January/February 2005

Dear Friends,

Peace be with you. A vestry meeting has just ended: a budget was approved and four people said good-bye as their terms have now ended. There is a lot of positive energy and excitement in seeing the growth of the parish both in size and in spirit.

You will hear about all these things at the annual meeting on January 23. There will be ONE service that day at 9:30 AM. A potluck brunch will follow. (A sign-up sheet will be posted on the bulletin board.) The meeting will begin at about 11:30 AM with a slide presentation from Same Cote reflecting her mission trip to Honduras. For those of you who are new, Sam was a member of the Youth Leadership Academy this past year. This is a small group of high school leaders that benefit from the direction of our diocesan bishop, the Tr. Rev'd M. Thomas Shaw SSJE.

The Lenten season begins early this year - February 9. More information is to be found further on. A Bible study format has not been chosen yet; we are still working on Alpha, and The Purpose Driven Life.

The BeFrienders are getting ready to make visits to those who are new to the church or somewhat new. If you are wondering why you are being visited because you've been coming a while please know that we are honoring your presence and are finally making a format visit.

As I reflect on where we have been in 2004 as a parish, I am humbled by the gifts of ministry you share and the level of friendship and love you feel for one another. The Christmas services were wonderful. Many thanks to the St. Elizabeth Guild for organizing the Silver Tea; to Al & Margaret Westerlund and members of the vestry who prepared the Swedish meatball dinner; to Lisa Kinser for her incredible gift of working with our children to once again create a moving pageant; to the choir and special musicians, Richard Hyatt on flute and Dick Lapadula on trumpet; to the acolytes and altar guild. This truly was fine celebration of our Lord and Savior.

As we look forward in this year, may God continue to bless our work and our relationships. Please don't hesitate to call or visit me. I enjoy hearing about your dreams and visions for St. Anne's.

Faithfully,

Peggy

February/March 2005

Dear Friends,

Peace be with you. The annual meeting of the parish was wonderful. Same Cote's slide presentation on her trip to Honduras with the Youth Leadership Academy gave us all a window into the impact of the experience on her life. She is a future leader of the church and I am proud that St. Anne 's is one of the foundations of her journey. We were also privileged to experience the way Lisa Kinser teaches her 4,5,6-grade class. It was fast-paced, interesting and informative. Great job Lisa! She made us want to look up passages in the Bible.

There are several copies of the annual report in the narthex if you were unable to
come. Please take the time to read the individual reports because they paint a picture of St. Anne's in a variety of settings. The new leadership contact sheet is included in this issue for your information.

The focus of this issue is the Lenten calendar of events. Ash Wednesday is February 9. The St. Elizabeth Guild will host the Ecumenical Lenten luncheon at 11:45 AM at The First Congregational Church in Billerica center. (That evening at 7:30 PM, there will be a traditional Ash Wednesday service at St. Anne's.) Every Wednesday during Lent a different church will serve the meal and lead the worship. You are invited to all of them. The schedule is posted on the bulletin board. Each Friday at 7:30 PM Pete Jeffrey will walk the Stations of the Cross. On Sunday, Feb. 13 there will be special coffee hours following both services to honor specifically those members who have been apart of this parish family for thirty years or more. If you are a new member or somewhere in between new and seasoned please come and share the fellowship and food that is being prepared.

We are very pleased to be offering the newest Episcopal study about Christianity. It is called the "Via Media " and is really the Episcopal Church's parallel to Alpha. It differs from Alpha in that there is a round table discussion of a diverse group of people on various topics (God, Holy Spirit, Jesus, sin etc.) instead of the voice of one person. Most of all it is my hope that you will listen and come away with a sense of reverent diversity within the church and an understanding of why there is such a wide range of interpretation within the body. A very well done eight-week study. The evening course will begin on February 17. There is a sign-up sheet outside the kitchen. The video will begin at 7:30 PM; small group discussions will follow and we will end at 8:30 PM or very shortly after with Compline. The same course will also be offered on Tuesday mornings at 9:30 AM beginning on Feb. 15.

Young mothers and their little one/s have been invited to meet informally on Feb. l9 at 10:00 AM in the Nichols Room to see if there is a desire for another M.O.M. 's group. If you did not receive a note and would like to come, please do so. There will be refreshments.

Aside from February 20 when three little boys will be welcomed into the
household of God at St. Anne 's in a service of Holy Baptism --the -worship -will consist of Morning Prayer with the Holy Communion. This different rhythm will mark the Lenten season just as there will be no flowers on the altar.

