EPISCOPAL CHURCH
EVENTS & NEWS
June 30, 2016
WORSHIP SCHEDULE
Sunday, July 3, 2016
Pentecost 7
8:00 a.m. – St. Andrew by-the-Lake
10:00 a.m. – St. John the Divine
Hymns:
O Zion haste (539)
Come, labor on (541)
My God, thy table now is spread (321)
O beautiful for spacious skies (719)
Scripture:
Psalm 30; 2 King 5:1-14; Galatians 6:1-16; Luke 10:1-11, 16-20
Celebrant: The Rev. Timothy Fleck
Usher: Dean
First Lesson/Psalm/Second Lesson: Margot
Prayers: Ellen
Chalice and Acolyte: Chloe
Altar Guild: Dean
Vestry Member in Charge: Bunny
Weekday Holy Eucharist—Thursdays at 12:00 noon
July 7 – Jan Hus
July 14 – Samson Occum
July 21 – Mary Magdalene
July 28 – Bach, Handel & Purcell
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The Rev. Timothy Fleck, Rector (207-812-8362)
The Rev. Kathleen Killian, Assistant Rector (718-775-6069)
Stephen Sampson, Music Director
Michele Daley, Parish Administrator (244-3229)
Sr. Warden, Bunny Watts (244-3699)
Jr. Warden, Rita Redfield (244-4025)
The Church Office is open Monday through Thursday
The church office will be closed Monday, July 48
Mother Kathleen will be in the office Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday;
Friday, available by appointment.
St. John:
Quietside Festival—Saturday, July 16: Just a little over two weeks away. Time to put together your baskets, bring in the silent auction items, bake pies and other goodies, and sign up to work before, during and/or after. FMI: Pies – Margot (244-0362); Silent Auction—Michele (244-3229) or Bunny (244-3699); Baskets—Michele (244-3229); Lemonade Stand—Edie (244-3429); Plants—If you have any indoor or outdoor plants or cut flowers please bring them the day of the festival.
Annual Meeting: Please see attached minutes from the June 19 meeting
Meditation on Thursdays at 4:15 at St. John’s. Please join us for 30 minutes of shared silence and “prayer of the heart,” an ancient meditative practice of the Christian tradition. All are welcome! We meditate sitting on chairs, though if you prefer to sit on the floor, feel free to bring a mat or cushion. If you are new to meditation, have questions or concerns, or would like more information, please contact Mother Kathleen.
Upcoming Westside Food Pantry Recitals:
Thursday, June 30: The ACADIA TRAD SCHOOL continues their partnership with the Westside Food Pantry Recital Series and will perform Tunes from the Isles at St John on June 30th at 4:00. Our food pantry will receive a $500 donation. Admission cost is $18..
Tuesday, July 5: Soprano, CAROLINE HOMER and pianist, BEN HANEY have offered to perform as part of the Westside Food Pantry Recital Series at 6:30 p.m. Pianist Ben Haney plans solo works by Chopin, Copeland, Schulhoff, and Morton Feldman. Soprano Caroline Homer, accompanied by Haney, will perform German Art Songs by Brahms, Schubert, Schumann and Wolf.
Thursday, July 7: ARTHUR RUSSELL STRINGS will again present a recital at 4:30 p.m. Arthur Russell Strings is the summer program of Ellsworth Community Music Institute. ECMI provides an enriched sense of community through music by providing instruction and performance opportunities for people of all ages, musical abilities, and backgrounds.
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Pilgrimage to the Holy Land: October 24 – November 3, 2016. Bishop Lane has offered his support for Maine Episcopalians to have the opportunity to make the journey and return to share their experiences and learning. The pilgrimage will include 4 nights in Jerusalem, 3 nights in Bethlehem and 2 nights in Nazareth and will be led by The Rev. Robert and Maurine Tobin of Stonington, leaders of 23 trips to the Holy Land over the past 20 years. Registration deadline is July 15. FMI contact Maurine Tobin at mmtobin38@gmail.com or 207-348-9976.
Church of Our Father:
The “Waste Not, Want Not Thrift Shop” is open on Saturdays from 9:00 to noon and Wednesdays from 3:30-6:00 p.m. Our little Thrift Shop is an important ministry in our community. We welcome donations of good clean clothing for all ages, household bedding and fine linens, decorator pillows (popular), yarn and glassware collectables for the Knick Knack Corner. Please leave donations in the Parish Hall or Thrift Shop.
