Let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us!
-- Hebrews 12:1
(See explanation below!)

Saint Andrew's-in-the-Valley
Thursday MEMO
for August 26, 2010

Services for Sunday, August 29th, will be at 8 and 10 AM, with both services followed by coffee hour.

Friday afternoon at 5:00 there will be a Celebration of the Life of Jack Costa, Peg Cade's brother, who died earlier this summer. You are welcome to join Peg, her family, and St. Andrew's friends for the Burial Office and Holy Eucharist. Please keep the family in your prayers.

Rummage Sale time is approaching (September 17 and 18)! Now's the time to sort through your closets and weed out serviceable garments and household linens that are no longer in use. Be sure they are clean and in good condition, then bag them up. We will be receiving garments beginning Sunday, September 12th.
Rummage Sale volunteers are also needed. There is a sign-up sheet in the Parish Hall.

Our condolences to Joe Mullen and David Manley whose beloved dog Zelda died this week of cancer.

Duane and I are back, having had a wonderfully relaxing time away. On August 15th, Saint Andrew's was honoring Mary, the Mother of Our Lord, and heard the readings appointed for that Feast Day. But the epistle heard in most churches, the one appointed for the 12th Sunday after Pentecost (Hebrews 11:29-12:2), took on a special "spin" in Woods Hole and Falmouth as the the Falmouth Road Race (picture above) took over the town. Church schedules in Woods Hole, where Duane and I were on vacation, had to be altered for this amazing 10,000+ person annual event that begins in the village of Woods Hole and follows the waterfront for six miles to its finish line in Falmouth Heights.

Since you missed the Hebrew's portion:
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith...

It's good to be back! I look forward to seeing you all in church.

Blessings,
Heidi+

Thank you to all who have been so generously enriching our worship with garden flowers this season!

Saint Andrew's-in-the-Valley
Thursday MEMO
for August 5, 2010

Services for Sunday, August 8th, will be at 8 and 10 AM. The 10:00 service will include the baptism of Christopher Barlow, youngest grandson of summer member Pat Scarborough, son of Linda and Bernard Barlow, and brother of Wesley, who was baptized here two years ago. Join us as together we welcome him into the household of God through the service of Baptism and Holy Eucharist!

The Annual CROP Walk for Hunger will be held on Sunday, August 15th a 1 PM in Sandwich. St. Andrew's has a long tradition of strong participation in this event through our gifts of sponsorship, our walking, and our prayers. A portion of the funds raised help support the work of our Food Pantry and Dinner programs. Will you walk? Will you help sponsor a walker? Information is available in the Parish Hall following the services.

Did you leave a plate or basket at the rectory last Sunday? We all enjoyed your delicious food! Items to be reclaimed are on the counter in the church office.

A quiet week ahead at St. Andrew's... The office will be closed on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of this week, since both the rector and the office manager will be on vacation. Debra will return on Friday the 13th.

Bishop Robinson will be speaking this Saturday at 10 AM at World Fellowship Foundation in Albany, New Hampshire (just off of rte. 16). This is a golden opportunity for those who have missed our bishop's visits at St. Andrew's, or who are interested in meeting him and hearing him in a different context to do so.

Duane and I will be out of town for two weeks, leaving early Tuesday morning, August 10th, and returning to the office on August 25th. The Rev. Ellie McLaughlin will be your supply priest for Sunday services and will be available in the event of true pastoral emergencies. (Her number is 466-5980 and she lives in Randolf.) For other questions or concerns, call the office or one of the wardens: Sammie Wakefield at 476-2346 or Sally DeGroot at 986-1276. The office message machine will be checked daily.

Readings for Sunday: Isaiah 1:1, 10-20, Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16, Luke 12:32-40

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Food for thought and inclusion in your prayers...

Friday, August 6th, is the Feast of the Transfiguration of Our Lord, both a major feast day of the church year and the Anniversary of the Dedication of St. Andrew's-in-the-Valley (1927). See Luke 9:28-36 for the story.

The collect for the Transfiguration:
O God, who on the holy mountain revealed to chosen witnesses your well-beloved Son, wonderfully transfigured, in raiment white and glistering: Mercifully grant that we, being delivered from the disquietude of this world, may by faith behold the King in his beauty; who with you, O Father, and you, O Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

See you in church!

Blessings, Heidi+