The Beacon September 2017

Transcription

1 The Beacon September 2017 Clergy Comments Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Ps. 119:105 Inside Music Notes... 3 Sunday School... 3 Senior Warden... 3 Stewardship... 4 Treasurer s Report... 4 Rev. Cindy... 5 Backpacks for School... 5 Quarter Auction... 6 Upcoming Events... 7 Pulled Pork Dinner... 7 Discussion Forum Hello Beloved Community! Summer is drawing to a close, and I m already spending a lot of me thinking about all the things that shi in our church life together with the seasons. Sunday school will begin along with the county and parochial school systems. Fall sports will ramp up. And St. Alban s is pu ng together plans for our worship life, forma on and mission. As we pour all this energy into our community, I hope we will all take me to nurture our personal prayer lives to keep us growing in our rela onships with the Holy One. It is only when we are firmly grounded in Christ that we are able to find that deep well of love that is some mes needed to live in community. If you d like some ideas for how to deepen your daily devo ons without cu ng more deeply into your me, you re in luck! This will be the topic of our first discussion forum, which will be on Sunday September 24 at 9 AM, strategically placed between the 8AM and 10:30AM services. Bap sm and Confirma on There are only a few mes a year when we have bap sms in The Episcopal Church, and one of those mes is coming up in November on All Saint s Day, which is celebrated on November 5. If you or your child would like to be bap zed, please talk to me. And once you have been bap zed in any Chris an denomina on, it only takes once! The good news is that we all get to renew our bap smal vows whenever we bap ze new people into the Body of Christ! There will be a workshop to plan for bap sm in October. If you are at least 12 years old, you are eligible to be confirmed as an adult or received into The Episcopal Church by the bishop. Recep on is like confirma on, however it is for people who have already been confirmed in another Chris an (Clergy Comments...Con nued on page 2) September

2 (Con nued from page 1) denomina on who would like to formally become members of The Episcopal Church. We will also hold some workshops to prepare for that too, scheduling dependent upon the schedule of those who are interested in confirma on or recep on. Weekly Bible Study We will be holding regular weekly Bible Study on Wednesdays at 11, followed by a short Eucharist beginning in October. I have heard the pleas from some of you that we hold some events in the evening so those with day me commitments can par cipate, so I am willing to hold an evening or Saturday Bible study as well. We can wrestle with the Word and also with thorny theological issues as we are led. Episcopal 101 If you have a ended this or another Episcopal Church for a while or are newly among us, we will have some Episcopal 101 evenings to go over what it is that dis nguishes The Episcopal Church from other denomina ons. We ll cover topics like: glossary of church jargon, purpose and meaning of various liturgical elements, theology, polity and history, and mission. I wonder how many long me Episcopalians realize that we are NOT here just because Henry the VIII wanted a divorce? So stay tuned about scheduling! Also, you are always welcome to write me! Lay Par cipants Wanted for Sunday Worship! If you look at the parts wri en in italics in the prayer book, there are instruc ons that say certain parts of the worship service are to be done by the lay members. Everyone who has not taken Holy Orders as a deacon, priest or bishop falls into that category. Yay! These roles include reading the Old and New Testament lessons, leading the Prayers of the People (which can also be done by a deacon), preaching (if you are a licensed lay preacher), helping to serve communion as a lay Eucharis c minister, serving as an acolyte, a crucifer, an usher or as a musician! So there are LOTS of things that YOU can do to help make church. How awesome is that? Somewhat less awesome is that the same few people generally do several things simultaneously. And I have not even named the things that get done before and a er the service by the altar guild, the counters, and the saints who prepare coffee hour. We would like to swell the rota (the term for the roster of people who will par cipate in the liturgy) over me so that (a) we can always have all of the par cipants that typically work together to make a service happen and (b) give some people a break so that they don t have to repeatedly do the same thing! We are going to hold a fes val of worship opportuni es to review some of the liturgical func ons, fine tune how to do stuff for those of you who are experienced, and hold some lessons to train brand new acolytes, readers, chalice bearers and the like. And I am going to bribe you with excellent snacks! The date is s ll TBD, but it will include a meal as well as some REALLY fun instruc on and a golden opportunity to try on some new things. If enough of you are interested, then we can get some ginormous pizzas!! I have not specifically men oned some other par cipants such as the verger or MC because if we don t have enough people to fill the other func ons, we can t be making new posi ons available yet, but that is a cool role where you get to wear a neat over-robe (chimere) and carry a big s ck (called a verge)! I have personally done every one of these roles, and they are all FUN! I want to thank everyone for their pa ence in training me to be your pastor. I am s ll learning how St. Alban s uniquely expresses itself, and you have been wonderful in teaching me what goes where, who knows the policies and church tradi ons of St. Alban s, and who likes which snack at coffee hour! 2 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

