July 1, 2008 |
link to: "From the Rector" |
link to: "From a Clergy Associate" |
Summer Music Highlights
July 6 - Taylor Broadard, Tessa Demers, Annecca Smith, trio
July 13 - Janice Seymour and Ned Brose, duet
July 27 - Ned Brose and Eric Brose, duet
August 3 - The All Saints Choirs at 10:30 and at 5:00 for a Bon Voyage Evensong
and Reception prior to their tour of England, August 5-20
August 31 - Family Choir (come one, come all) at the Caswell Farm, Princeton
informal rehearsal at 10:00 prior to the 10:30 outdoor service
Next Baptismal Dates Scheduled
Our dates for scheduling baptisms are Sundays July 13, September 21
and November 2.
Please contact Kevin Bean at 508-752-3766 x13 or kevin@allsaintsw.org
Helpers Needed for Parking Lot Project
We need a few people to help clean the sand off the parking lot and assist with the re-striping of the parking spaces. Please contact Dominic Protano at 508-798-2853.
Vestry Liaisons to Ministry Area
Roles and Responsibilities
Vestry liaisons will work in collaboration with a staff member and leaders in the various ministry areas of the parish. The liaison is not to be the chair or leader of a ministry area; although it may be that they do participate in one of the groups and have a leadership role therein. The Vestry and Staff liaisons will help with leadership training, assist groups in the annual budget process, and ensure that communication flows from Vestry to groups and vice versa.
Vestry liaisons and staff liaisons will meet 2-4 times per year with their Ministry group and have the following responsibilities:
- Communication
- Link to and help with the budget process
- Bring information and needs to the Vestry
- Communicate and teach structure and policies
- Assist with Ministry Growth plans/or Ministry demise plans
- General teaching and modeling
Summer Neighborhood Walks
Come join Neighborhood Ministries as we once again walk our neighborhood. We have walked the neighborhood over the last several summers in an effort to connect with our neighbors. We stop and have conversation about how life is in the neighborhood and offer prayer for the hopes and concerns with those we meet. If you would like to join us we will be walking on Thursday nights beginning July 10th through September 4th; with the exception of August 21st. We leave the church at 6:00 and walk for approximately an hour and then gather at the Pickle Barrel for supper and reflect on where we encountered Christ during our walk. If you have any questions please contact Beth Baldwin 508-363-4774 or lizzieab@charter.net.
Take me out to the ballgame
The First Episcopal Night at the Tornadoes will happen on Saturday July 26th at 7 p.m. at Hanover Insurance Park at Fitton Field on the Holy Cross campus. Members of Worcester area churches will come together for a fun evening. The opponent for the night will be the Nashua Pride. Tickets will be $8 each. Checks can be made out to Central & West Worcester Deanery. Reservations and monies need to be in by July 13. We've reserved a block of 40 tickets for All Sainters and friends.Please sign up on the clipboard in Huntington Hall or call or email Kevin Bean (508-752-3766 x13 or kevin@allsaintsw.org )
A Call to Arts!
Music & the Arts at All Saints wishes to sponsor an All Saints table at the stART Festival, Sunday September 21, 2008, and we need your help now tohave plans in place! We shelter many art and music programs here--including Fab and Fun Fridays, our choirs, the All Saints Lunchtime Concert Series--as well as count many artists and crafters of all ages among our members. We are forming a committee to have an information and display table about any and all arts groups in the parish. We need those who love to organize, those who love to create, and those who love to help in anyway possible! Please contact Candace Smith at candacehsmith@yahoo.com or telephone 508-799-8976.
All Saints Supper Groups
Would you like to gather with other parishioners once a month for supper, starting in September? Here's how it works: individuals and families--new and old--sign up to participate. When we have a list of interested people, we then divide them into groups of 8-10 on a random basis, and then recruit one person for each group to serve as the initial host for the first supper at his/her home. That host can either provide the meal, OR can recruit the other members of that group to provide main course, salad, dessert, beverages etc. Each group meets monthly at the homes of different members of that group, for six to nine months. At the end of that time, the groups are then "re-shuffled" and include new people who have signed up. Please sign up on the clipboard in Huntington Hall or call the parish office.
Parish Picnic - Sunday, August 31
at Storm Hill Farm in Princeton.
On Sunday August 31, we will have a 7:45 service at All Saints, and then consolidate our two later services into a 10:30 Eucharist that will be celebrated at Jennifer Caswell's Storm Hill Farm in Princeton. After the service there will be a cookout and games and activities for all ages, including a hayride, swimming (bring/wear a suit and towel), basketball and volleyball and just sitting around this beautiful farm. Bring a lawn chair if you can (there will be enough chairs otherwise). We’ll need some help with salads and desserts. Otherwise a cookout lunch is provided—we ask for a donation of $5 per person, and no more than $15 for a family. Carpooling from All Saints at 9:45 is an option. Sign-up on clipboard in Huntington Hall or call the parish office. Directions to the farm will be in the August issue of The Parish and Sunday bulletins and on-line at www.allsaintsw.org
Lay Eucharistic Ministers & Lay Readers Meeting
Monday, September 8th at 6 p.m.
We will gather for a light supper and discuss scheduling and upcoming events.
Please make every effort to attend. Questions – speak to Coralie O’Connor or Sharon Weeks.
Summer Office Hours
Beginning Monday, June 9th through Labor Day, the parish office will be open Monday-Friday, 8:30 to 3:30 p.m.
Episcopal Relief & Development – healing a hurting world
Contributions for ongoing relief efforts for the flooding in the Midwest, the earthquake in China and cyclone in Myanmar may be sent to:
Episcopal Relief & Development,
P.O. Box 7058, Merrifield, VA 22116-7058.
Do you like to help people?
Do you like to tell people where to go and when?
Then All Saints Church has a job for you!
We're looking for a few good men and women to volunteer for Officer of the Day. What is an Officer of the Day? Well, if you've walked by the front office on any given Sunday, chances are you've seen a Vestry Member behind the desk from 8:45 am to 11:45 am. An officer of the day helps newcomers find their way to the Service, answers the phone, delivers phone messages, if necessary and keeps a sharp eye out at the door. Sign up sheets are in Huntington Hall.
All Saints Pride
On Saturday, June 14th five members of the All Saints Alliance marched together in Boston’s Gay Pride Parade. The day was simply amazing. Throughout the 2.5 mile route people who saw the banner we were holding shouted “Yay Worcester, Yay All Saints”. As we looked at the people who were so happy to see Worcester and our church represented in the parade we could see such love and affirmation that it brought tears to our eyes. One of the people who saw us rushed toward us shouting “All Saints Worcester!!” with his thumbs raised in victory and greeted each person holding the banner, shook our hands and even hugged one of our members. That person was Bishop Tom Shaw. We ended the day at a Pride service at St Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral led by Bishop Shaw where he invited us to come to the front of the church for a blessing, either as an individual, a couple or a family. This was extremely moving as many of us, especially those who are married, have never had our relationship blessed in church. We hope you will join us next year as we march in the name of All Saints and the diversity we value so highly. – The All Saints Alliance
Confirmation class:
The upcoming confirmation class, open to all young people in 7th-10th grades, will begin in September. The class will meet on first and third Tuesdays, from 6:45-7:45 in the evening. If you are interested in learning more about the class or in registering, please speak with Nancy Elder-Wilfrid (nancy@allsaintsw.org) or call the church office.
Purchasing Food Cards
One more way to help your Community
Please remember to purchase your Food Cards each Sunday to benefit homeless families. If you are going away for the summer, you can purchase cards here and use them at the local stores: Stop & Shot is one the Cape, R.I. shore, N.Y., N.J. and also has stores in N.H. and Maine. Big Y has locations in western Mass. And the Berkshires. Shaw’s is throughout New England, with many markets on the Cape, in Maine, N.H. etc.
Summer Office Hours
Beginning Monday, June 9th through Labor Day, the parish office will be open Monday-Friday, 8:30 to 3:30 p.m.
The Ministry of Healing at All Saints
Here at All Saints we offer the ministry of the laying on of hands every Sunday at the the 10:30 service and at the 7:45, and 9:00 a.m service the 1st and 3rd Sunday .
As the congregation begins to receive Holy Communion, anyone desiring this ministry is invited to prayer desks located on the sides of the Nave. There, one or two lay persons will share a prayer for healing with you.
All are welcome
In the hospital or having surgery?
Given recent developments in managed health care, we are finding that parishioners are often in and out of the hospital before the clergy and parish nurse know about it. We would very much like to connect with you during the time of your hospitalization. Therefore, we would greatly appreciate it if you would let the parish office know if you will be going into the hospital, particularly if you are scheduled to have surgery.
