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SAINTS Alive! THE NEWSLETTER OF THE PARISH All Saints’ Church Chelmsford, MA March 2010
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SAINTS Alive! THE NEWSLETTER OF THE PARISH All Saints’ Church Chelmsford, MA March 2010
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EXPERIENCING OUR PARTNERSHIP WITH NYAHELA PARISH IN KENYA
On Wednesday, March 10th from 6:30 to 8:30 PM we are offering an opportunity to get a better feel of our partnership with Nyahela Parish in Maseno, Kenya and the Orphan Feeding Program. This will be a multi-generational event. We will begin with a supper, offering both Kenyan and American dishes.
We will then have a slide presentation by Dr. Christiana Russ. She is a pediatrician at Children’s Hospital and has travelled to Maseno, Kenya a number of times over the last four years.
After her presentation we will be offering four different workshops designed to help us experience the partnership with Kenya a little better. They will be:
• Conversation with Christiana Russ about visiting Kenya
• Paper Bead making – Some of the women who run the Orphan Feeding Program have been making paper bead necklaces as a way to raise funds to support the program. They have made thousands of paper beads. We will make our beads in solidarity with them.
• Drawings of our life here to send to Kenya – The members of Nyahela parish have sent us many drawing of their life. Working with Joyce Youngberg, retired art teacher extraordinaire, we will make drawing of our lives as a way to send greetings to the members of Nyahela Parish.
• Story Telling – By reading and sharing stories from Kenya we will get a better understanding of their hopes and dreams
Special thanks to the Rite-13 class who will be helping with the workshops. All ages are welcome.
The youth choirs from All Saints’, Christ Church, Andover, and Grace Church, Salem would love to have all of you in the congregation on Sunday, March 7 at 5:00 p.m., for a combined service of choral evensong.
This sung service is a musical way to give thanks at the end of the day. Evensong contains no Eucharist or sermon. The three church choirs have been working for months on this music, and will rehearse twice together before bringing this service to you.
This is the third year of collaborating with these churches, is a great chance for our children to sing with a larger group, and is the first time that we are hosting this group. We hope to see you there!
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Mar 29- Apr 3 |
Morning Prayer |
7:00am |
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Apr 1 |
Maundy Thursday service |
7:30pm |
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Apr 2 |
Good Friday service |
noon |
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Good Friday service |
7:30pm |
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Apr 3 |
The Great Vigil of Easter |
8:00pm |
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Apr 4 |
EASTER services |
7:30am |
· Having a hard time getting the size of your Carbon Footprint? And what, exactly, is a Carbon Footprint?
· What can you do about the heating bill this winter? How can you change it?
· How can you personally affect the environment?
· What good is a little group from All Saints’ going to accomplish? How can we have an impact?
· And what is God’s role in all this? How does He feel about the way we’ve exploited His earth?
Yes, you have questions. And yes we can, as concerned citizens, answer some of them.
Please join us in Environmental Stewardship. The next two meetings are scheduled for Wednesdays March 17 and April 21. The meetings will be at 7:30 pm and will take place at the church.
We’ll be learning; teaching; and doing the things we’re capable of to support the earth.
Man, in his arrogance and limited vision, has upset the balance of nature. But believing that all paths lead to God, including the ones created by Him in nature, gives us hope. We’ll be involved in local area cleanups; nature walks; education; and special projects.
Some facts about the environment:
· We’re heading on a slippery downward slope: The spigot is running out! It now takes more fossil energy to bring petroleum to your community than the total new fossil energy found. It’s the law of diminishing returns.
· We’re already behind the time line: Even if we could collectively eliminate our carbon dioxide emissions today, the temperature would still inch up almost a full degree because of all the latent carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
· It’s going to take more than a year’s change. In fact it’s a new paradigm: We’re talking about a lifetime of change. Evidence of this comes from developing third world countries like China and India. They will increase consumption of natural resources as they grow. Are you ready? Not many of us are. We can help you face this uncertain future with a little more knowledge and confidence.
