What might be the new life that our savior Jesus Christ is opening for St. Alban s?

Transcription

1 serving God by serving others A P R I L What might be the new life that our savior Jesus Christ is opening for St. Alban s? Inside Tree of Knowledge.. 2 Bible Study... 2 Quarter Auction... 3 Guest Speaker Series... 3 Strategic Panning Committee... 4 Finance Committee. 4 New Addresses... 4 Chili Cook-Off... 5 Blessing of the Cars... 6 Calendar... 7 Dear People of St. Alban s On Easter morning, many of us entered the flowery garden in our church and celebrated the joy of resurrected life. Like the two babies bap zed that morning, we share in Christ s death so that we also share in the new life he opens. This is the way of life that Jesus shows us: dying to the old self and to the old way of living, and rising to a new iden ty and a new way of living. This is Chris an life. There is no other way to enter into this new life, which is our true life, except by dying and rising. What might be the new life that our savior Jesus Christ is opening for St. Alban s? What needs to die away so that the new can come to life? Old pa erns of worship are becoming less rigid as we try a variety of alterna ve prac ces like how the altar is set up and how the bread and wine arrive there. Old pa erns of organizing leadership are morphing into ministry teams. There is more and more collabora on to support ministries that ma er to many like the fundraising dinners, or the holiday bazaar, or Reading Camp. Ro ng siding on the building has been replaced with new. And previously inadequate electrical outlets now support the power needed to sew dresses for orphans, among other things. Yet some old habits hold fast. Among these are pa erns of stewardship and volunteering that fall short of what s needed to sustain the ministries we say we want. Have people become so used to these circumstances that we no longer recognize how debilita ng they are? Consider what could happen if the me and energy that our leaders spend on these problems could be diverted instead to developing our congrega on s membership and mission! New possibili es for St. Alban s future are being inves gated by the long-range strategic planning team. Based on nomina ons from the vestry, the members of this team are: Pamela Jordan, Bill Davidson, Dan Mizerak, Mary Wilcox, Bob Hendrix, and Linda Bumgarner. You will be (Rev. Paula...Con nued on page 2) April

2 (Con nued from page 1) hearing more about their work in forthcoming newsle ers and parish mee ngs. New life is percola ng in our midst. God has plans for us, and his grace will guide our discernment of how to open ourselves to these possibili es. Part of the process will involve le ng Christ burst the bonds of old habits that hold us back so that we may live more fully as his hands and heart in our neighborhoods, serving God by serving others. Alleluia! Paula+ COMING SOON! The Tree of Knowledge Sunday, April 17th Glen Burnie Reading Camp is July 18 22, For our reading camp, we need many, many books for our 25 campers to read during camp and take home on the last day. On Friday, each child is given a bag to fill with books to con nue their reading for the rest of the summer. Our camp director, Maija Denson, has compiled an extensive list of books needed for camp. Thanks to our librarian, Sandy Murphy, we are off to a good start with her wonderful dona on of books and string bags. However, we s ll need more books for 25 campers! From April 17 to May 9, there will be a Tree of Knowledge in the back of our church containing paper books with the tle, author, and approximate price of a book from our reading list. We are grateful to Trinity Episcopal Church in Towson for dona ng the tree to St. Alban s for our reading camp. We are grateful to Amelia Gish for making the books on the tree, volunteering for reading camp, and becoming a vital member of our Glen Burnie Reading Camp team. If you are an avid reader, love books, love children, or the joy of children learning to read, please take a book or two from the tree as a reminder to buy a book for a camper at Glen Burnie Reading Camp. Books will be collected under the Tree of Knowledge un l Sunday, May 9, when Rev. Paula will be blessing the books, and praying for the success of reading camp and our campers. WEDNESDAY BIBLE STUDY. EUCHARIST, AND LUNCH will con nue a er Ash Wednesday with a new me of 10:30 am for the start of the Bible Study. Eucharist will remain at noon, with a light lunch following. You are welcome to come for the Bible Study, or just come for the Eucharist, or come for all three segments on any Wednesday. 2 Serving God by Serving Others