~Ellen Paquette
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From the Rector
(No) Ordinary Time
On a recent day off, I visited the Tower Hill conservancy where I saw a number of beds for flowering plants and vegetables which had recently been churned up and fertilized with a compost that included a heavy dose of manure, leaving a rich earthy smell. I’m reminded that from Advent to Pentecost we turn through the full cycle of our faith, churning up the whole soil of our soul, as it were—except the last piece, the seventh day, the rest. In our church calendar we are now in the midst of the season after Pentecost, called by some “Ordinary Time”—a lengthy season marked by the color green.
In Flannery O’Connor’s story “The Violent Bear It Away,” a character says, “Love cuts us like a cold wind, and the will of God is plain as the winter. Where is the summer will of God? Where are the green seasons of God’s will?” This season after Pentecost—“Ordinary Time”—is the green season…the summer of God’s will. Maybe we can also call it “Sabbath time,” when God invites in us a fallow or more restful heart.
Sabbath time is also possible each day of the year in both our sleeping and waking moments, and each week of the year with our Saturday endings and Sunday beginnings. Of course, building into our daily lives, or setting aside a day or two has become harder and harder as ever increasing pressures from economic, social or personal demands further push us along, oftentimes.
In the Summer—hopefully—we all slow down a bit. And when that can happen—at work, home, school, church, community—not only can we finish plowing the whole soil of our soul with the rediscovery and renewal of Sabbath rest, but we can also see afresh that there is nothing ordinary about “Ordinary Time.” This season doesn’t have the great miracles of Christmas, Easter and Pentecost punctuating and permeating it, but rather the everyday miracles of God with us, of life on earth. Ordinary time is the time when we can renew our vision of the extraordinary gift of God’s presence and purpose and power in our lives, and in life together, on this good earth. There’s nothing ordinary about that—instead, it presents a lifetime worth of challenges ahead.
Summer in the life of All Saints is a time to step back a bit, to lay aside a number of the tasks associated with the full rhythm of worship, education, outreach and other parish activities. Of course, throughout the summer we still have our three services each Sunday and Church School and ongoing commitments within the parish and beyond. Special events such as our Elm Park School program (in July) and the Choir trip to England (Aug. 5-20) are also happening. And yet this season nonetheless beckons us to rest up, relax more, take stock, and shed some of the busy-ness that we are so accustomed to much of the year.
For “unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.”
(Psalm 127:1) Knowing this deep in my bones, I can find rest in this “green season of God’s will.”
From a Clergy Associate
Dear friends,
Do any of you remember the lectionary text for May 4th from the book of Acts? I’m guessing not………….at least not off the top of your head! This verse that has lately captured my interest and been a focus for my prayer is Acts 1:8, the words Jesus spoke to his disciples in the last moments he was with them before his ascension:
… you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
I have been thinking a lot about this promise Jesus gave us: that we will be given the power of the Holy Spirit, and empowered to witness to the life and love, the justice and grace of Jesus in our lives and world.
When you think of the power of the Holy Spirit, what images come to your mind?
What does it mean to you to be empowered by the Holy Spirit?
This final promise of Jesus seems to me to be both a challenge and a comfort. First is the challenge to accept this holy power God gives us – to receive this gift that will ask more of us than we may be prepared to give. To accept the power of the Holy Spirit is not something we do lightly – we may be changed, shaken out of our routine, asked to risk our comfort, or begin to question whether we are truly living our faith.
This power that is poured out upon us is no ordinary power. When we think of power we tend to think of might and strength and control, but I believe that the power the Holy Spirit gives is something quite different: the strength and courage, compassion, faith and wisdom to continue the ministry of Jesus. We all know how difficult it can be to love…to forgive…to risk what we have for what might be….
The power of the Holy Spirit is the power to do these very things, in Jesus’ name.
The comfort we are given comes from the promise that we already have all that we need to be the witnesses we are called to be. We tend to doubt ourselves – to think we need more courage or faith or strength before we can accept the challenge of our faith….but truly, we have been given all we need! That is what it means to be empowered by the Holy Spirit!
When we are part of a community of faith, we are reminded that we are never alone…we grow to see the face of Christ and to recognize the love of God in one another…we are able to question our faith and to learn from each other’s experiences…we are supported in our private prayer and our public witness.
Day after day, I see the power of the Holy Spirit poured out upon All Saints Church and its members…My prayer for us – as individuals and as a community of faith – is that we open our hearts to receive this gift of God and the challenge and comfort it brings.
Blessings,
Nancy