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| Saint Andrew's-on-the-Tundra! Whipping wind and piles of snow! |
This
coming Sunday, March
1st and the Second Sunday of Lent, we will have ONE service only at 9 am, at which new Vestry members will be commissioned. Coffee hour following the service will be hosted by the Altar Guild. No precipitation is forecast for
Saturday night or Sunday morning – so... sun or light clouds and a high of 32
degrees! Practically summer weather !!! Hope to see you then. Our paths are well-shoveled. don't miss more snow-at-St. Andrew's pix at the bottom of this post.
Readings for this Sunday: Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16. Psalm 22:22-30,
Romans 4:13-25, Mark 8:31-38.
DON’T FORGET: WE WILL BE HOSTING A QUIET DAY FROM 9 TO 1 TOMORROW (FEB 28) LED
BY THE REV. ELLIE MCLAUGHLIN. Our explorations together of Lenten hymns promise
to deepen our Lenten journeys. Please email me [frantzdale@gmail.com]
today if you plan to join us so we can be
sure of having sufficient handouts and lunch.
Wednesday Simple Lenten Suppers will continue this coming
week on March 4th, gathering at 5:30, eating at 5:45, and out by 7.
Our readings and conversation will explore the sacred gift of TIME – how we think about with it, how
we use it, how we waste it, how we struggle with it. So whether you feel like
you never have enough time or it
drags so much you wish it would go faster, this conversation is for you!!!
Genesis reminds us that “God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it,” which is
to say, God made it holy. What might
that say to us about time?
Who will win The Golden
Halo? If
you haven’t logged on yet to Lent
Madness [lentmadness.org], your missing out on some good fun … and a
painless way to pick up a lot of fascinating church history … not to mention have
your mind opened to an amazing array of ways to live as a committed follower of
Jesus. Sign up for the daily email posting and voting, and pick up a Brackets
Mini-poster in the Parish Hall. Your Lenten Journey will not be boring! (And if
you have the time, check out people’s comments and/or make your own.)Update from the FUN-Raising Committee: For a variety of reasons, our annual Murder Mystery Dinner has been rescheduled to Friday, May 1, so mark you calendars. It will be better weather for the leprechauns. If you are interested in in taking part in the play, contact Chris Mills at alba4me@yahoo.com
Food for thought: 11 Things
I Love about the Episcopal Church.
Nine of us gathered this
week for our first Wednesday Simple Supper and explored the blog post by Ben
Irwin, entitled “11 Things I Love about
the Episcopal Church.” Ben is a
30-something Episcopalian who found his way to the Episcopal Church from
contemporary Evangelical Protestantism.
For those of us who may wish
we had more opportunities for conversations with young adults who find the
church life-giving, and wish we could be more comfortably articulate about our
faith, I find his reflections insightful. Whether you were part of the
conversation Wednesday evening or missed it (Quite a number of you emailed me
requesting any details since you were unable to join us.), here is the link to
the portion we discussed. http://benirwin.me/2015/01/22/11-things-about-the-episcopal-church/
You might want to sign on to receive his blogs, or just be interested in sleuthing around and reading other posts of his.
You might want to sign on to receive his blogs, or just be interested in sleuthing around and reading other posts of his.
I challenge each of us to
make our own list! What would be on yours, and why? Ben’s reflections respond
in part to how he experienced Evangelical Protestantism. It would be
interesting to gather comparable lists that respond to other contexts –
science, “spiritual but not religious,” secular humanism, consumerist capitalism, popular culture….
When my Internet guru gets back to town, I’d like to figure out how to activate
the “comments” possibility with this MEMO so that we’d have an easy way to
share our thoughts. In the mean time … make your own list and stay tuned… And,
of course, we can always engage the
old-fashion, face-to-face way!
And here are the
Ten “Loves” that Ben Irwin names:
1. The way the liturgy soaks into
your being.
2. The way the liturgy invites me to worship with my whole being, bridging the false divide between body and soul.
3. The way it anchors my faith when no act of will on my part can.
4. The way it embraces orthodoxy without rigidity.
5. How it makes room for those who’ve been burned out, worn out, or otherwise cast out.
6. The way you can simply be, if that’s all you can do.
7. The way worship can be deeply moving without resorting to emotional manipulation.
8. How the “shared cup” matters more than “shared dogma.”
9. The way everyone is welcome as a full participant, even children.
10. How it reminds me that I’m part of something bigger.
11. How, at the altar, we’re all the same.
Lenten Blessings in this
season of returning warmth and light.
See you in church!
Heidi+
See you in church!
Heidi+
Saint Andrew's-in-the-Snow
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| Note distant 5 ft. birdhouse. |
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| The glacier outside the Prince Room window! |
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| Yes, for a brief hour this week we actually had a liquid puddle! |
