The Vine and The Branches GROWING IN CHRIST S LOVE AND SHARING IT WITH ALL Worship - Belong - Grow - Serve HOLY WEEK AND EASTER SERVICES Experiencing the Mystery of Jesus Death and Resurrection EASTER CELEBRATION - SUNDAY, APRIL 20 8:00 a.m. Holy Eucharist and lighting of the Easter Fire 9:00 a.m. Breakfast 10:30 a.m. Holy Eucharist, special music with Drake musicians 11:45 a.m. Easter Egg Hunt on the church lawn for Preschool through 4th grade 2014 Prayer Challenge Ends The 2014 Challenge will end on Easter Sunday April 20 when we light the first Easter Fire at the 8:00 a.m. worship. I pray that you have been challenged daily with learning some new prayer practices as well as the important daily habit of prayer. Centering prayer is not easy, but very helpful as a daily discipline. Centering prayer can help to stop all the busyness that distracts us from our prayer life and our time with Jesus. Your promise to worship one extra hour per week during Lent may be done during Holy Week. Your four hours of servant ministry in Christ s name may also be done through Holy Week. There are some very important symbols and events that we will see beginning with Palm Sunday. The liturgies of the Book of Common Prayer help us really walk with Jesus and his disciples through the most important events of our faith, crystallizing his teaching, his death and his resurrection on Easter Day. Jesus was faithful to God s plan through the very end. I am the Vine; you are the branches. John 15:5
Page 2 HOLY WEEK SERVICES Palm Sunday - April 13 8:00 and 10:30 a.m. worship services Procession of Palms with children leading the precession Dramatic reading of the Gospel Monday - April 14 Chism Service at 11:00 a.m. at the Cathedral of St. Paul, 815 High Street, Des Moines. The service will include the affirmation of baptismal and ordination vows and blessing of holy oils. Bishop Alan Scarfe is leading the service. Maundy Thursday - April 17 Agape Meal from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Foot washing service at 6:30 p.m. Last Supper Stripping the Altar Good Friday - April 18 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. - Dramatic reading of John s Gospel
Page 3 Easter Breakfast Please join us for Easter Breakfast. We are asking each family to bring an egg casserole, fruit or rolls to share. Beverages (coffee, milk and juice) will be provided. Candy Needed for Easter Egg Hunt We are in need of wrapped Easter candy for the Easter Sunday Hunt. Please bring your candy donations to the kitchen and mark them "Easter Egg Hunt" before Palm Sunday, April 13. Thank you!
Page 4 TWO ST. ANNE S YOUTH ATTEND HAPPENING #36 CHILDREN S ORANGE BUCKET CHALLENGE Poni Lejukole and Jared Baker attended Happening #36 the weekend of March 28-30 at St. Andrew s Episcopal Church in Des Moines. Happening weekends offer an opportunity for young Christians in grades 9-12 to "retreat" from their ever hectic world to consider some of the important relationships in their lives-- with parents, with siblings, with peers, and God. Our St. Anne s family prayed for and supported Jared and Poni on their spiritual journey. We have had $360 donated for one chlorinator. A second one will be funded with a matching grant by a second private donor in the congregation. We have raised $263.34 to date with two weeks left to reach our collection goal of $360. Let s send these chlorinators to Kajo Keji through John Hays foundation, Pure Water for All. Congratulations to our youth and all members of the congregation who have made donations. HEART OF SOUND SUMMER MUSIC CAMP Rebekah Norgaard of Heart of Sound Studio is offering Guitar and Piano lessons for older youth and adults at St. Anne's on Thursday evenings starting June 5 and continuing every Thursday through July 31. Ages 10-13, 4:00 to 4:45 p.m. - Intro to Guitar Ages 14-18, 4:45 to 5:25 p.m. - Intermediate Guitar Ages 13-18, 5:30 to 6:15 p.m. - Intro to Guitar/Piano & Composition Class Ages 10+, 6:20 to 7:05 p.m. - The Heart of Worship Adults, 7:10 to 7:55 p.m. - Adult Music Classes Lessons are $18 for 45 minutes of study. See bulletin board in the Parish Hall for more information on the classes or visit the St. Anne s website (www.saechurch.org) under Ministries. Contact Rebekah Norgaard at 515-326-5397 or rebekahnorgaard@gmail.com.
