Peg and her great grandson watch in awe and excitement as the bidding goes higher!
Thank you to all who made the evening such a success. Details and more pictures below.








Saint Andrew's-in-the-Valley
Thursday MEMO
November 25, 2010

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Services for Sunday, November 28th, the first Sunday of Advent, will be at 8 and 10 AM, with coffee hours follow both services. We hope you will join us for worship and fellowship. Advent prayer and activity calendars ("Slow Down. Quiet. It's Advent") are available on the table in the Parish Hall.

You will notice a few changes to the liturgy as we enter the Advent season, starting with a newly-designed bulletin. Please give the new format a try. Deb and I have worked together to have something that we hope is "user-friendly" even for visitors, convenient to follow, and still be conservative in our use of paper. And we are open to comments and ways to improve them. Advent invites us to quiet reflection and simplicity. Expect more moments of silence in the liturgy; they are intentional and will follow the readings and the homily. At the later service we will be using "plainsong" (Gregorian chant) settings for the Psalms. If the notation is unfamiliar to you, listen to the choir with an open mind and allow yourself to pray and sing along after the first few verses.

Boughs and Bonbons Christmas Fair is a week from this Saturday! This will be a busy week of preparation. Wreath decorators are asked to gather on Thursday. Talk to Elaine South or Judy Grace for details. Your home-baked Christmas cookies should be delivered to the church on Thursday or Friday, Dec. 3rd by 9 am for our very popular cookie plates.

Harvest Supper and Pie Auction Report: After the expenses were paid out, we brought in about $1300! 15% of this will be used toward church operating expenses, and $180 will go to each of the following organizations: Starting Point, Seafarer's Friend, The Edith Junior School in Kenya, The NH Community Loan Fund, the Pilgrim Reconciliation Project, and the Tamworth Community Christmas Project. AND, as you can see from the pictures below a great time was had!



























Readings for this Sunday: Isaiah 2:1-5, Psalm 122, Romans 13:11-14, Matthew 24:36-44.

Food for thought from Wendel Berry ...

The sounds of engines leave the air.
The Sunday morning silence comes at last.
At last I know the presence
of the world made without hands,
the creatures that have come to be
out of their absence. Calls
of flicker and jay fill the clear
air. Titmice and chickadees feed
among the green and drying leaves.
Gratitude for the gifts of all the living
and the unliving, gratitude which is
the greatest gift of all, quietest of all,
passes through the trees."

We wait in quiet expectation.

See you in church,
Blessings, Heidi+