Thursday Memo: March 2019

March 28, 2019

JOIN US FOR WORSHIP

THIS SUNDAY, March 31st, The 4th Sunday of Lent, there will be two services at 8 and 10 am.
Next Sunday, April 7th will be one service only at 9:00 a.m.

Note: The Ethiopian Cross will be on the retable through Lent. It's open pattern allows both light and darkness through it. With God's help, may our hearts open to the light and darkness in our own selves. And may we be reconciled, renewed and redeemed in the image of Christ.

CENTERING PRAYER

Tuesdays at 5:00 p.m. (Note: New time)

MORNING PRAYER

Wednesday mornings at 9:00 a.m.

LENTEN STUDY
Wednesdays 6:00 p.m.

WE HOPE YOU WILL JOIN US FOR WORSHIP
and FELLOWSHIP

READINGS FOR SUNDAY

Sunday, March 31st

4th Sunday in Lent

Year C

Joshua 5:9-12
Psalm 32
2 Corinthians 5:16-21
Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

FROM THE RECTOR

Caroline

SAVE THE DATE

Save the Date!

for a

St. Andrew's Potluck and Game Night

Friday, April 5 at 6:00 pm

Longing for a summer night?, the sound of crickets, the

smell of bug spray, camp songs around a fire…..Lets do it.

Campout Cuisine

bring a dish that could easily be served

while camping.

Non-alcoholic drinks and games provided

(BYOB - wine or beer)

Any questions, please call Sally DeGroot 986-1276

PRAYER SHAWL MINISTRY

Wednesday mornings at 10:15 a.m.

If you knit or crochet (or would like to learn how to) and are led to engaging in an outreach mission that provides physical and spiritual comfort to those in need, please join us on the 1^st and 3^rd Wednesday of every month at 10:15 AM in the Prince Room. We are a joyous group that will keep you in stitches! The coffee and tea will be on and new members are always welcome. If you have any questions, please call Lin Frank at 323-0402.

LENTEN RESOURCES

Lenten Study Group

It’s not too late to join our Lenten study group, the Poetry of Lent: A Companion to Mary Oliver’s Devotions. We are meeting on Wednesdays at 6:00 – 7:30 pm and begin with a simple supper of soup and salad. Join us for good food, fellowship and discussion!

All are Invited to Spring Renewal: Spring Renewal is happening May 11th at Manchester Community College. We're excited to be offering this festive day full of spiritual renewal and ministry development workshops, worship, and activities to inspire us in the Way of Love. We hope lay and clergy will take advantage of this wonderful offering. Share information about this exciting day of community and learning with your congregation. Details and registration can be found HERE.

Lent Madness 2019 The Tenth Annual Saintly Smackdown!

With its unique blend of competition, learning, and humor, Lent Madness allows participants to be inspired by the ways in which God has worked through the lives of saintly souls across generations and cultures. Throughout Lent, thirty-two saints will do battle to win the coveted Golden Halo. Based loosely on the NCAA basketball tournament of a similar name, this online devotion pits saints against one another in a bracket as voters choose their favorites throughout this penitential season.

Here’s how to participate: on the weekdays of Lent, information is posted at www.lentmadness.org about two different saints. Each pairing remains open for 24 hours as participants read about and then vote to determine which saint moves on to the next round. Sixteen saints make it to the Round of the Saintly Sixteen; eight advance to the Round of the Elate Eight; four make it to the Faithful Four; two to the Championship; and the winner is awarded the coveted Golden Halo. Click on the link above to sign up for a daily email with information about each saint. And check the door by the kitchen for the full sized poster.

PLANNING FOR HOLY WEEK SERVICES

CLICK FOR Holy Week SCHEDULE

IT'S ABOUT PETS

THE PET CORNER

eMAIL TO:

OFFICE@STANDREWSINTHEVALLEY.ORG

DINNER BELL

Dinner Bell cook teams for March are:

31st-UUFES
~

COOK TEAMS NEEDED!

for the following dates:

May 26

June 9

June 23

Thank you for your volunteer

work in this special Outreach program!

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Food for Thought

A Prayer for Evening

At the setting of the sun,

in the darkness of the night,

we step from the day into the night

with a desire to be still,

and in being still

to turn to you, O God.

At the setting of the sun,

in the darkness of the night,

we turn to you.

- John Philip Newell

COMMUNITY FOOD CENTER

FOOD CENTER

The Food Pantry thanks you for your contributions throughout the year.

The monthly item for March is

COMMUNITY FOOD CENTER

will receive proceeds from the

Fight Hunger bag during the month of March

at the Hannaford store located at: 891 NH-16, Ossipee NH

FORWARD DAY BY DAY FOR TODAY

THURSDAY March 28, 2019

John 8:31-32 Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

On the wall by my computer is a plaque that says, “Speak the truth but leave immediately thereafter.”

Speaking the truth surely buys Jesus serious trouble. As soon as he tells the crowds following him that the truth will make them free, they insist they don’t need freeing, shouting that they are children of Abraham and of God—and that Jesus is probably a Samaritan possessed by a demon!

It is an uncomfortable truth Jesus offers: Everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. We don’t want to admit the truth of our reality; like an addict, we claim “we can quit anytime we want.” But Jesus knows the whole and entire truth, and only he can set us free from it.

Can we accept this truth—that we need freeing?

MOVING FORWARD: From what do you need to be set free? How will you live into that truth?

FROM Deb IN THE OFFICE

Easter Altar Flowers

If you would like to dedicate Easter Flowers, slips may be found on the bulletin table and on the Parish Hall table.
Please have your dedications in to the office by April 15th.
Thank you

MARCH BIRTHDAYS & ANNIVERSARIES

If you do not see your birthday or anniversary listed, please make sure Deb in the office has an information sheet on file for you.

Birthdays

10 Susan Ines
13 Trudy Thompson
16 Caroline Hines
20 Albert Bunker
21 Chris Boldt
30 Kaitlyn Marshall, Barbara Lord
31 Claudia Kennedy

PHOTO GALLERY

LINKS

2018 Annual Report PDF

FACEBOOK PAGE

March 21, 2019

JOIN US FOR WORSHIP

THIS SUNDAY, March 24th, The 3rd Sunday of Lent, there will be two services at 8 and 10 am.

Note: The Ethiopian Cross will be on the retable through Lent. It's open pattern allows both light and darkness through it. With God's help, may our hearts open to the light and darkness in our own selves. And may we be reconciled, renewed and redeemed in the image of Christ.

Following the 10:00 a.m. service on Sunday, March 24th please join us for:

Is Solar Energy in St. Andrew's Future? An innovative partnership between the NH Diocese and Revision Energy, NE’s largest solar installer, would make it possible for St. Andrew's to install solar panels with no upfront costs, produce electricity at lower than current rates from day one, and potentially pay for itself over time with the savings accrued. Too good to be true? Come find out! Doug Smithwood and Susan Fuller from Solar Saints, All Saints Church, Wolfeboro will be with us THIS SUNDAY following 10:00 worship to outline St. Andrew's potential for solar energy. (Hint: it's a win-win for St. Andrew's and the earth)

CENTERING PRAYER

Tuesdays at 5:00 p.m. (Note: New time)

MORNING PRAYER

Wednesday mornings at 9:00 a.m.

LENTEN STUDY
Wednesdays 6:00 p.m.

WE HOPE YOU WILL JOIN US FOR WORSHIP
and FELLOWSHIP

READINGS FOR SUNDAY

Sunday, March 24th

3rd Sunday in Lent

Year C

Exodus 3:1-15
Psalm 63:1-8
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
Luke 13:1-9

FROM THE RECTOR

Part 3 of our Parish Meeting Planning Sessions

Mark your calendars for the third of our Parish Meeting planning sessions, which will be on Sunday, April 7 following the 9:00 service. In our first session, at the Annual Meeting on the first Sunday in February, we looked at highlights over the past year. Then on the first Sunday in March we discussed what we most value about St. Andrew’s and our hopes and dreams for the next several years. Now it’s time to take all of that information, prioritize it and determine how we can make some of our hopes and dreams become reality.

The first two meetings generated a lot of conversation and energy around who we are now as a parish and how we can become even better, and some new ideas are already coming into fruition. We have the beginnings of a new flower ministry for our homebound parishioners and those who are sick or recovering from an illness or surgery, spearheaded by Claudia Kennedy. Since we’re in Lent now, and therefore without altar flowers, it will be more fully realized after Easter. Claudia will put together small vases of flowers to be delivered as part of home communion visits or for people to drop off to someone on their way home from church. Flowers can be taken by anyone to someone who is sick or in the hospital or just needs something to brighten their day. She made beautiful arrangements from our altar flowers on Shrove Tuesday which were distributed for delivery at the pancake supper. After Easter she will do this on one or two Sundays a month.

Another exciting development is a new prayer shawl ministry. Lin Frank is gathering a group of interested people this week to determine next steps for initiating this, and will share details as it takes shape. Anyone who loves to knit or crochet or wants to learn is invited. Both this and the flower ministry will touch many people both in our parish and beyond. Stay tuned for more information as these new ministries get underway.

In addition, Jim Theodore has been working on organizing a new fundraising event, the St. Andrew’s Invitational Golf Tournament to be held at ___ in September. More information on that will also be coming as it is available.

These are exciting times at St. Andrew’s. Something new is afoot, and it makes me think of the old hymn:

“There's a sweet, sweet spirit in this place
And I know that it's the spirit of the Lord.”

