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GOOD NEWS!
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A Newsletter of St. Paul's Church, Concord, NH "A place to belong . . . Whoever you are . . . Just as you are." | April 2011
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April Calendar Highlights
LENT, HOLY WEEK
AND EASTER
AT ST. PAUL'S
Wednesday Evening
Lenten Series
6 Holy Eucharist (5:30 pm);
Simple supper & 'Via Media'
program (6:30 pm)
13 Holy Eucharist (5:30 pm);
Simple supper & 'Sustainable
Faith' program (6:30 pm)
20 Tenebrae Service - from light
into darkness (5:30 pm);
Simple supper & 'Via Media'
program (6:30 pm)
Palm Sunday
and Holy Week
17 8:00 am Holy Eucharist with
Passion liturgy
10:00 am Holy Eucharist with
Liturgy of Palms
5:30 pm Sunday Night Alive
6:30 pm Dinner and a Movie:
'Millions' -- G-rated
18 7:30 am Morning Prayer
19 7:30 am Morning Prayer
12:10 pm Holy Eucharist
20 7:30 am Morning Prayer
5:30 pm Tenebrae Service
6:30 pm Lenten Program
21 7:30 am Morning Prayer
12:10 pm Maundy Thursday
service of Holy Eucharist
5:30 pm Seder Eucharist -
a traditional Seder meal
followed by foot-washing, a
service of Holy Eucharist, a
procession, the stripping
of the altar and sanctuary,
and the opportunity for
prayer and meditation in the
'Garden of Gethsemane'.
PLEASE NOTE,
NUMBERS ARE LIMITED
FOR THE SEDER EUCHARIST.
THERE ARE SIGN-UP SHEETS
IN THE PARISH HALL
AFTER SUNDAY SERVICES.
22 7:30 am Morning Prayer
Noon - 3 pm Good Friday
Vigil with readings & music
5:30 pm Good Friday Service
23 5:30 pm Great Vigil of Easter
with baptisms
Easter Day
24 7:30 am Holy Eucharist with
our Bishop
9:00 am 'Ageless Worship'
Eucharist with our Bishop
10:00 am Easter Egg Hunt on
the State House Lawn
11:00 am Choral Eucharist
with our Bishop
See entire calendar
For details of these and other parish events, check the weekly
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Milestones
Marriage
Suzanne Gale and Robb Washburn
3/19/2011
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Come Worship With Us
Sundays:
8:00 AM This celebration of Holy Eucharist is quiet and reflective. Occasional music, but no choir.
10:00 AM This is a traditional service of Holy Eucharist. Music includes traditional and contemporary hymns and choir anthems. All ages welcome.
Third Sunday of the Month: 5:30 PM Sunday Night Alive! A relaxed and informal service with non-traditional music. Followed by "Dinner and a Movie."
Tuesdays and Thursdays: 12:10 PM Holy Eucharist in the chapel.
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St. Paul's Episcopal Church 21 Centre Street Concord, NH 03301 Tel: 603-224-2523 Fax: 603-224-2524 [email protected]
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Clergy and Staff Rev. Kate B. Atkinson, Rector Rev. Herb Sprouse, Assistant Priest Rev. Charles Edward LeClerc, BSG, Deacon Rev. Deacon Will Ottery, Deacon Mark Pace, Director of Music Kristin Dunklee, Parish Administrator Sarah Nyhan, Minister for Families, Youth and Children Kellie Denoncourt, Minister to High School Youth Andrew Brundrett, Sexton
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Χριστός ανέστη ("Christ is risen")! Now that the Easter Season is upon us, rebirth is the watchword of the month. It's a great month to get more involved with St. Paul's, and Good News! is a good guide for doing precisely that. Just browse this newsletter for information, inspiration, services and other events, and links to various goings-on in our church community, and find something that piques your interest. Questions? [email protected]
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Clergy Corner
Dear friends,
We have waited an extra- long time for it this year but Easter is nearly upon us. And that means that we are about to experience some of the most inspiring, moving and, ultimately, joyful services in the church year. You can see the complete list in the feature to the left of this letter, and I invite you to put these dates on your calendar and to attend as many of the services and events as possible.
