The Episcopal Church of Bangor in Caernarvon

Transcription

1 August 27, 2017 The Episcopal Church of Bangor in Caernarvon Founded in Main Street Churchtown, Narvon, Pennsylvania The Rt. Reverend Audrey Scanlan, Bishop The Reverend Canon Mark A. Scheneman Priest in Charge Historic Bangor Episcopal Church, the mother church of the Diocese of Central Pennsylvania, seeks to be a community in Christ Jesus celebrating our heritage, vibrant in our worship, and engaged in ministry and mission as we approach the 300 th anniversary of our founding.

2 This Sunday at Bangor Church August 27, 2017 The Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost 10:00 AM Holy Eucharist 11:10 AM Fellowship Hour (Church House) The Gospel reading for this Sunday is the account of declaration of St. Peter at Caesarea Philippi, you are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. (Matthew 16) This story represents the transitional moment in the narrative, between the early ministry of Jesus and his final journey to Jerusalem. And it challenges us to answer, as did Peter, committing ourselves to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Fr. Mark will reflect on the challenge of witnessing to our faith, in word and in action. We will be using a newly designed bulletin for the first time. (See below for some details.) If you can, do join us for our time of fellowship and refreshments in the Church House after the service. From Fr. Mark: A new bulletin design This Sunday we will be handing out a newly designed bulletin. Let me first preview the contents and then provide a bit of reflection on why we are making some changes.

3 The first thing you will notice is that we are using larger paper. Our bulletin for the past years has been printed on standard 8 1/2x 11 paper, folded in half. The problem is that this size does limit how much we can include. The new bulletin uses legal size paper (a bit longer and wider), folded in thirds, not in half. This gives us six panels, not four, although each of the panels is a bit smaller. We still have a cover page. But the history page that we have been using on the back of our bulletin has been deleted. We have extra copies of the history/dates at the back of the church and in the Visitor Bags. As a major change in content, the new bulletin prints the texts of the liturgy said by the congregation. This includes the Opening Acclamation, the Gloria, the Confession, the Prayer of St. Francis (now in sequence with the rest of the liturgy), the Creed, and Post Communion Prayer. Those following the service in the bulletin will not have to open a Prayer Book unless they want to follow the Prayer of Consecration. Of course, the bulletin continues to provide page numbers in the Prayer Book and Hymns by number in the Hymnal, as well as first line of the text. And we continue to include some printed announcements, as well as some calendar events, and names on our Prayer List. The names of those leading the worship are also still listed. We will continue to use the printed inserts with the Collect (Prayer of the Day) and the text of the readings. One new feature is some words of welcome for visitors and some helpful directions for those unfamiliar with our worship. I have a feeling that most of us who know the Prayer Book liturgy and are comfortable with our style of worship really don t need or certainly depend on a printed bulletin. If anything, it is the insert with the readings that is more helpful since they change week by week.

4 But, even if we don t need the help, those who are new or visiting probably do. We forget how daunting it probably seems for visitors to be asked to juggle a Prayer Book, a Hymnal and a bulletin with insert. This new bulletin is especially intended to aid visitors and be user friendly. We are also developing new funeral bulletins in the same size paper and format so that those attending a funeral (and the majority of the those attending might well not be Episcopalians) won t have to be directed to keep hunting pages in the Prayer Book. The size of the print is always a challenge. We need to be able to read the print, or the bulletin will be of little use to anyone. Hopefully, the size of the print will be OK. If not, please let me know. Well, as you can sense, the major reason for this makeover is to aid those who are not familiar with our liturgy. The current trend in parish Sunday bulletins is to print just about the entire service. But to print everything would require that we create a multipage bulletin booklet each week. Such a weekly task would also require much more time for preparation, printing, folding and stapling. Our small photocopy printer in our office can print this new size paper, so we won t have additional costs, except for larger paper. One final thought to share: I have an aversion to putting inserts into bulletins. If we could, I wouldn t even have the weekly readings insert, but would print the text of the readings in the bulletin. I just don t like opening a church bulletin and having four or more pages fall out. The point of the bulletin is to make it easier, not complicate matters. So, I hope to resist stuffing inserts into our bulletin. Please let me know your thoughts and give me your reaction to the new design.