3 (Clergy Comments con nued from page 2) Please know how much I already love you and this awesome place. I want to get to know you all be er, so please help take care of each other you con nually men on the love and support of the community when I ask what is most important to YOU about St. Alban s. That is a beau ful thing, and you are wonderful people! Music Notes It s me for a new program year at St. Alban s, and I m so excited for all of the wonderful music that we ll make together this year! We are always interested in new members in the bell choir, the voice choir, and the children s choir. If you are interested in joining one of the ensembles and have not par cipated before, please let me know ASAP so that I can plan music accordingly. If you have ques ons, please feel free to find me a er worship on a Sunday or me: paula.maust@gmail.com. Looking forward to another wonderful year with you! Rehearsals begin on the following days & mes: Bell Choir: The first rehearsal will be Tuesday, September 12 at 6:30 p.m. in the sanctuary. The bell choir is open to anyone in middle school-adult. Voice Choir: The first rehearsal will be Tuesday, September 5 at 7:30 p.m. in the sanctuary. Children s Choir: The first rehearsal will be Sunday, September 17 at 11:45 in the choir room. On Sunday, September 10 at 9:30am, there will be a mee ng for all children & youth who plan to be part of the bell choir and the children s choir (note me was changed). Parents should plan to a end this mee ng. Rev. Pan & Paula will discuss rehearsal guidelines and expecta ons for how we engage with one another in community. Sunday School Begins on September 10th! The first day of Sunday School is just around the corner and this year promises to be an AWESOME year! Ms. Sharon Weaver and Ms. JoAnn Cherrico return to teach the classes and the nursery will con nue to feature the combined talents of Ms. Mary Moran, Ms. Danielle Seiler, and Sandy Heinecke. We excited to begin our second year u lizing the Living the Good News curriculum. Kids and parents may recall that this curriculum follows the same teachings of our weekly worship in the Church. This provides families the opportunity to discuss what they each learn every Sunday! We re also planning a few special ac vi es throughout the school year for Advent and Lent. We look forward to seeing everyone again at 10:30 am on September 10th as we start anew. We ll begin our first Sunday in the Church to receive a blessing and then proceed to the classrooms downstairs! Senior Warden Report As summer is drawing to an end and our busy fall season is about to start I feel the need to make a few housekeeping comments. Our budget status doesn t allow for a full me Sexton, so we have a cleaning service that cleans once a week. In addi on to daily office hours, Sunday services and coffee hour we have approximately 200 people using our building during the week. The cleaning service does a great job but cannot possibly keep up with everything. Therefore I m asking for your support. If you see that something has spilled on the floor, please pick it up or wipe it up rather than leaving it to test the cleaning service (this happens all the me). If the service has missed an area we can clean it and let me know so I can contact the service to have them pay more a en on to a par cular area. This is our home and it s embarrassing to have so many others see it soiled. The floors will be stripped and waxed by the end of August so we ll start the fall shiny and clean. If we all do our part, we can keep it that way. September

4 2018 Stewardship We will be kicking off our 2018 Stewardship season in October. This is the me when we prayerfully pledge a regular financial offering to keep our church opera ng for the year. When we look around at the beauty of our church, think about all we do with Social Ministries, Sunday School, and so much more, know that all of these things are accomplished through your pledge offerings. The reason we rely so heavily upon pledges rather than fluctua ng weekly plate contribu ons is because we budget our opera ons and ministries on the basis of projected income so that our church can serve within its means. Earlier this year, the Strategic Planning Commi ee sent out a ques onnaire asking what you would like to see improved or accomplished at St. Alban s, and we received lots of great ideas. A few of you said you would be interested in assis ng with organizing the Stewardship Drive. Well, now is the me to speak up! Please do not assume that someone else in the church will do it, and please don t imagine that it s a difficult or me-consuming job. With just a couple of people on your commi ee and, of course, clergy, staff and vestry support, it s a one- me smoothrunning, yet vital program. Please consider volunteering to help secure the future of St. Alban s. Our Stewardship Drive will go from 10/15-11/19. Thank you for being the community of love that you are! As Rev. Pan would say, this is the church of AWESOME! To volunteer please speak with Rev. Pan, Peg Davidson or Mary Wilcox. Quarterly Treasurer Report The following is a quarterly report to the congrega on on St. Alban's financial situa on. As this newsle er is available to the public, I will generally not include specific figures. St. Alban's is in good shape financially a er the first half of Our income is right at 50% of what we budgeted for the year. Pledge support is at about 51%, but some of the extra is from 2016 pledges. Our expenses are only about 36% of what we budgeted. The major reason for this is Rev. Paula's re rement. If you look at the budget, you will see that a large por on of our expenses are connected to the Rector, both in salary and in benefits. While we had a supply priest, the "salary" part we paid was less, and we were not responsible for paying any benefits. With Rev. Pan joining us, we will begin paying the full amounts. We expect a modest reduc on in the insurance payments due to the fact that Rev. Pan, as a former government employee, is eligible to receive health insurance through the government. We are s ll working out the exact cost of the pension. Our Endowment loan balance at the end of 2016 was just over $82,000. We collected over $1,100 in the first quarter and almost $2,100 in the second quarter to be applied to paying off the loan. This came from dona ons by the congrega on, the loose plate offering on the first Sunday, the special envelopes, and some fundraisers. The money will all go to reducing the principle, and interest will come from opera ng funds. In addi on, over $1100 was credited from the sale of memorial bricks. The loan balance is now under $ We have also had an over 5 % growth in the value of the endowment so far in I am happy to answer any ques ons you have, you can or see me in church. Please keep up your pledges, especially this fall. While we have been opera ng in the black so far this year, remember that the budget that was approved in January had a big deficit, and our excess income is really just reducing that deficit. Bob Lumbert, Treasurer 4 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

