December 30, 2021

 

EPIPHANY

FROM THE RECTOR
Caroline is away this week. 

May God's presence be with you,
God's love within you,
God's light shining through you this Christmas Season.

Blessings, Caroline

On Sunday, January 2 there will be an online Service of Lessons and Carols at 9:00 am led by our lay Worship Leaders.NDAY MORNING 

SUNDAY MORNING WORSHIP
JOIN US FOR WORSHIP 
This Sunday-January 2nd

The Second Sunday after Christmas

for a Service of Lessons and Carols

via  Facebook Live at 9:00a.m.

(Email RectorSAITV@gmail.com for Zoom information)


READINGS FOR SUNDAY
Sunday, January 2, 2021
2nd Sunday after Christmas

The Collect

O God, who wonderfully created, and yet more wonderfully restored, the dignity of human nature: Grant that we may share the divine life of him who humbled himself to share our humanity, your Son Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.




Click below to see the readings: 
LECTIONARY PAGE
   

FROM THE OFFICE

Annual Reports due by January 12th.
As always, the sooner the better please!

and

You are welcome to take home flowers!
If you would like a poinsettia delivered
please call Gretchen 323-7459

PRAYERS FOR EACH OTHER
One thing we can always do while we stay at home is to pray for each other! 


This Week We Pray for:

In our Parish Cycle of Prayer: John & Joan Marshall.

In the Diocesan Cycle of Prayer: In thanksgiving for a New Year.

In the Anglican Cycle of Prayer: Province de L’Eglise Anglicane Du Congo.

Health and Wholeness for our:

Parish: John Appleton, Carolyn Boldt, Jennifer Brady,  Marty Cloran,  Lin Frank, Bev Hammond, Sue Huckman, Joan Marshall,  John McGowan,  Grete Plender,  Steve Thompson, Carol Tubman, Gabriele & Bob Wallace,  Rob Walty.

Family and Friends: Melody,  Megan Adams, Angela B, , Gary Cole, Grace Dick,  Tracy Forde,  Josh Hammond, Zac Hammond, Carolyn Jarvis, Jack Lamberti, Chris Mains, Lyse Marshall, Margaret, MacKenzie Paine, Peg Patenaude, Curt R., Sage, Sharon Sousa,  Johnathon Walty.

Homebound: Audrey Berry, Joyce Gendron, Judy Grace, Marge Hagerup, Elizabeth Pease, Elizabeth Wiesner.

For those who have died: 

Updating the Prayer List

Please let Deb know if you would like to add someone to the prayer list. Thank you.

COMMUNITY FOOD CENTER

The Food Pantry thanks you for your contributions throughout the year.
Food pantry continues to serve the communities needs with new hours.
Alternating Wednesdays
11am-3pm
January 5th and 19th

Any questions please call 603-960-4067.   

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

The Word became flesh and lived among us. —John 1.14

Christmas is not merely about a little babe once upon a time,
but the Incarnation: God's Word made flesh,
God's love embodied among us,
God's will, that is, God's delight, living among us
and within us, the miracle of living itself.
This is a new Creation,
the bursting forth of God's light in our darkness,
the birthing of God's love in our hearts.
This is a day of our belonging,
as God, in infinite power and love,
chooses to belong to us, who belong to God.
This day we celebrate the undoing of our undoing:
the healing of our imagined wound:
for now we know, from manger to cross,
God is one of us, and we are one of God.

Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

Links



December 23, 2021

 

  

CHRISTMAS


FROM THE RECTOR

Dear Parish Family,

I am sad to tell you that the Vestry and I have decided to stop in-person services and hold services on Zoom only, effectively immediately. This has come about because of a phone call I received on Tuesday night from JoAnne Rainville, the Tamworth Community Nurse, stating that there has been a significant spike in cases in Tamworth.  Ten new cases were confirmed in Tamworth on Tuesday from local test results alone, so the true number is no doubt higher. Previously there had only been a few cases a day, so the cases more than doubled. She recommends that we close down immediately and hold all our services on Zoom. I believe this is the right decision for us under these circumstances. We know that the Omicron variant does infect those who are vaccinated, so far with relatively mild illness, but there is still much we do not know. 

JoAnne also recommends that we wear N95 masks, or the KN95 if we can't obtain N95's (if you can tolerate them - people with respiratory issues may have difficulty with these masks). They are more effective than paper masks, and cloth masks are the least effective. Cloth masks tend to become damp with normal respiration, and they are then permeable. N95 masks are more readily available than they were - I found them on Amazon today. As has been true throughout the pandemic, hand washing and physical distance of at least six feet is of great importance. Lastly, she recommends we not gather in groups for social events and holiday parties. 