Please plan to attend our Parish Meeting on April 7. We will pick up where we left off at our last meeting. Who knows what else may evolve?!

Caroline

SAVE THE DATE

St. Andrew's Potluck and Game Night

Friday, April 5 at 6:00 pm

Watch the Thursday Memo for details

LENTEN RESOURCES

Lenten Study Group

Lenten Resources and Lay Lent Quiet Day with the Bishop:

Please visit our website for a variety of resources for your use during Lent. These can be found on our Lent Resources webpage: HERE.

As part of our Lenten observances, the Bishop will lead a Lay Lent Quiet Day on Saturday, March 23 at Christ Church in Exeter. The Quiet Day is specifically intended for all lay members of your congregation. Please make all members of your congregation aware of this wonderful spiritual opportunity and encourage them to attend. Learn more HERE:

Lent Madness 2019 The Tenth Annual Saintly Smackdown!

PLANNING FOR HOLY WEEK SERVICES

CLICK FOR EASTER SCHEDULE

DINNER BELL

Dinner Bell cook teams for March are:

24th- Tubman & Preston
31st-UUFES
~

COOK TEAMS NEEDED!

for the following dates:

May 26

June 9

June 23

Thank you for your volunteer

work in this special Outreach program!

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Logos

Why worry about the loaves and fishes?

If you say the right words, the wine expands.

If you say them with love

and the felt ferocity of that love

and the felt necessity of that love,

the fish explode into many.

Imagine him, speaking,

and don’t worry about what is reality,

or what is plain, or what is mysterious.

If you were there, it was all those things.

If you can imagine it, it is all those things.

Eat, drink, be happy.

Accept the miracle.

Accept, too, each spoken word

spoken with love.

~ Mary Oliver, Devotions

COMMUNITY FOOD CENTER

FOOD CENTER

The Food Pantry thanks you for your contributions throughout the year.

The monthly item for March is

COMMUNITY FOOD CENTER

will receive proceeds from the

Fight Hunger bag during the month of March

at the Hannaford store located at: 891 NH-16, Ossipee NH

FORWARD DAY BY DAY FOR TODAY

THURSDAY March 21, 2019

Psalm 71:9 Do not cast me off in my old age; forsake me not when my strength fails.

When I was a junior in high school, my grandfather died, and my grandmother came to live with us. By the time I left for college, I decided I did not like old people.

Now I am one.

My husband and I are in relatively good health and have sufficient income, but I look at the situations of our contemporaries and realize that, in our youth-obsessed culture, it is not good to be old. God does not cast us off in old age, but in too many cases we heedlessly cast each other off.

Recent studies show the devastating effects of loneliness on health outcomes of older Americans. Without human contact, those who have outlived a spouse or never married, those without children, siblings, or friends close by, literally wither and die. Because we know that God has not abandoned us, we need to make sure no one feels forsaken in old age.

MOVING FORWARD: Do you have friends who are not your age? How can you widen your circle and share your love and life?

FROM Deb IN THE OFFICE

MARCH BIRTHDAYS & ANNIVERSARIES

If you do not see your birthday or anniversary listed, please make sure Deb in the office has an information sheet on file for you.

Birthdays

10 Susan Ines
13 Trudy Thompson
16 Caroline Hines
20 Albert Bunker
21 Chris Boldt
30 Kaitlyn Marshall, Barbara Lord
31 Claudia Kennedy

PHOTO GALLERY

LINKS

2018 Annual Report PDF

FACEBOOK PAGE

March 14, 2019

See Ethiopian Cross below

JOIN US FOR WORSHIP

THIS SUNDAY, March 17th, The 2nd Sunday of Lent, there will be two services at 8 and 10 am.

Note: The Ethiopian Cross will be on the retable through Lent. It's open pattern allows both light and darkness through it. With God's help, may our hearts open to the light and darkness in our own selves. And may we be reconciled, renewed and redeemed in the image of Christ.

Following the 10:00 a.m. service on Sunday, March 24th please join us for:

Is Solar Energy in St. Andrew's Future? An innovative partnership between the NH Diocese and Revision Energy, NE’s largest solar installer, would make it possible for St. Andrew's to install solar panels with no upfront costs, produce electricity at lower than current rates from day one, and potentially pay for itself over time with the savings accrued. Too good to be true? Come find out! Doug Smithwood and Susan Fuller from Solar Saints, All Saints Church, Wolfeboro will be with us on March 10 following 10:00 worship to outline St. Andrew's potential for solar energy. (Hint: it's a win-win for St. Andrew's and the earth)

CENTERING PRAYER

Tuesdays at 5:30 p.m.

MORNING PRAYER

Wednesday mornings at 9:00 a.m.

LENTEN STUDY
Wednesdays 6:00 p.m.

WE HOPE YOU WILL JOIN US FOR WORSHIP
and FELLOWSHIP

Winter Weather Advisory!!!