The journey through Lent, Holy Week and Easter is rich in significance and meaning. During the Lenten season, many of us have concentrated on stripping down our complex and consumer-orientated lives in order to come before God without disctraction or pretense. It is in that state of simplicity that we are able to hear God speak to us most clearly, urging us on as we strive to become the people God calls us to be. Our Via Media and Sustainable Faith
series have been helpful tools in this process and I encourage you to attend these Wednesday evening sessions, along with the evening service that preceeds them. On Wednesday, April 20, that 5:30 service will be a Tenebrae - a unique and moving service which symbolizes the "light to darkness" theme of Jesus' final days in Jerusalem.
Palm Sunday marks the start of Holy Week. At the 8:00 service that day we will be offering the traditional liturgy from the Book of Common Prayer, including a dramatic reading of Matthew's Passion. For the 10:00 service, we will focus on the Liturgy of the Palms, as we begin our progression through the events of Holy Week. Each day will open with a service of Morning Prayer in the chapel, plus mid-day Eucharist on Tuesday and Maundy Thursday; and then the momentum gathers at the end of the week with the major services and events described in the feature below.
When we engage fully in the events of Holy Week and Easter, as individuals and as a worshiping community, we cannot fail to take meaningful steps forward in our personal journeys of faith. May God bless you on that journey and bring you the deepest joys of Easter.
Yours faithfully,
Kate+
[email protected]
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Special Services and Events for Holy Week and Easter
Come and experience the sights, smells, sounds, and tastes of the liturgical elements of the Seder, the Passover meal. Join us for the Maundy Thursday Seder Eucharist on April 21st at 5:30pm as we gather to participate in this traditional feast, including foot washing, Eucharist, procession and stripping of the altar. Reservations are necessary so that we may plan and cater for all who wish to attend. Sign up in the upper parish hall or email [email protected] and type Seder in the subject line. All are welcome! Come and discover what makes this night different from any other night.
This year, for the first time, St. Paul's will offer a Gethsemane Garden for those who would like to take part in a silent vigil of prayer and contemplation following the Maundy Thursday liturgy. This vigil commemorates the hours spent by Jesus and his disciples in the beautiful garden at Gethsemane immediately before his betrayal and the terrible events of Good Friday. Our chapel will be decorated and lit to recall this lovely place of repose and an hourly sign-up sheet will be posted for anyone who would like participate. The chapel will remain open for as long as there are those who wish to stay.
The three-hour Good Friday Vigil takes the form of "A 21st Century Way of the Cross" - a collection of readings, prayers, scripture, and music, interspersed with periods of silence. The congregation is welcome to take part in all or some of the service, and can enter and depart at any time. For those who attend during their lunch hour, soup and bread will be served in the Upper Parish Hall between 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. From 1:30 until 5:30, in Ordway Hall, there will be a labyrinth (made by the children) for meditative walking. A traditional, non-Eucharistic Good Friday Liturgy will take place in church at 5:30 p.m.
The Great Vigil of Easter, the most ancient vigil in western church liturgy, is filled with both the darkness of the Crucifixion and the dawning light of the Resurrection. After kindling a new light outside of the church, we follow the Pascal Candle into the darkened sanctuary. Readings and responses recall the history of our faith, and at St. Paul's much of this service is chanted. The Great Vigil is the primary occasion for baptisms - of which there are five this year. The Holy Eucharist on this evening is the first observance of Easter, accompanied by bells, lights, flowers and joyous hymns.
On Easter Sunday,the Feast of the Resurrection and a day of celebration, we are delighted to welcome our Bishop, +Gene Robinson, as celebrant and preacher at all three services. Following the 9:00 service, specially geared to children and their families, there will be an Easter Egg Hunt on the State House lawn.
Music is central to our worship on this joyful day:
At 7:30 a.m. the Adult Choir will be accompanied by strings and brass, and will sing selections including an anthem by Haydn, and an American Classic anthem called Joy in the Morning by Natalie Sleeth that is the best musical example of a happy piece that is in a minor key. We will also sing the ever popular Hallelujah Chorus from The Messiah by Handel.