St. Mary & St. Jude:
Prayer Shawl Ministry, Thursdays at 10:00 a.m.
Custodian needed: The parish seeks a ten hour/week year-round custodian for their buildings. Weekly routine cleaning and setup/tear down duties, plus heavier seasonal cleaning. Flexible hours. Custodial experience, references and own transportation required. Familiarity with green cleaning products is a plus. Send applications to: www.maryjude.org
Community:
Alcyon Center Events, Seal Cove, a center of spiritual experiences for body, soul and spirit. Meditation/Silent Sit: Mondays (please call ahead) Time: 1:00-2:00 pm with 20 minute sit; 5 minute silent walk; 20 minute silent sit. July 1 – Quiet Day – open to all (a period of silence from 9:00 am to noon; lunch with conversation noon to 1:00 pm; silence 1:00 to 4:00 pm) July 1 – Soul Friends, a gathering of women for contemplation, discussion of a specific topic through poetry, literature and personal experience and reflection - 7:00-9:00 pm July 13 – Bible Reconnaissance – open to all – an in depth approach to Bible study, concentrating on Luke 10:38-42 – 3:30-5:00 pm. July 18-22 - Alcyon Experience: Summer Delight, a retreat with Alcyon Directors Kathryn Booth and Joan Grant. This program is for beginners and old hands - join us in the spirit and heart of silence as it reveals itself in the season. Participate in the community rhythm as you wish: rest, study, hike, bike, kayak, spiritual direction and supper conversation. Two-six nights, $110 per night, single room and full board with a limit of eight. For more information and directions go to their website at alyconcenter.org; phone (207) 244-1060; email: office@alcyoncenter.org; write PO Box 40, Seal Cove ME 04674
Families First Community Center: You are all invited to a FREE Juke Rockets Concert in Knowlton Park in Ellsworth (sort of across from the Moore Community Center, where the Knowlton School used to be) on Tuesday, July 12th from 6:30 p.m. to dusk in support of Families First Community Center. It will be a fun-filled night for the whole family! You might want to bring a blanket or lawn chairs to sit on. We will be selling food and drinks. And of course donations will be gladly accepted. Knowlton Park holds 250 people so we hope to see you ALL there!
Beauty, Peace, Resistance: Barefoot Artists in Palestine: Lily Yeh, Philadelphia-based community artist and founder of Barefoot Artists, along with Dud Hendrick and Rob Shetterly, will discuss and show images of their recent work in three areas of the Palestinian West Bank. Yeh uses art to build community, peace, and hope among some of the world’s most oppressed people. Sponsored by Episcopal Peace Fellowship, Maine Chapter. Event will be held on Thursday, July 21, at 7:00 p.m. at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Brunswick and Friday, July 22, at 7:00 p.m. at St. Francis Episcopal Church in Blue Hill. The public is most welcome; refreshments will be served.
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Keep in your prayers this week: Marilyn Mays, Bob Jackson, Bettina Dudley, Paul Milligan, Jean Martinez, Barbara Loveland, Karen Pike, Scott and Debbie Hammond, Sherry Warner, Adam Temple, Jamie Li, Malcolm Hughes, Nancy Kincaid, Herb Hasenbalg, Jack Weisner, John Cronin, Sarah Flynn, Trisha Roy, Bob Theriault, Ron Martin, Lydia Thayer, George Swanson and Sharon Dayana Salazar, our sponsored child in Costa Rica.
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Jesus and the Heart of Wisdom
The 2016 Downeast Spiritual Life Conference has partnered with the Jesus Seminar on the Road to bring you ways of thinking about Jesus that are the result of more than ten years of extensive research by members of the seminar, leading theologians, philosophers, biblical scholars, anthropologists and archeologists. The event will be held with scholars David Galston and Robert Miller on Friday and Saturday, July 15-16 at the Moore Community Center, 133 State Street, Ellsworth. Fees: $60 (before July 1) and $75 (after July 1); $50 (full-time students). For complete information or to register go to http://downeastspiritual.org
From Presiding Bishop, President of House of Deputies
Jesus tells us to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves
[June 28, 2016] Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop and Primate Michael Curry and President of the House of Deputies the Rev. Gay Clark Jennings have written the following letter to the Episcopal Church.
