Saint Andrew's-in-the-Valley

Thursday MEMO
for March 29, 2012

This coming Sunday, April 1st, Palm Sunday, we will have ONE service only at 10 AM (Please note: This is not the usual 1st Sunday of the month at 9AM). We will all gather in the Parish Hall for the liturgy of Blessing the Palms, then, weather permitting, we will process outside, entering the church together for the reading of the Passion Narrative and the Eucharist.

Readings for this Sunday:
Isaiah 50:4-9a; Psalm 31:9-16; Philippians 2:5-11; Passion Gospel Mark14:32–72; 15:1–47.

Envelopes for Easter Flowers will be in the pews.
Please have your envelopes turned into the office by Wednesday, April 4th to be included in the Easter Bulletin.

Children’s Group activities are on a roll at Saint Andrew’s:
Eleven children and six adults gathered on Tuesday for “mac & cheese” and an exploration of the Last Supper and Holy Communion. On Holy Saturday morning, April 7th, at 10:30 we will gather to create our Easter Garden. On Easter Day we will unearth our hidden “alleluias” And we are looking ahead to the 4th Sunday of Easter, May 29th when we will celebrate Good Shepherd Sunday. Stay tuned! Our young people are a treasure and they are on the move!


Plan ahead to walk the walk of Holy Week together:

Wednesday of Holy Week at 9am:
Service of Morning Prayer with reflection.

On Wednesday, April 4th at 7
join us for a viewing of the film Jesus of Montreal: The film won the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival and the Genie Award for Best Canadian Film of 1989. It has twice been placed second on the TIFF List of Canada's Top Ten Films of All Time, and was nominated for the 1989 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. It is an evocative and thought-provoking film appropriate for mature teens and adults. For a detailed synopsis, Google “Jesus of Montreal” and click on the Wikipedia entry. We will view the film together then provide a time for discussion.

Thursday of Holy Week, April 5th at 7PM: Maundy Thursday liturgy,
which includes the retelling of the Last Supper, with foot-washing, followed by holy communion, the stripping of the altar, and the opportunity to meditate on the reserved sacrament.

Good Friday, April 6th, noon to 1:30 pm:
A simple service of scripture readings and Meditations at the Cross (come and go as your schedule permits), followed by Stations of the Cross at 1:30.
At 7 PM we will gather for the Good Friday Liturgy of the Day with hymns, Solemn Collects, and communion from the reserved sacrament.

Saturday evening, April 7th, we will gather at 8 pm for the Great Vigil of Easter when we kindle the new fire, process it into the darkened sanctuary for the Exultet, participate in the story of salvation history through the Vigil readings, renew our baptismal vows, and celebrate with exuberance and the ringing of many bells the first eucharist of Easter (so bring your bells!!!). This liturgy marks the end of our Lenten fast and the beginning of the Great 50 Days of Eastertide!

Easter Day services will be at 8 and 10.

As we approach holy days of Holy Week, consider this from Br. Luke Ditewig, SSJE:

Compared to the cacophony of the world, silence keeps catching us off guard, inviting wonder at being so loved by God.

Remember to keep some silence each day during this holy time. Consider:
How is your Holy Week being shaped by the events of the past month of our life together?

See you in church!
Blessings, Heidi+


From the office at St. Andrew’s
UPCOMING WEEK’S CALENDAR:

Fri 3/30:
10a-noon Food Center

Sat 3/31:
8pm AA & Al-Anon(PH,PR)

Sun 4/1: Palm Sunday
10 AM Holy Eucharist
5 PM Dinner Bell (Cook Team: Need Cooks )

Mon 4/2 Church office closed
7 pm Boy Scouts

Tue 4/3:
10am – noon Food Center
8pm AA (PH)

Wed 4/4:
9 AM Service of Morning Prayer
7 PM Film: Jesus of Montreal

Thu 4/5:
7 PM: Maundy Thursday liturgy

March 22, 2012


The services for this coming Sunday, March 25th, the Fifth Sunday in Lent, will be at 8 and 10 AM, followed by coffee hour. Please join us for worship and fellowship.



Readings for this Sunday: Jeremiah 31:31-34, Psalm 51:1-13,  Hebrews 5:5-10, John 12:20-33.



Envelopes for Easter Flowers will be in the pews. Please have your envelopes turned into the office by Wednesday, April 4th to be included in the Easter Bulletin.

Join us this Friday, March 23rd, at 3 PM for the service in Celebration of the Life of Chuck Werning and on Saturday, March 24th, at 11 AM for Betsy Rouner.

