian movement. This Lent, beginning on March 4 and continuing for 5 Wednesday evenings, All Saints’ invites you to gather for supper, fellowship and education, focused upon Paul’s messages to Christian communities in the first century as they struggled with faith and community and how those messages speak to us today as we—both as individuals and a parish—face our own struggles.
Join us March 4, 11, 18, 25, and April 1 in the downstairs Meeting Room for supper at 6:30, followed by a presentation from 7:00 to 8:30. Tom Barrington and Amy Hunter will share the teaching of this series, and there will be time each week after the presentation for questions and discussion.
“…we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us…” (The letter of Paul to the Romans 5: 2b- 5a)
Prayer as First Resort March 10
You are invited to join Prayer as First Resort on Tuesday, March 10 and on any second Tuesday of the month, 7:30- 8:45 in the Blue Room. This group offers support, safety and sanity to folks who are seeking to live their Christian faith in their day to day lives—at home, in the community and at work. This winter and spring, the group is looking at ways to create Sabbath space within our daily lives in order to experience the presence of God. Our conversations are always rich and rewarding, and the group welcomes newcomers. For more information, please talk with Lynne Grillo or Amy Hunter
Lenten Resources: Lent is a season when many people take up a spiritual practice such as fasting or doing spiritual reading. There are many resources available for such practices. Please check the table in the Blue Room for Lenten reading and for guides to spiritual practices. You may sign out a book if you wish. There are also internet resources—please check out the list below.
The most important practice during the season of Lent is to participate in the worship, to remember that you are dust at the Ash Wednesday service, to pray the Great Litany on the first Sunday in Lent, to remember the 40 days and nights of Jesus’ wilderness experience during the 40 days and nights of Lent, and especially to experience the events of Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection in the services of Holy Week.
Online resources:
§ http://www.journeytothecross.org/ for daily Lenten devotions—with music!— from "Journey to the Cross"
§ http://www.explorefaith.org/ for information about spiritual practice in general from the "Explore Faith" website.
§ http://www.msgr.ca/msgr-7/LENT%202008%20STUDY.pdf for a downloadable Lenten study with amazing artwork developed by the Anglican Church of Canada in 2008 from the book "Allegories of Heaven," by Dinah Roe Kendall and Eugene H. Peterson.
§ http://www.elca.org/Our-Faith-In-Action/Justice/Advocacy/Issues/Environment-and-Energy/Lenten-Reflections.aspx to sign up for an online Lenten program called "Living Earth: Joining the Hymn of All Creation" offered by the Evangelical Lutheran Church. This 40-day Lenten reflection series focuses upon environmental stewardship as a Lenten theme and practice.
§ http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/ecourses/ for three online Lenten courses: The Cry of the Prophet, based on a new book by Sr. Joan Chittister; Forgiveness - Growth in Love offered by Contemplative Outreach, the organization founded by Fr. Thomas Keating that is best known for their work with centering prayer; and Practicing Spirituality with Jesus - Lent 2009. Please note that these Spirituality and Practice courses cost $25- 40, depending upon which course you choose.
Elphas Wambani’s last class on March 15:
This past year, All Saints’ has been richly blessed by the teaching and presence of Elphas Wambani, a pastor and educator from Kenya. Our rector Tom met Elphas while on sabbatical, and Elphas has been in the US working towards a doctorate at Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge. This past fall and winter, parishioners have met with Elphas to talk about spiritual practice in community, prayer and meditation. At this final meeting on March 15, the class will focus on mission in our daily lives. Please gather with Elphas and with fellow parishioners in the Meeting Room downstairs. There will be a light lunch from 11:45- 12:15, with Elphas’ presentation following. Please take advantage of this opportunity!
Brian McLaren to Keynote Diocesan Spring Learning Event
March 7 2009 - 8:00am- 4:00pm at George Sherman Union, Boston University, 775 Commonwealth Ave., Boston
Brian McLaren, author of A Generous Orthodoxy and The Secret Message of Jesus, will be the featured speaker at the spring diocesan learning event on Saturday, March 7 at Boston University. McLaren is a noted international speaker and a leading voice in the emergent church movement, listed by Time as one of America’s 25 most influential evangelicals. By special invitation of the archbishop of Canterbury, he addressed the assembled bishops at the most recent Lambeth Conference on the gifts of Anglicanism to meet the challenge of evangelism in the world today. McLaren has an avid following and this event will be open to the public, so members of the diocese will want to be ready to register at www.diomass.org early in the new year.
All Saints’ discussions about Brian McLaren and the Spring Diocesan Event
Interested in attending the Spring Diocesan event? Interested in learning more about Brian McLaren and his growing influence not only in the Evangelical church but in the mainline denominations as well? Join us at 11:45am (grab a cup of coffee at Fellowship Hour!) in the Meeting Room downstairs on March 1 and March 8 for discussion. We will look at some of McLaren’s writings for the first session as a preparation for hearing him speak on March 7. At the second session, we will discuss the Diocesan Spring Learning Event and our responses to hearing McLaren. Excerpts from some of McLaren’s books are available either in the narthex or from Amy Hunter.