Wednesday, March 10, 6:30- 8:30 p.m. in the Parish Hall
Please join us for Experiencing Our Partnership with Kenya, part of this year’s Lenten program at All Saints’. We have designed this event to be hands-on for youth and adults. We will begin at 6:30 with a dinner which will highlight some Kenyan foods. Our guest speaker Dr. Christiana Russ, a pediatrician who has worked in Kenya and Uganda, will tell us about her experiences of partnership in Africa. There will be a variety of stories, activities and conversations geared to many ages and interests. Dinner is provided, the event is free—Come and join us!
Please join us on Saturday, March 20th at 6 PM in the parish hall for our gala 5th annual Irish Dinner again with Irish Dancers from the Mary Heavey-Quinn Dance Studio. The dinner will be corned beef & cabbage with all the fixings (hot dogs for kids who would rather have them). In addition to the Irish dancers, there will be music and singing, raffle items, lots of fun and entertainment. Tickets are $10 per adult and $4 per child age 10 and under.
If you would like to make a reservation, please contact Ron or Carol Cannistraro at 978-256-0929 or carolron@comcast.net before Monday March 15th or see us after Church on Sundays. The dinner is limited to 100 people. Reservations are required so we can plan for plenty of food.
Ron and Carol Cannistraro
978-256-0929
Our handbell choir has been producing wonderful music under the leadership of Debbie Psilipoulos. This choir is in need of one additional ringer, since Karen Braunschweiger is ending her time as a long-term sub. Thank you, Karen! The ability to read music is a plus, but is not necessary. A good sense of rhythm is required! Please speak to Debbie, Maggie, or any other bell choir member if you are able to help.
Wednesday, March 24, 6:30- 8:30 p.m. in the Parish Hall and Meeting Room
Our second special Lenten event will be an evening with artist and Deacon Gay P. Cox and Travelling Tabernacles Inc., her portable art installation. Her present exhibit, The Way of Salvation, will fill our Parish Hall! On the 24th, the parish is invited to hear from Gay about her work, to walk through and experience this intriguing exhibit, and to reflect and respond afterwards. Come for an evening of art, faith and fellowship, a chance to experience Lent in a different way. Come and see!
“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.” Isaiah 43:19
In 1998 The Prayer Shawl Ministry, an ecumenical organization was created, with an enduring message of caring and love. Prayer Shawl Ministries are varied and dispersed but are bound together with a common charter, united in prayer and service. Shawls have a long and beautiful tradition of providing shelter, warmth, and comfort and have come to symbolize these things for us.
All Saint’s Prayer Shawl Ministry will create and distribute prayer shawls to those in need of comfort, support, and healing. Perhaps you know someone today who is grieving, battling an affliction, or fearful and alone in a troubled world? Imagine them wrapped in a soft, colorful shawl, imagine them sighing as the fibers settle on their shoulders – a tangible reminder of God’s presence in their lives. The Prayer Shawl Ministry calls us to let our hands be God’s hands – to use our knitting or crocheting talent and our prayerful intercessions to bring comfort.
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” John 14:27
Volunteers in the Prayer Shawl ministry at All Saints will come together once a month to gather in prayer, bless the shawls that were crafted that month, share in our journeys, support each other’s efforts, and discuss Prayer Shawl Ministry business. Meetings will be held on the second Tuesday of each month, and will run from 7:00-8:00 pm. All are welcome. Our next meeting will be March 9, 2010.
Please contact Deb Forsberg at Dforsberg@juniper.net with questions and to sign up to receive Prayer Shawl Ministry notices.
“If only you embrace her, she will bring you to honor.” (See Proverbs 4:7-13.) But embracing Wisdom means sitting down to wrestle your distractions away, and studying, usually principles that someone else has put together. It can seem even more daunting than being told, as a child, to go give your aunt a hug. And yet…
There are teachers who do the work of introducing those principles to students, at schools and universities all around us. Society runs on people with skills acquired from teachers, friends, family, mentors.
A high-school teacher remarked that he had the luxury, when his students began to ask him difficult calculus questions, of passing them to the next class!
And the merit of learning from a different teacher is that she might present principles with a new perspective.