Winter Weather Advisory!!! If the weather is questionable on a Sunday morning please 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 7:00 AM about whether to hold or cancel services. Cancellations will posted on WMUR 9 and the church phone message will also reflect any cancellations. PLEASE do not travel if it feels unsafe to you. Enjoy a Sabbath morning at home and remember St. Andrew’s in your prayers.

READINGS FOR SUNDAY

Sunday, March 17th

2nd Sunday in Lent

Year C

Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18
Psalm 27
Philippians 3:17-4:1
Luke 13:31-35

FROM THE RECTOR

One of the poems we read last week for our Lenten study group was “Storage” (see Food for Thought), and it was paired with Matthew 6:21: For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. It struck me because I have so many things, and because Lent is a season for shedding things that get in our way of our relationship with God. I’m sure I’m not the only one with too much stuff. In fact, I recently read that the average American household contains 300,000 items! I don’t know who figured that out, and it seems outrageously high… until I think about all the things I have in closets, and the attic, and the basement and the garage – things tucked away out of sight that I forget I even have.

There’s an idea that circulates Facebook every Lent called Forty Bags in Forty Days, which is a challenge for de-cluttering every room in your house and filling forty garbage bags with items you no longer need, one bag for each day of Lent. My sister, who did this for several years, found it both helpful and satisfying. I didn’t do it then because I was moving every 12-18 months, and did my decluttering then. But now I’ve been in this house for 2 ½ years, and it may be time for me to take up this challenge, or a similar one.

In our Poetry of Lent group last night we heard about a tv show called “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo”. Her premise, loosely speaking, is that we should go through all of things, grouped by category (clothes, books, etc). If an item doesn’t spark joy in us, we should thank it for its service and give or throw it away.

If you’re feeling the need for de-cluttering, much more information about these methods and many others is available online. Is “stuff” getting in your way? “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Caroline

LENTEN RESOURCES

Lenten Study Group

Lenten Resources and Lay Lent Quiet Day with the Bishop:

Please visit our website for a variety of resources for your use during Lent. These can be found on our Lent Resources webpage: HERE.

Lent Madness 2019 The Tenth Annual Saintly Smackdown!

DINNER BELL

Dinner Bell cook teams for March are:

17th-Hammond
24th- Tubman & Preston
31st-UUFES
~

COOK TEAMS NEEDED!

for the following dates:

May 5

May 26

June 9

June 23

Thank you for your volunteer

work in this special Outreach program!

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Storage

When I moved from one house to another

there were many things I had no room

for. What does one do? I rented a storage

space. And filled it. Years passed.

Occasionally I went there and looked in,

but nothing happened, not a single

twinge of the heart.

As I grew older the things I cared

about grew fewer, but were more

important. So one day I undid the lock

and called the trash man. He took

everything.

I felt like the little donkey when

his burden is finally lifted. Things!

Burn them, burn them! Make a beautiful

fire! More room in your heart for love,

for the trees! For the birds who own

nothing – the reason they can fly.

- Mary Oliver, Devotions

COMMUNITY FOOD CENTER

FOOD CENTER

The Food Pantry thanks you for your contributions throughout the year.

The monthly item for March is

COMMUNITY FOOD CENTER

will receive proceeds from the

Fight Hunger bag during the month of March

at the Hannaford store located at: 891 NH-16, Ossipee NH

FORWARD DAY BY DAY FOR TODAY

THURSDAY March 14, 2019

Psalm 46:5 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High.

One of my treasures hangs on our living room wall. On this canvas painted by my uncle is a large red rock amid other rocks in a fast-flowing stream. He captured the light and power of the rapids beautifully. When I read this verse, I picture Uncle Joe’s painting.

On the last day of General Convention in 2003, after listening to so much heated and painful disagreement, I decided I needed to walk down to the Mississippi River. Standing by this mighty stream, I felt the tension of division drain away, carried away on the face of the moving, living water. God’s river was moving on and carrying us with it.

MOVING FORWARD: Water is a powerful image in the Bible. How does it impact your own personal theology?

FROM Deb IN THE OFFICE

This is an amazing eye opener!
My house and post on facebook
2016 vs 2019

MARCH BIRTHDAYS & ANNIVERSARIES

If you do not see your birthday or anniversary listed, please make sure Deb in the office has an information sheet on file for you.

Birthdays

10 Susan Ines
13 Trudy Thompson
16 Caroline Hines
20 Albert Bunker
21 Chris Boldt
30 Kaitlyn Marshall, Barbara Lord
31 Claudia Kennedy

PHOTO GALLERY

Caroline's blessing to Sammie who is in Peru for her 13th
year with Eleanore's Project.

THE ROOF IS CLEAR!

We may see the garden in June!

LINKS

2019 Annual Report PDF

FACEBOOK PAGE