Page 5 HOW I SPENT MY SPRING BREAK By: Connie Skinner My Spring Break was 40 days. The 40 days of Lent. At the suggestion of a friend, I joined a group of 21,000 people on Facebook called 40 bags/ 40 days Challenge. The idea was to challenge oneself to culling possessions and discarding one bag of stuff each day. The size of the bag did not matter. It could be a small zip-lock bag, or it could be as big as a 30 gallon lawn & leaf bag. Doesn t matter. This sounded good. I have been trying to downsize since my younger child left for college in 2003. I had failed, as instead of eliminating items, I had actually gained stuff by being the repository of both my mother s possessions when she went to assisted living, and also gained a lot of horrible possessions from my hoarder mother-in-law. This all went into a modern house with a good amount of storage that includes a full basement and 2-1/2 car garage. But we are also storing the cast-offs of two sons and their girlfriends. I am an incrementalist. I work slowly and deliberately. I think long and hard before doing anything rash. I want to recycle whenever possible, and don t want to waste anything or send usable things to the landfills. I usually wear clothes until they fall apart. My recycling ethic means our recycling bin is always very full for the bimonthly pick-up. I donated old glasses to the Lions club. I have mailed a few books to friends. Other books went to Goodwill, along with a few clothes. I went through old health records and pitched rabies certificates from long-dead pets. There were titles to long -vanished cars. Old owners manuals to defunct appliances and electronics had to go. Honestly, who has the time to keep these things up-to-date and organized? The daily Facebook posts are inspiring from the 40 days group. No one judges, everyone praises the little steps toward greater organization and de-cluttering. It is sobering to read how many people are struggling with the deaths of loved ones, and the witness to the emotional connections between grief and depression and clutter. They post pictures of their enormous hoards and piles of utter chaos. I went on a campaign against dust. This meant changing filters and emptying vacuum receptacles. Next, I vacuumed vents. I even used a special attachment to vacuum a shedding dog. My efforts are not very visible, they are mostly hidden behind the closet and cupboard doors. I found that there are drawers that I have not looked in for TEN years. These are the repositories of funeral service hand-outs. I keep our departed in a drawer, and looking at this monument to grief is something I can only do infrequently. Paring down possessions fits well into a Lenten discipline. First, it is an examination of where one has been. We see the detritus and accumulations in our lives. There is an inevitable sorting and organization of this stuff next. We discover exactly how much abundance we have- piles of Sharpie pens, too many shoes, duplicates of nearly everything. So secondly, we become more generous and decide to donate those extra things. This opens our hearts. We do not worry about going without tomorrow. We trust that if a need arises, we will be able to get whatever that is needed. This is the lesson that comes from unattaching ourselves from our possessions.
Business Name 2110 West 1st Street Ankeny, IA 50023 515-964-5152 We re on the web: www.saechurch.org Worship Services Sundays: 8:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. - Holy Eucharist Worship 9:15 a.m. - Adult Christian Formation 10:15 a.m. - Little Blessings Nursery (nursery to age 3) Church office email: secretary @saechurch.org Phone: 515-964-5152 Office Hours: Tuesday and Thursday 1:00-5:00 p.m. Wednesday 9:00 1:00 p.m. All times by appointment. Tuesdays 9:30 a.m. Kerygma Bible Study at individual homes 6:30 p.m. - Contemplative Prayer Group Wednesdays 9:00 a.m. - Holy Eucharist / Healing Anniversaries May Birthdays and Anniversaries 5/7 Linda & Jack Maul 5/16 Becky & Mike McGregor 5/16 Connie & Greg Skinner Birthdays 5/3 Carol Dixson 5/11 Rev. Robert Kem, Sr. 5/11 Steve Hanson 5/12 Fonda Wettestad 5/15 Jasinta Lejukole 5/15 Aric Jackson 5/18 Sarah Eichhorn 5/20 Farance Fey-Awan 5/23 Richard Butler 5/25 Wyatt Carlson 5/29 Nyathak Koak 5/30 Barb Canova