At 9:00 a.m. the Adult Choir will again sing Joy in the Morning and the Hallelujah Chorus. The Children's Choir will have sung and played bells on Palm Sunday, so the entire congregation will get to join in on an easy kid's anthem Hallelu Hallelu that includes both singing and motions.
At 11:00 a.m., in addition to the anthems listed above, the choir will sing the Gloria, Sanctus and Agnus Dei from Mozart's Twelfth Mass. These beautiful selections will be sung in their original Latin. The most interesting thing about this mass is that Mozart did not compose this mass. Scholars believe that the work was actually written by Wenzel M�ller in 1819. It was published by Novello for economic reasons...Mozart sells! For the entire 19th and much of the 20th century the Twelfth Mass along with his Requiem were Mozart's most famous compositions.
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Ministries and Missions: St. Paul's Altar Guild
by Tamar Roberts and Mary Waples, Co-Chairs
Did you ever wonder who clears and resets the altar between services, who changes the hangings to different colors for the church seasons, who polishes the silver and brass, fills the candles with oil, cleans the linens, puts up the candlesticks for Christmas and Easter, and many other tasks around the church? You should check out April's Mission of the Month, St. Paul's Altar Guild.
The Guild is a group of dedicated individuals who have a lot of fun and fellowship while performing these important duties. We develop strong friendships by working with each other during the year, and do not find the work to be exceptionally difficult. Many of us have been involved in this ministry for many years, and have some interesting stories to tell of the things we have done and the changes that have occurred over the years.
Twice a year, just before Christmas and Easter, we share a meal at church (provided by the co-chairs), and then do a mass cleaning of the sanctuary. We enjoy each other's company and observe that old saying that "many hands make light work."
So take some time this month to talk to members of your Altar Guild, and if you have a little time to spare and would like to join us, or just to give it a try for one or two Sundays, let us know. We would love to welcome you to our team!
In the meantime, we hope you enjoy the beauty of our sanctuary as much as we do. It will be especially beautiful at the end of this month as we come to the end of the starkness of Lent and Holy Week, and fill the space with flowers and hangings in celebration of Easter.
Ideally, we try to schedule two or three individuals each month, with additional help for times when there are extra services such as Advent, Christmas, Lent and Easter. Our work is not overly time consuming; with two people, preparation for a service can be done in less than a hour, and the cleanup and reset between Sunday services can be done in about twenty minutes. Training is done "on the job" and all new members are paired with one or two experienced members until they are comfortable.
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Poll of the Month
Last month's poll question was: "What is the most useful feature of the St. Paul's website?" Here are the results:
Events calendar 50%
Ministries and programs 33%
Sermons 4%
Links to this Newsletter 12%
We have a website? 0%
This month's question is, "Which is your favorite Holy Week or Easter Week service at St. Paul's?"
To vote, click here. Your vote is anonymous, so don't be inhibited; we want your opinion!
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Topics in the News: NH Budget Cuts Fall Hardest on Needy
by John Bouton
As March ended, thousands of protesters gathered outside the Capitol across the street from our church to protest the budget under consideration in Representatives' Hall on March 31st. With the House Finance Committee's budget proposal falling $519 million short of Governor John Lynch's proposal, advocates for the needy sought to dramatize their concerns over cuts to the State's budget beginning July 1, particularly Health and Human Services. They banded together with union members, who could lose leverage under an amendment that would make state workers at-will employees, to create a demonstration that at one point forced Legislative leaders to close the gallery in Representatives Hall for several hours.