We will have the Christmas Eve services at 5:00 and 7:00 pm and the Christmas Day service at 10:00 am, as scheduled, all on Zoom. This Sunday we will have one service at 10:00, with no 8:00 service. On January 2 we will have one service at 9:00. 

I look forward to seeing you on Zoom, and I pray you will have a joy filled and peaceful Christmas, filled with the light and love of Christ. 

Merry Christmas!

Caroline

Christmas Services Schedule

Christmas Eve services will be held at 5:00 and 7:00 pm on December 24. Both services will be livestreamed on Zoom and Facebook Live. There is not an in-person option.

A Christmas Day service will be online at 10:00 am

On Sunday, December 26 there will be one online service at 10:00.

On Sunday, January 2 there will be an online Service of Lessons and Carols at 9:00 am led by our lay Worship Leaders.NDAY MORNING 

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-December 26

The First Sunday after Christmas

via Zoom and Facebook Live at 10:00a.m.

(Email RectorSAITV@gmail.com for Zoom information)


READINGS FOR SUNDAY
Sunday, December 26, 2021
1st Sunday after Christmas

The Collect

Almighty God, you have poured upon us the new light of your incarnate Word: Grant that this light, enkindled in our hearts, may shine forth in our lives; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

The First Reading                  Isaiah 61:10-62:3

Psalm 147:13-21

The Second Reading              Galatians 3:23-25; 4:4-7

The Holy Gospel                    John 1:1-18



Click below to see the readings: 

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: Melody,  Megan Adams, John Appleton, Jennifer Brady, Angela B, Marty Cloran, Gary Cole, Grace Dick, Tracy Forde, Lin Frank, Bev Hammond, Josh Hammond, Zac Hammond, Sue Huckman, Carolyn Jarvis, Jack Lamberti, Chris Mains, Lyse Marshall, Margaret, Joan Marshall, John McGowan, MacKenzie Paine, Peg Patenaude,  Grete Plender, Curt R., Sage, Sharon Sousa, Steve Thompson, Carol Tubman, Gabriele & Bob Wallace, Johnathon Walty, Rob Walty.

For those who are home: Audrey Berry, Joyce Gendron, Judy Grace, Marge Hagerup, Joan Marshall, Elizabeth Pease, Elizabeth Wiesner.

For those who have died: George Plender, Marilyn Cloran.

Updating the Prayer List

Please let Deb know if you would like to add someone to the prayer list. Thank you.


COMMUNITY FOOD CENTER
The Food Pantry thanks you for your contributions throughout the year.
Food pantry continues to serve the communities needs with new hours.
Alternating Wednesdays
11am-3pm
January 5th and 19th

Any questions please call 603-960-4067.


FOOD FOR THOUGHT


Savior of the nations, come!

Virgin’s Son, make here your home.

Marvel now, both heaven and earth,

that the Lord chose such a birth.

 

Wondrous birth! Oh, wondrous child

of the Virgin undefiled!

Mighty God and Mary’s son,

eager now his race to run!

 

Thus on earth the Word appears,

gracing his created spheres;

hence to death and hell descends,

then the heavenly throne ascends.

 

Come, O Father’s saving Son,

who o’er sin the victory won.

Boundless shall your kingdom be;

grant that we its glories see.

                                                Hymn 54

   

FROM THE OFFICE


Annual Reports due by January 12th.
As always, the sooner the better please!


LINKS


December 16, 2021

  The Fourth Sunday of Advent


FROM THE   RECTOR      

It’s hard for me to believe that this Sunday is the Fourth Sunday of Advent and that Christmas is only a little over a week away. Are you ready? And by that I don’t mean have you finished your Christmas shopping, mailed your packages, and made all your holiday plans. Are you ready for the coming of the Christ child? Are you ready to receive Christ as he comes to us? Is your heart prepared? I always find the busyness of the season to be a stumbling block – for me it’s choosing music, drafting bulletins, lining up readers, acolytes, etc. for the services (though Jonathan handles most of that).

But this year most of that is done. And I have some time for reflection. I am grateful. I’m grateful for our Advent study group and our discussions, grateful for Mary Oliver’s poetry, and for the time to stop and pay attention to the world around me and what is in my heart. I’m grateful for you, and all the ways you help prepare the church for Christmas and participate in the services. I’m grateful for your devotion to God and to St. Andrew’s. I’m grateful for the financial support you offer through your pledges to St. Andrew’s. Most of all I’m grateful for our church community, and all the ways you come together to support each other and the church, and your love for each other and St. Andrew’s. And I’m grateful for the beauty of the peonies in my window, and of the earth.