For example, four years ago when the St Peter’s Collegiate Choir from Wolverhampton visited us, the readings for the day and the news of the day led our rector Tom Barrington to urge any who had all the answers to stop wasting their time listening to him, and instead walk out to do God’s will! For the same occasion this February, the Rev Huw Bishop, Principal of St. Peter’s, preached on a lifetime of not seeing any miracles, but believing in them, all the same. He pointed out that belief in God’s power to change us means we need to start living in expectation of mighty changes (he didn’t, however, want us abandoning his sermon). His thoughts came hard on the heels of a sermon from Amy Hunter, who had pointed out how clear it usually is to figure out what God wants us to do.
As she might then say: Do it already! This Lent, however, her by-word is “Come and see!”
From the Associate:
I have stumbled and stuttered over what to write this month. Nothing all that pressing explains this unexpected writers’ block, and finally I am left realizing that Lent is for me a deeply experiential season. It begins with the smudge of ash on my forehead. Then, like many folks, I usually give up a treat or an activity and I take on spiritual reading. In Holy Week, I feel the invitation for us the Church to immerse ourselves in the events of Jesus’ passion and death. So I am reluctant to talk about Lent. I feel instead the urge for myself and for all of us to observe and experience Lent.
Beyond the changes to our Sunday liturgy this season, All Saints’ offers myriad chances for you to enter into Lent. Some of these opportunities are liturgical, others educational. All invite you to join with others for an experience of community and the presence of God.
The Mission/Outreach Committee invites you to Experiencing Our Partnership with Kenya on Wednesday March 10. Come for dinner, to hear about experiences in Africa, and to be hands-on with stories and activities.
Adult Formation invites you to Travelling Tabernacles: The Way of Salvation on Wednesday March 24. Come for an evening with Deacon Gay Cox and her interactive art exhibit, another hands-on experience that invites you more deeply into God’s story for all and for your own life.
Holy Week begins on March 28 with Palm/Passion Sunday, when we wave palms branches to remember Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, and then participate in the telling of the story of his arrest, trial and execution. Monday through Saturday mornings at 7:00am in the Chapel, we will offer Morning Prayer. That service takes no more than half an hour. Joining for worship on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday brings home the story of Jesus’ suffering and death, preparing us for a deeper understanding of the mystery and joy of Easter and the Resurrection.
I invite you this Lent to go deeper than words, to come and experience the power and presence of God at work in the lives of God’s people. Come and see!
in peace,
Amy Hunter
Upcoming Formation Dates and Events
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Mar 6 Sunday |
Diocesan
Learning Event |
St Paul’s, Boston |
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Wed Mar 9 |
Prayer as First Resort |
Blue Room 7:30–8:45pm |
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Thu Mar 10 |
Experiencing
Our Partnership with Kenya: |
6:30-8:30pm in the Parish Hall, beginning with supper |
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Fri/Sat Mar 19- 20 |
Vestry Retreat |
Please pray for your Vestry |
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Wed Mar 24 |
Travelling Tabernacles: The Way of Salvation A Lenten Event |
6:30-8:30pm in the Parish Hall |
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Sun Mar 28 |
PALM SUNDAY Holy Week begins |
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Family service and potluck for families with small children |
4:00pm in main sanctuary supper in Meeting Room |
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Mar 29- Apr 3 |
Morning Prayer for Holy Week |
7:00am in the Chapel |
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Wed Mar 31 |
Eucharist and Healing Service for Holy Week |
noon in the Chapel |
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Thu Apr 1 |
Service for MAUNDY THURSDAY with Stripping of Altar |
7:30pm in Main Sanctuary |
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Fri Apr 2 |
GOOD FRIDAY |
noon service in Main Sanctuary 7:30pm service St Mark’s Westford |
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Sat Apr 3 |
EASTER VIGIL with adult baptisms |
8:00pm in Parish Hall |
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Sunday Apr 4 |
Services for EASTER DAY |
7:30am 9:00am 11:00am |
Two days after St Patrick’s Day, our Vestry will be going on retreat.
Collect for All Saints’ Parish in Lent:
God of all power, God of today, God of our past, God of all our tomorrows, God of all there is to see, God of what we cannot see:
Be kind to us, hear our prayer. Bless our parish with your strength and wisdom.
We thank you for our vestry members:
Bob Bishop, Carl Clark, Joan DeChane,
Laura Geary, Edith Parekh, Connie Pawelczak,
Sean Seyffert, Chantelle Somers, Mike Thompson; for our wardens Scott Bempkins and Liz Landers; for our treasurer Cynthia Bennett and our vestry clerk Gail Laundry.
We ask for the continued spiritual strength and examples of our most faithful members;
Be with our children, to protect and guide them (Rite 13; ASC Youth; Sunday School Classes) and may we all be eager as children to learn Your ways;
Show to us all our wickedness, and guide us to fix it;
Move us away from habits of carelessness.
Be among the wanderers in Chelmsford who live outside the rubric and institutions of our, or any other, parish;
Remove the falsehoods and false impressions that keep people from You;
Help us to see the obstacles in work schedules, or sports timetables, or bus timetables, or illnesses, or injuries, that keep Your people from full fellowship in Your church; show us how to work to overcome these obstacles;
Let us truly be one with all the Saints of this and every age. May we learn Your ways, and as we do, may we be so salted among the Chelmsford community, that the town will honor You.
AMEN
In the Sunday Bulletin 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.
· Eleanor Ferreira at home
· Al Gorham, at home
· Bea Iams, Sunny Acres
· Lillian Doris Johnson, Loisann Grant’s mother, at D’Youville Manor
· Chaz Freeman, Lois Freeman’s son
· Doug Grant at home, chronic back pain
· Bob Moorehouse at Nashoba Park#2 in Ayer
· Edwin Redman at home
· Dora Smith, Betsy Eisenmann’s mother
· Priscilla Smith at Willow Manor in Lowell
· Phyllis Page, at Chelmsford Crossing (from Amherst, MA)
· Gladys Stephens, Palm Manor Nursing Home
Ministering at Nyahela Sub-Parish in Kenya:
James Mwaura, Pastor. Rev. Mwaura has asked us to pray for political stability 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
Prayer as 1st Resort meets March 9 at 7:30pm
The next gathering of Prayer as 1st Resort will be Tuesday, March 9, 7:30- 9:00pm in the Blue Room. Prayer as 1st Resort meets monthly on second Tuesdays and is a place for folks to explore how they might be more intentional about Christian spirituality in their daily lives. This month and in April we will continue looking at the ancient monastic practice of praying at set hours through the day and what that discipline says to us about our own prayer lives and how we view our days. You are welcome to join us for prayer, reflection and conversation. If you want to know more about the group, please talk with Lynne Grillo or Amy Hunter.
You have an opportunity to visit Maseno, Kenya and Nyahela Parish. We are organizing a mission trip to Maseno Kenya this summer for two weeks in late July & early August. We are seeking a team of 4-8 individuals. We will be staying at the guest house at St. Philip’s Theological College in Maseno, Kenya, hosted by Missionaries Nancy and Gerry Hardison. This is where I stayed during my sabbatical in 2006. We will be able to visit Nyahela Parish. We will meet the children as well as the women of the Mother’s Union, participate in the Orphan Feeding Program, and observe the Maseno Mission Hospital. We hope to visit Elphas Wambani, who taught here at All Saints’ last year. We will also participate in a yet to be determined service project with members of Nyahela parish. Most of all this is an opportunity to get to know the people of Maseno, Kenya, to talk, share stories, pray and be inspired.
The trip is open to all members of All Saints’ Church. We will be joined by some members of Central Congregational Church as well. Youth are welcome if accompanied by a parent. Please speak to me or Carl Clark if you are interested in joining us.
