In accordance with our by-laws, "written notice shall be given to the congregation no later than two Sundays before the meeting." By tradition the announcement is posted on at least two entrances.





Saint Andrew's-in-the-Valley Thursday MEMO
January 27, 2011

This coming Sunday, January 30th, is Annul Meeting Day! We will have ONE service only at 9:00. The service will be followed by a pot-luck brunch with the meeting beginning at approximately 10:30. We hope you will join us for worship, fellowship, food, and the business of the church, including the election of vestry members and delegates. All are welcome.
In the event of heavy winter weather, we will postpone the meeting until February 6th. An email will be sent out and the announcement will be made on the church voice mail message by 6:30 AM on Sunday.

Printed copies of The Annual Report are available in the Parish Hall and will be on Sunday as well, however, the Report (including the financial pages) is also posted on the Parish Web site. Just click on the "Blog 2011" to the left and then on Annual Report. Please remember that a quorum of members is required for us to transact our business, so we need you. But there is also something important and satisfying about reflecting on the past year together, looking ahead to the future, and enjoying the fellowship of each other's company.

Friday night is movie night: 7:00 in the Prince Room to Letters from Juliet. Popcorn provided. Thanks go to the Parish Life Committee for hosting.

Mardi Gras Supper planning meeting Tuesday the 1st at 5:30. Prepare for a change! This year we will forgo the traditional Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper and have a Mardi Gras Supper instead on the preceding Friday, March 4th. (Ash Wednesday is March 9th.) Do you have any New Orleans roots? Any Mardi Gras ideas? Do you know a good source for beads or masks? The FUN-Raising committee would welcome your input at this meeting. If you can't make the meeting, talk to Carol or Diane about your ideas. This supper will be the first of the 2011 FUN-Raising dinners. Proceeds will be divided between outreach organizations and the church.

Keep in mind that Sunday, February 6th will also be a ONE service only Sunday (9 AM). The liturgy will be followed by an open conversation about Outreach and Mission led by Duane Dale.

The Rev. Tobias Nyatsambo, a Lakes Region friend of this parish, and occasional supply priest, will be installed as rector at Saint James Church, Laconia, on Wednesday, February 9th at 6 PM. All of us are invited. I expect to attend and would be delighted to have others join me. Let me know if you are interested.

Readings for Sunday: Micah 6:1-8, Psalm 15, 1 Corinthians 1:18-31, Matthew 5:1-12

Wisdom of the children: Last Sunday's interactive children's sermon is also posted. Click on the 2011 blog to the left.

Food for thought, from the BCP (The Book of Common Prayer) p. 817
Almighty and everliving God, ruler of all things in heaven and on earth, hear the prayers for this parish family. Strengthen the faithful, arouse the careless, and restore the penitent. Grant us all things necessary for our common life, and bring us all to be of one heart and mind within your holy church; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

See you in church!
Blessings, Heidi+

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+

Quiz time: This photo was provided by a member of the parish.
Question 1: Who are the two vested women?
Question 2: A bishop's miter (hat) appears behind them. Who was wearing it?

For bonus points: What was the occasion, and the year?


Saint Andrew's-in-the-Valley
Thursday MEMO
January 13, 2011

Services for Sunday, January 16th, the Second Sunday after the Epiphany, will be at 8 and 10 AM, with coffee hours following both services. The Rev. Ellie McLaughlin will be presiding and preaching in my absence. (Duane and I will be visiting my father and step-mother on the Vineyard, returning Monday.) Ellie+ is a good friend of this parish and is pleased to be coming back to be with all of you. I will be with you in spirit.

Reminders of upcoming events:

Last call for reports for the Parish Annual Report. Reports from committee chairs are due in Debra's "in-bin" by Tuesday, January 18. Please note she would prefer it in electronic form, so email it to office@standrewsinthevalley.org. Thanks.

On Friday, January 28th at 7 PM the Parish Life Committee will be hosting a Movie Night. Take the evening off! Come, enjoy a fun film with parish friends and snack on popcorn that will be supplied. The film will be Letters to Juliet, 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 49:1-7, Psalm 40:1-12, 1 Corinthians 1:1-9, John 1:29-42

A Prayer for Parish Life as we approach our Annual Meeting on January 30th....

God of mercy, strengthen us to help shape a parish
where diversity is a source of enrichment,
compassion is common,
life's poetry realized,
suffering lightened through sharing,
justice attended,
joy pervasive,
hope lived,
the hum of the universe heard,
and together with you and each other
we build what is beautiful, true, worthy of your generosity to us,
an echo of your kingdom. Amen
by Ted Loder
Blessings,
Heidi+

The bishop prepares to receive Kathy Bunker and Marty Cloran at his visit with us on January 2nd.







Saint Andrew's-in-the-Valley
Thursday MEMO
The Feast of the Epiphany
January 6, 2011

This coming Sunday, January 9th, we will have services at 8 and 10. Both services will be followed by a coffee hour. Childcare will be available the later service. We hope you will join us for worship.

Thank you to all who made the time with our bishop such a wonderful celebration last Sunday! The music was a joy! Thank you, Bernice, Val, and choir, and gratitude as well to our community singers for their special welcome and to Duane for organizing that contribution.
And thank you, once again, to Carol and our extraordinary hospitality team, including all of you who brought such delicious contributions to our food tables! And welcome, once again, to Kathy and Marty. We are so very glad to have you with us!
[Click on "2011 Blog" in the left-hand column for more photos and also audio clips from the liturgy.]

Epiphany greetings from Cambridge (Massachusetts)! As many of you know, I am writing this MEMO to you from five days of retreat and "professional development." I am taking a course in Spiritual Direction at Episcopal Divinity School taught by one of the brothers from the Society of Saint John the Evangelist, the Episcopal monastery on Memorial Drive in Cambridge. It is proving to be a welcome time to study, but also to reflect and rest, and I am grateful for the opportunity.

I expect that I am not alone in benefiting from some rest. It's easy for us to overlook the spiritual importance of rest. We think of prayer, worship, hospitality, study, and even work as aspects of a spiritually well-grounded life, but we forget if we don't have rest, the quality of everything else eventually suffers. We get distracted in our prayer and cranky in our work, not to mention unproductive!

When I go on retreat, it usually takes me a couple of days to rest into my pacing -- to believe I can turn the light out at 9 instead of 11, and indulge in naps if I'm so inclined. As my body slows down, I'm drawn to journal writing and deeper reflecting. Psalm verses jump out at me in new ways and I'm struck by the vitality God's presence and promise.

I know that many of you have been pushing very hard over these past five or six weeks. We have accomplished an extroardinary amount: refurbished kitchen and bathrooms, rich liturgies with lots of music, thought-provoking meetings, important pastoral care, a financially successful Boughs and Bonbons, and astonishing hospitality right and left -- all offered with generosity and love. If you identify with being part of that hard-working effort, or even if you haven't, but recognize your own fatigue please, carve out some time to rest deeply. Rest is not selfish! A community of rested people is more porous, more humorous, more generous...and has even more fun that an exhausted, worn out community. After all, even God rested on the seventh day, and Jesus himself went off into the mountains for restorative time where he could respond to God more deeply.

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany and (with the arrival of the Three Wise Ones with their gifts to the Christ Child) the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles. May the light that is Christ's light shining through each of us out into the world be a light that shines even more brightly for our having attended to our need for holy rest!

See you in church!
With deep affection,
Heidi+