St. James's Episcopal Parish @ Porter Square, Cambridge
July 27th, 2008
THE SUNDAY NEWS
The Feast of Saint James's
9:30 am The Holy Eucharist With Music Enriching Our Worship
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Readings for July 27th: Jeremiah 45:1-5 Psalm 7:1-10 Acts: 11:27-12:3 Matthew: 20:20-28 Prayers |
1st Reading : Susan Rice 2nd Reading: Alan Aukeman Prayers: John Hixson
Lay Eucharistic Ministers Eric Maynard & Karen Meridith
Acolytes Eric Maynard
Welcomer Jennifer Schley-Johnson
Counters Edward Wu
Flower Guild Carolyn Taylor
Altar Guild Susan Harris
ST. JAMES'S GARDENERS:
The St. James's
Day picnic in the garden is Sunday, and we are going to get a group
together Saturday morning to:
. . . scour the garden of wind driven litter and
debris from our night time visitors and . . .
. . . tidy the sidewalk side beds, and do a bit of pruning
and weeding . . .
. . . help set up for Sunday.
So, Join in on Saturday morning if you are able to
lend a hand: 8:00 -12:00.
Gloves, twine for binding clippings, rakes, yard bags, a wheelbarrow or two,
etc, etc . . . will all be helpful if you have them to contribute.
ALSO:
Next week Tuesday and Thurday we are going to be visited by a group of 20 young
people from Texas who are in the area for a week-long work project. We've
scheduled them for two days of gardening, scraping and painting, and
indoor cleaning. It would be great if a bunch of us from St James's would
join in for help and supervision. The plan is to work from about 9:00 to 4:00
each day with an hour for lunch. Please let me know if you are able to join us,
or drop in and help as your schedule allows. Thanks, Alan Aukeman
ST. JAMES'S DAY COOKOUT JULY
27TH, 2008
Any volunteers out there? The annual St. James's Day barbecue will take place in the garden weather permitting after church on July 27th. The Harris's will be assisted by John Butler to provide hamburgers, hotdogs, soy burgers, beverages, fruit, paper plates etc. We still need donations of salads, and help to put up umbrellas and get tables and chairs out, set-up and clean-up, as well as to provide activities for the children. Prep starts Saturday morning July 26th. Please call Holly @ 617-547-4070 if you can help.
DENTISTRY MINISTRY IN NEPAL
On July 30, parishioner Ben Warren will be traveling to Kathmandu, Nepal to practice dentistry in the CIWEC clinic travel medicine center (www.ciwec-clinic.com). The center currently employs several physicians and one other dentist, and it serves travelers, resident foreign and Nepalese communities. He plans to return to Boston in mid-November briefly, and may return to Nepal for 2 years or more. He will miss the St. James community and especially the music! Visit his newly-created blog for regular updates: http://beninnepal.wordpress.com (thank you, Tim Lindren, for your help and ideas).
DEADLINE FOR THE SEPTEMBER BELL
August 15th is the deadline to submit articles for the September edition of The Bell - email them please to the following email address: thebell@stjames-cambridge.org.
SUMMER CHURCH SCHOOL
Our Church School summer program takes advantage of the weather and the garden to offer St. James's Mini-Summer Camp. We'll play games, sing songs, and tell stories, all inspired by OUR STORY. Our own resident theologian Josiah Bonsey leads the summer church school with support from Anne and Jojo Read. So come to church and bring your kids!
LAMBETH CONFERENCE PRAYER CYCLE
We invite you to use our St. James's parish cycle of daily prayers for the bishops of the Anglican Communion at the Lambeth Conference from July 13th through August 4th, written by St. James's parishioners John Gay and Mary Caulfield, with help from the Rev. Dr. Ian Douglas and the Rev. Holly Antolini. You find the prayers for the coming week at the bottom of this Sunday News under Parish Prayer List, and also on the website, in a downloadable pdf file of the whole Lambeth Conference Prayer Cycle.
SUMMER MUSIC OPPORTUNITIES AT ST. JAMES'S
For the next few Sundays, St. James's is in need of cantors for the Psalms and singers to lead the Lord's Prayer (Zambian tune), and for one or two chants (Taize-style). This is an opportunity for anyone who would like to try this-some experience is helpful to be a Psalm cantor. Anyone can lead the Lord's Prayer (with a bit of practice!)