Gerry and Nancy Hardison, Missionaries, Serving in Maseno, Kenya
As Episcopal Church Missionaries, Nancy and Gerry Hardison are our major link to the Diocese of Maseno North and the Mothers’ Union. They visited All Saints’ in 2006. Howard Webber, a member of St Paul’s Church in Bedford, serving on the Jubilee Ministries of the Diocese of Massachusetts, described the Hardisons’ work in an article we included in the February issue. If you would like to meet the Hardisons, they will be visiting the Diocese of Massachusetts in mid-April. We will publicize more about their visit when we know the details.
To learn about the Hardisons and their work, see
http://www.masenomissions.org.
For information about the work of Jubilee Ministries of the Diocese of Massachusetts can be found at http://www.diomass.org/mission/AIDS_in_Africa. You can also subscribe to the Jubilee Ministry’s quarterly e-new report of the web site.
In her February 12 Chelmsford Independent article, Jennifer Almeida reported some LARGE quantities of materials and some LARGE numbers of dollars. These summarized our town savings through our ongoing recycling efforts. Dividing to find quantities that you and I work with all the time:
It costs Chelmsford about $10 per household per month to incinerate our trash. This monthly household cost would be about $14.00 if it were not for our recycling efforts. Why? Every two weeks, Chelmsford pays for recyclables to be collected separately from our trash, and we typically recycle (divert) 20-to-25 pounds per house per reycle-day (twice a month). The total savings could be more if we were more careful to separate our recyclables from our trash, or if we carefully separated out paper-and-cardboard, plastics, metals, and glass.
In this way, we might save the Town (and ourselves) even more than the $280,000 per year that our recycling efforts now save. At $2 per 20-pound-pick-up, it may not seem like much; but for some the amount diverted may be more, unearthing a source of pride. Now, what else can you divert from the incinerator? For environmental stewardship’s sake?
Since before Christmas, even as temperatures have been dropping, the days have been getting longer. All the same, it has been a winter of carbon monoxide asphyxiations and jet-plane crashes. People have frozen to death.
This spring we will as always remember St. Patrick’s Day with Irish meals, Irish songs, Irish dance.
As always, there will be Lent to remind us to be “somber”: perhaps we ought to recall the ways we can work to make the carbon monoxide poisonings rarer (call the parish office 978-256-LORD); or fuss less when there is a de-icing delay at the airport; or find a way to spread some warmth, since it will still be a few weeks before it is again as warm as Christmas, and in these days of economic woes, a spare garment, hardly used, (Call Carol Cannistraro 978-256-0929) or a square meal (Call the parish office at 978-256-LORD to ask about the St. Paul’s Feeding Program) just might be exactly what some other person desperately needs.
We should remember St. Patrick’s concern for the orphans, and those who were most likely to fall into the hands of the wicked, or simply to fall.
We should recall, as Harry Taplin recently reminded us in a different context, Jesus’ first words on being told there was a crowd in need of a meal: “You should feed them.” Recall, also, how Andrew’s attempt led to Jesus’ feeding of the five thousand.
Do something good: there’s no telling how God might bless the effort!
Patrick Blumeris
Editor
Vestry Members
Vestry Members
Cynthia Bennett Bob Bishop Andrea Bray
Carl Clark Liz Landers Edith Parekh
Sean Seyffert Harry Taplin Mike Thompson
Lois Freeman, Senior Warden
Scott Bempkins, Junior Warden
Melanie Hickcox, Treasurer
Derick Gates, Clerk
Church Office............................. 978-256-5673
Senior Warden....... Lois Freeman
Junior Warden........ Scott Bempkins
Treasurer............... Melanie Hickcox
Clerk..................... Derick Gates
Acolyte Director.... Clem Cole
Adult Education...... Amy Hunter
Altar Guild............. Liz Landers
Buildings and…….. Deb Dutton
Grounds Dave Cahill
Christian School..... Laura Marshall
Michelle Thomas
Elizabeth Danieli
Coffee Hour.......... Matt Hickcox
Endowment ........... to be filled
Environmental Stewardship
Committee............. to be filled
Fellowship.............. to be filled
Finance.................. to be filled
Handbell Choir……Ellen Jewart
Music Minister....... Maggie Marshall
Outreach............... Dave Kuzara
Pastoral Care......... Joy Chadwick
Saints Alive............ Patrick Blumeris
SaintsAlive e-mail:.. ........ saintsalive@yahoo.com
Stewardship........... to be filled
Thrift Shop............. Carol Cannistraro
Youth Group.......... Nancy March
Webmaster............ Richard Coles
Web site................ www.allsaintschelmsford.org
… for the April 2009 Saints Alive! is
March 19th, 2009
Please leave your articles in the Saints Alive! mailbox in the church office, or send them via email to SaintsAlive@yahoo.com. Thanks.
