September 3, 2021

 


FROM THE RECTOR

Time Off: I am taking the next two weeks off: Monday, September 7 through Sunday, September 20. I’m not planning anything special, just hoping to spend a lot of time catching up on rest, reading and enjoying being outdoors.

Sammie Wakefield and Pat Adams will host Compline, Morning Prayer and coffee hour on Sunday mornings. Worship on one of the Sundays I’m away will be Morning Prayer led by our Worship leaders, Gretchen Behr-Svendsen, Cathie Lewis and Lisa Thompson, and the other Sunday will be with the Bishop and whichever parish he is visiting that day. Check the Thursday Memo each week for Zoom information and the bulletin.

Book Study: When I return we will begin a discussion on the book, How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi. From the inside book jacket: “Kendi weaves an electrifying combination of ethics, history, law, and science with his own personal story of awakening to antiracism. This is an essential work for anyone who wants to go beyond the awareness of racism to the next step: contributing to the formation of a just and equitable society.”

We will meet on Wednesdays at 12:30 p.m. beginning on September 23 for six weeks. All are welcome!

Outdoor Eucharist: We will have another outdoor Eucharist on September 27. Details to follow when I return.

If you would like to visit David please follow these steps: Visitors must call the VA Center to pre-schedule a visit:

  • To schedule a meeting call the Social Worker, Shanna, at 603-624-4366, ext. 6037. She will ask COVID screening questions and arrange a time
  • David can have one visit per week, with up to two visitors for up to one hour
  • Visiting hours are 10:00 am - 3:00 pm, Monday - Friday
  • Parking is on the right side of the main building in Parking Lot E; use the entrance on that side of the building

To help us keep track of his visitors, and hopefully to ensure he has a visitor each week, Cathie Lewis will keep track of his visitors. Please contact her at 954-651-8690 or clew0622@gmail.com so she can stay up to date. Thank you for doing this, Cathie!

Contact Information for David

David Manley

VA Medical Center

CLC Room E105

718 Smyth Rd. Manchester, NH 03104 


UPDATE: As David grows weaker and sleeps more, the nurses ask that you call the Nurses’ Station at 603-624-4366, ext. 6218 if you would like to speak to him. They will check to see that he can receive your call and connect you to his room.

 

David is so appreciative of your phone calls and cards, and thanks you all. He feels loved and supported by all of us and is resting easily.


Blessings,  Caroline

SUNDAY MORNING WORSHIP               
September 6, 2020
JOIN US FOR WORSHIP AT 9:00 AM 
via Zoom (email RectorSAITV@gmail.com for Zoom information) 
AND...
JOIN US FOLLOWING THE SERVICE FOR 
A VIRTUAL 
on ZOOM
READINGS FOR SUNDAY

The Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost

September 6, Proper 18, Year A

Collect of the Day                         We center ourselves for worship in prayer.

Grant us, O Lord, to trust in you with all our hearts; for, as you always resist the proud who confide in their own strength, so you never forsake those who make their boast of your mercy; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

LESSONS                                  We hear the Word of God proclaimed.

First Lesson                                     Exodus 12:1-14

In our Hebrew Bible lesson instructions are given, and the meaning of the Passover meal is told: it is a remembrance and reenactment of Israel’s beginnings as a people when they were saved out of slavery in Egypt.  The details indicate that several different traditions stand behind the Passover memorial.  Perhaps it was the Israelites’ attempts to keep ancient spring rites, derived from their shepherding and agricultural backgrounds, which caused the Egyptians to persecute them. With these traditions the story of God’s judgment on Egypt and victory for the people has become richly entwined.

Psalm 149

A joyful song in which the faithful praise the Lord and anticipate the victory of justice.

The Second Lesson                                               Romans 13:8-14

In this reading Paul summarizes the heart of the law and urges a way of life in full awareness of the nearness of salvation.  All the commandments and all human responsibility for others are fulfilled by “loving your neighbor as yourself.” Disciples must recognize that the nighttime of sinfulness is passing.  The daylight, the time for new conduct and the following of Jesus, now comes.

The Gospel                                                  Matthew 18:15-20

Our gospel presents teaching about how to deal with sin and grievances within the Christian community.  The early churches did not have established codes and regulations and had to fashion their own ways of dealing with such matters.  Here every effort is made to bring the sinful member to repentance.  Failing this, the individual is to be treated as outside the church.  Such decisions are understood to be ratified in heaven and by Christ’s presence even in the smallest of Christian gatherings.


Click below to see the readings: 

WEEKLY CONTEMPLATIVE PRACTICE

For God alone my soul in silence waits;

                from God comes my salvation.

God alone is my rock and my salvation,

                my stronghold, so that I shall not be greatly shaken.

                                                                Psalm 62:1-2

Throughout the ages, humans from all faith traditions have sat in stillness and silence to return to their heart in support of their spirit. There is an inner healing presence available to us when we stop, notice, and allow.

If you are interested in strengthening or building a contemplative practice or seek silence within community, please plan to join others, each Tuesday, beginning September 15th, at 9:00am. Newcomers are welcome at any gathering. No previous meditation experience needed.

Our time begins with a brief sitting practice, facilitated by Christi Humphrey.  Christi has lead other groups which gather to explore contemplative practices through meditation, teachings, and discussion. Guided meditations and teachings draw upon the Christian contemplative tradition, monastic spirituality, Buddhist meditation, and self-compassion practices.

If you would like to learn more or have questions, contact Christi Humphrey at cchumphrey@comcast.net. If you would like to sample Christi leading a guided meditation visit her blog https://watchingforgrace.wordpress.com/2020/03/21/bringing-compassion-to-these-anxious-times/

PAINTING CREW VOLUNTEERS WANTED!