This year there are nine confirmands who have signed agreements of commitment to meet regularly with mentors assigned to them as they study and discuss their textbook Keeping The Promise. They will also have the benefit of attending a day-long deanery wide confirmation retreat at St. Paul's Church in Newburyport. Bishop Harris will be there to meet with them. They will attend a vestry meeting and will help out in the Thrift Shop as additional requirements. The confirmation will be on May 5 at St. Anne's Church in Lowell at a time yet to be determined.

There are two mission opportunities, one is the continued support of all those affected by the devastating tsunami. A basket is placed on the piano and all moneys will be forwarded through the Episcopal Relief & Development Fund. The other missionary opportunity involves my neighbor, Katrina Berg. For two years she was a Peace Corp volunteer in an African village in the northern province of Zambia. During her time there she helped the people build a library with reference materials on fish farming, the HIV virus and malaria prevention. It was so helpful to the people of that village. They were able to be better fish-farmers - a major source of work - and to take better care of themselves. She was recently promoted to Peace Corp volunteer leader. She now has her own little house and travels by bike to all the villages in the province helping people with their needs. They also need libraries. There are so many termites that they need to pour cement and it is expensive. They need corrugated roofs and not thatched because they last longer. Pictures of her and her work are on the bulletin board. Her e-mail address and address are also included so you can be in contact first hand with the mission. Any moneys collected will be sent to her as soon as they are received.

Holy Week begins on March 20 with the liturgy of the Palms. Maundy Thursday
will focus on the traditional "foot" washing and stripping of the altar and there will be a Good Friday liturgy at Noon and a more elaborate service of the Stations of the Cross at 7:30 PM. On Holy Saturday there will be a special presentation of the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd at 1:00 PM, followed by the annual Easter egg hunt outside (weather permitting). On the Day of Resurrection there will be two services of Festival Eucharist with special music and choirs.

It is my hope that there is a Lenten event for every age group and that you will
deepen your faith in relationship, worship and study these forty days.

"I invite you, therefore, in the name of the church, to the observance of a holy
Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God's holy Word." (BCP p. 265)

Faithfully,

Peggy

Easter 2005

Dear Friends,

Peace be with you. As Easter day fast approaches, there are not yet any signs of the new life of Spring. Instead the wind howls and the snow keeps falling. Are we only dreaming that the time is fast upon us? The alleluia of Easter is a lot like life - it comes quickly and catches us off guard. We aren't prepared because we are stuck in the daily routine of life not thinking that the way of the cross in Holy Week is real or that it has anything to do with what we are about.

The drama of Holy Week is our story too. Different setting, different time - truth in the same struggle balancing life and death, joy and sorrow, good and evil.

Please be a part of the drama of Holy Week and walk with Jesus through the valley that leads into the very heart of God - victorious, risen, eternally with the Father.

May God Bless you and yours.

Faithfully,

Peggy

May/June 2005

Dear Friends,

Peace be with you. We will be ending the program year at St. Anne's with a flurry of activity which there is no need to repeat here. Please read this newsletter carefully, as there may be some information near and dear to you. The deanery -wide Confirmation is next Thursday at St. Anne's in Lowell. This is a first for us so we are anxious to see how it all works out. Also a first is the mentoring program they studied under the direction of several parishioners. The nine Confirmands also attended a Vestry meeting and helped out in the Thrift Shop both of which they all seemed to enjoy.

We have also completed an eight-week video program entitled Via Media - the American Episcopal Church's response to Alpha. It certainly was provocative pushing buttons and encouraging people to think out of the narrow boxes we are all comfortable in. There were two discussion groups: one Tuesday morning and another Thursday evening. The goal in these video series is always to stretch our minds. The Tuesday morning group is now reading The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd and will discuss it on May 10.

This is also the first year we have been asked to host our local veterans for the Memorial Day Service at the 10:00 service on May 22. This will be a real gift to all of us.

Another new addition is the toddler room next to the Atrium, which will be coordinated by the M.O.M.'s group. Kim Packard will be working in there as well. Soon it will have a microphone so the service will reach them. The sanctuary is now wired to record our services on CD's and we look forward to being able to give these CD's to shut-ins in the near future.

It will also be a treat to know that the sanctuary is now air conditioned so hopefully attendance will not suffer because of the heat.

This is the last newsletter until the September issue. There are so many people to thank for so many things it's not possible to list them. This is a sign of a truly wonderful parish that so many people give of their time talent and treasure. Thank you! Thank you!

As we begin the slower rhythm of the warmer days may you find time for rest, renewal, and refreshment, and may you know always how special each of you is to this family of God.

