Saint Andrew's in-the-Valley
Thursday MEMO
January 20, 2011



It's been a quiet, snowy week at Saint Andrew's.

Services for Sunday, January 23rd, the Third Sunday after the Epiphany, will be at 8 and 10 AM, with coffee hours following both services. Child Care will be available. We hope you will join us for worship.

Thank you to all who wrote and submitted committee reports for the Annual Report. I think that you will find it to an interesting and readable document and reflection on the year past. For anyone who is eager to have a copy in advance of the meeting on Sunday January 31st, the printed Annual Report shoud be available by noon on Tuesday. Call first before you drive over to pick it up.

Quiz time answers: Several of you rightly identified the two vested women in the picture that was the header for last week's MEMO as Judy Grace and Betsy Rouner. Lynne Clough was correct in thinking the bishop's miter vaguely visible in the background belonged to Bishop Doug Theuner, eighth Bishop of New Hampshire. The event was the occasion of Peg Custer's Celebration New Ministry here in November of 1992. The picture is courtesy of Judy Grace's archives. Thanks, Judy!
[Any other historical pictures out there for a second round of Quiz Time?]


Reminders of upcoming events:

Join us on Friday, January 28th for at 7 PM for Letters to Juliet. Take the evening off! Come, enjoy a fun film with parish friends and snack on popcorn that will be supplied, thanks to the Parish Life Committee. It's a romantic comedy about an American girl on vacation in Italy who finds an unanswered letter to Juliet in a Verona courtyard.

Sunday, January 30th is Annual Meeting Sunday. We will have ONE service only at 9:00, followed by brunch and the meeting. We will be out by noon. Annual Meeting is an opportunity for all of us to come together for a review of the past year, to hear the rector's "State of the Parish report," welcome the new members who have joined us this year, to receive the Annual Report and ask questions, and to elect new Vestry members. A quorum is required to hold the meeting, so your attendance is requested and encouraged. Please plan on being with us.

Sunday, February 6th will be another ONE service Sunday (9 AM). The liturgy will be followed by an open conversation about Outreach and Mission led by Duane Dale. Where to we want to focus our support for the coming year? How are we called to address the MDGs (the UN Millennium Development Goals towards reducing global poverty)? Is there hands-on mission work that we might like to pursue? All voices are welcome for this open conversation. (It's also Super Bowl Sunday, but that's later in the day, so you can do both!)

Thinking ahead to Mardi Gras! For the past many years we have had a Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper on "Fat Tuesday" (Mardi Gras), the last day before Ash Wednesday -- that last day before Lent begins. This year that evening falls at the same time as the Tamworth Town Meeting, so....we will be doing something different! Instead, the FUN-Raising Committee is planning a Mardi Gras Dinner with festivities on the preceding Friday, March 4th. We'll be planning a menu of tasty Cajun food and New Orleans specialties, and we're hoping for some good music as well. Zydeco, anyone? Or New Orleans jazz?
All we need is a team of creative cooks and party-planners. If you're interested, tell Diane Lombardi (539-6134). This will be the first of the FUN-Raising dinners for 2011. Proceeds will be divided between outreach organizations and the parish.

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

Food for thought from the writings of Thomas Merton...

The snow has stopped again. The full moon has risen in the blue, cold, evening sky. The snow all day, coming and going, falling and melting...with dark scudding clouds and moments of brightness ... the trees bending, and a fire in the fireplace.

from Learning to Love: Exploring Solitude and Freedom

Take the time to live the beauty of these January days, my Friend.
See you in church.
Blessings,
Heidi+