In Christ,

Fr. Chip

Our Celebrant on May 31 and June 1 

This week, Fr. Chip and Cindy are away, celebrating their 35th wedding anniversary. On Saturday and Sunday, May 31 and June 1, our Celebrant at both churches will be the Rev. David Plank. David and his wife Fran are regular communicants at Trinity Church, and spent much of their ministry in shared ministries such as ours in the Diocese of Long Island. We warmly welcome him to our altars that weekend.

Let's wear red for Pentecost!

On the Day of Pentecost, Sunday, June 8, we will continue our custom of wearing red as a small sign that the Holy Spirit lives within each of us. Our services in both churches that day will feature some powerful Pentecost hymns - including some from more contemporary sources - and a multi-lingual reading of the Acts passage describing the manifestation of the Holy Spirit (see below). I'll be adorned in bright red vestments, the altar will be decked in red as well - why don't we all wear red to make the scene a "sea" of Pentecost color!                                                           Fr. Chip

Grubby Sunday" clean-up June 1 at Christ Church

This spring's "Grubby Sunday" clean-up at Christ Church will occur on Sunday, June 1, with a general clean-up of the church grounds and such season projects as placing screens in the windows and air conditioners in the offices. As always, "many hands make light work," so come in your jeans and "grubbies" and join us!   - Craig Davis and Paul Seward-

Our Shared Ministry Cycle of Prayer this week and next

Each week, in both of our churches, we pray for one ministry we share and one or two households in each church. About once every six weeks, we will instead use the Shared Ministry Collect we prayed throughout the opening months of our Shared Ministry.

In our prayers the next two weeks, we give God thanks for... 

Notes from the May Bishop's Committee meeting

This month's meeting began with some updates from Fr. Chip, including a report on the recent Lay Leadership Conference and updates of our various follow-up teams. The next general meeting of our teams will be on Tuesday, June 10 at Trinity. The Evangelism group has been actively pursuing its work and the Facilities group should have a report by that time.

The individual break-out sessions of the two Bishop's Committees followed:

• The Christ Church group spent some time reflecting on Sunday's congregational conversation. A variety of valuable ideas came forward for "A Fresh Start for Christ Church." It was suggested that there be a field trip to St. David's, Kennebunk to see an example of a church that has a flexible, yet worshipful, liturgical space like that discussed at the meeting. The group was also apprised that Christ Church's new bookkeeper, Eric Foster, was now on board and would receive his Safe Church training later in the week.

• Trinity's committee voted to accept a memorial gift from former member Barbara Carlson of a brass wall cross to be placed behind the altar. Work continues on developing a better relationship with the Village Pre-School. George Koch will be our liaison with them, and will attend their next board meeting. Restoration of the Hobbs House floor will occur over the summer with volunteer labor. Robert Bischoff will also be attending to the repair and repainting of the Hobbs House stage.

In other business:

• The Isles of Shoals presentation was a tremendous success, netting each church $410 in clear revenue. Speaker Stephanie Voss Nugent will be back for a second presentation in late October.
• A Time and Talent drive will be conducted in early June, similar to the model introduced last year. Each committee chair and/or Bishop's Committee liaison will receive a report so follow-up can be made.
• A series of outdoor services and other summer events were planned. See the schedule elsewhere in this edition of the E-News for details.

Full minutes will be posted at each church when they become available. The June meeting will be on the 17^th at 7 p.m. at Christ Church.

The Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire has revised the Safe Church Policy during the summer of 2013. The curriculum for Safe Church Training now consists of three hours of online training and three hours of class training. On-line Modules must be completed prior to attending any Safe Church Class.

Anyone in need of refresher training is asked to take the new Initial Safe Church Training. Refresher training is required every three years vs. five years. Please contact your Safe Church Minister to verify when you are due to take your refresher training.

Please register with your Safe Church Minister. You may register anytime. Even if you plan on attending a class this fall you may register now and complete your online training whenever is convenient for you between now and the fall. For Christ Church, contact Patsy Tremblay at pehjat@comcast.netor call 603-205-2195. At Trinity Church, contact Patrice Wood at phwood2013@gmail.com. 

Training classes for the fall are offered the following Saturdays from 8:30am to noon except as noted on October 7th below:

September 13, 2014 - Trinity Church, Meredith

September 20, 2014 - Christ Church, Exeter

October 4, 2014 - St. Barnabas, Berlin

October 7, 2014 - All Saints', Peterborough, 6:30pm to 9:30pm, Tuesday

November 15, 2014 - St. Thomas, Hanover

November 22, 2014 - St. Paul's, Concord