Oh when the SAINTS begin to PAINT

The OUTSIDE of our PARISH HALL,

Oh we WANT to be IN THAT NUMBER

When the CHIPS begin to FALL!



 

Do you want a project with a beginning, middle, and end?

Do you like the “tssst-tst” sound of sandpaper clearing chips of paint off a wall and the swoosh of a brush as new protective paint is applied?

Do you like to see immediate results and rejoice when your job’s well done?

If you answered YES to any or all of the above, then YOU are WELCOME to JOIN THE TEAM to repair and repaint the outside wall of the Parish Hall. 

Please phone 323-8245 if you are interested in helping out. (We will begin after the heat waves have passed.)

 Lisa Thompson for Buildings and Grounds Committee 


PRAYERS FOR EACH OTHER
One thing we can always do while we stay at home is to pray for each other! We would like to keep our prayer list up to date and publish it each week in the Thursday Memo. Please email Deb at office@standrewsinthevalley.org with any updates.



This Week We Pray for

Health and Wholeness for: Joan Marshall, Marilyn Cloran, Carolyn Jarvis, Gabriele and Bob Wallace, John McGowan, David Manley, Sue Huckman, Dave Appleton, Angela B, Carolyn Boldt, Tom, Kitty Lou Booty, Doug Crapser, Steve Thompson, Peg Patenaude, Joyce Humphrey, Marge Hagerup, Elizabeth Wiesner, .

For those who are homebound: Joyce Gendron, Marge Hagerup, Elizabeth Pease, Brian & Sara Kelley, Elizabeth Wiesner, Judy Grace, Audrey Berry.

For our First Nation people and those in this country who are living in impoverished areas of the Ninth Ward of New Orleans and the inner city areas populated by some of our poorest citizens.

For all those who are on the front lines serving communities during these difficult times.

Updating the Prayer List

Please let Deb know if you want to put someone back on the prayer list going forward. Thank you for helping us keep our prayer list up to date.


HISTORICAL MARKER CHALLENGE
LOOKING FOR SOMETHING FUN TO DO 

How often have you just driven by one of these and wondered what it said.  Let me encourage you to stop. You can find a list of markers  along with a location map if you click on the link above.

TAKE A PHOTO WITH YOURSELF, PET, WHOEVER IS WITH YOU, LET ME KNOW THE DATE AND TIME OF THE PHOTO.  Have FUN and enjoy the ride!

I will track who can take the most photos with a different marker until the end of the year and post the photos in the Thursday Memo each week.
From Caroline Hines: #1 -8/26/20 Marker 0090
Stopped to snap this photo on one of 
her many trips back and forth to home.

 DINNER BELL

No DINNER BELL until further notice.

Thank you for your volunteer
work in this special Outreach program!


COMMUNITY FOOD CENTER

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

Food pantry continues to serve the communities needs
New Hours
Alternating Wednesdays
12-6 pm
Next Food Pantry: September 17th
Any questions call 603-960-4067



 FROM Deb IN THE OFFICE



FOOD FOR THOUGHT

From the SALT Project

Breakage

I go down to the edge of the sea. 
How everything shines in the morning light! 
The cusp of the whelk, 
the broken cupboard of the clam, 
the opened, blue mussels, 
moon snails, pale pink and barnacle scarred— 
and nothing at all whole or shut, but tattered, split, 
dropped by the gulls onto the gray rocks and all the moisture gone. 
It's like a schoolhouse 
of little words, 
thousands of words. 
First you figure out what each one means by itself, 
the jingle, the periwinkle, the scallop 
       full of moonlight. 

Then you begin, slowly, to read the whole story.

+ Mary Oliver

++++

Consider the Lilies of the Sea

Their salt wet life erased, eroded, only
The shells of snails lie on the sand,
Their color darkens toward the whorl’s conclusion,
The center is nearly black. Even the fragments
Faithfully observe their tribal custom
Of involution; the motionless whirlpool
Is clearly written on the broken shield.

The two jointed petals of a small
Tooth-white clamshell stand ajar, and mimic

The opening of wings or of a songbook;
Leaves that a minute and obscure
Death sprung open in a depth of sea;
Held in one’s hand, they still present
The light obedient gesture that let go of time.

And close to these frail, scattered, and abandoned
Carvings which were the armor and the art
Of dark blind jellies that the fish have eaten,
The big Atlantic cumulates and pours,
Flashes, is felled, and streaks among the pebbles
With wildfire foam.

+ Anne Porter

As summer winds down and gives way to fall, here are two poems about the seashore - and in particular, about the apparently infinite number of exquisite gems to be found there, each a home, a work of art, or a fragment of one.

Oliver finds a schoolhouse, and intimations of a grand story - if we are patient and loving and imaginative enough to read it. And Porter - a less famous poet, but equally gifted (winner of the National Book Award!) - finds the kind of thing Jesus meant when he said, “Consider the lilies.” Don’t worry. Trust God, who loves and cares for you, even when everything seems fragmented, tattered, and split, even as you work like hell to make things come out all right.

“‘Consider the lilies,’” Emily Dickinson said, “is the only commandment I ever obeyed.” Some days, that one is enough. More than enough. 

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
5   Laurie LaBrecque
5   Antonio Faella
8   Bruce Kennedy
14 Preston Mills
21  Pat Scarborough
24  Sammie Wakefield
28   Jane Horn
29  Valerie May

Anniversaries
20     Kathy & Alan Bunker

PHOTO GALLERY