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Worship Services
The Rev. David "Chip" Robinson
Vicar
All people of faith are welcome to receive Holy Communion at the Lord's Table
Christ Episcopal Church
1035 Lafayette Road
Portsmouth, NH 03801
Rite II at 10:30 am
Coffee Hour follows
Clergy office hours
Tues & Thurs 9am-12noon
200 High St.
Hampton, NH 03842
Saturday Rite l at 5pm
Rite II at 8:45 am
Coffee Hour after the service
Clergy office hours
Mon & Wed 9am-12 noon
The Vicar's sermons can be found by clicking on the link for either church and going to the Worship page.
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(603) 431-1809
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at Trinity Church, Hampton
(603) 929-7349
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Episcopal Churches on the Seacoast
Seacoast Convocation
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Ministry Schedule
Christ Church
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Going into the hospital?
Due to privacy laws, churches are no longer routinely informed if you or a loved one is admitted to the hospital. Please be sure you let us know when and where you will be a patient so we can be in touch with you and include you in our prayers and healing ministry. Don't assume the Vicar knows - he would much rather hear from several people than from no one!
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From the Vicar...
Some stewardship TIPS from a saint of God
The following is a summary of the Vicar's address to those who attended our Stewardship Brunch this past Sunday. Trinity Senior Warden Patrice Wood also spoke at this event. Her remarks will be printed in the second Stewardship mailing coming out this week.
This morning in our liturgy at Christ Church, our children carried some signs in procession. On them were the names of saints who have touched our lives over the years, and who are now with Christ in eternal life. Lee Custer, the husband of Christ Church's former interim, Peg Custer, was one. Alvin Lightner, father of Cindy Taylor and Tena Wolf, was another. Milton Phillips, late husband of Shirley Phillips was a third.
Twenty-five years ago, I was privileged to know such a saint. His name was Bob Bonner, and he was the Episcopal Church's national director of Stewardship. I came to know him when I underwent training to become a stewardship consultant for the Diocese of Massachusetts.
Bob had a gift for simple, memorable communication. And one of the messages I remember most out of his "grab bag" of stewardship wisdom was one summarized by the acronym, TIPS for Faithful Stewardship. Let me share with you what each letter of TIPS stands for:
- "T" stands for Thankful giving. This is as opposed to what we all-too-often do in church stewardship: "grudge-ful" giving. You know, that groaning sense that I "have to" and therefore grudgingly give out of the leftovers rather than "off the top." Thankful giving is not to a budget, not to a program, but truly in thanksgiving for every blessing in life, just the way we give generously to our family at Christmas or on a birthday, just as an expression of love.
- "I" stands for Intentional giving - which is to say, we know what we intend to do and our giving reflects the prayerful intentions of our hearts. Intentional giving puts our priorities straight: to use a biblical metaphor, we give the first fruits of our labors, not the last, as a thank offering for all God has done for us.
- "P" stands for Proportional giving. We know what proportion of our income that giving represents - whether it be the Tithe, 10%, or a portion of a tithe that includes other charitable giving, or some other percentage of our weekly or monthly income. Cindy and I figure that out each year, and the first two checks we write, one to Trinity, the other to Christ Church, represent the percentage, the proportion of our income, we thankfully and intentionally commit to giving. (And in your case, it only means one check - to your own church!)
- "S" stands for Steady giving. Now this may seem somewhat akin to intentional giving, but there is a slight difference: it has to do with the frequency of our giving. Now, don't get me wrong, we are happy to receive the gifts of those who give once annually or, perhaps, semi-annually. But a truly thankful, intentional, proportional gift is given steadily through the year as our income...comes in. If we are paid weekly, we give weekly; if we receive a monthly check, say from a pension or Social Security, we give monthly. It means so much more when it is given right at the time the income is received.
At your tables, there are two pieces of literature to help you make your TIPS stewardship decision. One takes a humorous approach at imagining what things would be like if we took the rest of our commitments as lightly as we often take our stewardship giving. The other is a chart to help us figure out the proportion that we wish to give. Links to these two documents are here (the article) and here (the chart). Take a few moments with these before you get your stewardship pledge form in the mail later this week.
Fr. Chip
Second mailing going out today for "Rising Tide" campaign
This afternoon, the second of two mailings for our annual stewardship campaign will be going out in the mail.
