January 30, 2014

 

Mystery Reflections on a winter afternoon

This coming Sunday, February 2^nd and The Feast of The Presentation, we will have a single service at 9 AM. The service will be followed by the All Parish Brunch and Annual Meeting. Come to hear about the parish, thank leaders for their contributions, elect Vestry members, and enjoy the strength and fellowship of our church while we look ahead to the coming year. Please keep in mind that the attendance of all registered members of the parish is important. If we do not have a quorum, we would not be able to carry out our work.

Food contributions of assorted crackers, cheeses, fruits, and egg dishes are encouraged. We are already well supplied with coffee cakes. Thanks.

Readings for this Sunday: Malachi 3:1-4; Psalm 84:1-6, 10-12; Hebrews 2:14-18 and Luke 2:22-40. (Readers, please note: These are the readings for The Presentation, not Epiphany 3!)

A Service of Morning Prayer is held every Wednesday morning 9 in the church. This is a quiet liturgy of scripture and prayer, with a period of shared reflection on the readings. Please join us.

St. Andrew's in the Valley 3rd Annual Murder Mystery Dinner will be held on Valentine’s Day, Friday, February 14th, 2014: "Death by Chocolate"! 6 PM sharp in the parish hall. Serving a 4-course French dinner while a mystery unfolds. Cost for this fundraiser meal is $25 per person.  For reservations and more information, call the church office at 323-8515 during open hours (Tues.-Fri. 9-noon) or 301-1074 at other times.

The cook team could use some help in the form of food contributions:
Assorted cheeses
Fruit (for the cheese platters)
Strawberries (to be dipped in chocolate)
Chocolate, heart-shaped cookies
Please contact Carol Tubman if you are able to help with any of these.

 

Last Sunday’s “send-off” for Peg and Lee Custer: Special thanks to Patti Rau and Lynne Clough for organizing the events, and to all the generous food providers. There are more pictures in a “gallery” at the end of this MEMO. Their new address, effective February 8: 7500 Mill Run Drive, Derwood, MD 20855  deerhill356@gmail.com

Food for thought from the Book of Wisdom (7:7-14) …
When the group gathering for Morning Prayer on Wednesday encountered the following passage as the first reading appointed for Thomas Aquinas, Priest and Theologian, (who died in 1274 at the age of almost 50 and whose Feast Day we celebrate on January 28 ), we were struck by its poignance and offer it to you:

Therefore I prayed, and understanding was given me;

I called on God, and the spirit of wisdom came to me.

I preferred her to sceptres and thrones,

and I accounted wealth as nothing in comparison with her.

Neither did I liken to her any priceless gem,

because all gold is but a little sand in her sight,

and silver will be accounted as clay before her.

I loved her more than health and beauty,

and I chose to have her rather than light,

because her radiance never ceases.

All good things came to me along with her,

and in her hands uncounted wealth.

I rejoiced in them all, because wisdom leads them;

but I did not know that she was their mother.

I learned without guile and I impart without grudging;

I do not hide her wealth,

for it is an unfailing treasure for mortals;

those who get it obtain friendship with God,

commended for the gifts that come from instruction.

See you in church!
Blessings,
Heidi+

If you would like to be receiving the Thursday MEMO directly, (thereby receiving weekly postings of activities and events at Saint Andrew’s-in-the-Valley) and are not already, please contact the church office at office@standrewsinthevalley.org  Likewise if you would like to be removed from the list.

Some folks have said they are not receiving the Memo and are still on the list.  We have discovered that the email from St. Andrew's may be going to your spam inbox.  If you find the memo notice in your spam folder just mark that message as "not spam" and you should receive future emails correctly.  If this isn't the case, check with Debra in the office and we will try to find the problem.

Winter Weather Advisory!!!  Please keep in mind during the winter when the weather looks questionable for safe travel to call the church before you leave home to check for schedule changes. If a storm comes in on Saturday evening or Sunday, I will make a judgment by 6:30 AM about whether to hold, cancel, or delay services. I will also send an email out to you if you have provided me with your email address. PLEASE do not travel if it feels unsafe to you. Enjoy a Sabbath morning at home and remember St. Andrew’s in your prayers.

Peg Cade

 

Peg Custer

Lee Custer

George & Patti Rau

 

George, Sammie, Carol & Lisa

 

 

January 23, 2014

Services for this coming Sunday, January 26th, The Third Sunday after the Epiphany, will be at 8 and 10 a.m. After the later service we will have a send-off celebration for Peg and Lee Custer, who will be moving to Maryland to be near their family. We hope you will join us for worship and well-wishing.