Children’s Group activities: On this coming Tuesday the 27th at 5 our Children’s Group will be meeting to prepare for Easter by exploring the story of the Last Supper and the eucharist. On Holy Saturday morning, April 7th, at 10:30 we will gather to create our Easter Garden.

A reminder that next Sunday, April 1st, is Palm Sunday! We will have ONE service only at 10 AM not the usual 1st Sunday of the month at 9AM. We will all gather in the Parish Hall for the liturgy of Blessing the Palms, then (weather permitting) process outside, entering the church together for the reading of the Passion Narrative and the Eucharist.

Plan ahead to walk the walk of Holy Week together:

On Wednesday, April 4th at 7 join us for a viewing of the film Jesus of Montreal; On Thursday, April 5th at 7 for the Maundy Thursday liturgy with foot-washing, communion, and the stripping of the altar; on Good Friday from noon to 2 for Meditations at the Cross, and at 7 for the Good Friday Liturgy with communion from the reserved sacrament. At 8PM on Saturday, April 7th, we will kindle the new flame and begin our Easter Vigil readings and the first eucharist of Easter; Easter Day services will be at 8 and 10.

And a reminder of the theater party this coming Sunday, March 25, at 2 p.m. Make your own reservation for Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice followed by a discussion of the play. Sunday’s performance is at M&D Productions, 1857 White Mountain Highway (Rte. 16) in North Conway. It’s a cluster of yellow buildings that includes the UPS Store, about 0.2 mile north of Staples. To make your reservation, call 986-6253. $15 adults, $10 seniors, and $7 for under 18.  Three Saint Andrew’s people are in the cast: Chris Boldt, Rowan Hird, and Lisa Thompson.  After the show, all who can will adjourn to Flatbread Pizza in North Conway to continue our conversation and sociability.



Food for thought on forgiveness from Brother Geoffrey Tristam, SSJE…
In your relationship with God, do you really believe that you are a forgiven person? What would it be like if you really believed these words, “I will forgive your iniquity, and I will remember your sin no more.” God wills and longs not to remember. We just need to believe it – it can set us free!

See you in church!
Blessings, Heidi+

From the office at St. Andrew’s
UPCOMING WEEK’S CALENDAR:

Fri  3/23:
            10a-noon  Food Center
3 PM Memorial Service for Chuck Werning

           
Sat  3/24:       
11 AM Memorial Service for Betsy Rouner
            4pm AA St. Patricks Supper
            8pm AA & Al-Anon(PH,PR)


Sun 3/25:       
            8 AM Holy Eucharist
            10 AM Holy Eucharist
           5 PM Dinner Bell (Cook Team: Reinfuss )

Mon 3/26        Church office closed
            7 pm Boy Scouts

           
Tue  3/27:      
            10am – noon  Food Center
            8pm AA (PH)

           
Wed 3/28:
            9 AM Service of Morning Prayer   

              
Thu  3/29: Office Closed- Deb out
           6pm Round Table Eucharist
            6:30 pm Brown Bag Supper
            7 pm Vestry Meeting
 

March 15, 2012







Spring is coming!
 









The services for this coming Sunday, March 18th, the Fourth Sunday in Lent, will be at 8 and 10 AM, followed by coffee hour. Please join us for worship and fellowship.

Readings for this Sunday: Numbers 21:4-9; Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22; Ephesians 2:1-10; John 3:14-21.

 It is with great joy and excitement that the Search and Nominating Committee of our diocese announces the three nominees for Tenth Bishop of New Hampshire:

The Rev. Penelope (Penny) Maud Bridges – Rector of Saint Francis Episcopal Church, Great Falls, VA

The Rev. A. Robert (Rob) Hirschfeld – Rector of Grace Episcopal Church, Amherst, MA

The Rev. Dr. William (Bill) Warwick Rich – Senior Associate Rector for Christian Formation, Trinity Church, Boston MA

There was “absolute and immediate Search Committee consensus” around these gifted and experienced priests. Please visit the Bishop Search website www.nhepiscopal.org for detailed information about the nominees, the Meets and Greets, the Electing Convention, and the Consecration.

We as the people of this diocese now enter our active phase in the discernment process. Please read their profiles carefully, get to know the candidates as they have presented themselves “on paper,” hold them all in your prayers, and plan to attend at least one of the Meet and Greet Sessions, the most convenient of which will be held at the Holderness School on Wednesday, May 2nd.