As reported in the Concord Monitor, Rep. Neal Kurk, R-Weare, defended the budget's social services spending - $360 million less than the governor proposed - as difficult, but necessary. He said some people who lose state services will have to turn to family, friends, churches or their local governments for help. St. Paul's Church hosts a number of programs that would likely feel increased demand from those struggling to meet their needs in light of shortfalls. These include our church's programs such as the Food Pantry, Chapter II, and other outreach, as well as programs held here by organizations such as Alcoholics Anonymous and the Visiting Nurses' Association. The budget was scheduled for discussion and a vote by the House on March 31st. According to Twitter feeds that day from Concord Monitor reporter Shira Schoenberg, as of 11:00 a.m., Rep. Ken Weyler, R-Kingston, chair of the Finance Committee, had given up detailed responses to questions in favor of a mantra: "All services are cut, we don't have the money to restore them." As of 2:00 p.m. on that day, every motion to amend the budget had failed. These included drives to add money for areas cut in the budget, including domestic violence victim support, childcare subsidies for low-income women, funds to help the developmentally disabled, as well as monies for mental health services, drug and alcohol addiction, and Head Start. While the Bible is clear on Christians' obligations to the needy, particularly in Matthew 25, New Hampshire is far from a Christian state if one measures by church attendance. Christians bear a special injunction from Jesus to care for the poor, sick, and needy in their midst. Jesus himself affiliated with the poor and friendless. To remind legislators of social justice, a number of clergy and faithful began a prayer vigil at the State House on March 30, including Rev. William Exner, pastor of St. Matthew's in Goffstown. As Rev. Mary Westfall, pastor at the Community Church of Durham, told the Concord Monitor, "The reality is that it is not something the church can take on by itself," she said. "It is part of a cornerstone of a democratic society . . . that the most vulnerable are cared for, not by some small group, but that we all share the responsibility for caring for each other."
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Photo feature: Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper
by Kathy Bush
SPY (St. Paul's Youth) and their leaders and helpers hosted the Pancake Supper on March 8, 2011. This was their way of using their "10 Talents" to offset the deficit. The line was out the door at the beginning as the youth distributed Mardi Gras beads and people of all ages shared delicious pancakes and sausage! There was also a 10 Talents Market Place and many beautiful items in the Silent Auction that also went towards the deficit. It was a time for telling "10 Talent Tales" which were heartwarming and inspirational, as we headed into the Lenten season.
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From the Vestry: Vestry Retreat and Mutual Ministry Review
by Casper Kranenburg, Senior Warden
"RETREAT" : A word from the 15th Century from the Latin 'retrahere' passing to Old French as 'retraire' and later on used as a noun meaning 'withdrawal' or 'retreat'.
Your Vestry went on its annual retreat the last weekend of March and did a lot of work during those 2� days. Contrary to the original meaning of the word 'retreat,' we did not withdraw from the world or from our responsibilities and this article may shine some light on the issues we discussed as a team. But first, the surroundings: the Retreat Center at Geneva Point is located between Center Harbor and Moltonborough, right on the still frozen Lake Winnepesaukee. We were in a spacious house with ample room to sit and talk, be silent or pray, and to havehome-cooked meals together.
This year's retreat was led by the Rev. John Denson of Christ Church in Exeter and the focus was the Mutual Ministry Review interviews which were conducted with parishioners over the past few weeks. All the answers to the questions were identified for commonalities or surprises and studied for noteworthy comments and ideas. When you consider that approximately 75 people were interviewed, each responding to six thought provoking questions, you get an idea of the magnitude and importance of this project.
The second phase included the identification and prioritization of themes that emerged from the data, followed by the development of goals under each of the themes. Additionally, the answers to the Table Question at our Annual Meeting was discussed in depth, as was recently received correspondence pertaining to our endeavors. Then, in order to get a focused list of goals for the next three years in the life of St. Paul's, we again prioritized and subsequently agreed on short-term goals which we, as your Vestry, feel comfortable with. I am listing the four themes here and at a later date we will share with you the goals pertaining to each of these themes.
The four themes developed for: 'St. Paul's: an intentional community of faith' :
1) We encourage people to find out what is behind the red doors; come as you are, just as you are and here is how and why.
2) We want to love and be loved; we invite people to experience belonging as we meet their spiritual needs.
3) As members of the Body of Christ we share responsibility for the mission and ministry of St. Paul's.
