The annual Diocesan Convention will
be held via Zoom and YouTube on Friday, November 5 – Saturday, November 6. All
delegates and alternates should have already registered. Everyone else is
welcome to attend Convention as a guest via YouTube at Episcopal Church of
NH's YouTube channel.
Convention begins at 7:00 pm on Friday and at 9:00 am on Saturday.
The keynote speaker
on Friday evening is the Rev. Katie Renger, Episcopal Church Staff Officer for
Church Planting. For more information on Diocesan Convention, go to
nhepiscopal.org/convention. I hope you will join in!
The Bishop is coming for his
semi-annual visitation on November 7. Following the service
he will have a Q & A session for the parish, and then a meeting with the
Vestry. I hope you will be able to attend church that day, welcome the Bishop
and worship with him!
As November 7 is the first Sunday of the month, we
will have one service at 9:00 am.
November 7 is also All Saints Sunday, and
we will read the names of your loved ones who have died at the beginning of the
service. Please send your names to Deb in the office (office@standrewsinthevalley.org)
or fill out a slip on the top of the cabinet beside her door and leave it for
her. If the pronunciation is not obvious please include phonetic spelling so
the reader will be able to pronounce the name correctly. If you would like to
help read the names, please let me know.
Our Stewardship Campaign is well underway.
Please
turn in your pledge card and your fall leaf as soon as possible (Sammie needs
time to glue a stem on your leaf so it can be hung on the tree). Our
Ingathering Sunday is also on November 7. We have set a goal of $155,000
for 2022. Please help us meet our goal with a pledge of any amount.
Finally, November 7 is also the day we end
Daylight Savings, so don’t forget to turn your clocks back.
Reminder: Please stay home and join us
for worship on Zoom if you are not feeling well, or have
a fever, cough or cold symptoms. The Covid numbers in Carroll County remain
concerning.
Blessings, Caroline
The remaining Sundays at 8:00 and 10:00 AM
This Sunday-October 31st
23rd Sunday after Pentecost
at 8:00 and 10:00 a.m.
The
Collect
Almighty and merciful God, it is only
by your gift that your faithful people offer you true and laudable service:
Grant that we may run without stumbling to obtain your heavenly promises;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy
Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
First
Lesson Ruth
1:1-18
Our opening
lesson tells of Ruth’s decision to leave her own country and return with her
mother-in-law Naomi to Israel. Naomi’s
husband and two sons die while living in Moab.
Ruth persists in her desire to go back to Bethlehem with Naomi and to
accept Israel’s God as her own. Later she will marry a relative of her
father-in-law and, though a foreign woman, become the grandmother of King
David. The narrative is both a touching
lesson of loyalty and devotion and an
illustration that God’s ways of bring about divine purposes often differ from
human expectations.
Psalm
146
A hymn to the Lord, who forms the
world and rules in justice, who heals and cares for the orphan and widow.
The
Second Lesson Hebrews 9:11-14
In this New Testament lesson we are
taught that Christ, our high priest, has fulfilled and surpassed the purposes
of the earthly temple that served as an archetype of the heavenly reality. Through his faithful sacrifice, Jesus has
entered the eternal holy of holies and obtained the everlasting redemption
prefigured by the old rites of animal sacrifice. Believers may now worship the living God with
a purified conscience, knowing themselves to be sanctified through Christ.
The
Gospel Mark
12:28-34
In the gospel Jesus answers a question
concerning the chief command of the law by reciting the double commandments to
love God and one’s neighbor. Jesus was
not unique in bringing together these two great teachings from Israel’s
heritage, but the New Testament gives them special emphasis. They are closely linked, for in responding to
God’s love, we learn that we are lovable, and so begin to be able to love others
as ourselves. In loving our neighbors we
discover the mystery that we are also loving in them their Creator. The man who asked Jesus the question repeats
the commandments in his own words. He is
not far from the kingdom.
Updating the Prayer List
Please let Deb know if you need someone added to the prayer list. Thank you.
Tending Our Heart, Mind, and Body
November 5th – 6th, Friday at 4 pm to Saturday at 2:30 pm~ at the Spirituality Center
Cost: $100.00. Includes overnight accommodation and meals.
Life as a human being has always had its complexity. These days with a global pandemic, natural disasters, facing racism and other oppressions, compounded with a 24-hour news cycle and social media, being human becomes trickier. Finding our way, following a path that is authentic to our personal truth while participating in society, takes skill and practice. How do we live a more centered life while navigating the fierce struggle of choosing sides?
This overnight retreat will offer space, silence, teachings, and practices for opening the heart, mind, and body to what is present in our days. Using four fundamental steps of practice—pause, allow, tend with love, rest in presence – we will consider how to build these steps into a rhythm for everyday life.
All are welcome, no matter where you find yourself on your spiritual journey, as you live into being human.
Presenter: Christi Humphrey, M.Div.
Our time together will include:
- a breathing practice for settling and grounding
- reconnecting our mind, body, and spirit in order to recognize what is present
- offering loving-kindness to ourselves, our loved ones, and our world
- contemplating what it is like to rest in the loving presence behind creation
Registration information can be found at this link https://ndspiritualitycenter.org/programs/
As the light of dawn awakens earth’s creatures
and
stirs into song the birds of the morning
so
may I be brought to life this day.
Rising
to see the light
to
hear the wind
to
smell the fragrance of the earth
to
taste its fruit
and
touch its textures
so
many my inner senses be awakened to you
so may my sense be awakened to you, O God.
Next Food Pantry:
