Two Feasts in Guilford

Written by The Rev. W. Merritt Greenwood Wednesday, 28 July 2010 13:54

During the month of August we will have two opportunities to observe  two of the major feasts of the church at Christ Church, Guilford.

On Friday August 6th we will celebrate the feast of the Transfiguration with a simple service of evening prayer at 5:30PM. On Sunday August 15th we will celebrate the feast of St. Mary the Virgin with evensong at 5:30PM.

This is a marvelous opportunity for the community to gather for worship and fellowship at our mother church and to renew our connections with our history and our future.

The MDC is under way!

Last Updated on Tuesday, 06 July 2010 11:13 Written by Ronny Johnson Tuesday, 06 July 2010 11:10

Dear Members and Friends of St. Michael’s,

Greetings! We are under way! The Ministerial Discernment Committee (MDC) has begun the task of guiding St. Michael’s through the process of finding our next settled rector.

As you may know if you have been in church recently, our chairperson, Betty Elwell, has given you the first couple of what will be regular update announcements about the search, to keep you apprised of our work.

We turn now to the greatest source of guidance from within the St. Michael’s community--you!

First of all, will you pray for us? We encourage you to do more than just give a passing nod in our direction. Please “enfold our discernment process in prayer.” Whatever you’re able to do to lift up our needs to God will be a powerful support.

Secondly, we need you to take an active role in the discernment process. We need to hear your prayerful thoughts and reflections on the following questions, which are at the heart of our work. This will help us compose a picture or profile of St. Michael’s: who we are, what we value, and where we would like to go from here.

• Who are we, the St. Michael’s community, at this point in our Christian journey?
• Who is God calling us to be in the next season of our ministry?
• What gifts and skills do we need, both in ourselves and from clergy leadership, to get there?

To answer these crucial questions, we are asking you to take part in two different events during the month of July. Each event will be held on two separate occasions to enable as many as possible to attend.

The first event, which will be held on Sunday July 11th in the undercroft after the 10:00 service, will be a taking of our history as a community. To help us better understand who we are, what is important to us, and where we may be headed, together we will construct a timeline of significant events, both actual and spiritual, in our parish life from 1940 to today. This exercise will be continued on Sunday July 18th during the parish picnic, at 4:00 at Bill and Nancy Ames’s lovely home.

The second event will be our opportunity as a body to respond to and discuss the three questions listed above. The first meeting will take place on Monday evening July 19th at 7:00 in the undercroft, and the second will be on July 25th after the 10:00 service.

Child care will be provided at the meetings on Sunday the 11th and Sunday the 25th, and light refreshments will be served.

We cannot stress enough the importance of your involvement in these meetings, as you are the discerning body of St. Michael’s. However, we also understand that you might be unable to attend one or both of the two events. If this is the case, we ask you to contact anyone on the committee (listed below) to convey your thoughts.

Once we have gathered your responses, we will put together a profile of St. Michael’s which will be posted on the parish website and given to all prospective candidates to help them understand who we are and decide whether St. Michael’s is the right place for them.

We pray that this will help us find a clergy person who can appreciate and support the St. Michael’s community as we are now, who shares our values, and who can help us grow in our faith, explore new directions and ideas, and reach new understandings of who we are and how we can live out our faith together.

Please join us! Let us undertake this discernment process hand-in-hand!

Faithfully,
The Ministerial Discernment Committee
Betty Elwell, chair: 254-6815; This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Sarah Benton: 254-8772; This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Melanie Boese: (h) 254-0147; (cell) 802-451-6717; This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Wayne Cook: 896-9446; This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Ronny Johnson: 257-7143; This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Martin Leggott: (h) 258-2330; (cell) 258-1613; This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Sissi Loftin: 254-9509; This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
David Mattocks: 254-2518; This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Christopher Wesolowski: 365-9139; This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Important meeting dates from the Ministry Discernment Committee

Last Updated on Sunday, 04 July 2010 21:11 Written by Sarah Benton Sunday, 04 July 2010 21:08

The MDC will be hosting 4 congregational meetings as follows:

Sunday, July 11th following the 10 AM service and Sunday, July 18th at the parish picnic beginning at 4:00 PM hosted by Bill and Nancy Ames. We will be exploring where we have been as a parish community in the past and where the parish is now in the present.

Monday, July 19th 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM and Sunday July 25th following the 10 AM service, we will be discerning the future shape of the mission and ministry of the parish by reflecting on these three questions:

• Who are we, the St. Michael’s community, at this point in our Christian journey?
• Who is God calling us to be?
• What gifts and skills do we need, both in ourselves and from clergy leadership, to get there?

The Committee encourages everyone in the parish community to participate in these activities.

Bishop Ely & Noah Bullock :: June 28

Written by Webmaster Friday, 25 June 2010 07:10

Bishop Ely and Noah Bullock, the new Executive Director of Cristosal Foundation, will be at St. Michael’s Monday evening, June 28th at 6:30 for dessert, coffee, and a presentation by Noah on the work of Cristosal Foundation in El Salvador. Noah is coming to Vermont from El Salvador for a short visit and this is the only time he is available.

Noah is a young man who has lived in El Salvador for 4 years and worked closely with the Diocese of El Salvador (Bishop Martin Barahona) and Cristosal Foundation in several areas including rural agriculture and social justice. He has a wonderful message that we should all hear.

We hope you can come, and, if so, would you please bring a serving of dessert for a few people – cookies, sweets, cake, pie, ice cream?.  We will eat buffet style in the room where we usually have Forum. Nancy and Bill Ames will make the coffee and provide some soft drinks and paperware. We need only set up a few chairs.