Tom Barrington
Pastor Rev. Mwaura has asked us to pray for political stability in Kenya:
O God, You have made of one blood all peoples, to live in creation, and sent your blessed son Jesus Christ to preach peace to people both near and far: Help all your people to seek your will and find you; and hasten, O Lord, the fulfillment of your promise, to pour out your Spirit upon all flesh; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Thank you to Margaret Geanisis for providing the following list of resources…
Website of the month:
Radio Bible Class was first started by Dr. DeHaan in the 1930's and has grown to include many and varied ministries. Throughout RBC's history, they've been teaching the Word of God so as to lead people of all nations to personal faith and maturity in Christ. And as you'll see in the pages of this Web site, they try to achieve our goal through every method and medium available. Their daily devotional options include both Oswald Chamber's My Utmost For His Highest and "Our Daily Bread," as well as others. They include offerings and schedules from their TV shows on ION TV and radio broadcasts, as well as offerings from Discover House Publishers. Their site offerings are of a more conservative, traditional
nature and are wonderful encourages of developing a personal faith and relationship with Jesus.
Book of the Month: The Last Week: the day-by-day account of Jesus' final week in Jerusalem. By Marcus Borg and Jon Crossan
Top Jesus scholars Marcus J. Borg
and John Dominic Crossan join together to reveal a radical and little-known
Jesus. Using the gospel of Mark as their guide, Borg and Crossan present a
day-by-day account of Jesus' final week of life. They begin their story on
Palm Sunday with two triumphal entries into Jerusalem, and depict Jesus
giving up his life to protest power without justice and to condemn the rich who
lack concern for the poor. In this vein, at the end of the week Jesus marches
up Calvary, offering himself as a model for others to do the same when they are
confronted by similar issues. Informed, challenged, and inspired, we not only
meet the historical Jesus, but meet a new Jesus who engages us and invites us
to follow him.
Family alternative: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
This is a wonderful choice for families as adults can enjoy the story on a new level (you find a new nugget every time you read it) and kids love it. Four English schoolchildren find their way through the back of a wardrobe into the magic land of Narnia and assist its ruler, the golden lion Aslan, to triumph over the White Witch, who has cursed the land with eternal winter.
CD of the Month: Songs for the Journey by Sandi Patti
The Book of Common Prayer notes three Gregories whom we remember in March, but none of these was the Gregory responsible for the Gregorian calendar we use today. It is intriguing to see how the first of these Gregories (Armenian name meaning vigilant or persistent) started out life as a likely pagan, the next worked to defend the Nicene Creed, the third promoted the Catholic Church’s move from Greek to Latin, while the “calendar” Gregory lived more than a thousand years later and was Pope Gregory the Thirteenth.
First, historically, there was Gregory the Illuminator, also called Gregory the Enlightener. His father killed King Khosrov, and so was put to death. Gregory was assigned a Christian teacher for
a guardian, despite the fact that Armenia was largely a pagan society at the time. Gregory grew up as a Christian, and his wife Marian was Christian, too.
King Tiridates, grandson of the assassinated King Khosrov, was concerned with Gregory’s beliefs, and so banished him to a pit in the Ararat Plain for twelve years. The exile ended in 297 when the King found himself in political trouble as his kingdom was being overrun. Gregory was given permission to promote Christianity in Armenia, which in 301 became the first nation with Christianity as its religion. Gregory the Illuminator died when attacked by a mob in 318, while preaching in Albania. He is remembered on March 23.
Next in the list is Gregory of Nyssa, whose mother Emmelia was a martyr’s daughter. Although Gregory worked as a rector, he seems to have hesitated to accept a promotion to bishop. He married, and seemed set to follow a more secular path when he studied rhetoric. However, two of his brothers were bishops, and he did eventually accept the post of Bishop of Nyssa. It soon became apparent that others had wanted the position, and settling in to the new job was not easy. Gregory’s skill in speechmaking did, however, win him friends and respect, and he is best remembered for his stalwart defense of the then-new Nicene Creed. He is remembered on March 9.