If you would like to help in this ministry, please sign your name on the sign-up sheet on the Music Bulletin Board in the Parish Hall. Specific instructions await you there! Thank you very much!
GETTING TO KNOW YOU
Many thanks to the McNerney family and Karen Meridith for hosting our inaugural "Getting to Know You" dinner this past Wednesday. What a great start to the series! The final dinner in July will be at Anne Read's home, and there is still one open seat for that one. The dinners will resume in late August when Holly returns from vacation and continue into the Fall. (In August we will begin setting dates for October dinners.)
These informal dinners provide an opportunity to get to know our new rector Holly and other parishioners in a way that's just not possible in a few brief minutes on a Sunday morning. Don't be shy! Everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend. Hosts will provide the gathering place and all will contribute to the meal. Groups will generally be 8-12 in size, including Holly and the host(s). We're keeping them small in order to facilitate conversation.
Sign-up sheets are on the Vestry bulleting board in the parish hall and available each Sunday during coffee hour. You can also sign up by contacting Karen Meridith.
Date Place(s) open Hosted by
Fri., August 22 2 Sarah Forrester
Sun., August 24 3 Ericka Crouse
Wed., August 27 5 Anne Shumway
Fri., September 12 5 David Hall
Sun., September 14 6 Michele Torres
If you need more information, are willing to host, or would like to sign up to attend a dinner, please contact Karen Meridith.
For those who suffer from allergies, please note that Anne Shumway has no pets.
***NOTE: Please sign up for only one dinner so everyone has a chance to participate.***
RENEWAL OF MINISTRY: MARK YOUR CALENDARS!
September 21st at 4 PM, St. James's will install its new Rector, the Rev. Holly Lyman Antolini, in a celebration of the entire congregation's ministry. The Vestry is planning to host a Ministry Fair that afternoon, offering opportunities for members to discover new interests and fellowship in serving the mission of the parish. The Rt. Rev. Chilton R. Knudsen, Bishop of Maine, will be the preacher and celebrant and the Rev. Frank Fornaro, Dean of our Alewife Deanery, will represent the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts. We also plan a picnic potluck supper after the service in the Garden.
PARISH DIRECTORY
At last our new directory is available for pick-up in the vestry! We ask everyone who takes one to check your name off on the master directory. If you're not in the directory, we want to include you! Please fill out your contact information on the sign-up sheet next to the master list. Please also note on your information if you wish to receive our newsletter The Bell.
THANKS FOR WEARING NAMETAGS
Thank you to all who have so graciously and consistently worn your nametags on Sundays--whether because of or, more likely, despite silly nametag announcements week after week. Please don't stop! While our focus lately has been on welcoming Holly and helping her to feel a part of the community, wearing our nametags is equally important as a gesture of hospitality to every person who walks into St. James's, newcomers and old friends alike. So, keep up the good (and welcoming) work: wear your nametag, greet your neighbors (by name!) in the service, talk to strangers in the coffee hour. How lovely it will be to hear others say, like this new friend, "I think this is a place I'd like to stay." Karen Meridith, Junior Warden.
PARISH CALENDAR
Recently, a number of activities have occurred in the Parish House without having been written on the Calendar in the Parish Office, and without a contact name and telephone number. When this happens we end up with competing events, windows left open and vulnerable, and messes not cleaned up. Please email Sheila at office@stjames-cambridge.org or phone her between 10AM-2PM Mon, Tues, Thurs or Friday or come into the office to make arrangements and to leave contact information.
EDUCATION
BEING EPISCOPALIAN TODAY
Wondering what it means to be, not just a Christian but AN EPISCOPALIAN CHRISTIAN today? Beginning on Sunday September 7, we are gathering to ponder just that -- with accompanying exploration of the shaping force of the Bible, our worship life and the Book of Common Prayer, the structure of ministry in our church, the call to serve the cause of justice in the world, and our hopes for the peace and wholeness of shalom as Episcopalian Anglican followers of Jesus Christ. We will plan to meet in the Rector's Office from 1 to 3 PM (bring a bag lunch if you like) every Sunday from September 7 until October 12th, when the class will conclude with an afternoon retreat at Holly's house from 1 to 8 PM, including dinner, a film on the history of Anglicanism, and a closing Eucharist. The following Saturday, October 18th, there will be a service of Confirmation, Reception and Reaffirmation at St. Paul's Cathedral in downtown Boston, for any of us in the class who wish to acknowledge the work of the Spirit in our lives and claim our calling as members of the Episcopal Church with the laying-on of hands of our Bishops. If you are interested in joining this class, please RSVP to Holly at rector@stjames-cambridge.org. Also we will be using the book Always Open: Being an Anglican Today by Richard Giles. You can obtain a copy (used or new) online at amazon.com.
