March 11, 2021

 


FROM THE RECTOR

Our plans for Holy Week and Easter are mostly complete, though there is still much to do. Our services on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday and the Great Vigil of Easter on Saturday will all be livestreamed on Zoom and Facebook, the same as our usual Sunday morning services.

Palm Sunday and Easter morning will both include the Eucharist and will be livestreamed from the church. We have purchased a new Wifi system that gives us a good signal in the church, so we think we have solved the problem that caused us to move into the parish hall on Christmas Eve.  

At the end of the Palm Sunday service everyone is invited to come to the church parking lot to pick up individual Communion kits and palms, and at the end of the Easter service all are invited to pick up Communion kits and a small pansy. Recording sessions are underway for all of the music (last year we hadn’t quite figured out the best way to record music so didn’t have much). A big thank you to Bunny, Val, Ann and Chris and Carolyn for recording all of our music!!

We will print bulletins for those who want them – please call or email the office by Monday, March 22 if you’d like copies so Deb will know how many to print.

We will also make arrangements to bring bulletins, Communion kits, palms and pansies to those who are homebound or who are unable to come by the church to pick them up. Please let us know by March 22 if you would like to receive these.

Reader schedules and readings will be sent out in the next two weeks.

I hope you will join us for the Holy Week and Easter services!

Blessings,

Caroline

SUNDAY MORNING WORSHIP

JOIN US FOR WORSHIP
The 1st Sunday of the month at 9:00 AM
The remaining Sundays at 10:00 AM

This Sunday-March 14th
at 10:00 a.m.
The Fourth Sunday in Lent

via Zoom (email RectorSAITV@gmail.com for Zoom information)
or Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/standrewsinthevalleytamworth/

AND...
JOIN US FOLLOWING THE SERVICE FOR
A VIRTUAL


on ZOOM


READINGS FOR SUNDAY

The Fourth Sunday in Lent

The Collect

Gracious Father, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ came down from heaven to be the true bread which gives life to the world: Evermore give us this bread, that he may live in us, and we in him; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

The First Lesson Numbers 21:4-9

In our Hebrew Bible lesson the impatient Israelites set out from Mount Hor, where Aaron was buried, to detour around the hostile country of Edom. The people complain against God and Moses about challenging conditions, as they have so often since their departure from Egypt. God sends poisonous serpents among the people, and the people respond by repenting of their disobedience. The Lord instructs Moses to make a bronze serpent and set it on a pole so that any who are bitten may look upon this sign of God’s faithfulness and live.

Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22

Thanksgiving is offered to the Lord, who saves from storms and other dangers those who will call upon God’s name.

The Second Lesson Ephesians 2:1-10

This New Testament passage emphasizes the manner in which Christians have been saved by God’s free gift. When we were dead in our sins, God raised us up with Christ that we might know the immeasurable riches of God’s graciousness. Although we are saved by faith and not by our good deeds, we are now able to do the good works for which God has made us capable.

The Gospel John 3:14-21

In our gospel, the image of Moses lifting up the bronze serpent in the wilderness is metaphorically related to Jesus’ lifting up on the cross. Just as the repentant Israelites could look upon Moses’ raised standard and be saved from the poisonous bite of a serpent, so all who look upon the crucified Christ in faith will be saved from their sins. Jesus did not come to condemn, but to be the saving light who draws many to himself.

Click below to see the readings: 


READINGS FOR SUNDAY

Lenten Quiet Morning
Saturday, March 20, 2021, from 10:00am – 12:30pm

The Spirituality of the Desert
Go and sit in thy cell, and thy cell shall teach thee all things.
Abbot Moses


 

The spirituality of the desert comes to us from stories of the Hebrew Bible in Exodus and from the stories of John the Baptist in the New Testament. In the third century, Christians sought refuge from persecution in the deserts of Palestine and Egypt. Men and women were seeking solitude, simplicity, and a way of living that prioritized the spiritual life.

Over the last year, the pandemic has thrown us into a kind of desert spirituality – isolation, testing, struggling with the unknown. How might we learn from our own experiences and those of our faith ancestors, learning from practices of self-emptying, listening, and wonder?

Please join Christi Humphrey, Saturday, March 20, 2021, from 10:00am – 12:30pm, for a virtual program which will include the practices of Lectio Divina, Visio Divina, and guided meditation. Fellowship, individual quiet time, and reflection will be woven together supporting you in deepening your relationship with the Divine.

To Register:

Email Christi Humphrey at cchumphrey1@gmail.com or call (508)633-7466 to register or for more information.

HOLY WEEK


PRAYERS FOR EACH OTHER
One thing we can always do while we stay at home is to pray for each other! We would like to keep our prayer list up to date and publish it each week in the Thursday Memo. Please email Deb at office@standrewsinthevalley.org with any updates.


