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News flash!
Bishop Hirschfeld to sign Shared Ministry Covenant
Bishop Rob Hirschfeld will be with us on Saturday, November 16 to sign our Shared Ministry Covenant and join us for a Celebration Dinner to follow. Holy Eucharist with the Signing of the Covenant will be held at Trinity Church at 5:00; dinner will follow in Hobbs Hall at 7:00. All are welcome as we celebrate the culmination of many months' work - and many years' anticipation. Be watching for further details - but save the date now!
A "Ministry Minute" from Kris Ebbeson of Christ Church...
This is a place where we can share our joys and our sorrows...and feel Jesus' presence
I was chatting with a friend of mine a couple of weeks ago, a s she and I were trying to find a day when we could go hiking together. I told her that Sundays were pretty much out for me. She commented "You attend church pretty regularly, don't you?" I said "Yes" and she asked me "Why?" It was a great question, and was one that I had already been pondering as I thought about what I wanted to share with you in this Ministry Minute. Why DO I attend church regularly, and why do I attend THIS church?
I told my friend that while I grew up living in a home about a mile down the road from here, that I did not start attending this church until I was entering my teen years. Although I was attending church, it felt too "safe" and I was looking for a church that took a public stand on the social and political issues of the day. The folks here at Christ Church were known for doing exactly that. My parents, Eric and Helen, eventually joined me here, and became very involved with social issues, and were members of this congregation for the rest of their lives.
I continued to attend services here regularly through my early twenties. However, after I got married, moved out of the immediate area, and started a family, my attendance became much more sporadic. Over the years, I have come and gone, always feeling welcomed when I returned, but then leaving again as the busy-ness of "life" took my focus away. For a while, I did not attend church at all.
Then, about eight years ago, Craig said to me one Saturday evening that he would like to go to church the next day, and asked if I knew of one that we could visit. We came here that Sunday and were very warmly welcomed. We had intended to visit other churches in the area, but this one felt so much like "home" that we have been coming here ever since.
Now that I am older and a bit wiser, I understand that I always need to balance the "busy-ness" in my life, and that I need the spiritual renewal that comes with going to church regularly. I need a place that I can count on, a place where I can be as imperfect as I am, and through God's grace, where I am still welcomed with open arms; a community where there is acceptance and forgiveness and love. This is a place where we can share our joys and our sorrows, and even when we have doubts or questions, we can feel Jesus' presence through the Holy Spirit, and see his love in the faces and actions of each other. I feel so blessed and grateful to be a part of this Christ Church Community, and of the Shared Ministry with Trinity Church in Hampton.
With much gratitude,
Kristin Ebbeson
More "Ministry Minute" speakers to share their stories
Each Sunday between now and Nov. 10, we will hear from a parish member about some aspect of the ministry we are called to support through our offerings. This week:
At Christ Church, Portsmouth...
Paula Kidder Longtime active member
At Trinity Church, Hampton...
Sat. 5 pm Rusty Bridle Former Senior Warden; current Parish Clerk
Sun. 8:45 am Jim Ashworth New to Trinity; acolyte and Food Pantry volunteer
That was a mouthful!
For the past six months, Nita Niemczyk, our shared ministry Administrator, had been answering the phone, "The Shared Ministry of Trinity Church, Hampton and Christ Church, Portsmouth." To say the least, it was a mouthful! Most folks who knew the "spiel" cut her off in mid-sentence...which was a clue it was perhaps time to shorten it. So from now on, Nita will simply answer the phone, "Shared Ministry Office" - and if the caller needs to know "shared what??" she can explain.
New Christ Church website up and running
Last summer, Trinity Church's new website made its debut. Now it's Christ Church's turn. The new site has easy links to the latest news, ministry schedules, visitor information and more. Check it out at www.christepiscopalchurch.us
ChIPs: Remember kids of the incarcerated
Last year the congregations of the Diocese of New Hampshire provided more than 700 Christmas gifts for children of parents incarcerated in the NH state prison system.
This yearly program offers the parents a chance to give something to their children and strengthens family bonds until the time parents can return to their families. Holiday parties at the prisons are where each child receives a present and a book. For 37 years, we have sponsored this great program with our gifts and donations.
For 2013, gifts and donations may be dropped off at your church prior to Nov. 2, when delegates will bring them to Diocesan Convention at the Grappone Center, for transfer to St. Paul's for sorting.
Thank you for your generosity to this important program.
United Thank Offering ingathering
Gracious God, source of all creation, all love, all true joy: Accept we pray, these outward signs of our profound and continuing thankfulness for all of life. Keep each of us ever thankful for all the blessings of joy and challenge that come our way. Bless those who will benefit from these gifts through the Outreach of the United Thank Offering. This we ask through Him who is the greatest gift and blessing of all, Jesus Christ. Amen.
