Sunrise on Mt. Cadillac
It's the 11th Sunday after Pentecost, the weekend before Labor Day weekend, and we're celebrating by worshiping outside, at the Barwood farm. The weather forecast looks good, and there's nothing you need to bring, except maybe sunscreen and a hat. We'll look around us at the beauty of a Vermont summer morning and hear Isaiah promise the coming of a new dawn: "The LORD will comfort Zion, will comfort all her waste places, and will make her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song." And Jesus will look Peter in the eye and ask him, "but who do you say that I am?" The service begins at 9:15 (in case people arrive at church at 9). Please join us!
Here are directions to the farm, just a few minutes from church, at 1362 Christian Street (click here for directions)
Jesus gives Peter the keys, by Raffaello (1515)
Grant, O merciful God, that your Church, being gathered together in unity by your Holy Spirit, may show forth your power among all peoples, to the glory of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Here are this Sunday's readings and verger schedule:
Old Testament: Louise Pietsch Epistle: Carl Hanson Psalm and Prayers: Marge Brennan Host: Davis, Chalice: Judi Shank, Kate Conner Announcer: Barb Coulter Counters: Pete Lapre, Bruce Taylor Greeter: Holly Hall
Here are this week's announcements:
Fun: Fishercats Game 8/24 (from Jill Fischer)
The fun committee has met and is organizing lots of parish FUN!!!!! Our first fun thing is a trip to Manchester to see the Fishercats. In case you didn't know, they are a minor league baseball team. If you've never been to one, minor league games are a much lower key environment in which to watch pro players play ball.
Tickets are $8.00 and the game starts at 1:30 pm. The plan is to meet at the church parking lot at noon and carpool together.
Please email Jill Fischer at jill@positivecouples or call her at 603-558-1550 if you are planning to come and want to make sure we don't leave without you.
We hope you'll join us for some end of the summer fun!
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Altar Flowers (from Barb Coulter and the Altar Guild)
There are several weeks open to share flowers on the Altar. Perhaps your garden is overflowing?! If you would like to donate an arrangement from your garden that would be wonderful! Please let me or any member of the Altar Guild know what week and we can let the florist know not to deliver that Sunday. Even if you're not a flower gardener, flowers for the Altar are a wonderful way to honor, celebrate or remember loved ones. There is a beautiful flower chart for the year in the hallway, please stop by and see if there is a Sunday you would like to sign up for. If there are any questions please feel free to ask.
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Prayer List
To make a prayer request, contact Holly Hall by phone, 802-295-9095 or by e mail, hchall50@gmail.com. If you would just like to have something added to (or removed from) the Prayers of the People list (printed in the weekly leaflet), please send email to announcements.spc@gmail.com.
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Knit and Purl Fellowship (from Holly Hall)
Knit and Purl Fellowship meets 1st and 3rd Monday of the month at 6:30 except for holidays. We will not meet September 1st, Labor Day but will meet September 15th at Janie Bell's home.
Oct. 6th, meeting location to be decided. and October 20th, we will meet at the Bell's home. November 3rd and 17th, meeting place to be decided. All forms of stitchery work is welcome. For more information, contact Holly, 802-295-9095
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Listen Community Dinner (from Holly Hall)
Our next dinner organized by Holly and Ev, will be September 15th. We will be serving between 90 to 100 people and the menu will be chicken casseroles for main course and cookies for dessert. Sign up sheet will be posted Friday on parish hall bulletin board.
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St.Paul's Caring Ministries (from Diana Collins)
St. Paul's Caring Ministries will be meeting on September 24 from 5:30 - 7:00. Our focus will be prayer: how we pray, when we pray, the similarities and differences of our prayer lives. Please consider joining us just for our quarterly meeting and/or joining one of the St Paul's Caring Ministries (Intercession, Pastoral Care, Healing).
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The Alleluia Golf Tournament, Saturday, September 13th (from Stew Wood)|
Golfers, craft your foursomes for the third annual Alleluia Golf Tournament at the Basin Harbor Club outside of Vergennes, VT on Saturday, September 13th. This fun event in which St. Paul's teams have done so well supports the programming life of the Diocese of Vermont.
The course is fun, with very little water to worry you and no hills to climb. Box lunches nourish us as we compete, a great dinner awaits us when we're finished, and lots of prizes are there to be awarded the participants.
Let Stew Wood know of your intention to play. We can car pool to make the trip easier for all of us.
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MDC: Behind the Scenes (from Leslie Black)
Through the spring and summer months, the MDC has been hard at work, having increased the length of our bimonthly meetings to focus intensely on a crucial task. We have been diligently crafting and revising answers to twelve questions which will be posted on a national website and viewed by prospective priests. Questions center around change and the church of the future; desired gifts and skills of future leaders; worship and liturgical style; ministry, internal and external; pastoral care; spirituality; stewardship and conflict.
Our goal has been to provide concrete information which also captures the spirit of St. Paul’s. To do so, we have drawn heavily on the two MDC sponsored events, but we have also relied on sharing by MDC members who were present at the two retreats, after church meetings on various subjects, the Listening Group events and other less structured conversations.
The revised draft is nearly ready to share first with the vestry, then with the congregation and finally with with the Diocese. An abridged version (1200 characters per question) will be posted on the national website, and the complete version will be added to our website.
The list of questions can be found on the on page 7 of Appendix D of this document:
http://diovermont.org/PDFs/deployment/CallingClergyManual2013.pdf
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Bible Study
Midweek Bible Study will resume this Wednesday, August 27 at 11am.
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Bishop Ely's Sabbatical
If you'd like to follow the Bishop's progress, his tweeting is here:
https://twitter.com/BishopVT10
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UPCOMING EVENTS
Tuesday, August 26
Vestry meeting at 6:30
Sunday, September 7
Quarterly all parish checkin meeting after church
Saturday, September 13
Alleluia Golf Tournament near Vergennes, VT. (see Stew Wood)
Sunday, September 14
- Resume Fall/ Winter Worship Schedule: Services at 8 and 10 a.m.
- Brookside service at 2pm.
Monday, September 15
Listen Community Dinner (see Holly Hall for details)
Sunday, September 21
Funeral planning workshop after church
Wednesday, September 24
St. Paul's Caring Ministries meeting from 5:30-7pm (see Diana Collins for details)
Saturday, October 4
2014 Parish Retreat at Camp Ohana, Fairlee, VT
Saturday, October 18
Ministry Fair: “Discovering God in the Neighborhood” at St. Paul’s, WRJ
Sunday, October 26
Micah awards at Listen Center in WRJ