The third Gregory in the prayer-book is Gregory the Great, who as Gregory the First was the Bishop of Rome (Pope) from 590 to 604. He is the patron saint of musicians, singers, students, and teachers. He was able, thanks to his family’s standing in Rome, to lead a more contemplative, less temporal life, even though there had been societal disruption during his childhood, as the Roman Emperor Justinian I took Italy back forcibly from the Goths. Gregory’s forebears included, five generations back, a pope. He had three aunts in convents (one of these left the convent to get married); Gregory himself became the first Pope to have been a monk. He had an instinctive ability for finances, perhaps from wrapping up his father’s estate, years before he became Pope. He is known for his writings (“dialogues”). He had grown up in a recovering Rome, and seen harsh treatment of English slaves in the forum. As Pope, he fostered dialogue between
Eastern and Western Christianity when Byzantine rifts were in evidence and sent Augustine to England
(Kent), to become the first Archbishop of Canterbury in 601. “Gregorian chant” when used to describe singing, stems from this Gregory, although the pairing of his name with this chanting style began when pictures of him began to be made, years after his death, with a dove on his shoulder, guiding him to the “right” notes. He is remembered on March 12.
The Gregorian calendar was instituted by Pope Gregory XIII, who was elected pope in a conclave that lasted less than one day. When, later, he was shown evidence that the Julian calendar, in use since 45 BC, had been responsible during the intervening fifteen centuries for 10 days’ “wander” of the equinoxes, he instituted an immediate 10-day fix and a new calendar that acknowledges the fact that a year is not 365.25 days long, but 365 days 5¾ hours long … approximately. So some centuries would have only 24 leap years. He moved the spring equinox back to March 21, instead of early April. One wonders if this is the origin of April Fools’ Day! The correction in October 1582 was adopted in just a few countries over the next five years, as the idea encountered much resistance, partly because non-Catholic countries did not immediately feel obliged to make the change (Queen Elizabeth I was busy with a national church, with new expectations for the Archbishop of Canterbury). Gregory’s calendar was not adopted in the United States until the middle of the nineteenth century. While our Book of Common Prayer does not celebrate this Gregory, March 21 seems an appropriate day to remember him.
Patrick Blumeris, editor
Bob Bishop Carl Clark Joan DeChane
Laura Geary Edith Parekh Connie Pawelczak
Sean Seyffert Chantelle Somers Mike Thompson
Scott Bempkins, Senior Warden
Liz Landers, Junior Warden
Cynthia Bennett, Treasurer
Gail Laundry, Clerk
(All phone numbers are area code 978 unless indicated)
Church Office...................................... 256-5673
Senior Warden....... Scott Bempkins...... 877-8966
Junior Warden........ Liz Landers............ 256-9681
Treasurer............... Cynthia Bennett..... 256-5673
Clerk..................... Gail Laundry.......... 250-4031
Acolyte Director.... Clem Cole.............. 251-1296
Adult Education...... Amy Hunter........... 459-3418
Altar Guild............. Liz Landers............ 256-9681
Buildings and…….. Scott Bempkins...... 448-6872
Grounds Dave Cahill............ 250-3592
Christian School..... Laura Marshall…....256-1460
Elizabeth Danieli..... 256-3044
Melissa Flewelling...250-8164
Coffee Hour.......... Matt Hickcox......... 448-0931
Endowment ........... Derick Gates ………250-1569
Environmental Stewardship
Committee............. Bill Moreau .............250-4028
Fellowship.............. to be filled……..... 256-5673
Finance Interim...... Derick Gates.......... 250-1569
Handbell Choir …. Debbie Psilopoulos... 256-0797
Music Minister....... Maggie Marshall.... 251-1296
Outreach............... Dave Kuzara………256-5484
Pastoral Care......... Ann Kirk............... 251-4547
Saints Alive............ Patrick Blumeris..... 256-9638
SaintsAlive e-mail:.. ........ saintsalive@yahoo.com
Stewardship Interim Derick Gates......... 250-1569
Thrift Shop............. Carol Cannistraro…256-0929
Youth Group.......... Nancy March......... 250-1695
Webmaster............ Richard Coles........ 256-1311
Web site................ www.allsaintschelmsford.org
… for the April 2010 Saints Alive! is
March 21st, 2010
Please leave your articles in the Saints Alive! mailbox in the church office, or send them via email to SaintsAlive@yahoo.com. Thanks.