Join us tomorrow evening (Friday, March 16th) at 7PM for the service in Celebration of the Life of Joe Mullen, member of this parish who died suddenly last Friday.

 Next week, we will celebrate the life of Chuck Werning on Friday, March 23rd, at 3 PM, and the life of Betsy Rouner on Saturday, March 24th, at 11AM.













Join a "theater afternoon" on Sunday March 25th at 2 pm. Attend Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, performed by the local theater company Advice to the Players, followed by a discussion of the play. Sunday's performance is at "Your Theater" at M&D Productions at 1850 White Mountain Highway (Rte. 16), North Conway, near the UPS Store. To keep things simple, order your own tickets. For ticket information call 986-6253 or visit www.AdviceToThePlayers.org. $15 Adults, $10 Seniors, $7 under 18. Three of St. Andrew’s people are acting in the production, Chris Boldt, Rowan Hird and Lisa Thompson. Then after the show, join a group of us from Saint Andrew's at Flatbread Pizza in North Conway to continue our conversation and enjoy the sociability. 

















 

Please note: Change of service time for Palm Sunday, April 1st. There will be ONE service only on April 1st, but the decision has been made to hold that single service at 10 AM. This will allow all of us to share together in the festivities of the Blessings of the Palms, the great procession, and the Reading of the Passion Gospel. It will also facilitate the attendance of families, children, permit choir rehearsal time, and the energy demands on all who will have been involved in the services on the preceding two days. (“Eight O’clockers,” thank you for your understanding.)

See you in church.
With Blessings for a Holy Lent,
Heidi+


 

From the office at St. Andrew’s

UPCOMING WEEK’S CALENDAR:

Fri  3/16:
            10a-noon  Food Center
7 PM Memorial Service for Joe Mullen

           
Sat  3/17:       
            8pm AA & Al-Anon(PH,PR)

 Sun 3/18:       
            8 AM Holy Eucharist
            10 AM Holy Eucharist
           5 PM Dinner Bell (Cook Team: Brett School-Pugh)

Mon 3/19        Church office closed
            7 pm Boy Scouts

           
Tue  3/20:      
            10am – noon  Food Center
            8pm AA (PH)

          
Wed 3/21:
            9 AM Morning Prayer         
               
Thu  3/22:
 

March 8, 2012

Set your clocks ahead
Before you go to bed!

The services for this coming Sunday, March 11th, the Third Sunday in Lent, will be at 8 and 10 AM, followed by coffee hour. Please join us for worship and fellowship.

Readings for this Sunday: Exodus 20:1-17, Psalm 19, 1 Corinthians 1:18-25, John 2:13-22.



 Last Sunday Rev. Heidi commissioned Sammie Wakefield and Carol Tubman for their trip to Peru with Eleanore’s Project to work with mobility impaired children, custom fitting wheelchairs for them.

 The Rector’s Discretionary Fund needs your help. The balance is down to $6, which won’t even buy much gas these days! A couple of people had to be turned away. This pool of money is funded only through your contributions – both large and small. If you are able to make a contribution, please do. The needs are still great. There will be envelopes in the bulletins on Sunday. A perfect opportunity for Lenten Alms Giving. The neediest among us will thank you.
 
Happy 90th Birthday, Walter! A goodly number of Saint Andrew’s folks stopped by to join in birthday festivities last Sunday and to wish Walter well as he begins another decade!


The Bishop Election Process: The names of our nominees will be announced on Thursday of this week on the diocesan web site:
www.nhepiscopal.org. Volunteers are being sought to help with the Meet and Greet event on Wednesday, May 2nd in Holderness, as well as for the Electing Convention on May 19th. There is a sheet posted on the Parish bulletin board. All who are interested are encouraged to attend the Meet and Greet session and when the date gets closer, we will arrange for ride sharing.

The Tamworth Community School has been inspired by the Empty Bowls Project (www.emptybowls.net) and on Thursday March 15th at noon they will be serving soup in bowls made in their art classes. The students deliberated about where the money raised would go – internationally or locally – and they decided to donate the money raised to our Community Food Pantry here at Saint Andrew’s. How great that they thought of our food pantry! The cost to eat soup is a donation and the first 50 people also get to take the bowl home. I plan to go and would enjoy company if anyone else wants to go. If you plan to go they would like reservations made ahead of time at 323-7000. – Peg Reinfuss


Did you miss last Sunday’s sermon on Planned Giving? Click on http://standrewsinthevalleytamworth-2012blog.blogspot.com/

 Food for thought from Mahatma Gandhi: 

“We become what we yearn after.”
Which is to say … we will be shaped by what we want and what we reach for, hence the need for us to open our hearts to God in prayer, so that our longings call forth our best selves.