Blessings

Peggy

September 2005

Dear Friends,

Peace be with you. The arrival of this newsletter bears witness that the summer is officially over, and another rhythm begins. As summer's go, this one was not particularly restful or quiet. Several of us worked very hard cleaning out Beverly's mobile home, getting it ready to sell. Others worked on new classes for our young people and others met several times to brainstorm ideas for the fair. One of the big decisions was to have two seasonal fairs: the Fall Fair on Oct. 29 (more info in this edition) and the Christmas Fair on Dec. 3. We are looking for someone to help sell Christmas trees this year. If you are interested, please let Doris Hamner, Sandi Grioux, Cyndi Hopkins or myself know.

To formally begin the program year, the vestry will once again host the Welcome Back Brunch on Sept. 25 at 8:45 a.m. - in between the services. A light breakfast will be served as 8 o'clockers and 10 o'clockers come together to visit. There will also be an opportunity to register your children for church school and meet the teachers. I am very pleased that two new classes will be offered this year: a class for toddlers and a class for 7th & 8th graders. In addition, Mrs. Brenda Komarinski is enrolled in formal training for the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd program.

The very next weekend will be full. Saturday Oct. 1 is the All Parish Event. This year we have reserved the Kohlrausch Park from 12:00 PM to 5:00 PM. Please bring a sandwich-type lunch for your family and come with an eye toward fun. A softball game is being organized as well as cribbage, and a variety of relay races. There will be something for everyone. You may want to bring some lawn chairs. There is an outdoor bathroom and a playground for little ones.

The very next day, Oct. 2, several of our friends from the UK will be among us at worship. They come as representatives of our sister city, Billericay, in the Billerica Twinning group. The St. Elizabeth's Guild will host a high tea in their honor after the 10:00 AM service.

The Tuesday morning group will begin anew on Oct. 4 at 9:30 AM. We have been reading some books during the summer: Inner Garden, St. Benedict's Toolbox, God the Alchemist, and A Thread of Grace. Let us begin in fellowship and prayer and discuss which of the four books to focus on first.

There have been a few ideas for the Thursday night study group but nothing is in place yet. I am looking for an in-depth study of world religions on video to help us understand the seeds of extremism and fundamentalism, particularly in the Eastern religions. If you are aware of any, please let me know.

We are fortunate to host the Explorers Preschool once again. They bring a lot of energy and laughter into our midst.

As we continue to grow and reach out to our neighbors, I am mindful that 2005 is also the 115th anniversary of St. Anne's - we have come a long way from meeting in people's homes. We will have some photos of the original church structure available at the Harvest Fair on Oct. 29.

As I think about all the ministries and programs , I am mindful that some of our youth have graduated from high school and have moved on. All of life changes - and very quickly these days. May they continue to bloom and grow in love and knowledge that they are loved for their very being by this community.

As you read all this you may wonder about something or have a comment or a wish. Please share them. In the meantime, may the God of all power and might fill our hearts and minds with love and energy for the journey ahead.

Faithfully,

Peggy

November/December 2005

Dear Friends,

Peace be with you. The church is empty and very quiet as I sit at my desk having retreated from the clergy conference for the afternoon. There are piles of "stuff" in every corner reminding me of the upcoming Holiday Fair and all those who bring treasures to my office for safe keeping. This week before Thanksgiving, I am grateful for the pause in the schedule to reflect on all there is to be thankful for. We are blessed with so many people who take the time to express their love of God and neighbor in a variety of ways.

The Buildings and Grounds Committee has been coordinating with the town now for a year and finally you can see new signs near the crosswalk that are designed to slow down oncoming traffic. Thank you Jeff Dirk for doing the traffic engineering of the intersection. The administration doors have been weather stripped under the direction of Tom Blesso. Al Westerlund and Kathy Brewster have washed and painted the walls in the kitchen in preparation for a new gas stove being purchased by Jean Mansfield. The ladies in the Thrift Shop continue to work tirelessly and break all previous income records. If you haven't stopped in lately, you might want to. Lisa Kinser in working on the Christmas Pageant once again. If you would like to help her, please give her a call. Harvey Hopkins has submitted a talk that he gave to a Men's Cursillo weekend twenty-five years ago. This past weekend thirteen candidates went to Cursillo. His words are as timely for this group as they were a quarter century ago. This by no means includes everyone who has shared - it is all I can recall in the limited time I am here.

"Thank you" for being YOU, sharing time, talent and treasure in the church of God in North Billerica, Massachusetts.

If you have something you would like to share in the newsletter, please do so. We want to hear from you.

A Thanksgiving Prayer

For the fruits of the earth: we thank you
For the harvest of the sea: we thank you
For the beauty of the sky: we thank you
For the energy pulsing through the whole creation:
we thank you, heavenly Father.

Faithfully,

Peggy