In this second mailing, there are several things to which to draw you attention:
- A cover article by Patrice Wood (a summary of the address she shared at our brunch last Sunday)
- The prayer for the campaign
- An article by "ministry minute" speaker Peter Monte of Christ Church
- Campaign Q & A, part 2
- Your 2016 stewardship form and return envelope
You are asked to return your form no later than Sunday, Nov. 15. Those from whom we have not heard will receive a follow-up call from our team or a member of your church's Bishop's Committee. You can avoid getting one of these calls (and make our work a lot easier!) by responding, either in person or by mail, by the deadline.
As always, our thanks for the participation of each and every one of you. Together, we can raise the tide that lifts the Trinity and Christ Church boats.
Your Stewardship Team
Craig Davis, Kris Ebbeson, Mark McCaddin,
Anne Newell, Patrice Wood, Chip Robinson
Our Shared Ministry Cycle of Prayer
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 using 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...
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Nov. 8
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Hobbs House and all the ministries housed therein; Sandi Nickerson of Trinity Church; Cindy, Elizabeth & Erica Taylor of Christ Church
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Nov. 15
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The aid offered through our Vicar's Discretionary Fund; Rusty & Louise Bridle of Trinity Church; Rose Breslin-Dawson of Christ Church
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Seacoast Convocation Ditty Bags for Seafarers appeal
 Between now and Nov. 15, members of our Seacoast Convocation parishes are asked to donate items for what our seafaring friends call a "ditty bag." What is a "ditty bag"? It is a small "care package" of items that may be needed and useful during a voyage at sea. Christ Church will be collecting toothbrushes and toothpaste (full-size tubes, please - not travel size). Trinity Church will be collecting disposable razors and shaving cream (again, full-size, not travel size). We are also looking for a few more expensive items: tee shirts (smaller sizes preferred - many seafarers are small in stature) and wool knit caps. They may be new or used, but in clearly like-new condition. Shirts need not be plain white, so if you have a lightly-worn promotional tee shirt around (with a slogan on it, for instance) that is acceptable.
Help needed for the Holly Berry Fair!
With only two weeks until the fair, we find that we are still in need of a lot of help! How can you help?
- Time - to set up, serve the day of the fair, and clean up.
- Call parishioners with a reminder.
- Talent - cook! Pies, cakes, brownies and especially COOKIES!
- Talent, again! Have you been crafty and making things that would be appropriate for the craft table? We'd love to see them and sell them!
- Cleaning out those no longer used holiday (Thanksgiving, too!) decorations? The Christmas Boutique table would probably look fantastic with your donation!
There is a sign up sheet in the Narthex of the Church - but no need to wait until Sunday to sign up. Call us!
Carol - 603-502-3533
Patrice - 603-734-2394
Diocesan Convention 2015: God's Mission - Our Kids
The annual Convention of the Episcopal Church of New Hampshire will be Saturday, Nov. 7, at the Grappone Conference Center in Concord, when lay delegates and clergy from all the congregations in New Hampshire will gather to meet, to pray and to conduct the business of the diocese.
This year there are just two resolutions: the 2016 Clergy Compensation resolution and the proposed Diocesan Budget, leaving plenty of time for conversation, education and reflection.
The morning session will include presentations by Katie Merrow, vice president of program for the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, who will speak on "Our Kids - New Hampshire Tomorrow," and by the Rev. Ben Campbell, co-founder of All Our Children and pastoral director of Richmond Hill, an ecumenical retreat center in Richmond, Va. Youth of the diocese have been invited to an overnight retreat that will include participation in Convention during the morning.
As part of the business meeting in the afternoon, delegates will talk about how our community in Christ is strengthened - or weakened - by an open communion table. The Canons of the Episcopal Church require communicants to have been baptized before receiving communion, and two successive General Conventions have defeated measures to open communion to all people of faith without regard to baptismal status. Many New Hampshire churches, including our two, welcome all people of faith to God's Table, so clearly this remains an open topic for prayerful consideration.
Our congregations are served by three delegates each: Craig Davis, Gary Dozier and Peter Monte from Christ Church; and Patrice Wood, Robert Bischoff and Anne Newell from Trinity. I represent both communities as Vicar. Please pray for us as we represent you at this year's Convention.
- Fr. Chip
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Contacts
The Rev. David "Chip" Robinson, Vicar
Christ Episcopal Church, 1035 Lafayette Road, Portsmouth, NH 03801
phone: 603-436-8842
Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:00-Noon
Trinity Episcopal Church, 200 High Street, Hampton, NH 03842
Shared Ministry Administrator: Nita Niemczyk
phone: 603-926-5688
Office hours: Monday-Friday from 9:00-1:00
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