June 28, 2016
Dear People of God in the Episcopal Church:
We all know that some things in holy Scripture can be confusing, hard to understand, or open to various ways of understanding. But some essential teachings are clear and incontrovertible. Jesus tells us to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves, and he tells us over and over again not to be afraid (Matthew 10:31, Mark 5:36, Luke 8:50, John 14:27).
There’s no confusion about what Jesus is telling us, but it often requires courage to embody it in the real world. Again and again, we become afraid, and mired in that fear, we turn against Jesus and one another.
This age-old cycle of fear and hatred plays out again and again in our broken world, in sickening and shocking events like the massacre targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Orlando, but also in the rules we make and the laws we pass. Most recently, we’ve seen fear at work in North Carolina, a state dear to both of our hearts, where a law called the “Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act” has decimated the civil rights and God-given dignity of transgender people and, by extension, drastically curtailed protections against discrimination for women, people of color, and many others. We are thankful for the prayerful and pastoral public leadership of the North Carolina bishops on this law, which is known as House Bill 2.
North Carolina is not the only place where fear has gotten the better of us. Lawmakers in other jurisdictions have also threatened to introduce legislation that would have us believe that protecting the rights of transgender people—even a right as basic as going to the bathroom—somehow puts the rest of us at risk.
This is not the first time that the segregation of bathrooms and public facilities has been used to discriminate unjustly against minority groups. And just as in our painful racial past, it is even being claimed that the “bathroom bills,” as they are sometimes called, ensure the safety of women and children—the same reason so often given to justify Jim Crow racial segregation.
But we believe that, as the New Testament says, “perfect love casts out fear.” On June 10, the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church stood against fear and for God’s love by passing a resolution that reaffirms the Episcopal Church’s support of local, state and federal laws that prevent discrimination based on gender identity or gender expression and voices our opposition to all legislation that seeks to deny the God-given dignity, the legal equality, and the civil rights of transgender people.
The need is urgent, because laws like the one in North Carolina prey on some of the most vulnerable people in our communities—some of the very same people who were targeted in the Orlando attack. In a 2011 survey, 78 percent of transgender people said that they had been bullied or harassed in childhood; 41 percent said they had attempted suicide; 35 percent had been assaulted, and 12 percent had suffered a sexual assault. Almost half of transgender people who responded to the survey said they had suffered job discrimination, and almost a fifth had lost housing or been denied health care due to their gender identity or expression.
In keeping with Executive Council’s resolution, we are sending a letter to the governor and members of the North Carolina General Assembly calling on them to repeal the “Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act.” When legislation that discriminates against transgender people arises in other places, we will also voice our opposition and ask Episcopalians to join us. We will also support legislation, like a bill recently passed in the Massachusetts state legislature, that prevents discrimination of all kinds based on gender identity or gender expression.
As Christians, we bear a particular responsibility to speak out in these situations, because attempts to deny transgender people their dignity and humanity as children of God are too often being made in the name of God. This way of fear is not the way of Jesus Christ, and at these times, we have the opportunity to demonstrate our belief that Christianity is not a way of judgment, but a way of following Jesus in casting out fear.
In the face of the violence and injustice we see all around us, what can we do? We can start by choosing to get to know one another. TransEpiscopal, an organization of transgender Episcopalians and their allies, has posted on their website a video called “Voices of Witness: Out of the Box” that can help you get to know some transgender Episcopalians and hear their stories. Integrity USA, which produced the video, and the Chicago Consultation are two other organizations working for the full inclusion of LGBT people in the church. Their websites also have online materials that you can use to learn more about the stories of transgender Christians and our church’s long journey to understand that they are children of God and created in God’s image.
When we are born anew through baptism, we promise to respect the dignity of every human being. Today, transgender people and, indeed, the entire LGBT community, need us to keep that promise. By doing so, we can bear witness to the world that Jesus has shown us another way—the way of love.
Faithfully,
The Most Rev. Michael B. Curry The Rev. Gay Clark Jennings
Presiding Bishop and Primate President, House of Deputies