PRAXIS WITH HOLLY ON TUESDAY MORNINGS
Holly will be on vacation from July 28th thru August 18th. PRAXIS will resume on August 19th and continue every Tuesday morning at 7:30 AM in the Rector's Office for an hour of "spiritual practice." After opening with a brief morning devotion and a sharing of our gratitude and challenges to gratitude, our time will be centered on an exploration of the coming Sunday's Gospel reading using the technique of lectio divina or spiritual reading. It's a Bring Your Own Coffee (or Tea) event, and we should be finished in plenty of time for you to get to work. This is a drop-in event; no preparation is necessary. Come "taste and see!"
OUTREACH
PARISH PRAYER LIST
HEALING PRAYER EVERY SUNDAY AT COMMUNION
We welcome you to receive healing prayer following communion. Our pray-ers will be under the stained glass windows in the Baptistry Chapel to the right of the altar every Sunday. If you would like prayer, simply step into the righthand line toward the altar, and after receiving communion, exit to the right through the chapel and join the pray-ers under the windows.
LAMBETH CONFERENCE PRAYER CYCLE
In the coming two weeks, Anglican bishops --our Episcopal Church bishops among them --gathered from all corners of the globe will attend the Lambeth Conference, held at Canterbury Cathedral in England every ten years, under the auspices of the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Conference began in 1867 as the worldwide Communion began to realize it needed to strengthen the bonds of Eucharistic fellowship and mutual understanding among its bishops, who were increasingly diverse in culture and experience. Since governance is local to each diocese in the Anglican Communion, though prayer and sacraments and the commitment to the "Word" of Christ revealed in the Holy Scriptures of the Bible are globally universal across the Communion, the Lambeth Conference has never been a governing body. This Lambeth Conference makes that explicit, in that the format of the conference, shaped by the Lambeth Design Team (of which our parishioner the Rev. Dr. Ian Douglas is a member), is built around bible study and widening circles of conversation and mutual discernment called "indaba." Indaba is a Zulu word for a gathering for purposeful discussion and is both a process and method of engagement, offering a way of listening to one another concerning challenges that face the Anglican Communion.
The St. James's Lambeth Conference Prayer Cycle was written by parishioners Mary Caulfield and John Gay with assistance from the Rev. Holly Lyman Antolini and the Rev. Dr. Ian Douglas. Each day's prayer centers on the planned activity and theme of the Conference day. This week's prayers are given below and also on our website, www.stjames-cambridge.org. A pdf file of the entire prayer cycle, July 13 through August 4, is also downloadable from the website.
Prayers for the Lambeth Conference & the bishops in attendance
Gracious God, who is the divine intelligence behind all creation, we thank you for the faithful service of the Rev. Dr. Ian Douglas and the other architects of this 2008 Lambeth Conference. Be with them as they see your will manifest itself. Give them patience as they make adjustments, forbearance in living out your plan, and a constant reminder that they are participating with you in your redeeming work. Amen.
7/27
Bless and guide our bishops as they seek rest and restoration in Sabbath, so that they may begin again tomorrow with refreshed minds, souls and bodies. Give them new strength and vigor for the final week of the Conference.
7/28
Help the bishops gathered at Canterbury to see the possibilities of dialogue with other religions, and to share the Gospel in loving and generous humility with those who do not yet know Christ.
7/29
Be with the bishops and their spouses, as they engage together the realities of power and authority. Help them find ways to heal the wounds of gender abuse and to restore right relations between men and women.
7/30
Enlighten the bishops to receive the gifts of Holy Scripture with faithful hearts, rational minds and devout spirits, and to discern how these truths can be set forth in their communities.
7/31
Illuminate for us the deep and incomprehensible power of Love manifested in our human sexuality. Help the bishops understand how they may be faithful to that Love in a shared understanding of God's mission.
