Wise Maiden Heading
Thursday Reminder for March 5, 2015
An Online Ezine
Lent 2015


Greetings from your church! It's SPRING AHEAD weekend on Saturday night. Set clocks ahead an hour to "get you to the church on time"!
In This Reminder
This Weekend
Items for Consideration
Coming Up
Housekeeping
Extras!
This Weekend














Saturday Morning, March 7th

9:30 a.m. to 12 noon, Spirituality and Health Workshops continue in the Great Hall

The Corned Beef Dinner is here! 
Saturday, March 7th 
Starts at 5 p.m. with Take Out (Call the office:860-928-7026) 6/6:30 p.m. sit down. Please pay attention to assignments. We look forward to seeing everyone. Many thanks to Joanne Fagan for her recipe talents!

Third Sunday of Lent: March 8th
8 a.m. H.E. Rite 1; Coffee Hour; 9:00 Choir Rehearsal;10:15 Family Eucharist, Coffee Hour with the Purple Team. Church School Committee starting at 11:45 a.m. Key conversation, help in making decisions about Lent and Easter terms, Eggstravaganza.

Leaflet can be found HERE
Announcements can be found HERE

The March Courier can be found here

Coffee Hour Team Schedule from February 1st to June 2015 can be found Here

Pastoral Emergencies... please call the office.. 860-928-7026 or Dave's Cell Phone, 860-608-7632. You can also call the office to place a person on our Prayer Chain. The current Prayer Chain List for Crisis Intercessions is found Here 

In the Church School:

This week's Holy High Five goes to Nathan Tiffany!  Fr. Dave brought high-energy music downstairs last week... Nathan was a little reserved at first, but when the Spirit moved him, he 'boogied' with a contagious smile!  His Godly Play teachers reported that he offered to help with distributing water during the "feast".  Great job 'getting into the groove' and being a helper, Nathan!


 Activities:  During Chapel time, Kirsten Rigney will share stories from her experiences in Senegal to enrich our understanding of daily life in countries very different from our own.  Godly Play will begin wondering about "The Faces of Easter", Grades 1-4 will have storytelling and art workshops, and Grades 5-6 will work on Heifer Living Market preparations.


This Sunday, March 8th the Church School Committee will meet during coffee hour to plan for upcoming Easter events and get feedback on new initiatives such as the behavior management protocols.  First-time attendees welcome- no commitment necessary! We would love to have parents and current and future volunteers join us for this very important meeting. Agenda for the Meeting


 Throughout Lent we continue to send Heifer "ark" mite boxes and "Count Your Blessings" calendars home for Lent!  (Please see us for yours if you have not already.)  This is a four-week outreach collection that will take us right up  to the Living Market on Palm Sunday, March 29th. Check out our bulletin board (at the top of the stairs) for more information about Heifer's "12 Cornerstones" and their empowering international mission work.

 
Teen Program Notes:
The Corned Beef Dinner is here! Saturday, March 7th starting at 5 p.m. for Take Out, 6 p.m. for Sit Down. Please pay attention to assignments. We look forward to seeing everyone. Many thanks to Joanne Fagan for her recipe talents! The Flyer to pass along is found here

Rite-13 & J2A meet on Sundays regularly

(J2A Leaders Meeting this Sunday after church with Dee Dee Markes)

YAC meets as scheduled.

Corned Beef Dinner: March 7, 2015
Rummage Sale: May 2, 2015
Pilgrimage 2015, August 6-12th

Dee Dee Markes 
79 Mashamoquet Road
Pomfret Center, CT 06259
860.963.0846 860.617.7996
deedeespa@charter.net
 
Items for Consideration
The Labyrinth
 









First Take
This Sunday, Lent 3, there will be homilies at both the 8 and the 10:15 services by Dave

The scheduled readings are Exodus 20:1-17 (one of the versions of the 10 Commandments); Psalm 19; 1Corinthians 1:18-25 (in which Paul talks about how God's "wisdom" is not what we expect as it focuses not on display and power but on Christ-crucified, a "stumbling block" to all). The Gospel is John 2:13-22 (John's version of Jesus driving the money-changers out of the temple) 

Taken on the surface in Exodus the 10C's could be a tool to sort the "good" from the "bad", those beloved of God who keep them from those who are God's enemies who stray. But a "Gospel-eye" view of the 10C's is different. Paul sees the 10 Commandments as a reminder of what we are not able to do without God (his views are somewhat reflected in Sunday's reading). We are simply not able to be ethical people without grace/Presence, and more importantly, without the continuous, daily cycle of grace-failure-forgiveness-grace again that Jesus provides--- free of charge! God embraces us exactly as we fail. Paul even suggests that failure is critical for our God-connection (it is our failures that open us to God's presence and life). More recent theologians speak about this issue of redemption from an overall "health perspective" of body, soul and mind stating that we are not punished "for" our sins but "by" them. From that point of view the 10C's appear more for our benefit than for God's. If you do these things (or don't do them) it is harmful to us in ways we often don't recognize.

A Poem by Merrill Ann Gonzalez (a parishioner)

Special Mission Outreach.... Updates/Vestry
The possibilities that received more support at our recent Vestry meeting were numbers 1) and 2) because they are more local. All agreed though that if there are folks who can do #3 time-wise they should be supported. Here is the list: 

1) Having a day/morning/evening "meal packaging" event for Stop Hunger Now. Proposed by Nicole Nichols/Church School 
2) Doing a Habitat for Humanity weekend or week "locally" (something to drive to). Proposed by Kirsten Rigney  
3) Joining an 8 day trip with PID (Partners in Development) who work in Haiti, Guatemala & Mississippi. Note that PID has already scheduled a number of trips and the offer is to "sign on". Proposed by Mitzi Davis who gone with PID recently.

