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| Preparing for the Lobster Dinner |
Services for this coming Sunday, July 27th, the Seventh Sunday
after Pentecost, will be at 8 and 10 am. We hope you will join us for worship
and fellowship.
The readings for this
coming Sunday are Genesis 29:1-28, Psalm 105:1-11, 45b, Romans 8:26-39, Matthew
13:31-33, 44-52.
It’s not too late to
get your tickets! The purchase deadline for our Lobster and Steak dinner on
Friday, August 1st, has been
extended to this coming Sunday! Call the office to reserve or get your tickets
on Sunday!
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| Our backyard garden |
You are invited to the Rector’s Almost-Annual
Summer Brunch to take
place immediately following the 9:00
service on Sunday, August 3rd. The rectory is at 247 Pound Road in Madison,
a twenty-minute drive from the church. Heidi and Duane will provide beverages
and a breakfast casserole, and welcome additional contributions to the food
table. Printed directions will be available in your bulletin that Sunday. (And,
yes, you’re invited even if you’re
not in church that day!)
“First Wednesdays” return August 6th. Join us for a simple summer meal and a
reading followed by discussion and eucharist. Gather at 5:30, out by 7:00 pm.
If you would like to make a food contribution, talk to Rev. Heidi.
Welcome to Sherry Hilton and her grandchildren, Andrew and Allina. Their
year-round church home is Saint Barnabas, Berlin, but they have a camp in our
area and have been joining us this summer.
Blessings on Fran and Joe Curran
as they begin their 22nd year of
marriage.
IT’S DONE! Yes, the 2014
Parish Directory is in your Parish Hall mailbox this Sunday, or on the adjacent
table for pick-up. If you are out-of-town and would like a copy, please call or
email the office and Debra will mail you your copy. If you notice any
corrections or changes, please let the office know. If your picture didn’t make it in, please
make sure we have one for the production of any future copies.
The Community Food Pantry is encouraging a new approach to non-food donations. Help stock the
shelves with this necessary item that is not covered by Food Stamps. Thanks.
July 27: Tea bags.
July 27: Tea bags.
Partridge berry and pine
needles under foot, lush ferns under a high canopy…Have you discovered our Grove Chapel? Just follow
the path through the gateway in the fence at the woods across our field to the
south of the church. Sit on one of the benches and let the moving air and
scents bathe you the beauty and assurance of God’s presence.
Food for thought and
contemplation from Richard Rohr…
“To most “comfortable” Westerners, surrendering and letting go sounds like losing. But it’s actually accessing a deeper, broader sense of the self, which is already whole, already content, already filled with abundant life. This is the part of you that has always loved God and said “Yes” to God. It’s the part of you that is Love, and all we have to do is let go and fall into it. It’s already there. Once you move your identity to that level of deep inner contentment and compassion, you realize that you’re drawing upon a Life that is larger than your own, and from a deeper Abundance. Once you learn to do that, why would you ever again settle for some scarcity model for life?
“To most “comfortable” Westerners, surrendering and letting go sounds like losing. But it’s actually accessing a deeper, broader sense of the self, which is already whole, already content, already filled with abundant life. This is the part of you that has always loved God and said “Yes” to God. It’s the part of you that is Love, and all we have to do is let go and fall into it. It’s already there. Once you move your identity to that level of deep inner contentment and compassion, you realize that you’re drawing upon a Life that is larger than your own, and from a deeper Abundance. Once you learn to do that, why would you ever again settle for some scarcity model for life?
But sadly, we
continually do just that. The scarcity model is the way we’re trained to think:
“I am not enough. This is not enough. I do not have enough.” So we try to
attain more and more, and climb higher and higher. Thomas Merton said we may
spend our whole life climbing the ladder of success, only to discover that when
we get to the top our ladder is leaning against the wrong wall. Wow!
A daily practice of
contemplative prayer can help you fall into the Big Truth that we all share,
the Big Truth that is God, that is Grace itself, where you are overwhelmed by more
than enough-ness! The spiritual journey is about living more and more in
that abundant place where you don’t have to wrap yourself around your hurts,
your defeats, your failures; but you can get practiced in letting go and saying
“That’s not me. I don’t need that. I’ve met a better self, a truer self.” Adapted from The Art of Letting Go: Living the
Wisdom of Saint Francis
Summer blessings,
Heidi+
Heidi+