4) We will put our financial situation in proper perspective and live accordingly. Recognizing the financial challenges, we will seek solutions in keeping with our call to make Christ manifest in the world.
In a very short time, we will assign a few Vestry members to each of these four themes and their corresponding strategic goals and we will invite all people who were interviewed as well as all other interested parishioners to hear our story. That way we can communicate to all of you the importance of these goals which emerged from the answers received by you, the interviewees, as this is 'all about us' and sharing responsibilities for our church. Meanwhile, continued questions and feedback are always welcomed!
Casper Kranenburg, Senior Warden
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Youth Happenings
by SPY
The Ten Talents Challenge UPDATE
Oh my ever-loving head! This challenge has exceeded our expectations in so many ways, we cannot even begin to count (but we have to because Good News! is limiting this article to 300 words!). SPY handed out TEN TALENTS to anyone who wanted them, with hopes that whoever took them would make them grow (Matthew 25:14-30). We handed out $570 worth of talents to willing members of the parish. So far, we have received over $6,000.00 in income from the congregation taking the challenge to make it GROW! We still have people who have plans for spring yard sales, concerts, etc so even MORE growth is going to happen!
What we saw that we did NOT expect is the community building this has done! We met people who we have never met before, and others were able to talk to each other, who wouldn't normally talk! Eight O'Clockers and Ten O'Clockers were mingling! People were sharing their gifts and talents with everyone! We had hand-made wooden items, magnets, quilts, baked goods, note cards, auction items, china, you name it! We even had one person who substituted her daily cappuccino ($4/day) for a cup of coffee from work (.50) for the duration of the 37 day challenge and she netted $129.50! THAT IS HUGE!
We had a couple of people who did not fare so well and were not able to make their talents grow so much. We still love you! We have no intentions of throwing you into the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Your efforts have NOT gone unnoticed. (In fact, they were yummy! Glad you brought them to Pot Luck!).
SPY has no reservations about investing in this congregation in the future. The return on our investment has been 1050%! See what can happen when we combine our talents? We love our St. Paul's Community!
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History and Artifacts
by Frank Spinella
While St. Paul's may not be the richest parish around, we have come a long way in comparison to our beginnings. The church couldn't even pay its first full-time rector without appealing to outside sources. The following account is from Burns P. Hodgman's address at St. Paul's centennial banquet, reprinted in the January 1917 issue of The Granite Monthly:
"At a parish meeting held November 1, 1836, it was voted to raise one hundred and fifty dollars by voluntary subscription for the support of a clergyman, and the wardens were authorized to extend to Rev. Petrus Stuyvesant Ten Broeck an invitation to accept the appointment as rector, which was then understood to have been tendered him by the domestic missions committee. Mr. Ten Broeck accepted the rectorship on December 3 of that year, and entered upon his duties. At this time, services were being held in the Court House building on North Main Street, the site of the present County Court House. There were ten communicants under Mr. Ten Broeck's care.
"Apparently the question of compensating the new pastor proved troublesome, because we find that the wardens, when they notified the committee on domestic missions that Mr. Ten Broeck had accepted the rectorship, in pleading for a liberal donation from the committee, as an aid to the one hundred and fifty dollars to be raised in Concord, said: 'Boarding in this place for a clergyman, including room rent and fuel, would be not less than three dollars a week. Rent for a suitable house for a small family from eighty to one hundred and fifty dollars. Annual salary requisite for the support of a clergyman's family from five hundred to eight hundred dollars, including rent.'
"Notwithstanding this appeal, the Board of Missions apparently looked upon the situation from a practical standpoint, and appropriated only two hundred and fifty dollars by way of assistance. Not satisfied with the allowance made by the Board of Missions, the trustees of the Eastern Diocese were appealed to, and further assistance to the extent of one hundred dollars was received from that source, thus giving Mr. Ten Broeck an annual salary of five hundred dollars."
It seems our first rector really was "Broeck"!
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� St. Paul's Church, 2011. Next Newsletter: May 1; deadline for submissions: April 27. Please do not reprint text or graphics without permission.
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