February 2011

Dear Friends,

Peace to you. As you know our Diocesan Bishop, The Right Reverend M. Thomas Shaw, SSJE, will be with us for the day on Saturday, February 12, 2011. This is a time for him to touch base with our whole congregation in a personal and pastoral way. I have designed a schedule that include time for everyone to visit with him at least once. Please make every effort to come even for a short time. I know that Saturday is busy for many and that you may have to juggle your schedule to be here.

 

Peggy

March/Lent 2011

Dear Friends,

Peace to you. Some of you may be wondering where the directories are. They have come in so if you had your picture taken please come and pick your copy up.
There is a new fund-raiser as well. We now have little wooden plaques of the church in color. They are designed to fit over a doorway or on a shelf. The cost is $15.00. The proceeds will be deposited into the M&M fund under a new line item for fund-raising. I am trying to be intentional about saving money in view of the fact that our Diocesan assessment keeps rising.
If you have an idea to raise money please let me know. Someone has already called about having a Tupperware party on May 1st after the 10 AM service.

Some specific news:
ACOLYTES:
For the past few years Sandra Giroux has directed the acolytes. Thank you Sandra for your years of service and your dedication to the program. Beginning on March 6th at 9 AM I will be taking her place as acolyte director. Please come and help refresh me in this most important ministry. If you read this and think that you might like to join- whatever your age- I welcome you warmly.

SHROVE TUESDAY PANCAKE SUPPER
This year Shrove Tuesday is March 8th. Rebecca Giroux will be hosting the event as part of her work on the Youth Leadership Academy. You have already received her invitation but the particular are that it is from 6 - 8 PM. The cost is $7.00 per person and $15.00 per family. I am told that there will be varieties of pancakes to choose from and that she has enlisted the help of other youth and friends to make this happen. Please come and support her.

VESTRY MEETING
Will be Tuesday, March 8th at 7:00 PM. It is hoped that the vestry members will be able to stop and have some pancakes and then go to the Nichols Room for a brief meeting. We had hoped to hold off the meeting until the vestry overnight retreat at the end of March but five members are not able to come so that won't work.

LENT
Begins this year on Ash Wednesday, March 9th. There will be an Ash Wednesday Liturgy with the imposition of ashes and the Holy Communion at 7:30 PM.
The Interfaith Lenten Luncheon series will once again be hosted by the First Congregational Church on Andover Road in Billerica Center. The luncheon will begin at 11:45 AM and the service at 12:30 PM. The first one in the series will be led by the First Congregational Church.

NEWCOMERS' CLASS
If you are fairly new to St. Anne's or if you have questions about the faith or the Episcopal Church please plan to come on Saturday morning, March 12th at 9 AM. This is a four to six week series and subsequent meeting times will be decided by the group at the first meeting.
If you are going to participate please let me know ahead of time so I can get you a book.

DAYLIGHT SAVINGS
Is Sunday, March 13th. Please set your clocks ahead one hour when you go to bed Saturday night.

A NEW FAMILY SERVICE
MARCH 20TH AT 10:00 AM
St. Anne's is blessed with many young families. I am in the process of designing a shorter and less formal service that will bring children and their parents together both during the service and after. If your child plays a musical instrument or likes to sing and would be willing to participate please let me know. And if you are accustomed to the regular service I ask that you come as someone who can help with suggestions and comments.

VESTRY OVERNIGHT RETREAT- MARCH 25TH, 26TH
Once again we will be heading Northwest to Greenfield, NH, for prayer and envisioning of our corporate life together. We will be gone from Friday afternoon until after lunch on Saturday.

I am sure that other new will crop up which I will forward.

Until then - Blessings,

Peggy

Easter 2011

Dear Friends,

Peace be with you. Here we are deep in the season of Lent. For many of us it has been a time of fellowship and worship during the Lenten lunches; for others a time of utter busyness into which times of prayer and retreat and fasting have been added as spiritual disciplines. Some people are so overwhelmed with daily struggles that it feels like life is a perpetual Lent.

When we look around the world we are terrified by the escalating out-of-control nuclear disaster in Japan; by the incapacity of the world to recover from the brink of financial disaster in any meaningful way. So many people are still without homes, jobs, or health insurance. We wonder what miracle it will take to turn life around and level the playing field for our brothers and sisters, both far and near.

The answer of course is not to be found in any one thing that you or I can do. The answer is to be found in the drama of Holy Week where we all come face to face with the powers and principalities that can destroy us. It is here that our deepest fears are transformed by following where God in Christ has led us through the realities of loss and descent to the light and life which can be found no other way.

We will come to learn once again that death is not the final act of creation. Easter is, and like the first act of creation, it is about life. Beyond the darkest hours in all of our lives there is light and hope and the life of a new beginning. This is the rhythm of Holy Week and Easter. It is the rhythm of our lives as Christians.

Please come and share your particular part in the drama. The Holy Week schedule is found in the 'Calendar Details' section of this website.