May God bless you abundantly,            

Caroline

Christmas Services Schedule

A Blue Christmas service will be held at 5:30 on Tuesday, December 21 at 5:30 pm. This is a quiet, contemplative service designed to offer comfort and consolation to those who have lost loved ones. Everyone is welcome – spread the word!

Christmas Eve services will be held at 5:00 and 10:00 pm on December 24. The 5:00 service is a family service and will be livestreamed on Zoom and Facebook Live for those who cannot attend in person. The 10:00 service is a quieter, more contemplative service, and will be in person only.

A Christmas Day service will be held at 10:00 am

On Sunday, December 26 there will be services at 8:00 and 10:00 as usual.

On Sunday, January 2 there will be a Service of Lessons and Carols at 9:00 am led by our lay Worship Leaders

SUNDAY MORNING WORSHIP
JOIN US FOR WORSHIP
The 1st Sunday of the month at 9:00 AM
The remaining Sundays at 8:00 and 10:00 AM

This Sunday-December 19

The Fourth Sunday of Advent

at 9:00 a.m.

Join us for the service
 via Zoom (email RectorSAITV@gmail.com for Zoom information)

READINGS FOR SUNDAY                
Sunday, December 12, 2021
Third Sunday of Advent, Year C

The Collect

Purify our conscience, Almighty God, by your daily visitation, that your Son Jesus Christ, at his coming, may find in us a mansion prepared for himself; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

First Reading                            Micah 5:2-5a

Canticle 15     The Song of Mary, Magnificat   Luke 1:46-55

Second Reading                   Hebrews 10:5-10

The Gospel                               Luke 1:39-45






Click below to see the readings: 


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: Melody, Cordelia Adams, Megan Adams, John Appleton, Jennifer Brady, Angela B, Clementine, Marty Cloran, Gary Cole, Grace Dick, Ellen, Tracy Forde,  Lin Frank, Bev Hammond, Josh Hammond, Zac Hammond, Sue Huckman, Carolyn Jarvis, Jack Lamberti, Chris Mains, Lyse Marshall, Margaret, Joan Marshall, John McGowan, MacKenzie Paine, Peg Patenaude, Peter, Grete Plender, Curt R., Sage, Sharon Sousa, Steve Thompson, Carol Tubman, Gabriele & Bob Wallace, Johnathon Walty, Rob Walty.

For those who are home: Audrey Berry, Joyce Gendron, Judy Grace, Marge Hagerup, Joan Marshall, Elizabeth Pease, Elizabeth Wiesner.

For those who have died: George Plender, Marilyn Cloran.

Updating the Prayer List

Please let Deb know if you would like to add someone to the prayer list. Thank you.



COMMUNITY FOOD CENTER
The Food Pantry thanks you for your contributions throughout the year.
Food pantry continues to serve the communities needs with new hours.
Alternating Wednesdays

December 22nd
January 5th and 19th

Any questions please call 603-960-4067.


FOOD FOR THOUGHT



    A Return to Devotion, Daily Reflections by Fr. Richard Rohr, 12-14-21

 

 

 

As we continue in the season of Advent, Father Richard shares why he believes devotion, or heart-centered faith, is essential to the Christian journey. 

I want to encourage the uncovering of what we mean by the word devotion. We have to somehow live a life that’s connected to the heart. Otherwise, we get into head ideology, righteousness, opinionatedness, and insisting on the right or wrong words. All are ways of avoiding the heart and staying in the head!

I have to admit that I’ve learned this kind of devotion from good old-time Catholics and healthy evangelicals. They’re invariably heart-based people who look out at reality with soft eyes. We can usually see it in their calm face or the natural smile on their lips before they even start talking. Trust that first impression, it is seldom wrong.

Perhaps this is what Jesus was talking about when he taught, “Blessed are the pure of heart” (Matthew 5:8). It’s having achieved a purity of intention, desire, and motivation that isn’t about me—how I look and whether people are going to like me or affirm me. I think we all have to purify our intention several times a day: “Why am I doing what I’m doing?” If we don’t localize our intention in the compassionate space that we call the heart, it all becomes about making an impression that will ultimately benefit ourselves. We are all attracted to those loving people who are concerned about others more than themselves and concerned about us specifically. It’s really quite beautiful. We feel softened, we feel held, we feel more tender around people like that.

We can’t fake devotion but sometimes I do suggest we “fake it till we make it,” as many say. We need to practice some kind of heart-opening prayer and practice being compassionate and kind toward others. Eventually our hearts, as John Wesley said, will surely be “strangely warmed”. and no one is more surprised than we are!

This is one of the hardest things in the teaching of spirituality because we cannot manufacture devotion. It is the work of grace, but of course we have to want it and create the conditions that can allow it to happen. Anything that helps us to be less willful, less pushy, less judgmental toward ourselves is a good place to start, because the face we turn toward ourselves is the face we turn toward the world.