5 Internment of Rev. Cindy Tipton Zile s Ashes in Memorial Garden Thank you to everyone who joined us for the internment of Rev. Cindy s ashes in our Memorial Garden. Rev. Pan led a beau ful service, and Rev. Eric interring the ashes into our garden. The service was followed with fellowship as we fondly remembered Cindy through stories and photos. Thank You for Your Generosity Social Ministries would like to thank everyone for their generosity in buying all these terrific school supplies for ten children at Richard Henry Lee Elementary School! The backpacks and school supplies will give the children a great start to the school year. September

6 QUARTER AUCTION TO BENEFIT GLEN BURNIE READING CAMP Date: Monday, September 11, 2017 Doors open at 6 p.m. Auc on begins at 7 p.m. Glen Burnie Moose Lodge 1911 Crain Highway S., Glen Burnie, MD Admission is $5.00 (include 2 paddles) Extra paddles are $2.00 each or 3 for $5.00 Food, drinks, and quarters available for purchase. Special baskets to be auc oned, baked goods, and 50/50 raffle to benefit Glen Burnie Reading Camp. The Glen Burnie Reading Camp was a great success this past year and it con nues to grow with each year. As we grow, your dona ons and help allow us to reach more children who need our help! Because of this increased need, you will see our fundraising efforts throughout the year, and the Quarter Auc on this month is one of those fundraisers. Once again, we can use dona ons for two gi baskets: the Maryland/Crab basket and the Date Night/ Entertainment basket. Below are listed possible ideas for the baskets. There will be a container in the Vestry Room for the basket items or you can give them to Maija Denson or Louise Izat. Maryland Crab Basket: Crab Chips, Fisher Popcorn, Berger cookies, O erbein cookies, Goetz s caramel creams, Rhebs Chocolates, Crab soup, Old Bay, Ravens, Orioles, and Terps items, gi card for steamed crabs. Date Night/Entertainment Basket: Gi cards for restaurants, movie ckets, Brusters Ice Cream, bo le of Wine, 2 Wine glasses, box of chocolates. We can also use your help with supplying baked goods for the Bake Table at the Quarter Auc on. We will also need volunteers on the night of the auc on to sell baked goods, raffle ckets, collec ng quarters, and to help straighten up the paddles and ping pong balls at the end of the evening. And of course, WE NEED YOU! Tell your friends and be sure to join us on the night of the auc on! 6 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

7 What s Happening at St. Alban s SEPTEMBER 04 Labor Day Church Office closed 05 7:30 pm Voice Choir prac ces resume (in Sanctuary) 09 9:00 am - 1:00 pm Fall Flea Market (Outside & Fellowship Hall) 10 9:30 am Mtg for children, youth & parents for childrens/bell choirs 10 10:30 am First Day of Sunday School 11 7:00 pm Quartermania Auc on to benefit Reading Camp (Moose Lodge in Glen Burnie) 12 6:30 pm Bell Choir prac ces resume (in Sanctuary) 16 11:00 am Rev. Pan s Ordina on (Cathedral in Bal more) 17 12:00 pm Celebra on of Rev. Pan s Ordina on (Fellowship Hall) 19 7:00 pm Ladies Guild Mee ng (Vestry Room) 7:30 pm Middle School Youth Group (Teen Cave) 20 7:00 pm Vestry Mee ng (Vestry Room) 24 9:00 am Adult Forum (Fellowship Hall) OCTOBER 7 5:00-7:00 pm BBQ Dinner (Fellowship Hall) 8 TBD Blessing of the Animals Alcoholics Anonymous meets every Monday and Friday at 7:00 pm Al-Anon meets every Monday and Friday at 7:00 pm Food Addic ons meets each Tuesday at 7:00 pm SAVE THE DATE BBQ PULLED PORK DINNER Saturday, October 7 th 5 7 pm St. Alban s Fellowship Hall Chef Bill Carter and his sous chefs are back by popular demand to prepare another fabulous dinner All proceeds benefit Glen Burnie Reading Camp Please send your submissions for the October Beacon by September 20 to cedarpup@cablespeed.com September

8 The Beacon St. Alban s Episcopal Church 105 1st Ave SW Glen Burnie, MD Phone: office@saintalbanschurch.org RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED Sunday Worship Services 8:00 am - Holy Communion, Rite I (no music) 10:30 am - Holy Communion, Rite II (with music) Sunday School, K-8 and Nursery Church Office Hours Monday-Friday 9am-12 pm Clergy in charge: Rev. Pan Conrad Music Director: Paula Maust Office Administrator: Char McFayden 8 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.