Wise Maiden Heading
Thursday Reminder for March 19, 2015
An Online Ezine
Lent 2015


Greetings from your church! We hope the thaw comes back!
In This Reminder
This Weekend
Items for Consideration
Coming Up
Housekeeping
Extras!
This Weekend
Fifth Sunday of Lent: March 22nd
8 a.m. H.E. Rite 1 with Jim and Dennis/Hymns (Coffee to follow) 
9:00 Choir Rehearsal (note: the band will be in church for a final rehearsal)
10:15 Contemporary Family Eucharist with Nine6teen, Coffee with the Green Team.

Leaflet can be found Here
Announcements can be found Here

The March Courier can be found here
Note... the April Courier Deadline is Monday, March 23rd

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. 


In the Church School:

Our Holy High Five this week goes out to Evan Watling. Evan is always an eager learner with complex questions that keep us on our toes...  And he was a big help with Heifer Market preparations on Sunday!

THIS WEEK:

  • 1st through 6th graders will perform a musical skit during announcements this Sunday to 'advertise' the Living Market! 
  • Bring in your returnable "Cans for Cows & Bottles for Buffalo"! (Collection box located in Great Hall)
  • Donate $1 to help "Feather Father Dave's Hat"! (for chickens, ducks & geese)
  • Mite box collection for Heifer Int. continues throughout Lent.  

Here are our needs for the April 4th Easter Eggstravaganza which relies on parent support (Flyer can be found Here) and here is the information for the Heifer Overlook Farm Fieldtrip (May 24). The deadline was yesterday so if you wish participate email us asap. We're not sure about late-comers. Thanks.


Christ Church School Co-directors, Amy Landis & Nicole Nichols
 
Teen Program Notes:
Rite-13 have been asked to help with the Heifer Fair on March 29th (Palm Sunday).
Rite-13 & J2A meet on Sundays regularly

YAC meets as scheduled.

Rummage Sale: May 2, 2015

Pilgrimage 2015, August 6-12th: The Leaders continue to receive updates from our trip providers, Wonder Voyage. It's shaping up to be a fabulous event!

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 5, there will be homilies at both the 8 and the 10:15 services.

The chosen readings are Jeremiah 31:31-34 (in which the Prophet shares his vision of a future when there will be a new agreement with the people. God's law will not simply be "known" but will be written "within" them) and the Psalm 119:9-16 (the second choice of the psalms). The Gospel is John 12:20-33 (This passage marks the end of the first half of the Gospel when "Greek", read "non-Jews", come to see Jesus and prompt him to utter another of his three predictions in which he will be "lifted up" and "draw all" to himself). The full text of the readings can be found here at the Lectionary Website.

Last Sunday I ended my homily by reminding us that when someone asks, "Have you been saved?", the Episcopal answer is, "Yes, I have been saved, and I'm being saved, and I'm participating in God's saving work." In Anglicanism we don't limit ourselves to a single experience of being "born again". Yes, we are "saved" in Christ's action in giving his resurrection life to us (which includes the cross). But this is just the start of God's present initiative. Day in and day out, God invites us to draw closer (read "being saved") and participate in God's "saving redemptive work" which simultaneously changes us AND, despite the fits and starts that are so human (or sometimes because of them!), empowers us in making a positive difference. It's not about "earning" heaven; it's about living out a special quality of life now that aims us into the future. Perhaps this is what Jeremiah meant in our reading for this Sunday; God's "law" (of love) becomes written on our hearts over a lifetime, and into the next.

Dave

Poems by Merrill Ann Gonzalez

Special Mission Outreach: 

1) Having a day/morning/evening "meal packaging" event for Stop Hunger Now. We're thinking about this for the fall.
2) Doing a Habitat for Humanity weekend. Proposed by Kirsten Rigney. 
3) Joining an 8 day trip with PID (Partners in Development) who work in Haiti, Guatemala & Mississippi. Proposed by Mitzi Davis who has gone with PID recently. She will be suggesting a trip date.

Please speak with the "proposers" or Dave on Sundays during Coffee Hour.

It's that time again: Relay for Life (Woodstock)
The American Cancer Society's Relay for Life at the Woodstock Fairgrounds will be from 11am on 5/16- 11am on 5/17.
Registration is free this year but participants should try to raise $100 in donations and they will get a t-shirt. T-shirts must be ordered by 4/5.
Here is the link to Register. Our team name is Christ Church Family and Friends. Last year, we had a great time with members of our young people's programs and hope they will participate again. 
Contact Ginger Lusa with any questions at gingerlusa@gmail.com or by calling 860-428-5351.

Lenten Study Continues Living Islam with Krista Tippett on being a practicing American Muslim. Wednesday at the Carters (the Rectory) on March 18 and 25th with a possible extension to April 1st. 7:00 p.m. Anyone can join us for one or all. Here's a link to look at the materials: Click Here

Some current information about suicide that might be helpful to those in schools: A recent NYTimes article sketches out some new understandings and some clues to possible prevention 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









March into April:

Saturday, March 21st, Altar Guild Cleaning Day begins at 8:00 a.m.; Spirituality Workshop at 9:30 a.m. (there are conversations about how this workshop might continue)

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

Wednesday, March 25th: Lenten Study, 7 p.m. at Carters 

Palm Sunday, March 29th! 8 and 10:15 Services; Church School Heifer Fair; Procession of the Palms from the Great Hall at the 10:15 service. 

April 2nd, Maundy Thursday: 6 p.m. potluck & table eucharist at the Rectory (the Carters house). This night celebrates the "family of the church" in Jesus' command to love one another "as I have loved you", hence gathering as a "church family" at a home. All are welcome, young and old. The meditative Stripping of the Altar in the church follows.

April 3rd, Good Friday: Walking the Labyrinth in the Great Hall, starting at 8 a.m. (gentle music and suggested directions available); Good Friday Liturgy (the Story and a meditation), 7 p.m. (hymns with Dennis)

April 4th, Holy Saturday: Eggstravaganza for our young folk with parents in the Great Hall and a "walk" through the Passion Story with Christine Carter and the felt board, starts at 10 a.m.; Rectory School Easter Service at 4 p.m. with brief Easter Eucharist (to be confirmed)

April 5, Easter Sunday, 8 a.m. and 10:15 Services (no Church School or Teen Program... Childcare for younger kids downstairs)

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 has arrived. There are applications for the Easter Lillies in the back of the church ($15) and can be found Here

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 Here Thanks! 

Vestry Notes
Next Vestry meeting is April 9th! 

Buildings and Grounds
Our current plan is to repair the floor in the kitchen around the dishwasher over the summer as a volunteer initiative (Rich DiBonaventura). John Murphy has completed the Library Door project. Looks great! Note recent snow damage to the church roof edge outside the Sacristy; leaking ice dams also caused damage to the office building; we've also seen some flexing in the roof structure of the Great Hall and the church. Spring stuff!

Spirituality & Health Workshops 
Saturday mornings: 9:30 to 11:30 am. 
Mar 21: Explore the connections among physical, mental, & spiritual health
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 Youtube Videos/Music: The first is from the ecumenical protestant community at Taize' in France formed after WWII as a response to the cruelty of the war (we'll be doing Taize chants at our MThurs. Table Eucharist). The second is a take on the Episcopal Youth Event that took place in California last year (our church supports teen work!).

Bless the Lord at Taize' in France
Bless the Lord at Taize' in France

EYE: Episcopal Youth Event in 2014 (national youth event)
EYE: Episcopal Youth Event in 2014 (national youth event in 3 min.)

 
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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Steeple
Mission Statement

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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