Readings for this Sunday: Isaiah 9:1-4, Psalm 27:1, 5-13, 1 Corinthians 1:10-18, Matthew 4:12-23

Plan to attend the All Parish Brunch and Annual Meeting next Sunday February 2^nd following the single 9 o’clock service.  Please bring a food contribution for the brunch table. The actual meeting will begin at about 10:45. Come to hear about the parish, thank leaders for their contributions, elect Vestry members, and enjoy the strength and fellowship of our church while we look ahead to the coming year.

Please keep in mind that the attendance of all registered members of the parish is important. If we do not have a quorum, we would not be able to carry out our work. In the event of seriously inclement weather, we would reschedule to February 9th.

Completed reports will be available to pick up this coming Sunday. If you take one home to review, please bring your copy to the meeting. Thank you to Committee chairs for submitting your reports in a timely manner.

A Service of Morning Prayer is held every Wednesday morning at 9 a.m. in the church. This is a quiet liturgy of scripture and prayer, with a period of shared reflection on the readings. Please join us.

St. Andrew's-in-the-Valley 3rd Annual Murder Mystery Dinner will be held on Valentine’s Day, Friday, February 14th, 2014: "Death by Chocolate"! 6 PM sharp in the parish hall. Serving a 4-course French dinner while a mystery unfolds. Cost for this fundraiser meal is $25 per person.  For reservations and more information, call the church office at 323-8515 during open hours (Tues.-Fri. 9-noon) or 301-1074 at other times.

A word from the rector…
As you may have heard, last weekend it was necessary for Duane and me to make three trips to Tiverton Rhode Island to tend to the needs of my 91 year-old dying father and to spend time with him and my step-mother, returning home to New Hampshire each evening, since he seemed stable. He passed away peacefully in his sleep in the wee hours of Sunday morning with his wife at his side. May his soul, and the souls of all the departed, through the mercy of God rest in peace.

I am so grateful to Carol Tubman, our senior warden (and also a wise Hospice nurse), for her support of me, her understanding, and her insisting on the importance of my being with my father and my family, even though it precluded my attending to my church responsibilities.

And I extend my deep thanks to Gretchen Behr-Svendsen, recently licensed lay worship leader, for stepping forward on very short notice and officiating with grace and presence for services of Morning Prayer at both 8 and 10 o’clock last Sunday. Thanks also to Carol, Sammie, and Bernice, who worked together quickly and effectively to shape the service, such that our planned hymns could be included. And thank you to all for your prayers of support, and to those of you who were present on Sunday for entering fully (as I hear you did) into worshipping and praising God … being the church and the laos – the laity – the people of God. We are all blessed by the solidity and faithfulness of this parish. Deo gracias! Thanks be to God.

See you in church!
Blessings,
Heidi+

If you would like to be receiving the Thursday MEMO directly, (thereby receiving weekly postings of activities and events at Saint Andrew’s-in-the-Valley) and are not already, please contact the church office at office@standrewsinthevalley.org  Likewise if you would like to be removed from the list.

Winter Weather Advisory!!!  Please keep in mind during the winter when the weather looks questionable for safe travel to call the church before you leave home to check for schedule changes. If a storm comes in on Saturday evening or Sunday, I will make a judgment by 6:30 AM about whether to hold, cancel, or delay services. I will also send an email out to you if you have provided me with your email address. PLEASE do not travel if it feels unsafe to you. Enjoy a Sabbath morning at home and remember St. Andrew’s in your prayers.

January 9, 2014

Services for this coming Sunday, January 11th, the First Sunday after the Epiphany and the Baptism of the Lord, will be at 8 and 10 a.m. with coffee hour following both services.

Readings for this Sunday: Isaiah 42:1-9, Psalm 29, Acts 34-43, Matthew 3:13-17.

Coffee Hour Hosts are needed:  Please check the signup sheet in the Parish Hall for dates that need to be filled for after the 8am and 10 am services. There are people who will gladly show you the ropes if you have never hosted.

ALL ARE WELCOME every Wednesday at 9 AM, for a service of Morning Prayer held in the church led by one of our three licensed worship leaders.

Plan to attend the Annual Parish Meeting on Sunday, February 2nd. We will have an All Parish Brunch immediately following the single 9 a.m. morning service, with the Annual Meeting beginning at approximately 11 a.m. Debra will be looking for Annual Reports from committee chairs as soon as you can get them to her, final due date being this coming Wednesday, January 15th.  Please don’t wait until the last minute. Send them via email to the office or drop off a hard copy to her in-box.

If you need a copy of last year’s report, please send your request to her and she can either email it to you or provide a hard copy.

Also please check the posted list of members eligible to vote. If your name is not there and you would like to be voting member of St. Andrew’s, please talk to Rev. Heidi.

St. Andrew's in the Valley 3rd Annual Murder Mystery Dinner will be held on Valentine’s Day, Friday, February 14th, 2014: "Death by Chocolate"! Anyone interested in having a role in the production, whether it be as an actor, props, food preparation and/or serving, please join us for a brief gathering after the 10 a.m. service this Sunday, January 12th, for more information. If you are unable to be there on Sunday but have an interest in participating, please contact Chris Mills by email at  alba4me@yahoo.com  or phone at 603-452-4049. 