5 And some sharing on the events surrounding the Hate Group rally and violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.. As I have written the introduction above for our newly designed Sunday bulletin, I have been keenly aware that there are far greater issues out there this week than how we print a program. In response to the very troubling and ugly events of ten days ago in Charlottesville, our Bishop and the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church have issued eloquent responses. I would also like to add some words of reflection. Some of you may remember a situation back in the late 1970s that took place in Skokie, Illinois, a small suburb of Chicago. At the time, most of the residents of Skokie were Jewish, and in fact, thousands were Holocaust survivors or had connections to persons who were killed in the Holocaust. A small group of neo-nazis wanted to stage a rally and march through Skokie. The community rightly responded with horror and outrage that such a provocative display of hatred could be allowed in their community. Community leaders issued an injunction to stop the march. The case eventually went all the way to the Supreme Court, where the court sided with the group s right to express their First Amendment rights. Curiously, the march never did happen, but the effect it had on the citizens of Skokie was amazing. Afterwards, the citizens of Skokie dedicated themselves to combating hate with education. The good folk of Skokie started the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center in a storefront on Main Street; later in 1987 they erected a Holocaust monument in downtown Skokie; in 1990 they persuaded the Legislature to make Illinois the first state in the country to require Holocaust education, and finally, some 30 years later in 2009, they opened a new state-of the-art museum in downtown Skokie. My point in sharing this story with you is that we need to take a step back from the events of the past week, and while we firmly condemn hateful speech, actions, and violence, we must also respond proactively, calmly,

6 and peacefully, united as disciples of the Prince of Peace, Where there is hated, let us sow love. Mark+ Coming Events St. Deiniol Welsh Sunday September 10 Vestry meeting September 17 Heritage Sunday October 22 Announcements +Put Sunday, September 10 on your calendar as we celebrate the Feast of St. Deiniol, Patron Saint of Bangor, Wales. We will remember our Welsh heritage that Sunday with another opportunity to sing the Welsh national anthem. A new icon of St. Deiniol will be blessed for the church. +The annual Bishop s Open Golf Tournament will be hosted this year by the Lancaster Convocation. This event moves around the diocese and is often held at some distance from us. But here is the chance for any who play golf to join with other Episcopalians and to support some important ministries. The tournament will be played at the Overlook Golf Course, 2040 Lititz Pike on Monday, September 18 with a 10:00 Shotgun start. You can sign up as an individual or a group of 2-3 golfers and you will be paired as a foursome. The cost is $95 per player, which includes fees, refreshments, and dinner. The proceeds of the event benefit diocesan social ministries, including our own Lancaster Convocation ALERT ministries. Can anyone represent us for this tournament? Brochures are in our Church House on the Information Table. + Pastor Dave Kling from the Churchtown United Methodist Church has been exploring the possibility of some type of Bible Study/Senior program for the community. He also is looking for help from other small churches in the community and there are several churches that have shown interest. Maurine Van Dyke is the representative from the Vestry of Bangor. These gatherings will include a speaker or short

7 activity, Bible study and a light lunch. The first one will be on Sept, 20 th at the Methodist Church. A talk on scams will be featured, Bible Study led by Pastor Dave and a lunch. It will begin at 10:00 AM and conclude around 1:00 PM. As the name says this really is seniors serving seniors so if this some thing you would be interested in attending, helping with meals, providing transportation or just want to be kept up to date on what is happening or any questions please speak to or Maurine Van Dyke. As we get closer to the date there will be more information, but it would be helpful to know how many people are interested. +Our prayers have been asked for Kathy Weaver, Al and Mavis Pacchioli, Jim and June Royer, Dylys Glew, Jim Chubb, Eleanor Hertzog, Shirley Smith, Lynn Schneider Schauer, Carol Greenfield, Bob Dailey.