JOIN US FOR WORSHIP
THIS SUNDAY, February 17, The Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany, there will be two services at 8 and 10 am.
CENTERING PRAYER
Tuesdays at 5:30 p.m.
MORNING PRAYER
Wednesday mornings at 9:00 a.m.
SIMPLE SUPPER and ROMANS Study
Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.
Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.
WE HOPE YOU WILL JOIN US FOR WORSHIP
and FELLOWSHIP
and FELLOWSHIP
Winter Weather Advisory!!!
Winter Weather Advisory!!! If the weather is questionable on a Sunday morning please call the church before you leave home to check for schedule changes. If a storm comes in on Saturday evening or Sunday, I will make a judgment by 7:00 AM about whether to hold or cancel services. Cancellations will posted on WMUR 9 and the church phone message will also reflect any cancellations. PLEASE do not travel if it feels unsafe to you. Enjoy a Sabbath morning at home and remember St. Andrew’s in your prayers.
READINGS FOR SUNDAY
Sunday, February 17th
6th Sunday after the Epiphany
Year C
Year C
Jeremiah 17:5-10
Psalm 1
1 Corinthians 15:12-20
Luke 6:17-26
Psalm 1
1 Corinthians 15:12-20
Luke 6:17-26
FROM THE RECTOR
There are days when faced with the blank page that is supposed to be a message from me to you for the Thursday Memo, I am at a loss as to what to write. Today is one of those days… the Annual Meeting is over and Lent has not yet begun. We are in a relatively quiet time in a longer than usual season after the Epiphany. But it is Valentine’s Day, named after a saint of the church. I read an article in the weekly email I receive from the Salt Project, and thought it perhaps worthy of sharing. It’s titled “A Brief Theology of Valentine’s Day”, and excerpts follow:
Before Hallmark, before
long-stemmed roses delivered to your door, before heart-shaped boxes of
chocolates with embossed “flavor maps” - there was St. Valentine.
Actually, there may have been two. The history’s pretty murky, and
includes legends about an early Christian priest (or was it a bishop?) martyred
for (perhaps?) surreptitiously helping Christians to wed. So uncertain
are the details, in fact, that in 1969 the Roman Catholic Church officially
discontinued liturgical veneration of St. Valentine - though he’s still on the
list of recognized saints.
But the holiday lives on.
It turns out Chaucer, of all people, may be the reason why: the
late-medieval poet penned “Parliament of Foules” sometime around 1375,
including a link - embellished by more than a little poetic license - between
courtly love and St. Valentine’s feast day. February 14, Chaucer wrote,
is the day birds come together to find a mate: “For this was sent on Seynt
Valentyne’s day / Whan every foul cometh ther to choose his mate.” A lovely day
indeed - and as the poem’s fame spread, so did the day’s association with love,
both avian and human.
But however fanciful these
various legends may be, there’s a deeper wisdom beneath the whimsy. For
centuries in Christian thought, the most prestigious book in the Bible - the
“graduate school” of Christian spirituality - wasn’t Matthew, Mark, Luke, or
John, or the Book of Genesis, or the Psalms. It was the Song of Songs, an
ancient - romantic poem about love in a world fraught with danger. Over the
centuries, the poem was interpreted as an unsurpassed figurative portrait of
the love between God and God’s people…
So this Valentine’s Day, think
of all the love in your life - the love you feel and the love you witness; even
the love among the birds of the air! - as a glimpse of God’s care for all
creation. And if you’re especially perceptive (or especially
mischievous), you can glimpse divine love in places likely and unlikely, common
and uncommon. Even in a sweet little greeting card, an arrangement of flowers,
or a “flavor map” embossed on a heart-shaped lid.
For if we have eyes to see and
ears to hear, the truth about God’s love is that it’s all around us, the Song
of all songs, the Symphony of all symphonies, echoing everywhere...
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Caroline
WOMEN'S LUNCH BUNCH
Women's Lunch Bunch cancelled due to
to weather yesterday and
will meet next Wednesday Feb 20, at noon, at
the Indian Mound (golf course) Grill and Tavern in
Center Ossipee.
DINNER BELL
Dinner Bell cook teams for February are:
17th-Slader
24th-Friends
~
Thank you for your volunteer
work in this special Outreach program!
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Early in the morning we see
your presence, O God,
not because you are ever absent
from us
but because often we are absent
from you
at the heart of each moment
where you forever dwell.
In the rising of the sun,
in the unfolding color and
shape of the morning
open our eyes to the mystery of
this moment
that in every moment
we may know your life-giving
presence.
Open our eyes to this moment
that in every moment
we may know you as the One who
is always now.
- John Philip Newell
Sounds of the Eternal: A Celtic
Psalter
COMMUNITY FOOD CENTER
COMMUNITY FOOD CENTER
The monthly item for February is razors for men/women.
The Community Food Center (CFC), which operates out of St. Andrew’s Church on Old Route 25 in Tamworth, is looking for new volunteers to help with this important program. The Center is open on Tuesdays and Fridays from 10:00 am to noon for clients to come in and pick up their food. On each of these days, two volunteers staff the Center and a CFC Board Member is on hand to help and answer questions. Scheduling is done bi-monthly and substitutes provide flexibility for volunteers who have other commitments.
FORWARD DAY BY DAY FOR TODAY
THURSDAY February 7, 2019
Mark
10:21 Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said,
“You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and
you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”
There are many ways to interpret today’s gospel
passage. One response is to become frustrated with the rich young man. This may
not be the best way to approach the text, but it is certainly the easiest way
for me.
Is this man arrogant? Is he oblivious? Has he
somehow really kept the law since he was young? Does he not realize who he is
talking to? What other answer does he expect? Doesn’t he know that life with
Jesus has so much more to offer than worldly possessions?
From my comfortable position in the twenty-first
century western world, it is easy for me to look down on the rich young man.
(And perhaps forget that in the eyes of many around the world, I am that rich
young man.) Jesus does not feel this way. He is the same God who is “slow to
anger and abounding in steadfast love.”
MOVING
FORWARD: How do you feel about the rich young man?
How do you feel about yourself in light of this story?
FROM Deb IN THE OFFICE
PARISH DIRECTORY
I will be working on a new Parish Directory over the next few weeks. If you have any changes or updates please submit them to the office via email or drop a note in the office.
If we do not have your information please complete and submit a new "Member Information sheet" (found on the parish hall bulletin board).
Thank you
Debra
FEBRUARY 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 Anniversaries
2 Joan Marshall 14 Ken & Debra Hoyt
3 Carolyn Boldt 20 Bill & Valerie May
7 David Manley
13 Bill May
14 Lin Frank
17 Muffy Smith
20 Tom Huckman
21 Judy Grace
