Announcements – January 19, 2020
Due to the weather and morning prayer service being canceled due to snow. Peg Olson, morning prayer leader graciously sent her Reflections for Sunday, January 19, 2020
Reflection for 01-19-2020 by Morning Prayer Leader Peg Olson
Mark your calendars for January 26th!
We will have Annual Meeting followed by a potluck lunch next Sunday, January 26th. Because church was canceled last week, our sign up sheet for the pot luck is a little thin. We need donations in all categories so if you will not be in church tomorrow (more on that below) please hit reply to this email and let us know what you will be bringing so the set up committee can plan ahead. We also need volunteers for clean up.
2020 PARISH DIRECTORY
A “draft” copy of the Parish Directory is on the table in the Common Room. Please review for correctness your listing, if you have one, or add your information (using other listings as a sample) if you aren’t listed but wish to be included in the 2020 Directory. After reviewing or adding, please initial your listing. We hope to publish the new directory (with easier-to-read listings) as soon as possible after the Annual Meeting.
Faith Linking in Action
Childcare Team is gearing up for responding to some legislations coming up. They’re working with “RFTS (Right From The Start) and Tara, director of MAEYC (Maine Assoc of Education of Young Children). They are also working with MAEYC and the Maine Children’s Museum on a day in April for The Week of The Young Child event again this year. Meetings are at FUMC on the 2nd Tuesdays of the month @ 6:00 pm. The next meeting will be February 11. The team can always use more help. Contact Mary Ann Perry maryann_perry@hotmail.com or the Team Chair: Roz at osurosalyn1960@gmail.com
Food Access Committee (what ever Peg sends or keep what is already there) PLEASE ADD For more information please contact Peg Olson ptpeg2014@gmail.com or Josh josh@foodandmedicine.org
Transportation for All
TFA certainly has been in the news lately. The Bangor City Council addressed a packed house regarding hub location for the Community Connector Bus System. Two extensive and expensive studies concluded that Pickering Square is the best location. There is still push-back. They Council will continue to address this issue. Please help support TFA efforts by attending their monthly meetings the 3rd Thursday of each month at Peace and Justice Center of Eastern Maine, 96 Harlow Street, Bangor, ME. For more information contact darcy@foodandmedicine.org
Food Access Committee: Food Access Committee: FAC has been collecting completed surveys from the participants and beneficiaries of each garden about how the gardens functioned looking for suggestions to improve each garden. Peg Olson has circulated surveys and if anyone else has comments about the garden please see Peg! FAC had a holiday party celebrating a better year for produce in most of the gardens and getting to know each other better. FAC meets from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm on the second Thursday of each month at Food AND Medicine. Our next meeting, we will be planning the 2020 planting season! Come be a part of the excitement! For more information please contact Peg Olson ptpeg2014@gmail.com or Josh josh@foodandmedicine.org
Epiphany Meditation/Prayer Service
Our Epiphany Meditation/Prayer Service will be Thursday, February 6 @ 6:30 pm Epiphany is a Greek word meaning “manifestation, showing forth, revelation.” This feast proclaims our faith that is Jesus, God is revealed to all people—not just to an inner circle or a chosen few, but to all people, in all places, and throughout all time. Christians believe that in the person of Jesus we see who God is, and in the words and actions of Jesus we see God at work in the world and in us.
Background
Beginning in November 2019 St Patrick’s established a monthly Meditation/Prayer Service to be held the first Thursday of each month. We started five years ago with bimonthly services using the Taizé model. We have expanded to include music from Iona.
A prayer service is different from a worship service in several ways. The regular divisions of worship, including the gathering, professing of beliefs, committing ourselves to Christ, Eucharist and baptism, are not included. The service is wholly dedicated to prayer and the hearing of God’s Word. While some regular elements of worship are certainly present, they are presented in a model of prayer and meditation.
Prayer can happen in many ways: through the silent conversation of an individual with God; through guided prayers where a leader facilitates the subject and the flow of the prayers and then allow space for individual prayer; through responsive reading formats; and through song. Prayer songs typically have short texts and easy melodies that are sung in many repetitions to allow the heart and mind to meditate on the words through the medium of music.
We use the Taizé and Iona communities’ structures for our services. The Iona community, located on an island off the coast of Scotland, and the Taizé community in France are internationally known for their non-denominational worship and for prayer services that draw from the ancient traditions of the Christian faith. The Taizé community is also know for the body of music—songs of prayer—written for their services.
(text from Daily Prayer for all Seasons @2014 by the Office of the General Convention of the Episcopal Church. Church Publ, Inc., NY. Pg 41. and “A Prayer Service Blending Taizé and Iona” http:www.reformedworship.org, 2018)
Coffee Hour
Please sign up to host coffee hour. The sign-up sheet is on the Common Room table.
Where does the loose offering in the plate go? The Outreach Committee would like to remind folks that the loose plate offering on the second Sunday of the month goes into the Outreach fund. On the third Sunday of the month it goes to the Rector’s Discretionary Fund. On other Sundays it goes into the general fund.
Prayer list updates:
Larry and Bonnie Puls are the contact people for creating the prayer list. If you would like to add or delete someone from the prayer list you can add your request in the Common Room or contact the Puls’ at: bonniepuls@aol.com or 942-1321 .