October 18, 2018


JOIN US FOR WORSHIP                
THIS SUNDAY, OCTOBER 21st, Pentecost 22, there will be two services at 8:00 am and 10:00 a.m.

Book Group will meet at 11:15 following services on October 21 and 28.


CENTERING PRAYER  
Tuesdays at 5:30 p.m.



MORNING PRAYER 
Wednesday mornings at 9:00 a.m.

COFFEE HOUR HOSTS NEEDED!!!!!
Please check the sheet in the Parish Hall and ask someone to “team up” with you for Coffee Hour. Hosts are needed for all dates for remainder of Oct and all of Nov and Dec.

WE HOPE YOU WILL JOIN US FOR WORSHIP
READINGS FOR SUNDAY                
Sunday, October 21, 2018
22nd Sunday after Pentecost
Proper 24, Year B

Job 38:1-7, 34-41
Psalm 104:1-9, 25, 37b
Hebrews 5:1-10
Mark 10:35-45


FROM THE RECTOR

I can’t remember definitively, but I suspect I have at least touched on the importance of keeping the Sabbath in one of my sermons. It is a topic that comes up regularly in scripture, and it is something with which I often struggle in my own life. So I was excited to learn that the topic of our fall clergy retreat this week was “Resting in God: The Spiritual Practice of Keeping Sabbath”. It was led by Brother David Vryhof, one of the monks of the Society of St. John the Evangelist in Cambridge, MA. The Brothers are very intentional about keeping their own Sabbath on Mondays, when they close their guesthouse to the public, and I knew what David had to share would be pertinent.

Indeed, what he had to say was most helpful, and in the context of a retreat, something we could practice in short periods right there. Keeping the Sabbath is about more than taking a day off or worshiping on Sunday morning or resting from our work. As the title of our retreat indicates, it was about resting in God – knowing ourselves to be not only created in the image of God but beloved by God. As he said to us at one point, he wasn’t telling us much we didn’t already know. But I needed the reminders, and I suspect we all did.

I’d like to pass along one of the gems he shared with us. It had to do with prayer, and came from his training when he first arrived at the monastery years ago. He said that until then he had always struggled with prayer, never feeling that he was praying frequently enough, or hard enough, or in the right way. He, like most of us, saw it as something that he initiated with God, rather than the other way around. But at the monastery he learned to see prayer as something that God invited him into, and to approach each day with an expectant attitude – wondering how God would appear that day, how God might surprise him. He learned to look for God in everything he did and in everyone he met, and found himself more and more likely to recognize God’s presence in his life. As his prayer life expanded in this way he realized that he no longer felt guilty for not praying well enough, or long enough or often enough.  A shift in his approach to prayer opened him to God’s presence in a new way. What struck me most about what he shared was that when we put the onus of praying on ourselves, seeing it as something we must do, it can become simply another task on our to do list and a place where we feel we come up short.

Prayer and keeping the Sabbath are both central to our spiritual lives, and essential to our well being. I invite you to take a little time to consider these things in your own lives, and to give me a call if you’d like to learn more about either.

Caroline
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From Rest: the gentle art of doing nothing – Br. Nicholas Bartoli, SSJE

There is within us all a very sacred place, a gift of stillness, light, and love central to our being. We could call it our “heart” or our “soul” or “the indwelling of Christ.” It is at once a point of utter nothingness and the point which gives birth to all things in heaven and on earth. It is a place capable of holding both incredible beauty and terrible pain. It is the place where Christ is born, and from whence we can share Christ’s love and compassion in the world. It is God’s eternal Kingdom within us and our common inheritance as children of light. Against all reason, it is the place God chooses to call home, and so it is our home, too.

However, it very often seems difficult to even visit this place, let alone claim it as our inheritance and home. We sense its existence most often in a feeling of restlessness, the nagging feeling that there’s something we have forgotten or have missed….
As hard as it can be to describe this place, we can become more receptive to it. And the way is truly very simple. I can sum it up in just one word: rest.


To read more, go to: https://www.ssje.org/monasticwisdom/#monthly. The second section on the page is called Monastic Wisdom Monthly, and “Rest” is one of the topics there. Use the left or right arrow to find “Rest”.

RAISE THE ROOF       

Your help is needed to sell Quilt Raffle Tickets
Please sign-out a packet of tickets to sell to your family, friends and neighbors. See Hettie Buck after the 10:00 am service on Sunday or call 603-253-5035. There will also be packets of tickets in the office.


   
CHURCH BILLBOARD


 DINNER BELL



Dinner Bell cook team for this Sunday October 21st
WILCOX-JACOBSON

Dinner Bell cook team for next Sunday October 28th
Sandwich Community Church
 ~
Thank you for your volunteer
work in this special Outreach program!

