July 31, 2014




We will have one service only, at 9 AM this coming Sunday, August 3rd, the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost. The Jacob saga continues! Fertility, infertility, intrigue, and a wrestling match that changes everything!  Don’t miss the next installment of our reading from the book of Genesis!
 

Following the service, you are invited to the Rector’s Annual Summer Brunch, held at the rectory: 247 Pound Road in Madison, a twenty-minute drive from the church. Heidi and Duane will provide beverages and a breakfast casserole, and welcome additional contributions to the food table. Printed directions will be available in your bulletin on Sunday. (And, yes, you’re invited even if you’re not in church that day!)

The readings for this Sunday are Genesis 32:22-31, Psalm 17:1-7, 16, Romans 9:1-5, Matthew 14:13-21.
“First Wednesdays” return on August 6th.  Join us for a simple summer supper and a reading followed by discussion and eucharist. We gather in the Prince Room at 5:30 and close by 7:00. If you would like to make a food contribution, talk to Rev. Heidi.

The Annual Church World Service CROP Walk will be held in Sandwich on Sunday August 17 at 1 pm:
Be part of this important endeavor that raises funds for our Community Food Pantry, Dinner Bell, and overseas efforts to eliminate hunger. 
We need walkers: The walk in Sandwich is about 5 miles, Saint Andrew’s folks will be joined by teams for other area churches and individuals. You will need to pick up a registration/sponsor form which will be available at the Tamworth Farmers’ Market this Saturday and at church on Sunday. The walk begins at the Baptist Meeting House on Church Street in Sandwich at 1:00.
We need sponsors: Be open to providing financial support to one (or several) walkers. Support in any dollar amount is welcome, but the more money we raise, the more people our efforts will assist.
Make a personal commitment to learn more about local and global hunger: There’s an excellent, eye-opening article in the current National Geographic. 
Help out right here at St. Andrew’s by volunteering to serve on a Dinner Bell team!
Pray…for the walkers, the sponsors, the future recipients, the opening of all our hearts and minds to the severity of this issue…and listen for God’s call to you as to what steps you might appropriately take.
Ending Hunger one step at a time!

Theater runs deep at Saint Andrew’s: Don’t miss Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor on the Sandwich Fairgrounds Stage at 2 pm August 1, 2, and 3 and 7, 8, 9, and 10, and at the Sandwich Town Hall Tuesday Aug. 5 at 7:30 pm. Costumes and set design by Carolyn Boldt; Chris Boldt plays Falstaff, and Lisa Thompson plays Judge Robert Shallow.

On Saturday August 9 from 11 to 2, all are invited to gather with others from around the diocese for an Annual Diocesan Picnic at the newly established Church in the Woods in Canterbury, NH (92 Foster Road).  http://www.nhepiscopal.org/.

 Welcoming James and John Lamb...
“O God, you have taught us through your blessed Son that whoever receives a little child in the name of Christ receives Christ himself…” Last Sunday we had the opportunity to offer prayers of thanksgiving and blessing for James and John Lamb, sons of Robert and Monica Lamb, who were married here in 2005. Robert’s poem, written when the infants were still in the neonatal intensive care unit in Bellevue, Washington, was included the blessing service. A number of you asked for copies so Rob has graciously agreed.
Life Lines, by Robert Lamb
How thin the line of life,
how delicate and strange:
we see the seconds tick away,
we hope for peace and rearrange
to settle in through strife. 

But still the baby's skin is soft
amidst our angst and toil,
and still the baby must survive
by Earth's employ and gifts aloft
until we reap from Heaven's soil. 

How deep the heart of love,
how rapturous and true:
we yearn for wholeness in the fray,
we pray for wisdom, faith anew,
and aim to mimic laws above... 

But still our lives are round with sleep
amidst our age and claims,
and still our lives cannot survive
by mere resource and willful keep
until we give in children's names. 

Food for thought and prayer….
     At our weekly Wednesday service of Morning Prayer we commemorate the life of one of the “Lesser Saints” on our church calendar, following the brief biography and the readings provided in Holy Women, Holy Men: Celebrating the Saints. The officiant for the service often selects prayers that relate to the life of the person being celebrated. 
     Yesterday we remembered William Wilberforce (1759-1833) and Anthony Ashley Cooper (1801-1885), both of whom lived lives of prophet witness – Wilberforce, in the House of Commons, where he is remembered for his single-minded and persistent crusade for the abolition of slavery and the slave trade, and Cooper, in the House of Lords where he  pushed for legislative reforms regulating safer working conditions especially women and children and was a prime mover in restricting the use of young boys as chimney sweeps and mine workers. Both were lay people of deep faith and prayer whose faith gave them the insights and courage to use their positions of privilege and power on behalf of those who had none.
     As one of the collects, Gretchen (who was officiating) offered the following prayer which, having just discovered it, I commend to all of you:
For those who Influence Public Opinion
Almighty God, you proclaim your truth in every age my many voices: Direct, in our time, we pray, those who speak where many listen and write what many read; that they may do their part in making the heart of this people wise, its mind sound, and its will righteous; to the honor of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.  [# 39, BCP p. 827]
Summer blessings,
Heidi+