The Third Sunday in Lent – March 19, 2017
Almighty God, you know that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves: Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, Collect for The Third Sunday in Lent)
March 19, 2017– 10:00 - Who’s Who
Greeter – Penny McClure; Host – Brennan; Scripture – Barb and Bruce Lather;
Psalm and Prayers – Andrew Pillsbury; Chalice – Leslie Black and Pam Hanson;
Announcements – Rich Kremer; Counters – Cindy Dale and Pam Hanson; Altar
Guild – Barb Coulter and Barb Lather; Verger – Doug Jenisch;
Coffee Hour – Jen Bowen and Madilyn, Katherine and Samantha; Acolytes –
Jonathan and Kathryn Brennan
Scott’s Schedule
March 20 – Office Hours 9--12
March 21 – Clergy Day in Rutland
March 22 – Bishop’s Homecoming and Visitation
March 24 and 25 – Sabbath Days
Announcements
Bishop’s Homecoming and Visitation Schedule and an Invitation – wednesday, March 22 - Please mark your calendars – the Bishop is coming for his visitation and homecoming. He will be with us from 10 AM – 8 PM. We have a full day planned with him. You are invited to join us for conversations throughout the day. The schedule for day looks like this.
10-11 AM – Conversation with the Concerned about Racial Justice Group
11-12 AM – Conversation with UVIP
12-2 PM – Lunch and conversation about Refugees and Immigration – please RSVP if you are planning to
attend this discussion so we can provide food and schedule room to meet.
2-3 PM – Visits to Dismiss House and The Good Neighbor Clinic
3-4 PM – Visit to the Haven
4-4:30 PM – Official break
4:30 – 6 PM – Meeting with the vestry
6 – 7:15 PM – Potluck Dinner – please RSVP so we can set up appropriately
7:30 – 8 PM – Worship in the Taizé style
Women’s Retreat – March 17-18 at Hulbert Outdoor Center – Fairlee – Carpooling is available from the St. Paul’s parking lot on Friday evening and Saturday morning. For more information contact Jane Carroll or Kathy Detzer.
Vestry Retreat UPDATE– At out Vestry retreat last weekend, March 3-4, we continued address the charge form Annual Meeting regarding Refugees and Immigration. As an initial response, the vestry decided to make the following statement, based on a prior statement Scott had included on his former parish’s website. The statement is:
“As Christians and members of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, White River Junction, we welcome all people into our midst as we would welcome Jesus Christ himself. We take our Baptismal Covenant seriously; we do our best to continue in the apostle’s teachings and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in the prayers; we work to persevere in resisting evil and when we fall into sin we repent and return to the Lord; we do our best to proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ; we strive to seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbor as ourselves; and we strive for justice and peace among all people, and endeavor to respect the dignity of every human being. And to that end we embrace all people without regard to race, color, ethnic origin, national origin, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, disabilities or age.”
For now, this is an in-house message. We welcome your feedback around this statement. Please send comments to spcrector@gmail.com . Thank you, Scott and your vestry
ER-d Ingathering – Thank to your generosity we gathered $527.15 last week for Episcopal Relief and Development! For more information on ER-D use this link: http://www.episcopalrelief.org/ Thanks, Scott
Good Neighhbor Health Clinic Dinners
Who: St. Paul’s Church commits to
What: Provide dinner for 8-10 volunteer staff (entrée and side dishes OR soup,
bread & salad OR a 1 dish meal: really whatever you might prepare at home!)
When: On the 4th Monday of each month, delivered by 5pm,
Where: To the Clinic in downtown White River Junction.
How: Please sign up to provide a meal, either on your own, or as a team with others!
March is covered. Please consider signing up on the sheet on the Parish Hall bulletin board for a month after that.
Contact Pam Hanson with any questions: 603-558-1239 or pamela.r.hanson@comcast.net
The Upper Valley Haven Food Shelf needs your help – Thanks for your generosity last week! The Top 5 needs at the Haven Food Shelf this week are cereal, pasta, pasta sauce, milk and, tuna.
March 28 - Lenten Series – Having Conversations that Matter – Tuesday, March 28th our Lenten Series will continue – Having Conversations that Matter from 6:30-8:00 in the Parish Hall. We will gather for discussion and conversation. The series will continue on April 4th – mark your calendar today! Each session is independent of the others. Hope you will join us!
Other Lenten Resources
- JJSE Video Series 5 Marks of Love: Living Life Marked as Christ’s Own (booklet and information in the narthex)
- St. Paul’s Bible Study will continue as normal 2nd and 4th Monday of the month
- Lent Madness, like March Madness but the saints compete – Score Card available from Kate Townsend
March 20 - Listen Community Dinner- Listen Community Dinner March 20th-
We thank everyone who will be preparing and cooking food for our dinner March 20th to feed 100-120 people.
Two more adult volunteers are still needed with one arriving at the kitchen by 3pm and the other adult volunteer arriving by 3:30pm. Please contact Holly if you can volunteer. Thank you. The remaining 2017 St Paul's Listen Dinner dates are: May 15, July 17th, September. 18th, and November 20th.
March 22 – Bishop’s Visitation and Homecoming – Have you RSVP’d to lunch and/or dinner? – do it today!
March 22 – 24 – WaterJustice – The 46th National Theological Conference of Trinity Institute - A program of Trinity Church, Wall St, NYC – Webcast at St. James’ Church, Woodstock.
Holy Week and Easter Schedule
Sunday, April 9 – Palm Sunday 8 and 10 AM – Liturgy of the Palms and Holy Eucharist
Monday, April 10 – Monday in Holy Week – 7 PM Holy Eucharist
Tuesday, April 11 – Tuesday in Holy Week – 7 PM Holy Eucharist
Wednesday, April 12 – Wednesday in Holy Week – 7 PM Holy Eucharist
Thursday, April 13 – Maundy Thursday – 7 PM – Holy Eucharist, Setting of the Altar of Repose, Stripping of
the Altar
Friday, April 14 – Good Friday – 7 PM – Reading of Passion, Prayer, Communion from the Reserve
Sacrament
Saturday, April 15 – Holy Saturday – 9 AM – Prayer and scripture
Saturday, April 15 – The Great Vigil of Easter – 8 PM – Lighting of the Paschal Candle, scripture, The Frist
Holy Communion of Easter
Sunday, April 16 – Easter Day – 8 and 10 AM Holy Eucharist
May 31- July 9 – River of Life: Connecticut River Pilgrimage - …join us for a day, several days, a week, or the entire journey! Rejoice in and give thanks for the miracle of all life that is made possible by the grace of God through water. Come on a spiritual journey of renewal, restoration, and reconciliation, shaped by the Christian tradition around a series of activities along the Connecticut River, from the Source to the Sea. For more info: http://kairosearth.org/ Sponsored by Kairos Earth and Dioceses of Province One (New England) of the Episcopal Church.
Knit and Purl Fellowship - meets the 1st and 3rd Monday of the month 6:30 at Parish House. All are welcome and all hand projects are welcome. Come and join the fellowship. Our next two gathering will be January 2nd and 16th.
CONTEMPLATIVE QUIET Prayer and Meditation- Throughout Lent, our sanctuary will be open 5:30-6:30 on March 29th, April 5th and April 12th. Contemplative prayer and meditation will also be on April 19th, the third Wednesday of the month. All are welcome for time of peace and stability as you pray and meditate. Contemplative Prayer and Meditation will continue on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of the months ahead.
Weston Priory – The brothers at Weston Priory welcome anyone to their services. Holly plans to attend services on Saturday March 25th and April 8th and she welcomes anyone who would like to come.
+ + + + +
St. Paul’s Vestry: Pam Hanson, Senior Warden; Greg Taylor, Junior Warden; Bev Barton; Jon Chaffee; Cindy Dale; Holly Hall; Stuart Johnson; Rich Kremer; John Monfette.
Upcoming Events
Please send event and prayer updates to announcements.spc@gmail.com
March 17-18 – Women’s Retreat
March 21 – Vestry Meeting
March 22 – Bishop’s Homecoming and Visitation
April 9 – 15 – Holy Week
April 16 – Easter Day
April 30 – St. Paul’s Quarterly Meeting
May 31 – July 9 – River of Life: Connecticut River Pilgrimage
Ongoing Reminders
- Discretionary Fund Reminder – First Sunday of every month. Please be as generous as possible.
- Laying on of Hands – On the first Sunday of every month those wishing to receive laying on our hands are invited to gather at the Baptismal Font (just as you entered the church) immediately after you have received communion.
- Leadership Team Meeting – every Wednesday 9:30-11:30am
- Worship Team meets – 2nd Thursday of the month in the Church Library at 4pm, all are welcome to attend.
- Vestry meets – 3rd Tuesday of the month in the Parish House at6:30pm. All are welcome to attend.
- Brookside Nursing Home Church Services – Please join us! – Second Sunday of each month (Sept-June) from 2-2:30 pm. If you would like more information about this service, please contact Holly.
- Knit and Purl Fellowship – Meets 1st and 3rd Monday of the month in the Parish House, 6:30 PM. Contact Holly for info.
- Bible Study – meets the 2nd and 4th Mondays of the month in the Parish House at 7 PM. We will focus each meeting on the lectionary for the upcoming week. This is a come as you can discussion group, you can do not have to come every meeting. All are welcome!
- St. Paul’s Concerned about Racial Justice group meets the 2nd Sunday of each month, after church (and a little of coffee hour!), for discussion and planning. All are welcome to join us!
- Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) sponsors two regularly scheduled events open to the public: Mondays, 5:30 – 6:00 pm, on the corner of the green across from Hanover Inn, Vigil for Racial Justice.