In my note last week about the Call and Response Foundation's team at Dinner Bell on 10/7, I failed to mention that Joyce Carter was also present for their delicious meal and Joyce with her kindness as always made Scott Whitmore and his team feel very welcome. Also Joyce reminded me that their meal also included delicious grilled veggies.


On Sunday 10/14 which was a lovely fall day with vibrant foliage colors, I participated for Gretchen-Behr Swenson who could not walk this year in the annual Crop Walk through the beautiful Sandwich countryside.  Many thanks to all who generously donated to the Walk. Our donations from the St. Andrew's community were $400!!


Beverly Hammond

COMMUNITY FOOD CENTER
The Food Pantry thanks you for your contributions throughout the year.
The monthly item for October  is deodorant for men/women.

FORWARD DAY BY DAY
Thursday, October 18
Ecclesiasticus 38:1-3 Honor physicians for their services, for the Lord created them; for their gift of healing comes from the Most High, and they are rewarded by the king. The skill of physicians makes them distinguished, and in the presence of the great they are admired.

My doctor and I are not friends, but we need each other. I need her care to maintain good health, and she needs me to support her practice. I do not know whether my doctor is a person of faith, but she is a member of God’s community of healers.



Many scholars believe that Saint Luke was a Greek physician. In Paul’s Epistle to the Colossians, the author refers to him as “Luke, the beloved physician,” and some faith traditions venerate him as the patron saint of doctors. As evangelist and doctor, Luke followed in the footsteps of our great healer.


Becoming a doctor entails many years of study and training, but the author of Ecclesiasticus reminds us that it is God who first bestows the gift of healing. Rather than seeing doctors as usurping God’s role, we should instead honor and admire them for their deep understanding of the substances the Lord has placed in the earth for our health and well-being, and for their skill in using them to heal.




MOVING FORWARD: Thank your health care provider today.

BIRTHDAYS & ANNIVERSARIES
If you do not see your birthday or anniversary listed, please make sure Deb in the office has an information sheet on file for you.

     Birthdays
5     Ray Walker
9     Joan Wright, Peter Thompson
11    Barbara Worcester, Rob Walty
20    Lois Brady
22    Sally DeGroot, John McGowan
27    Larry Grace
28    Dick Wakefield, Dwight Baldwin

     Anniversaries
8        Judy & Larry Grace

THIS MONTH AT ST. ANDREW’S
 OCTOBER
Sunday

21st
8 & 10 am
Pentecost 22
11:15 am
Book Group
28th
8 & 10 am
Pentecost 23
11:15 am
Book Group
Every Sunday
5:00 pm
Dinner Bell






Monday
9:30 am
Quilt Group
29th
7:00 pm
Vestry Meeting






Tuesday
Every Tuesday
10:00 am
Community Food Center
5:30 pm
Centering Prayer
8:00 pm
AA Meeting







Wednesday
Every Wednesday
9:00 am
Morning Prayer







Friday
Every Friday
10:00 am
Community Food Center







Saturday
Every Saturday
8:00 pm
AA Meeting
8:00 pm
Al-Anon Meeting
FROM THE OFFICE

The attic cleanout that was planned for today, Friday 19th has been cancelled for now,
Deb has to go out of town. Thank you and will keep you posted on a reschedule date.

ChIP’s and UNITED THANK OFFERING

It’s that time of year for giving!
Over the next two Sundays we will collect gifts for ChIPs and United Thank Offering (UTO).  Each October we invite contributions which will be taken to the Diocesan Convention on November 3rd by the Delegates.


The CHiPs program (Children of Incarcerated Persons) collects gifts and monetary donations ($25 this year) to be given to the children of those who are in prison. 


UTO: The first priority of The United Thank Offering is to encourage the spiritual practice of gratitude and then to give grants from the abundant collection of coins and bills given each year to our Blue Boxes. In 2018 the United Thank Offering annual grant recipients, seminarian and young adult grant recipients are working towards evangelism and reconciliation as a part of the Jesus Movement. The United Thank Offering of the Episcopal Church awarded 47 grants for a total of $1,169,969.55 for the mission and ministry of The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion. The 2018 grants were awarded to 34 Episcopal Church Dioceses, 8 Companion Relationships, 4 International Dioceses/ Provinces and 1 to continue our tradition of supporting Episcopal Church missionaries.

If you are giving by check to St. Andrew’s, please mark in the memo line “ChIPs or UTO”. You may leave your contributions in the office or drop them in the collection plate.

Thank you for your generosity to these very important outreach programs.

PHOTO GALLERY