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Thanks to everyone who made the Lenten Series/Supper a memorable event. Fr. Matt and the Adult Spiritual Formation team would like to thank Jane Cramer and her volunteers for all of their hard work and great effort for the delicious Lenten meals that were prepared each week! The Adult Spiritual Formation team thanks Fr. Matt for his wonderful series and for sharing "his" story of the Gospel According to ...You. Some of the talks were recorded and you can find the link on our website.
GOOD FRIDAY CONCERT: On April 22nd at 8:00 p.m. the St. Cecilia Choir and Cantiamo Sonoma with the Incarnation Orchestra will present the beautiful Stabat Mater by Franz Joseph Haydn. The soloists will be Carol Menke, soprano; Lynda Higson, mezzo soprano; Kevin Baum, tenor; and Tom Hart, bass, under the direction of Mark Penn, guest conductor. Tickets are available from Carol Menke or Barbara Avery, or online at www.numinacenter.org. Only a few tickets will be available at the door. This concert traditionally sells out, so get your tickets now!
Flowers Needed - The Altar Guild will need lots of cut flowers to decorate our beautiful Church for Easter Sunday. Please bring your cut flowers to Farlander Hall by 9 am on Saturday, April 23rd, so that we can arrange them in the baskets. Thank you!
Basket Full of Blessings Party! Our parish Easter party will be on April 23rd this year, from 4 to 6 pm. See Daphne Vernon (707-579-2604 ext. 106) for more details. Fun and fellowship abound, come join us!
Please note that the Church Office will be closed on Monday, April 25th, the day after Easter. Happy Easter to all!
Message from the House of Bishops -- The House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church has taken the rare step of issuing the following letter concerning the Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem. Our Presiding Bishop urges us to take action:
http://www.norcalepiscopal.org/pb-house-of-bishops-issue-letters
The April group practice session for Prayer of the Heart is Wednesday, April 27th, in the Clergy Conference Room, from 6 - 7:30 pm. All are welcome who wish to practice Prayer of the Heart in a group setting. Questions? Need more info? Call Lisa, 707-527-9549.
The Wonderful World of Theatre! The Theater-Goers Group is off to a great start! So far, some of the group have been able to attend the Wells Fargo Center for the Arts productions of "In the Mood," "An Irish Hooley," the Ani DiFranco show, and the musical satire, "Forbidden Broadway." In May, Lynn Perry Garland has organized a group to go to see "Jesus Christ Superstar" at the Santa Rosa Junior College. A number of people have expressed their interest in joining the group by signing up on the clip board at the Small Groups table. If you would like to be on the email list, you can sign up on the clip board or just email me (Maggie Wager). If you have signed up and haven't heard from me, please email me because I may not have been able to read your handwriting and have the incorrect email address for you. You can always reach me at either my home email at maggiew@sonic.net or at my work email at maggiew@wellsfargocenterarts.org. It is usually best to send me an email to both addresses, that way I am sure to get it.
Our Former Associate for Children and Youth, Emily Wilmer, is returning to California in May, to hold a couple of workshops at The Bishop's Ranch. See details below.
Lord, teach us to pray: A four-week course
Wednesday evenings from 7:30 PM - 9:00 PM. May 4, 11, 18, 25
Prayer is at the heart of the Christian path. Using the four Gospels we will explore Jesus' life of prayer, including his quiet personal prayer, his prayer at synagogue and temple, his teaching about prayer, his contemplative experiences, and the consequences of his prayer for his personal life and his active engagement with society. There will be a special focus on "The Lord's Prayer" and opportunities to relate Jesus' prayer to your own personal prayer, parish spiritual formation, and the relationship between prayer and daily life. Cost: There is no charge, but participants may make a donation to the Ranch.
Learning to Listen to the Life Within: An overnight retreat
Sunday May 22 at 4 pm - Monday May 23 at 6 pm
Most people live very busy and responsible lives. Our attention and energy is directed to the 'outside' of life. This is necessary, but is only half of our true selves. The 'inside' of life is often neglected; this is the life of the heart where our spirits and God's Spirit dwell together. The inside of life is the source of our desire, words, and actions. This retreat will help participants focus on three disciplines to "listen" to the inside of life. An Experience of Contemplative Prayer: the prayer of stillness and silence. Praying with Scripture: a method for hearing the mystery of God's voice in scripture. Praying with Body and Soul: several forms of prayer from our Christian tradition including contemplative walking, the Lord's Prayer and practices form the early Desert Mothers and Fathers. Cost: $130, Double Occ.; $170, Single Occ., including lodging and meals.
Location: The Bishop's Ranch. 5297 Westside Road. Healdsburg, CA 95448. To Register for these workshops: Call 707-433-2440 or email shannon@bishopsranch.org
Led by David Keller and Emily Wilmer. David and Emily led weekly contemplative prayer at the Ranch from 2003-2006. They now live in Asheville, NC where they are Stewards of Oasis of Wisdom: An Institute for Contemplative Studies, Practice, and Living. (www.oasisofwisdom.net). Emily has over fifteen years of experience providing spiritual direction to individuals seeking spiritual growth and discernment in their lives. David is Adjunct Professor of Ascetical Theology at the General Theological Seminary in New York and Director of the Contemplative Ministry Project.
Our Open Table ministry needs more food! Please consider bringing in a contribution. Contact Terri Hobart for more details on what is needed: 707-823-9598.
Southwest Deanery "Last gasp of spring" Convocation
Dates: Saturday, May 7th or June 4th
Places: St. Paul's, Benicia on the 7th or St. Michael & All Angels, Fort Bragg on the 4th (your choice!)
Times: 10 am till 12 noon
You will be fed! You will be watered! You will be filled with valuable information! There's singing and dancing and all manner of enjoyment (OK, no singing and dancing, but a great, informative meeting!) There is a special option for those folks "in the north of the south west" to attend Convocation in Fort Bragg. Just think of the benefits of not traveling 6 hours for a 2-hour meeting!
This meeting is open to all, but of special concern to Clergy, Lay Leaders and Delegates to Convention. Of particular interest are:
¨ Discussion around the election of people to Convention, and of a Youth representative
¨ Information session about restructuring proposals for the Diocese
¨ Sharing of best practices in the Deanery
All Congregations in Southwest, please respond with regrets/and or numbers, locale.
La Velle Seely is retiring as our rides coordinator after well over ten years of faithful service! We are deeply grateful to La Velle for all the souls she has helped bring to church. This means that we are now in need of a new rides coordinator - please call the pastoral care coordinator, whose phone number is listed at the end of the bulletin, if you are interested in helping out. We promise we won't make you serve for 10 years unless you want to!
North Bay Sponsoring Committee: Are you wondering what we've been doing since Incarnation joined this group of nine faith communities in Sonoma County? As many as 17 committed members of our church have met five times on Sunday afternoons to faithfully consider how our congregation should proceed. We have been trained to facilitate small group meetings within the congregation, and we are now in the process of forming these small groups by geographical proximity. Judy Velasquez and Jan Slaby represent our congregation on the NBSC Steering Committee. They attend meetings once a month with representatives from the other eight congregations.We share what our faith community is doing and make collective decisions about what we will do together.Many, in what we call the NBSC leadership group, attend cross-congregational meetings. These meetings focus on four areas of concern: education, jobs, mental health, and immigration. Some of our members sit on committees which work to gather information about these four areas of concern. These committees are called research/action teams. Several of us attended a large gathering this past October in which leaders from Marin, Sonoma, Monterey and Santa Cruz counties met with Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey. We have had opportunities to meet with other elected officials. We are learning that this is a slow, careful process. Our relationship to one another within our church and with other congregations is based on respectful listening and heartfelt story telling. That same listening and story telling applies to our connections with our elected officials. Our own congregational small group meetings will begin in early June. We hope that everyone will take part in these meetings. Stay tuned for more information about these June gatherings.
What Are Small Groups? A Small Group is simply a group of people who gather on a regular basis for friendship, conversation and support. We have Small Groups covering a variety of different topics and new groups forming all the time, looking for people just like you! Check out the Small Groups table in Farlander Hall and if you would like more information, check out our Website. To sign-up or please call Mitch Garcia at 707-703-4162 or email smallgroups@incarnation-sr.org. If you are interested in starting a small group, please call or email!
Create your own Small Group. On the Small Group in Farlander Hall is a flyer with information for anyone who is interested in creating their own Small Group. In the next few weeks there will be information of new groups starting, maybe one of them will be yours!
Animal Ministry Team was recently asked by several parishioners for updated information on disaster preparedness for their animals. We are happy to provide info sheets and checklists for ensuring that you have a plan and supplies in place to care for your animals in case of an earthquake or other natural disaster. You can download the information from the Incarnation Animal Ministry web page and you will find copies on the Small Groups table. The Red Cross and Animal Rescue Corps provided us with the checklists. If you want to get more involved in helping your whole community with animal rescue during a natural disaster, United Animal Nations provides training online and in Sacramento. Their website is www.uan.org. They also provide grants for individuals who care for rescued animals that need emergency care. There are many resources out there for helping with your furry kids! Just ask the Animal Ministry team folks and we will provide it.
8 am Kitchen (Coffee Hour) Help STILL Needed. We need some volunteers to help pour coffee and bring goodies one Sunday per month - we have four Sundays open and need 6 people. Please contact Marilyn Payne (707-545-2597) if interested.
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