The United Thank Offering (UTO) is a ministry of the Episcopal Church for the mission of the whole church. Through UTO, men, women, and children nurture the habit of giving daily thanks to God. These prayers of thanksgiving start when we recognize and name our many daily blessings. Those who participate in UTO discover that thankfulness leads to generosity. UTO monies support mission and ministry throughout the Episcopal Church and in invited Provinces of the Anglican Communion in the developing world.
There are U.T.O. "blue boxes" in the Narthex at Trinity and in the hallway at Christ Church. Take one home; make using it a daily habit over the coming year.
We will have a U.T.O. collection on Sunday, Oct. 27. Count out the change you've collected over the past year and write a check for that amount to your church (with U.T.O. on the memo line) to put in the collection plate. We will add our collection to other congregations' offerings during the annual ingathering at Diocesan Convention on Nov. 1. "Don't just count your blessings; make your blessings count."
Fall backward!
On Saturday night, Nov. 2, it's time to "fall backward" - that is, turn your clocks back one hour for the start of Standard Time. And here's a good reason to be on time Sunday, Nov. 3...
All Saints' Sunday: A day to remember those who have blazed the trail for us in faith
All Saints' Day is not among the most ancient of Christian festivals (it is only about 1,200 years old), nor among the most universal (the Orthodox churches commemorate the saints in conjunction with the Feast of Pentecost). The feast is believed to have been originated in the British Isles, and emphasis on it remains characteristically Anglican.
This Sunday is an absolutely splendid occasion to sing some very stirring hymns, to renew our baptismal vows, and to dramatize the meaning of being "the communion of saints" as living members of the Body of Christ. At Christ Church, it will be one of the half dozen occasions on which we pull out the incense and, as Jean Wadman would lovingly put it, "go whole hog."
Speaking of Jean, and others who have passed into God's eternal presence in the past year, we will pray this Sunday for the souls of those who have been buried from our congregations since All Saints' a year ago. If you would like the name of a loved one (whether or not from the last year) added to that list, e-mail it to Nita in the shared ministry office or call her at 926-5688 no later than noon, Wednesday, Oct. 30. Some have found this an occasion to make a thank offering to the congregation in memory of those so listed. You are invited and encouraged to do so.
Diocesan Convention to be held in Concord Nov. 1 & 2
The 211th annual Convention of the Diocese of New Hampshire will be held Friday and Saturday, Nov. 1 & 2. The convention begins at St. Paul's Church, Concord on Friday evening, Nov. 2, with open hearings on the resolutions to be presented followed by the Liturgy of the Word and the Bishop's Convention Address. The Convention continues the next morning at the Grappone Center, Concord. In addition to the usual reports updating the lay and clergy delegates on the life and ministry we share, and the election of officers for the new year, we will elect our Deputies to General Convention and consider ten resolutions:
- Resolution 1 is the proposed Diocesan Budget for 2014. A lean budget is being proposed this year, which reduces the Fair Share asking from congregations from the current 17% of parish revenue to 16.5%.
- Resolutions 2-5 concern clergy compensation and the changing reality of a diocese in which more congregations will be entering shared ministry arrangements like the one we have here at Christ Church and Trinity Church. The Clergy Compensation Task Force has recommended some modifications to our policies in this area, and, if the recent Clergy Conference is any indication, these promise to generate a good deal of discussion and a call for further dialogue before implementing the changes being considered.
- Resolution 6 invites congregations to gather and reflect on the resources available to those of us living on very limited incomes and imagine a family budget for those of us who must live on very little. As part of a Lenten series or Sunday Forum congregations are encouraged to imagine what it is like to live on a poverty budget, and then to practice such living for one week and then reflect on their experience together.
- Resolutions 7 and 8 bring our Canons into conformity with National Canons with regard to presidency at congregational and Vestry/Bishop's Committee meetings and the quorum for conducting business at such meetings.
- Resolution 9 is a proposed change to the Canons of the diocese to bring New Hampshire into conformity with national Canons in regard to the Disciplinary Canons, Title IV.
- Resolution 10 is a change to the Constitution of the Diocese to bring it into conformity in the same ways as the Canons described above. As Constitutional changes require two readings, this will require action again next year if passed at this Convention.
Trinity Church will be represented this year by Patrice Wood, Gordon Lane, and Anne Newell. Christ Church will be represented by Craig Davis and Peter Monte (elected by the Bishop's Committee to fulfill Jean Wadman's seat). If you have questions or comments about any of the matters coming before Convention, you are encouraged to speak with any of the above or with the issues before us.
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