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
6        Carolyn Seston
12      Hettie Buck
13      Suzanne Morgan
27      Debra Hoyt
30      Gretchen Behr-Svendsen

     Anniversaries
8        Bob & Carolyn Seston
21      Chris & Carolyn Boldt

News from Sammie
Click on link below

Eleanore's Project container delivery


LINKS





 The Third Sunday of Advent


FROM THE   RECTOR      

Annual Outreach Meeting

We will have our annual outreach meeting this Sunday immediately following the 10:00 service. A printed list of recipients from last year will be available on Sunday morning and a copy will be emailed on Saturday for those of you who will attend via Zoom. Thank you to Marty Cloran for leading our meeting. Please plan to stay for about 30 minutes after the service to help decide who this year’s recipients will be.

Christmas Services Schedule

A Blue Christmas service will be held at 5:30 on Tuesday, December 21 at 5:30 pm. This is a quiet, contemplative service designed to offer comfort and consolation to those who have lost loved ones. Everyone is welcome – spread the word!

Christmas Eve services will be held at 5:00 and 10:00 pm on December 24. The 5:00 service is a family service and will be livestreamed on Zoom and Facebook Live for those who cannot attend in person. The 10:00 service is a quieter, more contemplative service, and will be in person only.

A Christmas Day service will be held at 10:00 am

On Sunday, December 26 there will be services at 8:00 and 10:00 as usual.

On Sunday, January 2 there will be a Service of Lessons and Carols at 9:00 am led by our lay Worship Leaders

Blessings,  Caroline

SUNDAY MORNING WORSHIP
JOIN US FOR WORSHIP
The 1st Sunday of the month at 9:00 AM
The remaining Sundays at 8:00 and 10:00 AM

This Sunday-December 12

The Third Sunday of Advent

at 9:00 a.m.

Join us for the service
 via Zoom (email RectorSAITV@gmail.com for Zoom information)

READINGS FOR SUNDAY                
Sunday, December 12, 2021
Third Sunday of Advent, Year C

The Collect

Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us; and, because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory now and for ever.  Amen.

First Reading                            Zephaniah 3:14-20

Canticle 9       The First Song of Isaiah       Isaiah 12:2-6

Second Reading                     Philippians 4:4-7

The Gospel                               Luke 3:7-18






Click below to see the readings: 


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: Melody, Cordelia Adams, Megan Adams, Clementine Adams, John Appleton, Angela B, Carolyn Boldt, Jennifer Brady, Marilyn Cloran, Gary Cole, Grace Dick, Ellen, Tracy Forde, Bev Hammond, Josh Hammond, Zac Hammond, Sue Huckman, Carolyn Jarvis,  Jack Lamberti, Chris Mains, Margaret, Joan Marshall, John McGowan, Pam, Mackenzie Paine,  Peg Patenaude, Curt R., Sage, Sharon Sousa, Steve Thompson, Carol Tubman, Gabriele & Bob Wallace, Johnathon Walty.

For those who are home: Audrey Berry, Joyce Gendron, Judy Grace, Marge Hagerup, Joan Marshall, Elizabeth Pease, Elizabeth Wiesner.

For those who have died: 

Updating the Prayer List

Please let Deb know if you would like to add someone to the prayer list. Thank you.



COMMUNITY FOOD CENTER
The Food Pantry thanks you for your contributions throughout the year.
Food pantry continues to serve the communities needs with new hours.
Alternating Wednesdays

December 22nd
January 5th and 19th

Any questions please call 603-960-4067.


FOOD FOR THOUGHT



    First Snow, by Mary Oliver

The snow
began here
this morning and all day
continued, its white
rhetoric everywhere
calling us back to why, how,
whence such beauty and what
the meaning; such
an oracular fever! flowing
past windows, an energy it seemed
would never ebb, never settle
less than lovely! and only now,
deep into night,
it has finally ended.
The silence
is immense,
and the heavens still hold
a million candles; nowhere
the familiar things:
stars, the moon,
the darkness we expect
and nightly turn from. Trees
glitter like castles
of ribbons, the broad fields
smolder with light, a passing
creekbed lies
heaped with shining hills;
and though the questions
that have assailed us all day
remain - not a single
answer has been found -
walking out now
into the silence and the light
under the trees,
and through the fields,
feels like one

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
6        Carolyn Seston
12      Hettie Buck
13      Suzanne Morgan
27      Debra Hoyt
30      Gretchen Behr-Svendsen

     Anniversaries
8        Bob & Carolyn Seston
21      Chris & Carolyn Boldt

FROM Deb in THE OFFICE

May the Light of Season
brighten your path to the New Year!


LINKS



Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)