August 27, 2015

Pictures from Rector's vacation

 Services for this coming Sunday, August 30^th and the 14^th Sunday after Pentecost, will be at 8 and 10 AM with coffee hour following both services.

Readings: Song of Solomon 2:8-13, Psalm 45:1-2, 7-10, James 1:17-27, Mark 7: 1-8, 14-15, 21-23.

Many thanks to Lisa Thompson and Gretchen Behr-Svendsen for their very able, willing, and thoughtful liturgical leadership last Sunday when, at the last minute, Susan Ackley – our supply priest – was called to the bedside of her dying mother-in-law in Virginia. Not only were Lisa and Gretchen (two of our three licensed lay worship leaders) prepared to officiate for Morning Prayer, but they stayed with the plan Susan and I had decided upon weeks ago – to focus the liturgy on the work and witness of New Hampshire’s martyr for racial justice, Jonathan Myrick Daniel, on the 50^th anniversary. Jonathan was killed is he stepped in to shield a young black woman, Ruby Sales, from the blast from a 12-gauge gun intended for her.

 Introducing Deacon Kevin Mort…Kevin is canonically resident in the diocese of Southwest Florida, but he plans to be spending his summers in Ossipee and has been worshiping with us. With Bishop Rob’s permission, he will be participating liturgically and pastorally while he is here with us. He is a vocational deacon (meaning he is not a transitional deacon who will later be ordained as a priest). The traditional liturgical roles for a deacon include proclaiming the Gospel, setting the table, and dismissing the people. I hope you will introduce yourself to him!

Have you been wearing your nametag??? Probably not. Very few of us have been. But summer is a time of lots of flux in our congregation. It would be a great help to many if you would dig your nametag out of your mailbox and wear it on Sundays!  Thanks from all the folks who don’t know everyone’s name. If you don’t have one, please leave a note on Debra’s desk and she will make one up for you.

Our sympathies go out to Bill and Val May. Bill’s mother died this week at her home in New Jersey.

A Celebration of the life of Susan Chiaradonna will be held this Saturday at 1 o’clock on the lawn behind the Parish Hall. Her partner, Marc Plauche, came to me several weeks ago at the time of her death asking whether I would do a service at the funeral home. When I asked Marc whether he might like to have the celebration here instead he accepted my offer with much gratitude. Marc has strong ties to this place (among other things he has done much of our roofing!), but for someone deeply connected to the natural world, the idea of holding a simple informal liturgy outdoors seemed wonderfully appropriate. As always, members of the parish are encouraged to attend as a way of extending hospitality and offering a prayerful presence to the wider community.

The Church World Service CROP Walk has been a regular part of our summers for quite a few years. This year, in response to the realities of summer heat for this 6 mile walk, the organizers have scheduled the actually walk for Sunday, October 25^th.  Since fall is a busy time and we want to include the support of our summer friends as well, sponsor forms will be available this coming Sunday. Let’s plan for a strong group of Saint Andrew’s walkers for October 25^th! At least half of the money raised by the CROP Walk comes back to our Community Food Pantry and our Dinner Bell Program. The balance goes to overseas development work. Gretchen Behr-Svendsen is our contact person.

Sandwich Fair preparations are underway for October 10, 11, 12. We will be vending jellies, jams, baked goods, and crafts crated by all who are willing and able to be involved! Contact: Carol Tubman or Chris Mills for project ideas and specifics.

Reflections and a few pictures from the Rector on Vacation Sabbath time…
I hope by now we are all aware of the importance of including true Sabbath time into our lives – time set apart from the often pressured demands and complexities or our regular lives to restore body and soul – consciously living God’s presence. It was easy, relaxed time in a beautiful and treasured place (Woods Hole), with time to walk, bike, rest, read, swim sail, putter with a bit (but not too much) of gardening and building upkeep. Our motto for “Sabbath day work”: Stop as soon as at feels like work! We had time with friends and a few day’s visit from our son Chris.

I hope you also have been able to carve out some similar time your this summer. And if you haven’t done so yet, it’s not to late! Even a few hours lived with a Sabbath mindset can go a long way to restore our balance and allow us to see and live life with a new clarity.

I could not have unwound and used the time as well as I did were it not for the willingness and faithfulness of many of you – perhaps most especially Carol, Debra, Lisa, and Gretchen – for taking care of things in my absence. Thank you to all who made my time away possible. It’s good to be back.

See you in church,

Blessings, Heidi+

more vacation pictures from Heidi

 

August 13, 2015



Beautiful sky over Lobster Dinner guests!



Services for this coming Sunday, August 16^th and the 12^th Sunday after Pentecost will be at 8 and 10 AM with coffee hour following both services. The Rev. John Allen from Trinity Church in Meredith will preside and preach at both services.

Readings: 1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14, Psalm 111, Ephesians 5:15-20, John 6:51-58.

Services for the following Sunday, August 23^rd and the 13^th Sunday after Pentecost will be at 8 and 10 AM with coffee hour following both services. The Rev. Susan Ackley will preside and preach at both services.

Readings: 1 Kings 8:1,6,10-11,22-30, 41-43, Psalm 84, Ephesians 6:10-20, John 6:56-59.

 The Rector and her husband are on vacation and will return on August 24^th. In the event of a pastoral emergency, please call the office (323-8515) during weekday mornings, or leave a message. Alternatively, call Carol Tubman, senior warden, at 651-8230 or Sammie Wakefield at 476-2346.

The office will be closed on Tue-18th, Wed-19th, and Thur-20th. Debra, the office manager, will be away on vacation returning on Friday.  Please contact Carol or Sammie if there is an urgent need to access the office.

With Heidi and Debra away, there will be no Thursday Memo next week for August 20.

Yvonne & Jay Ramsey

 Thanks to everyone who made the Lobster and Steak Dinner such an enjoyable success! At the top of the list: Sally & Vic DeGroot for oversight and lots of hard work, and their amazing, generous friends Jay and Yvonne Ramsey, who bring equipment, obtain the clams and lobsters, and boil them up for all of us to enjoy! Thank you to David for his work on tickets and reservation; to Judy and Kevin for their part in mid-day food prep; Carol, Joe, Fran, Kevin, Bob, and Muffy for set-up; Bernice, Mickey & Elaine, their friends Larry and Cindy Edgerly, Bob, Duane for clean-up; to all who baked blueberry buckle and made coleslaw; to everyone who invited family and friends; and those whose quiet help escaped my notice or memory (with apologies). It was a delightful, well-attended evening that once again brought the wider community together for relaxed sociability and good food in a beautiful setting.

Enjoy the pictures below!

Have you met Deacon Kevin Mort? During most of the year Deacon Kevin serves in the Diocese of Southwest Florida, but he has recently started coming to Ossipee for the summer season and has been pleased to discover Saint Andrew’s. He has “jumped in with both feet,” attending Sunday services and coffee hour, participating in Wednesday Morning Prayer, and helping out at the Lobster Dinner and offering to do some pastoral visits. Please introduce yourself to him. He will be here through September, and when I return from vacation will participate in Sunday liturgies as well.

May they rest in peace:

Art Knowles, former sexton here at Saint Andrew's in the 1990s, and a good friend of Carol Tubman. His service will be held at the 2nd Congregational Church in Ossipee.

Cindy Ferrero, former Chocurua postmaster, who had been joining us for worship and fellowship this past spring and into the summer. Her service will be held in Massachusetts.

Both were generous, caring people who touched the lives of many. Please keep them and their families and friends in your prayers. 

Food for summer thought and reflection from Poet Wendell Berry…

Mowing the hillside pasture –
the flowers of Queen Anne’s lace

float above the grass, the milkweeds
flare and bee balm, cut, spices

the air, the butterflies light and fly
from bloom to bloom, the hot

sun dazes the sky, the woodthrushes
sound their flutes from the deep shade

of the woods nearby – those iron teeth

chattering along the slope astound

the vole in her low run and bring down
the field sparrow’s nest cunningly hung

between two stems, the young long flow.
The mower moves between the beauty

of the half-wild growth and the beauty
of growth reduced, smooth as a lawn,

revealing again the slope shaped of old
by the wearing of water and, later, the wear

of human will, hoof and share and wheel
hastening the rain’s work, so that the shape

revealed is the shape of wounds healed,
covered with grass and clover and the blessèd

flowers. The mower’s work too is beautiful,
granting rest and health to his mind.

He drives the long traverses of the healed
and healing slant. He sweats and gives thanks. 

Blessings, Heidi+

Lobster dinner pics:

August 6, 2015

The Feast of the Transfiguration and
the Anniversary of the Dedication of Saint Andrew’s

[Go to end of this post for pix from the Rectory Coffee Hour last Sunday]

Services for this coming Sunday, August 9th and the 11^th Sunday after Pentecost, will be at 8 and 10 am, with coffee hours following both services.

 Readings for this coming Sunday:  2 Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33, Psalm 130, Ephesians 4:25-5:2, John 6:35, 41-51.

The Lobster & Steak Dinner has sold out! Thank you to all of you who have agreed to do baking and food prep. Many hands make light work, but we're still a bit short on helpers. If you'd like to lend a hand with set-up or clean-up, please let Sally (986-1278) or Carol (651-8230) know. Your generosity of time will be appreciated!

The Women’s Lunch Bunch will meet this Wednesday, August 12, at noon at the Mt View Station Restaurant in Center Ossipee. Contact Dale Appleton at 539-3761 with questions.

Heidi and Duane will be away for vacation from Monday, August 10 through Monday August 24, primarily in Woods Hole. In the event of a pastoral emergency, please contact Deb in the office on weekday mornings or leave a message for Carol Tubman at 651-8230. The Rev. John Allen will  provide supply coverage for Sunday, August 16, and the Rev. Susan Ackley on Sunday August 23.

Brief reflections from the rector as the close of the Victorian Camp for Girls approaches... 

Learning the hymn "All things bright and beautiful"

I've been spending this past week serving as chaplain and "chaperone of impeccable character" with a group of 12 girls under Richard Posner's leadership as we've been exploring what life would have been like for young women who were up in these parts as summer visitors 130 years ago. 

The chaplain, the poet Shelley, and the chaperone

Lots of immersion into the natural beauty of our world through hiking, picnicking, poetry readings, journal-writing, sketching, and water-color painting. along with cultural history. Also, ventures into the life of young household help – long working hours polishing silver, correct ways of doing things … leading to discussions about class and what it meant to be female then and what is possible now! A few tidbits of car conversation en route to Crawford Notch Tuesday and Bretton Woods today: Is God really a man? Is Mother Earth really a mother? What is h-e-l-l? Because my mother says I shouldn't say that word. What should we do about bad people? Why are people mean? … Mind you, none of these were suggested topics of discussion, just quandaries that got raised as we drove along!
We finish tomorrow with Shakespeare's Twelfth Night at the Sandwich Fairgrounds. It's given me a whole new appreciating for that gifts of that era and the, creative, fiesty, courageous, faithful work of many of our forebearers.

Rectory Coffee Hour:
Good food and good fellowship!
Thank you to all who participated, and special thanks to Cathie Lewis for her attention to clean-up details.

And from Meister Eckhart:
God does not work in all hearts alike but according to the preparation and sensitivity he finds in each!

See you in church!

Blessings, Heidi+