To you and yours...

A Most Blessed Easter,

Peggy

June 2011

Dear Friends,

Peace to you. As this program year comes to a close there is a flurry of activity and fun happenings. It might be helpful to mention them here.

This Sunday, June 5th is Recognition Sunday. If you are new this is a day at the close of the program year set aside to pause and give thanks to those who have taught our young ones as well as those who have sung in the choir and served on the altar. It is true that we don't say "thank you" nearly enough for the many gifts shared by so many.
In addition this Recognition Sunday will also be a Family service. We will welcome our youth in many liturgical capacities. They will learn best by doing at their own level.

ALSO SPECIAL TO THIS DAY is a HOMEMADE PANCAKE BREAKFAST beginning at 8:45 and prepared for us by the O'Sullivan and Byron families ( Amy's parents). Please plan to come early and enjoy good food and fellowship. Children under 12 are free; others are $5.00. This breakfast will continue as long as hungry folks show up.
Following the 10:00 service ( as is our recent tradition) there will be an ICE CREAM SOCIAL. We will make our own sundaes and celebrate a successful year. Please come and join in.

Next Sunday, June 12th is Pentecost, the Birthday of the Church. It is customary to wear red, yellow or orange on that day representing the colors of the fire in the Holy Spirit that alighted on all those people who gathered at worship from all over and together understood each other even though they did not understand each others' languages. They all understood that Jesus the Christ is Lord of all From this time on the church grew in all places and ways.
It will be a special treat on this day that the service is designed by Rebecca Giroux for a Youth Leadership Academy project. We will witness the liturgy through the eyes of someone who speaks and thinks for Episcopal youth. We are hopeful that members of the YLA around the diocese will join us. Rebecca also has something special planned for coffee hour. The loose plate offering on this day will support the upcoming YLA mission trip.
Please come and support Rebecca.

The Strawberry Festival/Yard sale/Vendors is Saturday, June 18th. We all know how wonderful this day is. Several people gather beforehand to pick local strawberries. The shortcake biscuits are made the day of the festival so you literally get them hot out of the oven. In addition there will be hot dogs, cold drinks and coffee.
This year we are also offering an opportunity to rent a table and have a church-wide yard sale. If you are interested in renting a table please contact Mark Komarinski at 978 663-0874 or you can email him at mkomarinski@wayga.org.
The Thrift shop will also be open on this day and there will be some vendors as well.

Sunday, June 19th is another special day. We will celebrate the adoption of Nora O'Sullivan to Tim and Amy at the 10:00 AM service. Her adoption will be final on June 15th.

The Annual Golf Tournament will be held at the Swanson Meadows Golf Club on Saturday, June 25th. Time is upon us for reserving a lunch or a team. You do not have to be a golfer to enjoy the wonderful barbecue luncheon. Please contact any one of these people if you have any questions.
Tom or Jane Blesso: 978 667-0756
John or Linda Kusnierz: 978 667-7101
Dave or Cindy Fawcett: 978 362-1561

Last but not least the Men's breakfast fellowship group will not meet in June because of the busy calendar.

If you put dates on the church calendar please send them to me as soon as possible. There is no doubt that September will be as busy as June.

John Howell is so thankful for the many cards, calls and prayers he received after his heart attack. He is doing much better.

This comes to you wishing you a renewing summertime.

Blessings,

Peggy

Advent-Christmas 2011

Dear Friends,

Advent Blessings!  As we move about with sweaters and light jackets and the temperatures hover around sixty degrees we pause when we see lights and decorations here and there; we are reminded again that we are deep in the season of Advent and less than three weeks from Christmas.  We have been hearing from John the Baptist this year- a fiery prophet in the manner of Elijah who wants for us holy transformations.  He reminds us that our lives are always in Advent; waiting for the coming of the Lord as Messiah and at the same time waiting for the second coming of the Lord as Judge and Savior of the world.  Each week we light another candle on the Advent candle stand to show that a little more light has come into the dark places of the world.  The light is by far lighter than the dark is dark.

The Christian Church has the distinct honor of keeping alive for all time the greatest story ever told.  The birth of the Christ child is prominent in two of the Gospels.  St. Anne’s tells this story best in the Christmas Pageant.  As in the past many children will participate.  They will learn about Mary and Joseph, the shepherds and the Magi in a faraway land.

As this story is retold each year older members come to know many other spiritual truths.  We come to an understanding of the God in our midst; of learning to see with the eyes of faith the living God in a newborn; of having the capacity to feel peace and love in the most unlikely places; of being able to hope in the midst of life’s most difficult trials- that in the end all will be well no matter what life brings.  This knowledge is the result of years of faith-building.  It is a gift.  And the wonder is that this story has the power to speak to us in new and different ways each year in the hearing of the familiar words.

We gather once again with both the privilege and the responsibility to pass this Good News on!

Christmas Blessings to you and yours!

Peggy