WEEKLY BULLETIN

Weekly Calendar

the Episcopal church of st. andrew
pentecost 31 may

Worship with us this Sunday at 10am. Click HERE for the livestream from our YouTube channel (which you can also view on your television). Alternatively, you can access our worship from our WEBSITE. Fittingly for Pentecost, over 50 folks from Epiphany and St. Andrew's contribute to our worship, including singers young and old. The service also features Alison Vernon's paintings and the filmmaking skills of Suza Lambert Bowser. Jack Barben weaves all the elements together so that we might be transported by God's Spirit to the very gates of heaven!.

Join us for "Coffee Hour" on Zoom hosted by Epiphany Church at 5 pm Saturday by clicking HERE. Or click HERE to join us on Zoom for conversation and fellowship on Sunday at 10:45 am. You may want to wear red for the Holy Spirit on the Eve or Day of Pentecost.

St. Andrew's members can now make financial offerings online via our website. Alternatively, you can send a check to St. Andrew’s Church, PO Box 294, New London, NH 03257. Your continue financial support is very much appreciated. 

Joining Jack This is actually the perfect time to join the Choir. Jack produces a range of resources that teach the basics of music making and singing. Integrating teaching and practice, the videos help you relax into your own voice and learn to better speak the language of music. There is a daily live stream practice and the opportunity to sing with the Virtual Choir. You can access all these offerings HERE.
 
Jay hopes that you've caught up with The Good Book Club as we read through the Gospel of Matthew before Pentecost. You should be finished. He hopes that you watched the 8-minute film on the first half of the Gospel HERE. Now it's time to view the second part -- even shorter and just as good -- HERE. You can access other resources from the Good Book Club HERE. Kathleen Rusnak is preparing new lectures on Matthew, and Suza Lambert Bowser is helping Kathleen illustrate her 2019 sessions if you missed them. More info will follow. 

It's been lovely to welcome worshipers to Midday Prayer on weekdays at noon on Zoom. Here's the LINK.

Weeders & Waterers  Even if we are not there to see them, the weeds (and the flowers) at St. Andrew’s keep growing. Age and her accident are making it difficult for Mary Eysenbach to do as much as she did in the past. She needs help. Would you be willing to keep a section of the drip edge around the building free of weeds? Would you be willing to water the gardens for a fortnight when the weather gets hot and dry? If so, please email Mary HERE. And do stop by to enjoy the gardens which have never looked better.
 
If you'd like to contribute to the Kearsarge Lake Sunapee Community Food Pantry, there is a collection box outside St. Andrew's Church for your canned fruit, beets, and soups this month.

Epiphany's youth programs continue to meet on Monday afternoons thanks to a dedicated team of volunteers who play online games and check in with our students and their families. 

The Episcopal Church of New Hampshire has issued guidance about the re-opening of our church buildings. Bishop Rob emphasizes that Christ's way of love demands that we prioritize the well-being of our neighbors, especially those most at risk of contracting this virus, over our desire to gather in our church buildings. Even when gatherings of up to fifty people are allowed, people over 65 or with underlying conditions will be urged to stay at home. For St. Andrew's and Epiphany, would that feel like church? Please read carefully the guidance and protocols HERE.

The Vestry of St. Andrew's met on last week and established four task forces to guide deliberations about when we can worship together in person:

• Physical layout: How to safely configure the space for outdoor or indoor worship.
• Access: How to invite people, how to deal with people over 65 and those who have underlying health conditions, and how to deal with the public who turn up (including the 51st person for a gathering that can't exceed 50).
• Contact tracing: How best to register everyone attending worship with their name, contact information, and where they sit. We must be prepared to assist public health officials to identify and find the contacts of people who discover they are infected.
• Monitoring local public health: Keeping an eye on infection rates not just across NH but in Merrimack and Sullivan counties and anticipating future developments. Infections are currently concentrated south of Concord, but this may change as people come north to summer homes in our area.

In addition, we have created a task force to consider when the Thrift Shop might open (in consultation with Jackie Thompson) and when outside groups like AA can safely use the building.

Yesterday the Governor of New Hampshire exempted religious services from the ban on scheduled gatherings of more than ten people. But the same document advises those over 65 to avoid such gatherings. With the spiritual and physical well being of our over-65s uppermost in our minds, we shall continue to craft online worship of the highest caliber. At the same time, we shall learn lessons from churches who have opened quickly. And we shall begin to plan for our own outdoor worship in small gatherings with physical distancing, contact tracing, and other CDC safety guidelines in place.

When St. Andrew's and Epiphany Churches do gather again for in-person worship, each parishioner will make his or her own decision about whether to attend. And online worship will continue to be offered for those who think it prudent to avoid public gatherings out of concern for public health and/or their own health.

​Education for Ministry (EfM) is the Episcopal Church’s flagship program of theological reflection that will re-start in September at St. Andrew’s. Please speak to Marni Eaton or Alice Perry, co-mentors, to learn more.
 
This week we celebrate birthdays with Jim Oates, Brenda Tirrell, Lynn Salo, Linda Potter, Nick Eaton,  Dick Sawyer, and Whit Smith.

Please pray for: Hank Otto, John Jevne, Douglas Jones, Robert Cook, Pam Morland, Walter, Christina, Daniel Gately, Trish and Chris Tymniak, Khara Benoit Schneider, Steve Fix,  John M., Denise A.,Mary Eysenbach, Michael Maple, Max, Becky Forbes, Devon, Liz Forshay, Kathleen, Deb, Bruce Avery, Ken, Stephanie Fierro, Susan King, Lev Hubbard, JB Cathel, Edward Kanu, Kathy Minaert, Douglas Jones, Barbara, Nancy Avery, Jim, Beth, Fran, Anne Bailey, Robert Murphy, Fred, Steven, Ana Morais, Peter, Sarah, Brenton, Peter Watts, Debbie Knowles, Christine Taylor, Peter, Michael Prosperi, Dawn, Carol Ryder, Howard, John, Wareing family, Keith, Martha Andreo, Bob Kenney, John Fuller, Cody, Phil Trussell, Ray Provencal, Kevin Bland & family, Sheila, Tuckerman, Don & Dana, Greg Potter, Christopher Baron & family.
 
Pray for the repose of the soul of Rob Freitas.

​This week we remember with thanksgiving Robert Kren, David Daniels, and Winslow H. Robart.

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