8/1
Enable the bishops in Canterbury to approach with humility and mutual respect the complex issues inherent in their diverse visions of the Communion. Direct their work so that all may share in an ongoing development of an Anglican Covenant.
8/2
Guide the bishops of the Anglican Communion as they consider processes arising from the Windsor Report that can lead to the renewal of mutual responsibility and interdependence in the Body of Christ.
8/3
Bless all those who shared in and have been shaped by the meetings at Canterbury. Let their participation in the Body and Blood of Christ at the final Eucharist represent a fulfillment of the many conversations and a tangible sign of our unity in faith.
8/4
Keep safe the bishops, their spouses, their advisors, and all those who have made the 2008 Lambeth Conference a reality, as they return home to strive to be leaders in God's mission and thus strengthen the Anglican Communion.
IF YOU ARE MISSING SOMEONE YOU LOVE ON THE PRAYER LIST PLEASE CALL SHEILA RIBEIRO IN THE OFFICE AT 617-547-4070 TO LET HER KNOW YOU WISH OUR CONTINUING PRAYERS.
Those who have asked for our prayers: Anthony Joseph, Rosslyn Mullings, Valerie Martin, Joan Hawkesworth, Lew & Jane Baird, Michael Wayne, Jeffrey Paquette, Karen Coleman, Arne Nystrom, Susan Fisher, Tom Harris, Ken Holmes, Robert Larkin, Nona Y., Eric, Natalie, Jessica and Alison Sollee, Julie Holbrook O'Connor, Senator Edward Kennedy, Martine Kelly, Terry Tyler, Julia Brown, Bob Massie, Pat Haynes, David Peters, Florence Thompson, The Galindo family, Patricia Lindo, Miriam Joseph, Barbara Butler, Cindy Boyd-Farrah & Family, Cynthia Owen, Matteo Singer-Torres, Arne Nystrom, Emilienne Jules, Roger Shumway, Lisa McDonnell, Ebert Agard, June Fifield, Mary Mosesian and Jack McMackin.
Those who have died: Today we pray especially for Elvia Hetu and for all Iraqi civilians and security forces and all those members of our U.S. armed forces who have died in Iraq from July 11th thru July 17th: Jeffery S. Stevenson, Danny Dupre, Daniel R. Verbeke, David W. Textor, Jeremy D. Vrooman and Jackie L. Larsen.
The Flowers on the High Altar: are given by Mr.and Mrs. Michael Bolis in memory of their parents and grandparents.
The Flowers on the Chapel Altar: OPEN
OUR COMMUNITY PRAYERS...
...For loved ones near and far are very important. Sometimes, however, people forget to update us in the office about those on our weekly prayer list. Holly and Sheila will update the prayer list on the first Sunday of every month. If you wish your loved ones to remain on the list for the next month, please let us know by noon of the last Thursday of the previous month that you wish us to continue our prayers, and we will keep their names on our list. THANK YOU!
STAFF VACATIONS
Just to keep everyone in the loop: Minister of Music Pat Michaels and his family are on vacation July 14 through August 3 (Neil Dugas will be our organist on July 20 and 27; Colleen Henry on August 3), and our Rector Holly Antolini will be on vacation from July 28 through August 18 (Michele Torres will celebrate and Jr. Warden Karen Meridith will preach on Aug. 3; Laurie Rofinot will preach and celebrate on August 10; and Judy Gay will preach and celebrate on August 17; and there will be pastoral coverage for emergencies only with the St. James's cell phone throughout Holly's vacation period).
To donate memorial flowers - in memory of loved ones or in thanksgiving for birthdays, anniversaries or other life transitions - please contact Laurie Rofinot, Flower Committee.
Please recycle Sunday bulletins and music! Place them in the containers on the desk in the vestry room or in the containers in the back of the church. Thank you!
Have something to add to the Sunday News? Email Sheila at office@stjames-cambridge.org. by Thursday Noon.
Have an addition or correction to the prayer list? Email Sheila by Friday Noon.
Parish office hours: Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 10AM-2PM
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Readings on August 3rd: Isaiah 55:1-5 & Psalm 145:8-9, 14-21 (Steve Clark) Romans 9:1-5 (Nancy Pagan) Matthew: 14:13-21 Prayers (David Cameron) |