 
Eagle Scout Honor Court held here at last Sunday. 
St. Andrew’s hosts Boy Scout troop 151; on Sunday troop member Lucas Brown was presented as an Eagle Scout, the highest honor in Boy Scouting. A description of Lucas’s project – the development of a hiking trail off of Depot Road – is posted on our bulletin board. Rev. Heidi offered the invocation and benediction. Here he receives his Eagle Scout pin from his mother. 

 
Winter Weather Advisory!!!  Please keep in mind during the winter when the weather looks questionable for safe travel to call the church before you leave home to check for schedule changes. If a storm comes in on Saturday evening or Sunday, I will make a judgment by 6:30 AM about whether to hold, cancel, or delay services. I will also send an email out to you if you have provided me with your email address. PLEASE do not travel if it feels unsafe to you. Enjoy a Sabbath morning at home and remember St. Andrew’s in your prayers.

Food for thought on living in community:
While we as a congregation in a parish church are not a 24/7 residential community in the way that the monks of the society of St. John the Evangelist are, nevertheless we are a community. Consider the following if/when you find yourself feeling judgmental of another:

Br. Curtis Almquist, SSJE, writes… Richard Meux Benson [founder of their order] spoke not just of living around another person but living in another person. The person whom you may be quick to discount or disown or reject: you are this person. This person who gets under your skin belongs there. This is the healing of our judgmental faculties to see ourselves in the face and form of the other, to come to love them as we love ourselves.

See you in church!
Blessings,
Heidi+

January 2, 2014

On the 9th Day of Christmas ... more snow!

On this coming Sunday, the 5^th of January, we will have ONE service only at 9 AM in celebration of the Second Sunday after Christmas and the Feast of the Epiphany. We hope you will join us for worship and song as we close out the Christmas season and begin Epiphany-tide with a special focus on the conclusion of the infancy narrative according to Saint Mathew’s Gospel. The liturgy will be followed by a coffee hour hosted by the Pastoral Care and Facilities Planning committees.

Readings for this coming Sunday: Isaiah 60:1-6, Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14, Ephesians 1:3-6, 15-19a, Matthew 2:1-23

 Time to place your order for Girl Scout cookies! If you would like to support our local Girl Scout troop and enjoy famously delicious cookies, please see Melissa at Coffee Hour. She will gladly take your order. Has your mouth started to water for Thin Mints or Samosas?

Women’s Lunch Bunch will meet on Wednesday, January 8^th, at noon at the Mt. View Station Restaurant in Center Ossipee. All women are welcome. If you have questions, please call Dale Appleton at 539-3761.

Are you new to Saint Andrew’s in the past year? If you would like to formalize your membership by transferring into this parish from your previous church or having the record of your baptism (at the church where you were baptized) recorded in our register book, please talk to the rector. This is the procedure by which you become a voting member at our Annual Meeting on February 2^nd.

Special thanks to Lisa Thompson and Gretchen Behr-Svendsen, along with Bernice Thompson and our choir at the 10 o’clock service, who so ably led the congregation in my absence last Sunday in Morning Prayer at 8 o’clock and a Service of Lessons and Carols at 10. The rector’s letter of agreement provides the Sunday following Christmas Day as a release Sunday. Duane and I appreciated the break and were able to spend the weekend celebrating Christmas with family in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Lisa, Gretchen, and Cathie Lewis are our licensed lay worship leaders, trained to officiate for non-eucharistic services.

Planning Ahead!  Our Annual Parish Meeting will be held, weather permitting, on Sunday, February 2nd, following a 9:00 am service.

Reminder:  JANUARY 15^TH…Annual Reports Due Date…Please begin preparing and submitting your reports for the Annual Report. They can be e-mailed to the office or left in Debra’s office In-Box.  The earlier the better.  Thanks.

Food for thought, consideration, and prayer...

The Christmas story may take on greater meaning if we look to the real life struggles of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. This Sunday we will expand on the appointed lectionary by continuing the Epiphany story of the wise men with Mary, Joseph, and in the infant Jesus' escape into Egypt, the slaughter of the infants of Bethlehem, and the return of the Holy Family to Nazareth. Strangely enough, these stories are not included in our regular lectionary cycle. We will be exploring them, interspersed with several less familiar carols.

I strongly encourage you to pull out your Bible and take the time to read Matthew chapter 2 slowly and thoughtfully in its entirety in advance of Sunday. Allowing yourself to enter into the scenes through prayer means entering into the lives of the fully human people in the story. Their experiences can enable us to deepen our relationship with God, who is near us and one with us.

Blessings in this holy season!
See you in church.
Heidi+