3 SAVE THE DATE: Quarter Auc on, Monday, May 2nd To raise funds for our reading camp, St. Alban s is par cipa ng in a Quarter Auc on on May 2 nd at the Moose Lodge, 1911 Crain Highway, South, in Glen Burnie. The doors open at 6:00 pm and the auc on begins at 7:00 pm. For this auc on, we are able to have four theme baskets. Already, we have one basket promised, and are planning three more baskets: a Maryland Basket, a Mother s Day/Gardening Basket, and a Pet Basket. If you would like to contribute items to the baskets above, please bring them to church by Sunday, May 1 st. There will be a container in the vestry room for the basket items or you can give them to Maija Denson. The Maryland Basket will contain all things Maryland such as crab chips, Old Bay spice, crab mallets, Berger cookies, and Bal more, Annapolis, Terps, Ravens, Orioles novelty items. The Mother s Day Basket will contain things such as garden gloves, small pots of flowers/plants, seed packages, small garden tools, hand lo ons, decora ve flower pots, wind chimes, gardening magazines, scarves, candy, and anything else your mother would like. The Pet Basket will contain things such as brushes, combs, dog scarves, shampoo, pet toys, stuffed animals for pets, treats, Kongs, pet magazines, water bowls, etc. Also, we will need baked items for the St. Alban s bake table at the Quarter Auc on. In addi on, we need volunteers to sell the baked goods, to sell the 50/50 raffle ckets, and to help straighten up the paddles and ping pong balls at the end of the evening. Last year, we had a lot of fun at the Quarter Auc on. Thanks to Maija s efforts and the contribu ons of parishioners to the bake table and baskets, we made a profit of $1000! Please join us for a night of fun to support to our Glen Burnie Reading Camp. Social Ministries Guest Speaker Series SOCIAL MINISTRIES GUEST SPEAKER SERIES On Sunday, April 10 th, St. Alban s will have Paula Thistle, from the Community of St. Dysmas to speak about their prison ministry. Paula Thistle will preach during our worship services, and have a discussion/ ques on and answer session in the vestry room at noon. This will be the first in a series of guest speakers at St. Alban s hosted by Social Ministries. This year, Social ministries is changing things up a bit. We will meet four mes a year on Sunday a ernoon rather than our previous monthly mee ngs. We will con nue with St. Alban s favorite outreach projects like the Angel Tree, Back to School Program, Camp Amazing Grace, collec ng food to feed elementary school children in Buddy Bags/Tabitha s Backpack, and food for NCEON. In addi on, we feel called to offer a guest speaker series to learn about new ministries, as well as re-acquaint us with some of our local outreach ministries like HOPE. In June, Kim Cluney will be our guest speaker explaining the Watershed Stewards Program, and her role as a steward involving our church in protec ng our streams, rivers, and the Chesapeake Bay. Please join us on April 10 th as we welcome Paula Thistle to share her ministry of the Community of St. Dysmas. Members of Social Ministries have heard about this prison ministry and hope you might find it compelling and interes ng. Please send your submissions for the April Beacon by April 20 to newsle er@saintalbanschurch.org April

4 Strategic Planning Commi ee Our Strategic Planning Commi ee has begun to meet! Members include Bill Davidson, Dan Mizerak, Linda Bumgarner, Bill Carter, Pam Jordan, Mary Wilcox, and Bob Hendrix. The group is gathering informa on to help evaluate the needs of our congrega on and of our community. We are fortunate to have a consultant from the Diocese to confer with us on this process. He also is guiding us in considering how we might be able to use some of the space in our building to generate income that would help support our ministries. In the next newsle er, you will be able to learn more about the Strategic Planning Commi ee and its work. Finance Commi ee Report In early March we received no fica on from the Diocese that St. Alban s had been approved to receive a $10,000 Grant to assist with our 2016 Budget. Praise God! As stated at the Annual Mee ng, our budget was $22,000 short of an cipated income and the Finance Commi ee. would meet again once we received word from the Diocese regarding our Grant request. We did meet on March 14 th a er receiving word of our Grant status. We reviewed each Ministry s budget thoroughly making any necessary adjustments. This process was very difficult as some Ministries that we had plans to develop had to be put on hold and others that we wanted to improve, we could not. The good news is that we now have a balanced 2016 Budget. What is clear is that this congrega on is not able to afford a full- me without some type of assistance. Shortly a er Rev. Cindy was voted in as full me she became ill, part of the disability insurance helped carry us. When we hired Paula we got into debt and had the Gap Campaign and now we are receiving assistance from the Diocese. We have to call the ques on, are we going to be able to support a full me rector in the future? NOTICE: New Addresses for Church Personnel & Organiza ons! St. Alban s has migrated to new addresses on our new domain address, saintaalbanschurch.org. The following addresses are now ac ve: office@saintalbanschurch.org (Office Administrator) rector@saintalbanschurch.org (Rev. Paula) newsle er@saintalbanschurch.org (Newsle er Editor) Please update the church s contact informa on on your PC, phone or tablet. 4 Serving God by Serving Others

5

6

7 April Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Eternal Quilters meets on the 2nd Thu at 10 am Purple Heart meets on the 3rd Thu at 6:30 pm 3 8 am Holy 10:30 am Holy 10 Blessing of Lenten Boxes 8 am Holy 10:30 am Holy Noon Social Ministries Speaker Series 17 Tree of Knowledge Arrives 8 am Holy 10:30 am Holy 24 8 am Holy 10:30 am Holy :30 am Bible Study Noon Eucharist :30 am Bible Study :00 pm Ladies Guild April 2016 Alcoholics Anonymous meets every Mon & Fri at 7 pm Al-Anon meets each Fri at 7 pm Food Addictions meets each Mon at 7 pm Noon Eucharist 2 pm Prayer Shawl Min :30 am Bible Study Noon Eucharist :30 am Bible Study Noon Eucharist 2 pm Prayer Shawl Min pm Vestry Mee ng

8 The Beacon of St. Alban s St. Alban s Episcopal Church 105 1st Ave SW Glen Burnie, MD Phone: , Fax: office@saintalbanschurch.org RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED Sunday Worship Services 8:00 am - Holy, Rite I (no music) 10:30 am - Holy, Rite II (with music) Sunday School, K-8 and Nursery This Lent, remember to feed your pig! Church Office Hours Monday-Friday 9am-12 pm Rector Rev. Dr. Paula Datsko Barker Office Administrator: Char McFayden 8 Serving God by Serving Others