See you in church.
With Blessings for a Holy Lent,
Heidi+


From the office at St. Andrew’s

UPCOMING WEEK’S CALENDAR:

Fri  3/9:
            10a-noon  Food Center
 

Sat  3/10:       
            8pm AA & Al-Anon(PH,PR)

Midnight     *SET CLOCKS 1 HOUR AHEAD*
       

Sun 3/11:       
            8 AM Holy Eucharist
            10 AM Holy Eucharist
           5 PM Dinner Bell (Cook Team: Friends)

Mon 3/12        Church office closed
            7 pm Boy Scouts
         

Tue  3/13:      
            10am – noon  Food Center
            7 pm Scout Committee Mtg
            8pm AA (PH)

      
Wed 3/14:
            9 AM Morning Prayer         

                      
Thu  3/15:
           6 pm Round Table Eucharist
            6:30 pm Brown Bag Supper
            7 pm Vestry Meeting

March 1, 2012



Leap Day Snow



There will be ONE service for this coming Sunday, March 4th, the Second Sunday in Lent at 9 AM, followed by coffee hour. Please join us for worship and fellowship.

Readings for this Sunday: Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16; Psalm 22:22-30; Romans 4:13-25; Mark 8:31-38.


Happy 90th Birthday, Walter! We have been invited to help our dear brother in Christ celebrate this milestone birthday this coming Sunday afternoon at his residence – Mineral Springs – in North Conway. His daughters (Sally and Merry) will be hosting a reception in a private dining room between 1:30 and 3:30. Stop by for a bit to enjoy a piece of cake and glass of punch or cup of coffee. And if you can’t make it on Sunday, Walter welcomes visitors any day in his room. P.S. They’ve made an explicit request for no gifts


Wine for our Eucharists: In the days of the early church, at each service the deacon would receive food contributions, primarily to be distributed to people in need, much as we bring Food Pantry contributions and place them in the basket. The actual bread and the wine for the eucharist would be selected from among those contributions – presumably selecting the most appropriate for use in the liturgy. We don’t do it quite that way, but the wine we use for communion is also a contribution, and actually it would still be very appropriate for it to be brought forward at the time of the offertory. So, now is an opportunity to provide the wine! We use Taylor tawny port. If you would like to contribute a bottle, either bring it directly to the sacristy or place it in the food basket and we will see to it that it goes to the sacristy. Many thanks!

 

We have realized at the Community Food Center that right now the food flying off our shelves and the food which always runs out of is DOG AND CAT FOOD! It seems some of our folks would feed their precious pets before themselves and that their beloved pets – their only companion day after day – are skinny and hungry. We would like to add to our food pantry wish list a big wish right now for food for dogs and cats, not the high end stuff, just regular cans or bags of cat or dog food. Maybe this could be one of our Lenten disciplines – to remember to bring not only food for people but food for their pets to our Sunday morning food basket. Many thanks to you. Peg Reinfuss, CFC Coordinator

 Food for thought in this season of snow and sap running from Brian Scott Kelley…

cross-country skiing
this solitary maple standing in the empty
field speaks to the soundless sky
its enormous branches a megaphone
broadcasting to a place I cannot see

I rub my had over the coarse vibrations
of its bark as I attempt to reach around
its trunk riddled with holes bored
by the sap farmer and placing my lips on one

i speak with god


May this Lent open us to new encounters with the holy in the in the ordinariness of our daily lives.

 See you in church.
With Blessings for a Holy Lent,
Heidi+


***From the office at St. Andrew’s***

UPCOMING WEEK’S CALENDAR:

Fri  3/2:
            10a-noon  Food Center
    
Sat  3/3:         
            8pm AA & Al-Anon(PH,PR)
     
Sun 3/4:         
            9 AM Holy Eucharist
           5 PM Dinner Bell (Cook Team: Madison)

Mon 3/5          Church office closed
            7 pm Boy Scouts
            7 pm Finance Committee
            7:15pm Discernment Committee

Tue  3/6:        
            10am – noon  Food Center
            Noon: Liturgy Committee
            8pm AA (PH)
            Convocation in Meredith

Wed 2/29:
            9 AM Morning Prayer         
                  
Thu  3/1: