We
will have ONE service only, at 9 AM this coming Sunday,
December 6th and the Second Sunday of Advent. The liturgy will
include the commissioning of our acolytes and eucharistic ministers. We hope you will join us for worship and
fellowship. The coffee hour following the service will be hosted by the Vestry.
Annual Outreach Discussion: At about 10:30 on Sunday, all who are
interested are invited to gather for our annual outreach discussion. This is
the opportunity for us as a parish to review the organizations that we have
supported in the past, consider new organizations, and make recommendation to
the Vestry. We have a strong history of support for organizations in which
members of the parish take an active role, so if you have quietly been being
the heart and hands of Christ in the world and would recommend that the parish
provide some additional support, your suggestions would be welcome. Please come
prepared to speak briefly and accurately about that project.
We currently have a parish policy that 50% of the proceeds from our fundraisers is directed towards mission and outreach. This year, we will have about $3,000 to give. Come, be part of the conversation and enjoy participating in this corporate act of generosity.
We currently have a parish policy that 50% of the proceeds from our fundraisers is directed towards mission and outreach. This year, we will have about $3,000 to give. Come, be part of the conversation and enjoy participating in this corporate act of generosity.
The
readings for this Sunday: Baruch
5:1-9, Canticle 16 (The Song of Zechariah), Philippians 1:3-11, Luke 3:1-6.
Mark your calendars for
these St. Andrew’s events:
Priscilla
Browning’s Memorial Service will be Friday afternoon, December 4th, at 4 pm. Immediately
following the service, the family has invited the congregation to a gathering
at Priscilla's home overlooking Silver Lake, about a 15-minute drive from the
church. Priscilla loved to entertain, and her family generously sees this as
one more way to celebrate Priscilla’s spirit. (Driving directions will be
provided at the service.)
Pat
Adams has invited the Women’s Lunch to meet at her home on Wednesday, December
9th, at noon. Please bring something for our
shared meal. Questions and to RSVP: Call Pat at 539-6737. Her address is 3 Mill
high Circle, in Souring Heights, off of Ossipee Lake Road.
Directions:
Go north on Rte 16 from Yankee Smoke House. Take a right at the blinking light
onto Rte 42. Drive ½ mile and take a right onto Ossipee Lake Rd. Go another ½
mile and take a right into Souring Heights. You will be on Logan Way. Continue
on Logan, take the first left onto Mill High Circle. #3 is on the left.
Cookies, Carols, and
Conversation: a Pre-Christmas Tea. Gather in the Prince Room on Thursday, December 10th from 1 to 3: You are encouraged to
brings some cookies for the table. Thanks go to Judy Grace for taking the
initiative for this gathering.
Slow down. Quiet. It's Advent! An Advent Quiet Day on Saturday, December 12th from 1 to 5pm: What better way to still yourself than to join us for this time of Mindfulness Meditation, Gentle Yoga, and a Silent Tea Ceremony led by Beverly Hammond. See the post on the bulletin board for more details and to sign up. And remember...if you can breathe, you can do yoga!
Dana
Cunningham, friend of the parish and well-known area pianist
and composer, will be offering her annual December afternoon concert at the Little White Church in Eaton on Sunday,
December 6 at 4 pm. She has just completed work on a new CD which will be
available for purchase, along with her other CDs. For more details, see the
poster in the Parish Hall. Tickets are available at White Birch Books
(356-3200).
New
at Saint Andrew’s: The Sunday Paper: Beginning
with the First Sunday of Advent and the new church liturgical year, we have just subscribed to this weekly
hand-out/activity sheet creatively designed to provide
our kids with something to focus their church experience each Sunday. While
definitely designed for younger grade-school children, they include a “Notes to
Parents” page that many of you might find engaging and informative! We will be
running off enough Sunday Papers for
our children, but I will also provide a few extras of the “Notes for Parents.
Please take a look if you’re interested.
Copies
of the latest issue of The Episcopal
Journal are available on the table in front of
the Parish Bulletin Board. If you do not have a subscription of your own, help
yourself to a copy and discover how many ways the Episcopal Church is active in
the world.
Food
for thought in this Advent season…
from Frank Fornaro, Acting Dean of Episcopal Divinity School
from Frank Fornaro, Acting Dean of Episcopal Divinity School
What
are we waiting for? If we think about the second Advent as only a Christian
experience, then we are confined to wait only for a person, Jesus, to return.
We are, however, waiting for more than just a person – we are awaiting a larger
transformation, and if, in our anticipation, we think of our hopes for the
world, we are likely to grasp our responsibility for the dream of the Messiah
shared by our ancestors in Israel.
What
are we hoping for? What are we expecting of the Messiah?
We
live in hope. In Advent we wait in joyful expectation of Jesus, a joyful
expectation of a new world. This waiting in which we all participate in one way
or another, regardless of religion, is a faith-filled hopefulness. It is a
waiting with a certainty of God’s hope for us and for the world.
The
church sets aside four weeks to commemorate this waiting, but we actually live
in constant Advent. We wait for peace on earth every day. We wait for justice
for all, a justice realized by unity, compassion, and satisfaction for all
people. We wait for mercy that extends to all without boundaries or borders,
without exclusion, without vetting. Mercy for all.
In
this joyful, expectant waiting, each of us is called to work toward the reality
of the hoped-for Messiah. What do we do as we wait? Look for the places that do
not offer justice for the poor, oppressed, and disenfranchised. And not to
simply look, but to act. It is in this broken world that we have a true faith
that God’s will shall prevail.
With
our help, God’s hope for a creation of total peace for all people will emerge
on earth. God’s hope that we embrace one another with sincere respect and
compassionate love will save the world.
We
will see the end of this joyful, hopeful waiting in this world of joy and
strife, peace and war, exclusion and inclusion, when we become a world in which
the dignity of every human being is fully and openly honored.
Trusting
God’s grace, we wait in joyful expectation for peace and tranquility for all.
See you in church!
Blessings, Heidi+