This Week We Pray for

Health and Wholeness for:  Diana Riley, John Maloy, Brittany & Connor Cromwell, Frank, Amy, Judy Grace, Jeannette Mead, Margaret, Mary Ireland, Jean DeThomas, Terri Hooper,  Martin, John McGowan, Sue Huckman, Steve Thompson, Joan Marshall, Marilyn Cloran, Kitty Lou Booty, Gabriele and Bob Wallace, Dave Appleton, Carolyn Boldt, Angela B., Tom, Carolyn Jarvis, Doug Crapser, Peg Patenaude, Joyce Humphrey, 

For those who are homebound: Joyce Gendron, Marge Hagerup, Elizabeth Pease, Brian & Sara Kelley, Elizabeth Wiesner,  Audrey Berry.

For those who have died: 

For our First Nation people and those in this country who are living in impoverished areas of the Ninth Ward of New Orleans and the inner city areas populated by some of our poorest citizens.

For all those who are on the front lines serving communities during these difficult times.

Updating the Prayer List

Please let Deb know when a person can be removed from the prayer list. Thank you.

SAFE CHURCH TRAINING

Safe Church Zoom Trainings 2021

Thursday, March 18, 2021 at 6:00 pm - Click HERE to register

Praesidium, the operator of the Armatus System that tracks and presents our safe church training is planning a major system upgrade. As a result of this upgrade your email address will now become your user/login name and your unique identifier effective Friday, February 26. Accounts with more than one person using a single email address and users without an email address will no longer be allowed.  Please be aware of this change and report any problems to Marty Cloran.

 Thank you, Marty Cloran


DINNER BELL

No DINNER BELL until further notice.

Thank you for your volunteer
work in this special Outreach program!

COMMUNITY FOOD PANTRY

The Food Pantry thanks you for your contributions throughout the year.

Food pantry continues to serve the communities needs
New Hours
Alternating Wednesdays
12-4 pm
Next Food Pantry: March 17
Any questions call 603-960-4067



PRAYER SHAWL MINISTRY

We cannot meet at this time, but KNIT ON!



If you have any questions, please call Lin Frank at 323-0402.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT
A Prayer to Mark One Year of the Pandemic

Good shepherd, thank you for walking with us through this valley of the shadow of death: through the suffering, the anxiety, the loneliness, the boredom, the longing for closeness and the longing for personal space, the confusion and fear, the impatience and hope, the good days and the bad.

Forgive us for our suspicions of each other, the ways this ordeal has made us more divided, as a country and a world. Help us bridge our differences and come together - even as we are physically distant.

Thank you for all the ways, large and small, that this ordeal has strengthened us as a community: the acts of kindness, the new ways of doing things, the support we’ve offered and received.

Forgive us for the inequities this pandemic has exposed. Kindle in our hearts a new commitment to justice as we build our community together. Keep us ever mindful of those most in need.

We pray especially for those of us who have lost loved ones, lost jobs, lost hope.

Let us be good company, even from afar; good neighbors; and good friends.

We pray especially for those on the front lines of the pandemic, for all who are in harm’s way.

Gentle God, we ask that you continue to keep watch with those who work, or watch, or weep this day. Walk with those whose bodies are holding memories of sickness, of trauma, of pain, of confusion, of chaos, of isolation.

Give your angels charge over those who still cannot sleep because of anxiety or grief.

Tend the sick, give rest to the weary, bless the dying, soothe the suffering, pity the afflicted, shield the joyous; all for your love's sake.

God of love and hope, lift our spirits as we dare to look ahead, dare to hope and dream about the new world to come. Strengthen our efforts, deepen our wisdom, so we might hasten that day.

And until that day, keep our eyes and hearts open to the signs of hope and life all around us.

For new ways to connect, we give you thanks and praise!

For teachers and nurses and doctors and agricultural workers and grocery clerks and small business owners and frontline workers of all kinds, we give you thanks and praise!

For the beautiful hope of being together again in person one day, lifting our voices in song, passing the peace, sharing a cup of coffee, being able to hug one another again — for that day that is surely coming, we give you thanks and praise!

For the ways in which our eyes have been opened by this ordeal, for the ways in which our hearts have been broken and put back together differently, softer and more attuned to the needs of the most vulnerable, we give you thanks and praise!

For all of these things and more, gentle God, we give you thanks and praise in the name of Jesus, our crucified and risen Jesus,

Amen.

FROM Deb IN THE OFFICE

MARCH  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                       
10     Susan Ines
13     Trudy Thompson
16     Caroline Hines
20     Albert Bunker
21     Chris Boldt
30     Kaitlyn Marshall, Barbara Lord
31     Claudia Kennedy 

PHOTO GALLERY