Please speak with the "proposers" or Dave on Sundays during Coffee Hour. Are you interested? 

Got Lenten Study? Living Islam with Krista Tippett on what it means to be a practicing Muslim based on conversations from her series "On Being". We are meeting for at least an hour on 3 Wednesdays at the Carters (the Rectory) on March 11, 18 and 25th with a possible extension to April 1st. 7:00 p.m. Anyone else interested in joining our group? Let us know via email. You can always drop in for an evening! Here's a link to look at the materials: Click Here

Pledges so far: Your pledge is the way we have a fully-funded ministry at Christ Church. That is how important you are! Current pledges are running at about $189,000. Thank you!
Coming Up
CornBeef and Cabbage








March into April:

Saturday, March 7th, Spirituality Workshop in the morning & the Corned Beef Dinner in the evening. Set Clocks AHEAD tonight!

Lent 3, Sunday, March 8th... 8 and 10:15 services; Church School Committee Meeting in the Library

Lent 4, Sunday, March 15th.. the same

Saturday, March 21st, Spirituality Workshop

Lent 5, Sunday, March 22nd... 8 a.m. and 10:15 Services. Contemporary Service at 10:15, Hymns at 8

Palm Sunday, March 29th! and the start of Holy Week 
Maundy Thursday: 6 p.m. potluck & table eucharist at the Rectory (this time)
Good Friday: Walking the Labyrinth in the Great Hall, all day
Good Friday Liturgy (and meditation), 7 p.m. Eucharist in the Church
Saturday Eggstravaganza and the reading of Passion Story, starts at 10 a.m. ; Rectory School Easter Service at 4 p.m.
Easter Sunday, 8 a.m. and 10:15 Services

Link to the Readers/Acolyte Schedule

Link to the Google Calendar 
Housekeeping












Flowers
Sign Up Master List is posted to the left of the office door. You can sign up there, call the office (928-7026) or respond to this email to Make a Memorial or a Thanksgiving for a loved one ($30/Sunday). Easter Flower donation time is around the corner (no flowers on the altar in Lent, thanks).

Stewardship: Visions and Ventures
Your pledge remains the most important source of income for us to continue our ministries, by far. Thanks! See to the right, both pledge materials and a pledge card download.

How about Pledging and Donating by eCheck, Credit Card, etc.? And more, keeping track of your own donations in the same secure way? You now can with our direct on-line option:

(Note: when you wish to access the Christ Church easytithe donation site you will need to go through this button, here on the Reminder, or on the website. It will not work on the easytithe site directly. That log in is for account managers.)

Amazon Smile: Amazon.com will donate .5 percent of eligible purchases to Christ Church. Amazon pays these donations. You can still shop through your own account but Christ Church will benefit. Link is through smile.amazon.com Thanks! 

Vestry Notes
The Vestry had an excellent planning meeting on March 1st. One of the salient conversations was around newer members and helping folks find their way around our program.  

Buildings and Grounds
We're investigating how to repair the floor in the kitchen around the dishwasher which seems to have sustained a great deal of water damage (Rich DiBonaventura). John Murphy is in the midst of the Library Door project. We are keeping an eye on the roofs around the plant (cleaned off the flat sections twice so far and the Great Hall this week). Two ice dams on the Office Building were cleared (one was leaking into the building).

Spirituality & Health Workshops 
Saturday mornings: 9:30 to 11:30 am. (these two topics are being flipped... spiritual companions on Sat.)
Mar. 7: Explore the connections among physical, mental, & spiritual health
Mar 21: Discover the benefits of having spiritual companions
Original Flyer is found: HERE

Shawl Ministry:
Blessed shawls on the back table in church (fill out the log book). We have had a number of folks respond with thanks after receiving one of the shawls. Rebecca Patenaude, Coordinator Email her

Sunday Donations for Access.. Suggested Sunday morning donations: canned vegetables, canned protein (chicken, tuna, ham, beans and etc.), pasta, deodorant and 2-in-1 shampoo/conditioner. List? Click Here

Outreach....  Next cooking for Community Kitchen on March 23rd at the 1st Congregational Church of Woodstock (the Hill Church). Contact Pauline Phillips at Christ Church. CSO Committee recommended and the Vestry approved the first of our 2015 Grants. Craig Tiffany is the new Vestry Liaison for CSO.
Extras!
Some Episcopal Youtube Videos... the first is a poem, quite beautiful..... the second is a take on the priesthood also very nicely done.... the last is classic irreverent RW (some may be followed by not nice comments, please ignore those!)

There is Something About Being an Episcopalian ~ Anglican
There is Something About Being an Episcopalian ~ Anglican

Rev Kate Reynolds - Being a Priest
Rev Kate Reynolds - Being a Priest

Robin Williams take on
Robin Williams take on "I'm an Episcopal"

 

Dave Carter
Christ Church Pomfret
(Box 21) 527 Pomfret Street 
Pomfret, Ct. 06258

Feel free to contact us: christchurchpomfret@gmail.com

 




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To seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbors as ourselves, welcoming all who come through our doors to participate in worship, education, service and fellowship on a journey in Christ, a journey that we believe not only has power to heal and change us but also has potential to transform the world.

(Vestry 2003)


 

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